For context on the world, please see the Intro post and context on the Excalibur collection please see Item #51.
When the unknown light formed Magusterra, and the
First Created came into being, each First Created were born one by one. Except
for Life and Death! Both Brother Life and Sister Death were born at the same
time and are thus twins.
For everything that has a beginning, must have an end.
Therefore, Life and Death always go hand in hand. For there to be anything in
the universe these two must be in harmony and should be created at the same
time. They are both inevitable, even for immortal beings!
With this fact, Hephaestus, thought it wise to make
the swords for Brother Life and Sister Death at the same time. Leading to the
next set in the Excalibur collection that I was sent to collect: The Cradle and
Grave set or the twin blades of Life and Death.
Now let’s start. First the blades.
But Brother Life, limited Hephaestus’ control, because like Mother Nature, Brother Life wasn’t keen on possessing an instrument used to take a life. Even Brother Life’s primary weapon is as non-lethal as they come. Unlike his sister, who carries a double-sided scythe, Brother Life uses a lasso, made from the same fibers as the Thread of Life, created by Clotho, one of the three sister witches (also known as the Fates), that worship Life and Death. Brother Life uses this lasso to subdue, capture and imprison his enemies.
Both swords gave Hephaestus a hard time. For one Brother Life put Hephaestus in the same (maybe even more troublesome) predicament as with Mother Nature. Second, the freedom Sister Death gave him, filled him with anxiety that he might not use the right materials and displease the Queen of Death!
But then, Hephaestus, decided to simplify both Immortals’ requests. Brother Life wanted something that got rid of enemies, but didn’t kill and Sister Death wanted a sword that could destroy anything it touched. To fulfil these requests, Hephaestus looked beyond Magusterra for materials, namely the realm of space (or the stars as some called it) in the sky for Life and for Death, the afterlife, that is in another plane of reality.
There Hephaestus found what he was looking for. So,
let’s break it down and finally examine the blades.
First Brother Life’s sword. In his research,
Hephaestus, found that the sun is an important element for sustaining life and
that, even though The Mighty Phoenix will insist that she created it herself,
Brother Life did have a hand in making it.
Brother Life helped in the initial planning and design
to make sure that the sun was fit to be used by mortal beings. This intrigued
Hephaestus, because he also learned that The Mighty Phoenix had created many
prototype suns, before creating the one that Magusterra has now.
And through further research, Hephaestus, found that
the other suns were failures, because either they were too small, too big, or
would explode and cause a supernova, which created an element known as
anti-matter.
This anti-matter, is dangerous, for it is the opposite
of matter, which everything is made of. Meaning that when anti-matter touches
matter, both of these elements will cancel each other out, causing the matter
to disappear, making it seem like it didn’t even exist!
This gave Hephaestus the idea to use a supernova for the
blade and to use magic to manipulate the anti-matter from it to not just make
whatever it touched disappear, but to make whatever it touched to be erased
completely. Not just from reality, but also from everyone’s memories.
So, in other words, if you are struck with this blade,
you won’t die, instead you will be taken out of existence and will be removed
from all records that you were even born. Hephaestus approached Brother Life
with this idea. At first Brother Life didn’t agree, but was convinced when
Hephaestus reminded him that all living things have souls and for something to
die, their soul must leave their body and go to the afterlife. But with this
sword, Brother Life wouldn’t be releasing the being’s soul, but instead making
them completely disappear, erasing both body and soul from existence. Brother
Life still didn’t like it, but thought that it made sense and that it wasn’t technically
killing.
Hephaestus was now left with the problem of not only
finding and collecting a supernova, but also having the task of forging it into
a blade! Luckily Brother Life mentioned that one of Sister Death’s sons, Huitzilopochtli,
could help.
Huitzilopochtli, is the son of Sister Death and Vucub Caquix (the son of The Mighty Phoenix). Huitzilopochtli, gained a reputation for being a strong warrior and brilliant war strategist. He lives his life trying to please his mother, Sister Death, by spilling as much blood in her name as possible and his grandmother, The Mighty Phoenix, by using a spear made from a sun!
Huitzilopochtli, learned early on that he had the ability to create a sun, but obviously not to the extent of his grandmother. For his creations were too small, so instead he used this ability to honor both Immortals at the same time, by turning a sun he made into the powerful Xiuhcoatl, a spear that looks like a snake made of lightning.
Hephaestus approached Huitzilopochtli and asked him to
teach him the methods he used to not only stabilize a sun, but how he managed
to turn it into a weapon. Huitzilopochtli, agreed.
