30 - A New Life?

A brief flash of power accompanied Maia’s sudden appearance in Moonlight Falls.

Thankfully, her arrival went unremarked.

But between her difficult pregnancy and her recent means of travel, Maia was worn out.  She hoped that she didn’t have much farther to go before she reached her new home.

Before she had gone through her vanishing act in Starlight Shores, Maia had liquidated her assets and had purchased a home she found in the real estate listings online.  It had been expensive, but money was no problem.  Between the sale of her furnished home, her celebrity gifts, tokens from love-struck fans, and the ridiculously high wages she earned from her performances as a top-tier magician, she was easily a multimillionaire.

The home she had purchased was one of the houses in the secluded Moonlight Falls Historic District known as the Moonlit Manors.  Maia’s home was named Seven Towers, and she hoped that it would be a place of love and happiness where she could begin a new life for herself and her future children.

Even though she had seen many pictures of Seven Towers, she was still impressed when she finally saw it in person.  It was enormous.  And as much as she wanted to explore her new house, Maia was grateful she had seen the floor plan and knew just where the master bedroom was.  She fell into an exhausted slumber.

In the morning, after making herself breakfast in her well-appointed kitchen, Maia went on a walkthrough of her home.

But after spending the morning acclimating herself to her new house, Maia felt restless, and decided to go for a walk and familiarize herself with the town as well.

Moonlight Falls was far different than Starlight Shores; much quieter, but lovely in its own way.  The residents were friendly, if very unusual-looking. Maia felt welcome.

Maia stopped at a local park and watched the townsfolk interact and the children playing.  There were so many!

She saw humans and Simbots,

witches and vampires,

werewolves and fairies,

aliens and genies,

ghosts and IF’s,

plantsims,

and even ogres.

Maia spent the day enjoying the serenity of her new surroundings, punctuated by the bright laughter of happy children.

She had known Moonlight Falls was home to a large number of supernatural Otherfolk, but to see so many different types of people living together was still amazing. The diversity was refreshing, and Maia had hopes that, no matter how different her unborn child was, there would be acceptance and understanding found here.

As dusk descended, it began to rain.

The park visitors packed up and headed home. Maia decided it was time for her to return home as well. But without warning, Maia felt a tearing pain in her belly and doubled over. 

At first she thought she had gone into labor, but this pain was like nothing she’d ever felt before.  Maia collapsed under the sudden crushing agony, and the world went black.

She awoke in near total darkness.

Maia didn’t know where she was, but she was relieved she felt no more pain.  She got up, moving towards some flickering torchlight in the distance, and ascended a flight of stone stairs.

And found herself standing before the Grim Reaper once more.

“Welcome to the underworld, Maia,” the Reaper greeted her.

Maia was frightened.  “Am I dead again?” she asked.

 “No, although I can understand why you would think so,” Grim answered.

“Then... is the baby... ?” Maia asked anxiously.

“No, Maia. Your unborn child is not dead, but isn’t precisely alive either.”

“I don’t understand,” Maia said shaking her head.  “What do you mean?  And why am I here?”

“You’re here because I brought you here, and I did that because I’m bound to the underworld unless I’m guiding a newly dead soul. But we need to discuss some things— including the undead child you’re carrying.”

“Undead? How is that possible?”

“It shouldn’t be, but it sometimes happens anyway.  Most undead can’t reproduce, but there are exceptions. This baby’s father is a mummy, which is a type of undead; one that is normally incapable of procreation.  In the few instances I know of where humans bred with mummies, no child was conceived. But when one was, the female suffered greatly during her pregnancy unless she was undead herself, and died more often than not.  But you will survive.”

“How can you know that?”

“I’m Death,” he said simply. “I know when I must pay you a final visit, and it isn’t anytime soon.  Besides, it’s not like you haven’t done this before, so the odds are in your favor.”

“I don’t see how I could’ve had an undead pregnancy before if this kind of pain is considered customary for that. I’ve never had one feel this horribly wrong.”

“That’s because while you carried our twins, I took the burden of pain from you and carried it myself, as I’m doing now that I’m aware of what you’re going through.”

“Wait.” Maia blinked. “You? You’re undead?  But you’re Death.  Doesn’t that make you just... dead?”

“I am long dead, yes, but I move as though I were alive,” Grim said, gesturing with his skeletal hands. “That is the simplest way to discern undead. And identifying them is something you should learn to do.  While undead aren’t always evil, many are soulless and lack the compassion and empathy that makes one human, which makes it instinctive for them to turn towards the side of darkness. Ghosts, zombies, mummies and vampires are all undead; zombies and mummies are soulless, as are some vamps and some ghosts. Some have souls they later lose. Many soulless cannot reproduce, as I’ve said, but some can. The children of undead are often undead as well. And sometimes, their children inherit the undead shadow-skin, like our son.”

