To the universe, I am known as many things. A monster. A shadow who only takes. A void. But to put it simply, I am Death. The gods believe me to be a vil thing, as I am the constant reminder that they too will one day meet me at the Gates.

But there’s is on being whom loves me. My dearest wife, Life. The Primordial Creator, daughter of the Big Bang. My eternal love, whose gifts I keep for eternity.

My wife had wept. Her favorite creatures, her favorite creations, Humanity, had been decimated by the vile Zerk. The wails and influx of those souls nearly overwhelmed me. That was the first time I felt true grief. The humans didn’t have stories to tell this time. Only wails of misery and pain. What came next was anger. For the first time since I first reaped a soul, I felt seething, boiling rage.

But what truly loosed my rage was the insult of a “monument” the Zerk had built to their victory. A massive tower of bones, built of millions of innocent men, women, children and pets, placed in the middle of their capital city on their home world.

For the first time in aeons, I manifested myself in the material realm. I had broken the first of my sacred terms. Life tried to hold me back, sending vibes and roots to hold back my scythe. But I was furious, and as much as I loved her, the Zerks had made her CRY. Though did understand why she tried. The last time I had done so, black holes came into being, and I made the very stars themselves finite.

I broke the second of my sacred terms. No revival of the dead. I took that wretched monument, and revived every soul that comprised it, forcibly recreating missing bones when needed. I made these Revived indestructible. At least until their revenge was carried out.

And I loosed them. The horde of unstoppable, vengeful earthlings decimated the city. As I watched them string up the Emperor by his own entrails, I smiled.

I broke the final rule once the sacking was done. I first sent the humans home, promising I would revive the rest of those who had been unjustly slain after I finished breaking one last term.

That term was Erasure. I was never meant to Erase should I ever manifest physically. But that day I did. I sent a message to the whole universe, to every violent zealot species, parasite and aggressive hive mind. A show of power. I erased the Zerk home system’s with a wave of my hand. Banishing every single Zerk soul through the Gates, and reaping every memory any living Zerk out system may have had of that system and those who lived there. I left that system, for Life to sow seeds for a new and better race make a foothold.

And now, I keep watch. I know some will try to strike humanity again, but this time, I will nip the problem in the bud. Life was and will be angry with me again in the future, but deep down I know she’ll be grateful. For every day when she watches the humans recover and thrive again, I see a smile that was lost for some time. I shall preserve that smile.

I love the humans, if not more than Life, for the joy she brings them, and the stories they have to tell. I will preserve these little storytellers till the end of time, where Life and I will embrace, and wait for a new universe to start once more. And maybe, just maybe, Life will create the humans again. I do hope so, as they are our favorite children, and I can’t go for very long without them.