Everyone knows the tale of the Grim Reaper; however, few know of his young apprentice, Nox.

A young boy, no older than seven years old, cloaked in a poncho forged from the night sky itself. His eyes hollow disks, his skin the sheen of dry bone, he hides himself among lost pets and forgotten toys. If you might ever suspect you catch sight of him wandering through the dusk, be weary of the dark oak shepherd's crook he wields to gather souls for his teacher.

Nox, a rather sensitive child, only has the heart to carry the souls of the weak and elderly. Seniors succumbing to old age, cats who have lived out their last nine lives, those are all fair to him. They've lived out their lives. Seen all to be seen. He couldn't bear to take the soul of a creature with memories still to be made.

But his teacher has decided that day will now come. As his next lesson, Nox must guide the soul of one they call Madeline. The village girl who resides just on the second highest hill.

The shepherd has seen Madeline many times on previous lessons. Her golden halo of hair observed through the window of her house, a guiding light in his treacherous work. He cannot fathom her death, but his teacher will not be taking no for an answer.

Nox knew that the young were not safe from his master's scythe, same as anyone else - but all the same, it lingered in his mind; the unfairness of it.

"Why must the world be this way?" he asked his master once. "Why must the young die alongside the old?"

"It is not for us to question," his master said. "We are beholden to our duty."

And so Nox did his duty: he watched, and he waited.

He watched Madeline sitting around the fire at night with her family, playing games and laughing and helping to clean the table when dinner was finished. She helped with the chores and kept to her studies at the schoolhouse.

Nox longed to tell her that her time was short, that she must see all that she can before he must do his duty and bring her through the veil. He wished so much that he could show her everything there is to see.

But before long, disease grabbed hold of Madeline, as it had so many others, young and old. And yet, somehow, Nox thought that if there were any goodness in this world, she would be spared.

He sat upon a bale of hay and watched the girl as she lay in bed beside her loved ones, fitful and in pain - and his master came to him.

"You are troubled, my apprentice."

Nox averted his eyes. "This night is her last. If only..."

"If only...what?"

Nox hesitated. "If only there were some way to save her."

"Even if there were, she may yet still die before her time. A beast, a disaster, a famine..."

"Still," Nox sighed. "If only she had more time...just a little more time..."

"You and I are timeless, my apprentice. Do you believe us blessed?"

Nox considered his master's words. "I guess not."

"What makes things beautiful is their impermanence," Death said. "What we offer is a gift. And now I leave you with your duty."

A cold wind blew as his master vanished, leaving Nox alone in the night, watching Madeline suffer.