The Deathless Kingdom

The kingdom where no one can die

Once upon a time, in the land beyond an unclimbable mountain, there was a small kingdom. No outsider ever came to the kingdom, nor did they find it. The people in the kingdom were content with their modest lives, but a bit lazy.

One day, a colorless fog abruptly emerged and spread throughout the kingdom. It creeped people out, although there was no sign of ill effects for a while.

Not long after, people began to realize the occurrence of the peculiar phenomenon. Since the colorless fog had taken over the kingdom, no one died, even though, due to a shortage of healers, there were unfortunate deaths almost every day before the fog.

Even people who fell into illnesses or were seriously injured somehow survived. Deathlessness brought odd excitement to the kingdom. The modest people went wild after some decades. It was truly a miracle; the colorless fog erased the phenomenon of death itself. Nobody died, and nobody could die.

People eventually realized the hollowness of unlimited life. The biggest downside was that people couldn’t die, no matter how deeply injured or harmed by their reckless acts or serious diseases. Some even began to attempt to end their lives to flee from pain or nothingness, but they only suffered even more from the severe consequences. Every cherished relationship withered away because people only responded with “Who cares?” and “What is the point?” Nobody knows how many years passed since people stopped talking, moving, and eating.

One day, a man who was once a king walked into the rotten swamp out of boredom. He still lived meaninglessly in the castle, as an honorable king. He occasionally came down to see the people in the town, even though no one even glanced at him.

The rotten swamp was a prohibited place because of its toxicity; if you put a fingertip in it, you would feel a sting to the bones, and eventually you would lose control of your body. The king frequently visited the swamp to feel pain – a sense of life – desperately to stay sane.

That day, he had caught something in the corner of his eye that wasn’t there last time. It was a single bud of a plant, and when he approached it, a gigantic colorless flower bloomed. There was a baby boy inside the flower.

The king reached out, held the baby without a thought, and then felt deep emotion from the bottom of his heart, the kind of emotion he had forgotten countless centuries ago. The sound of whimpering resounded through the kingdom. It was the king who cried, not the baby.

The king excitedly ran through the kingdom while crying and shouting, “Baby! It is a baby!” People were stunned when they saw the baby, and their century-old abandoned facial muscles tried to make a smile, but only twitched. It had been forever since they had felt something truly remarkable.

However, soon after people gathered around the baby, the baby boy died in the king’s chest in terrifying agony. The baby’s small body lost its color, and the king felt his weight had become heavier. No one could move or comprehend it.

Then, just as suddenly, the baby revived, desperately seeking the air to fill his lungs. Indescribable fear was planted in people’s hearts, and the question was whether this miracle was for lifting the deathless curse or had brought an additional curse.

Every person in the kingdom nurtured the baby as if he were their own child. It was something people longed for, to feel and care about something or someone; the meaning of life.

The boy seemed to be healthy except for one thing. Not only was the baby mortal, but he also had been dying in a precise 24-hour cycle. Every death, the baby screamed in agony. People had to witness this horror inevitably.

Most of them cried and breathlessly waited every time until the baby revived. People tried their best to prevent his death cycle. Some prayed sleeplessly, some read all the books about life and death, and some attempted necromancy.

The king had never left the baby’s side since the first day he found him, and sang songs, told him stories, while holding his hand.

The king had been deeply regretting his past, thinking this curse may have been caused by his past deed, in which he had drunk the blood of infants some time, because he had once been obsessed with anti-aging.

Although no one was sure which one was effective, one day his death cycle was finally broken, and he survived a whole day. All of a sudden, the sky became clear for the first time in innumerable centuries. Simultaneously, the two oldest men in the kingdom quietly passed away.

The anxious silence spread among the people for a moment. Then, everybody looked at the baby who was peacefully sleeping in the king’s chest. Their anxiety soon turned into profound calmness. They accepted their future deaths, or even celebrated.

No one said it out loud, but everybody had the same thought: they would dedicate the rest of their lives to this baby, to let him live a healthy and happy life.