It was an ordinary summer evening. The heat was such as to make the air oppressive and the thinking exhausting. When he appeared the wind suddenly stopped, creating a clean break from the movement of the trees' leaves, which until that moment had let themselves be lulled gently by the summer wind, light, thoughtless, as anyone would want to lead their lives.
He appeared out of nowhere in the shadow of a pine, evanescent like smoke, black like a moonless night. His tired old body was dragged around by nothing but habit and resignation.
He took another soul. Now he was sad, like every other time since he learned the meaning of what he did, even though he had been doing this thankless task since time immemorial.
They were now walking side by side in a dark, lonely street, while the man in black apologized to the other for taking him so prematurely, explaining that he had only followed orders. He then asked him: -Are you ready to go? -, and the man replied: -Why do you ask me? Would it make any difference? -. He added that he would miss his wife and children, and that he would like to give them one last hug, a kiss on the cheek, and smell their perfume. Then the man in Black apologized for the lack of notice, explaining that he wasn't making the rules. The other then began to rethink all the times he had kissed and embraced his family, and while he hoped to find solace in this, he immediately realized that just as many times would not be enough to satiate his soul. He thought of those moments with joy, cherishing them, because he knew they would never return. Then, in a wave of resigned wrath, the man inveighed toward the dark companion, asking him with clenched teeth: -Your master. Is he aware of the atrocious task he has delegated to you and that he is forcing you to perform? And of my suffering, that of my family and of all the other souls that you have reaped and you will reap, is it aware of it? Uh? -. He gave him a look full of understanding, unable, at first, to respond to these reasonable provocations that he had heard addressed more times than he would have been willing to admit. Then, with a pacifying tone of voice, he invited him to reflect and asked him: - If you could, would you go back and not meet your wife? Would you go back to avoid having children, and avoid feeling all the joy and love that you felt thanks to them, so that you didn't have to suffer at this very moment in the idea of letting them go? In a nutshell, if you could, would you rather have never lived to not have to suffer now in the face of death? -. The man, surprised by these words, looked at him amazed, unable to utter a word. He then looked away to reflect on what he had been told. After that he turned again to his black companion, this time with a calm look, saying nothing, aware that the answer was quite obvious. The angel gave him a kind smile, sure that he had understood, and, aware that the man still had the right to feel bad. So he went on to say: -You see, my dear friend, men have been given the opportunity to live everything, every emotion, every nuance, every shade of feeling. There is so much sadness in your existence, so much misery, I know, but there is also so much happiness, love and joy. You have also been given the opportunity to appreciate every single day, to perceive its real value, and I understand that this in your eyes may appear only as an unjust punishment, or a joke of bad taste, but the only way to afford this was to make your days limited-. Displeased, but aware that he was right, the man looked back on the ground as he passively continued to walk in inertia.
In the meantime they had reached the end of the road. They were now on a bare dune. The calm gray sea that stretched in front of them appeared in the moonlight like an immense silver lake. On the edge of the woods behind them, in the distance, the fireflies lit up the grass beneath them as they danced light through the air between vaults. A slight breeze had now begun to caress the hair with a gentle hand. The Reaper gently lifted the pale sphere of undefined contours, when its eternal face was weakly illuminated by the faint milky light it emanated. She whispered to him that he could be happy, that his family would find the strength to move on, and that everything would be fine. After that, he made the Breath of Eternity flow over him, through his lungs. So the sphere began to rise slowly, higher and higher in the night blue sky filled with stars, until it became one of them.
He remained there, alone, for a few more moments, with his smoky evanescent body that continued to move and change shape like black air.
He sought the courage to prematurely reap another soul and separate it forever from his loved ones, aware that not even the most petty of beings throughout the Universe could ever do it so lightly. So, discouraged and resigned, he prepared to meet the next unaware Wanderer of the Stars.
Then, little by little, he began to dissolve, greeting creation with a last nod of his ethereal black toga.