While Hephaestus waited he went to find materials for
Sister Death’s blade. First he looked at Sister Death’s preference in weapons,
and found that she relies on speed and agility when fighting. So, Hephaestus needed
something strong and light to accommodate this style of fighting.
Through his research, Hephaestus found that Sister
Death taught this style to her strongest warriors, The Valkyries. The
Valkyries, are an army of 13 winged female fighters. The Valkyries are also the
daughters of Sister Death and Odin (the son of Lady Wisdom).
The Valkyries were conceived, when Sister Death
learned that Odin built Valhalla and filled it with the souls of fallen
warriors he deemed worthy of spending their afterlives feasting and drinking in
luxury. This angered Sister Death, for it meant that her servants couldn’t
collect those souls to be taken to the underworld of Skáney
ruled by her daughter Hel. Thus throwing the scales of judgement in the
afterlife out of balance.
Sister Death confronted Odin and had full intention of reprimanding him, but instead she fell in love with him. Odin used his wisdom and knowledge to charm her. Odin revealed that he admired Sister Death and developed feelings for her, but felt that he disagreed with her method of judgement and thus took it upon himself to save the ones he deemed worthy of having a good afterlife.
He also confessed that
he did this to get the attention of Sister Death and confess his love for her.
The more they spoke the more they grew fond of each other and eventually,
Sister Death gave Odin permission to keep and rule over Valhalla, but he could
only collect the souls of warriors that die in Skáney!
Odin agreed and the two eventually got involved in a romantic relationship, that lasted for years and lead to the birth of the 13 Valkyries, who helped their father collect the souls of those he deemed worthy for the halls of Valhalla.
But this relationship was shattered when the war between the Aesir (Odin’s people) and the Vanir became too violent and destructive. The only way to stop this war was for Odin (king of the Aesir) to marry Freya (queen of the Vanir). Forcing Sister Death and Odin to separate.
Back to the blade… The feathers the Valkyries possess are able to cut through anything and shield them from any attacks. And the fact that they are feathers make them very light and ideal for Sister Death’s sword. But Hephaestus knew this wouldn’t be enough to impress Death. So he also drew up plans to petrify the feather in the metal that is used to create obolus coins. The obolus coin was used by the dead to pay the ferry man Charon, to escort them on the Styx into the afterlife in the underworld of Hellada, ruled by Hades. This coin is the currency of the underworld.
How they work:
In the underworld of Hellada, the dead are greeted by Hermes (son of Zeus
and Sister Death), who then judges the dead person. Depending on how they lived
their life, they will be given a certain amount of obolus coins. The more coins
they receive the better chances they have to enter paradise or heaven. And the
less coins, the more likely they will end up in the fiery pits of hell! The
coins are given to the dead soul and this soul gives it to Charon, who counts
it and takes them to where they have been judged to end up.
Now the reason why Hephaestus used this metal, is
because it is strong and unlike other metals, the metal from an obolus coin can
be held by anyone, whether they are alive, a spirit, ghost, spectrum etc.
Meaning that Sister Death can use the sword against
both tangible and intangible beings. This got Sister Death very excited, so she
agreed and sent messages to Hermes to bring as many obolus coins as possible
and also to retrieve a feather from her strongest Valkyrie warrior and daughter,
Brunhilde.
As Hephaestus received these items, he also got the
approval to move forward with Brother Life’s anti-matter blade. The Mighty
Phoenix even brought a sun about to go supernova to Hephaestus herself.
Hephaestus got to work on both blades. As mentioned in
the creation of Glacies Gladio, we don’t know what methods Hephaestus used to
forge the Excalibur collection, so all we know is that he used Huitzilopochtli’s
methods to stabilize the supernova and turn it into a blade. And at the same
time he melted down the obolus coins, petrified the feather from Brunhilde’s
wings in it and when heat treating the feathered blade, Hephaestus cooled it
off by dipping it in the River Styx.
Next, let’s look at the hilts, starting with the cross
guards. For Brother Life, Hephaestus wanted something that not only increased
the sword’s magic, but also helped stabilize the supernova blade and help keep
its form. For this he sought out Brother Life’s eldest son, Quetzalcoatl the
feathered serpent.
Quetzalcoatl is also the son of The Mighty Phoenix and
has similar powers to his cousin Huitzilopochtli, meaning Quetzalcoatl can also
create a sun. But Quetzalcoatl was imprisoned on a planet, created by Brother
Life, who named it after his daughter Venus, (but her mother, The Lady of the
Lake, calls her Aphrodite) as punishment.
