[ WP ] You tell Death that you will never tire of living no matter how long you live . It makes you a bet that you will and thus grants you true immortality . You 've just lived through the second death of the universe and show no sign of stopping . Death is baffled .

These old eyes of mine have probably seen everything. I've seen species grow from single cells to monstrous, frighteningly smart creatures. I've seen civilizations rise, fall, rise again. Been a part of more than a few myself. I've been witness to every conflict I can imagine, from petty personal passive-aggression to skirmishes between tribes to planetary-scale turf wars all the way up to intergalactic grudges. Conflict never really changes, as far as I can tell. I've seen love, too. Not nearly enough of it, mind. 
 
 I've seen black holes form, nebulae birthing stars, solar systems spin from nonexistence into form. Cosmic dreamscapes and heavenly formations playing out in slow motion over billions, trillions of old Earth years. Ca n't say for sure how long I've watched the lights. I lose track of time as I float on. 
 
 `` It'll never get old,'' I said once. `` The universe. Massive, unpredictable, shining beauty that she is.'' Turns out someone, somewhere was listening - and they found it funny. When my time was up, when normally I'd finally be uncoiled from this mortality, I found myself sticking around. No light at the end of the tunnel, just a voice. 
 
 `` THE UNIVERSE REPEATS. IN ITS INFINITY OF INFINITIES THERE IS NOTHING TRULY NEW. EVERYTHING THAT WAS, IS, WILL BE IS ALREADY OLDER THAN CAN BE EXPRESSED. YOU BELIEVE YOU WILL NEVER TIRE? PROVE THIS TO ME.'' 
 
 It's been a few cycles since then. The universe repeats, they said. That's true. I've seen all that anything can be, every possible configuration of atoms, strings, or whatever things really are deep down. I have literally seen *everything*. 
 
 It's a good thing I ca n't remember any of it. 
 
 See, the human mind is an interesting piece of hardware. Thrives on novelty. If you do one single thing enough times, you'll bore eventually. Whoever keeps me around here wagered that that'd hold true. The human mind only has so much storage, though. Only so many memories fit in the lump of meat and electricity. If you fill it up, every time you see something, every time you *perceive*, you'll lose something. It's like overfilling a bathtub. You add some water, some more splashes out. 
 
 Imagine that to infinity. My mind, cycling through the universe's water supply. Forgetting and making new memories. Every time I see completely alien art, every time I float through a cluster of stars, every time I love and lose and love again, I thrill. 
 
 It might not be *new*. But it's new to me. 
 
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 ( I'm open to constructive criticism - I'm working to improve ) 
 
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 EDIT: 1 day later. The response has been completely unexpected and overwhelming. I'm not at all sure how to respond, so I hope this will do. 
 
 Thank you to everyone who read this and enjoyed it. I only very recently began writing fiction, and I did n't expect so many people to respond so well to my early efforts. I'm still convinced that this whole thing was a combination of beginner's luck, a compelling prompt ( thank you u/Gravitiaxis ), and being in the right place at the right time. 
 
 I'm going to keep writing. Very little of it is going to be this well-received, I think, but I hope someone enjoys what I create in the future.
