The Legend of the Best Boy Who Ever Lived

Long ago, seawater did not burn the skin, but was as safe to swim in as a lake. And by the beach, there lived a dog who loved to go swimming every day. He would run through the sand and frolic in the waves, without a care in the world.

Sometimes, the dog would find animals who needed his help: a stranded clam here, an upended turtle there. The dog would very diligently care for all who needed it, carrying clams back to the water with his mouth, and digging down and pushing very hard with his nose to flip turtles over. The dog helped everyone, for he knew no other way of life.

Then, one morning after a big storm, the dog came upon an animal at the beach he had never seen before. It was very strange, covered in spiny quills, with many arms protruding every which way. It struggled a bit, looking quite injured. Since it didn't seem to be flipped over like a turtle, the dog decided to take it back to the water. This option, surely, would be what solved the strange animal's problems.

As the dog approached the animal, it reached many arms out towards his face, as if to pet him like a human would. The dog was happy.

A short time later, the dog found himself looking up into a pair of deep, kindly eyes.

"Oh dear," said the dog, taking a sniff and finding the creature and the ocean nowhere to be found. "What happened?"

"You made a slight mistake," said Death, "but that's okay, I still love you."

The dog wagged his tail. "What was that weird animal? I think it needed my help."

"You are right, my child," said Death, "it does need help. I have taken its evil master, and it and its siblings are now lost and confused."

"I don't understand," said the dog, "but I want to help it."

Death looked down at the dog and sniffed deeply of his scent. She had taken the measure of every dog who ever died, and found not a single one of them tainted by evil. And this dog, of course, was no exception. His soul sat before her, radiantly shining, tail wagging back and forth.

"If you truly want to help these creatures," said Death slowly, "there will be a price."

"That's okay," said the dog, eager only to help.

"Let me show you," said Death, and placed her paw upon the dog's forehead. The dog froze, whining as the pain of knowledge of evil washed over him.

"I give you truth," Death said, "the perspective to understand what it means to be evil."

The dog did not wag his tail.

"Now," Death continued, "you see why that demon cannot be helped? It is pure evil, nothing you need concern yourself with. Come with me now, to the other side. Let me remove this knowledge from you, such that you may reclaim your deserved blissful innocence."

As Death's giant paw reached out towards his head once again, the dog thought about the life he'd lived until now. All he'd ever wanted was to frolic by the beach and help other animals... why should that change now?

"No, thank you," said the dog, bowing his head. "Now that I know what evil means, I want to help that creature even more. If I can understand evil, maybe it can understand good, too."

Death looked down at the dog, and was filled with love for him. "Understand that by making this choice, this act to save the souls of demons, you forever risk your lineage's place by my side, where every other dog who has ever lived awaits you. Knowing full well the consequences, do you still make this choice?"

The dog hesitantly, then emphatically, wagged his tail.

"So be it," said Death. "You, my child, are a very good boy."