February 11, 492 U.C.

The sun’s rays filtered through the leaves above. A quiet calm filled the surrounding area. I reached out and gently patted the massive tree. “Thank you. I needed this.”

Using haste, I spun and delivered a chop to the feathered dinosaur, taking the head off of the black and white fanged ostrich. Looking up, I saw another Ginasaur nearby, moving at a slow pace. I sighed at it, walked over, and chopped its neck, splashing blood all over me.

With a sigh, I made my way through the group, rapidly chopping dinosaurs. Streams of blood splattered around me as I killed the pack. Looking at my blood-covered self, I sighed. God, I don’t want to go back there.

Time froze around me. Nothing moved. What?

A cowled figure appeared, holding out a scythe. “Casey! Your time is nigh!”

“The hell?” I asked, dashing away. Then I appeared back next to the figure, who was laughing hysterically.

“Good shit,” Death chuckled. “How are you, Casey?”

“Umm. What?” I asked, backing away from him and blinking. I looked down to see if I had died or something.

Death winked at me. “You aren’t dead. We need to have a chat. Since you decided to pray, here I am.”

The hell? I blinked repeatedly and then tried to exit. Appearing back on Vuln, I let out a breath of relief. Then everything froze again.

“Stop that,” Death said with a look of annoyance.

“What? What?” I murmured.

“Relax, Casey. Don’t be so uptight.” Death flipped back his cowl, revealing a teenage boy with glowing white hair.

Lacking experience with God or Death, I stared at him with my eyes bugging out. It quickly became awkward as I continued my ill-mannered greeting.

He rolled his eyes. I reached out to poke him, prodding fabric and flesh.

Death sighed. “Seriously, Casey? We already met once.”

“You’re real? I thought I was hallucinating.”

“I’m real, and I figured that we should chat.” Death summoned up a chair and sat on it.

“Okay?” I asked.

“Calm down, Casey. I’m not here to kill you; though I am tempted.”

I began reaching for my axe.

“You can’t kill me. I’m Death.” He laughed.

Darn it. That ruined my plan. “What do you want?” I asked.

“Finally. Let’s get to it then. You walk an annoying path. I’m going to make you a deal.”

I frowned at him. “I’m not selling you my soul.”

“As if I want it,” Death snapped back. “Now, for our deal. I won’t take you to the next life today. But when I demand it, don’t fight it. That’s the first part.”

“Fight it? Fight you? What? Why?” I reached out to poke him again.

Death grabbed my hand. “Yes. What kind of magic do you have? It’s obvious now.”

“Spacetime. Oh.” I gulped. “You don’t want me messing with it?”

Death smiled and let go of my hand. “Good. You realized. Spacetime is life. It’s death. You can meddle with it. Right now? We leapt right off of it; that’s what Time Stop does. If you attempt to go backward, I’ll come to collect. That would cause more mess than I want to deal with. Got it? Steer clear of time travel.”

I nodded at him. “Why?”

“Don’t even get me started!” Death said with a huff, blowing his hair out of his face. “Oh, and don’t rip apart spacetime fighting me when it’s time to go. That would be annoying.”

“Is this off-limit?”

Death shook his head and stretched. “No. You’d need to go backward, jump to another reality, or try to remake it. Someone tried that last one recently. It didn’t work. That just broke things and killed way too many people. Rotten bugger. He didn’t even fathom what he was doing. At least you understand basic physics.”

“It has happened before?” I asked. The conversation was rapidly becoming fascinating. I scooted forward.

“Yes. It’s annoying. It’s not the only one that’s annoying. Necromancy? That shit drives me insane. Just leave the damn dead alone! And don’t get me started on divination.”

I giggled. “So, we’re making a deal that I can’t go back in time? Can you tell me how to stop the fae?”

Death sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, Casey. You seem interesting. But I’m not here to become your best friend or offer favors. I’m just preventing a mess and chatting.”

“But if you are Death, does that mean there are more Gods? Is there more after this life? Do you know about magic? What happens when we die?” I rapidly began thinking of more questions.

Death groaned and held up his hand. “No, I’m not answering shit. I’m not here to be your mentor or give you special treatment. I’m here to entertain myself and prevent a mess. Don’t try to rewind this shit, create loops, or go reality hopping. Got it?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Can I challenge you to a fiddling match?” I asked with a giggle.

“I’m Death, not the devil. And no.”

Maybe I can trick him into it. “Can I chat with you other times?” I asked.

“I can’t technically stop you. But don’t expect a response. I’m not a mentor or friend. That’s not on the table. And don’t go making yourself an enemy. If I get a hint of a mess, I’m removing you. I’m so tired of the little shits that do that.”

I stared at him. “Are you just venting? Like therapy?”

“Honestly? Yes. I’ll call a spade a spade. There are just certain things that get on my nerves. I’m the fucking janitor. And some things make a real mess.”

“Is it that bad? What do they do?” I asked.

Death smirked. “Want a turn at it?”

“Would it kill me?”

“Yes. Yes, it would. I don’t even think you can do it. Maybe if you got stronger. If you could really harness this power, you could probably do some cleanup.”

“I’ll consider it then. How do I get stronger?”

“Nice try, Casey. I’m here to vent and moan. Be a good therapist and let me. Now, let me tell you about that one guy who kept rewinding things to get the perfect timeline. Do you know what happens when you fuck with spacetime like that? I mean, it was impressive as hell and an amazing watch. I let him do it because it was just way too fascinating to interrupt. But that was a mistake! It took so much work to clean up. Spacetime had splintered, looped, and exploded into a multi-dimensional mess.”

