Death strode into the room, his dark cloak swirling dramatically
around his emaciated frame. There in the center of the room, smiling as
she always did, was his arch-nemesis: Life. "Welcome to my home," she
purred seductively. Death glared at her from beneath the cowl of his
cloak. Ignoring his icy stare, she continued, "What brings you here, and
in such a hurry?"
    "Give it to me. Now." Death ordered.
    Life looked at him in consternation and replied smoothly, "Give what
to you? And you could pretend that you have manners. It is my house, you
know."
    "You know exactly what I am talking about. You had no right!"
    Life giggled girlishly, causing Death's mood to darken even more.
"What use did you have for it?"
    "That is completely irrelevant. You stole it, now give it back to
me."
    "You'll have to come and get it." She revealed a golden chain
hanging around her neck. Attached to it was a small container. Death
growled at her in frustration as she continued. "Now come on, it can't
be that hard. Live a little." She taunted him, swinging the bottle in
front of her face.
    Death loathed dealing with her. She was always so frustrating. The
more time he could spend away from her, the better. This was not the
first time she had stolen something from him. He had just never cared
enough to come to her castle and get them back. However, this was
important. Important enough to come all the way and retrieve it, no
matter how annoying the meeting was going to be. "Just give it back and
I'll leave. You can have anything I have. Anything but that."
    Her golden laughter assaulted him yet again. "But my dear, you miss
the point." She said, as sweet as ever. "I wanted you to come here. You
think I would let you leave that easily?"
    Death glared at her once more, then laughing heartily, disappeared.
Life's secure smile disappeared with him. "Where did he go?" She
exclaimed, looking around frantically. Her servants scurried here and
there, looking for the elusive dark spirit.
  
    A Cheshire-cat style smile appeared in front of Life, topped with
two glowing eyes. "You want to play games, then? I can play as well." It
laughed mockingly, and was gone. And with it, went Life's locket. She
grabbed for it, but too late. It was already gone.
  
    Death sped away from Life's beautiful castle, locket in hand. His
black horse carried him at amazing speeds over the terrain, though he
feared that it would not be fast enough. Life was usually the more
powerful spirit, and here, in her domain, she was even more powerful. He
had risked much in stealing the locket back, but it was well worth it.
Now he just had to get home and put it back where it belonged.
    As Life's castle disappeared behind him and he finally approached
his meager dwelling, Death breathed a sigh of relief. He had expected
that getting this treasure back would prove to be a bit more difficult.
He vaulted out of the black steed's saddle, and strode into his home. He
immediately felt that something was amiss, but he couldn't quite put his
finger on it. Searching the small house brought up nothing to confirm
his feeling, so he sat down, hoping that his instincts were wrong.
    Opening the locket dispelled all his fears. There, in the
protection of the locket was what he had risked traveling to Life's
realm to retrieve. His heart. A bright red glow emanated from it, and
Death found himself at peace. With a sudden flash, it was back in his
chest where it belonged, and Death once more felt whole. Then the
nagging suspicion that something was dreadfully wrong returned. The dark
spirit was confused. There was nothing that should be causing this
feeling, yet he was worried -- something terrible was going to happen,
and he had no idea what it would be.
  
    Life quickly recovered from her loss. It was no big deal. Let him
have his little victories. She could always get the heart back. Or
something equally as precious, though she was hard pressed to think
what. She wandered aimlessly into her treasure room. It was filled to
the roof with the many things she had stolen from Death in attempts to
get him to even approach the castle. None of them had even phased him.
However, the theft of his heart had surprising results. She had hardly
hoped it would bring him into the very center of the castle -- her
audience chamber. But she had still failed. He had been amazingly
resourceful, managing to take the locket off her person in the center of
her stronghold, and then get out unscathed and unseen. It was a
testament to his skills at ending the lives of those lesser beings that
she so painstakingly imbued with a portion of her spirit.
    She had hoped to talk to him, forge a pact, where he would not end
the life of any of her creations without her permission. It was so
annoying when one of her more treasured creations was ruined by the whim
of her alter-ego, the spirit of shadows, Death. So it had been with the
dinosaurs. Death had been extremely ambitious that time, managing to
kill entire species in one fell swoop.
    Life had even tried begging God to help her, but he, in his normal
way, had told her that she would have to do it herself. He would not
interfere with the interplay between the two -- for the same reasons he
allowed the continued existence of Satan. When he heard about it, Death
had a field day. He thought God's decision was hilarious, and she had
sworn to get him back for that ridicule, not to mention the killing of
her treasured dinosaurs. However, a way to truly get back at one so
unpredictable as her chaotic adversary consistently escaped her.
  
