It was only a few miles back to Damascus, even through Smirec had been riding for what seemed like an entire day. The sun had barley moved at all. He could see in front of him the rays of the sun beating down on the sand, and the wind was pushing around the dusty trail before him. He saw mirages of water every once in a while, it really was beginning to bother him. He decided he'd take a break and rest, Smirec wasn't used to riding on a horse for long journeys, his abdomen ached from the discomfort. They had used the carriage for the ride out here, it had all of his things, water, and food. Why the heck did I leave it behind? He dismounted from his horse, and opened up the saddle pack and began rummaging around for something to eat. He found a few carrots.. Why would these be in here? He also felt the black book that the man had handed him in there. He stopped for a moment, food was more important right now, he fed his horse and then himself. After a moment, he grew curious. He reached back in the saddle and pulled out the book. It was a rough leather material, he opened it to the first page. "Welcome new Death" it said, he remembered that vaguely. He grazed with his finger to the next page. "You are Death, the embodiment of balance, endings and beginnings.. There is a balance that must be maintained, things that must be kept in order. You will end life, and by ending it, you will create new beginnings, and open possibilities of another future. You have been chosen for this task, and been given to freedom to use this life anew as you see fit, because you have the eyes that we desire. This life anew will come at a cost, but you already know this, there are limits and rules to your power, read carefully." Life anew? This is insane, I feel the same way I always have. However, the words did give him a strange feeling, almost as if he'd seen them before. He began to wonder for a moment exactly where this beautiful horse had come from, and about that man. How he even got here in the first place. It was as though he could barley remember anything from the other night, he began to wonder where his friend was.. [/i]Wait.. my friend.. who is my friend?[/i] The image of Garret's dead eyes looking at him blinked into his head for a moment. Ahhhhhgggg! he dropped to his knees, the book fell out of his hands and landed face down. Smirec did the same as his head felt like it was going to split in two all of the sudden, the images came back to him one at a time. The man on the floor, with the bloody knife laying next to him. The man with the crossbow bolt in his head, and the bartender yelling at him to leave him alone. His hands, covered in blood. "What did I do!? Why did this happen!?" Why don't i remember.. his head hung down in between his shoulders.. his hands were pressed into the sandy dirt.. as he clenched his fists he began to hear a voice, "You know why this is happening, don't you remember?' A voice crept up his spine. He saw the man in black who had given him the book. He appeared before him, "This is truly unfortunate Smirec, this wasn't how it was supposed to be." Smirec looked up at him, his eyes burned black, deep swamp like pupils. "You've managed to repress your memories, all this time, but they're too strong, they're breaking through."
"What are you talking about, I feel fine." Smirec tried to stand, his legs barley moved at all, and his stomach jostled uncomfortably.
"If you continue on like this, you'll die. Smirec, this is not a game, this is your life."
Smirec grew angry suddenly and grabbed at him with what strength he had. "What about Garret?! Where is his life! What did you do with him!?" the words took everything out of him. The man grew silent, and looked down at Garret.. "You truly do not remember what you did? Do you?"
Smirec's face grew pale, "No..I"
"Let me show you.."
The man placed a hand on Garrets head. Smirec was suddenly sitting at the bar, with Garret, watching him drink with his own eyes.
"Garret?" Smirec said, astonished.
"Yeah? What is it buddy?"
Smirec just looked at him, and he knew what was about to happen.
Two men in black suits entered the bar, Smirec looked over.
"I think you boys are in our seats."
Garret looked at the skinny one who just spoke. "Do you want to die, you fairy bitch? If you want to sit down, why don't you shove him up your ass?" Garret pointed at the other man, who was abnormally huge for a person, he grunted.
"I believe it is you, who should fear for your safety. We came all the way out here to this bar, and we're looking for the best seats in the house, your seats. I recommend you listen to us and get out of here, before you kids get hurt."
Smirec didn't bother telling Garret to back down from this one, he knew he could never back down from a fight even if all the odds were against him. It was just like when they were kids. But not everything was the same, Garret wasn't the same. He saw him reach into his bag and pull out a crossbow.
