The glass seemed to glow with a golden hue for a moment…then shattered. The liquid inside, however, remained suspended in mid air. It writhed with a disgusting and horrid air; taking different shapes and slowly growing in size…a silvery haze formed around it. Crimson and black with chunks of hair, churning…slowly growing…taking form…the haze thickening…moments pass… Time seemed to drag now…minutes feeling as days. The surrounding air prickled with heat. Bolts of electricity erupted from the floor, as if suspending the, now three foot long, convulsing mass. With every arc, the mass grew larger and began to take a fleshy color…the silvery haze wrapping itself around, what now appeared to be, a young woman. Days spanning from the seconds that passed; what could have been years taking mere moments to pass; the second boy looking older now, gray streaks forming in his hair. He collapsed onto his knees. The girl was completely formed now, the silver haze formed into silver robes draping her body…she couldn’t be older than sixteen. Death approached. **YOU DO KNOW THE LAWS THAT GOVERN** “Yes” **THEN YOU ARE PREPARED** -----“What the hell’s he talking about?” **ONLY YOU CAN GIVE HER SOUL BACK NOW, LEST YOU FORFEIT YOUR WIN** -----“Charlie, what’s going on? What’s he talking about?” “There are two celestial beings that can be defeated; the devil and death.” -----“You’re not talking about that crap in the fairytales are you? That’s not real…is it?” “It’s real. Hell must have a devil and life must have a death…to defeat one is to take its place.” -----“But you WON! You can make Death do your bidding, or something like that, RIGHT!?” “I did…you’re alive.” -----“Wha- - - “ “You only get one prize when you win…your life; your soul was the prize.” -----“But…Amanda…” He looks at the girl in silver robes. “My sis…we did this for NOTHING!” “I won, remember…” -----“But you can’t take deaths place.” “If I refuse…then I forfeit…not only is her soul lost, but yours as well.” -----“But you’ve used your one prize…she’s still lost…” Charlie looked up at Death, “I accept.” There…was a…flash *****I felt myself standing…looking down, I was teetering on the edge of a bony eye socket…below me…a bright blue…not orb…like a sun…I fell. It…engulfed me…as if swallowing me whole. I could feel it, but how…I didn’t understand…but I did understand. This blue sun, it WAS time, but how could I FEEL it? You can’t feel time, can you? Yes…this was Death…the embodiment of the last moments in time…the moment of death…all moments of death; from the first destroyed atom at the beginning of the universe…to the end of everything…all here…locked in a single moment…locked in Death. Death wasn’t a creature; Death was time…so concentrated that it had a form. Continued…..