The Sweet Relief of Death

[Guest Morpheous Erebos]

Ok, I've been working on this, basically paragraph by paragraph, for months, posted it once in FF, but it wasn't too popular. Thought I'd re-post it here, where it would be both better placed and possibly more viewed.

 

[spoiler=Chapter 1, The Thought of Dying...]Zane walked to the door, early for his appointment, which had a very strict schedule. He had about 15 seconds left, according to his watch. He walked in, unannounced, unnoticed, unknown. It was about midnight, and he was due upstairs to see his client, although said client had no clue of Zane's existence. Sight failing from exhaustion, Zane failed to see the coffee table in front of him, and sent a vase clattering to the floor. Alaric, Zane's ignorant client, awoke at the sound and grabbed a bat he kept in his room. He went down the hallway and saw a mysterious figure in black, moving across the house, seeming to be looking for something specific.

 

Alaric followed, quickly, quietly. 5 seconds remained on Zane's clock, and Alaric was gaining on him. Zane turned around and his face seemed in the wrong place at the wrong time as there was a whack, and the bat made contact with his face. Alaric turned on the light and saw a skull in place of a face, and it was completely destroyed. Horrified, he stepped slowly back, and his back met the body of a gorgeous woman, presumably no more than 40.

 

Alaric turned and screamed, as he had never seen this woman before in his life. When he quieted, the woman spoke. “My name is Lachesis. I am an aspect of Fate. I determine when the lives of people, including you, end by cutting the threads of their lives in the appropriate places. You were destined to cease living today, and you shall, but not in the normal aspect. You will become Death, who neither lives nor dies.”

 

“What do you mean become Death?” Alaric shrieked, but as he did so, the body in front of him transformed, becoming solid flesh – His! For a short while, he was silent with fear and when he finally spoke, he noticed that the cloak from the dead body had been placed beside it. “I think I understand now, but how is this possible!?”

 

“That is simple, but at the same time difficult, to explain. You see, all the forces of the world are controlled by humans like you and I. I am Fate, you are Death, and there are 3 other Incarnations, as they are known. They are War, or Mars, Time, or Chronos, and Nature, or Gaea. There are also 2 other well-known Incarnations, but they are moreover known as the Eternals. They are known to everyone, including humans, as God and Satan. Each is just an office to be held, given up in specific ways pertaining to the specific office. Death, for example, must be killed and his murderer will become his successor.”

 

“So, because I killed Death, I become Death!!??”

 

“That is how it seems. This man was a fine Death,” she stated, directing Alaric’s attention to the body, as if it had been needed. “You will find some jewels held by the officeholder and a watch on the body and some in the cloak, which I ask you to don as soon as possible.” Alaric did as he was asked, and while he did so she continued. “All gems will make their purposes known, usually very subtly. So much so, that sometimes you don’t know how you know how to work them. However, I will tell you how the Deathwatch works, as that is a big part of your job.

 

“I never told him because he was too scared. You seem more used to this. It is much like a stopwatch. You press the top button down and the countdown starts and stops. The countdown tells you how much time is left before you collect your clients’ souls. You can make them last longer in life, but you would want to do so carefully, because, since they cannot die while time is stopped, you could be lengthening their pain. Only use it when the client is not in pain, and you need time to either contemplate, or send the souls off. The bottom button sets the timer to 10 minutes. It should be rare, if at all, that you use that button. Pushing the middle button does nothing. Pulling it freezes time. If you freeze time and while that happens set the timer to 10 minutes, you will summon Chronos. Only use this when you need help or comfort.

 

“Now, go and start on your office,” she ordered, after seeing that he found all his gems. “Mortis is waiting out front.”

 

“Mortis?” Alaric knew the word as Latin for death, which did not surprise him, but he did not know what she implied.

 

“Your Death steed. Of course, it could be in another form. It should be recognizable.” Seeing Alaric’s contemplating expression, she guessed his thoughts. “And by the way, as long as you wear that uniform, no one can see you. You are visible to them, of course, but they disregard your existence, or they may see you as someone they find important or someone they truly need. Your shoes allow you to walk on water as if it were solid ground, as well.”

