\u201cMy Lord, I feel terribly disturbed of late\u201d, Grace addressed her boss, the Angel of Death. \u201cI see no reason for it. I have been progressing quite nicely under your tutorship, and have been praying to God to lead me to my husband so that I could have a true friend to love God with, of the kind you have in Lady Hypatia\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you been distressed by something you have seen treating the deceased?\u201d, Azrael tried to understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I have, like everybody else. But this is different. It feels like something ominous and personal, and I can\u2019t for the life of me understand what\u201d.<\/p>\n
Having worked with Grace since the fall of Rome, Azrael knew this had to be serious. She was a very level-headed, calm and dedicated person, and he owed her quite a long list of favours. If she had a problem, it wasn\u2019t business. It was personal, as Grace was family. Also, it had priority over everything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome, let\u2019s get help\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, you\u2019re saying something happened, that is making you feel terribly distressed, and you don\u2019t know what it is?\u201d, Lord Vishnu raised an eyebrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it sounds vague, my Lord, but Grace is an incredibly reliable person, and I personally vouch for her. If she\u2019s saying it\u2019s a problem, then it most certainly is\u201d, Azrael spoke in a most serious tone.<\/p>\n
Vishnu took his wife\u2019s hand. \u201cMy love, I will need your help here, as this seems to be exactly the kind of a problem you excel at solving\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean, matters of fate, fortune and other kinds of karmic path intersections?\u201d, she smiled. \u201cI\u2019m on it\u201d. She took Grace\u2019s hand and turned her sight inwards, as if searching. Then she froze, and lost colour.<\/p>\n
Vishnu immediately made her a chair to sit in, alarmed by the sight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou prayed to God recently to find you a husband, yes?\u201d, Lakshmi stuttered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have\u201d, Grace nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod indeed lit up a path for both of you to meet soon\u201d, a tear fell down Goddess\u2019 face. \u201cYour karmic paths intersected and he should have been here already, as he left his physical body, but he never arrived\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d, Grace was confused, but the ominous feeling increased and her hand twitched reflexively.<\/p>\n
\u201cSanat Kumar played a trick on him. I don\u2019t see the details, but there was a desperate situation he was put in, and Satan offered him to resolve it if he swore allegiance to him and gave him his soul. Carol, as that was his name, felt alone and desperate at the time. He was alone for a long time, prayed to God to lead him to his wife, but it seemed that nothing came of it, except for a long series of disasters. He felt his life was a failure, and this looked like something he could do for others, if his own fate was a dead end\u2026\u201d, Lakshmi couldn\u2019t finish, looking at the other woman.<\/p>\n
Reality itself shook, as Grace mouthed a wordless \u201cno\u201d, and dropped to her knees.<\/p>\n
A dark blue lightning cracked through Creation, as her immortal angelic heart shattered… forever.<\/p>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we do anything?\u201d, Lakshmi asked her husband, who looked half dead from shock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were a true couple\u201d, Shakti whispered. \u201cI can heal her, but her soul will break again. It\u2019s not an injury one can recover from. Imagine your husband dying. That would have been you\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe killed both of them by not waiting, by not having faith\u201d, Vishnu whispered. \u201cHe didn\u2019t think he mattered\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we fix this?\u201d, Shiva asked his wife. \u201cI know, free will, he made his choice. But he didn\u2019t choose evil. He just stopped hoping\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFree will\u201d, she waved her head. \u201cThis is exactly the kind of a choice we are not allowed to interfere with\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had too many happy endings lately. Too many things worked out. Fates that connected. People who waited for each other through untold centuries, who had faith. It mattered so much because that outcome wasn\u2019t guaranteed. They all could have made a fatal error somewhere. Decided God doesn\u2019t care. Decided they don\u2019t matter. Decided their ideal partner is a figment of their imagination, and not something real, or God\u2019s promise. Carol had a terrible feeling before he made his decision to sell his soul to Satan. He felt horrible wrongness, but he did it anyway, because he gave up on hope, on faith, on God, on himself. And with it, he killed both himself and his beautiful, innocent, wonderful wife\u201d, Lakshmi wept. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing we can do. They were a destiny-bound couple. There could never be anyone else for either of them\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuck\u201d, Shiva whispered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cMy Lord, I feel terribly disturbed of late\u201d, Grace addressed her boss, the Angel of Death. \u201cI see no reason for it. I have been progressing quite nicely under your tutorship, and have been praying to God to lead me … Continue reading