Death is not cruel.

It is not merciful, either.

It simply is.

But there was once a man—a trickster, a scholar, a fool—who thought he could outwit Death itself.

And for a time… he did.

He traded places with Death.

And the world has never been the same since.

I know this because I was there when he made the deal.

And I was there when he begged to undo it.

The Night the Reaper Was Cheated

Most believe Death cannot be bargained with.

That it is absolute, inevitable, beyond persuasion.

That is mostly true.

But once, long ago, there was a man who tried.

And, against all odds…

He succeeded.

The Trickster Who Thought Himself Clever

His name was Elias Durnham.

A scholar, a rogue, a man whose mind was as sharp as his silver tongue.

He had spent his life chasing secrets—ancient spells, forbidden artifacts, lost knowledge.

But no discovery fascinated him more than the nature of Death itself.

“What if Death is not an end?” he mused.

“What if it is simply a position, a mantle, a duty?”

“And what if someone else… could take its place?”

It was the kind of question that should have remained unanswered.

But Elias was not the kind of man to leave mysteries alone.

And so, one fateful night…

He found his answer.

The Ritual That Summoned the Unseen

In the depths of a forgotten ruin, Elias prepared a spell that should never have been spoken.

A summoning not of spirits, nor demons, nor gods…

But of Death itself.

I was there.

I tried to stop him.

“Elias, this is madness,” I warned. “You cannot call something that was never meant to be bound.”

But he only laughed, his eyes gleaming with reckless ambition.

“Oh, Merlin, have you learned nothing?”

“Everything can be bargained with.”

“Even Death.”

The air thickened, the shadows in the room lengthened, stretching like hungry fingers toward the flickering candlelight.

And then…

It arrived.

The Presence That Should Not Be Seen

Death does not walk.

It does not move.

It simply is.

A presence beyond sight, sound, and reason.

But in that moment, the flickering darkness took form—a shape not quite man, not quite shadow, not quite anything that belonged to this world.

It had no eyes.

And yet, it saw everything.

“You have called me.”

The voice was not a sound.

It was a whisper in the soul, a cold certainty that wrapped around the bones.

Elias, to his credit, did not flinch.

He smiled.

“I have a proposal.”

The Bargain That Should Never Have Been Made

No mortal had ever stood before Death and spoken as an equal.

No mortal had ever dared to name a price.

But Elias?

He was not like other men.

“You take,” he said. “You always take. But what if, for once… you gave?”

“What if you stepped away?”

“What if… someone else took your place?”

A terrible stillness filled the room.

A silence so deep, so absolute, that even the very concept of sound seemed to tremble beneath it.

Then—

“Why?” Death asked.

Elias leaned forward, his smile widening.

“Because I can do it better.”

I felt my blood turn to ice.

This was no mere act of defiance.

This was insanity.

And yet, Death did not laugh.

It did not deny him.

Instead, it simply said:

“Very well.”

And the world changed forever.

The Moment Death Stepped Away

The moment the deal was sealed, Elias Durnham became something else.

The world shifted around him.

His skin paled, his form grew indistinct, his breath no longer stirred the air.

And Death—

The true Death—

Was gone.

For the first time since the dawn of time, Death had abandoned its throne.

And Elias?

He had taken its place.

He had become the Reaper.

But he did not yet understand what that meant.

The Price of the Bargain

At first, Elias rejoiced.

“Think of it, Merlin!” he exclaimed. “No more suffering! No more meaningless ends!”

“I can decide who lives! Who dies! I can change the very nature of existence itself!”

But power is not understanding.

And Elias had no idea what he had just done.

Because Death is not a choice.

It is not a power to wield.

It is a duty.

And it does not belong to those who seek it.

The Burden of Being Death

Within days, Elias began to wither.

He could no longer touch, no longer eat, no longer sleep.

Everywhere he walked, things decayed in his wake.

Flowers wilted.
Fires dimmed.
People who stood too close to him shuddered, as if feeling winter crawl into their bones.

And worst of all?

No one died.

The world refused to move forward.

Wounded soldiers lingered in agony, unable to pass on.
The old and sick remained trapped in their failing bodies, whispering prayers to gods that could no longer hear them.

Life had lost its end.

And the world…

Began to rot.

The Desperate Plea to Undo the Deal

“Merlin…”

The voice was no longer proud.

No longer cocky.

It was a whisper—weak, broken, filled with horror.

“I… I was wrong.”

Elias stood before me, his once-bright eyes now hollow voids, his form barely clinging to existence.

“I cannot bear it.”

“I do not want this anymore.”

“Please… help me undo it.”

But there are some bargains, traveler, that cannot be undone.

There was only one way out.

