The young girl in a school uniform slowly stood up and looked around.
"She is alive! Call an ambulance," a middle-aged man screamed as they ran towards the girl.
"No need. I am fine," the girl replied absentmindedly.
"You are alright? How can you be alright after being hit by a truck?" a nearby person asked, dumbfounded. He couldn't help but take a look at the truck.
"It... It hit my bag."
Everyone in the area ran up to her and stared at her blankly. They couldn't believe it. She was perfectly fine. Not even a scratch! At the same time, there was a dent on the metal bar in front of the truck as if it had hit a tree.
***
The God of Death was a special entity in the entire universe. She was revered and feared by everyone in the 14 worlds and three realms. Gods, Asuras and humans were all equal in front of her.[1,2,3]
As usual, she was on duty on that fateful day.
Standing on top of a traffic signal, she apathetically looked at the truck that was slowly approaching her. She was wearing full black armour and carried a lasso. The lasso was used to reap souls. To human eyes, she was invisible. She calmly looked at the truck driver whose life would come to an end in a few moments. She prepared her lasso to collect the soul.
Then...
Krrrk...
"Huh?"
Unexpectedly, the traffic signal she was standing on tilted towards the road.
Scrrreeeeechh...
The driver saw the falling traffic signal and hurriedly applied the brakes.
The truck slid off the road, out of the driver's control. It moved towards the kids on the roadside. The truck driver instinctively released the brake and turned the steering wheel with all his might to avoid hitting the kids. His reflexes and skills were clearly top-notch.
The God of Death sighed and raised her hand towards the truck.
"God of Death... You shall not interfere with the lives of mortals." A handsome man appeared out of thin air between the God of Death and the truck.
The God of Death frowned.
"If I don't interfere, that girl will die. She is not supposed to die now," God of Death replied as she looked towards the truck, which was approaching a teenage girl.
In the eyes of those two entities, time was running very slowly. The truck driver had already prevented the truck from hitting the kids. Now it was moving towards the teenage girl.
"We cannot let you save her," another person said.
"What are you trying to do?" the God of Death was alarmed.
Swishhh...
Suddenly, golden ropes appeared and bound the God of Death. Many more people appeared out of thin air and grabbed the other ends of the ropes. She tried to break free. But there were many celestial beings around her, reinforcing the ropes with magic.
The rope of fate! She identified the rope. One of the few items in the three realms that could overpower her. She found her divinity being suppressed.
Helpless, she watched as the truck hit the girl and came to a stop. The girl's body bent and flew through the air.
The celestial beings released the ropes. Even with the combined effort of all of them, they could barely hold her for a few moments.
"God of Death, a mortal has died before her time because of your actions. You have hurt the human realm. What are you going to do?" a woman asked with a cruel sneer.
"You all conspired against me!" the God of Death closed her eyes. No one knew what she was thinking.
"Yes. You have no idea how long we waited for this. You always acted high and mighty."
"If you had sided with us, your own kind, we could have conquered all the 14 worlds and three realms. But you decided to stay neutral. Guess what. Not anymore," another person said with a confident smile.
The God of Death opened her eyes.
"You can submit to us. You have broken your own rules. We can help you handle the consequences if you submit to us. This is your only way out of this," the leader of the gang said. He looked rather confident.
The God of Death just smiled. "There is another way. Since you forced me, I will let you suffer."
Swish...
The God of Death disappeared.
The gang looked around, wondering what she was up to. Then their eyes came to rest on the young girl who was hit by the truck. She slowly stood up and looked towards the gang.
"She is alive! Call an ambulance." Someone screamed as they ran towards the girl.
"No need. I am fine," the girl replied absentmindedly.
...
Invisible to the eyes of the humans checking the girl, the divine entities stared at the girl in shock.
"She... She became a mortal! The balance of the universe - the rebirth cycle - what.. what will happen to everything?
"Shit... We screwed up."
The divine entities all looked shocked. Their plan to force the God of Death to submit to them backfired. Even in their wildest dreams, they never expected that the God of Death would choose to become a mortal.
But there was nothing they could do at the moment.
"Get back. We will decide after we retreat. We cannot stay here any longer." The leader of the gang gave an order and disappeared.
***
Young girls and boys with school bags walked into the school. One by one, teachers also came to the school. Some of them came by bus while some of them came by their private vehicles. Some teachers were roaming the school corridors to keep the students quiet. The watchman at the school gate was busy signalling vehicles and helping students cross the road.
Students were moving around everywhere like ants. In that mess, a girl no one paid attention to walked in.
Her name was Abhi. She looked around. A sigh of helplessness came out of her. She used to be the God of Death. She could come and go anywhere without an invitation. Yet now, she was reduced to a mortal. She could barely feel the divine power that used to rush through her blood.
'So, from today onwards, I am Abhi. That's a boy's name,' she complained to herself.
A few minutes ago, when her soul entered the body of the young girl, all the memories of the girl rushed to her mind. All the injuries on the body got healed. Guided by the memories of the girl, she walked into the school. Then, she went to her classroom. Finally, she sat down. Her thoughts were in disarray. So, she decided to take some time and slowly get a grasp of everything.
"Heyy... Where is the homework?" The moment she sat down, a girl appeared.
She had long black hair and sharp eyes. Her name was Tina. From the memories, Abhi understood what Tina was talking about. She reached into her bag and took out three books. That was the homework of Tina.
"Good girl. Now give me some pocket money."
