In the beginning Death was bored. He was so very young and the urge to reap was so great within him he thought he'd go mad. But there was nothing but him and therefore nothing to reap. With nothing to reap what was the point of him? He wondered that often for way too long before things began to happen. He was just beginning to loathe his own existence when suddenly the universe, quite literally, burst into existence. Now he had something to do.
In the beginning Death was careless. He reaped planets and stars by the billions. Some of those planets were destined to sustain great lifeforms, but he didn't care. He'd been bored for far too long. Now was the time to play.
In the beginning Earth was desolate. Death figured that such a small, insignificant, and ugly thing could be reaped. But now Death was not alone. Another had been brought into existence. How exactly, even Death couldn't say. But He was here, all the same.
"Don't you dare reap that planet." He said. "I have great plans for it."
"Who are you to say what I can not reap? I was here first." Death snapped.
"I have let you have all those other planets, now I shall have this one. If you be patient you will see that sparing this planet will give you more purpose than if you take it now." He stated and disappeared.
It would take some time before Death realized the meaning of the conversation and realized that he was talking to who the future inhabitants of this seemingly insignificant planet would call God.
But time did pass and Death understood what he was told.
In the beginning there were just protozoa. Death got no pleasure from reaping them for such small things are no fun.
But then the humans came and boy did Death have fun.
At first he reaped many shortly after birth. Death was so eager to see what would become of them after a visit from him that he just couldn't hold off. He discovered that reaping these creatures, the humans, meant he would have more work to do. These beings had souls and after they died they had to be transported to the kingdom God had built – Heaven. It was then Death's slight grudge against God began to grow. First He orders him to spare Earth, and now He makes reaping more of a job than an activity. Who did He think he is? Death thought for a moment how easily it would be to reap Him, but then pushed the thought aside. Transporting the souls isn't that hard, anyway, and he figured that he could let the creatures live a little longer so he wasn't reaping so many at once.
But then the humans multiplied rapidly and Death was getting a bit overwhelmed.
In the beginning Death only made 10 reapers to help him out. With only several hundred humans that was more than enough. Now he could reap when he wanted to and leave the transporting of the souls to heaven up to his reapers. This was going to be a fun little planet after all.
Death decided to stir things up a little when he got bored. He changed the Earth's layout, killed off the entire dinosaur population, and then thrust the Earth into an Ice Age. Times were good. Plenty of humans needed reaping and his reapers never tired of their constant transport job.
But then the humans continued to take over the planet and his reapers were beginning to grow weary for they now had to transport souls to Heaven and some new place called Hell. Apparently one of God's archangels went rogue. Death thought no more of them than he thought of the humans so he didn't necessarily pay any mind to it. Instead he just made more reapers.
But then Death's brothers were born.
In the beginning Famine ran rampant. He caused millions of humans to starve and Death had to reap every single one of them.
In the beginning Pestilence created plagues that killed the humans in droves. Entire areas would be wiped clean of every living creature thanks to him. And Death had to reap every single one of them.
In the beginning War drove the humans to slaughter each other. He loved to play with different motives. They killed each other over food, shelter, land, love, children, and eventually over nothing but jealousy. And Death had to reap every single one of them.
Now reaping was no longer a game. His brothers had taken all the fun out of it. It had turned into a job. Death had millions of reapers now, but it didn't matter. The reapers were only good for transporting souls, only he could kill them.
So he protested. Death took a holiday. He simply just stopped.
And so the human population grew exponentially. Famine grew angry that the humans discovered new food sources to satisfy their hunger, and new ways to sedate their feelings and longings. Pestilence grew angry that the humans were becoming immune to his illnesses and was motivated to make even nastier diseases. War was murderous. If he could he probably would have killed his own brother, but no one can kill Death. It was so much fun to watch the humans kill each other. How dare his own brother let them live. Sure they fought. But fighting and living wasn't as good as fighting and dying.
The three of them turned to the only other being they knew of. God. They took their anger and frustration straight to Him and urged Him to make Death do his job so they could have their fun.
And so Death got another visit from God.
"Why have you stopped reaping?" He asked.
"You promised me it would be worth it, sparing this planet. You lied. It has been nothing but work ever since you intervened." Death told him. "I refuse to reap anymore."
"That is against the Natural Order." He said.
"What natural order? This planet is nothing but chaos and work." Death said.
And so God explained to Death the Natural Order of things. How Death is the vital part of the process and even if it is a lot of work it is necessary.
"And if I refuse?" Death asked.
"If you refuse the universe will collapse and take all of us with it." He said.
"Well good riddance to you all." Death replied irreverently.
"This universe began with you and so it will end if you do not obey the natural order. Do you really want to go back to that?" He asked, but without waiting for an answer he disappeared.
Death only spent a few moments thinking about the beginning of time before he realized he had no choice but to obey the natural order. He cursed the job he was given and he curse this being who bossed him around like a child.
"I shall reap him one day." Death thought to himself, and the thought made him feel a little better.
And so Death returned to Earth and reaped all the humans who were due to die.
In the beginning Death was young and reaping was nothing more than a game to pass the time, but now Death is old and reaping is a hard job that he wishes he didn't have to do anymore. Sometimes he can't even bear it. He'll never admit but he's come to care about the humans, just a little. Sometimes he can't stand to have to reap them. Children who've only just begun. Stupid accidents ripping parents away from children. Wars and illnesses ripping families apart. Sometimes it's too much and he hates it more than anything. Sometimes he wishes everything could just finally come to the end.