The sun rose over the o waves, a golden mist slowly settling over the sandy shores. Crashing waves drowned out by the shrieking seagulls cirg overhead. A beautiful m in a beautiful town.

  A man y, basking uhe warm rays that peeked through the opy above.

  "Good m, my love." A woman ed, a soft smile grag her lips.

  "M." He spoke quietly, eyes still closed. Enjoying the tranquillity of the m, listening to the o waves, feeling the warmth of his wife's embrace.

  "Dad!" Children's calls stirred him from his peaceful state. The man grumbled, burying his head in the pillow, trying to hide from his responsibilities.

  " darling. They are up. They wait to fish with their father." A gentle poke and an affeate nuzzle enced him to get up.

  Before being the reaper, Malphas was a humble fisherman by the name of Matthias. A loving wife, four kids, and a life at the o. Unlike his reaper form, his body was deeply tanned, years w uhe bzing sun. Long u blonde hair and pierg green eyes, muscles toned from bour at sea.

  "DAD! Quickly!" Urgen their voices brought the fisherman to his feet, running to meet them at the shoreline. He stumbled out of the house, nearly tripping over himself.

  "What's wrong?!"

  The children all huddled on the cliffs edge, pointing in silent fear. "Another one?" Matthias k o his children, squinting as he peered over the edge.

  "Another monster." A gia y dead at the bottom of the cliff, purple blood soaking the sand. Its massive frame dwarfed anything he had ever seen before.

  '...Another one?' He thought to himself.

  "That's the third ohis month." The eldest boy spoke with a mixture of awe and fear. He stood still, watg it ily.

  "No fishing today; We will go to the market for today." Matthias ahe two you, skipped back to the house. Whilst the elder pair stood watg the horizon. "It's getting closer." The eldest poio the north.

  Thunderous clouds gathered across the northerheir presence had bee for months, dark ominousness, signs of war at their doorstep.

  "e boys, back to your mother." Matthias spoke softly. Putting a brave face, his weathered features hiding his true fear.

  The march to town was silent; the sight of the beast had shaken them all. For they all knew death was on the horizon. The main road to town had a few wagons passing by, women chatted with each other in groups. Despite the sightings of monsters, the residents still went about their daily lives. It seemed that normald routine had kept them calm and peaceful.

  However, the town itself was a stark trast to the road inward. market stalls lihe streets, White gravel stretched out from one side to the other; stalls sparsely poputed; the few manned were occupied by elderly faces.

  "Ah, if it isn't our brave fisherman, Matthias." A white-bearded man sat in his stall selling fruit from the local orchard.

  "Good m, Damas; how are you today?" He greeted back. "Nothiing going on out here, I'm afraid. Shouldn't you be oers?" He asked in fusion.

  "Another monster washed up along the cliffs this m." The two you children spoke simultaneously, gesturing wildly as they reehe size of the beast.

  "Damas, you vince our farther to let us fight? To joiher boys who have already enlisted." The eldest asked with a glint in his eye. The sed brother smiled in agreement, his eyes pleading for permission to join the war.

  The white-bearded man looked at the pair with pity.

  "War is not as gmorous as it seems, d. Don't throw your life away for a cause that isn't yours." He gnced between the children and their father. Body slumping forward in exhaustion, suddenly looking much older than his years.

  "But our friends have all gone-"

  "Enough! You will speak not further of this!" Matthias shouted, the gre cast, enough to scare them all into silence.

  "Good day Damas." Matthias paid for the fruits and headed bae.

  Atop the town stood an acropolis, marbled ns, and an immense dome. Matthias and the to the gods stared at each other from across the sea of gravel. Scoffing at the gods, Matthias led his brood home.

  The diable was as quite as ever, tension in the air like a thick fog. The children ate in silence, fidgeting nervously in their seats. No one spoke. Each kept their thoughts to themselves.

  "Dad... you 't keep us from fighting. Our friends... our people, they're fighting for our survival." The eldest spoke quietly, darning not to look into his father’s eyes. Matthias tio eat, refusing to aowledge his son's mumbled pleas.

  "Why won't you let us fight?" The sed eldest asked with more force than his brothers’ plea.

  *WHAM*

  Matthias smmed his fists down oable, startling everyone.

  "You would not be fighting for the ones who sit across from you. You would fight for those who sit above, who live in their paces amongst the sky. You would die fods, who has never once lifted a sword or stepped onto the battlefield. Let alo by a fire with his kin." Voice like steel and tone resolute.

  "Those beasts are just across our waters every day; the clouds draw closer. We must protect our home!" The eldest retorted.

  Matthias got up from the table. The wooden chair falling to the floor with a ctter.

  "Listen here boy, you will stay here. This fight is not ours!" He roared out, grappling the eldest by the shoulders. Shaking him bad forth.

  A soft warm haed on his shoulder.

  "Calm yourself Matthias. Breath." He sighed deeply, dropping his grip on his son's shoulder. Matthias left without a word, his wife's voice soling the children in his absehe door clicked shut behind him.

  The night breeze along the o washed over him, waves crashing softly along the shorelihe smell of brine rexed him, to him it was home.

  Slumping down in the sand, the field of stars reflects on its pristine surface. Rubbing his neck, Matthias sighed in frustration. Footsteps echoed behind him, kig up sand as they drew closer.

  "They are scared, Matthias." His wife sat dowo him, her f touch soothing his frayed nerves.

  "They want to fight because they think It's their only choice. You would go to war too if you knew nothing else." She leaned into his chest; arms ed around him. They stayed silent for a long time, listening to the crashing waves.

  "I don't want them to be soldiers." He finally spoke. "I don't want to send my boys to war."

  She gently cusped his cheek. Turning his face to hers. "Your stress ages you so." She smiled sweetly, affeately runnihumb across his jawline.

  "We both have lived the sequences of war; I want a better future for them. So, they live free. Free from the gods, free from war." Matthias whispered.

  "I know you do, my love." Her head rested on his chest. Her body softly rising and falling with each breath.

  "However, we ot protect them from everything. Their lives will take them on different paths. You must allow them to make their own choices. One day they will leave us and embark on their own journey. As did you once, remember?" She gazed up into his eyes, peering deep into his soul.

  "What do I do?" He asked. The wisdom of his wife; the only deliverance from his worry.

  "Perhaps we could trai home, all of them. A father’s guidance is greater than anything they would offer at the capital." Matthias nodded in agreement, any excuse to keep his sons safe was worth a try.

  "You are wise as you are beautiful, my love."

  "Careful now, with talk like that, we might find ourselves with a 5th child." Her voice spoke mischievously.

  "e let's go home." Matthias got to his feet, his hand to help his wife up. The pair walked back to the house, hand in hand. Stars painting the night sky above.

  The o was quiet, waves now barley pped against the shore. The sea is as if holding its breath, anticipating. On the calm surface stood a veiled figure, watg silently.

  Death was waiting.