Abhi took out her purse. Then she paused. The memories resurfaced again. She remembered how guilty she felt when she asked her parents for money. This was not exactly her memory. Those were not her parents either. But Abhi remembered how the original Abhi felt.
"I am sorry. I cannot give you the money," Abhi replied.
"What? Is the lesson you learned the previous time not enough?"
Abhi wasn't scared by the intimidation. She also clearly remembered what the lesson was.
"Please forgive me. I would like to learn the lesson again," Abhi replied politely.
"..."
This time, the bullies were a bit shocked.
"Fine. I will teach you the lesson soon." Tina gritted her teeth and left. The teacher was already in class. So she couldn't act right there.
Abhi looked around. All the faces looked familiar. Some of them were looking at her with pity. Some of them were busy with their own business. Then there was one particular face. At the same time Abhi looked at him, he turned and looked at her.
'Yuck...' for a moment, Abhi's heartbeat was messed up. Her heart started beating like a drum.
'What! What is this reaction? How could I act like this just because of a human boy? Is it the reaction from the body? That boy was Abhi's crush before she died. Maybe the body still has its own instincts.'
'Still, I am the God of death. I should not be acting like this.'
Abhi tried to bring her heartbeat under control. After a few minutes, she successfully calmed her beating heart.
'I didn't just become a human. I got the weakness of the humans as well. This is not good.'
'I am not prepared for this.' God of Death regretted her decision.
***
Class started.
Abhi was not feeling well.
Nothing was as she expected.
Abhi was a bullied girl who was good at nothing. She had a very small number of friends, and the majority of teachers didn't even know her name.
On one hand, Abhi liked it. She could live a silent life without attracting any unwanted attention. But at the same time, she couldn't accept being bullied. Also, her body had an unexplainable attraction towards a snot-faced boy.
The bell rang.
"Come with us," Tina appeared right in front of Abhi.
Two girls appeared on either side of Abhi and grabbed her arms. It looked like three friends were going to take a stroll.
Abhi didn't resist. She walked with the three girls.
There was a small empty space at the back of the stage of the school auditorium. The bullies led Abhi there.
"Since when do you have the courage to talk back to me?" Tina asked Abhi.
"I am annoyed today. So why don't we have a friendly chat and become friends instead of making my day worse?"
Tina was dumbfounded. Her lackeys were also shocked.
"You... you are asking for a beating."
Abhi sighed. She was really annoyed. Just a few hours ago, she was a God feared by everyone. Even the King of the Gods and Monarch of the Asuras treated her with respect. Now, she was being bullied by a stupid teenage girl. She was already regretting her decision.
The lackeys laughed and grabbed both the arms of Abhi. Tina charged at Abhi angrily. Her fist neared Abhi's face.
'Toonnngg'
A ringing sound was heard.
Tina was confused for a second. Then her brain recorded pain.
"Aaarrrrghh..." she cried.
"What happened?" the lackeys asked.
"Gghh... Don't let her go. Her face is suddenly like a rock," Tina bit down the pain and said.
"You cannot hurt me," Abhi said.
"Ohhh... I can. I will show you what I can do," Tina was truly angered.
Abhi sighed.
"You three should be careful. With such a loose elastic, your skirts might fall down. It might become a scandal," Abhi said out of nowhere.
"What the hell are you talking about? I am wearing..." Tina's sentence stopped in the middle.
She suddenly became pale. The lackeys were nothing better. They barely managed to grab their skirts before they fell to the floor.
"What... How did you?" the girls asked.
"Ahh... This is embarrassing. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone," Abhi said with a happy smile.
"Witch!... She is a WITCH..." one of the lackeys screamed.
"No. I am a God," Abhi corrected the girls.
"Why are you even bullying me? Bullying is not even a thing in our place?" Abhi asked. She was a bit confused too. Bullies were usually looked down on with disgust. Students usually found it beneath themselves to take money from someone else. But these three girls were doing it.
"We... we saw it in English movies." One of the girls stammered.
"Hmm... Now, run away before I turn you all into rats." Abhi waved her hand.
The girls no longer had the courage to face Abhi. The three girls ran away with a hand on their skirts to make sure that they wouldn't fall off.
Abhi chuckled.
"So this is the satisfaction she wanted the whole time. It indeed feels nice to get revenge," Abhi murmured.
'Ughh... This must be because of the hormones. Damn... I should have never become a human. Humans are indeed pitiful worms.' Abhi regretted her decision even more.
"Urgghh..." Abhi grunted. She felt a sudden headache, and her entire body felt cold.
"Tch... Looks like this body is too frail to channel divine power." She realised that the divine power she could use was limited. Apparently, the human body was fragile and couldn't channel too much divine power.
Abhi took some time to calm her shivering body. Once she was back to normal, she returned to her class.
"Hey... Give me some pocket money," Abhi requested Tina, who was trying her best not to look at Abhi.
Tina took out all the money she had without wasting a second. She didn't want to have this witch anywhere near her. The other students looked at the scene confusedly.
'Well... I just have to live out her life so that it won't disturb the flow of the universe. But there is no reason for me to be a saint.' Abhi justified her own actions.
Like that, the God of Death, who terrorised the 14 worlds and three realms, became a teenage villain who terrorised her classmates.
______________________________
[1]: The God of Death has no gender. But will be referred to as 'she'.
[2]: Three realms: Heaven, Earth and Underworld.
[3]: Asura: Occupants of the underworld from Indian (Hindu) mythology.