What was the punishment for? Well, Quetzalcoatl, tried
to create a new sun, defying his mother’s (The Mighty Phoenix) wishes, that her
sun is the only sun to be used by living beings. Not only that, but Quetzalcoatl
tried to create a new human race by mixing together his blood and sand.
Threatening the balance of Magusterra. But despite this, Hephaestus wanted one
of Quetzalcoatl’s teeth, because the feathered serpent could carry any sun in
its mouth, leading to Hephaestus believing that the teeth can be used to keep
the supernova stable and help hold its shape.
So, Hephaestus made a deal with Brother Life, who then
made a deal with Quetzalcoatl. The deal was that Quetzalcoatl’s sentence will
be reduced, in exchange for a fang. Quetzalcoatl accepted this offer. With this
Hephaestus used the tooth and was proven right. The fang was able to keep the
supernova in check, while also adding to the sword’s overall power.
Now for Sister Death, Hephaestus, used two objects for the cross guard on her sword. First was the wings of a crow, but not just any crow, but a crow from the Yorùbá people. This crow is known as the éyé küró. The éyé küró, is used to find the dead souls for collection. Most crows that are used as messengers of death are reared and trained by Sister Death’s daughter The Morrígan, who herself has the ability to turn into a crow. The éyé küró is loyal to anyone associated with death, and will do anything for them. With this loyalty, Hephaestus, thought that he could use the wings of an éyé küró to make the sword fly and go to Sister Death whenever she needs it.
The second item used is the skull of a hellhound or black dog. These are canines, usually dark in colour, that are used to protect the entrances of the underworlds, or protect ghosts that wonder in grave yards (waiting for their time in purgatory to end so they can move on) from anyone who wants to capture or destroy them. The most famous and powerful, hellhound is the three-headed dog Cerberus owned by Hades.
Black dogs are not only guardians, but can at times be
bringers of death. They can even be summoned to kill someone and have them sent
straight to the fiery pits! But this can only be done when one makes a deal
with a powerful dark sorcerer or a devil!
When a person makes a deal with someone that is a part
of the dark or cursed magical community, they must keep their end of the
bargain. If not, the devil or dark sorcerer can contract a bounty hunter of
death to capture and kill them. These bounty hunters are usually black dogs or
hellhounds.
Not only are hellhounds fast, but they have strong sense of hearing and smell. They can also teleport to anywhere where death can take place. They also never fail to find and kill their targets. Not much else is known about them, except that those who have seen the creature say that when the black hound attacked their target, the beasts opened their mouths, revealing a window or portal that lead to the place made from fire and brimstone. Screams of pain and agony could be heard coming from the black beast’s mouth, rendering everyone in a 100-mile radius of the dog to freeze in fear.
It is said that this is how the black dog sends its
victim straight to the afterlife for the evil and unjust. Hellhounds were once normal
dogs who were brutally killed. These dogs are then given two choices: move on
to the spirit world or become a black dog (by possessing the body of one) to
hunt down those who practice evil.
If the second one is chosen, then the dog becomes a
hellhound and is given a contract. This contract states that the animal will be
a hellhound for a hundred years or until they find the people that killed them
and exact revenge. When one of these two conditions are met, they are then
again given two options: either move on to the land of the dead or become a
guardian of the dead. If the second is picked, they become the guardians for one
of the underworlds or a guardian for ghosts stuck in purgatory in a cemetery.
If they pick the first one, their spirit leaves the
black dog’s body and is escorted to the afterlife. The body is then taken to an
undisclosed location where it is kept in preparation to be used and possessed
by the next dog to take the deal. This means that the powers that the hellhound
has is still connected to the body and can be used even after the soul has left
the body. Making it ideal for Sister Death’s sword, not only for the ability to
teleport and opening a portal to hell, but to also increase the sword’s power
tenfold!
When Hephaestus brought this up to Sister Death, she agreed
within a heartbeat. She immediately sent word to The Morrígan to bring her an éyé
küró and to her son, Hades, to bring the skull of an unused black dog’s body
held in the undisclosed location.
Then finally it is the hilts of the swords. For this
Hephaestus wanted to make both hilts from similar materials and have the same
abilities.
For this he looked at the customs of life and death.
For life, clay statues where made whenever an animal, magical creature, magical
being and even humans, who struggled to have children, would ask Brother Life
to bless them with a child.
These clay statues were made by Brother Life’s second eldest, Prometheus. Who would meet with the being that wanted to have a child, but couldn’t naturally. So, Prometheus would collect DNA from both parents, mix it in the clay from the pool of primordial ooze and sculpt a statue, which would then add a new name to the Book of Life, “forcing” a new child to be born. It should be noted that this new life and the statue are intertwined. Meaning that if anything happens to the statue, say it falls and breaks, the life it is attached to, will meet a similar fate.
