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Description
Capricorn crept through the town of Khar, concealing his presence and still he looked askance at any glancing in his direction. He had business there, necessary, but still undesired by most. Today he came not as the creator of the Parapos, nor any of his more revered names, but his most feared: Xero, God of Death. He was the hushed whisper in back alleys, the end of every child's prayer. He was called and yet it saddened him to come to this town, once a place he loved to breath in.

He glanced up the slope of the mountain, pausing, recalling how wonderful it had looked when he perched those boulders on the western cliffs, the sunrise coming over them and brilliantly refracting the light upon the lagoon below. It had been beautiful, both to him and Emrho, and later to the people who founded Khar as well, taking it as a sign of his blessing. The boulders he placed had saved its people from starvation due to the fish being drawn to the surface of the lagoon, helping Khar not only keep from fading out of history but prosper, becoming well known throughout the northern seas. The boulders he left became a point of pilgrimage as well, and therein lay the problem.

Capricorn moved amongst the populous of Khar, invisible, but his power still felt on the hackles of the neck, in the shivering and confused looks. Occasionally he slowed, glancing a thread tying an individual to his destination, pausing, putting a hand on their shoulder for a moment, a kiss on the forehead, a tear rolling down his cheek as he whispered his condolences, heard not by the ears but by the heart. Two startled and spun around, looking confused, feeling lost and an urge to reorient themselves. Three cried out in shock, as if hit hard on the chest without any cause for their pain. Another fell to their knees, given a vision of what had happened. Countless others found their eyes welling up in Khar and across the globe, those sensitive to the threads binding the Parapos to each other, and those whose threads were bound more tightly felt as if their tears would never stop. He struggled on, the threads weighing down on him, coils of rope, chain, threatening to drag even one as divine as him under. Despite all this, he put one foot in front of the other, passing through the crowds, drawn because of his aching heart, drawn because of his nature.

After the sands of time had slipped forth minute after minute, each feeling like the sands of all the shores crashing down on him along with the waves as well, finally he arrived at not all the shores, but one, the most important in that moment. There, on that shore of that lagoon in the town of Khar gathered a crowd, those already mourning and those still trying to save the young lad in the midst of them. He paused, looking down at him, etching every feature into his memory, closing his eyes and breathing out slowly. His essence billowed out, stretching down to the youth, entering him and gripping him even more tightly than the compressions on his chest. He reached a hand forth, through the lover who tried to bring him back from the dark, through his chest, into his own essence and through it, gingerly pulling out the lad's soul. His lover wailed as his breathing slowed and stopped, but as Capricorn opened his eyes again, the lad was risen... But not amongst the living. He teared up, trying to brush the tears away from his lover's face, but his hand went right through her. He glanced back at Capricorn, clenching his jaw, then begging him, Xero, the God of Death, to let him live, to ease her pain. Capricorn narrowed his eyes, almost seeming to consider for a moment before shaking his head in silence. The youth shook, emotions racing across his face, trying to find a way to argue his case, to threaten, to plead, finally resigning himself with a sigh. Capricorn ushered him forward, putting an arm on his shoulder, starting to walk him away from the grisly scene, onward and upward.

"Continue the painting Rajill" Capricorn said, gesturing to the supplies the lad had lost when he fell off the cliff. Rajill blinked, looking at them, then back at his Capricorn.
"But... Aren't you taking me on to-" He stopped as Capricorn merely rose a brow, then bowed, trying to gather his supplies, feeling his hands pass through them, but still he held the echo of them in his hands. He stared, looking back at Capricorn, then back to his supplies, pulling the echo of his unfinished painting out, climbing onto the boulder he had slipped off, wary of falling again, then laughing as he realized how irrational his fear was once past the veil. Rajill frowned, gazing out at the ocean whose tempting view had led to his death, sighing and resuming his painting. Capricorn, silent, watched the lad worked carefully, putting his soul into the piece, figuratively and literally. Hours passed while the people of Khar mourned below, preparing his funeral rites, entreating their god to take their precious Rajill on to paradise and not damnation. As they mourned, another left the town, ascending the mountain.

