I couldn't believe my own two eyes. Death himself was standing right above me. Even better, he was saving me. Or so it seemed at least. Nevertheless, as amazing as it felt, it was also terrifying. Everything from his look to the way he spoke felt just so unnatural that it made my hair stand.

"Can you stand on your own?"

Those words quickly snapped me back into reality. Or... whatever you'd call a world like this.

"Oh, right, sorry."

I didn't notice it, but as Death dragged me away and I received my first battle wound, my legs just gave up and the only thing that was holding me up was Death's skeletal hand. I stood back on my own two legs and looked at Marley. The anger in his eyes looked like nothing I had ever given him. That feeling is hard to describe. It's like watching your own son, who was always so innocent and precious, turn into a violent old man. Although my creation wasn't very old, he did turn out much more fierce than I made him. It was then that I first realized that I was not in charge anymore. These characters, all of them, were now having their own lives. Like children who have finally left their parent's home.

The same could be said about Death. Whenever somebody had to die, he always just watched and took the soul once the person was dead. He felt no pity for those who passed away. If he did, his heart wouldn't be able to stand it. Heart... does he even have one? I think it was just a metaphor.

"A. J., I did not expect you to appear. The clown and the freak were not available?"

"A. J.?" I asked a quick question and looked at my savior, hoping that he'd explain why did Marley call him that.

"Hero's Journey. Since there's a whole Council of Deaths from all of your stories, we gave ourselves names after the worlds which we were supposed to look over. And since H. J. is hard to pronounce, we simplified it."

Council of Deaths. Just hearing that made my eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. My books all had their own depiction of the grim reaper. This one was the most primitive, both with his looks and abilities. Some other ones though were incredibly powerful and used all kinds of fancy weapons and armor. This guy was my first Death. The Firstborn.

"Do you really think you can stop me A. J.? You know, I picked up a few new tricks."

Marley swung his sword downwards and hit the ground with a long-resonating cling. For a few seconds, I could hear the whistling of the cold wind and a strange metal humming growing louder and louder.

"Jump." Death said that almost stoically. However, I could only force myself to say a dumbfounded "Huh?"

"Move, idiot!" the reaper grabbed me by my cloak and tossed me into the air. Soon after my feet left the ground, it disappeared from under me. There was just a massive pit with nothing but menacingly looking darkness at the bottom. I screamed at the top of my lungs when gravity started to carry me downwards.

"Shut up!" A. J. scolded me and judging by the tone of his voice, he would roll his eyes if he had any. Before I could fall any further, chains wrapped themselves around my body and pulled me back up, throwing me right towards Death. That was his magic. All Deaths had some form of chains, as a symbol of something that would keep the dead souls at bay. I have to say, I didn't envy those poor souls. Being wrapped in chains, even in order to be rescued, was not comfortable at all. Compared to this, Vincent's vines were much more pleasant.

I looked around. It seemed that my savior had protected a little chunk of ground from Marley's attack, giving us at least something to stand on. I looked back into the pit. Such power... something like that was magic I had never seen before and the fact that Marley could use it with such a little effort... It scared me.

The chains once again lifted me off the ground. I screamed as I flew through the air. What finally shut me up was the impact as I landed on the roof of a nearby building, which knocked the wind out of me.

"Stay." Death waved his hand and a cage of bones formed around me. I wanted to say something, at least a thank you, but I couldn't even take a proper breath. I knew it was just temporary from the impact, but the fight, magic, pain, and cold made me think only about one thing: "I'm going to die." With that, I rolled over onto my back. Tears started to form in my eyes. I was praying in my mind for the first time in my life. To any God which there might be. To any divine entity. I was apologizing for not valuing my own life. For throwing it away on that roof. More than anything, I wanted to go back home. Back to my loving girlfriend, and soon-to-be wife. Back to my computer to read the critics, the praises, and the questions, which came up with every new creation. I wanted my life back. Out of desperation, I raised my hand into the air and hoped that somebody would grab it. I hoped that it would be the warm touch of home, and this will all turn out to be just a dream. But nothing happened. My hand started to feel colder, and the snow was still falling down on my face. Behind me, I could hear loud bangs, the sounds of clashing metal, rattling of chains, and clatters of falling stones.

"Just take me already, death." I closed my eyes and quietly hoped that maybe, just maybe, stray shrapnel would put an end to me.

"Take you? Take you where? Do you want to go out? Is it like a date?" I opened my eyes almost instantly when I heard a feminine voice coming from somewhere next to me. I sat up so fast I nearly hit her. My eyes couldn't believe what was going on. She was... Death. A different one though.

"Umm... what... where..." My brain was probably slowing down from all the cold. I couldn't quite believe that somebody else came here and didn't want to kill me.

"Are you okay? You look as pale as death. And that's not a compliment, even if it comes from Death herself."

I knew her. She was one of my favorites. Completely different than the other Deaths. This one was kind and very...

