Life is the exact opposite of their partner, Death. That is obvious, no? But there is something that you don’t know. Life, or Chaos as they like to call themselves nowadays, isn’t the living embodiment of all things that are good and just. They revel in people’s suffering and fear. So when someone says ‘If you love life then life will love you back’ that person is probably in Chaos’ bad books for being so optimistic.
Death, Chaos’ counterpart, as you may know is quite lovely and not that creepy. Don’t let their black cloak and scythe confuse you. The black cloak was merely the cause of a bet that they lost with Chaos, and they can’t seem to get rid of the scythe.
So in this world of irony, where do us humans stand?
Death simply adores everything – no, I’m not kidding. They find joy in watching children play in the sun and petting animals, for they know that it all will end sooner or later so they have to make it at least a little bit enjoyable for the humans. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today.
Chaos knows as well about how quick it can be to end someone. Because in our world of terrible irony and agony, even good people die young. Ever since Chaos loved and lost the first humans to ever live, they never found joy in watching anything living.
This is what they stand by: “If they are to end, then there is no point in giving them happiness, right?” And sometimes you will find Chaos saying: “In the end, you are all made of flesh to be cut and bones that can be broken.”
And that is why Chaos lives alone in a lonely cottage in the woods somewhere that can’t be reached by anyone taking on a humanoid shape. They’re isolated from the world because they simply don’t like endings. But they do have a pet. It’s a small black cat with two scars lining its left eye. Chaos called it Luck. Take a guess why.
Every time Death visits, the only one who bothers to check up on Life, they ask them a question. It doesn’t matter when. Whether they were right out the door or sitting down in one of Chaos’ plush couches, they’d ask the question. And Life always gave the same answer. At least… not until today, the birthday of the world.
“Life, could you open the door for me, please?” Death’s prim voice asked from outside of Chaos’ cottage. “I’ve got my hands full of pastries.”
Chaos groans and kicks their grey sneakers up on their coffee table. They reach for their remote and turn the tv up. It was a shock to Death when they first found out they had electricity this far out in the woods. Well, it isn’t that good. The only channels that would come up was some cooking show and whatever Steve Irwin shows up in. Whether Chaos liked these shows or not, Death never knew.
“Never mind, I got it.”
The door right beside where Chaos was sitting opens with a bang. Chaos jumps and throws their remote in its direction.
A hand catches it before it hits the figure’s smiling face. Death was still wearing the silky black cloak that Chaos had them wear, but underneath that dark get-up was a wool sweater and a white broomstick skirt. Today Death is a teenage girl with a blonde ponytail. They refused to ever come to Chaos’ house in their true form out of pure spite.
Chaos leans their head back and lets out a loud groan. “The whole point of the cloak was to make you look like your stereotype.”
“You know that that’s not what’s going to stop me.” Death sets a tray of muffins on the glass coffee table. “I’ve got blueberry this time. You said that you liked it?”
“Yeah, anything but those horrid raspberry ones you made last time.” Chaos eyes the muffins with a hungry eye.
Death rolls their mimicked grey eyes and sits cross legged on the couch next to Chaos. They watched with a grin as their oldest friend grabbed two muffins and stuffed half of one in their mouth.
Chaos, unlike Death, looked a lot like what they were thought to be. The embodiment of life was way more human than Death or any of the other Horsemen. Chaos had flowing brown hair that used to reach till their waist. They have glowing golden eyes and a dark complexion.
Now, sitting beside Death, is a surely human person with short brown hair, cut with bangs that covered their eyes. Chaos wears a scrappy hoodie and ripped jeans that were not designed that way. On their feet are grey sneakers that had mud on the soles and sides. If you looked closely, you would see bits of grass as well. Chaos could just take on another form. Do you expect them to, though?
“Well?” Death asks and folds their arms over their chest.
Chaos responds with putting another half of the blueberry muffin in their mostly full mouth.
Death smiles, exasperated, and closes their eyes. “You are so–”
“Yeah? What’s the end of that sentence?” Chaos suddenly appears on the arm of the couch that Death was sitting on, a dangerous expression on their face. They slung one of their arms around the couch and narrowed their eyes. It would take so little for Chaos to crush the couch, and Death knew that.
“Adorable.” Death stands up and pokes Chaos’ nose before taking a muffin for themself.
Chaos grumbles and hits the back of Death’s head with their elbow.
"Jackass."
Death grins and quietly eats their muffin while Chaos slides off the couch. Chaos stretched their arms over their head and let out a loud sigh.
“What made you look like this, by the way?” Chaos asks, tilting their head to look at Death. The sweet smile on their face made Chaos want to hit them again. “You got this from another book? Or are you creepily mimicking a real person again?”
“It’s not creepy!” Death exclaimed and raised one of her boots to kick at Chaos. Purely on instinct, Chaos jumps forward on the other couch. They turn around and settle comfortably on it before sticking out their tongue at Death.
Death lets out a sigh. “For your information, I am mimicking a book’s character.”