At the last glimmer of twilight, Rajill finished his painting, the archipelagos, the moored ships, the lagoon, the village below, all captured on his painting. It was not the hand of a refined master but one who had put their all into it regardless, the work of Rajill's life and more, which he now showed to Capricorn, whose weary eyes brightened for a moment, nodding. "Yes... It is finished now. But still... It is not yet time. Soon." Rajill gawked, hope in his eyes and yet anger too.
"I might still live? But... You brought me up here... You pulled me out..." Capricorn raised a finger to his lips, shushing him and shaking his head, then pointing down the mountain. There, amongst the stones and shadows, Rajill's lover tried to ascend, clambering up the mountain toward the place of his fall. "What? No... No... What is Viya doing?! You... You're calling her here... Xero... No, please... Send me to damnation and spare her life. Just-" Capricorn rose, eyes dark like the most predatory of terrors, colder than the frozen poles as he spoke softly and clearly.
"You forget yourself Rajill of Khar! It was not my call that draws her to join you! Your love drives her on, even now, to join you. And what tragic beauty, to be reunited so soon in death... Only to be separated by the damnation she brings on herself through such a selfish act of rejecting my gift and those that still live and need her. No! It is not my desire to take her, but the threads binding you both are still tied tight. Still... There is a way to save her." Capricorn glanced at the paintings, the unfinished physical, and the finished echo, moving to grab them both, holding them in front of the painter. "Which Rajill? She climbs to join you, to see what you saw before you fell. Which will you leave her?"

Viya gasped, crying out in triumph and woe as she finally pulled herself onto the cliff Rajill had fallen from. The sun was starting to set, her determination to ascend not denied, but her lack of climbing skill forcing her to make her way slowly. Now that she had made it she looked around, trying to see what had driven him there, pausing to glance over the edge, shuddering from the vertigo she had fought against for hours, backing up slowly. Capricorn held onto Rajill's shoulder as he seethed, whispering for her to return back to the village.
"It is of no use, she will not hear you until I will it. She must make the decision herself." Though it pained Rajill to watch her searching for any remnant of him, a sign that he had at least seen something worth the tragedy, he had begged Capricorn to throw his supplies and canvas off the cliff. His deity obliged, then despite all pleading, forced the artist to stay, to see the consequences of his choice. Viya went to all fours, searching, tearing up, gripping the rocks and weeds, trying to find anything, even a brush, something of Rajill to remember. Nothing. She returned to the edge, peering over, looking down at the lagoon where he fell... And to the side where the waters thinned and sharp rocks jutted upward, almost beckoning her to join them. She whispered a prayer to Xero, to Capricorn, begging for Rajill to welcome her when she met him next. As she leaned over the edge, she rose slowly, intending to throw herself off and not fall, to choose death over a life without him. Her lover cried out, trying to knock Capricorn's hand off his shoulder, to reach for her, to pull her back, to scream at her not to do it, all for naught as she did not even shudder at his words. Still, a moment before her momentum was too far gone to stop she saw something in the trees below as the dawn's rays landed upon it, yelping and leaning back, grabbing hold of the nearest boulder and pulling herself away from the edge. She panted, grasping her chest to keep her heart from bursting from it, a fitting, non-damning way to join her lover, but still, she had seen something. She groaned while Rajill looked at Capricorn in confusion. The deity's lips slowly curled into a soft, hopeful smile, inclining his head toward the path she had ascended, now slowly climbing down, cursing the whole way.

Viya tore through the forest, desperate as she had been on the cliff, peering up every large tree for a glimmer of something out of place, finally finding it after an hour, climbing up to perch on an upper branch as she pulled the canvas off of the treetop. She laid back, holding it up, blinded by the light for a moment, blinking and swearing she saw the entire town and surrounding beauty on the canvas. She set it down, rubbing her eyes and leaning forward to keep the light out of her eyes, looking again. The canvas had a few charcoal markings to dictate the shape of things and a fourth of its surface covered in a few layers of paint. This was not the thing of beauty she must have hallucinated, but still... She could see the potential of it in the piece. If only Rajill had lived to finish it. She looked back up at the mountain which she had planned to throw herself off of, then back at the painting. When the last thing her lover had left her was as unfinished as this, could she leave that as the memory others would have of him? Of her? Of Khar? Would history remember his death tainting the beauty of their home as she followed after him? Or would she expand her talents beyond the modeling for him, beyond the crude attempts to draw his chiseled face, and try to show their world how they both had seen Khar, had seen each other? She looked at the lagoon, then back at the canvas, whispering a prayer of gratitude and climbing down the tree.

Rajill tried to rub his eyes dry, looking up at Capricorn, laughing and crying in joy. "You... I cannot possibly ever hope to repay you Xero, even amongst a thousand lifetimes. Please, damn me for my foolish blindness and let me earn this blessing." Capricorn's lips spread wider into a wry amusement, shaking his head.
"My children, always so full of life... Of melodrama. Calm yourself child... You chose wisely to throw both, and she lives. Your Viya will see you again one day, almost an eternity for your new-found understanding of time, mere decades for her... But see her you will." He moved his gripping hand off of Rajill's shoulder and moved it to the other, softly, fatherly tender but strong, starting to walk and lead Rajill away, rising up toward the stars along a shimmering stream of light. "Now... About this debt of yours. My wife and I have always had a fondness for the beauty of your village and many others across the lands, but neither of us have quite your eye for painting..."

