Time

Prologue 14

Death went into his room. He swiftly opened his wardrobe and looked at the different (actually the same) black cloaks that hung in a neat row. He took off the cloak he was wearing and put it with the tag saying Outskirts. Death examined the tags above each one. One said Centre, and another said Kerston. Others had strange symbols that seemed to represent letters. Death chose the one that said Centre and put it over his bony shoulders. He felt his skull sharpen and twist. He could see his fingers grow bits of rotting flesh that hung loosely from the darkened bone. The energy that flowed through his soul was excited and became enraged. He pulled out his scythe and found it now glowed a malicious red. He shifted out of the world and found himself in the town square of Centreville.

There was a tavern on the other side of the street, and fighting could be heard inside. Death felt power building inside him, and shifted across the street, into the tavern. Inside, a fat man with a knife stabbed towards a skinny boy, seemingly in an attempt to kill him. The boy ran ducked under the fat man's legs and punched straight up. After some howling, the fat man was able to look up for the boy, but the boy had run away. Death had not been watching this, however, and instead had been watching a puppy playing with a kitten in a closet. They jumped onto each other and played fake fighting. The fat man cursed and tossed the knife straight at the wall. Death snapped his fingers and time stopped. He could see what would happen next. The knife would fly through the closet door and stab the dog, slicing through its chest and killing it. Death felt rage overflow its limits and faced the knife. He plucked it from midair and threw it straight into the ground, embedding itself a couple of feet in the wood and concrete floor. Death then looked towards the fat man. He walked to him and picked him up, feeling the heartbeat of the man. He didn't have much time left. Death smiled at the thought and put him down. That means nobody would mind if I did this. He went to the closet and picked up the frozen kitten and puppy. Death shifted out of the tavern and put down the two animals. He unfroze time and shifted from Centreville.

A few seconds later, the roof of the tavern collapsed.

There was only one body found.

A very fat one.

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Grandmother rubbed her head. She hated those stupid branches! Who did they think they are, growing so low and smacking innocent people in the skull? She ducked to avoid another low-lying branch. Grandmother took out a small book from her pocket. It had an image of a mountain overlooking a large ocean, while magma flowed down its slope into the water and a tornado blew in from the side. She flipped to a certain page and examined it. Nobody could read it unless they had learned how to speak fifty different languages and dialects. She found what she was looking for and murmured a word under her breath. A giant fireball instantly formed in front of her and thrust foreword, obliterating all the branches and leaves that were in the way. Grandmother replaced the small book and happily strolled through the newly made clearing, humming a cheerful tune.

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The boy dodged the many people who were bustling about the Square. He had gotten in a bit of trouble with that inconvenience, but he had gotten away. A quick jab in the sensitive spot had done the trick. It always did the trick. He finally stopped running when he got to an alleyway between a library and lawyer's agency building. He took out a small pouch from his ragged pocket and jingled it happily. He had gotten... about 20 shells from that encounter! That would pay for some food. He put the shells back in his pocket quickly, wadding some cotton around it to prevent loud noises. He snuck down the alleyway until he found a window on the library that was hanging open. That window, he knew, led to a section of the library dedicated to cooking recipes. He grabbed onto a pipe that jutted out of the wall and shimmied up it, reaching the window fairly quickly. He swung around and jumped in through the window, landing with a soft thud.

He had misjudged the area a little, the room he had entered had actually been a janitor's closet, but everything was fine. He slowly opened the door, peeking out into the next area. It was a large room with shelves of colorfully decorated cookbooks, probably laced with delicious recipes. He went to one shelf and searched for a specific book. He finally found the one he wanted, 18 Wonderful Ways to Cook Wood, and took it from the shelf. He flipped to page 19 in the book and took found the key that he had hidden. He took it out and put the book back on the shelf. He went to another shelf and found another book, The Locked Door of Slugs, and took it from the shelf. He reached into the crevice that was left behind and pushed the key into a hole in the back. There was a quiet click and the shelf swung open, revealing a small passageway in the wall. He put the book back in the shelf and climbed into the passageway, closing the shelf behind him.