And Elias Durnham was not going to like it.

The Man Who Became a Shadow

Elias stood before me, less man than mist, his edges flickering like a dying flame.

His body had lost its weight, its warmth, its very presence.

He was unraveling, piece by piece.

And yet, he could not die.

Because he had stolen Death’s place.

“Help me, Merlin,” he pleaded. “I was wrong. I can’t do this. I can’t bear it.”

His voice was barely more than wind, his desperation thicker than the night.

I took a slow breath.

“You made a bargain, Elias.”

“A bargain with something that does not forget.”

He shuddered.

“Then help me fix it!”

But some things, traveler, are not so easily undone.

And Elias was about to learn that the price of defying Death…

Was far greater than he had ever imagined.

The World That Refused to Die

As we spoke, the land itself groaned.

The trees sagged under their own weight, their roots choking the earth.

The rivers slowed, thickening like molten glass, refusing to flow forward.

The air stagnated, trapped in an unnatural stillness.

Because nothing was ending.

No one was dying.

Not the sick.
Not the wounded.
Not even the ones who had long begged for release.

Elias had wanted power.

Instead, he had created a world that could never move forward.

A world where the sick and suffering were left to linger, trapped in bodies that had long since given up.

A world where the dead could no longer die.

A world that was, slowly but surely…

rotting from the inside.

The One Who Came to Collect

“There is only one way to undo this.”

Elias looked at me, hope flickering in his empty gaze.

“How?”

A shadow stirred behind us.

A whisper, colder than ice, slid through the air like a knife against stone.

“The same way you stole my place.”

We turned.

And Death had returned.

Not in the form it had once worn, not as the silent watcher Elias had tricked—

But as something raw, something ancient, something that had been torn from its throne and had come to claim it back.

It did not walk.

It did not breathe.

It simply was.

And this time…

It was not here to bargain.

The Price of Restoration

“You have broken the balance,” Death said.

“You have denied the inevitable.”

“Now, the debt must be paid.”

Elias fell to his knees, shaking.

“I’ll give it back!” he gasped. “I don’t want it anymore!”

Death did not move.

It did not respond.

It simply waited.

And in that silence, I understood.

It was not enough for Elias to give up his stolen power.

A debt had been made.

And a debt must be paid.

“What must be done?” I asked, my voice low.

Death turned to me.

“A life must be taken in return for all those who should have passed but did not.”

“And it must be his.”

Elias went pale.

“You mean… I have to die?”

“No.” Death’s whisper was final.

“You must become what you tried to steal.”

“You will not die, Elias Durnham.”

“You will become Death itself.”

The Man Who Would Be Death

Elias began to shake violently, his spectral form flickering as if it could barely hold itself together.

“No! You don’t understand! I don’t want this!”

“I never wanted to be Death!”

“Then why did you take my place?” Death asked, empty, weightless, unyielding.

“Because I thought I could change it!” Elias cried.

“I thought I could make it kinder! I thought I could—”

His voice broke.

“I thought I could control it.”

Death was silent.

Then, slowly—

“Now you understand.”

“Now you will know what it is to be what I am.”

Elias screamed.

The Final Exchange

I could not stop it.

I could not intervene.

Death reached forward—not with hands, not with force, but with inevitability.

And Elias Durnham, the man who had cheated Death…

Became it.

The moment it happened, the world shuddered.

The rivers flowed again.
The trees straightened.
The air moved.

And those who had long been trapped between life and death…

Finally, mercifully, passed on.

The balance had been restored.

But Elias was gone.

Or rather…

He had become something else.

The Reaper’s First Words

I stood in the silence that followed, staring at the figure before me.

It was no longer Elias.

Not really.

The flickering shadow that had once been Death was gone.

And in its place…

A new Reaper had risen.

Elias turned, his face unreadable, his eyes—once bright with ambition and arrogance—now empty.

“I did not know,” he whispered.

His voice was different now.

“I did not understand.”

“But now I do.”

“And now, I must walk the path I once defied.”

A pause.

Then, he turned his gaze to me.

“Goodbye, Merlin.”

And with that, Elias Durnham—the man who had once tricked Death—

Vanished into the shadows.

To walk a road only one can ever walk.

Merlin’s Final Words

I never saw him again.

Not truly.

But sometimes, traveler, when the air is still and the veil between worlds grows thin…

I feel his presence.

I hear the whisper of his steps in the quiet halls of the dying.

And I know—

He is still there.

Still walking.

Still watching.

Still taking the hands of those ready to leave this world.

And when my time comes…

When I, too, must cross the final threshold…

I know who will be waiting for me on the other side.

I only hope he still remembers how to be merciful.