Death: A Lovely Tale

-This story takes place in a parallel universe, where everything is the same. Except for one.

Death: A Lovely Tale

"The very content of one's being is it's soul."

- Charles L. Gunther

I've died once. I've died twice. I've died so many times I've lost count.
And yet, I am still alive. I am no monster. I am no beast. I am human. And yet.....I lost my humanity so long ago.


Over the past few years, I have travelled far and wide. There was always a core in these travels.

The soul.

An object like no other. It surpasses the wonder of life, and it becomes life itself.

The center of all mankind.

It brings life into everything you see. Grass, flowers, animals, skies, and humans themselves.

It can help all.

It is what gives us feeling.

Or it can destroy all.

This is my story. I ask that you hear it.

For it may be the last time I can share it.

I - The Game

It's gym. That period of the school day where you sweat and run for hours for this "excercise". This time, however, we're playing a game: dodgeball.

Whoosh.One ball flies in mid- air. It narrowly misses the target, me.

Whoosh. Bam. Another flies toward another target. It makes its mark, and the target is out.

I'm the last one in.

Dodgeball is one great game. An art, you could call it. Though, I'm not particularly an offensive player. I prefer to dodge. Dodge, and nothing else. Sure, the occasional catch to bring someone back, but only the dodge.

"Come on! Catch it! Bring us back!" They yell. However, that's a lot harder to do when it comes with me. I continue dodging the opponent team's whizzing throws. One flies toward my feet, and I lose balance. I fall to the ground. The rival team players smile. It's their chance. They throw the remaining dodge balls that they haven't thrown at me yet and go for an all- out blast. I quickly stand, running for safety.

I ducked. I jumped. I slid. I dodged.

The blast is finished. I sigh with relief. However, something catches my eye: A black figure on the bleachers, just sitting idly by. Watching. I stare at him until a ball whizzes at 100 miles per hour and hits my left cheek. Hard.

"Ow!" I yelled.

"Haha! Serves you right, loser!" One of the guys on the rival team say. My teammates just groaned in defeat.

"Need any help, Doug?" I heard. I open my eyes, and I see my buddy Bob Kerspitz Guavamacho giving his hand for me to grab.

"Thanks." I said.

"Man, that musta' hurt." He commented.

"Yeah. It did. Nothing too bad, though." I replied.

I walked toward the bleachers, only to find that no one was there. I scratched my chin. I'm sure someone was here, I thought.

"You okay?" Bob asked.

"Er- yeah. I'm fine." I answered.

"Alright, then. Come on, they're calling us to go to the locker room." He said.

"Okay, I'm going." He and I went to the locker room to change out of our gym clothes.

As the bell rang, and we left gym class, I saw him again. He was in the horde of people going to their next peiod class. I tried to run to him, but he disappeared.

".....What's going on?" I asked. Am I hallucinating?

Both Bob and another friend of ours, Annie, came and asked me if I was ok. I nodded, and we went to our next period class together. We were always known as losers in this school, but our friendship remains the same.

"Now remember, kids, the slope intercept equation of this graph is y= mx+b.....Now, to input..." Mrs. Buttonbelly(known for her bellybutton) was rambling on and on about slopes and graphs. Annie and Bob, who were always good students, paid close attention and wrote the notes in their binders. I just watched and stared.

"Doug? Can you answer this problem?" Mrs. Buttonbelly asked.

"Sure, Mrs. Bellybutto- er, Mrs. Buttonbelly!" I tried to reply cheerfully.

I stood from my desk, and stepped toward the board. Suddenly, I felt dizzy. The ground was shaking, and my head was in so much pain. I groaned terribly. I rubbed my head with my hand, and looked at the hand. It was red. With blood.

I fell to the ground. Everything went black.

I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. It was all black. Suddenly, lights came on. They were all shining on me. I rubbed my head again. Nothing. It was like my head was never bleeding.

"Welcome, Doug. It's dark, isn't it?" Someone said. They had a deep voice, but I couldn't see the person anywhere. The lights shining on me grew wider, and the figure speaking appeared. They wore a black robe over them, and a skull mask. The most identifiable part of the figure was their scythe. Their sharp, razor- blade scythe.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider- Man." He chuckled. "No, I mean, who do you think I am?"

Obviously, this guy had a sense of humor under his skull mask. "......A Grim Reaper?"

"Bingo, kid. You can call me Reap." He answered. "And just like you said, I'm a grim reaper! How cool is that?"

I got scared. Why was he here? Was he going to kill me? "Stay back!" I yelled.

"Hey, hey. Calm down. I'm not here to kill you or nothin'. Just to.....initiate a game." He put down his scythe. I felt a bit calmer.

"......What is this game?" I wondered.

"Glad you asked." He said. "It's...."

Cliffhanger? You!
This isn't too bad. The first was a great story, and I expect this to be as well.

The Freedom Fighter wrote:Cliffhanger? You!
This isn't too bad. The first was a great story, and I expect this to be as well.