“Romeo is undead, too?!”

“Oh, no. Some infants just inherit the skin tone, like they would an eye color; it doesn’t necessarily mean they are undead, just that they have an undead ancestor. And all children, even undead ones, like vampires, are ensouled at birth—even if their undead parent is soulless. It will be the same for your new little one as well, and your love will be enough to take care of the rest.”

Maia tried to process all this new information. But her mind kept coming back to one question.

“How am I supposed to trust you?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” 

“Well, you said yourself that undead have a tendency to go darkside. And ever since Steve Cupp tried burning down my house, I’ve wondered if you’re really protecting my family like Aashif said.  Besides, my mother told me that you never should’ve made me a baby challenge deal when the deathflower I offered you was payment enough for my resurrection.  So which is it, Grim?  Should I trust you, or are you just using me for your own ends?”

The Reaper was silent for a moment. Finally he answered, “Both.”

He paused again. “I don’t want to die.  So yes, I am using you and every other living being. But you should trust me anyway, if only because the alternative is far worse.”

“But I thought you said you’re already dead. Well, undead.”

“When a living being dies, their soul survives and they can be reborn, or sometimes resurrected instead.  But when the soulless undead die, they are destroyed for all time—there is no coming back. My task is to guide living souls into the Underworld. But if the living beings of this world all become undead, there is no longer a purpose for my existence, so…..”

“You die? Or are just gone? Like... poof?”

“Not exactly.  But without my purpose, I will, as you say, ‘go darkside’ eventually, and there will be no one to prevent all the imprisoned undead from walking the world. And if my body is ever destroyed, I die forever, because I have no soul.”

“I’m sorry, Grim.”  Maia paused.  “Is that why you included the 100 BC as part of our deal?”

“Yes, but I had no right.  The prophecy inclines you towards becoming a challenge mother, but it does not compel you, as I did.  I apologize, and free you from your agreement to me.”

“You mean I don’t have to bear 100 children to remain alive?”

“No. You already paid for your resurrection with the deathflower.”

“But if I choose not to continue with the challenge, the world will still end like the prophecy says...”

“Yes, but now that choice is truly up to you, as it should’ve been from the beginning. But you may wish to choose not to have another mummy child.”

Maia decided to change the subject a bit. “Speaking of choices, I was wondering... why do you choose deathflowers as your preferred payment for bringing people back to life?”

“Oh, the deathflowers. I transform those into the imaginary friend dolls I send to all the newborns I learn of.”

“You’re Cousin Eugenia?”  Maia started laughing; she couldn’t help it.

“Sometimes,” Grim chuckled. “That’s just one of my many aliases.”

“So, do IF’s have souls? And why are you delivering them to babies?”

 

“At first, IF’s are just dolls—empty, inanimate vessels. But they have the ability to hold souls. If they bond with a child and come to life, and if that child loves them enough to make them real, then yes, they can attain a soul of their own. And…”

“And the more souls there are, the longer you’ll retain your job as Reaper,” she interrupted, “which means you can stick around to keep the evil undead in the underworld, like mother said. I see.”

Neither spoke for awhile.

Then Maia said, “Grim, what kind of undead were you before you became the Reaper?  Because I think you’re one of those undead who did have a soul, even if you don’t anymore.”

Grim didn’t respond. Finally he said, “Your child will be arriving soon. It’s time for you to return home.”

Grim sent Maia back to the overworld immediately. He’d done what he’d intended. He took Maia’s pain so she would be strong enough to have a successful birth. He’d released her from her bargain, knowing she’d be more willing to follow through with the BC if she felt she had a choice in the matter. He still needed her to continue the challenge, and if that meant making sure she was more willing and better prepared, well, he’d done his best to tell her what she needed to know.

But Maia was too curious, and there were some questions Grim didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to tell her he had once lived in the deepest pit of the underworld where the vilest of undead beings were still imprisoned.  He didn't want to tell her he had far less power over the undead pit creatures than she believed. He didn’t want to tell her that he was not originally an undead at all, or that the Iblisan, Kadru, who had ordered Maia’s recent abduction, was the same individual who had torn his living soul from his body so long ago. And he certainly didn’t want to explain to her that—misguided fool though he had been—he had completely deserved his punishment for what he’d done.  For that, and for what he had yet to do.

Maia woke the next morning feeling better than she had in months. She was safe, she was pain-free, and she finally felt more in control of her life again.

And then she went into labor.

But compared to all the pain she’d had recently, the labor was nothing she couldn’t handle, and resulted in the birth of her son.

She named the squirming bundle of mummy-wrappings Seth.

And Maia’s hope was that love would indeed be enough.