Chapter Text
Akabane Karma does things because he can, some people say.
Akabane Karma does things others don't want him to, so others argue.
In reality, Akabane Karma does things because he has to.
Most of the time.
-//-
He has three sisters. Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis are their names. They hold great power over the living, deciding their moment of birth and death. They take their duties with pride, and teach him to do the same.
At first, there's no need for him to exist. All souls find their way to Stynx by themselves. The gods of the underworld send them to either Tartarus or the Elysium fields, depending on the deeds of their pasts. After a while, Pluto deems them ready to repeat the circle and sends them away.
This way of doing things exhausts them, so the Fates ask for assistance. So the Lord of the Underworld allows them to pick one of any of the souls in his kingdom, and raise it as a handler of souls.
This is how he came to be, he imagines. But it doesn't matter if he's wrong. Fate is a force more powerful than any and all gods.
"Little brother." Lachesis calls him. He follows her voice, standing in front of her moments later. "You must go into the human world. Fix the scales corrupted by the hands of men."
He accepts.
"The Oracles are waiting for you."
The word of the Dates isn't absolute - Death, however, is, - and Oracles know when someone upsets the balance of the world. They inform the Fates -or, in this case, him- to take a path of action.
Under their guidance, he does the unthinkable: he writes down his name into his Book of Souls and slowly, he sheds his human-like appearance as he steps into the Eternal River. Each soul has a name to always follow them, for him to recognise them, to separate them from the myriad of humans who share the same mortal name. However, the only name he was ever given was the one he currently wore. He knew no other; so he wrote down his divine name.
-//-
Christmas finds Akabane Mirai in a hospital in New Delhi, India, giving birth to a boy with attention-drawing, bright scarlet hair and shining golden eyes.
IIt must be fate, she muses, for me to give birth to my boy today, here.
Her husband agrees with her decision to name the little boy Karma.