text: 's prompt: I closed my eyes, opened them, and closed them again. Then I felt her presence. “Death,” I said, sounding like I was greeting an old friend. I suppose in a way she was an old friend. While we were never personally close, she was always in my shadow. Couldn’t have War without Death after all. After every battle, conquest, loss, and victory, she was there, collecting from both sides. “War,” she said, using my old name, “so it really is you. I heard the rumors, but I wasn’t sure until now. You really did it, you gave up godhood.” I nodded, too weak to even verbally respond anymore. It seems that Disease was doing a good job at killing me. He always was good at that. He had a lot of experience killing regular mortals, but today was a special occasion. Today was the first time a god would die. A former god, but still, I imagine it caused a stir among the immortals. Death pulled up a chair- which was never in the room before she needed a seat- and sat in it. She stared at me, searching for something in my face. What was she searching for? Traces of my godhood? Or something else? After a couple minutes of silence and her intense stare, she finally asked it, what they all eventually ask. “Why did you do it?” I didn’t know how to respond. It’s not as if I didn’t have a response ready, I did. I just wasn’t sure if it would be good enough for her. How does anyone explain Death to herself? Even Disease- who was no stranger to Death- seemed at a loss when he found me. Since he knew me, he told me what was going to happen and how long I had left. And despite being so familiar with the process, he had a strange look on his face. Humans seem to think that we’re supposed to know a lot about what happens after, but how should we? We never die, the closest we get to dying is fading away. But even then that never lasts long, we always come back. After thinking about it, I decided that the truth was the best I could offer her. “I was curious,” I said honestly. “Curious?” she asked, not sure whether she should take that as a joke. “Yes, curious. Do you know how many people I’ve seen- what am saying, of course you know. Anyway, I’ve seen countless people die. Men shot by arrows, women crushed by tanks, children blown up by bombs. And as they died, I couldn’t help but feel pity for the mortals. Yes, their battles were my reason for existing, but I still didn’t enjoy their pain and suffering.” I coughed and worried that I would die before I could finish what I had to say. But then I remembered who I was talking to. Why did I keep forgetting her? What she was? Maybe mortals weren’t made to understand us, not truly. I continued. “But then one day it hit me. Why did I feel sorry for them?” Death gave it some thought. “Because they fear it?” she suggested. “But why? What is there to fear? Plenty of them aren’t sure what comes after they die, and neither are we. So why were they so afraid and why did I feel sorry for them?” Death didn’t have anything to say to that. “Well, one day I decided to find out myself,” I said. “I decided that I was going to find out what came after... well, you. So I found someone else to take my place, and here I am.” “A replacement, that does explain it,” she said while nodding. “I kept seeing you even though you supposedly gave up your godhood. Who is that man in your place?” “A coward. I hoped that having a coward become the next War would make it more difficult for the humans to kill each other. Apparently, I was wrong.” We both chuckled at that. It hurt to laugh, but pain wasn’t going to be a problem soon enough. Death looked me in the eyes, and I could tell that she was going to ask the other question they all ask. “Do you regret it?” “Regret it?” I repeated. “I don’t know, I guess I won’t know until it happens.” I closed my eyes, opened them, and closed them again. Then her presence was the only thing I could feel. \*\*\* Hundreds of years later, I was on the beach, lying on the sand and listening to the ocean. Then I felt a familiar presence, and saw her walking towards me. She wore a black sundress. She smiled. “I decided to take your advice.” I smiled back at her.