Love, Spirit, and the Ghost General

Love...The End of the Beginning-300 Years Later

The woods are dark and silent as Spirit creeps through them, their senses on full alert, their inner glow dampened to stay unnoticed.

'Ning. We can no longer feel you. Where are you? Come to us. Please, my General? Where is your light? It grows dimmer and we grow colder.'

There is no answer, and Spirit begins to feel an emotion they have not felt in uncountable years. Terror. The terror begins to leach into their very being. Still, they continue to search. All is desperate, another feeling almost entirely alien to their being.

'One boon. Grant me one boon. I must hold his hand and ease him on. I promised him that.'

It had been 300 years since the time of the Lans, the time of his old clan, the Wens, so he had decided to track the ancient wraith alone, and they had felt the wounding of the mighty General. They had followed many battles, and seen and felt thousands slain in a single day at times. They knew the feeling of each mortal wound and as they grew nearer, they could sense this one's eminent fatality. They knew he clung to life waiting for them, but his time was closing in. They had promised to be there at this time. And just as they saw him, lying in a clearing, they felt him slip away, heard the final breath, saw the light in his eyes, so happy to see them coming toward him as usual. Saw those strange and compelling eyes go dark.

Before they could hold the large, gentle hand.

Before a farewell could pass their rosy lips or feel a last kiss on their pink cheek.

Gone, with their promise unkept.

Gone also, in that instant that they raised the lifeless torso, was their eternal desire to help another being to the reapers that always lurked beyond the dying's vision.

If they could not even do that for their beloved, why bother existing for another single soul?

When they sensed rigor approaching, they dug his grave with their diaphanous hands, placed him within, and laid the stone cairn above him. They faded back into the darkness of the forest once more and aimlessly began to wander.

And with the loss of All's gift of easement, came the start of their wasting away.

************

"We must do something ,My Most Reverend Lord.'"The Childe of Eternal Passings sat at his Master's holy feet and rested his golden curls against his knee. The Supreme God of gods raised his hand, but was too lethargic to even wave his favorite god away. He knew he was being wheedled, but that was part of the Childe's charm. Still, he could not allow it to be done too easily.

'WE need do nothing. And I honestly do not see why you are wasting YOUR precious time either. WE have offered, enticed, bartered, and came damned close to begging that brat of a Spirit to join our ranks and they have spurned our August Generosity at every turn. Now she even despairs and still does not approach. I reached my limit eons ago. Do you blame me? I, I am exhausted with All and that is that.'

The Childe sighed, in the deepest sympathy. 'I know, Most Benevolent Being, and I agree that you have every reason to feel slighted. Insulted even...' He paused looking into the radiant face above him and shamelessly batted his big, blue eyes, the air around them heavy with unspoken words.

His Most Blessed Divinity sighed this time.

'You may speak freely. But then again, you intended to anyway...!'

'Spirit...despite their dreadfully recalcitrant behavior, has given us eons of devoted service. They have eased millions to these shores, peacefully and fear-free. It has been done freely and without asking reward. Now they have lost the love of their entire existence. All is slowing erasing themselves and may soon be beyond help.'

'And you, no doubt, have found the way to entice them, I am certain.'

'Well, nothing is ever predictable with Spirit, is it, Father of the Golden Realm? Shall we discuss it over a bottle of Ambrosia Honey Wine?'

************

The Childe of Eternal Passings did not particularly like the Earthly Realm. It was heavy and somber compared to the Heavens. He felt like the very soil was clinging to his feet, slowing him down. He was used to tripping lightly wherever he was back home. The woods were claustrophobic. He wanted to find the stubborn one as quickly as possible, so he pulled a crystal from his gauzy sleeve and ordered it to seek them out. It only took an hour, but it was an hour too long in his opinion.

Spirit had wandered in a large circle around the general area of the cairn of rocks. They had not been able to tear themselves away from the Ghost General's grave site. They had repeated the same circuit endlessly, wearing a path in the broken, now compacted underbrush. Their appearance frightened him. The gilt hair had lost all luster, becoming a pale, ash-gray. Their skin had lost its glow and had turned the color of putty. The pink fissures, strangely pretty and the remnants of a distant lifetime as a fierce corpse, had deepened to a thick maroon hue. Their pale pink gown was torn, and filthy, and had changed into mourning white. They only stopped their perpetual walk when he stood directly in front of them.

Spirit looked at The Childe blankly, saying nothing. He took their unresisting hand and led them to a fallen log and they obediently sat down.

"Spirit?"

Nothing.

"The Lord of the Heavenly Realm wants you to join us. We can help you."

All smiled gently. "No. I cannot leave him. I broke my promise once. I will stay by him."

"He is not here, Spirit. You know where he is now. He is under my protection."

Spirit glanced at him.

"You have no right. The is is ours and ours alone."

"He has died. It is now my duties to arrange his next life."

"Then leave us. If his grave is all we can have, we will stay until we are no longer."

"I have a message for you Spirit. Would you let me tell you?"

They shrugged.

"The Great God of the Heavenly Realm will make a bargain with you. Once you spoke to Wen Ning and talked of how you hoped, that if he died before you, you could come back and have one lifetime with him. The Great King will grant that to you, on one condition. That you finally accept his gift of godhood after that lifetime. That means you will become a simple girl. Your memories will disappear and you will no longer be they. Just her."

All will be gone? All is everything I know."

"Yes. But you will be given the chance to find him, a simple boy who you will be together with for that lifetime. Will you take this chance?"

"How will this happen?

The Childe opened a gold box, tiny and encrusted with jewels. Inside lay an iridescent pill.

"If you take this, you too will die. You and I will ascend, and you will sign your contract agreeing to the bargain."

"When this offered lifetime is over, will he join me above? Will we never be separated again?"

"Wen Ning has always been a pure soul. Guiltless. Guileless. Innocent. A perfect match for the most compassionate being I know. You may take him as your apprentice and teach him all that you know. He may join you in your work if he wishes."

They were fast, and before he could finish speaking, they placed the pill in their mouth. Spirit had time to close her eyes and to see them all, smiling as they bowed goodbye to her.

"Goodbye." Spirit whispered back.

When she opened her eyes again, she rose and stood in front of the Child of Eternal Passings, her single soul restored and beautiful once more.

"What are you waiting for? Let's move on. I want to find my General as soon as possible. Nothing will stand in our way to be together again."