Your life is like a clock winding backwards; of this I never had any doubt. Each second brings you one second closer to the thing we will all have to face when our clock strikes midnight; Death. What he was like? I had thought I knew for a long time, now though I wasn't so sure, however I did know that I was most certainly not ready to face him. I'd promised him my soul with the darkness as my witness, but things had changed....

Death however, as I would find out, demanded his promises to be kept.

The thunder was the first thing I was aware of after my hallucination went dark. It curled into my ears sounding like the pounding of a thousand fists. The mere sound sent instinctive shivers down my spine from years of fearing it. I'd always equated the thunder with Death's anger and as I slowly forced my eyes opened, I found I was right.

What greeted my eyes was a waiting room. I sat in one of the bile colored seats that lined the large white walled room. To say I was ever so slightly confused would be a massive understatement considering that I had collapsed into hallucinations in the arena, one would think I would wake up there. My eyes scanned the crowded room crowded with slightly transparent figures hunched over a magazine reading or twiddling their thumbs in boredom. My eyes flitted over to a receptionist's desk that was tucked away in the corner of the room. A semi-transparent woman scanned over some paperwork.

Hesitantly, I stood up and walked across the room. Any confidence I had was utterly dissipated in the face of this room of souls. I cleared my throat as I arrived at the desk waiting for the woman to look up at me.

Her shoulders heaved in exasperation as she lifted her face to look at me plastering a wide fake smile on her face. "Young man, please take a seat until you are called to be judged and sentenced for eternity. It shouldn't be take more than a millennia or so for Death to be ready for you. Good da-" She stopped speaking abruptly and leaned forward squinting. "You're solid." She stated her face falling in confusion as she began to shuffle through the paper glancing up at me every few seconds as if to make sure I was still there. "Y-You're still alive. This isn't right!"

I should have felt relieved at the sound of that, but instead I only felt that same numb confusion that had harbored in my chest since I'd woken up.

The sound of a knob turning caught my attention and I looked to see a wooden door that had suddenly appeared in the wall beside us. I blinked in perplexity, I was quite positive that it hadn't been there a second before. Through the door appeared a tall, youthful man with pointy features and stark white hair, he smiled at the secretary curtly. "Its alright. Let him through, I was expecting him." His gaze turned to me and his smile fell from his face. I felt reduced to a insignificant child as I stared into his eyes that were as black as michea. "Follow me Edgar. We have much to discuss." He said, his voice steely and full of disappointment.

I forced myself forward, following him through the door just as another rumble of thunder came from outside the building ominously. The door led into an elaborate living room lined with books of every size shape and color. I crained my neck upwards trying to see how far the books went up but the shelves seemed to stretch endlessly eventually vanishing from my view. Death sat in a cushioned leather chair, my eyes followed him as he waved his hand and another chair appeared accompanied by a miniature table upon which a delicate looking teapot sat with two matching cups.

Death smiled hauntingly at me. "I hope you like tea, Edgar."

I forced a smile on my face as I nodded, the muscles in my neck feeling stiff and nearly impossible to move. With great care, never tearing my eyes from the bottomless abysses that were Death's eyes, I lowered myself into the soft seat.

There was a long very strained silence as Death looked at me with crushing disappointment splayed across his face. "Go ahead. Drink some. Can't you see I prepared this tea especially for you? Even after how you turned your back on me." He said coldly, looking away as if he could hardly stand to look at my despicable self.

I felt all my pride crumpling in on itself as I stared at the man before me, the one who I had once considered my only friend. "I'm sorry. I- I was just confused." I choked, feeling my throat clog with hot tears of shame and a sudden hatred for myself. I looked down and reached for the teacup as Death had commanded, I hardly felt as though I deserved it.

He shook his head, "I went out of my way to take care of you even while you were in my brother Life's domain. I killed your father before he could hurt you more, I gave your mother strength to keep pushing through so she could take care of you and I've protected all your childhood. Why? Because you understood me, because I knew you'd be the one to save them all, or so I thought." His voice was laden with bitterness and sadness. He reached forward and his hands grasped his teacup. He peered downwards at the black liquid stirring it slowly with his long boney finger.

