Aoife

(Like Eva, sort of. Actually, more like E-fa. Whatever. You can just call me Death. You can pronounce that, right?)

I was born into a small clan in a remote area of what is now called Scotland. More specifically, Dornoch, the county town of Sutherlandshire in Caledonia. This area is known for unarable and sparsely populated moors and deer forests. The few people living there had to rely on wits, skill and, of course, our religion – magic. I first saw this world, in this body, on what is now called 1 April 1633. I believe the date is also known as "April Fools Day". (laughter) I wonder who’s to be the fool?!

We lived harmoniously with the Vikings. There were too few of us to pose a threat to them. My own family were settlers as well, coming from the "small island" (what you call Ireland today) many years ago. It was often said when the Gaels came to our small island they were afraid of our magic and chased us out. But my grandfather also used to spin other fantastic tales when he’d been into the drink.

I was brought up in the tradition of my mother, of all women of her lineage. I was taught the ways of the earth, how to worship the Goddess and the God, and most importantly, how to affect events seemingly out of my control. Some would call us witches, but, more properly, we were priestesses. We were held in high esteem in our clan, though there were some who were in fear of us. We were the protectors of clan, using our wits and knowledge to defeat our foes.

I do not know what event led me to be as I am today. But I can tell you a few tales, fantastic as they may be, that occurred after I was made the Angel of Death.

This particular story begins in Australia. Yes, I found myself in the land of England’s criminal cast-offs. I’m still not sure how or why I was in Australia, everything is blurry of those days. But that leads me to one of my best pranks. Believe it or not, I was single-handedly able to get England to declare Australia it’s primary penal colony! Not really that difficult considering the American Revolutionary War kind of put a damper on the barmy King using that landmass to dump his undesirables. But the joke was on him, the ponce! Having never been to Australia, the general population of England had no idea the paradise to which they were sending their criminals. The era of the penal colony was almost over at the time I was in Australia.

At any rate, I was in Australia, Queen Victoria ruled all of "Great Britian" and Temperance had reared its ugly head in both the British Isles and America. I met up with a pair of peculiar individuals who seem to have a continuing impact on my unlife. The first of the two was a woman by the name of Samantha Thomas. An odd woman, very pinched and restrained, but exceedingly clever. She was accompanied by Srevus, a young mortal man with extraordinarily powers of magic. I felt drawn to them, as if I knew them from another life, another time.