Tessa stood frozen in the midst of a dense fog, the air thick and cold, like it had settled over her skin. The world around her was dark, yet there was a light, faint but undeniable, that cut through the fog like a blade. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized where she was—or rather, where she had been pulled into.

She was in a place that wasn’t quite the world she knew. The ground beneath her wasn’t solid, nor was it any earth she recognized. There was no grass, no trees, just endless grayness that stretched on forever, and it made her feel as though she were suspended in some kind of endless waiting room.

Ahead of her, she saw the figure.

The Grim Reaper.

He was standing tall, his form cloaked in shadow, and before him knelt an innocent soul—a man, no older than Tessa, his eyes wide with fear and confusion. The Reaper’s skeletal hand stretched out, claiming the soul. A soft, hollow echo of finality followed the movement.

Tessa felt her heart pound, knowing what was happening—knew instinctively that this man, this soul, was being taken from the world of the living.

She watched, her feet rooted to the spot, unable to move as the Reaper drew the soul into his grasp. But before the soul vanished into the dark void, the Reaper paused. His hooded face turned in her direction.

There was a moment of complete stillness. A long beat where neither the soul nor the Reaper moved. Tessa's breath caught in her throat. She felt him looking at her, though his face was hidden beneath the darkness of his cloak.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the Reaper’s voice rang out—sharp, furious, and somehow knowing. He seemed stunned, his ethereal presence shifting slightly as though he hadn’t expected to see her.

The Reaper’s eyes, hidden in the shadows of his hood, bore into her with an unnerving intensity. Tessa’s pulse raced. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t blink. The words—the fury in his tone—echoed in her mind.

And then, as the intensity of his gaze grew more overwhelming, the world around her began to shift.

The fog, the grayness, the endless emptiness—all of it started to dissolve, like smoke whisked away by the wind. The light that had surrounded her began to grow brighter, blinding her for a brief moment.

Tessa’s body felt weightless as though she were being lifted, her feet no longer touching the cold, lifeless ground. The panic in her chest quickened. She didn’t know what was happening, only that she was being pulled away from the Reaper, away from the soul he had claimed.

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Suddenly, she wasn’t in the fog anymore. She wasn’t standing. She was floating.

Her eyes snapped open, and the world around her came into sharp focus. She was back in her room, her body tense with shock, her chest heaving as though she'd just run a marathon. Her body was glowing—surrounded by an almost blinding light.

The shock of the transition from the dreamlike vision to reality was too much. She gasped, the air catching in her throat, and in her stunned state, the sudden awareness of her floating form made her lose control.

The light that enveloped her vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, and Tessa fell back onto the bed with a thud. Her heart pounded in her chest as she struggled to catch her breath, the remnants of the Reaper’s fury still lingering in her mind.

Her eyes darted around the room, trying to process what had just happened. She had seen the Grim Reaper, had witnessed him claiming a soul, and had been seen by him. She wasn’t sure what it all meant yet, but the fear, the terror that had gripped her, still echoed in her veins.

Tessa swallowed hard, her thoughts racing.

Was this some kind of message? A warning? Had the Reaper noticed her in his domain because of what she was? What she was becoming?

Her mind spun with questions she couldn’t yet answer, but one thing was certain: her life had changed in ways she didn’t fully understand. And now, somehow, she had glimpsed the very hand of death itself.

The Reaper stood silently, watching as the soul he had just claimed was swallowed by the void, disappearing into the endless abyss. His attention, however, was no longer on the soul. It was on her.

She had appeared from nowhere, materializing like a phantom from the depths of fate itself, and in an instant, everything had changed. She had done the unthinkable—she had interfered with his work, ripped herself from his grasp, her body bathed in a light so bright and unnatural that it defied all laws of death.

His dark, hollow eyes narrowed with seething fury.

How is she even capable of this?

The anger churned within him, twisting like a serpent coiling around his chest. He could feel the sting of his failure. He had claimed countless souls over millennia, never once encountering resistance like this. No mortal should possess the power to alter fate, to defy the inevitable. And yet, Tessa had done just that.

She had defied him.

The Reaper’s thoughts turned cold and calculating. This was a problem. The very balance of the world was now at risk. How was she able to do this?

As the soul disappeared into the blackness, the Reaper's gaze never left Tessa, his mind spinning with possibilities. She wasn’t just another soul to collect. She was now an anomaly, a dangerous force in the fabric of existence.

And the worst part? She had no idea of the extent of her own abilities. The ability to peer into the future, to protect herself from the very force that had claimed every soul since the beginning of time—it was unnatural.

The Reaper clenched his bony fists. This was not something he could ignore.

But even in the depths of his anger, he could hear the distant echo of her voice—a question filled with uncertainty.

“How do we fight death... and win?” she asked. Her words were spoken aloud to the wolf and the vampire who stood by her side, protective and unaware of the true danger surrounding her.

The Reaper's hollow laugh echoed through the empty void, bitter and mocking.

If only she knew, he thought, the realization settling over him like a cold shroud. She could not only win. She could end death itself.

The irony gnawed at him. She had no idea what she was truly capable of, but soon she would. And when that moment came, he would need to be ready.

He had to act before she discovered how to wield the power that was slowly awakening within her.

Tessa was dangerous. And if she ever learned to control her gift, if she ever truly understood what she could do, there would be nothing he could do to stop her.

His grip tightened, his anger seeping into the very fabric of the void.

He couldn’t wait. He had to move quickly. Before she learned to fight death. Before she learned how to destroy it.

And with that thought, he vanished, his presence dissipating into the shadows as he began to prepare for the inevitable confrontation.

Tessa’s time was coming. And when it did, she would learn just how fragile fate really was.

But for now, she remained unaware. And that, at least, was a small mercy.