[ WP ] Confronted with Death , he offers you a second chance at life upon completion of a trial . He lays in front of you three paths to choose from : blood , sweat , or tears .

`` Choose a trial,'' the black-robed figure before me said softly. I stared indecisively with a frown on my face, glancing between the stone doors and the carefully carved labels, more ancient than Death himself. *Blood*, *Sweat*, *Tears*. 
 
 `` What is each one like?'' I asked cautiously and the face beneath the robes seemed to almost crack a smile. 
 
 `` That's not how it works,'' he said with the slightest hint of tenderness behind the sharp words. `` Choosing is half the journey.'' I sighed and turned around, looking at the other souls trapped alongside me in this middle ground between life and death. Choose, and there was a chance to live again pending successful completion of the trial. Choose not and it was over. 
 
 `` Can I have some time to think?'' I asked, still unsure. 
 
 `` Certainly,'' the figure said with a shrug. `` Nobody is in any hurry.'' I took a step back, surveying the massive stone wall before me. Its immensity dwarfed the doors even as they stood a hundred men high and two dozen wide. *Insignificant*, I thought to myself as I looked around at the souls who stood thinking or choosing their doors. *We are all so insignificant. * They entered but none ever emerged, perhaps returning to start anew or perhaps meeting their eternal fate. No matter what they had done in life, it was the same; Death's impartial arrival stealing them away from loved ones or enemies indiscriminately. And they all wound up in this endless chamber to make the most important decision of all, or perhaps the least important. Our loved ones had already given us up for dead, and whether it was a day ago or a hundred years ago I could not tell. Time passed strangely in this void between the living and the dead. 
 
 I looked towards the figure who solemnly guarded the doors, nodding at each soul who chose and walked under his watchful gaze. His eyes met mine and he nodded politely, his eyes boring through me. `` Are you ready?'' he asked as I approached and I nodded. 
 
 `` I am ready.'' In response, he raised his arm towards the doors, prompting me to choose but I shook my head. `` I choose death,'' I said quietly and the endless chamber seemed to fall silent, my words echoing through the darkness. If he was surprised, he did not show it although the other souls around me backed away as if afraid Death would take them with me. 
 
 `` May I ask why?'' he asked me curiously. 
 
 I smiled before responding. `` That's not how it works,'' I said quietly without answering his question. `` Getting here was half the journey and I've made my choice so I'm ready.'' 
 
 `` Very well,'' the robed figure responded and his bony hand reached out to touch me and my world peacefully faded into darkness. 
 
 
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