Death Comes for Us All.
I didn’t want it to end. Not like this but it did.
I never wanted to be a murderer yet it was my life.
I stalk the neon city streets searching for a place to tend to my wound as I stumble inside a lonely bar. My back is torn up after my fight with Death.
He has been after me ever since I cheated him a year ago. I was supposed to die but as I fled from his miserable clutches, my foe died in my stead. The wretched force that never gives, only takes, was after me and my daughter. But he doesn’t know where she hides.
I struggle to find an ally in this crime-infested city. I ask the bartender for a strong drink. He pours me a cup disdainfully and passes it down to my side. I sit down and take a breath.
“What trouble brings you here, friend?” he asks.
I look up at my samurai sword shining in the green neon lights strapped to my back. I see my reflection through the bar mirror. My face dripped with sweat and slightly streaked with a red hue.
“Death,” I say taking a big gulp.
“You can’t escape it. Death comes for everyone.”
I down my drink. “Not me. Especially not me.”
The bartender shakes his head. “You can run but you can’t hide.”
A burst comes through the double doors. I turn. The bartender runs away in fear.
Death stands in the doorway his eyes flames of fire. His smile like an ocean of misery. His staff a lightning storm of black, and an everlasting crown of flame on his head. The darkness he wears as he brings with him the hound of hell, a three-headed monstrosity. It lurches forward heavy on the chains that Death holds in his three-fingered claws.
“Miss me,” he whispers as I shudder. I stand but I’m weak with tears.
“You can take me,” I say giving up. “But not her. Please.”
“Oh, self-sacrifice is what I dread, but if it means your doom. I gladly accept.” A grin of madness streaks across his decaying face.
“Thank you,” I say genuinely.
But his gleaming fire sockets gaze into my soul. “But I never said anything about a timeline for her. After I’m done with you. I’ll take her before next dusk.” Laughing, his ancient staff of woe shoots lightning hitting my whole body encapsulating me in its static hold. Then I blink.
I’m dead. Finally, dead. My daughter hides somewhere he can never find her.