The great goddess Death grew weary of her office. Her name cursed by mortals, she no longer took satisfaction from her duties. At last, she retired in sadness to her ageless home, and would perform them no more.
     No one could die. The aged, the deathly ill, the wounded, all whose time had come were forced to remain, souls trapped agonizingly in their bodies, caught in an awful half-existence. It was terrible to see. They begged the goddess to come to them; their families and comrades called to her day and night. She would not hear them. Her siblings watched the growing of the chaos on earth, and at last they knew someone must speak to her. Each in turn pled with her; all but the eldest, for he knew it would not avail. At last when the others returned to him, defeated, he told them what he had done: found a mortal to seek out their sister, to plead for the earth’s creatures.
     This was the young man Edan. Long he sought Death, and though he traveled far, he found no sign of her. At last, when he was weary and could no longer go on, he spied a flickering light. Following it, he soon came upon a cave. The flickering light from the fire that led him danced over the cave’s mouth and fitfully illuminated the woman sitting in front of it. Her hair was long, and dark, falling down to blend with her clothing. Her eyes held him; piercing and crystalline pale, and as they met his, ages seemed to pass before him. With steady voice, he sought to apologize for his intrusion, and begged the gift of her name.
     She told him it was Teleute, and then Edan was afraid, for he knew he was in the presence of Death. He perceived no malevolence in her gaze; only weariness, and gathering his courage he got her leave to speak with her a while.  He spoke so well that she was intrigued. On two conditions would she take up her purpose once more- one, that those she served never forget their debts to her; and two, that Edan consent to join her as companion in her loneliness. This was her test of him; for to join her all that was mortal in him must be burned away. The fire leapt up into a blaze, reflecting from her eyes as she gave him his choice.
     He walked into the fire, and let it burn away fear and flesh and finally pain. When he stepped out of the ashes to take Death’s hand, he left behind his bones. At that moment, all the souls that had been trapped on earth were released from their prisons of flesh.
     Now annually at the dark of the year, a festival is held to honor them: Death, that she might never turn from the earth again, and Edan, the fiery, for his courage. Near the cave is a temple, and there can be seen Edan’s bones, during the celebration of the release of  the soul.