The serpent-like creature wiggles under its master's precious glowing object, the heart of the world.

Master, how many more times must we destroy it? Shall I bring you another?

No, my pet. We are not yet finished. Not until they bring the world to an end... the end which I had envisioned.

Conquest, War, Famine, and Death have always succeeded. I see no difference in the end.

The creature's master smiles. I do not expect you to understand, little one.

The creature lowers its head in shame.

Soon, Death will meet Conquest. Really, no matter how many times I witness it, the scene still excites me.

• • • • • • •

No moon out.

Not a single star in the sky.

The man needed neither as he gazed down at the sleeping city from the 51st floor where he perched with one leg hanging lazily over the curved ledge. Snow drifted down from the black nothingness above, gently encasing all it came in contact with. The man was unaffected by its soft bites. Specks of snow clung on to his bare chest. They had finally found a resting place equally cold, if not colder. He didn't mind the snow, nor did he mind the sun and rain. He welcomed all with open arms.

All his life, he yearned to feel the warmth and the chills brought on by the changing seasons, but the world found it fit to deny him that particular sweet pleasure. For him, life was like death. 

The balcony door swung open. A woman, clad in a sickly green dress stumbled barefoot towards the adjacent ledge. Her eyes distraught, her hair estranged.

"Go back inside." Cold. Not even a hint of care in his voice.

"I can't go back... I won't." Her lips trembled.

"I will only say it one last time. Go back inside."

The woman turned sharply to look for him. Her eyes rested on a patch of blackness that was blacker than the rest. There was no hate in her gaze. Only hurt and longing.

"Say my name, Jae," she pleaded. "I'll do whatever you say."

She waited, already knowing the answer to her request. She had ask the impossible from him. He would never put in the effort for someone like her.

"You can't even speak my name. You won't even look at me anymore. I won't endure it. I won't." She scrambled onto the ledge, tearing the straps of her thin dress in the process. "You will leave me... and I can't live with that."

With hot tears streaming down her cheeks, she straightened to her full height and took a step forward. He stood up as well, turning towards the balcony floor and leaping of the ledge.

"Then die," he muttered under his breath.

And just like that, without another sound, she left him and the world behind.