prolog

In the middle of the night a young man ran down the streets of a small village as if he were running for his life. Nobody else was in sight, yet someone or something was following him.
The streets were only dimly lit by the flickering light from the lanterns. He ran on and on, turned rushed into a side street, which turned out to be a dead end. There was no way out. The young man turned around in shock when he noticed that his pursuer had caught up with him.

"Please," he pleaded, "I haven't got it. I swear. Please let me go."

The person stepped into the Dark Alley, he was wearing a pitch black robe and you couldn't see his face.

"You tell me immediately where the shadow amulet is.", Said this menacingly.

"I don't know where it is, really not," he said in a pleading voice.

"So you don't know where it is?" The person asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I have no idea where it could be," he said anxiously.

"Silence! You have made a pact with the devil. Your soul therefore belongs to him, even if you are not yet dead."

"Wait a minute! I haven't signed a contract with the devil. Our sect worships the prince of hell and tried to summon him several times. He just hasn't heard us yet," he enthused.

"Oh he heard you, even at your first meeting. Didn't you have a meeting a few weeks ago where you signed a contract with your blood?"

The young man thought for a moment before enlightenment came to him.

~ BOTTLEBACK ~

Some time ago an evocation of the devil failed again. I went to my office dejected, I thought I was alone until ...

"It must be frustrating when the one you worship doesn't answer, doesn't it?" Someone asked.

"What? Who's there?" I asked angrily.

My office chair, which was turned towards the wall, turned slowly in my direction, in it was a young woman. She was dressed completely in black, she folded her hands like that and leaned her lips against them.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" I called out loud.

"Not so loud, you fool! I have come to make you a generous offer," she said in a dark voice.

"What offer?" I asked curiously.

The woman smiled slightly and held out a piece of paper.

"What's that?" I asked.

"If you have any wishes, then this contract should interest you," she said and put a black quill next to the piece of paper.

"Is that a contract? But why should this contract fulfill my wishes?"

"It's simple. If you sign this contract, all your wishes will come true. No matter what it is. Fame, money, power. Everything will be yours," she said in an enticing tone.

I picked up the contract and read it through.

"And that will fulfill my every wish?" I asked happily."Anything you want."

Of course I accepted the contract, so I picked up the pen and signed it. But when I put on the pen my hand started to burn like hell, the ink was blood red.

~ FLASHBACK END ~

"This woman was with me and had offered me a contract. That can't be, does that mean that the ink was my own blood?" He asked, startled.

"You grasped it and your signature made you mark, you have carried it on your hand once since then."

"The pentagram? That just can't be true, this woman was a messenger from the devil?"

"You could say that too. Your soul will now belong to him."

"But he only gets my soul when I die."

"I know the rules, you don't need to enlighten me."

As soon as the person raised their right hand, a scythe appeared, the blade as black as the darkest night and adorned with blood-red marks.

"Who are you?" Asked the young man anxiously.

"Who do you think I am?"

"I don't know?" He asked with a squeak.

"I am Death and I have come to get you."

With this sentence the figure raised its scythe and struck, an unheard scream echoed through the city.