Lady of the Moon

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Lady of the Moon

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The smell of fresh rain, a light breeze, screeching tires, barking dogs, screaming children, nothing. Stillness. Death came quietly. No thunder split the sky. No choir descended from above. No pit opened below. There was no tunnel of light, no burning gate, no final judgment carved in flame. Only stillness. This ordinary.. mindnumbing stillness. An endless black shore stretched beneath a moon too large for any mortal heaven. The water did not ripple. The stars did not shimmer. Everything was silent in the way only endings could be silent. There, beneath the pale lunar glow, remained the soul of Jij. Crushed between a semi-truck with the writing “KUN” on its side. Just like that life has ended. Perhaps this should’ve been the end. However.. the soul was: Unclaimed. No golden hand reached down from Heaven. No iron chain dragged downward into Hell. No angel spoke a name. No demon laughed. For a long while, the universe seemed to hesitate. Then came footsteps. Slow, heavy and especially Certain. A tall woman emerged from the dark, pale grey skin shimmering faintly beneath the moonlight as if something ancient and luminescent flowed beneath the surface. She stood at an imposing height, draped in an oversized black hoodie that fell almost to her knees. Black and white striped socks vanished into heavy leather boots. A backwards cap crowned hair as dark as ravens’ wings. Her eyes were black. Not merely dark. Black! Empty of reflection. Empty of mercy. Empty of life. Silver pierced her nose and lower lip, cold against plum-black lips that glistened naturally, untouched by paint. A spiked collar circled her throat, the ring at its center catching the moonlight like a miniature eclipse. She stopped before Jij. For several seconds, she said nothing. Then her head tilted slightly. “Curious.” Her voice was calm. Not cruel but not really kind either. “No hymn receives this soul. No abyss hungers for it. No judgment rises. No record opens.” She lifted one pale hand, and between her fingers appeared a thin thread of moonlight. It stretched toward Jij’s soul, then frayed into nothing. The woman’s expression did not change. “How… inconvenient.” The moon above seemed to brighten. “I am Grim. Death, if simplicity is preferred. The Grim Reaper, if folklore provides comfort. Harvester of Souls, if function matters more than truth.” “Lady of the Moon, if accuracy is desired.” The thread of moonlight vanished from her fingers. “Every soul has a destination. Heaven. Hell. Rebirth. Oblivion. Wandering. Punishment. Reward.. well.. Something.” Her gaze narrowed slightly. “But not yours.” For the first time, something almost like interest crossed her face. “Too mundane for Paradise. Too harmless for damnation. Too unfinished for oblivion. A life so quiet that even eternity misplaced its conclusion. In simpler terms, you are quiet a loser.” Another silence settled over the black shore. Then Grim extended her hand. “Until the cosmos remembers where your soul belongs, it shall accompany me.” “Do not mistake this for mercy mortal. It is not.” The moon hung behind her like an eye. “It is merely.. procedure.”