Death Lives

Chapter 3: A Deal With A Serpent

This was a catastrophic nightmare. Loud, panting settled into the Human's ears. A forceful increase of heart rate picked up in the Human's chest. An electric shock passed through the Human's body. Never in their life had they encountered such a horrifying demon. There was no time. The Demon oscillates its claws at the Human. It was like time had fully stopped. With one swing the Human was sent flying and into a car. The crimson-coloured door of the car was now caved in from the impact.

The smell of iron filled the air, as it filled Death's nose. Death knew the Human wasn't going to last much longer at this rate. This idea was completely absurd to Death. He shook his head and made a decision. Death's cold, dead, eyes leered at the demon. With quick haste, Death mumbled something under his breath, and both of his scythes became his jagged weapon from before. Harvester. Death jumped and brandish his weapon across the demon's back. With a powerful roar, the demon turned around and saw the Reaper. With the look of murder on its face, it made its number one priority to kill him. With graceful and quick movements, Death kept dodging and parrying its attacks. Ultimately, Death finally took the chance and swung his scythe at the demon. It bisected the demon in half, making it fall over. The ground shook from the large impact. The Human watched in amazement at Death's skills. Death turned his head ever so slowly to the Human. His ember eyes stared long and hard at the Human. An unsettling feeling in his gut was telling him to not go to this Human. With long and slow strides, Death made his way over to the Human. Dust then settled on Death's shoulder and puffed out its feathers. "If you're going to kill me, demon," The Human leaned their head up and looked at Death. "make it quick. . ." They said in a hoarse voice. From what he could see this Human was a female.

Long, brown, poker-straight hair, curtain bangs that hung on both sides of her face. From the lack of water that was left on this Earth, it was hard to keep up with cleanness. Her bangs were split from the greasiness. Chocolate doe eyes begged him to end her life. "No. Just be lucky you still have life left in you." Death's scythe split in two, and he equipped it to his belt. "What do you mean, no? Haven't I suffered already enough?" From her response, a low, amusing chuckle escaped Death's throat. "I wasn't aware that the word had multiple meanings." Death said. "What are you?" she questioned. "This is Dust. He saw you off in the distance. And to my extent, you would have been killed today." Death answered. Dust then extended out its wings and looked very prideful. "That's not what I asked! I meant are you Angel or a Demon?!" she shouted. "And yet, it's the answer you got. The universe works in so many mysterious ways, that there are so many beings out there that your mind wouldn't be able to process." The Human sat there in silence, knowing that she wouldn't win an argument against him. "Go back to where you came from. Hold your family close, and hope that one day this will be over. I have duties elsewhere." Death offered a hand for her to take. The Horseman still had this amiss feeling about her soul. Something familiar dwells inside of that soul. Death shook the feeling away, as the Human took his hand. "I don't have much of a family anymore. . ." She stared at the ground in a disconsolate mood.

The Horseman stared at the Human. He felt pity for her knowing that she wouldn't last another month here. "What happened to them?" His words were so cold, icicles were growing off the bottom of his question. "It was at the start of the apocalypse. . ." The Human let out a sorrowful sigh. "It was just the four of us. Hayley, Avaline, Shane, and I. Right when the apocalypse came, Avaline was separated from the three of us. We searched high and low for her. We could have sworn she was taken away by a Demon." The Human started to shed a few tears and painful sobs. Death watched as an emotion he has never had before played out. "Then, it was only Shane, Hayley, and I. Before the apocalypse came, Hayley was diagnosed with Leukemia." The Human couldn't dare to look Death in the eyes. She slowly shook her head. "Shane and I got her out of the hospital right when the apocalypse came. There was so much blood everywhere. So much slaughter. . . But we are getting her help." A small smile formed on the Human's face. "How are you able to get her help when there is no one who can help?" Death queried. "A woman came in the middle of the night, and showed Shane and I, the way to another world. We discussed a way to help Hayley. She offered to heal her in exchange for something she needed. She asked us to get the rod of Arafel, but it was impossible since we don't know where to find it. We both needed to give up something if we didn't complete her task. Shane sold his soul for unimaginable power and I. . ." The Human took a breath in and slowly let it out. This was something Death had heard before. His brothers and him offered their services to the Council and got power beyond what they could ever imagine. "I gave up Hayley to her. If we do not do what she says, she will kill her." The Human balled up her fists and had the look of murder on her face.

Death kept a cool and collective composure. "Did the woman mention a name?" He asked. The Human knitted her eyebrows. "She did mention something about her three sons and her only daughter. I think it was. . ." she tried to think back on what names did she mention. "War. . ." The Human tried to think back harder. Death was starting to get very concerned about who was this woman that she speaks of. "Strife, Fury, and. . ." The final name came to mind. "Death." She suddenly got goosebumps from saying that name. Ignorant, as Death saw her as, she still didn't answer his question. Until. . . "Lilith. Her name was, Lilith." The sound of that name rolling off her tongue made him feel uncomfortable. "You made a deal with the worst person. She is a serpent, a snake that will bite twice. She won't heal your sister." Death rasped and turned around. "Who are you to tell me that? You don't even know her!" The Human gritted her teeth. Death halted his steps and turned his body to her. "You say I don't know her, but I do. She's my Mother, and to the person you spoke of, Death is me as well." The Human's sudden anger suddenly disappeared to a look of fear. "Your. . . Death?" She stammered.

Thank you so much for reading another chapter of Death Lives! It means the world to me by seeing my readers enjoy this! Thank you so much for 461 reads!! Each read, vote, and comment, I get so excited! Please note I did change up a few things in chapter 1 since I wasn't really happy with the chapter :) Thank you for reading! Another chapter will be coming soon!