Fall and Ash went down to breakfast the next morning and discussed their ‘game plan’. They would go to the gardens and mess around with Fall’s powers, come back to take a break and eat.

“Fall, if you’re not going to eat that pancake, I’ll take it.” Said Clair.

“Thanks, but no thanks. You’re the one who was telling me that I had to eat a lot today.” Fall answered.

“Hmph. I guess we should get going then.”

“Why practice this stuff here?” asked Fall as they walked into the gardens.

“Well,” answered Clair, “I saw it when we were going to our room last night, and it looked really big. I thought that if you accidentally started blowing stuff up or something, it would be better to have a lot of room.”

After many hours of working with his abilities, Fall found that he could draw energy from other sources, so he healed his leg. He also found that Clair was very good with weapons. “Try blockingthis!” he said as he sent thirteen sharp rock hurling towards her.

“What are you playing at?” Clair cried as she hit them back towards Fall with a sword they had found mounted to the wall in their room. “You could’ve killed me with those!”

“But did I?”

“No, but that’s beside the point.” she said, still hitting the rocks.

Suddenly one of them hit Fall straight in the eye. He could only see red. When he opened his eyes, he seemed to be in a hell-like place. There was a man dressed in a black suit sitting on a throne of bones, surrounded by fire. “What is this?” Fall asked. “Who are you?”

“Well,” said the man, “I go by many names. Satan, Death, Beelzebub, Hades, the Devil. But Satan has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

“What do you want? Why am I here?”

“You have experienced a near death experience. You are not quite dead, but not quite alive either.” Satan explained. “You have one chance to give me a reason why you should live, and I’ll determine whether you stay with me, or go back.”

So Fall told Satan everything that had happened. His house burning down, him meeting Clair, and how he had to kill Johannes Parks. Everything. By the end of it all, he was actually crying.

“Well I can see that you could be of great use to me, so here’s what I’ll do.” Said Satan after Fall was through with his tale. “You can live, but you must do something for me. You have great power, Fallon Errigal. Greater than any human has known before. I will give you a list of people I need dead, and you will kill them. Understood? And if you do this, when you die, you will become a Grim Reaper. You will be able to stay in the living world, but you will be mine for eternity.”

“Understood.” Agreed Fall.

“Oh, and one more thing,” he added. “Will you take my son Thenos with you? He can help you with that list. It’s rather long, you see. I’m afraid no mortal could complete it alone. I’ll make it so that you can communicate telepathically and discuss matters without prying ears being able to hear.”

“Yes.”

“Even with Satan’s son assisting you, this will be very difficult. Please accept this weapon.” Death held out what seemed to be an enormous sickle. Fall took it and imagined it shrinking down to something closer to his size.

“Well, now that that’s all in order,” Death continued, “THENOS!”

A tall, thin, pale boy with dark rings around his blood red eyes came running in. “Yes, Dad?”

“Thenos, I want you to help this boy complete a list I have given him.”

“What kind of list?”

“I’m sure he’ll fill you in on the details when the time comes.”

“But Dad-”

“Now GO!”