Chapter 4: A FREAKY BOY

"Damn it!" I screamed as I noticed Ancanta's journal getting crushed; possibly pedestrians didn't realize that anything was laying on the road since their consciousness was low, without even realizing they are treading on other people's property. When a young child saw my distress, she went over, picked up the journal, and handed it to me. I gave her a grateful grin, knowing that there are still nice people in the world.

Back to the youngster I ran into; I was surely that he wasn't human, perhaps an elf like me, but more likely some deity mocking me. I gave him a wary look before turning my attention to the book he was carrying in his hand. The book was fairly ancient, and the outer cover appeared to have been covered with a thick coating of dust, obscuring the text printed on it. If I recall properly, I had seen this book, the book that made me live forever in this dreadful everlasting existence.

"His name is not in the death book," Hades approached a god of death on a mission, telling him. "What we do to him is make him live as a punishment; having a long life makes people forget who they are, right Hector Sparker?"

My face was covered in blood, and my body was slowly melting apart as if something extremely hot had been put straight on it. My memories appear to have returned hundreds of years ago, before I was declared an immortal goblin. The god in front of me was Hades, the god of the death and one of the major gods of Olympus. In my memories, Hades was a very tall deity, so tall that I couldn't even see his face when I looked up. My heart suddenly throbbed, and I felt as if my body was changing, as if I were slowly dying. That's right, only those on the verge of death may see Hades, but was this god arriving too soon? Obviously, I'm still alive; I can still feel my breathing, despite the fact that my entire body is suffering like if I couldn't survive.

God Hades approached me gently, reaching out his hand to grasp the notebook with the three words, "Hector, how is the sense of standing in the middle of the Life and Death," he said as he sat down in front of me "isn't it wonderfully relaxing and pleasurable?", and Even though I was in immense agony, I could still display fury on my face as the deity grinned with a very cruel smile.

"Killing me," I mumble aloud.

"No," the deity said solemnly, his demeanor becoming solemn. "This time, I'm coming to give you something you've always desired. Hector Sparker, you will now be my servant, and you will become an elf with the everlasting life you have always desired for people on Olympus. Hector Sparker, you don't deserve to be on the list of the death book, and you certainly don't deserve to be reincarnated."

I was startled, because I let myself get carried away by my recollections of the preceding years. Suddenly recognized that the notebook the child was clutching in his hand was the book of life and death, but he didn't resemble the god of death, so who was he in the end?

"Leprechaun? So you're a goblin," the youngster replied flatly, "and it's uncommon to see an elf that diligently serves the gods in this world; you must be exhausted, right?"

"INSOLENT," I yelled, drawing the attention of the onlookers. A dense fog engulfed us, causing everything to become blurry. The folks outside couldn't see what we were doing and didn't seem to mind when a thick and unusual fog developed in the center of Italy. This is how the gods avoided invading the human realm; they even put on a special fog to disguise their true identity.

I hesitantly peered at the lad in front of me, who seemed astonished by the presence of the mist; if he was an elf or some other lesser god, he must have known about the fog's presence.

"Can you actually make this kind of fog?" To my amazement, the youngster shouted, "That's amazing! What is that sword? You are without a doubt the coolest goblin I've ever met."

"Why did you steal the book of life and death, you don't appear like a mortal yet you don't know about the fog?" I inquired, surprised, for fear of injuring innocent people. "Tell me your genuine identity, and I'll let you go."

The boy stared at me with fearless eyes, and for a brief period, I felt paralyzed all over my body. This is a feeling I rarely have, the first and last time I saw that icy face was the day I met Hades, the gaze of that great god made me have to be scared, the look in my eyes is not too scary, but it makes the other person must feel cold, "I can't tell you, this is a confidential matter, and as you correctly guessed, I am not a mortal. Howerver it's fine for us to get this far; I hope you won't tell this situation for the troops in hell. About the death book, I'll return when I'm done with it, get it back to the old place.”

Having stated so, the youngster hurriedly left without giving me a chance to respond. He successfully escaped the dense fog that I had made, what a weird person you are, but those who dare to travel to hell in order to take the death book of the dead are absolutely not within the normal. Usually, only one person dares to do anything like this, and that's me. As I observed the boy's vanishing form, I had the strange notion that if I helped Hades recover the book of life and death, would I be able to obtain a favor from death?

The air around me began to clear, and the fog began to break, and I remained there for a long time until I heard a voice from afar say, "Mr. Lee, please wait a bit... "

It was the same lawyer I'd engaged to handle my tangled paperwork, and Henry raced over as if he was looking for me everywhere. That's correct, there are no cell phones these days, and things like letters or phone calls from telegrams are incredibly time-consuming, so if you need to deal with something immediately, the quickest approach is to find that individual. Maybe Henry took a while to locate me, seeing him sweat heavily made me feel a bit sorry for him.

