Even While Dead /1/

/1/

    Adam leaned back in his father’s currently vacant throne and sighed heavily. The room that had once been completely dark was now well lit with electric lights lining the walls. It had gone through many transformations with the race of man. It hadn’t been dark in this room since before man’s discovery of fire, when Adam was but a small boy.
    When the Earth began, Death was unleashed unto the world from the pits of molten lava that sculpted its features. So he said, anyway. To him were born many children, the eldest of whom was Adam. In that long ago darkness, in the time before time, before he had even had a name, Death had revealed the boy’s duties to him. He’d been so young then, all those years ago.
    His eyes snapped up to the massive rock doors--the same doors he’d been tossed out of so many times by his enraged father--as they began to creak open. He dropped the rose that had been withering in his bare hands and stood stiffly to greet his father and one of his brothers.
    “Father. Cain.”
    “Adam,” his younger brother replied, extending his hand. The two of them clasped arms. “We knew you would be here.”
    “In the throne again, were you?” Death taunted, smirking slightly. “It fits you not, boy. You aren’t grown enough for the power that comes with the throne, nor am I old enough to pass it to you. Mind your place, boy.”
    “I will mind when I am of a mind to,” Adam muttered, crossing his arms. “What is it you wish of me this time, Father?”
    “You have been given a new assignment, my son. Since the last pitiful human town I sent you to was unable to satiate your rather refined tastes, I have opted to allow you to go somewhere that is, perhaps, more fitting.” Death climbed the steps and stretched, the body he’d developed for himself creaking. It was an older skin of his, and it was time to get a new one. The long silver beard told of the two or three hundred years it had been in use. “Years have passed since your last assignment. Times have changed. You cannot use that peasant garb anymore. You will have to choose a more modern skin, my boy. Cain, as you can see, has already decided on a skin for his first assignment in the humans’ Russia.”
    Adam had already observed his brother’s thick, commanding new skin. Dark eyes and hair, thick eyebrows, a scar running across one eye, and thick, fur clothing. “What is your new name, Cain?”
    “Do I need one? It isn’t as if they will be seeing me, my brother. You know better than that. Don’t try to trick me into over thinking this, Adam.”
    “I hope your expedition goes well,” Adam told his brother with a sharp nod. “Perhaps you will do as I do, and take out a few of the scum who don’t deserve a life anyway.”
    “That is why you were taken out of Europe all those years ago, brother. You killed far too many, and it was not their time.”
    “Blame me not. Humans cause their own disgusting problems. They named their diseases, and they bring their own lives to an end, as well as the lives of others,” Adam snarled, bitterly. “Good hunting, Cain. May you complete your tasks, and return within the millennium.”
    “Doubtful, brother. My assignment is due to last awhile.” Cain bowed to his father and oldest brother, then turned on his heel and left.
    Adam looked back to his father and pulled an apple out of the air. He shined it on his tunic and took a large, juicy bite, gloating that he still had the will to eat.
    “Bah,” Death growled. “I but need a new body for myself.” He closed his eyes for a moment, and his eyelids fluttered. A wicked grin spread across his face. “I know just the one, my boy. Just the one.” His features began to melt and bubble, the bones snapping, hair pulling in and pushing out, skin pigment darkening and lightening in a wild frenzy of change.
    When his transformation was complete, Adam’s father looked no older than twenty-seven, if that. His hair was messy, a crisp brown. His eyes were the color of molten gold. His smile was cruel, but somehow alluring. He was tall and lean, but obviously strong and muscled. It was a very good choice; Adam had to give him that.
    “I suppose I must see what the filthy humans wear these days,” Adam sighed, rolling his eyes. “I hate this part.”
    “Mm, I love spying on the humans. I love their new styles, boy. They are an intriguing race. Much more interesting than the others we’ve had to service over the years.”
    “Yes, well… They have to be the most intelligent we’ve had to service, father, even if that doesn’t say much.”
    Adam closed his eyes, as his father had done, and felt billions of minds touching over his. He saw the year; late 1998. It had, indeed, been a long time. Centuries, in fact. The humans were totally different. He touched minds with his brothers and sisters, the invisible stalkers of the human race, and rejoiced to know them again. Finally, he felt that he had a solid grasp of those he was to be around, and changed himself accordingly.
    When he opened his eyes, he saw that his father had dressed himself in casual, simple clothing; slacks and a button up shirt, with no tie and the top buttons undone. He looked very pleased with himself, and, surprisingly, with the skin that Adam had chosen.
    He’d molded himself to be pale, but not strikingly so, with raven black hair and olive green eyes. He had a round, boyish face and rather attractive features. However, being attractive was more of a choice than a necessity; as Cain had said, it wasn’t like the humans would be seeing him. Except, of course, those who were doomed to die.
    “I am going to be looking over the Southern Hemisphere for awhile, boy. For now, you can start small. A town in North America. Somewhere pleasant.” Even Death’s voice had changed; it was smooth and strong, young, but full of malice as ever.
    “I will act accordingly.”
    “Adam! You must speak as they speak. When in Rome, as the saying goes.”
    “Father, you started that saying.”
    “I know. So you had better keep it in mind. Come now, try again.”
    Adam took a deep breath and thought for a moment before replying, “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”
    “Excellent. I shall check on you in a decade or so. That should be but a blink of an eye for you. Now go.”
    The Grim Reaper swept from the room, donning the long black coat he had favored since the late 18th century. He was prepared to do his duties and take from humans the only thing that did not truly belong to them: their life. What he was not prepared for was meeting a young girl who was so unlike the humans he hated that he was left completely speechless. He would not meet her until the summer of 1999, when she was seven years old.
    Reyden L. Mortenson greeted the man who had come for her parents’ lives with naught but a shy smile and the offer of a chocolate chip cookie. It was an offer of friendship.