Death is an interesting concept, one that most people will never have the chance to grasp before it's too late. I, however, am not one of those lucky people. I am one of the few who has looked Death right in the eyes and held my breath as I feared the worst. It was then that I realized my mistake, as once you've stood up to Death...You become Death. You start to see weird visions in your active mind, you start to see people losing their souls in your unconscious dreams. Only this time, they aren't dreams. You can close your eyes and lay down to rest, but you'll never know if you actually get rest...Or if you watch somebody take their final breaths and move on to their next steps. You could fall asleep expecting to have dreams of fairies and butterflies, only to be met by people crying and screaming as a house burns down in flames with people still inside. You can never escape the never-ending loop.

I didn't realize any of this until it was far too late. I had made a deal with Death; I wouldn't die, but instead, I would work for him. I would help him gather souls and have people move on to their next (and final) steps in life. For over 100 years, I'd been assisting him with taking people's hands and walking them to the gates where they take their final steps, I'd been helping them figure out where they were going to—Heaven or Hell—and then I'd open the gate using the proper key as they looked back one last time before stepping into the gate.

I didn't know then that my time was going to be up soon as well.

My heart was racing as I tried to outrun the clock. I was running late, and the soul that was supposed to be passing to the other side was going to expire if I didn't run quick enough. I heaved myself over the edge of the balcony, sprinting over to the stairs and thanking every spiritual divine that existed for the ability to be completely intangible, just passing through everybody that I would have collided into otherwise. Of course, I could choose to turn that ability on and off at ease... But what would that use be if I'm trying to get a soul to the other side? That would be completely pointless to just keep running into everybody that I tried to get past.

Then again, maybe that would have been for the best. I regret trying to save their horrible being. They were a truly horrible person, and I cannot believe that I was even attempting to help somebody like that.

I failed that attempt, I caused the soul to expire before I could get to it. The entire city burned down. The sky was ashen and dark with smoke billowing in the background. I was too late.

I was...Too late...