"Thanks to the gods, I am fortunate to meet you here again; I have sent you a telegram, but it will most likely take a few days for you to get it; I was taking my wife and children for a walk when I encountered you. You're here, it's lucky," Henry exclaimed, beaming as he spotted me. "I've taken care of your papers, and I've also booked you a train to the East."

"Henry, I appreciate your assistance, but I can't now go to the East since I have business to do in Italy," I lamented, staring in the direction the youngster had just departed. "This is my fate."

"As long as it's your wish, Mr. Lee, you can be confident that I will do it," Henry responded respectfully.

I left, avoiding Henry's astonished stare. Yes, Henry is only a human; what he did was assist me in dealing with a slew of human paperwork; that was a huge repay; I didn't want Henry engaged in the world of the gods, especially with a goblin like me. If humans have a relationship with goblins, it's not a positive thing; Ancanta was a classic example.

The weather in Italy is growing hotter and hotter; even though I live in the north, it's so hot in the summer that I don't want to remain indoors at all. Perhaps the most vivid memory of my trip to Italy is the magnificent night sky, where the stars are performing a concert that makes the sky brighter than before. I went about the streets as it had been a habit for thousands of years, trying to recall the weird boy I met on the other street. Holding the journal that had shredded a few pages of Ancanta, I screamed fiercely to myself that I had to repay this obligation. In fact, I'm terrified that I won't be able to contain myself when I read the final lines of Ancanta's journal for me before she dies. Even though it's been almost a century, my feelings for Ancanta haven't changed; I still hate myself, shame myself for being an elf but not being able to protect the person I care about the most. I'm just the most ineffective goblin ever. That unusual boy worried me even more; he appeared regular but had keen eyes like the god of hell, and he even had the audacity to grab the book. The book of Hades. That book had to be really important, so when the boy discovered I was an elf, he swiftly departed. What if I could bring that book back to Hades? He'd be grateful and perhaps even do me a favor.

The more I think about it, the more I want to track down that youngster and immediately steal the notebook from his grasp so that I may gain credit. Suddenly, I heard a weird sound from afar that sounded like it came from hell, like the wail of a mastiff guarding the entrance of death, yet it didn't seem to be. That roar is mixed in with the sound of a creature running exceedingly fast. Ordinary people may not see this monster, but elves and gods can totally sense the monster is walking. Is it a normal person with special abilities, who is racing towards me with quicker and faster footsteps, just like a human can see spirits. However, such people are extremely rare, especially in today's society.

"These creatures are so rampant, what are the gods doing?" I was irritated, my tongue began swearing, and I dashed towards the monster.

What drew my attention was a massive beast, maybe seven meters tall, with the body of a prehistoric dinosaur. The creature had five heads and five long necks, and it emitted a lot of fire and smoke, which made me quite nervous. My mouth let out a loud scream as I seized the blade that was glowing pale blue light. My body leaped to the sky, and with one strike, I severed the head of a massive beast. The creature screamed pitifully, each of its surviving jaws firing sparks loud enough to burn me.

"Uncle goblin, be cautious with the life-and-death book," the voice said, surprising me, and a spark hit my body, hurting it. I groaned and glanced down to see the death book. Death book is being slowly devoured by the fire that emanates from hell. I muttered silently a few phrases, the book from hell was burned by hell fire, aren't any items on the earth that can withstand fire? I roared in rage and swung my sword forward and slashed, pushing all my might into the blade, ignoring the wound that was beginning to spread and the anguish that was beginning to afflict my eternal body. With a sword in hand and my experience of hundreds of years of fighting monsters, I could do even better than this many times over.

With one strike after another, with the monster fading to ashes before my eyes, I swung my sword at the monster's remaining head, yelling "Game over!" The mist begins to disperse in the air, and the monster's ashes begin to fly in the wind; they can go to hell and re-form, but they can also burn eternally. I was fatigued and collapsed to the ground, but the youngster came over to grab me as though I were in free fall. When my eyes met his, a familiar feeling went throughout my body, and the wound from the hell fire no longer caused me agony.

"You realize how cool you are? Look at those deft cuts, you must have done this many times," the boy said, his brilliant eyes twinkling with a glee similar to my Ancanta's. "I can't preserve the birth and death book since it's been burned."

"What's wrong with burning, you almost lost your life, you're also courageous, you still dare to carry the book of life and death around?" I rose up furious, I couldn't allow myself lose face in front of this youngster, I grumbled "Why is that monster hunting you, you can't escape this time!"

The boy grinned, wiped the monster's ashes from his hair, and breathed again, saying, "You can't die, you have to wait for the bride to give you flowers. That's right, I'm not a normal human, I'm a demigod, glad to meet you, my name is Aubrey Gray,"  the youngster said after taking a long breath.