(POV - Lady Death)
Lady Death had always found the void peaceful in its own way. Quiet and free of the frantic noise that mortals filled their worlds with. But today was different. It carried a pulse, a sound shaped not by emptiness but by longing.
She had followed the faint vibrations until she reached the strange sphere of energy. Ment to be a seal, to keep something from getting out. Inside, she found an anomaly in the vast expanse of the void. A musician.
And now she found herself sitting beside him.
Erik sat cross legged on a floating platform of stone similar to obsidian, size reduced to match hers, his cello resting against his shoulder. The instrument, forged from planets and light, pulsed faintly with the remaining sounds of the song he had just played. His posture was tense and unsure, as if the presence of someone else, especially one like her, was a task in itself that he needed to relearn how to process.
Lady Death sat with calm presence, hands folded in her lap, the silver ankh at her throat sparkling softly in the grim void.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Finally, she broke the silence. "You have a gift," she said gently. "Your music is alive."
Erik let out a breath. He stared down at the strings, fingers sliding over them as though remembering the time he created it. "I've had time to learn," he muttered. "More time than any being should."
Her head tilted. "How long have you been here?"
He gave a quick, humorless laugh. "You're Death. Surely you know how time works differently out here. Years, centuries, millennia, they all blend together." His gaze drifted into the void surrounding them. "I stopped counting long ago." after a quick pause. "It doesn't matter anymore."
Death studied him quietly. There was no pity in her expression, only understanding. She had witnessed every phase of existence, every emotion, every cycle of life and ending. Loneliness, though? That was one of the few things she could not take away from someone.
But she could sit beside it.
Erik shifted, glancing at her. "Why are you here? No one comes this far into the void."
"I don't know, call it fate." she replied simply. "I sensed something. A disturbance. A presence too strong to be ignored."
"Ah," he said with a forced smile. "So I'm a disturbance."
"That's not what I meant." She quickly replied, trying to clarify.
"No, it's fine." He waved a hand dismissively. "I've been called worse. A threat, mistake, danger to 'the cosmic order.'" His fingers made air quotes. "They never liked that I was born from the first sound. Or that I didn't fit into their plan."
Death leaned slightly toward him. "The Great Old Ones you spoke about?"
Erik hesitated, hand tightening around the bow. "Yes. They feared what I could become. Or what I already was."
"And what are you?" she asked softly.
For a moment, he looked unsure. Then he met her eyes.
"I am the first sound," he answered. "The note that followed creation. The hum that sparked light. A being made from vibration itself." He gestured around the vast emptiness. "They said that my music could 'change or destroy all of creation itself.' So they locked me away where no one could hear me."
Death listened with calm, steady eyes. "You must have felt very alone."
He swallowed hard. "I tried to keep myself sane. I learned to create instruments out of whatever energy or dead planets that existed here. I composed. I hummed. I played only for myself." His voice cracked slightly. "Because who else would listen?"
Her expression softened. "I am listening."
Erik blinked as if unsure he heard her right. "Why?" he whispered.
"Because I wanted to know you."
He looked away quickly, embarrassed for the first time by the warmth blooming in his chest. When was the last time someone wanted anything from him that wasn't from fear?
"Do you want to talk?" she asked.
He hesitated. Then nodded.
Death crossed her legs and rested her chin on her hand. "Tell me about your music."
A faint smile tugged at his lips. "It's everything. My language, my emotions, my life. My way of remembering I'm still me." He lifted the cello again, fingers brushing the strings. "Every piece I play is a conversation with myself. Sometimes it's anger. Sometimes grief. Sometimes hope." A soft sigh escaped him. "Though hope has been harder to find lately."
"Your music carries emotion well," she said. "It lives and breathes. Even in this place."
"Because this place is emotion," he muttered. "Isolation made real." He paused, then glanced at her again. "What about you? Why does Lady Death want to talk to a forgotten musician?"
She smiled faintly. "I am present at every ending. I guide souls. I comfort the lost. But I rarely meet someone who lives an existence like yours, immortal, eternal, yet abandoned and forgotten."
"So I'm interesting because I'm tragic," he said with a chuckle.
"No. You're interesting because you endure." She corrected.
The words hit him harder than he expected. He stared at her, stunned, the bow frozen in his hand. "I… I never thought of it that way."
"You kept playing," she continued, "even when no one could hear you. You kept creating beauty in a place that offers none. That takes strength and courage."
He swallowed. "Thank you."
A comfortable silence settled between them.
Death's gaze drifted to his cello. "Will you play again?" she asked.
"For you?" Erik asks, slightly puzzled.
"If you would do me the honor." She replied with a warm smile
Erik hesitated, but only for a second. Then he lifted the cello, set it against his shoulder. Instruments that lay beside him scattered all around, started to pick themselves up, starting to play one by one before Eric finally drew his bow against the strings of the cello.
(POV - Erik)
(Song - Hauser - Caruso)
He played gently, letting the melody unfold slowly. This piece was different from before, softer than the sad piece she'd heard earlier. Still tinged with loneliness, but carrying a warmth now. A sliver of curiosity or connection.
As Death looked around, amazement crossed her face. All the different instruments playing in perfect synchrony. Looking closer she could see faint outlines of figures playing. Created from vibrations themselves. She couldn't help taking a deep breath.
Death closed her eyes after a few seconds, listening.
"You change the way it sounds, being here." Erik admitted quietly as he played.
"How so?" Death asked confused, eyes still closed.
"It feels lighter. Like the void is, less."
Death opened one eye, amused. "Perhaps the void is simply bored of your sad songs."
He Hmph'ed, nearly missing a note. "Maybe I should blame the vast emptiness of space for having no taste."
"Oh, it has taste." Death replied. "It listened to you for centuries. That's commitment."
He laughed, a genuine warm laugh, and the void shook as if startled by the unfamiliar sound.
Death watched him curiously. "You have a nice smile." she said.
He froze mid-stroke. "I do?"
"Yes." She tilted her head. "It suits you."
Erik stared at the strings, cheeks warming faintly. "I guess I haven't smiled in a long time."
"Then I'm glad I was here to see it." Death stretched wider.
For a moment, Erik felt something inside him loosen, like a knot slowly untying.
When he finished the piece, the last note lingered between them.
Death rested her hand on the obsidian platform. "Do you want to leave this place, Erik?"
He stared at her, breath catching.
"Can I?"
"If It is me then yes." she said softly.
His voice trembled. "And you would do that, for me?"
Death reached out her hand, no rush, no demand, only a simple offering.
"Everyone deserves to be heard, Erik." she said. "You deserve a chance at something beyond loneliness."
Erik looked at her hand for a long moment.
Then he placed his fingers in hers.
The void shuddered, the sphere around them trembling as if realizing it was about to lose its prisoner.
Erik glanced around nervously. "It's not going to let me go easily."
"It doesn't matter." Death said calmly, tightening her grip. "Cages can't hold me.."
Her eyes glowed softly. The sphere cracked, light spilling out in brilliant shards.
Erik's heartbeat, if such a thing could exist in a being like him, pounded in his chest.
"Where will we go?" he asked.
Death gave him a small, knowing smile.
"Anywhere you wish, Erik. The universe is wide, and it's about time you saw it."
And together, hand in hand, they stepped out of the void, leaving silence behind for the first time in countless ages.
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(POV - Unknown)
In another corner of the void, where chaos surged around with force. Purple and red energies, twisting and turning around each other.
A pair of eyes opened. The chaotic space around trembling with newfound rigor.
"He has escaped" The figure spoke before lashing out waves of power, sending signals to others to gather.
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Well that's it for today guys hope you liked it and see you next time.
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