The beings that are born from Prometheus’ clay statues
are usually born with abilities that exceed that of their species. This is
where the Heroes that possess superhuman strength and genius, like Achilles and
Gilgamesh, come from.
These statues are kept safe in Prometheus’ work shop,
because when Prometheus allowed the parents to keep the statue it lead to dire
consequences. For example: Achilles.
Achilles is the son of Thetis (a daughter of The Lady
of the Lake) and the Human king Peleus. The two were in love but couldn’t
conceive, so they approached Prometheus. Prometheus agreed and gave them a son,
Achilles, and let Thetis keep the statue, but one day she accidently let it
fall into a river as she was cleaning it. The statue sank to the bottom and
broke at the heels. Thetis kept this a secret.
But this secret lead to the downfall of Achilles, for
even though he was super strong and had fast healing abilities, he now had one
weakness: his heels. Which lead to his death in the battle of Troy. Thus
Prometheus now keeps all statues with him for safe keeping. But will have to
eventually hand them over to Sister Death when that life has been determined to
end.
Anyway… This clay is extremely powerful and like the
black dog skull, will increase Brother Life’s sword tenfold.
But this meant that Sister Death’s sword should also be made from clay. But it should also be practical and useful in battle. For this Hephaestus studied the customs of Humans when it came to the death of one of their own. In his research he found that some Human settlements use smoke, specifically the Goídel people and the people from Mikinaak Minising. Both of these tribes smoke pipes with tobacco at the funerals of their loved ones. It is believed that they do this to cleanse the souls and guide its collectors to them to take the departed into the afterlife. These tribes live in the deep forests and woods, thus making them isolated, so they smoke to help the spirits’ guides find them and take the soul of the deceased to the land of the dead.
Hephaestus found this very interesting and thought it
could be used by Sister Death to signal and summon grim reapers (collectors of
the dead) to aid her in any fight, should she need backup. So, Hephaestus wanted
to incorporate a pipe into her sword.
He settled on the pipes used by the Goídel, for their
pipes are made from clay. But for this pipe to be used, it shouldn’t just
summon one grim reaper, but an entire army. So it needed to be made from a clay
connected to the dead.
This lead him to the customs of Kemet, where
Hephaestus met with Sister Death’s son Anubis, the jackal headed one. Anubis
not only guides the dead to the underworld, but is also the guardian of the
Kemet underworld and the judge of where the souls will end up, but he is also
the overseer of the funeral rights in the land of the living.
One of these rights involve Canopic jars, where the
decease’s organs are placed in as payment to enter the underworld and also so
that Anubis can be given their heart to be placed on the scales of judgment to
determine if the soul should be in paradise or suffer eternal damnation.
There are four Canopic jars, that are made from either lime stone or wood, these hold the intestines, stomach, lungs and liver. But there is also a fifth jar, that contains the heart and whereas the other four jars stay in Magusterra, the fifth jar (with the heart) is taken to Anubis for judgement. This jar is made from a clay that can only be found in the underworld of Kemet, so that it can be held by the dead without any trouble, just like the metal of the obolus coin.
With this, Hephaestus commissioned Anubis to make a clay pipe from this underworld clay and to give it the ability to signal and summon all who work for Death, to aid Sister Death when the pipe is lit and smoked.
But one problem was that clay pipes are very fragile, but Hephaestus came prepared and told Anubis to wrap and reinforce the pipe with string made from the hair of a Banshee (a messenger and bringer of death).
This also lead to Hephaestus wondering if the clay handle on Brother Life’s sword was strong enough. Leading him to contact Prometheus and ordered him to reinforce it with the tail from a cat that Hephaestus got while he was in Kemet, from Brother Life’s granddaughter, Bastet, the cat headed one.
In Kemet, Bastet, protects the living from evil spirits and uses her army of cats called miu, to protect the living realm from anything that escapes the underworld. These cats are also given 9 lives, making them semi-immortal, but they can also give one of their lives away to someone who is dying. Thus giving the clay hilt strength and Brother Life an extra boost in power.
The 9 lives are indicated in the cat’s tail. The longer the tail, the more lives they have and vice versa. Sister Death also has cats on her side that bring misfortune, that can be found in the east of the Nihon region. These are yōkai called nekomata.
But to make sure that people can
tell the difference between them and not accidently run up to a nekomata for
help instead of a miu, Sister Death agreed to give her cats (the nekomata) two
tails, to set them apart from the miu.
