Death caught up to Nathaniel in the middle of a forest. He stood there, wearing a dark black hoodie and black pants to match, his arms crossed. His dark eyes looked almost bored in contrast to his stance that all but screamed of impatience. He seemed to have been waiting for a while. The rings underneath his eyes made his face look sunken. “I knew you were sentimental, Nathaniel. I just never realized how deep it went.” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “I had a small favor to ask of you, you see-”

Nathaniel inhaled deeply, and the scent of Lorelei’s magic pierced through his nonexistent heart. He stared into the distance. He could see, though he knew it was through his mind’s eye, Lorelei standing out there. Her back was toward him, and she wore her armor. It was a brilliant silver. The armor covered every part of her body, revealing only her face and hair. The rain had been falling around her, he remembered the day well. It had been the first day she had shown him that form. He watched as she turned, but as her smiling face was exposed the scene before him took a turn. The raindrops around her turned as red as blood. They fell upon her face and left crimson streaks. Her eyes were now haunted, her smile, nowhere to be seen. She was tense, and her armor was dented and scratched, as if she had experienced far too many battles. As she ran towards him her form, and the rain transitioned between both versions of herself until she vanished right in front of him.

“What do you need from me, and how does Lorelei fit into the picture?” Nathaniel interrupted suddenly, somehow with an even more impatient look in his eye. “And don’t tell me for a second this has nothing to do with her. I can smell remnants of her magic on you.”

“Nathaniel.” Death started sternly. “You are one of my closest advisors and, I would not hesitate to say, one of my closest friends.” Death stepped forward and placed one of her hands on Nathaniel’s shoulders as she looked deeply into his eyes. “I would not ask anything of you unless I was in dire need, you must understand that.”

Nathaniel stepped back, but his posture slacked and he stared at the forest floor when he spoke. “Tad bit hypocritical, isn’t it? Calling me sentimental and then hitting me with that?” He chuckled weakly. “Dire need, huh? You sound desperate. Really doesn’t suit you.”

“Have you heard of a prophet called Tanda?” Nathaniel’s eyes grew wide, but before he could speak, Death continued. “I went to her after the recent incident with a local vampire. She told me that if we can’t unite all the factions we will face unspeakable horrors.” Nathaniel opened his mouth as if to interrupt, but Death continued again. “I have joined forces with Lorelei to create a center of learning. A school, if you will. There we will bring together various creatures from each faction. It’s there the healing will begin. I need you there, Nathaniel. I need you to teach the new generation.”

It was only then that Nathaniel could reply. “So what you want me to do… is work closely with Lorelei, despite our… past… and teach children to, what? Get along? Hold hands? Sing happy songs? I understand that this is no laughing matter, but I see nothing but humor in you coming here, of all places, looking for a teacher.”

It took a moment for Death to reply, and when she did, her voice was tense, as if her temper hung on a string. “That’s almost exactly the opposite of what I want you to do. You need to teach them everything. True peace can’t be obtained by ignorance. It can only be obtained through knowledge. The knowledge children are fed since birth is greatly exaggerated and skewed in such a way that makes their faction greater than any other. You’ve seen it all. You’re the best teacher we could possibly have for it.”

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows at that. “I have to commend your acting skills. You almost fooled me. I think you even partially fooled yourself with that one. Sure, maybe that’s a tiny bit of the reason why you came to me. I’m more convinced that was more of an afterthought, though. Tell me, what exactly do you want from me?” Death gave him a withering look, and he chuckled as he responded. “I don’t know exactly how you think having a temper tantrum is going to convince me of anything. It’s just another thing proving how right I am.”

Death avoided his gaze as she replied. “If I fail, we all will pay the price. I need to prevent that from happening.”

Nathaniel rolled his eyes as he said sarcastically. “Death is but a cog in the great machine called Life. We can’t avoid it. We can’t escape it. It just is. When it is our time, we will go.”

Nathaniel wasn’t sure if the noise he heard was Death snapping or his shoulder, but the next thing he knew he had four six-inch-long razor-sharp talons embedded into it. It had been a long while since he could admit to even remembering what pain was, but at this moment as he stared deep into the void of Death eyes, ink-black wings bursting out of her back, all that he could think about was the tear in his only hoodie.

“I have worked,” she shrieked in his face, a beak formed around her mouth. “Endlessly, have I worked. I’ve always done what is right, what is balanced. I refuse to lose you. I refuse to lose her. Every one of my reapers is precious to me. You will help me stop this. I am done asking, Nathaniel!” Everything that had made Death appear human was gone, and what took her place was a monstrous crow.

He just stared back at her calmly. “I reiterate, I still don’t know exactly how you think having a temper tantrum is going to convince me.” He winced as the talons dug deeper into his shoulder. “But... Damn your temper, I really need to tell your pet about it... But, through your hazed-filled rant, I somehow gathered together enough reasons to actually go through with this.” As he finished speaking, he felt the talons withdraw from his flesh and he let out a quiet gasp as he tried to ignore the burst of pain. “You owe me, though. Not for doing this teaching gig, this shirt was my favorite.” He pulled at the torn bits with a frown.

Death gasped for breath as she returned to her human form. Her eyes were crossed as she gasped out. “I am so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Wait, you’ll do it?” Death frowned as she examined his shoulder. She pulled her hand back to rest it flat in the middle of her chest. She noted the black blood that seeped from his wound.

“This obviously means a lot to you.” He chuckled. “Besides, what are BFFs for?” He winked at her. “What other people have you roped into this, anyway? Must be slim pickings if you’re this stressed out about it.”

Death winced and opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Adrian as they walked up. In their hand, they held a single piece of paper. As Adrian passed by Nathaniel, Adrian firmly squeezed his injured shoulder and innocently said, “Hey, Nathan! Long time no see!” with a massive smile before they addressed Death. “Ma’am, I’ve come up with a list of potential educators for you.” Adrian offered her the paper, which she took. “I’ve included people from as many factions as I could. I hope you can at least use someone on here. I wasn’t sure exactly how long your…” They looked between Nathaniel and Death for a moment. “Reunion was going to last, so I figured it wasn’t worth waiting around for you to get back.”

“Thank you, Adrian.” Death replied firmly. She took the list from their outstretched hand and scanned over it quickly. As she thought, it was relatively short. With her first glance she could eliminate a few names based on their prior history, or their intolerance for a specific faction of creatures. However, there was one name. The person she wanted to see the least. A person that she had no excuse to eliminate. She eyed the name on the paper carefully: Victor Dom. Death sighed with annoyance. Adrian and Nathaniel looked at each other, then back at her.

“Something wrong?” Adrian asked.

“I think we need to make a quick stop before I start this.” Death looked up at both of them as she folded up the list and put it safely into her pocket. “Adrian, I think it’s time I meet Dean and Danza.”