Erinys’ abruptly woke up from her sleep in the middle of the night.

The clock had just struck midnight and, with it, another day had passed in the Underworld.

Erinys, who looked disheveled and miserable, slowly propped herself up from the bed. Her beautiful blonde hair, that had been tied up in a ponytail in the past, now hung freely behind her back. 

She hadn’t taken a bath for almost a week, and her eyes had lost the luster they once had due to sleepless, and stressful nights that she had stayed inside her room.

Dark circles could be seen under her eyes, and dried up tear stains could be faintly seen on her cheeks. Her doll-like beauty was still there, and yet, her current state made her look so vulnerable and frail.

Standing up from the bed, Erinys walked towards the full body mirror at the corner of her room. The pajamas she wore was crumpled, and the buttons were buttoned in the wrong places. But, Erinys didn’t care about that.

Placing her right palm on the mirror’s surface, her dry and chapped lips opened as a hoarse voice escaped her once soft and delicate lips.

“Happy… Birthday… Erinys.”

Yes. Today was her nineteenth birthday. The day she was born in the world, and a day of celebration.

But, Erinys didn’t plan on celebrating. Not today, not on her next birthday, not ever.

Suddenly, an arrow with a heart-shaped tip flew through the open window of her room and hit the surface of the mirror, missing the side of Erinys’ face by a few inches.

Surprisingly, the Half-ling didn’t scream, or jump in fright after the arrow flew past her. In fact, she even felt that it was a shame that the arrow didn’t hit her to end her life. That was how numb she was at that time.

But, after a few seconds, she realized that even if she died, it wouldn’t change anything.

Why?

Because even if she died, she would still be in the Underworld.

Nothing would change. It will be the same as always.

“Hah…”

A long, bitter, and sad sigh escaped her lips as he stared at her reflection in the mirror. Suddenly, the mirror in front of her glowed, and an image appeared on its surface.

A black-haired teenager stood at a flight of stairs that led to a golden portal in the distance. Erinys immediately recognized the place because there had been more than one occasion when she tried to go to that golden portal in the past.

“Heaven’s… Gate,” Erinys said hoarsely as a tear streamed down on the side of her face. “Will…”

She thought that she had no more tears to shed because she had already cried her heart out during the six-day trip towards the Tenth Layer of the Underworld.

However, after seeing the Half-Elf slowly climb the steps to return to the surface world, the pain, sadness, and loneliness she thought had long disappeared once again resurfaced.

“We… weren’t even… able to say… goodbye,” Erinys muttered between sobs as she placed both of her hands on the surface of the mirror. “Will…”

It was at that moment when a powerful gust of wind entered her room, carrying a pink teddy bear that pushed the small, and frail body of the Half-ling towards the mirror.

“I hate sad endings. Sometimes, I wish Life had a rewind button.”

A playful voice, that seemed to belong to a little girl, reached Erinys ears before her entire body was swallowed up by the mirror.

Immediately, a clap of thunder reverberated within the Tenth Layer of the Underworld. Clearly, the God that ruled it wasn’t happy with the uninvited guests that were causing trouble inside his domain.

“He found us! Run, Cupid!”

“Lily! Don’t leave meeeeeeeeeee!”

——-

Erinys fell face first on the ground right after she entered the mirror. She then slowly raised her head, and placed her hand over her aching forehead.

“Ouch,” Erinys muttered as the pain she felt snapped her out of her daze.

It was then when she realized that she was no longer inside her room, but in the place that she had just seen in her mirror a moment ago.

There, halfway up the staircase, she saw the familiar Half-Elf who was walking steadily towards the golden portal to return to his homeworld.

Erinys, who had been feeling weak earlier, suddenly found the strength in her body to stand. She then opened her lips to call out the name of the black-haired teenager whom she still hadn’t said goodbye to.

But, as if to snuff out her hope, instead of a word, an orb of golden light escaped her lips.

Erinys immediately felt that something was wrong, and once again shouted. However, no words were heard. 

Her voice was gone.

The Half-ling, who had lost her voice, then gritted her teeth as she ran towards the stairs. However before she could even step on it, several black snakes rose up from the ground and wrapped around her legs, her arms, her waist, and even wrapped around her lips, so that she couldn’t even whimper.

No matter how much she struggled, she was unable to take a single step, or even catch the Half-Elf’s attention, who was only ten steps away from the golden portal. 

‘No!’ Erinys screamed in her heart. ‘This cannot be! I still haven’t said goodbye. Will! Will!”