With all of these the swords where complete, except,
Hephaestus felt that Sister Death’s ability to call for reinforcements
overpowered Brother Life’s sword.
Hephaestus did some more research and found a way to
even out the imbalance and that was to incorporate the fang from The Dragon. The
Dragon, was the son of Quetzalcoatl. And like his father, The Dragon could
create life from sand, but where Quetzalcoatl used his blood to bring things to
life, The Dragon used his teeth.
The Dragon mostly used this ability to protect himself
by creating warriors out of sand, known as Spartoi, by pulling out and planting
his teeth in the soil. He was unfortunately killed by Cadmus, who used the
teeth to build and army so he could build the city of Thêbai in Hellada. But
the teeth that was left over was taken away by Brother Life for safe keeping,
but some are still in the hands of the Humans.
It is said that one tooth can create a warrior out of
anything that isn’t alive. Not just sand, but wood, stone, metal etc.
But if someone, who has the power of life, like
Brother life or his kin, uses one tooth, they can make many warriors from that one
tooth. The more power the wielder of the tooth has the more warriors they can
summon. Since Brother Life is the embodiment of life itself, he can then use
one tooth and summon as many warriors has he likes! So, Hephaestus, made the
tooth into the sword’s pummel. Thus allowing him to summon warriors to aid him
in any fight, just like his sister with her clay pipe, restoring the imbalance.
Now originally I was meant to find the Atetshents’
minkwa, or the Weapon of the Dreamer. The sword belonging to the Sandman, but
that was delayed to be my next pickup. Instead I had to hurry and collect the
Cradle and Grave set.
This is because the Feast of Samhain, came earlier than expected. The Feast of Samhain, is the day when in the land of the Goídel, the doors that separate the land of the living and the land of the dead become visible. There are two doors. One can be found in the Goídel underworld, Tír na nÓg, run by Dagda Mór. The second is found in Magusterra, Goídel, where the living is. Both doors lead to an empty hallway, that connects the two worlds. It is in this hallway the two swords are kept. Now before the swords, this hallway was used by both the dead and living to go in-between realms on the Feast of Samhain, but when it was decreed that the swords will be kept safe there the doors were locked.
“Why locked and not just stopped from appearing?” you
may ask. Simple, the doors ability to appear and disappear is unknown and can’t
be stopped. So it was locked instead.
The only people, who have the keys are Brother Life, Sister Death and their kin. Now some of the readers may wonder, “didn’t Hephaestus give Sister Death’s sword wings so that it can fly to her?” and to that I will say: this sword belongs to the Excalibur collection, one of eleven most powerful weapons in all of Magusterra. Do you believe that a locked door will stop it from making its way to Sister Death if she calls?
This then leads to the question: “won’t that leave the door open for anyone to get to Life’s sword and also if the doors only appear at a certain time, how will they get to them?”
Answer: First, the swords can only leave through the door that is connected to that sword’s owner’s domain. In other words, if Sister Death wants her sword she must enter the door in Tír na nÓg and leave with the sword from that same door. The same goes for Brother Life. If he wants his sword, he must enter and leave through the door that appears in Magusterra.
So in other words, even if Sister Death’s sword breaks through the door, leaving it open, it is open in the land of the dead. This also means that Brother Life’s sword is safe, because only beings that are a part of Life’s domain can touch it, the dead cannot. Same goes for Sister Death’s sword, no living being can touch it.
Second: When the doors were locked, the keys were given the ability to summon the doors anytime and anywhere by the wielder. The keys can only be held by those chosen by Brother Life and Sister Death.
Anyway, back to my story. As mentioned I had to hurry because the Feast of Samhain was taking place. This was also the best time because it meant that the rule of entering and exiting a specific door isn’t applicable. But this only happens on the day of the Feast of Samhain. Any other day the rule of getting in and out from a specific door is reinstated. Hence why it was locked up, so that it can no longer be used as it was in the old days of the Feast of Samhain and risking the swords from being stolen.
This also meant that I didn’t have to make two trips. One in Magusterra and the other in Tír na nÓg, where the Ark can’t go! Instead the Ark took me to the door on Magusterra’s side in the land of the Goídel, where I was met by one of Bastet’s miu’s to help carry Brother Life’s sword and a nekkomata yōkai, who carried Sister Death’s sword. Both cats carried the swords out from the door of the living and put them into a metal box, given to me by The Lady of the Lake. I then pushed it into the ark and next to the other swords.
When that was done I took a well-deserved rest and prepared myself to collect Item #60: Atetshents’ minkwa, or the Weapon of the Dreamer.
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