she is life, of the kind that mortals will never fathom. his sister is terror and light in one; he follows in her footsteps with his wreath in one hand and his knife in the other.
the goddess of life, and her twin the god of death.
The knife had faced some resistance, but in the end had won. And, I can only speak of it so calmly because all I saw was the glint of the blade.
His arms were strong and he carried her proudly, a smug grin adorning his lips. It had happened at — well, it could have been a forest, or a corner store, or the beach — but it had faded, fuzzed. I wish I could tell you, it might bring you peace, to know where exactly his arms embraced her, but by then it had faded to grey, with nothing to grasp onto.
In the stories told after, he had simply walked off — he had other business, and most were too scared to speak his name, let alone dwell on the details. Like how his hands gripped the holy blade so desperately, the running of hands through hair in comfort.
But, as a passerby with 1/50th of the view, I’ll tell you: I saw his hands glow with golden polish and the greenest of vines and transform into two, three, and soon there were dozens of them. Greedy for it, but then I realized they were grateful for it. She was held, held, head to foot by souls so intertwined, they had no beginning or end. Him, in his ordinary ugliness, could only stand back and watch: a passerby, respect in his eyes. A instigator turned witness. Their golden glow lit the world on fire.
She could stand on her own just fine by then, and no one seemed to mind. The wreath of flowers that adorned her grew out of her head like the dirt on the earth — it outshone any rainbow, its colours bringing life to the world for what felt like the first time. I could breathe this new, refreshing air even from this far away.
She took his hand, then, and sauntered way simply, laughing the whole way out of sight.
The souls, with their outstretched hands, seemed lonely. I feared this golden glow would fade and almost approached them, until I heard them sing. Sang with a voice that could pierce the universe — a song of gold and flowers. A song that curled into my ear for a lifetime, long after I kept on my way.