 

Although this was a lot to take in, Alaric just said “Okay,” and walked outside, doing as he was told. He saw a white limousine, no, more like a pale white. He remembered that Lachesis mentioned his Death steed would be waiting outside, and the legend of the four horsemen of the apocalypse which stated that Death rode on a pale horse. Alaric made the connection, and looked the limo over. Sure enough, the license plate said, plainly, “MORTIS”. Lachesis said something about the “forms” of Mortis. Maybe the limousine was one of them? As he was described as a steed, Alaric figured Mortis had to be alive. He took a shot. “Hello… Mortis?”

 

The car horn sounded by itself, setting Alaric back. He remembered the jewels he had scavenged included a single earring. He looked around his person and found the earring and put it on. He tried again. “Hello Mortis.” This time, although the car still honked, Alaric also heard English in his ear. The translation said, “I said, ‘Hello to you, too, new Thanatos.’”

 

This newly discovered magic was amazing. He would never have found any artifacts like this anywhere else. He could now communicate with his steed, so he could ask it questions. Wait, it, him, her? He decided to ask. “Mortis, what gender are you?”

 

“I have no immediate gender, Master. Are you alright with me calling you that? Any preferences?”

 

“I do not mind, but if you wish, you may call me Alaric. What else can you do?”

 

“Come, Alaric, and let me show you.”

 

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 2, All the Time in the World]Mortis then suddenly transformed into a magnificent, pale horse and flew off and Alaric, who was riding on his back, felt like he was going 700 miles per hour and in seconds they both landed in a brand-new location that Alaric had never seen. He remembered the Deathwatch soon after landing and he saw he had less than a minute before his next client was due for an “appointment”. He looked at a broken bracelet covered in magic stones, one pointing straight ahead – obviously a locator spell to find his clients – and one with a cat’s eye, the pupil of which increased as he stepped in the direction of the locator – This was a proximity stone. When he got to the site of the proposed death, the proximity stone was pure black and the locator had no sense of direction. When he looked at his watch, he saw he had 5 seconds remaining.

 

Alaric heard a voice no one else did, coming from the roof above him, shouting, “I told you! If you want to tell me, great! If not, then don’t! But you won’t be around to see what happens because of it!” The watch showed he had no time left and the man who was yelled at was pushed off the roof – of a 45-story building! The man fell head-first toward the concrete sidewalk and his blood, body, bones, everything was scattered everywhere. But the man was still alive! Alaric realized he had to end his misery, but how? Then he remembered that Lachesis told him how to summon Chronos for help. He stopped time and set the timer to 10 minutes.

 

“Hello there. New Thanatos. You rang?” a voice that Alaric couldn’t place the origin for said. Once he pinpointed the location, he saw a man in a clean suit, a white cloak, and neat, clean dress shoes.

 

“Chronos, I presume? I need help, and obviously I have time now.”

 

“In more ways than one,” Chronos laughed. “What do you need?”

 

“I want to end this man’s misery, but how do I do it, exactly?”

 

“Simple. Simplest part of the job, besides the transportation.” Chronos gestured to Mortis, who whinnied approvingly. “You just run through the man’s body with your hand, feeling for the soul. You’ll know it when you feel it. Then you will take it out. Now, let’s not watch for the next 10 minutes while this man suffers. Unfreeze time, and I will take you 10 minutes into the future, when he dies.”

 

Alaric grabbed onto Chronos’ hand and they jetted through the time stream, and suddenly, in seconds, his Deathwatch read no time once again.

 

“Now go, Thanatos, and do a good job. I hope you will be a good Death. And with that, he had disappeared.

 

Alaric went over to the man, who was now unconscious from blood loss, and reached into his body. He surprisingly felt no resistance; as if the body was just more air. He felt around in the body and eventually grabbed out an object that was foggy like steam, but felt like a cobweb. The unconscious body of the man then went limp, pale, and cold.

 

 

[Skippy Canoe]

You know what I think. This is oooold.

 

But I like it. It's put together nice, even though it is sort of a fan fic.

[Maghion Syaoran Light]

finish it !

meh wanna read more

[Guest Morpheous Erebos]

I wanna read more too xD. I can't think of anything else... I have another paragraph, but it doesn't make sense to end a chapter with it.

[Maghion Syaoran Light]

Perhaps a chapter where he experiments with his powers?

Give him a companion or two that travels with him as he fulfills his duties.