Harrison's+Myth

by Harrison
Why do people die? That is the question. Now, you may think that people die naturally in old age in the same way. But this is not the case. You may think that a person gets old and suddenly their heart stops beating, their mind shuts down, and they fall to the ground. Or you may think that one morning your grandmother just doesn’t wake up. But that is not the case. Everyone has many different reasons for why people die. Here are some examples. The science ways: old age, heart stops beating, disease etc. Or the fictional ways: they went to a better place, death took them, the devil took them, the angel of death took them, etc. But all of these are wrong. There is only one answer: The Shinigami. Yes, the Shinigami is Japanese for “Reaper.” Another name for the Shinigami is "The Bringer of Death.” It is this entity that takes all life. When a person grows old and dies, (G-d decides when they die.) they do not go to heaven immediately. They walk the earth as a ghost, not knowing what to do. They are alone, condemned to roam the lands, for they do not go to heaven immediately.   But then there are the Shinigami . The Shinigami finds these lost souls and leads them to salvation. How do they do this you ask? You see, the Shinigami have a special weapon, the Zanpaktou. This is a type of sword that only the Shinigami have. The Zanpaktou has no direct meaning in English, so everyone who knows about this weapon calls it the Zanpaktou. They perform a special ritual with these weapons, called the Konso. This means “Console.” The Shinigami take their Zanpaktou and press the back of the handle, the hilt, against the wandering soul’s head. This forms a bond between Shinigami and soul. The soul then goes up to heaven. What the Konso actually does is separate the soul from the world and let it be free to go to heaven. The Shinigami call heaven the Soul Society, because this is where the souls converge. This is the story on how the Shinigami were created. Once there was a ghost. He was all alone, with nothing to do and no one to talk to. He was scared and didn’t know what to do. Finally a spirit came down from the heavens and appeared before the ghost. The spirit had big, white feathered wings. He looked so god-like. It seemed as if the sun was shining down right on the spirit. When it spoke to the ghost, it said, “Hello, my child. You may not believe this, but it is I, your Lord, G-d. I am here to take you to the heavens.” The ghost was confused at first, but was then overjoyed. He was finally going to break the curse of wandering the world forever! The two beings drifted up into the heavens. The ghost was amazed at the sight of heaven. It was all white. There were clouds everywhere, and the sun was so pleasant. G-d said to the ghost, “This is my home. I would like to share it with you as well. You are the first one that I have said this to, but there is a price for I need you to do me a favor. If you want to continue living here, you must become a Shinigami, a reaper, and save souls like yourself.” He handed him a Zanpaktou. It was a beautifully crafted weapon, one that seemed to shine with the light of a thousand suns. It looked like a Katana in some ways, because of how the blade and the hilt were shaped. But the guard looked entirely different. It was a metal ring, floating around the sword in midair. It had a phoenix engraved on it. G-d said, “This is your first step in becoming a Shinigami. This is not an easy occupation. There are not only good spirits, like yourself, but there are bad spirits too. We call them hollows, meaning without a heart or soul. You must defeat these hollows to survive and to save the good spirits. Now, go forth, and perform the Konso on other souls so they, too, can be free like yourself. But first, I need to train you and explain to you what all of this means.” The ghost, or well actually now the Shinigami, was confused. He didn’t know what any of this meant. But he went with G-d to go train. 5 Years Later...  The Shinigami was in a fierce battle with a very powerful hollow. “ROARRRRRR!!!” The hollow screamed. But the Shinigami did not even flinch. He ran at the hollow blindingly fast. He slashed upwards at it with his Zanpaktou. The hollow jumped out of the way barely in time. “HA!! YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME WITH THAT MEASLY WEAPON?” Shouted the hollow. “Hmph. This is no measly weapon,” the Shinigami answered. He held his Zanpaktou high in the sky and called out its name, “Soar, Finnikusu!” A huge flash of light emitted from the sword.  “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE! HOW CAN YOU POSESS FINNIKUSU, THE PHOENIX!!!??” The hollow yelled. When the light faded, the Shinigami was holding no ordinary sword. Its entire shape changed. The guard looked like wings and had two phoenix on each wing. The blade was very long and burned with a golden aura. It seemed as if the sword had a life of its own.  “Die,” said the Shinigami in a calm and yet scary voice. After that, the hollow just disintegrated. That’s it. It happened in the blink of an eye, literally. “Hmph,” said the Shinigami. A soul then drifted up from the corpse of the hollow.  “Thank you. Now please, free me of this curse, I cannot continue living in this endless state,” it said. “Of course,” said the Shinigami. He walked up to the soul and placed the hilt of his Zanpaktou against the soul’s head. There was a quick flash of light...and the soul was gone. It went up to the soul society. All that remained of it was a butterfly, fluttering away. Return to Oral Traditions Myths