The Main Timeline — Chapter I.
“A Weighty Decision is Made”
Teenage Amy; age unspecified
The decadent meal before me should be all engrossing and distracting enough. Instead, it tastes like sandpaper in my mouth. The chrome-plated, ruby-speckled china adds a metallic aftertaste to every morsel.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had dinner with a host I’m not overly fond of, and it certainly won’t be the last time.
It is, however, the first time I’ve found myself eating in the Otherworld with Death.
My host’s sole attention is on his plate at the moment, but I can’t tear my gaze from the pile of scrolls on the rolling cart to his side.
Only minutes before, one of his skeletal secretaries had looked over my handiwork and nodded to him in approval.
The ink had yet to dry, and I didn’t regret my bargain, but I could already feel the difference in my skin and my bones — a dry, tiredness there hadn’t been before.
“It won’t go away,” he finally says, “that feeling of lifelessness. That drain. It comes with the territory.”
I nod, “What of the thing we discussed?”
He simply waves a dismissive hand, “A conversation for the future.”
“And the ring?”
In a flash, my plateware disappears, replaced with a small black velvet ring case. Lifting it feels as harsh as the pull of a black hole. Upon opening it, all that stares back is a pure platinum skull ring.