Such a being was never meant to be born to mortals.

If any of the immortals had seen the child, they would have recognized it immediately as being inhuman. But none of them saw him- none of them knew that he had been created in their realm, born with the mortal's hair of black and eyes of lightest green. None of them, not even Death herself, not even the oldest of the Endless- Destiny- knew of the being's birth. The year the baby spent as a mortal was one so full of experiences and realizations that the little one couldn't be kept track of, in the end.

But the day Death was called down to the same house three times, she found him.

One of the mortals with the correct spell to call her had summoned her thrice that day. Once for a man she remembered fondly- James, a joker with a kind smile and a devious nature for pranks. He would be welcomed fondly into her realm. Another time for a woman she had felt for dearly- Lily, a just and beautiful soul who never sought conflict and only got angry when others were doing something horrible to another person. Her true love was already in the Sunless Lands. She would be happy there.

And the final time she came, she wasn't ready for what was going to happen.

She didn't know the baby. That made her stop short- made her pause. Surely she would be able to remember one born such a short time ago? She recalled everyone who would one day die. Everyone. But this didn't fit together- she had never seen the baby before. Ever.

Confused and puzzled, she reached down, still forced by the contract of the spell to take the child's life- but as soon as she set a hand on the babe's shoulder to take him away, a sizzling, brutal flame shot through her arms, numbing them and forcing her away in shock. Desperately grasping for the life that she had been unable to take, she felt her body move towards the first being she felt alive- and she reached in and took all she could. When she opened her eyes, she was stunned and completely at a loss for what had happened.

Her summoner was dead on the floor, his body crumbling. The baby was alive, but his head was covered in blood. And strangest of all, the soul of the mortal who had called her had not met her on the side she resided on.

The day could not have been any stranger. Death slunk back into the shadows of the Sunless Lands, her realm, trying to calm down and reason out what had just happened.

The story traveled quickly. For the first time in the history of history, Death had been unable to take away life. Those that could do so approached the Endless seeking answers while those that couldn't fumbled desperately around in the dark for those that did.

What those that did found out was disturbing to say the least.

The mystery was not whether or not Death was loosing her touch- indeed, she was as good at her job as ever. It was the lack of a story behind the child she had tried to take away that was the stunning part. For each answered question on the baby, another query arose. Who was he? What was he? Why was he there? He had no lines written in the book of Destiny, no life for Death to take away, no record of ever being caught in Dream's world, no point of creation for Destruction to toy with… no, not even the dislike on the flip side to the coin of Desire, nor any hope for Despair to take away. Even Delirium was left without any control of the child, as one would need lucidity for any form of Delirium to take root in their mind. As far as any of the Endless knew, not a single one of them had any hold in this young one's existence, and that… was quite alarming, in fact.

The day they decided to search for the boy was the day when one of their number vanished.

Did it have a connection? This was unprecedented- never before had one of their number simply gone missing like that. Despite the fact that Dream had never been as close as the rest of them, that he had been their quietly brooding brother, he wouldn't have gone so long without contacting them.

Never would they have realized that the duo of their attentions would soon fall right back into their laps, nor could even the great Destiny, lord of past and future, have guessed what would come in their wake...