UT: A Death God's Past ~ Genesis ~

  The year… 1882. The place, Britain. The time… early morning...

  A small boy, accompanied by his parents, walks into the shop of an undertaker. Known in the area as being supremely efficient, the family turns to him for assistance in securing the fate of their late child.

  "Come in! Come in! What is it you want?" shouts the man from behind his desk. The father, closing the door behind him, steps forward with pounds in his hand.

  "I will compensate you splendidly for the undertaking of my child… she died a few days ago on the stage, and therefore is need of immediate burial preparations, so…"

  The undertaker swipes his hand forward, signaling the man to step back promptly.

  "I will certainly accept your generous compensation, but it will cost more than that to subdue me into burying your child…"

  "Why, you-!"

  "Harold!" exclaims the woman, pulling her husband back towards her. The man sighs, looking down.

  "I'm sorry… I suppose I'm just too distraught to think before I act… I mean, this money is all that we have. Is there any other way to perhaps bribe you not to take anymore?"

  The undertaker scrapes the bottom of his chin with his long black nail and smiles, an idea coming to mind.

  "How about your boy?"

  "What?!"

  "Put him in my care for a few days. I'm in desperate need of assistance, and his hard work might just earn you a free burial…"

  "Free… burial? But why him? Why not me?"

  "You're too stouty and old. I need someone young, fresh… small and, not so wicked…" The undertaker eyes the boy, who now resides behind the pant of his father, glancing timidly at the man.

  "Well… alright."

  "Harold! You can't honestly be considering it!"

  "There's nothing to consider! Look, Lilith…" The man grabs the shoulders of his wife. "If we leave him here a few days, we'll be able to have our late daughter buried for free! Isn't that splendid?" The wife shakily nods. Her husband smiles. He turns to the undertaker. "We accept your offer, Mister…"

  "Undertaker… just call me that…" says the man, leaning over his desk to shake the husband's hand. He leans back in his chair again and crosses his arms, smiling. "Time to leave. It's getting late, and poor Veronica is getting unfit and clammy. Just place her in the back before you depart. Have a nice day."

  The parents leave, looking at each other with confused expressions.

  "How did he know her name?"

  A few seconds pass. The boy glances at the door, waiting for his parents to return. He frowns.

  "He… he… he…"

  The boy quickly turns to the undertaker, who is now happily chewing on a dog biscuit. He holds out the tin plate containing the biscuits in the direction of the child.

  "Want one?"

  The boy looks down, frowning.

  "N-No, thank you…"

  "He, he. You're not amusing at all!"

  "I… didn't know I was supposed to be…"

  "What's your name?"

  "What?" The boy looks up.

  "Oh, never mind. Take a seat next to me… Victor…"

  "H-How did you know my name?" says the boy, sitting on a small stool next to the undertaker with hands on his knees.

  "Special talents, but I guess you could call 'em a gift. You're eh, ten? You just turned that a few days ago, am I correct?"

  "Yes… but, that's creepy! Then again, you look kind of questionable… even for an undertaker…"

  "What's strange is that you didn't run away the second your parents left you here with me. Aren't you scared that I might… harm you in any way?"

  Victor shakes his head.

  "No…"

  "Oh?"

  "Because I don't know anything about you. To me, you're just an undertaker… or… at least, that's what everyone thinks…"

  The undertaker rubs his chin with his nail. He smiles.

  "Hm… you're pretty bright for a living young chap…"

  "I owe my knowledge to books."

  "Oh, so you love reading stories, huh…"

  "Yes. I absolutely adore them."

  "Hm… maybe I ought to tell you one… do you believe in fantasies?"

  "Somewhat. I mean, you could wish they were real, but that doesn't mean they are."

  "Ah-ha. Well, the one I'm about to tell you is true. Everything happened exactly as it happened."

  "Oh, goodie! Then proceed!"

  The undertaker grins.



  I was born in the year 1066 to a human mother… and Death…

  A miracle they called it… what had happened was that my mother, after giving birth to my sister, died. No one was aware of my presence in my mother's womb. They thought it was a blessing that my sister had been born, but regardless. One was dead… two were dead… it was a miserable mistake.
  I remained in my mother for an hour amiss the joyful and sad sobbing, when suddenly, something strange happened…
  My mother was clearly dead but for some reason, she started to contract. It was weird. She wasn't breathing. Her heart wasn't beating. The nurses, scared and predicting the worst, refused to assist the corpse in labor! Yes, it sounds farfetched, but it really did happen this way! She managed to release me from her body on her own, and I was… living. The dead, bearing the living… the living… being born from the dead! Many of those present wanted to kill me, immediately assuming I was evil, but… my sister. The instant I was born, she looked upon me with emerald eyes and… smiled. Everyone knew then and there that I needed to live... this was the instant I became…

  A miracle…