"What are you doing?" Smirec said in a low whisper, he nudged Garret with an elbow to the ribs; harder than he'd expected. Garret accidentally dropped the crossbow on the floor, and looked at him, yelling at him with his eyes."
"What is that..?" The skinny man spoke in his high-pitched but menacing voice. "Hogen, grab me that one with the bag." he commanded the other larger man.
Garret flew up and ran at the big man and attempted to kick him in the chest. But it didn't work, the man just kept coming towards them as Garret bounced back onto his feet. Garret reached into his belt and tossed Smirec a knife out of it's sheathe. But before he knew it, the large man had caught it by the handle right between of them. He was faster than either of them had anticipated. He swung the knife at Smirec, he barley managed to dodge a huge swing to the head. When the large man turned to Garret with the knife, he shot him in the shoulder with the hand-crossbow. The large man dropped the knife and yelled, Smirec quickly picked it up. He charged screaming as he jabbed the knife into the man's stomach with all of his strength. He felt the warm blood dripping out onto his hands. The man, even with a knife in his belly, smacked Smirec with a fist to the head, knocking him down across the floor. When Smirec looked up in a daze, the big man was holding down Garret on the bar counter. The skinny man from before walked over to them, picked up the crossbow, loaded it with a bolt. He turned to Garret.
"Now who of you shall I kill first? You, or your friend?" He teased, patting the crossbow against Garrets head lightly.
"You can go eat a piece of shit and die you uncle fucking bastard." Garret turned his head and spit out blood onto the mans shirt.
"And with that remark, you'll be the first to go." Smirec yelled, but nothing came, it was too late. The man put the crossbow to Garrets back, and let go a bolt into him. Garret's head turned to Smirec as his body jolted, his eyes shone bright for a moment. Then, he was gone.
Smirec suddenly felt himself being ripped out of his body, everything turned to a pure, bright white. He began to remember that it was a vision. He saw the man in black appear in front of him. "Make it stop, I don't want to see this any more." Smirec exclaimed, the man looked at him without any remorse.
"There is a price to pay for being Death, you don't have to keep watching, but you will never know why you're here if you don't."
He looked at the man, he didn't know what to do. But knew he wanted to know what was really happening.. "I will stay.." he said, unsure.
"Good. Good. There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.. AHAH, mauahahaha.." the man let out a hideous blaring laughter, and Smirec felt his body disappear for a moment.
He was back in the bar. But something was different, he was on the other side of the room. He looked to his right, and saw Garret with the bolt in his back laying on the table, he felt the crossbow in his hand. The big man was right in front of him, leaning over Garret, panting and bleeding with the knife still in his belly. "That must mean.." He looked over past the big man, and saw, himself. Laying on the floor unconscious, he finally understood what he had done. I asked for this.. all of this. I am sorry. Garret" He set the crossbow on the counter, and put his hand on the big mans shoulder. He grabbed the knife in his belly, and twisted it hard while pulling upwards. The mans eyes blew up big and white, he crashed down onto the floor, landing on his back; and he let out a long gasp of air with his dying breath. Smirec looked at him, and felt nothing for him..But the image of killing him, made him feel sick. He turned to his friend Garret, realizing that he was looking at him through his own killers eyes. "I don't know how, but.. this is the best I can do now. Rest in piece, my friend." He reached into Garret's bag and pulled out a crossbow bolt. He loaded it into the crossbow, his hands were shaking. He glanced over at his original body,What did I do.. I have no other choice now. he then pointed the crossbow to his forehead, and pulled the trigger.
He heard a horse shuffling around as he opened his eyes. "Now, do you understand what you are? We made the deal in that very place where we met. You wanted this, you asked us for this power, and we gave it to you. Why? Because it was fate." The man in black cleared into his vision through the blinding sun.
Smirec looked at the man, and rose to his feet. The man handed the book back to him, Smirec accepted it. "I am Death, the embodiment of balance, endings and beginnings." Smirec recited.
"Yes. It is your duty and your gift to bring balance back to this forsaken world, a new era of doom is approaching, you will be needed."
