Nothing was louder then the sound of the bombs and bullets that rang through the air. Except the voices of those that used them. The battlefield was in chaos, dust billowed up from under the feet of men and from the explosions. It was like a mist until it thickened into a fog. Adding a new note of fear to both the experienced and the novice. The overcast sky threatened rain as it had for the last two days, but the only thing that fell from the sky was lead. Soldiers ran, jumped, hid, and dodged from cover to cover trying to survive. The wounded lay still, screaming for aid, while others knelt down by fallen comrades making silent promises. Both armies ran and dodged and screeched not scared of each other, but something greater. Death.

But it was not Death who watched the battle with unhindered vision. But Life, and her apprentice.

In the quiet, ethereal glow that hid them from the eyes of mortals, the woman of nobility looked around at the people with a silent, and calm eye. Her hands folded neatly in front of her with her perfect white gown almost floating right above the earth, not collecting dust, blood or grime. Her crown of flowers and willow branches crested her head. She and her entire aura was a stark difference to the muddied and dark surroundings. Her apprentice was dressed similarly but wore a simple crown of olive branches. She sidled as close as she could manage to her mentor, without bringing to light her discomfort.

Life glided onward, unhurried, as if she might be strolling through a garden in summer. Her student kept pace looking around her and flinched at a scream from a man nearby.

"Do not get distracted." Life instructed. "We know why we are here and whom we are to see. Everything else is noise."

The girl looked to the ground, but there was no place to look that didn't reflect the battle, so she fixed her gaze on her mentors beautiful, flowing dress.

"You are hearing two arguments." Life continued, figuring that conversation would calm her apprentice's nerves. "Two opposing opinions."

"Why don't they just talk it out?" The girl asked.

Life lead her up to a man crouched in a ditch, Joseph Miller. Life lifted her hand and pointed out a finger with a delicately designed claw. The Ravens Claw; when it tapped the heart or head, it took away the bodies ability to function and put the human's mind to sleep until Death came and took their soul away. If it was a limb, it took away that limbs use. As Joseph lept up and fired at another nearby human, Thomas, Life tapped him on the head with the claw and a bullet shot through him, making the man go limp.

"Sometimes they can, but often humans of power don't like to listen to other humans of power. Pride blinds them when they feel they are being disrespected. The male kind is especially like this."

"Why do the other humans follow?"

"They paint the opposing side as wrong or evil. The 'authority' becomes apathetic and forget that they are human, just like them."

"How do they forget that they are people too?"

"They forget that other people have lives as well. They focus on themselves, or what they think is the better good." Life glided on, tapping another man, Pete Jones, on the head. "The humans of authority are not exposed to this kind of bloodshed. Humans become a necessary loss. Sometimes they are not wrong."

"That's evil." The girl said, holding her smaller Ravens Claw with her other hand, not wanting to tap anyone.

"Sometimes it is necessary. For example; a battle may be made up of slaves, who want freedom, and their oppressors. Sometimes something bad must happen before something good can happen. That is why we allow a crop to fail time to time. The ground must be nourished in order to produce. I and Death walk hand in hand, we are one in the same. Humans often forget this."

Life went over to a boy rolling on the ground with a man, the two in a heated knife battle. She tapped the boy on the head as the knife plunged into his body. The girl grasped her dress.

"Oh no, not him!" She cried. The boy was James Adams; he was 18 with a mother and little brother at home. He had provided for them and left to keep them safe. She knew a letter would arrive letting him know his brother died of the measles. His mother would lose both boys and her husband. The man that stabbed him was Ryan Peters.

"It's his time. He has inspired some people here. His death will always haunt Ryan, it is necessary for Ryan's growth, and his mothers. Remember, our orders come from a higher court. We take who is written."

Life led the girl onward, to a man on his back and considered him a moment. James Soren; 43, wife beater, and had two sons and a daughter. He drank too much and had a short temper. The girl didn't like him; she wasn't sorry he was going to die.

Life bent down and tapped him on the leg where a bullet was lodged.

The girl couldn't hide her surprise as her mentor walked away.

"Why does he get to live?" She asked, in what could've been an angry tone.

"Time is the most precious thing given to these creatures." Her mentor replied. "They get a certain amount of time, and they do with it as their Free Will allows. But the purpose of all of this is to teach them, and to make them a better self. Humans make mistakes and bad choices, they do horrible and cruel things. They are allowed time to repent of that, try to fix what they have done, to learn and become something beautiful."

"But what if they don't get better?" The girl implored.

"Then they don't." Life replied simply. "But that doesn't mean that they didn't have the opportunity to change. You must accept that the humans have the ability to choose their fate. To make their own decisions. We merely allow them time."

Thanks for reading my bonbons and chocolate drops!! :D Feel free to comment below to tell what you think <3

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