I am Death stared into the quiet night, flickering his tail left and right. It had been a long day but at the same time it had not. His nose wrinkled at the thought of having to travel to the waters again but that is where he had found most of his gold previously. A nose broke him of his thoughts and he turned towards the interloper. "Who..are..you." Each word dragged in a snarl.A voice peeped out of the darkness. Wonderful it was one of those... brats down the way. Apparently he had brought a source of entertainment to the local foals. Careful a 'dragon' lives way up high in one of the caves... maybe it was time for him to make a new home for himself where he wouldn't be bothered. Though the 'gifts' were quite nice, it was a lot easier to get the gold from others than having to dirty himself up. The youth did tend to like his stories... and to prove their 'bravery' to other foals that they had come to the mountain to see the 'dragon', Death would give them a parting gift once payment of gold was given. Stories were easy... most times.
"You want a story do you?" Death looked down at the small creatures below him and he lazily curled his tail around his body. "Well you're going to have to pay the price!"
"W-with our fl-flesh and b-b-b-bones?!" The voice squeaked in horror.
I am Death snorted in disgusted amusement. A newbie, clearly they hadn't been told that a story by him didn't come for free! "No, I require gold for my services. Down that path and by the water. Once there get the gold and come back. You'll get your story. " The thrill of going home with a dragons tale was too hard to ignore apparently. He watched as the three foals ran off to grab the gold.
Now all there was left to do was to play the waiting game... boring.
Not long after, the three baby acha's came back. Death's eyes sparkled with lust as soon as he saw the shiny material and snatched the pieces with his tail. "Wonderful!" He crooned deeply in satisfaction. "Well gather 'round! I won't be repeating myself so listen carefully." Death cleared his throat and settled in for a brief story about a foal and his adventures. The stories he spoke of were essentially about himself, but his audience never knew and he also never gave that tidbit away either.
"On a night much like this," Death began. "A young buck had made his way alone down a dirt path, no family in sight. Alone he was, a normal occurrence. " Death stopped for a moment to internalize, buried down deep was a sense of loneliness and sorrow by the loss of family. Mind you they were all still very much alive but lacked the communication and dedication to become a family unit. Shaking off those thoughts he continued, "It had been some time later that a sense of wrong lingered in the air. The earth moved and the wind breath a hot breath down the bucks neck, the trees appeared to be clawing closer like they wanted to grab the young one." He watched as the dark acha in front of him shiver. Death could still remember this image in his mind, it felt like it happened yesterday it was that vivid. "Bravely ignoring the elements, the foal had moved forward. You see he had a purpose to this adventure. There was a place where a ring of white lay and the red trees grew like fire." He hoped they would make the connection of the description surrounding them, if not then nothing he could do it was up to interpretation. This was the story of how he came to live here and once he decided to move again there would be another tale to add... if he chose to leave that is. "Moments passed until he was just about to give up hope, had it been a joke? Was this place real? A cave with this substance called 'gold'. Ever sense he heard stories from an old doe close to home, it hooked him. This item he craved to find it. It's attractiveness in colour and brightness, it's durable to the point of virtual indestructibility, and highly malleability. The golden rule being never under estimate your capability of adventure and tenaciousness...." Blinking he got out of his trance and he looked at the foals, he was losing them he could tell. "SUDDENLY! Out of no where the cave was in front of him and a sound was emanating from within. " Death let out a snarl and nearly laughed at the wide eyes he got in return. " A DRAGON WITHIN THE CAVE CAME OUT AND ATTACKED! " Death acted out the scene with vicious sounds and wriggling before playing his 'death' dramatically. It was silent before bellowing, "Now scram!!" He smirked with amusement as his audience departed rather quickly. It was time to go home and snuggle with his gold... it rather was warm when it surrounded his body. Some might think it rather sad, to cuddle with an object but it didn't bother Death one bit.
Well he also may have embellished a bit on the dragon part. Looking in side his cave he knew his pet, All that Glitters was waiting. He had been younger back then but now he was an old fuddy-duddy. With a flick of his tail I am Death disappeared into the dimly lit cave.
