King Reaper

Death was getting old. Now you might think, how impossible he cannot get old death is eternal, and you are right but only partly. The concept of death is eternal, it is something nothing and no one can ever escape, but the actual person, or thing, that comes for the souls of the dearly departed is a bit of a family business.

The average length of employment as Death was a couple of centuries, it did provide extended life, but as he came to the end of his he knew it was time to choose his successor.

Death had three daughters, all young and all beautiful and all fit candidates for the job and so he decided to test them. There were three aspects to being death three tricks or tools of the trade and he decided to award each daughter one tool to see how they did.

"My daughters!" he declared grandly one day, gathering all three girls around a table upon which he had draped a sheet. "I love you all so dearly, and so I have decided to give you each a gift to show my affection."

Nothing if not a showman Death withdrew the silk sheet with a flourish to reveal the three gifts beneath.

The eldest girls looked at each other and frowned, confused and disappointed. The youngest girl eyed the third gift on the pile curiously. On a velvet cushion lay a bobbly stick, next to it a small black cracked stone and beside both of them, resting only on the table a pile of soft fabric which appeared to be a cloak.

"These seemingly worthless objects are the source of all my power," he continued, "and I will give you one each to see who is the most worthy of possessing all three." Death, again with great flourish, plucked the stick from its velvet cushion. "This my children is the elder wand the most powerful source of magic man can possess. I bestow this great honour on you, my eldest, Goneril. May you use it mercifully. This next item," he gestured to the broken and battered little rock, "is what allows me to communicate with both the dead and alive. The resurrection stone is a gift I will bestow on my second daughter, Regan. May you use it sympathetically." He picked up the little stone and handed it carefully to the second girl. "Last, but certainly not the least, the cloak of invisibility. This is what allows me to approach the living without their knowledge and it is a gift I give to you, my youngest, Cordelia. May you use it wisely."

As Death passed the last gift to his last daughter he surveyed his girls proudly, each had their own strengths and their own weaknesses. It would be interesting to see how the managed this task.

Goneril and Regan rushed towards their father and began to thank him enthusiastically. Declaring that they would do everything to make him proud and how grateful they were and how much they loved him and Death basked in the glow of their pretty words but when he turned to look for little Cordelia, she had already slipped away.

X

Months passed and still nothing was heard from Death's youngest daughter, she had simply disappeared into thin air along with his gift, but at least that meant she wasn't causing as much trouble as his other daughters.

His gifts to them had revealed sides to his daughters that Death had not known existed. They might have been great beauties on the outside but the elder wand and the resurrection had revealed that both were rotten on the inside.

It had started slowly at first they had acted out in minor ways. Goneril had used some of the power from the wand for her own gain and Regan had used the stone to summon people who had died for her own personal reasons. These were acts that Death had had to reprimand, but ultimately they had been forgivable. Sadly that had only been the beginning.

Soon Goneril was using the power of the wand to cause people pain and to make herself richer and more beautiful. She built a castle and commanded servants, even going so far as to enchant a local prince and ensnare him into her web of magic and lies. Goneril no longer listened to her father or heeded to his rules, she even threatened to use the power of the elder wand to kill him. Death soon recognised the love and promises she had shown him to be nothing more than pretty and empty words. She held no love for him and felt no loyalty.

Regan had gone much the same way, although this daughter turned out to be far crueller. She demanded anything that she wanted and those poor mortals who thought they had the power to refuse her will were soon shown otherwise. She would have to pool soul bound and then Regan would summon up lost loved ones and awful demon spirits. She would torture and torment those who had refused her until they broke in both mind and spirit, and then she would simply take what they had refused her. She too would not listen to her father, denying him entry to her home through the use of the poor souls she had command over.

Death did not know what to do or how to stop them, his power was divided and without it he was all but useless. Eventually he realised that he didn't need to intervene and that his two eldest daughters would destroy each other on their destructive path.

Goneril and Regan decided that they were not powerful enough, that they wanted two of Death's tools instead of just one and so they began to plot against one another. Blood turning on blood.

Goneril used her magic and the power of the elder wand to poison Regan. She sent snakes to torment and infect her so that her death might be slow and painful and so that Goneril might possess two of the Deathly Hallows and become the most powerful sister.

Regan on the other hand envied the power of the wand and desired it to get her the things that could not be made by man, and therefore could not be tortured into her possession. She used what power was available to her and commanded the evil spirits to drive her older sister to the point of insanity. The spirits tormented her day and night until such a time that Goneril could not go on and she in a mad haze took her own life.

One thing, however, connected the two deaths of both unfortunate sisters. As they died the air around them began to ripple and out of nowhere stepped Cordelia. The missing sister.

She gazed sadly down at the monsters her once loving siblings had become and in each case she simply reached out a pale hand. "Come with me," she said to Goneril, "your torment will end here," and as she took her sisters hand she came away with her soul. Gently she scattered the soul of her oldest sister to the wind, and set her free. The same she did to Regan, "come with me, your pain will end here."

After this she took the elder wand and the resurrection stone and hid them with her under the invisibility cloak until she could return them to her father.

Death was very surprised when Cordelia removed the cloak and appeared, healthy and full of life, before him. "My sisters are dead," she began hanging her head in shame and in sadness, "there was nothing I could do to save them or stop them and so I set them free father. Now I return these items to you," she held out the three objects, "the source of their misery and madness. None of your daughters have proven a worthy successor."

He smiled, sad but proud and gently pushed the items away back into her possession. "That is where you are wrong my child. Whilst my gifts turned your sisters into greedy and power mad monsters it only enhanced your natural kindness and sympathy. You did not shower me with empty words and praises, instead going straight to the task I had set you. You have proven a more worthy successor than I could ever have imagined Cordelia, I am proud to call you my daughter."