Vemera, The Goddess of Death

Vemera was born on the first day of Spring in a village whose name has been lost to history. It is said that her birth brought great joy. The hardship of the previous Winter had left the villagers weary and sullen, and the birth of the child gave them new hope.

As she grew, those around her could not help but notice the vigour with which the child lived her life. Few were the days when villagers were spared her intense stare as a young Vemera watched them go about their business, always deeply fascinated by their work.

The child soon became a young woman, and Vemera’s father saw in her a keen interest in plants and animals. He decided to take her into the fields to work the land as he did. There, she was taught many aspects of horticulture and husbandry, caring for the animals with a deep and genuine adoration. Her father marvelled at her connection with the natural world, and radiated pride in his daughter.

Late in the afternoon of a crisp day in autumn, Vemera’s father was growing concerned. He had sent his daughter out as he normally did to tend their sheep, yet it had passed the hour which she normally returned. Fearing something had happened to her, he set out to the pasture.

When he arrived, he found Vemera weeping over the body of an old ewe. When he asked what was wrong, Vemera explained that she had found the animal injured when she arrived. It had somehow damaged its leg and nothing she could do would stem the bleeding. She felt ashamed that the animal in her care would suffer and perish because of her inability to help them.

Her father knelt and brought Vemera into his arms. He held her and explained that there is a time that all life must end. That we must all return to Esthia from where we came and that this was not her fault. Still, Vemera continued to cry for the loss, sure that there was something she could have done if only she’d known how.

That night, Vemera’s father spoke with her mother and between them, it was decided that Vemera would be taught herblore and healing.

So it was that Vemera’s days in the forest with her mother began. There, she learned how to track animals, which herbs and plants could be used for the making of medicines, and how they could be applied practically.

Vemera quickly learned the ways of healing. In subsequent years, she also learned to apply these remedies to people as well as animals. She became a well-established healer within her village, even drawing attention from the sick and infirm in villages nearby. Vemera took great pride and happiness in her work.

In the Summer of her 24th year, Vemera’s father passed into the next world. He had reached the end of his days naturally and had led a good life made richer by the love and affection of both his family and the village.

When Daud, the lord of death, came for him, they found the man reposed within his home, surrounded by his family. Daud observed the man’s final moments as they had done countless times before. Patiently, Daud waited for the instant that the essence of his life would become thin enough for them to snap betwixt their bony fingers. Once severed from the mortal husk, Daud would then whisk his soul away to the realm of the dead.

With practised patience, Daud witnessed the grief and morning of the assembled family with little interest. Their many thousands of years had left Daud with apathy for such mortal sadness. They could not understand why the humans would refuse to accept them as the inevitable.

Even now, they could hear the prayers falling from the lips of the assembled crowd and those from further out in the village, pleading Daud to allow the continuation of this man’s life. To what end? That they might live a few more years only to be taken and have this pain repeated more intensely the next time?

No. There would be no stay of the inevitable here.

As Daud prepared to take the dwindling soul, they noticed a figure amongst the assembled crowd. Vemera sat beside her father, her hand over his. Though the others around her wailed and sobbed against the man’s passing, she was still. She seemed content.

Daud used their divinity to peer into Vemera’s memories. There, they saw the understanding imparted to her by her father that all lives must end. Yet they also saw her burning desire to prolong life for as long as possible.

Daud was confused. If death was inevitable, why would you fight so hard to resist it? Focussing on their work, they took the man’s soul carried it with them to the realm of the dead. Here, they ushered the incorporeal form of Vemera’s father beyond the colossal gates through which all souls must pass.

The thought stayed with Daud. It played on their mind as they went about their business, transporting souls into the afterlife. It led them to watch Vemera. In the deaths of animals, in the deaths of flowers, in the deaths of those she could not heal, they watched her. Glimpsing each time the vibrancy with which Vemera lived. To her, life was precious, and good, and worthwhile. To her, life was divine.

The thought drove Daud to distraction. Trapped in their divine cage of servitude, they were unable to experience life as Vemera did. If anyone was so deserving of experiencing life, wasn’t it Daud? They who had served for millennia caring for those who had the chance to experience what they were denied?
The thought pushed Daud to scheme.

