The Grim Reaper's Heart

Baek's Pov

From the top of the roof, I watch the man make dinner in his small open kitchen. The atmosphere of his small scrampled apartment looks lone and watching the man consecutively for three days has confirmed my suspicion that he had no family. My eyes lock to the timer on his forehead which read;

00:02:00

He has two minutes left to live. And I am sure he has no idea that any moment from now, his life would be taken away from him. No one else could see the timer ticking on his forehead. No one else except me.

And it is because I am he who takes the lives of men and every living creature. I am the god of death.

My task is as simple as anything. Keep an eye on the about-to-expired victims. Watch them closely and observe their routines for three days and take their souls on their last second. As simple as eating a piece of cake. This isn't my first time or hundredth time taking the lives of people.

Maybe a millionth time if I should consider that I am a thousand years old.

I watch intently as the man suddenly coughs. He probably thinks it is just a minor cough and I watch him walk over to the fridge to get some water. I do not take my eyes off him for a second as his cough does not subside and only persists and he only ends up choking on the water he had drank.

00:01:00

One minute left.

His face reddens from the intensity of the cough and the veins in his neck pops visibly. His legs gave way and he falls to the ground, still trying to stop the cough.

00:45:00

He crawls on the ground and tries to reach for the half drank water on the counter top but his hand only manages to push it over, causing the water to spill all over the table. I should feel sorry for him. I should hope that he makes it. I should hope that he ends up alive.

But I can't.

I have never felt empathy for any thing. It isn't something in my DNA. I was created for this. To be a killing machine. To be one whose destiny is only tied to taking the lives of those who are about to die.

At least, I do my best to make sure they are sent safely to the after life...if they are good people. If they are bad, hades craves for a taste of their souls.

0:05:00

It is time.

I teleport myself from the rooftop and stand directly in front of him. His eyes widens as he takes sight of my frame.

The dying only gets to see death in the face in their dying minutes. And it has never been a likable experience with any of them. They all hated me. Cursed me under their last dying breathe. I was used to it. All of it.

I outstretchmy hand and allow my power reach for his heart. His life bank. Feeling his life under my powers, I slowly pull it out. The man groans lowly in pain as he watches me take his life from him, his hand clutched to his chest.

I watch his last memories play before me.

His marriage to his wife where he looked happier. The birth of his first child. His parenthood. His fights with his wife. His depressed days. His wife filing for a divorce...

One thing I have learned from my thousand years of being a grim reaper, it is that people have their most precious memories flash right before their eyes whenever they are in their closest to death. And I have made sure never to share in their sorrow. Besides, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to. I was not created to be that way.

Feeling the last atom of his soul fill my grip, now shaped in a small round blue pearl-like crystal ball, I retract my hand and watch him stop struggling instantly. His head finally falls back and rests on the bare floors and a tear rolls down his eye.

Gone. Dead.

I use my other hand to summon a portal. The portal to the afterlife. It has two narrow openings that is ready to accept the soul of the dead. Paradise and hades. And then, there is the small last opening in the middle.

Limbo.

A portal for souls that are not supposed to die. It was a portal that gives life back to the dead. And when it does, a person is neither dead nor alive. It is as though you are stuck to one spot of your life. I would like to think it is a punishment rather than a second chance at life. A lot of people don't make it there, anyway. I have only experienced a few people get in, in all my years of being a grim reaper.

I give a gentle flip of my hand, sending the soul crystal into the portal. The portal caresses the crystal for a moment before sending it where it belongs.

Hades.