“It only took a second. The tiny blip of a rebellious thought. I couldn’t shake off the rejection I’d suffered at the hands of the Valkyries and Berserkers,” she continued. “Order had cast me out like a cockroach, an undesirable. This incubus would soon leave this world, and it was my duty to usher him into the next. It was my chance to try again, and the mere thought made my heart soar. Every era I spent in my realm made everything look more and more like the nothingness from whence I’d come. But Purgatory… oh, Purgatory was strange and different and full of wonder. I wanted to go there again.”
So she did. Holding the incubus’s hand, the World Crusher crossed over again. Once more, the Valkyries and the Berserkers came together and pushed her away. She fought them hard this time. Her scythe responded to her emotions in a way I’d never seen other blades react. The black veins shone menacingly as she cast death magic spells against her opponents. Her powers were limited, but not harmless.
Some of the Valkyries fell. They succumbed to dark curses, their bodies withering until they were reduced to shapeless masses of black shadow that scared even the Berserkers. The World Crusher was losing control. “Death had given me knowledge. Knowledge of her power. And I had learned to use it, harnessing its potential to suit my every need. With that much time on my hands, what else was I supposed to do?”
Soon, Order intervened. The World Crusher was no match against her, and so she was cast out of Purgatory again.
This time, however, when the Reaper got up and saw her reflection in the lake, she smiled a devious smile. I could almost hear the wheels in her head turning. For a while, she waited in silence. She thought Death might come to reprimand her again, but it didn’t happen.
“I figured I’d gotten away with it. And I was eager to try again. The more they fought me, the more determined I became to carve my own place into that world,” she wrote. “I didn’t accept no for an answer, and I thought that maybe—if I was persistent enough—Order would eventually cave and let me pass. I was naïve.”
She went back to Purgatory—once, twice, three times. The Valkyries and the Berserkers kept pushing back. Their defenses became stronger, their weapons more dangerous. Their blades and whips and arrowheads were pure darkness and pure light, each inflicting excruciatingly painful wounds. The World Crusher kept coming. She fought them. She lashed out at them. She even raised her scythe at Order once, blinded by her own rage.
It got worse. Purgatory’s forces had no problem throwing her back into Death’s realm, but since the World Crusher didn’t quite register time like the rest of us, she didn’t have the patience to wait for people to die. Something broke inside her. One day, she beheld a young Lamia with beautiful copper hair and round yellow eyes. With one swift move, her scythe cut the Lamia’s head off. It was the first time the World Crusher had killed a living creature.
That was when the universe truly fell out of its original balance. This was the very first glitch. The first fall from the natural equilibrium of things. It burned me to the core to witness this. She towered over the Lamia’s body, and I sensed no regret. Finally, I understood what had triggered Death’s decision. For all the anger her secrecy had caused me, having to agree with her only made me feel worse.
“It wasn’t right. I deserved freedom. I deserved to go anywhere and be whoever I wished to be. Since Death wasn’t around to keep me grounded, well… I did the wrong thing. I started killing so I could gain quicker access into Purgatory. I kept going there. Fighting. Getting myself thrown out. There was nothing that could slow me down.”
Ultimately, Order beat the World Crusher to a pulp. The Reaper could barely stand, fury coursing through her. It made the stars in her eyes explode against the black cosmic backdrop, as Order grabbed World by the hair and dragged her out of Purgatory. This was a shudder-inducing sight, and I was speechless. My words had vanished, watching the first Reaper hurled back into our realm like a sack of potatoes. She’d even dropped her scythe, the blade hitting the ground with a disheartening clang.
“Death!” Order shouted, blue fires blazing in her eyes. Every strand of her golden hair seemed to move, like liquid in suspended animation, undulating under the reddish sun’s soft rays. “Death! Come down here, now!”
My maker appeared, clad in her white silk dress, black hair flowing freely down her back. “Sister… this is unexpected.” Death’s initial smile faded when she noticed the World Crusher and the pitiful state she was in.
“This must stop,” Order said. “I have lost my patience. I have lost count of the times I’ve had to remove her from Purgatory. You must make her understand that she doesn’t belong there, sister, or you must do something to stop her altogether. I have the power to end this, and you know it. But out of respect, I choose to leave it in your hands. Please, do not make me take action against one of your own, because the next time I face the World Crusher, I will break her.”
So, Order had the same reach as Death. She could obliterate a Reaper. I had a feeling I’d need this information later, though I couldn’t say for what, exactly. The World Crusher was bitter and deeply wounded, unable to even get up, but even then she was refusing her fate.
“I’ll make sure she never reaches Purgatory again,” Death said solemnly, then watched her sister disappear into thin air. A second later, she gave World a sad glance. “You shouldn’t have done this… Oh, darling, I wish you’d obeyed.”
“I am tired of this place!” she cried out. “I
