The air had the scent of death.

  It smelled of rust and rot. Of wilting flowers and electrical cut-outs. Of burnt toast and melting plastic. The scent had that odd thickness you would feel in your throat if you breathed it in. It would cover your lungs and settle with great heaviness. A heaviness that told you to count your blessings.

  This air had an unnatural weight.

  The dust particles that flew in the air above, and around the two talking beings down on the floor, were safe - confident even - with the knowledge that no being could ever understand their ancient language.

  They whispered the great secrets of the cosmos to one another freely and without discourse. They knew the secrets of how light was born, how rock was formed from atoms upon atoms and how the laughter of a child could quell the rage of an animal or smite the evil of a demon…

  They floated around the hall which loomed over the conversation below. The hall was comprised of marble, brick and stone. And whilst it was not as old as the dust particles by any margin, the hall had been standing strong and silent for a thousand eternities. For eons upon eons, time folding over time, it had reigned over the land that would exist forever, before Time and afterwards.

  The hall was there when the seven ageless Elementals formed their omnipotent designs for the universe and the hundreds of others that existed in blissful ignorance of one another across the ever-expanding range of the Multiverse.

  The hall was there when light was born from Life. And darkness followed its older sibling into existence by the good graces of Death.

  The hall would be there forever…

  The building which the hall sat within was more imposing than the deadliest prison and greater than the tallest skyscraper. It ruled over the land and across the spectrum of that reality from which it had been formed. Anyone who witnessed it would be awestruck.

  Outside the impossible hall and surrounding the incomparable building, the lifeless wind could be heard gently passing through the hundreds of the building’s alcoves and windows. The world outside the hall rolled onwards, upwards, backwards and downwards.

  Borrowing its nature from its architect, the building and the surrounding land held no regard for the rules of nature. Like their owner, they never aged and never wavered. The rules of reality, which humanity’s creations strictly abided by, did not have a hold here.

  The second person of the conversing pair bowed respectfully to the first. The particles knew him very well and had known him for three thousand years. This deity had existed for that long and performed his mortal duties with great deference, punctuality and precision.

  Donn. That was his name. He was conscientious and someone to be relied upon. A noble stalwart and a quiet taciturn. He was a deity who suffered no fools. But inside that stone-like veneer, deep within… there fluttered sparks of kindness and understanding which only a lucky few had a slim chance of seeing.

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  The first person, with a gently commanding voice and an indomitably calm presence, nodded and gestured to the front door of the great building which stood beside them. The black door that would lead back to the world of the living. This person was the first being in existence, the oldest and most powerful of the seven Elementals. They held only one name… Death.

  “You understand that you must leave from Homerton Station?” Death reminded.

  Donn inclined his head in some confusion. “I still do not understand why I must go to a station to begin with. The carriage will come to wherever I am.”

  “Just do so. It is crucial that you must.”

  “Very well. As you command.”

  “Thank you, Donn. Happy reaping.”

  Donn bowed once more, turned on his heel and walked out of the door, as he had always done from the beginning of his creation. The same old path… He knew that to be his role and thus did not question his commands. The door slowly closed behind him with a dull thud that echoed slowly in that grand hall.

  Of course, there are many, many things that the beings of this universe do not know.

  Donn knew many secretive things. But his knowledge paled in comparison to the one who commanded him.

  For Death knew everything.

  There was nothing in Death’s world and in all the worlds beyond the one that you live in that Death did not know.

  Death knew why the sun loved the moon.

  Death knew how darkness protected light.

  Death knew everything… That was Death’s power. That was Death’s birthright and ability. Not a day went by where Death had to be informed on a matter. But today was not that day.

  Death did not have full knowledge. In that dimension, at that very point in time, things were very wrong. An incident, one of great magnitude, had occurred. One which Death nor its kin had any prior inkling of.

  Such an experience was a puzzling one for the Elemental. It had never experienced something as human as an ‘error’ before. It was… disconcerting. This worried Death. But the worry was as brief as breath on a mirror. Death had a plan. All the Elementals did in moments such as these.

  The Schedule. Undeniable. Irrefutable. The Truth of the Multiverse.

  And the Schedule required that Donn depart the living world from the city of London and most importantly, from a station called Homerton. It did not matter what he did beforehand and afterwards. That was the only detail Death cared about being completed down to the letter. Donn could not leave the way he came in. He could arrive as a Reaper. But must leave the mortal realm as a mortal. That was imperative.

  Death had every faith in him to succeed in his unusual task, as Death did with all the others under its employ. Donn was loyal and whilst he acted with his heart and possessed the worrisome trait of overthinking, he was a professional.

  Once Donn had left, Death returned its focus on rectifying the pressing issue.

  Death also expected Donn to return soon and, little did Donn know, not alone… That was also part of the Schedule.

  The silence gradually fell upon Death as the echoes of the closing door receded into the air.

  Death sighed with a low relief, turned and walked down its hall.

  “I hope you all shall be discreet in this affair.” Death asked of the particles, who fluttered around the Elemental’s head with great deference. If one had listened carefully, one would swear they heard a smile in that request.

  Oh yes. Death could hear their infinitesimal chatter easily… Death enjoyed their company.

  With every step that was taken, Death’s presence gradually faded away.

  There was work to be done. There was always work to be done…