Alaric was once again soaring through the void in his soul form. But this time he had his senses with him. He could see see hundreds of thousands of souls around him, all phantom translucent, glowing with varying shades of white. Even his soul body was glowing a bright, pearly white, and he could see that he was the brightest in the entire group of souls. But even Alaric did not notice that there was faint trace of gold mixed in the white.
Then a bright light assaulted his vision. Brighter than any of the soul. Brighter than Alaric as well. He looked ahead. In front of him, glowing brightly with a rich blue color, was a archway of epic proportions. It was like a massive portal, with a blue-white curtain of light shimmering and rippling like a pond. In front of the archway, almost like a guard, stood a… thing. It was humanoid, but featureless, covered in smoke and wearing a dark hooded robe, with legs missing. It floated in the void like a grim reaper without a scythe. It was barely larger than any other soul around, but it radiated a chilling, dangerous aura.
Alaric watched as soul after soul floated towards the reaper in a line. The reaper stretched out its hand towards the soul in front of him, finger penetrating their chest. The soul immediately became hazy and indistinct, still humanoid, but no longer distinguishable by gender or features. The soul floated forward, disappearing into the archway.
So, Alaric thought, that thing is probably erasing the soul's memories and personality. Then the soul goes forward for rebirth into that gate. But… I don't think I'll be letting it erase my personality. My heart is in my control now, so I can at least put up a fight. Whatever happens happens after that.
He just waited in line.
---
After almost an eternity, Alaric stood before the reaper. Just as it was going to stick his hand into Alaric's chest like every other soul, it jerked back in surprise. "What?! How are you aware, soul? What is going on?" it asked in a deep, low voice, like two slabs of stone rubbing against each other.
"Hello, Mr. Reaper. My name is Alaric Carter. Can you please not erase my memories? I am assuming that's what you are doing."
The reaper just stared silently at him for a moment, then said, "I do not just erase your memories. I destroy the heart sea of every soul that passes through here. Then that soul rebuilds the hear sea in its next life, and then it is destroyed again for its next rebirth. You are a bit different from the others, but that does not mean you will be exempted. Prepare to lose yourself."
Saying this, the reaper stretched his fingers towards Alaric's chest. It passed through his soul body, making him feel a bone-deep, deathly chill in the region, before the world shifted around him… again.
---
Alaric sat on the stone platform inside his heart sea, as the reaper called it. In front of him stood the reaper, looking around at the mirror-still sea, the sun, the moon, and the divided sky. Alaric could not see its expression, but he guessed it was one of surprise.
It said, "This is certainly the most unique heart sea I have seen in the entirety of my existence, human. A pity. But I must."
Deep, pitch black wings burst out from its back, and as it gently flapped them, an eerie black smoke started to condense and swirl around the reaper. As soon as he saw the smoke, Alaric knew it was dangerous. But he was not scared at all.
After all… inside his heart sea, he was a god.
He could restrain and banish the reaper from here with a thought, but he had not done so, curious to see what would happen.
But the heart sea itself was not curious.
Alaric's eyes widened as he felt the world around him was readying itself, seemingly for some kind of attack. The world felt… angered somehow, as if it was insult that a little reaper was trying to destroy it.
And then, before Alaric could react…
BOOM!!!!!!!
A huge pillar of lightning fell from the cloudless sky just as two massive beams of fiery and icy energy, from the sun and the moon, shot towards the reaper. They struck the bewildered and fearful reaper together, creating a massive explosion. An pain-filled wail rang out, echoing around the sea.
The energy and smoke dissipated, revealing to Alaric's widened eyes that nothing of the reaper remained. It had been obliterated completely. The world calmed down once again to its serenity, but a thought echoed in Alaric's mind…
Wait, did I just… kill death?
---
Alaric stood once again in front of the massive portal archway. He floated forward, knowing there was no reaper to stop him. He could pass through and be reborn with his heart sea intact.
Suddenly, he felt himself freeze. He could not move. It felt as if time itself had been stopped. Then the void in front of him… twisted. And then a massive crack appeared, like space had been torn apart. Deep black smoke and gray light shone from the crack.
From the twisting radiance, a massive silhouette emerged, vast enough to fill Alaric's entire view. The gate of rebirth looked like a mouse-hole in front of him. It was clearly a man, though his features were blurred by the shadows and light twisting around him.
His abyssal eyes stared at Alaric and said in a calm, deep and resonant voice, "I am the God Of Death, human. You killed one of my servants."
It wasn't a question. It was a statement.
Though he was an ant compared to the being before him, Alaric subconsciously straightened up. He asked, slightly disappointed, "So I didn't kill Death?"
"… No. That was one of my reapers."
"Oh. So now you're going to erase my heart sea now, Mr. Death?" Alaric was calm. He didn't know whether this 'God' was powerful enough to beat him in his heart sea, but that did not matter. If was Death was powerful enough, he would face his inevitable end. If he turned out to be stronger, then he would naturally not have his heart sea destroyed.
But the being's answer surprised him. The God of Death said, "No. I will not. You have killed one of my reapers, and hence you have proven yourself worthy enough to pass through the gate intact."
"I descended here merely because I was curious to see the mortal who had killed the servant of a god. You may pass through. I shall appoint a new reaper to this gate. Farewell, mortal. I am interested to see what you do in your next life."
Alaric looked at the god with raised eyebrows, then simply nodded his thanks and floated into the gateway…
Toward his next life…