I wanted to get into the fun with the odd litch who worked to punish the wicked and help the people in need. He should be rewarded. I would put the link to the posting my prompt is talking about, but for some reason, it's giving me the error that the link is spam. I don't know why. But it is the posting called "Who Waits Forever Anyway?"
They looked down upon the realms of man. Boredom was always something a god fought as millenia went by, things tended to repeat themselves. But there was one being they'd heard of more than once. A being that time seemed to pass by. A being that was interesting. Koschei the Undying. They had heard that name before from spirits who had left the living world. Some in anger, some with warmth. Some with fear, and one.... with love. Love? This single female spirit had drifted into the world of the dead peacefully. The look on her face, one of happiness. Yet they had seen where she had passed. They had seen what had been at her side at the moment of her passing. She had loved..... that? Well then! Surely for him to have earned an innocent's love, and he had sent so many wicked to their fates, he deserved a reward. She believed her soul would be reborn, she had a desire to see him once more. So how about both wishes be granted, and the friends may talk once more? -- Anon Guest
[AN: This prompt harkens back to this thing thanks and blessings once more to DaniAndShali for providing the helpful linkage. May your friends' pets always greet you warmly.]
Who could possibly stand in the way when the Goddess of Light and Love is on the case? Certainly not an undead thing more memory than man. In a remote village near a spa that caters to the very sick or the very rich or both... a child is born with an old soul. Call her... Melody. She is graced by the Goddess. Born on a festival day in the middle of the temple, she has gifts. You could even call them Gifts.
She can sing health into anything that sickens. Some whisper that she could sing life into the dead. That was the promise that they came for. It was not entirely the truth. She could sing life into good things. She could sing health into the sick and deserving. She could sing prosperity for the poor... What she could not do was give to the greedy, the grasping, and the ungrateful.
Melody met Koschei when she was fifteen, and remembered him instantly. Such was the blessing of the Goddess. As soon as she shook his hand, he remembered her. "A new body," he said, "already? It's only been a hundred years." Of course, to one who has existed for thousands, a hundred years is a blink.
"The goddess had to make sure circumstances were definite," said Melody, as if picking up a conversation they'd had before. "I'm to be her saint, of sorts. No more Whispers. No tumors. No fiddling about with Judgement for you, either. Thanks to the Goddess, we'll both know sooner."
Koschei sighed with the knowledge of a burden now lifted. "You will have to thank the Goddess for me. I'm certain I'm officially forsaken."
"I could easily see," she said, and sang. It was a wordless tune that came from a previous lifetime's memories and all that her previous self had been unable to say.
A lich's mummified heart beat, that day. It would beat stronger whenever she sang, and the song would bring life into his worn and weathered body. It brought something back to him that he thought he'd lost forever. He had... a hope. He had a message. He had a promise.
This one is with you, said the Goddess. From now and until your task is done. She is with you again and again. Your work is good. You will not be alone.
Melody, Whisper, Harmony... She would have a thousand names, until her lifetimes brought her a form of deification of her own. She became... Cycle. She became a goddess of judgement, she who weighed the living in the balance and provided guidance to those who wish to repent and improve the fate of their souls.
She became Cycle the Reborn, hand in hand with Koschei the Undying. She gave hope, while Koschei handed out judgement. Each in their own element. Each working with the other to balance out the evil in the world. Each holding the other and loaning them happiness for one more day.
Both blessed by a Goddess. At last.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Ig0rZh]
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