The air was still and quiet. The trees had that familiar bleached, grey look about them. The shadow realm. No sunshine in such a dull dimension. The lake that the angel sat around was painted with the reflection of her black, ominous wings. The angel of death.
Most called her the grim reaper, though she wore skin, because of the symbolic hood that was mandatory on Earth. Her baton, which, when pulled, elongated and transformed into any weapon of her choice, was attached to her belt. She wore a cape, and when still, it closed around her like a cloak, which made the reaper effect more real. Underneath she wore laced boots, a skirt, and a t-shirt which ripped on the sleeves.
She liked human clothes, though any color was forbidden in the shadow realm. She likes the though of being human, which she had wished for since the beginning of the angels. She often wondered why she was chosen to be the angel of death. Why couldn't she be a normal angel? Able to fall in love. Able to bear a child. Able to die.
Abruptly, a single leaf fell off her tree, yet there was no wind in the shadow realm. This meant business as usual; her job. She wasn't to take souls to neither heaven nor hell; too many people died at once. She was to lead lost souls to purgatory, which not very many attended.
She stood, and stretched her wings; a full 14 foot wingspan of colorless feathers. The angel of death did not fly to Earth from the shadow realm, for it was impossible. The only way into Earth was to travel through the shadows, in which the angel did. She flipped into the darkness and swam until she found light.
She emerged flying, and smiling. Oh how she loved the feeling of the sun on her wings, the wind in her hair. She gulped the wonderful air, for there was none in the shadow realm. If only she could be human, if only.
The angel came to a stop and hovered above the body, dropping slowly. The soul stood over its former self, wide-eyed and frightened. He had been a good man, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Neither heaven nor hell wanted him, so he was sentenced to all eternity in purgatory.
The angel began to dream about what it would be like to die. There are many different types of heaven; the one where angels live; the one were angels have died; and the one souls go to when their body have passed on. Oh what she would give.
The angel held out her hand, and the soul, without further explanation, accepted his fate and took it.