To be honest, I thought it was starting to spiraling out of motion. It didn't make much sense in my head. And I tried adding more details, but personally, I thought the last chapter came out horribly.

II - It Begins


"The game is simple." Reap explained. "Live, and you win."

"Huh?" I asked. "Live? That's it?" It seemed too simple.

He laughed a bit, understanding what I meant. "Of course, there are special rules to this game. It just pumps up the game, really."

"......I'm listening." I said.

"Alrighty. Here are the rules." Reap lifted his finger. With it, he began to write yellow lines in the air, which became words. I gasped.

"Rule One: Use anything you'd like to your disposal. As long as you can stay alive.

"Rule Two: Any action you take will affect the game.

"Rule Three: You cannot tell anyone of this game.

"Rule Four: If you do, the game will be harder.

"Rule Five: You must always be watched.

"Rule Six: I will be watching.

"That is all. Easy enough?" Reap finished.

"....Yeah....but.....what is the point of the game?" I questioned. "What happens if I can't live?"

"Then you die. And your soul will be sunk into a deep abyss of darkness. Any more questions?" My eyes opened wide as he answered clearly that I would die, and quite frankly too.

I gulped. "So the rules revolve around the game, which is living and dying."

"Yes. You're supposed to be a bright fellow, right?" He asked jokingly. I grunted, but I set that aside. I had more important questions to ask.

"Well, what's the point if you could kill me right now, anyway?" I asked, though I wish he wouldn't kill me.

"Easy question." He pointed out. "You've been set to die on the list. However, I'm willing to give you a chance. Anyway, things will happen. These 'things' will try to kill you. Whether you can live or die is up to you, as is the true point of the game. Though I'm hoping for the latter." He chuckled.

"Wait....what is-" I was trying to ask about the list, but I was quickly interrupted as I saw Reap pulled out a watch from a hidden pocket in his robe. He could somehow see the watch from his mask. I could also see his hand coming out from his sleeve. It was nothing but bone.

"Sorry. Time's up, kid. Good luck. I'll be watching." He said. "Oh, and I hope your head feels better."

"But-" I tried saying, but I quickly fell down a hole below me. I screamed.

I heard hospital sirens, and opened my eyes. I found myself on a bed in a hospital car. I could see my family and friends around me.

"Are you okay, son?" My mother asked.

"Yeah...what happened?" I tried getting up, but my head still hurt. I rubbed it again, and found that it was wrapped in bandages.

"You had head trauma." My dad said.

"From what?" I wondered.

"......We don't know." My sister answered.

I looked around the car's interior. Nothing but medical objects, tables, and an extra bed. As I looked at a table, I felt someone poking me. I looked to see who.

"GAH!" I yelped. It was another one- a grim reaper. This time though, they had a blue mask on, one with a crooked grin and nothing but. They put their hand up, and the sleeve drooped. I saw skin this time, and I breathed in relief. The hands were petite, and the nails were long. No nail polish, however.

"Are you okay?" Bob and Annie asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Just fine." I said, still looking at the reaper. One of the reaper's fingers went up. I looked up, but there was nothing.

I was about to ask what it meant, when we hit something. Everything went to a complete, shaky halt.

IV: That First Rush of Danger

The hospital car went to a huge stop. Everything in the back of the car shook, and my friends and family all fell to the ground. I fell off the little hospital bed they put you in, and fell to the ground myself.

"Ugh.....What's going on out there?" I asked. I raised myself from the floor, scratching my head in pain.

"I'll check...." My dad said. When he went over to the doors, I felt a rush of danger come over me.

"Don't!" I yelled. But I couldn't stop him in time. He opened the doors.

A rock flew through my dad's body. A giant hole ripped through him, and he fell to the ground, his eyes open. Everyone gasped.

"GWWWARRRR!" We heard him yell. But....who exactly was "him"?

We looked behind us.

To find a giant rock monster.

This is great. Just make longer chapters and don't always put big spaces between lines.

Overall, it's good.

BlasterForceXtreme wrote:This is great. Just make longer chapters and don't always put big spaces between lines.

Overall, it's good.

I do that so you have space to read and it's not crunched up. And thank you for your comment.

Oh, wow.
A rock monster?
Other one is now officially better. >:C

V: Nightmare

The sky went red.

Everything was a blur after that. The deaths. The blood. The gore. The madness. I looked at the bodies. The bodies. Their arms were broken or ripped apart. Their heads were severed from their bodies. In the end, there were nothing left but the bodies. Like a grave, piled up in the middle of the road. And for some reason, the monster kept me alive. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

I couldn't believe my eyes. My eyes watered....and the water began to swim.

"Why....?" I asked myself. "Why...."

"Because it's a part of the game." I heard, from the back of my head. I looked back. It was the reaper.

"A part of the game...." A part of the game. A part of the game. A part of the game? A part of the game!? I began to yell that sentence constantly. Angrily. Viciously.

