What a wonderful thing death is!

What a wonderful thing death is!

Perhaps some people would find it unfair that everyone dies at different stages in life, and perhaps some other people would find it unfair that everyone is destined for the same place despite taking different paths in life.

Should a humble man end up as dead as an architect of mass social murder? The person who toiled for bread as the wicked who poisoned the well?

This can't be what justice looks like.

And yet--

The Children rejoice.

This spring festival has been the jolliest of the decade, and perhaps even of the half-century.

God is real and has sent His arbiter to judge humanity.

Few people hold delusions over what is truly happening but it can all be a happy thing.

Turtlesand has fallen!

God punished evil, and the world can now breath.

The people don't remember what it's like anymore to be free -- from terror -- but they know that they have it now, at least for the rest of their short lives.

Perhaps it is not the justice they deserve.

There is something truly disturbing about the notion of being equal to Turtlesand in the eyes of God.

But at least the Children have broken free of the thorns of life.

A young man watches the festivities with doubting eyes. He, like many others, wear crusty clothes that do not fit, received from the donation package from five years ago. His name is Trong.

Trong isn't particularly upset about the future, but he cannot help but feel how much of a shame it is to not have the space to enjoy this blessing they have received.

There's not much food left in the area.

The neighboring domain probably have mostly died out and have a surplus, but there's no way to get there to collect food then return home.

And the people are simply too tired to do anything other than enjoying life.

It is not the case that they couldn't find any bit of peace to enjoy life then, but now, they can simply do it without worries.

Trong is aware, however, if he truly understands himself and his neighbors, that everyone except the children are pretending.

It is probably true that they are happy, in some way, but it is definitely also true that they are pretending to be.

Trong lost his father and a few friends to foreign enemies, pawns of Turtlesand.

And Trong lost his brother to God's blind judgment.

He doesn't know why Turtlesand fell first, even if it's a very happy thing to happen. But he knows that it didn't happen because they are evil.

His brother wasn't evil, and yet he fell first. His brother was one of the victims of the first ring.

Trong believes that his mother understands this, and that his neighbors understand this.

Yet, they still dance and eat and sing.

Trong himself has been eating and singing.

He even felt a bud of joy sprouting in his heart.

And yet...

Trong feels that this trouble has no bottom. It is not something he can know by thinking about it, and yet, he feels the need to look into the dark and see the bottom of it.

Weyn, a friendly neighbor, hugs and kisses Trong.

She holds his hand.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I miss father and brother"

"I miss father, too, and teacher"

Trong suddenly felt normal, as if what he thought has proven to be what is real. He hasn't heard even a hair of her thoughts, and yet he knew.

The two climbed up the roof to watch from above.

The two picked from the pile of sweet bread beside them. Trong knows that it isn't real food, but he's already had enough to eat.

"My friend gave me some on the last seventh, and I still remember what it's like"

Weyn takes a bite into the imaginary bread. The flavors from her memory rush through her brain like flashflood.

Trong also takes a bite, following Weyn's lead. He can only taste hard bread.

"I still can't do it"

"Maybe you have to actually meet bread uncle, but he's already gone.

"You try next, then, what did auntie cook for you?"

Trong scans through his memories. He must have had something luxurious in the past, but his attempts to conjure anything from memory lands him back to military rations.

"Really?"

Weyn suddenly felt silly, as if she's looking at a foreigner somehow poorer than her. It's quite an unimaginable thing, because Trong must have gotten something better to eat.

The Children are currently feasting. The food is right there!

"If that's what you want"

Weyn receives her share and ate her imaginary food out of her imaginary can with her imaginary spoon.

"Not bad"

So the two continue watching while eating.

As the time pass, the people tire from dancing and singing and the place has gone quieter.

The sky has become darker.

The festival can only be seen through a few spots of firelight.

The God's arbiter watches as he always does.

An elder starts speaking before the fire.

It concerns what happened in the previous year, then until now.

It is not a great shame to admit that the creature brought great terror, that the Children are sick and dying, and that they had already lost.

The Children know, somewhere in their heart, that the creature is not a gift of God to them. However, it is easy to accept that God has a plan.

And the fact remains that the creature, God's arbiter, had brought the Children some semblance of freedom.

Next, what is to be done?

The elder argues that humanity might simply die out. God's arbiter seems inescapable.

None of the Children in this city -- in this block -- is immune to the creature's influence.

Trong doesn't know them personally, but it seems that even the blind neighbors, could hear the rings. One of them had already met her end.

Perhaps the infants haven't been infected, but it is a wonder if they can survive when everyone is already gone.

If the Children somehow receive justice and survive through God's judgment, life will never be the same, and there is a lot to struggle for.

The Children are used to struggle, but there are all kinds of difficulties they haven't been tempered by, most of which they cannot foresee.

What they foresee is death, and against death they only have hope to live.

"What do you think?"

Weyn asks softly, as to not interrup the elder's speech.

"I'm tired. I will go when mother goes"

"I will pray for you two... Me, I will catch a beast and go east"

"What will you eat?"

"There's feed left somewhere, and a lot of food left uneaten at the enemy's place"

"Are you sure? Have you seen it?"

"I just know"

"And why east?"

"There's more to eat there?"

"Where would you catch a beast?"

"At the zoo"

"And where is that?"

"Far away from here"

Trong almost scratched his head.

Trong is worried. Weyn doesn't seem to have much of a plan in the future

But that isn't really unique to her.

She might die soon in her journey, but everyone will be going her way.

Another elder stands before the fire to speak.

She starts with a routine prayer. Is it that time of night already?

The elder talks about her family, first about the people that remain on her side, then the people who have left.

The elder addresses the God's arbiter, telling people not to blame God.

The Children already know to do this, but it isn't unusual to say aloud for people to hear.

Then, the elder goes through her mind to include the other people who have gone to the other side in her prayer.

It is not a surprise how many names the elder included. She is known to have a great memory despite her age.

Still, she doesn't really know everyone, or perhaps she simply tired herself out, so she asked a neighbor to continue the prayer.

More names have been said in prayer--

Someone in the dark started sobbing.

There is an understanding.

The Children didn't know for sure what the person felt then, but they started to feel it too.

Different people; different cries--

Trong can almost hear his mother wailing somewhere, and he could almost hear the names of the people dear to him.

Trong can feel his rag getting cold and wet. Weyn is sniveling on his shoulder.

Trong can feel his throat tighten, and his eyes--

Trong looks up, perhaps to catch his emotions in his eyes.

How beautiful is the sky.

There have been more and more stars each night.

The Children do not believe the dead to fare into the beyond, but Trong knows of the stories other peoples tell.

For a moment, it feels like the stories have come true.

It is an unfair thing, and a great relief.

The fall of Turtlesand can be seen in the stars, and the death of each Children.