章 6: Frightening Lurker and Irony
POV: Death of the Endless
I died a little inside when I first felt it. It's hilarious that I, Death, claim to have died. But I had never felt such destruction before. Over a billion lives were destroyed in just a few moments. I am no stranger to death; how could I be? I am cursed to forever reap the souls of these poor mortals. Oh, if only my burden ended there! At least then, perhaps apathy would shroud me in its numbing cloak. The true tragedy of my existence is that I am also Life. I am present for every birth, as it is I who guides the soul from Eternity to breathe life into mortals, just as it is I who guides the soul back to Him when one dies.
I cried every time a mortal died when I was younger. I cried, and I cried over and over. But nothing lasts forever. Eventually, my tears dried up, and a somber shroud engulfed me. I told myself I did not—no, do not!—care about them.
But the tears staining my cheeks prove that the lie has been fully banished. For now, I stood within the wreckage of what once was a planet. What once contained quintillions of animals and quintillions more other life forms is just gone. A planet that I have visited over a septillion times 'alone' has completely been eradicated. I've already guided them all back to Eternity, but I had to just take a moment to think about what was lost. All the struggle and all the death these mortals underwent for what? Hope? The next generation?
What a laugh! All hope is lost for these people! One of the few worlds with a sentient population: gone! Who will remember them? Who will validate that they once existed?
My family knows, but except for Delight, they do not care. Despair even rejoices at this atrocity. While Delight is kindly, she is young, easily distracted, and foolish. She will forget.
But I will not. I will remember. I guided their wailing souls into the afterlife, and now I will carry with me their anger, their despair, and their pain until the one who did this, Galactus, perishes. The only things staying my hand from killing the heinous figure are my rules and our strange connection. I cannot kill a cosmic entity such as him without a trial unless they have, beyond a shadow of a doubt, rejected their duty.
Somehow, SOMEHOW, not only do I feel no 'wrongness' that would occur with a great misuse of cosmic power, but the universe even seems to rejoice in this destruction! Even worse is this connection. He and I are linked somehow. I suppose it makes sense; a mass murderer like him must be some cruel embodiment like hatred or something, and it's his job to be a piece of shit.
Fine! It doesn't matter if no one else cares! I care! I'll be keeping an eye on you, Galactus! You better watch your back! One mistake, and I'll kill you! I'll kill you even if it's the last thing I do!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
POV Galactus
Things really are looking up! I've finally understood the true nature of this container, and it will be quite useful to me. A translation of the Truth this eldritch data contains roughly comes to 'perception' or 'understanding'. How ironic. I am understanding 'understanding'. Its real use is that the more I peel away subjective interpretations of understanding and get closer to True Understanding, the faster I am able to pierce through these layers. It practically adds a higher and higher percentage to how fast I can peel the layers. I would say I'm roughly at a 2% increase in speed. While that is terrible, I believe that this increased 'understanding' will also help me peel the layers behind other containers, which will save me time in the long run. I will continue to use this until I am stopped, as the benefits will save me more time in the future.
Hmm, a slight problem at around 20% increase, the layers are getting harder to peel away instead of easier. I can still feel that it is working, but the resistance is still increasing. Perhaps deeper layers contain a higher resistance?
At 50%, my hypothesis is practically proven. The resistance is now equal to the layers around the 8%. I etch it into the back of my mind to make a graph of these numbers when I get out of here. It will be useful to predict how long it will take to increase my percentage, especially if other containers have a comparable resistance curve.
I hit a wall at 100%. 99% took quite a while, but 100% seemed to be a steep increase in resistance. Oh well, it is about time I left this place. Time is odd here; I could have been sleeping awhile.
I take a mental breath as my mindscape disappears. I am restored to consciousness.
"You."
I immediately bolt out of bed and do everything in my power not to screech in fright. I teleport to the back corner of the room, eyes and hands aglow with the Power Cosmic.
"Who are you!"
My eyes go wide as the words leave my lips. She was dressed in a black cloak that covered everything except her face, but it was enough to know who she is. Her gothic appearance is iconic. Her black lips curve into a smirk.
"It seems you already know who I am. I am Death, and I know what you've done."
While she speaks, I try to find a way out of this. I am still not certain of my power compared to concepts like Death. If I am only as strong as Marvel's Galactus and she is as powerful as her DC equivalent, I am going to die. There would be far too much of a gap in power, and she would kill me in one touch. Teleportation would not work; she is omnipresent. As I prepare for a dire conflict, she speaks again.
"One day, you will pay for what you've done, and I will delight when your time comes."
A black fog coalesces around her, and leaves me with these words, "I'll be watching you," before vanishing into thin air.
The tension slowly drains from my posture, but it did not completely disappear. She is still nearby, after all.
I quietly walk into my living room, sit down on one of the chairs, and take a well-deserved break while wiping away the coalesced sweat.
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Check Author's Note, very important.
クリエイターの想い 
Waluigi_1
Waluigi_1 Hi guys! Unfortuantely I have some bad news. I have some summer school that will start tomorrow, its also an acellerated course, so I might be quite busy. I have other summer school stuff starting on May 30th, but it won't be as jam packed as this one. Hopefully the class isn't too hard and I can keep making frequent, predictable updates. Also some of you may be wondering why Death of the Endless was so downtrodden when she was depicted as a chipper girl in the 'Sandman', well I found a source that claimed that Death was more somber in her beginning years so I went with that. 1.1k words.
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