Description
Capricorn crept through the town of Khar, concealing his presence and still he looked askance at any glancing in his direction. He had business there, necessary, but still undesired by most. Today he came not as the creator of the Parapos, nor any of his more revered names, but his most feared: Xero, God of Death. He was the hushed whisper in back alleys, the end of every child's prayer. He was called and yet it saddened him to come to this town, once a place he loved to breath in.

He glanced up the slope of the mountain, pausing, recalling how wonderful it had looked when he perched those boulders on the western cliffs, the sunrise coming over them and brilliantly refracting the light upon the lagoon below. It had been beautiful, both to him and Emrho, and later to the people who founded Khar as well, taking it as a sign of his blessing. The boulders he placed had saved its people from starvation due to the fish being drawn to the surface of the lagoon, helping Khar not only keep from fading out of history but prosper, becoming well known throughout the northern seas. The boulders he left became a point of pilgrimage as well, and therein lay the problem.

Capricorn moved amongst the populous of Khar, invisible, but his power still felt on the hackles of the neck, in the shivering and confused looks. Occasionally he slowed, glancing a thread tying an individual to his destination, pausing, putting a hand on their shoulder for a moment, a kiss on the forehead, a tear rolling down his cheek as he whispered his condolences, heard not by the ears but by the heart. Two startled and spun around, looking confused, feeling lost and an urge to reorient themselves. Three cried out in shock, as if hit hard on the chest without any cause for their pain. Another fell to their knees, given a vision of what had happened. Countless others found their eyes welling up in Khar and across the globe, those sensitive to the threads binding the Parapos to each other, and those whose threads were bound more tightly felt as if their tears would never stop. He struggled on, the threads weighing down on him, coils of rope, chain, threatening to drag even one as divine as him under. Despite all this, he put one foot in front of the other, passing through the crowds, drawn because of his aching heart, drawn because of his nature.

After the sands of time had slipped forth minute after minute, each feeling like the sands of all the shores crashing down on him along with the waves as well, finally he arrived at not all the shores, but one, the most important in that moment. There, on that shore of that lagoon in the town of Khar gathered a crowd, those already mourning and those still trying to save the young lad in the midst of them. He paused, looking down at him, etching every feature into his memory, closing his eyes and breathing out slowly. His essence billowed out, stretching down to the youth, entering him and gripping him even more tightly than the compressions on his chest. He reached a hand forth, through the lover who tried to bring him back from the dark, through his chest, into his own essence and through it, gingerly pulling out the lad's soul. His lover wailed as his breathing slowed and stopped, but as Capricorn opened his eyes again, the lad was risen... But not amongst the living. He teared up, trying to brush the tears away from his lover's face, but his hand went right through her. He glanced back at Capricorn, clenching his jaw, then begging him, Xero, the God of Death, to let him live, to ease her pain. Capricorn narrowed his eyes, almost seeming to consider for a moment before shaking his head in silence. The youth shook, emotions racing across his face, trying to find a way to argue his case, to threaten, to plead, finally resigning himself with a sigh. Capricorn ushered him forward, putting an arm on his shoulder, starting to walk him away from the grisly scene, onward and upward.

"Continue the painting Rajill" Capricorn said, gesturing to the supplies the lad had lost when he fell off the cliff. Rajill blinked, looking at them, then back at his Capricorn.
"But... Aren't you taking me on to-" He stopped as Capricorn merely rose a brow, then bowed, trying to gather his supplies, feeling his hands pass through them, but still he held the echo of them in his hands. He stared, looking back at Capricorn, then back to his supplies, pulling the echo of his unfinished painting out, climbing onto the boulder he had slipped off, wary of falling again, then laughing as he realized how irrational his fear was once past the veil. Rajill frowned, gazing out at the ocean whose tempting view had led to his death, sighing and resuming his painting. Capricorn, silent, watched the lad worked carefully, putting his soul into the piece, figuratively and literally. Hours passed while the people of Khar mourned below, preparing his funeral rites, entreating their god to take their precious Rajill on to paradise and not damnation. As they mourned, another left the town, ascending the mountain.