"What were you doing here anyway? With your hand like that? Did you want to cast a spell? Oh! Can you do spells?!"

...talkative.

"No... I... Did you come here to kill me?"

I looked at her and tears finally started flowing out of my eyes. I wasn't even sure whether I wanted her to do so or not. And would I even deserve to die? Would I deserve to live? It felt as if my soul would shatter into million pieces any second, unable to decide what fate would be right for someone like me.

"Kill you? Of course not! Why would I do that? I came here because A. J. asked me to. Here, this will warm you up. And possibly even dull the pain." With a big smile on her face, she handed me a little metal flask. She was different than the others. Her white dress, which looked more like a nightgown, was almost shining, forcing me to focus on nothing else in my field of view. Her skin looked like that of a human, only pretty much completely white. And her hair was flowing all over the place, defying the laws of gravity as if it was floating in water.

She had a very special ability. Not a magical one, but rather something she gained by being the grim reaper all this time. When somebody dies, they usually panic. Everything they had is gone in an instant. Such a soul is very quickly overcome by grief and sorrow. And when it can't overcome it, it becomes an evil spirit. All the emotions turn into anger, which burns forever in the very core of the undead being.

She, however, knew how to prevent that. The way she knew how to treat these souls with kindness and care saved billions of them from turning evil. Just as she was an obnoxious talker, she was also an eager listener. And even I, only a few seconds after I met her, have started to feel much calmer than before.

I took a sip of the liquid inside the bottle, not even caring what it was. "Urgh..." My mouth quickly turned into a strange grimace. "Uff... is that... Vodka?"

"Vodka? What are you talking about? Didn't you come up with this drink? That's Carrion! The council says that it is guaranteed to warm you up if you drink it, plus the taste is apparently very popular. It should make you feel better in no time."

Once again, she finished her sentence with a smile. It was like this almost all the time. Her sentences and dialogues were often ended with some sort of emotion from her. She was like a walking emoji.

That drink, Carrion. I remembered it. It was a drink I created for another world of mine. It was called that way because it was said to carry those who'd drink too much of it right into the afterlife. What a lovely drink to be served by Death herself. Although on that day, nothing surprised me anymore.

"So..." Just as a single sound left my mouth, she looked at me with an eager expression. Like a dog that was just called his name. "...where did Marley learn to use magic like that?"

I pointed down towards the pit. That was the first time I looked at the city after A. J. threw me up on the roof. I couldn't believe my eyes. The entire block was devastated. Light and dark magic was flying left and right as Marley and Death crossed their blades.

"When you came to the world, your imagination started to leak out. Some of us were blessed by it. Marley was one of them. Your creativity gave him the strength to cast terrifying magic."

Her voice didn't sound very cheerful anymore. She was staring at her comrade, clenching her fists. I took a good look at the situation. A. J. was losing, and I could see that. His robes were torn to pieces, his left arm completely shattered and skull cracked. Although Deaths were all very powerful, they stood no chance against the hero of light, powered by up imagination. I looked aside. Guilt was creeping into my head. They were fighting for me and I couldn't even do anything to help.

"Don't blame yourself for this. You have no control over the loose imagination. None of this is your fault. You didn't know what would happen on that roof. What the fire would cause. I'm sure you wouldn't do it if you thought any of us were real."

She crouched down next to me and put her hands on my shoulders. I never thought they could know so much. About me, my creations… my death. I started to feel embarrassed. Dying by my own hand. What would a Death think of me?

"It's okay. You're not the only one to die like that. And you're not the only one to feel bad about it. But this is a new life. A new chance. You will not be judged by who you were before. Now you have a chance to choose who you want to be." Each word of hers was like a little droplet of relief for my heart. Everything she said was so well-timed as if she could see right through me. I guess such a skill came with her millennia of practice. She had definitely led many people like me over to the other side. Back then, my head was swarming with dark thoughts, whispering that I'm nothing but a loser and a failure who now, on top of everything else, created a monster in the form of Marley. But she cleared my head. It was as if she killed all the darkness inside me before it could even properly come out.

I drank the rest of the bottle, let out a loud groan, and stood up.

"Alright, how can we help A. J.? There has to be something we can do, right?"

She looked at me with surprise in her eyes. "Help him? What makes you think he needs help? Is it the missing arm? Or the cracked skull? I know his robes are torn up, but they look crappy anyway, so don't worry about that."

That confused me. "But... what?" I didn't know what to say.

"Don't worry, we won't let anything serious happen to him. He just wanted to train a bit. So even though I don't want him to get hurt, I did promise him we won't interfere unless absolutely necessary. And I always keep my promises. You gave me that personality trait." She smiled at me once again.

"We?"

She pointed to several other roofs. Only after focusing on them and filtering out her attention-demanding bright dress did I see it. All kinds of creepy-looking creatures, looming over the battlefield, ready to strike at any moment. It did not take a genius to figure that one out. Along came the Council of Deaths.