"I'm sorry!" I cried with more desperation and more weakness than I had ever let leave my tongue before. "Death, please. I'm an utter monster to have betrayed you like that. I just thought that... I'm not quite sure... that maybe instead of destroying everything I should just recreate it and make it a little better. I suddenly don't know if forcing people to die is right. If they wish to live, even if it is pointless, who am I to prohibit it?" I watched Death's face contort into something uglier with each word I spoke. "God, I'm sorry. I'm such a simpleton. Please forgive me." I choked rashly, reduced to a stuttering mortal, just like the ones that I had mocked for so many years. I had thought I was above it. I shuddered, I was just as pitiful as the rest of creatures that inhabited earth. I'd been naive to think I was anything better.

I watched, my stomach knotting, as Death shook his head. "I don't know if I can. You were supposed to be the savior, the one to end my brother's reign of terror for good." He sigh sadly. "We've been feuding since Mother Time created us, he sets up his little playsets and then I try to take them away from him, but no matter how many I take he simple puts more into the world." He reached daintily into a small pocket that was hidden in the silken cape that lay draped around his shoulders and pulled a lace hanky from it. Gently, he dabbed the corners of his eyes. "If you could get those weapons and drop them, Life wouldn't have enough time to have the creatures procreate more. Everyone would be free." He smiled dreamily for a second, looking off into the distance before his head turned towards me. "I think I could forgive you if you went through with your promise." He whispered softly after a long second. "Promise me for real this time that you'll do it and you won't let Life's lies delude you again." Death leaned forward and took my hand in his. It was surprisingly warm.

I opened my mouth to agree but the words never left my tongue because that was when all chaos broke loose. A door on the far side of the room flew open, its handle crashing into the wall beside it. My eyes snapped to the source of the panic, startled, as a girl covered in open wounds that dripped a trail of scarlet behind her stumbled in frantically. "Help! Somebody help! Hell! I'm in hell. We are all in hell!" She sobbed struggling to her feet as two hideous reptilian creatures appeared in the doorway grabbing her arms and yanking her frail body backwards.

I dropped my teacup as I sprinted over to her, my heart racing in my chest. "Hault!" I snapped at the creatures who paused staring at me as if I were insane. I leaned over the girl my eyes boring into the deep crevices in her skin that were filled with gushing blood. "What happened?" I gasped feeling sick as my brain began to register the torture that she must have endured.

Hot tears began to leak from the girl's eyes, trembling she lifted a finger toward Death, "He told me I was dead and then he dragged me down there..." She trailed off hanging her head as her body began to shake uncontrollably.

I turned around and looked at Death who had not moved from where he sat, he just stared coldly, a look of irritation splayed across his face. I gazed at him waiting for him to explain this. Had some of his guards simply acted out of line? I yearned for an explanation that would explain that. "Edgar, I'll admit that Life isn't the only one who has a dark side. Everyone does. Just hear-"

I was shaking my head, my soul was suddenly hardening, a feeling of betrayal taking ahold of me. "Death. No one deserves to be treated like that." I choked looking at him waiting for him to respond. My only reply was a stoney, frustrated silence. "This isn't right. Death was supposed to be mercy. Everyone was supposed to be okay!" I cried clutching my head in my hands. "How could you?"

That was when Death exploded, his calming demeanor was shed in less than a second. Suddenly he was in my face shrieking, "I have worked years on you! You are the only person I've seen in eons with even a tad of potential to help me destroy my brother and let me tell you I am not going to let you getting all emotional and weepy get in the way of his defeat! Edgar, you are going to go and drop those bombs or I am going to make your death a living hell!" He screamed, his spit hitting my skin.

I was shaking as I stared at the dreadful creature I had served for all of those years. The faces of those that I had killed resurfaced in my memory wracking my body with guilt, I had sent them to this monster. I felt myself slowly shake my head as I stared at my inevitable future. "Quite honestly, I think you were going to do that either way."