“I bet you’d say that even if you were pretending to be a real human.” Chaos said the last word with such disgust it made Death shiver.
“You are too untrusting, Life, it’s not good,” Death sighs, looking to the side. They rest their chin on their knuckles while staring intently away from Chaos. “I’ve never once lied to you, you know?”
Chaos grunts. “It’s ‘Chaos’ now, Death. Get it through your head.”
Bitter beats of silence swept through the usually comforting cottage. Despite the sunshine seeping through the curtained windows, it was cold, even when Death huddled on Chaos’ soft couch.
Death sat up and cleared their throat. Chaos rolled their golden eyes and leaned back on their couch. They refused to look Death in the eyes. It was about time Death asked the dreaded question, and Chaos, in all the years of their extremely long life, didn’t want to answer it.
“Would you like to come with me?” Death asks with a soft voice.
Chaos didn’t reply. They only glowered at the darkened tv in front of them. Every time Death asked that question, Chaos always gave the same answer: “No.” Today… today they were too tired to give an answer.
“You only want me to come to spread some precious joy to those unworthy mortals,” Chaos spat. “My powers are too useful for you to leave me alone.”
Death blinked in surprise. That was the first time when Chaos answered their question with more than one syllable. Nonetheless, it was still not what Death wanted.
“That’s not true,” they mutter and stand up. Hesitantly, Death sits next to Chaos. “It’s been centuries since you last went out. You can’t stay here–”
“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do!” Chaos snapped. They raised one of their sneakers to kick Death off of their couch. With a sad look, Death stood up hurriedly, folding their hands over their torso.
Even with Chaos’ dark bangs covering their eyes, it was easy to see how they glowed with such enmity. War’s hotheadedness is nothing compared to Chaos’ disappointment in all living things.
“I’m not mortal. I can stay here for as long as I want!” Chaos stood up and slammed their hands on the table. “And those–those humans don’t deserve any of my powers! They deserve to rot. None of their pathetic wants or needs reach me.”
There is a sad irony in Chaos’ words. For years, they neglected doing their main job, which is to spread happiness and light to humanity. Yet they still do find joy in finding out that whatever humanity used to be has evolved so much that Chaos decided to keep a tv and a few other human-made objects in their house. No matter what they say, Death knew that Chaos still felt proud that humanity came this far.
Chaos sat back down and hunched over so Death couldn’t see their face.
“...Give them some credit, Life.” Death takes a seat next to them and looks away. “There are some good humans out there. I’ve seen them. There’s this boy, Thomas, you’d like him–”
“Oh yeah? What has he done?” Chaos’ sarcastic voice asks. “Declared world peace? Cured starvation? Any of the other things that those humans messed up?”
“You put them at too high a standard,” Death tells Chaos. “Here, how about this?”
Death pulls out a phone from out of their cloak pocket. Chaos groans at this and pushes them away. Relentless, Death shoves the phone in Chaos’ face so they had no choice but to take it.
“Shh…” A smiling boy, about fifteen years old, appears on the screen. He had messy black hair and a dark complexion. “Scarlet’s gonna hear us. Keep your voice down.”
“I do have my voice down,” says another child’s voice. With a start, Chaos realised that Famine was speaking and holding Death’s phone.
The video continues, shakily following the boy’s back. Quietly, a door creaks open and Chaos could make out War’s human form. The boy looked back and gestured for Famine to give him something.
“If you dare tell her that I thought this up–”
“Shut up, Tommy.”
With an irritated shake of the head, the boy named Thomas continued quietly into the room where War stood. Chaos didn’t see what Famine handed the human, but it couldn’t have been anything good.
Thomas gives one last mischievous look to the camera before a loud, bellowing sound emits from the phone’s speakers. Chaos jumps a little.
“What the– FAMINE!” War had apparently been surprised as well.
Famine, who was holding the phone, had decided to run away, causing the camera to shake violently. Chaos could hear the faint yelling of War. Despite themself, they smirk slightly as the video ends.
Death smiles softly and places a hand on Chaos’ shoulder. “Well?”
Chaos shoots an annoyed look at their friend, but it doesn’t hold for long. With a sigh, they punch Death’s side softly before looking away.
“Not all of them are bloodthirsty murderers or conniving businessmen, Life,” Death tells them.
Chaos punches Death again softly. Two conflicting voices were arguing in Chaos’ head. And evidently, one of them won.
“Fine.” Before Death could exclaim in happiness, Chaos shoots another look at them. “Next time. And you are not allowed to call me Life.”
“Then I’ll come tomorrow!” Death stands up with a gleaming smile on their face. “Oh! I’ll bring you to one of those loopy things – what were they called – roller coasters! They will surely get you to laugh!”
Chaos tries to ignore Death as they continue to ramble on and on about musical theatre. Whatever happened to the calm and quiet Death, Chaos asked themself, annoyed. They take another muffin and resign themself to listening offhandedly to Death. Death always had what was best for Chaos at heart. And who knows. Perhaps Life won’t be too bad in the end.
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