He rested, as ancient, decrepit beings were wont to do - his prolonged (centuries worth of) rest did not concern him, however, as it was nature to grow ancient and decrepit and thus rest as long as he rested.

After all, it left him all of his focus with which to administer death.

Peering through eyes that Nito himself did not possess, he directed his servants and watched as they went about their tasks - cursing a foolish undead here, guiding a sword into the eye of a stone demon there, writing a message in order to trick passersby into activating a lethal trap... Everywhere Nito looked, he saw death, as he should.

Death came to all things, indeed, but sometimes it needed a guiding hand to ensure that none could disrespect that truth.

Unfortunately, Nito himself could not partake in the overseeing of natural progression - it could not be helped. He'd told himself many times before that it was solely to ensure that his servants did as they asked; to ensure that his servants respected the power and responsibility he entrusted them with.

That was true; the Gravelord recognised that some of his servants were not particularly savoury (never mind that no one performing this essential work was particularly savoury to begin with). Despite that, it was not the only reason he spent years laying in his coffin, overseeing his servants' work and blissfully ignoring the long-faded pleas of his old partners Gwyn and the Witch - why bother sustaining the Fire, when death would persist in both Light and Dark?

No; Nito also rested because of... Pride? Perhaps, because as silly as the notion was, he knew he could not administer death as he once did.

Nito did not trust any of the company he kept - links, whether strong or weak, often interfered with the progression of nature - but it still nonplussed the Gravelord when one of his servants dared to siphon his power into performing its twisted experiments (like the curious, disdainful Dragon - spitting in the face of nature in order to become immortal). Despite that, he was not concerned when he first discovered the treachery of his servant - except for a brief moment of anger he allowed when he learnt of the siphoning's purpose (then satisfaction as the whelp was punished for his sacrilege).

Now, resting within his great coffin and attending to the duties he had held since he first opened his eyes, the bolt of concern others would have felt then - tinged with just a touch of interest - ripped into the Gravelord's chest the same way a steel bolt just pierced the lung of a sleeping mercenary as he realised that the siphoning had stopped.

How long ago had that been? It could have been decades - such lengthy lapses had occurred before. But no; the eyes of his puppets in the Tomb told otherwise. There was an interloper, cutting through Nito's servants with a sword and as a sword, forging a path straight into Nito's tomb and towards his heart.

They had entered his tomb. It did not matter, Nito decided as he truly woke for the first time in centuries - they would fall all the same, as everything fell in the end.

Nito rose from his coffin, gravesword in hand and cloak rippling with a transluscent miasma of death, just in time to witness the eyes of his lesser skeletons close. When they did not open again, the Gravelord dismissed their deaths - all things must die, naturally or not - and indicated for his greater skeletons to accompany him in bringing the interloper to their logical conclusion. They raced ahead, Nito trudging behind them and occasionally sending his gravesword between planes to strike at the interloper, his greater skeletons battering the interloper into acceptance.

And yet, their eyes closed on Nito as he discerned the interloper's strategy - many had come before him, each with their own unique methods of cheating the natural order - leaving him alone to carry out the grim, necessary anathema of life.

For with Fire came disparity through Dark, and Death must accompany Life in that regard.

Nito rounded the stone corner, and laid his eyes upon the interloper - clad in metal armour, with a metal shield and metal-holy sword. Having seen that particular equipment on an interloper before, Nito recalled a precious solution and pressed forward, swinging at his prey - whom dashed out of the way and struck at Nito's form. Disinterested in his wound - it was but one of many that would have to be landed to kill him, and that was in his weakened state - Nito maintained his assault, striking with his sword on several planes and unleashing what explosions of death and disease he had room for (or that he could summon).

Yes, Nito was an ancient and decrepit being, First of the Dead and overseer of death. It should not have surprised him as much as it did when the interloper's sword severed the last rope connecting his soul to the living world.

The sensation was... Odd, to say the least. Nito's body struggled to bundle together and hold onto the particles that detached from itself, refusing to accept the way of things. Nito himself, however, only found himself ruminating on the reactions of other beings to death: some screamed, some wept, some roared, others smiled. They all seemed to refuse death or distract themselves from the reality, even as their perception of the phenomenon began to fade away.

Nito held no such concerns even as they slipped from his fingers, for he knew that death came to all things - naturally or no - and that he himself was no exception.

TEMPORARY UPDATE:

Attention guys! It's me, the author-who-probably-should've-done-this-ages-ago! I'm writing this update because I noticed that a lot of people were visiting this chapter, and the count dropped in every other one. I wasn't sure why, so in case you guys are worried about quality, don't worry. I know this sounds (and more than likely is) incredibly arrogant and rude of me to say, but I started this to improve my writing, and improve it has.

Currently I'm working on some new chapters, and once I'm done there I'm going to update most of the previous chapters to improve their writing. I'm not asking you guys to check them out, I just felt like letting you know what was happening in case you were looking for a good fic and weren't impressed by the first chapter.

Anyway, enough self-advertising and general narcissism; the announcement's over, so do whatever!