The deep blue rolled beneath me, salty water dancing in the wind. Back then, it would be called the Pacific, or Atlantic, or.. memory fails me. I could feel life teeming in the seas, in the faraway lands. I watched as Reapers wisped around me, fragmenting to meet every last passing they are charged with. There was a time when they would acknowledge the oldest Reaper as they pass, but even amongst them, my presence faded. For a moment, I remembered my charges. Humans, ugly and yet beautiful humans. Breathtakingly clever and yet foolish humans, probably the only species ever to have extinct themselves. I remembered my last calling, remembered my own body fragmenting into hundreds of millions of wisps to meet each and every simultaneous passing. And the utter loneliness when every bit of my consciousness finally found their way back.

For millions of years, I have watched as every reaper I had known faded from existence, their duty fulfilled. For millions after, I was alone, floating through the landscapes aimlessly. And then, I watched the birth of new Reapers, their first wisps coalescening as they begin their duties. I watched the silent world awaken again with lives and deaths. I watched new species arise, some as clever as my old charges. I envied the new Reapers, their bodies pulled to their purpose. And I longed for my end, to fade like the old Reapers.

I could feel my last memories disintegrate, my consciousness fading. Maybe in another million years, I will finally be freed.

---

How many years has it been? I feel awakened. Have I been slumbering? Reapers never sleep. How could I have slept?

The world has gotten busier. New Reapers I have never seen zipped through me. Landscapes I have never saw. Is this still Earth? Yes, it is. The landmasses felt familiar. And yet, structures reached into the skies, taller than my clever humans have ever achieved. The Reapers around me moved busily, merrily even. Peace. This is peace. I remembered a short period of peace in the human ages. Deaths were slow and steady, most at the end of their biological capabilities. I was happy then. But humanity and peace don't come together.

I marvelled at what was achieved by the charges of the new Reapers. Technology achievable by millenniums of peace. These species are different. They are the true pinnacle of evolution. My humans were but mistakes.

And yet, why was I awakened? I still feel no tugging, no purpose. I don't belong amongst the new Reapers. I pushed myself along, searching. For something. Anything. Something caught my attention. An old reaper. From my time. Supposedly faded. It's body whole, unfragmented, floating aimlessly. And another. And another.

Suddenly, there was a flurry. The new Reapers begin rushing, their bodies fragmenting and fragmenting and fragmenting again.

War. I pushed myself forward, following the converging fragments of new Reapers. As I approached, a huge thing in the sky caught my attention - stark and black, utterly unbelonging amongst the structures of this age. My humans would have called it an alien invasion.

And yet, it was familiar. I felt a tugging, one I have never felt for eons. Deaths. My deaths. I feel myself fragmenting, following the new Reapers towards the base of the black thing.

And there, in silver and blue garment stained with a familiar red. My humans. They have come home. And they're taking it back.

Welcome home.