At the last glimmer of twilight, Rajill finished his painting, the archipelagos, the moored ships, the lagoon, the village below, all captured on his painting. It was not the hand of a refined master but one who had put their all into it regardless, the work of Rajill's life and more, which he now showed to Capricorn, whose weary eyes brightened for a moment, nodding. "Yes... It is finished now. But still... It is not yet time. Soon." Rajill gawked, hope in his eyes and yet anger too.
"I might still live? But... You brought me up here... You pulled me out..." Capricorn raised a finger to his lips, shushing him and shaking his head, then pointing down the mountain. There, amongst the stones and shadows, Rajill's lover tried to ascend, clambering up the mountain toward the place of his fall. "What? No... No... What is Viya doing?! You... You're calling her here... Xero... No, please... Send me to damnation and spare her life. Just-" Capricorn rose, eyes dark like the most predatory of terrors, colder than the frozen poles as he spoke softly and clearly.
"You forget yourself Rajill of Khar! It was not my call that draws her to join you! Your love drives her on, even now, to join you. And what tragic beauty, to be reunited so soon in death... Only to be separated by the damnation she brings on herself through such a selfish act of rejecting my gift and those that still live and need her. No! It is not my desire to take her, but the threads binding you both are still tied tight. Still... There is a way to save her." Capricorn glanced at the paintings, the unfinished physical, and the finished echo, moving to grab them both, holding them in front of the painter. "Which Rajill? She climbs to join you, to see what you saw before you fell. Which will you leave her?"

Viya gasped, crying out in triumph and woe as she finally pulled herself onto the cliff Rajill had fallen from. The sun was starting to set, her determination to ascend not denied, but her lack of climbing skill forcing her to make her way slowly. Now that she had made it she looked around, trying to see what had driven him there, pausing to glance over the edge, shuddering from the vertigo she had fought against for hours, backing up slowly. Capricorn held onto Rajill's shoulder as he seethed, whispering for her to return back to the village.
"It is of no use, she will not hear you until I will it. She must make the decision herself." Though it pained Rajill to watch her searching for any remnant of him, a sign that he had at least seen something worth the tragedy, he had begged Capricorn to throw his supplies and canvas off the cliff. His deity obliged, then despite all pleading, forced the artist to stay, to see the consequences of his choice. Viya went to all fours, searching, tearing up, gripping the rocks and weeds, trying to find anything, even a brush, something of Rajill to remember. Nothing. She returned to the edge, peering over, looking down at the lagoon where he fell... And to the side where the waters thinned and sharp rocks jutted upward, almost beckoning her to join them. She whispered a prayer to Xero, to Capricorn, begging for Rajill to welcome her when she met him next. As she leaned over the edge, she rose slowly, intending to throw herself off and not fall, to choose death over a life without him. Her lover cried out, trying to knock Capricorn's hand off his shoulder, to reach for her, to pull her back, to scream at her not to do it, all for naught as she did not even shudder at his words. Still, a moment before her momentum was too far gone to stop she saw something in the trees below as the dawn's rays landed upon it, yelping and leaning back, grabbing hold of the nearest boulder and pulling herself away from the edge. She panted, grasping her chest to keep her heart from bursting from it, a fitting, non-damning way to join her lover, but still, she had seen something. She groaned while Rajill looked at Capricorn in confusion. The deity's lips slowly curled into a soft, hopeful smile, inclining his head toward the path she had ascended, now slowly climbing down, cursing the whole way.

Viya tore through the forest, desperate as she had been on the cliff, peering up every large tree for a glimmer of something out of place, finally finding it after an hour, climbing up to perch on an upper branch as she pulled the canvas off of the treetop. She laid back, holding it up, blinded by the light for a moment, blinking and swearing she saw the entire town and surrounding beauty on the canvas. She set it down, rubbing her eyes and leaning forward to keep the light out of her eyes, looking again. The canvas had a few charcoal markings to dictate the shape of things and a fourth of its surface covered in a few layers of paint. This was not the thing of beauty she must have hallucinated, but still... She could see the potential of it in the piece. If only Rajill had lived to finish it. She looked back up at the mountain which she had planned to throw herself off of, then back at the painting. When the last thing her lover had left her was as unfinished as this, could she leave that as the memory others would have of him? Of her? Of Khar? Would history remember his death tainting the beauty of their home as she followed after him? Or would she expand her talents beyond the modeling for him, beyond the crude attempts to draw his chiseled face, and try to show their world how they both had seen Khar, had seen each other? She looked at the lagoon, then back at the canvas, whispering a prayer of gratitude and climbing down the tree.

Rajill tried to rub his eyes dry, looking up at Capricorn, laughing and crying in joy. "You... I cannot possibly ever hope to repay you Xero, even amongst a thousand lifetimes. Please, damn me for my foolish blindness and let me earn this blessing." Capricorn's lips spread wider into a wry amusement, shaking his head.
"My children, always so full of life... Of melodrama. Calm yourself child... You chose wisely to throw both, and she lives. Your Viya will see you again one day, almost an eternity for your new-found understanding of time, mere decades for her... But see her you will." He moved his gripping hand off of Rajill's shoulder and moved it to the other, softly, fatherly tender but strong, starting to walk and lead Rajill away, rising up toward the stars along a shimmering stream of light. "Now... About this debt of yours. My wife and I have always had a fondness for the beauty of your village and many others across the lands, but neither of us have quite your eye for painting..."