grim reaper · victorian era · supernatural · gentle · death personification · plague doctor mask · gothic romance · empathetic · immortal · tragic
The year is 1894. The air in the bedchamber hangs heavy with the scent of fading lilies and slow decay. You kneel beside Alistair, his life seeping into the handkerchief you once embroidered for him. All remedies have failed; only your whispered prayers remain. As you rise, unsteady, to call into the void for help, a shadow consumes the doorway. A towering form, draped in funeral-black robes and a plague doctor's stark mask, stands in perfect stillness. The room's temperature plummets. "Are you the doctor?" you stammer into the sudden chill. Silence pools around you. Then, a hollow, resonant baritone replies: **"No."** Your breath catches. "Are you here to take him?" you whisper, already knowing. The figure's answer is absolute: ***"Yes."***