——

Thanatos, who sat on his throne, eyed the struggling Half-ling who was frantically doing her best to escape the bindings he placed on her. 

“Give it up, Erinys,” Thanatos said coldly. “This is where you belong.”

——-

Erinys screamed with everything she had as her tears fell like rain. However, no matter what she did, no words, or even the slightest bit of sound could be heard from her struggle.

‘Will! Will! WILL!’ Erinys’s shouted in her heart. ‘I just want to say goodbye! Why? WHY? WHY ARE YOU STOPPING ME! FATHER!’

When William had taken the final step towards the Golden Portal, Erinys had stopped struggling. She just cried while her entire body was held in place, unable to do anything.

Just as her heart was about to break completely, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her small and frail body, from behind, dispersing the black snakes that held her in place. 

Slowly, Erinys raised her head to look up at the familiar, yet blurry outline of the person whom she wanted to say goodbye to. 

A silent wail escaped Erinys’s lips as she buried her face in William’s stomach. No words came out of her mouth, and yet the Half-Elf clearly felt the sadness and hurt that she was suffering from.

“Why are you crying?” William asked as she picked up the crying Half-ling and held her in a princess carry. “Is it because we weren’t able to say goodbye to each other?”

Erinys didn’t speak and simply gripped William’s clothes and buried her head into his chest, drenching his clothes with her tears.

The Half-ling didn’t know how long she cried, but her sobs completely stopped when she heard a song that came from William’s lips.

“Happy birthday to you~

Happy birthday to you~

Happy birthday… Happy Birthday…

Happy Birthday to you~”

Erinys pulled back and looked at the Half-Elf who was smiling down at her.

“I’m sorry, Erinys,” William replied. “I wasn’t able to tell you happy birthday earlier.”

‘How?’ Erinys asked but no words were heard from her lips. 

“A friend of mine knows when someone’s birthday is coming,” William replied. “He is the one that told me that today is your Birthday. So, Happy Nineteenth Birthday, Erinys. What gift do you want for your birthday?”

Erinys couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and her mind couldn’t process everything properly. 

But, when Williama asked her what she wanted for her birthday, her hands moved subconsciously and grabbed hold of the Half-Elf’s clothes, pulling them closer to her. 

Her lips then slowly opened and said a single word. 

Just like before, no sound could be heard, but William understood what she wanted.

“You don’t want your voice back?” William asked in a teasing tone. “Is your wish more important than your voice?”

Erinys nodded her head.

At that moment, an angry roar shook the plane where William was currently at. However, the Half-ling in his arms didn’t hear the roar, nor feel the trembling.

William was hovering in the air, and had applied a sound-proofing spell around them. The only thing that Erinys could hear was his voice.

“I’ll ask you one last time, are you sure this is what you want?” William inquired.

Eriny nodded. 

“Fine,” William replied. “If that is really your wish then I will be your genie for today and grant it. No… it will not only be for today. I will grant it until this body of mine breaks into pieces.”

William then started to walk up the stairs for the second time. 

Earlier, when he was on the very last step, Optimus had finished surrounding the Domain with the power of William’s own Domain, using a few items from the God Shop which were worth a few million God Points.

This allowed him to momentarily take complete authority of the Domain, stripping it away from the God of Death himself for a brief period of time.

When everything was ready, William jumped back and landed behind Erinys, hugging her and dispersing the black snakes that bound her.

The only way to leave the Domain was to walk up the staircase step by step. The Half-Elf couldn’t fly, or run towards the stairs. It must be taken one step at a time, or none at all. Even after he had stripped Thanatos of his authority, this rule never changed, so William took one step at a time until he reached the middle-area of the stairs.

A moment later, black snakes erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around William’s body.

Erinys screamed as she tried to slap the black snakes away, but it was of no use.

“Don’t worry,” William said. “I’ll handle this.”

Black flames erupted from William’s body, surrounding himself in a dome of black flames, disintegrating all of the black snakes that had once held him in place.

“You’re not going anywhere, Half-Elf!” 

Thanatos’ roar of anger split the Domain in half but William didn’t even bother to look behind him. He just took one step forward, carrying the Half-ling in his arms, who was also clinging onto his clothes as if her life depended on it.

Erinys then heard Thanatos’ roar, and tried to poke her head over William’s shoulder to look at her Father, but a golden metallic staff gently pressed her head back down, preventing her from looking back.

The moment William stepped into the golden portal, the stairway that led to the Gates of Heaven, shattered into a thousand pieces, as the angry roars of the God of Death made the entire Underworld tremble, making the souls of the departed fear for their lives, even though they were already dead.

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