One spring day, Daud manifested himself in a human body. He appeared along the route to a village that neighboured Vemera’s. A route which they knew she would be taking on her way to her regular appointments.

Daud lay at the side of the road and, as he spotted Vemera approaching, produced a wound in their side. Groaning and pressing against their side to stem the bleeding, they caught Vemera’s attention.

Seeing a man in distress, Vemera ran to him. Upon seeing the blood, she reached into her bag for something to ease their pain. She asked what had happened to the poor unfortunate, to which they replied they had been waylaid and stabbed for their purse.

Vemera staunched his bleeding and helped the man to the next village by supporting him as they walked. As they travelled, Daud asked Vemera about her life and how she had come to practise healing. Smiling, she told him of learning with her mother and the satisfaction she received from ensuring life wasn’t cut short before its time.

The disguised Daud probed further, asking why she felt it necessary to merely prevent the pain of loss. After all, must not all things that are living die? Vemera fell silent for a few moments before replying. She explained that it is just because life must end that every day should be considered precious and every moment fought for.

She spoke of her family and the love they shared for each other. She spoke of discovering new places and her sense of wonder for the world, from the grand spectacle of its sunsets to the tiny, perfect detail of its insects and plants. She spoke of all the wonderful things to be learned and experienced and devoured. She made life sound worth living.

It was now Daud’s turn to fall into silence as they took in what Vemera had said. They were quickly reaching a decision. Why should all of these experiences be wasted on those who could never experience all Esthia had to offer?

As the pair passed into the shade of the birch trees growing at the side of the road, Daud stopped and looked to Vemera, asking her a single question. “You who love life so much, who holds it so dear and seeks to extend it where you can. Would you be willing to give up your own life so that another might live?”

Vemera’s brow creased at the directness of the question. For a moment, she considered the question. Daud waited, realising the answer to this question mattered more to them than they had previously thought.

“Yes,” she replied simply.

Releasing a hypothetical breath, Daud smiled. They shrugged themselves free of Vemera’s support and held out their hand. “I didn’t introduce myself before. Call me Daud.”

Vemera returned their smile warmly and took the proffered hand in a friendly reflex, only a flicker of realisation passing across her face as their skin touched.

Daud released their divine spark into Vemera. Her eyes grew wide and wild as her senses expanded.
She was suddenly aware of every life of Esthia, their souls blinding her with their abrupt appearance. She felt as if she grew to encompass the entire world, simultaneously appearing beside all those close to death, and yet she remained rooted in front of the gently smiling Daud. Her head filled with the lamentations of the dying, and the intimate knowledge of how each of these people would leave this existence.

Vemera’s knees buckled as she fell to the grass in front of Daud. She covered her face with her hands as tears streamed down cheeks that were so used to smiling. So much death. So much unavoidable, unnecessary death. Diseases left untreated, wars fought by those who had no reason to fight, starvation in areas of wealth, senseless violence, inescapable sadness caused by no more than a fluke of where one was born. It was too much.

What she saw of their fate left her sicker still. Once each life had passed into the beyond, they would cross the threshold of the gates of the dead, leading into an infinite labyrinth. There the souls would wander, drifting for eternity as their energy gradually dwindled, dissipating into the fabric of the world.

Panicking, she flexed her deific fingers, using her new knowledge to reach out and nudge each life about to end further away from the point of expiration. The plants around her began to die.

Daud saw what she was doing. Horrified by the upset to the natural order, they used the remaining embers of their godliness to bind Vemera. Wrapping her in chains that she could not break.

They dragged Vemera to the land of the dead. Here, she was suspended above the gates through which all souls pass, forced to watch as every life passes into the beyond.

Vemera raged against her captivity but Daud, well-versed in the weaknesses of his kind, knew he had forged chains she could not break. After confirming her imprisonment, Daud fled into Esthia, keen to live the life they had been previously denied.

When Vemera had no more energy to fight against her bondage, she looked around at her new home. She saw then that her tears had formed a still river below her, passing from the world beyond and through the gates of the dead.

All but defeated, Vemera now hangs above the gate, her tears continually replenishing the river by which the newly deceased arrive. Though she cries for the act of dying, she whispers to each soul as they pass beneath her, giving them guidance to pass through the labyrinth that they may be born anew on Esthia. In this, she finds some solace in her torment.