The Saddest Demigod

A Story by Nathan

A story of why we feel what we feel.

There are two gods of our universe; The God of Life and the God of Death. These gods are in a union that inspired the world as we know it. The God of Life brings new beings into the our world, as they were an excitable and wondrous god. The god of Death takes the earthly beings away, so that the god of Life was never bored of making new creations.

Over eons, the gods started feeling like something was missing from there pact. The beings of earth, both big and small, were empty vessels that felt nothing. The pair of gods decided to breath a feeling of purpose into some of the beings. One of these beings were us humans.

The demigods were birthed from the values of both Life and Death. There were six of them: Creativity, Sympathy, Passion, Patience, Love, and Pain. The demigod of Creativity allowed humans to create shelters and make art and language. The demigod of Sympathy allowed humans to understand one another even without words, and that bred compassion in us. Passion is what motivates us. It's why we fight for our lives and our loves. Patience is an important demigod, because without it we would not be willing to wait for what we deserve. The demigod of Love created communities with strong ties, and unions similar to the Gods of the universe. The last demigod was Pain, both physical and emotional.

Pain hated their siblings, for no being on earth could hate them. Pain brought tears, sadness, and regret. The demigod felt that there was no good reason for its own existence. As the beings of earth were affected by Pain's vice, Pain couldn't help but compare themselves to their siblings. Pain's siblings tried to make Pain feel better.

Pain was first talked to by Love. Love told Pain that they shouldn't feel bad for their role in the universe. Pain brought people together; it allowed people in love to prove themselves when their love is lost. Pain was not satisfied with this description.

Patience then came to soothe Pain. Patience tells Pain that, it didn't matter if they cause hurt and upset, because, with patience, those things fade. This description upset Pain more.

Passion rushed to make up for their younger sibling's mistakes. Pain was told by Passion that they were quite alike. Both had both emotional and physical variants that were quite effective. Pain considered this comparison for a moment, but ended up feeling like the 'bad' to Passion's 'good'. Sympathy couldn't help but intervene after this.

Sympathy told Pain that, while it might help to tell them that those in pain bring those with sympathy, but would instead say that they were sorry for how they were feeling.

With Pain still feeling low, Creativity stepped up. Creativity said that pain is often the cause for inspiration in earthly beings.

At this point, Pain was no longer comparing themselves to their siblings, because it seemed obvious to them that they were only appreciative of Pain when it helped highlight them. Now Pain was angry with his siblings and cast them away.

The demigods left their sibling and went to seek help from a higher being. The demigods told their parents, the gods of Life and Death, about Pain's problem.

The Gods tell their offspring to go back to places on earth, and that they will talk with Pain. The Gods reach down and pick up the saddest demigod. The god of Life talked first. They told Pain that they were created, not to lift up their siblings, but to be equal to them. Life said, you come from me. Birth is the start of life, and that comes with pain. It's intrinsically connected. Death spoke next. Death said, you come from me. You may be seen as cruel for your part in this universe, but you are necessary. Death takes any pain away; it makes people grateful for death and helps those appreciate life.

Pain started to feel differently about their place in the universe. Pain wasn't a burden on others, nor a highlighter for their siblings. They were an intrinsic part of Life and Death; as all the demigods were.

This is why we feel pain. It moves us, inspires us, helps be grateful for our lot in life. Without Pain, our world would be worse off.