The darkness continued to glob, connecting and merging until it's shape became discernible as something unique.
It stood on two, thin legs, un-muscled and lanky, but not for long. It's torso was large, and very MUCH muscular, veins popping and bulging, it's arms like 100-year oaks, and it's hands largely humanoid. It fell forward, unable to stand on its disproportionate legs, crashing down on it's massive upper body.
It's face was ugly, uglier than I'd ever seen, clearly visible and white, unlike the rest of it's black body. Lowbrow, chinless, and with an 'o' shaped mouth, it stared dead at me with eyes that looked sunken to hell, and without irises.
A voice crawled from it's tiny mouth, distorted, warbly, and pitched as a wail. "Fear...me..." It seemed to plead, crawling towards me with it's giant hands. "Fear me..."
I smiled at it's pleadings. "Fear you?" I chuckled. "No, no, I can't do that. You might scare a toddler, still stuck to it's mother's teat, but not me, dumbass."
I bounced on my heels, tapping my toes to the stone, before breaking out in a sprint. "I'll show you fear!" Cackling, I rose into the air, leaping, and swinging the skull in my hand back ready to bash it into the baby faced creature. It's head jerked to look up at me, just as I swung down on it, In that moment, chill shot through me.
It's hand shot up, slapping at me, and smashing me into the wall, brick shards and dust exploding out form the point of contact.
I groaned, pushing myself out, feeling something rather smooth against my skin as I did. It felt nothing like the grainy bricks this place was built from, in fact it felt more akin to...bone.
Coughing, I waved away the dust, and squinted to look at what I touched. Sure enough, my hand rested on the rounded surface of ivory, curling behind me in a half sphere. The skull I held before was no more, only a small bone protruding form the palm that held it, connecting me to the protective hemisphere. "Woah..."
"That's fucking awesome!"
I kicked myself up, pulling the hemisphere from the wall. It was kind of heavy for me, so I stood a little wobbly, but managed to say on my feet.
The dust was blown away, and Baby-Face stare dta me, hand clapped together. "Thanks for clearing the air-" It swung it's arm out again, a chariot of a punch rocketing towards me. I felt as if I'd been born again.
I swung my arm, the one with the bone hemisphere, and smacked it into his arm.
The arm bent backwards with a sickening crunch, and Baby-face stumbled back with it. "Now i'll wipe the floors with your blood!" I sneered, jumping high into the air, and lifting the bone high above me, smashing down on it's ugly skull.
Crimson sprayed out from under, painting the dull stone with a nice new shade of red. The image made me smile, a bubbly warmth in the pit of my stomach. "Nothing beats this feeling..."
"Thrill of the kill?" A deep voice asked, echoing around me. I turned around, but so no one there.
"Death? Where are you?" I frowned, searching for the skeletal being. The empty hall gave no sign of his presence.
The bone in my hand started to rumble, even heating up a bit. "You are looking everywhere I am not, fool."
I shot a glance to the bone as he spoke again. "Either I'm a insane as they tell me, or you're a giant bone-bowl."
"It is your fault I am in this embarrassingly barbaric form!" He snapped. "Your primitive mind could not come up with something better in which to protect yourself?"
I looked around at his shape, the bone-bowl as I'd described. "I made this? Sick."
"Of course you made this! Were you not listening to my explanation? Did you not fully grasp the scope of your new powers?" Death boomed in questioning response.
I shook my head. "Nope. Not at all." I flashed him a beaming grin. "But this, THIS, is fucking awesome. What else can you do? Can you turn into a horse? or-or, oh, those westerners have some powerful fire magic-technology stuff or whatever...'booms' i think they're called? Can you be-"
"SILENCE!!" His voice commanded, cutting my questioning short. I frowned. "I will explain it to you one more time, LISTEN."
I nodded with my utmost enthusiasm, and sat down in the bowl.
He sighed. "I have merged my body with yours, and thus I have shared my powers with you. You may use them as you see fit."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I became Death, yada yada, I heard that. What does that MEAN, though, like, what can I do?"I asked.
"I told you to be silent, fool." Death growled. "You are not 'Death' exactly, and you would've know that if you'd listened. I have shared my powers with you, yes, but you have not become Death. This is only a temporary cooperation, and thus you have received only a fraction of my power."
"You have been given control of my arsenal, the Messorem, or as you humans refer to it, The Scythe of Death."
"Oh.." I nodded slowly. "I get it. So your scythe thingie can shape shift?"
"My SCYTHE can change form, yes, but not shapeshift. You can change it's shape into that of any object, yes, but I can not become a living creature for you. To give life, I would have to have life, and I do not." He explained. "In the moment where that Phonos attacked you, the scythe responded to your want for protection, and recreated the shape your mind provided."
"So if I wanted to attack with a knife, then...?"
"Yes, you could turn me into a knife." He answered.
I mulled the thought over in my brain, trying rack it around the ability. "Hmm...that could be quite helpful." I smiled, and moved to stand. I paused for a moment.
"Wait...did you call that thing a Phonos?" I asked, glancing down at the bone-bowl.
"Yes, that is what they are called. They're spirits of murder, corrupted by the negativity of the living." He explained. "They are creatures who have not passed on correctly, and thus have not died at all. It is Death's job to take their souls to the afterlife." He paused momentarily, sighing. "But my bones rust with blight...my power wanes for reasons I know not. I needed a body to carry out my duties."
"Your immortal one was the perfect candidate."
I sat in the bowl, letting his words dance around my brain. The hall grew quiet, the drippings of leaking water echoing through the emptiness. "So I gotta take 'em out, now, huh?" I stood, stretching out, and lifting Death above my head. "Not a problem with me. As long as I get to kill shit, I'm happy."
"So let's get to I-"
"Stop." Death cut me off again.
"What, why?" I frowned.
"Because you are forgetting something."
My frown persisted, until a sound came from behind. A rustling, and scratching, like an injured beast scrambling to get back up. I turned around. The baby-faced phonos rose, grasping at the stone floors as it stood again. It's face shifted about, bubbling and popping until it's head had reformed completely.
"You haven't taken the creature's soul."