“And you have to sort it out?” I asked.

Death nodded. “Yes. I have to ensure that it isn’t running into everything and exploding. Do you know what happens if it loops on itself? It’s like a hurricane of dimensions and timelines as it feeds itself. I mean, it’s fucking dope. Then you realize that someone has to go stop it from overloading and exploding.”

“And you have to do it? Does someone make you?” I asked with a look of fascination on my face.

“I guess I could just let it run out entirely and start again, but that’s boring. Though I get tempted. Don’t even get me started on my last big job. I had to kill that entire pantheon of ascended beings. They were all bickering and blowing planets up. Then they started trying to rip apart spacetime so that they could control it. So, I showed up to inform them that they weren’t gods. That did not go well. The little turds tried to fight me and lock me up. But that lasted all of half a millisecond because they can’t even fathom how weak they were.” Death rolled his eyes.

“You killed them?”

“Yep. Balance.”

“Is there a god of life or something?” I asked.

“That’s me. That’s why I’m the janitor. Yes, there is that stupid mythos where life and death are different gods. It makes no fucking sense. If that was the case, death would just kill everything as life made it.” Death stretched and yawned. “Ah, this feels good. Can we schedule regular appointments?”

I frowned at him. “Umm. But I don’t get favors from it?”

“Yep! I just get to vent.”

“Okay?”

“Deal, sucker! I have issues.”

“So do I. And if I die, you lose your therapist.” I giggled and counted it as a win.

“The joke is on you. I’ll just hold you to it forever. I’m making a note now. If all else, I’ll just move you to your own little spacetime bubble, just like that one you have. - Oh! That reminds me. Don’t try to mix it with real spacetime. I swear, if you try to turn all of it into your bubble, I’ll go apeshit.” Death threw his hands into the air. “Don’t try to pull the real one into this one either. You keep them separate.”

I giggled. “You need a therapist.”

“I know! That’s why I showed up. It’s a real bitch being out here. Sometimes I use some ascended. But the current ones here are real assholes. You know the type. Avoid me at all costs. I may have to go on a killing spree. Feel free to kill them for me.”

“Sure?”

“Awesome,” Death replied. “I’ll just consider you a reaper. Try not to die. I’m still not doing you any favors. That ruins the balance.”

“So, I’m just doing a favor for you?”

“For everybody!” Death said, waving his arms around. “Weren’t you listening? Someone has to clean up this shit. Sadly, the payment is garbage. Most yell at you a lot. I’d make you have a run if it wouldn’t just kill you. It is a little tempting. Maybe I should do it. You might make it. There’s like a 0.00001% chance.”

I grimaced and shook my head. “No thanks. I need more power, remember?”

“Fine. But if I get a whiff of any time shenanigans, you’re toast. I’ll stop by again when you die or when I need a vent. We’ll see if it’s soon.” Death chuckled and vanished.

Time began moving once more. I looked out at the mess that I’d made. The hell was that? It really happened, right?

“It happened, Casey! Don’t you dare make a mess!” Death’s voice rang through my head.

I blinked, grabbed carcasses, and grabbed mana crystals. Stashing it, I teleported, appearing in a warehouse with carcasses hanging everywhere. My breath billowed as I walked up to a hook in the cement room.

Then I began unloading, placing the carcasses down. Dad would export them. We needed to expose people to mana for this to work. After all, you need an army if you are going to overthrow the current rulers.

Hanging the last carcass, I teleported home, trying to ignore the horrible cursing coming from down the hall. Dad was in a mood; I wanted no part of it. Putting on headphones, I turned to my amulet. Time to make disguises. Dad’s going to make me pick some silly villain name. I just know it. With a sigh, I began carefully writing down information about the enchantment.

“Casey, what the fuck?” Dad yelled as he walked into my room.

“Dad?” I asked, spinning.

“Why are you out gallivanting around?” Dad held up his phone, showing some headlines about Platinum on Earth.

“Wasn’t me, Dad. I just dumped at the warehouse.” I turned back to the desk. I’m making a Platinum necklace too. I smiled and began examining it.

“I will review the tapes,” Dad replied as he walked out.

“Do,” I snapped back.

Dad continued cursing as he walked down the hall. With renewed focus, I began designing my next attempt at a disguise.

Current Level 6 Current XP 73.32% Current Max Mana 435.71 Regen per minute 1.21 Growth Time (Days) 4.4 Potential Mana 33.16 Reputation 1000

Tier Skill Cost Tier 5 User Time Dilation (Haste)

- User experiences 32 seconds for 1 earth second.

- Force transference limited to 25%. 1 mana per earth second. Tier 2 Pocket Dimension

- 8 cubic meters of pocket space. 8 mana Tier 2 Time Stop

- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.

- Time does not pass in the demiplane. 200 mana to cast.

Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 2 Teleport.

- Teleports the caster or a willing creature.

- The range is limited to 500 kilometers. 50 mana for the caster.

100 mana for a willing creature. Tier 2 Attire Swap

- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform.

- Attire cleaned on swap. 20 mana. Tier 1 Enchanting. Variable cost. Tier 1 Potions. Variable cost. Tier 1 Free casting

- Cast any spell you can replicate. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana. Tier 1 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast. 1 mana for each additional minute.