    Going about the day's business as usual, Death found himself wanting
to go back to Life's castle. Considering his dislike for the place, he
was highly surprised by this new yearning. He dismissed it as some sort
of temporary insanity, and went along with his business. However, it did
not go away, and actually to his annoyance, got stronger, He retired for
the day, thinking a bit of rest might do him some good.
    When he got back home however, he felt all the more restless. There
was no way he was going to be able to relax here. Almost screaming in
frustration, Death jumped on his horse, and rode into the hills, a
speeding black comet.
  
    Sitting there, surrounded by Death's possessions, Life found that
she was bored. She couldn't think of anything to steal that could to the
theft of his heart -- unless...but she couldn't...she could...steal
Death himself. That would take an amazing amount of work...how was she
going to get him to even come near enough to her castle? He wouldn't
even come near to her realm...normally.
  
    However, at the moment, Death was anything but in a normal state. He
wished he had never gone to that woman's place...wished he had never
taken his heart back. But of course, that wouldn't have been an option.
There would have been nothing left alive on earth if he didn't have his
heart. And while Life would still have things to do in that situation,
Death would be quite literally out of a job. He might even cease to
exist. Which is why he had gone to such lengths to regain the thing that
gave him even a modicum of control. And ironically, it was the very
thing that was driving him on this insane rush towards the mountains.
  
    Life a slight push at the edge of her realm...a powerful spirit had
come near her borders...and that could mean only one thing: Death. She
smiled only briefly, because then she saw him streaking towards the
mountains that signaled the end of their plane. If he went over the
top, he would tumble down into Hell, thus ending his eternal rivalry
with Life. She could not allow this. But she could not do anything about
it. The black streak sped towards the rim of the mountain range...up to
the top...and...
    He turned a sharp right at the last moment, careening along the rim
of the plane and into Life's realm. She breathed out heavily, realizing
that she had been holding her breath. And Death sped recklessly back
down the slope and towards her castle. She almost jumped for joy. This
was beyond her wildest dreams. He was coming directly into her trap.
  
    He was going to talk to her. Demand to know what she had done to
him. Why he was apparently losing his mind. That was why he turned
around. He could have gone off if he had wanted to. He was still in
control. He was still in control. He was still in... He was... He wasn't
in control. That was the problem. For the first time in eternity, he
wasn't in control. It had to be her fault. She must have done this to
him. As he sped towards the castle he both despised and loved, the built
up an irrational rage, trying to break free of the force pulling him
towards his opposite's home.
    As he sped up to the door, he screamed out in range and frustration,
jumping from the back of his horse, and through the giant wooden double
doors. Wood splinters rained around him and he strode into the castle
for the second time today. This time, however, he left a swath of
destruction in his wake. He found Life calmly sitting in the same place
she had been before. "What have you done to me?" He yelled at her.
    "What have you done to my house?" She returned, breaking her calm
facade.
    "You only got what was coming to you, for making me return."
    "Making you return? What are you talking about?" She looked at him
in confusion. He had thrown her off balance with his chaotic entrance,
and this was much more than she had expected. He had even managed to
walk right through her trap.
    Her sincere confusion at his accusation confused Death even more.
Who was doing this to him? And why? For a long time, the two spirits
stared at each other, neither knowing exactly what to do. Then Death
turned around and stalked out. Life sat there and wondered what exactly
had happened. Legend has it that Death returned, and Life never repaired
her doors. And until this day, the two work together, Death respecting
Life, and vice versa. And I hear that they rarely disagree.

                   Bem Jones-Bey    12.18.98