All the reaper did was laugh. Wholeheartedly laugh. "You see now? It's not a game. It's reality. It's a nightmare. Your friends? Your family? They all died by my hand." The reaper brought back the monster in the road. He roared, and by a flick of the wrist, he disappeared again.

I got up, my eyes still red with tears. I wanted to punch the reaper. I tried. And yet, all they did. All they did was laugh. My punches never connected, after all.

"Gah...." Eventually, I was exhausted. I fell to the ground, still crying. I punched the ground with my fist. I knew why the monster- no, the reaper- kept me alive. To suffer.

"You see how much of an insect you are compared to us reapers? My captain should've killed you. It's a good thing he didn't, though. I can watch you cry in agony over your lost family." She continued laughing in my face.

"But oh, looks like you're defenseless, aren't you?" She asked. She brought out her scythe. "Looks like you've lost the game. Pity, though. It was fun to watch."

I could see her as she put the blade into the air, about to put me out of my misery. Good, I thought. I can see mom and dad, and Bob and Annie. I tried smiling in my final moments, anticipating the joy of seeing my friends and family again. But I couldn't. I wanted to live.

"Cya."

Rule Two is in affect. :3
Good chapter. Can't wait for the next one.

TheShadowWalker wrote:Rule Two is in affect. :3
Good chapter. Can't wait for the next one.

Do you think it brought back Chapter IV from the ruin?

And a hint for the next chapter: There is no "living" one.

VI: Death

I heard a swift blast of air run through my ear. Then the sound of something sharp going through something.

I felt numb, at first. Then, I got cold.

Finally, nothing.

I knew what was happening to me. I had lost my life. I let myself go further, deeper into the shrouding darkness known as death.

I felt like my soul was falling into a hole. Farther. Just a bit more. I'm almost there. Almost to Bob. Almost to Annie. Almost to Mom. Almost to Dad. Almost to my Sister.

And.....I can rest in peace. Right?

"No."

VII: Judge

Abruptly, I stopped sinking into the abyss I was falling in. I appeared in a courtroom, like in those on TV shows. However, this one looked all depressed and demented. The entire place was lit by a glowing blue fire. The whole entire area had this dark aura to it all.

I sat in the position of the defendant. As I looked around, there were no jury or prosecutors and plaintiffs. However, there were two people here. They were in the position of judge and bailiff(thank you modern TV, for your teachings).

"I will judge whether you live or die." The one in the judge's chair said. He wore the usual black cloak I saw other Grim Reapers wear. He also had a gavel on him, and to my surprise, didn't wear a mask. He was an aged man. He didn't have hair on his head, but he sure had a lot of it on his beard. He looked like he had a vast amount of knowledge from the years he's experienced.

The bailiff, on the other hand, looked quite spiffy and younger than the judge. It looked like it was his first day, and he was rarin' to go. He didn't wear a mask either.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am the Grim Judge, judge of this courtroom. I make all of the decisions here, like whether you deserve to live or die. My decisions are always unbiased." The Gim Judge identified himself.

"Oh, really?" I raised my eyes. "Your choices have to be biased, sometimes."

"We'll see about that. Let's begin, shall we?" He asked. He started the trial.

This was a trial for my life. I knew that much. This was my chance. I could live again. I could try to take revenge on that reaper for taking my family and friends' lives. I had to take this chance.

"Case M100000000- 909015484. The defendant is a Mr. Doug McKlowers, who has lost his life to a scythe. However, he made a deal with a Grim Reaper and bet his soul. He's lost the bet by losing his life. Thus, I declare-" He was saying.

"Wait! I didn't know the game was still going on! I had just woken up from a coma!" I tried to object before his ruling, which I knew would turn out badly.

"I'm sorry, but a deal is a deal. I declare the defendant-" He started up again, before being rudely interrupted.

"Your honor!"

VII: Judgement

"Hold it, your honor!" I heard someone yell. They were bursting through the doors.

"Who in the world are you?" The judge questioned.

"The name's Demitri. Ace Reaper. I believe I'm here to defend my client, Douglas?" They had a female voice, but still wore the mask. She was....my age?

"Alright then. Your argument?" He said.

"Simple. The Laws of Nature." She replied.

The judge gasped. "You're right! How could I forget? The Laws of Nature."

"Hang on....what's this 'Laws of Nature' thing?" I asked.

"Simple," Demetri explained. "The Laws of Nature is one of the most important laws of the land. Humans must always die by normal causes: death by another human, death by natural cause, etc.

"However, if one is killed by something other than a normal cause, say, death by reaper, the Laws of Nature are being negated. Since it's one of the most important rules of the land, the Laws of Nature make your death invalid." She finished.

I sighed. "So....I'm safe?"

"Not necessarily," She answered. "Since you agreed to the deal, after all."

"I have heard enough." The judge interrupted.

"My judgement....." He started.