“What I offer you, " Death began, “is the chance to win a chance to get a second chance where you failed the first time.”

The man arched his eyebrows, “The first time?”

“Well, the most recent, I should say. It was far from your first attempt, but that’s irrelevant. What matters is that you want to live, again, and I have the power to make that happen.”

Seeing a chance to leave this place, a bit of the man’s confidence returned, “Why are you making this offer to me? What has set me apart to earn, or deserve, this?”

Death leaned back into the light, the pale skull almost bright enough to act as a third torch. A small snake was hanging from his right eye socket, and, having been thrust into the light, began to make its way over his shoulder back to the shadows.

“You, as hard as it may be to believe, had led a life that may be argued to be more mundane, and boring, than the past three thousand years of my service. "

“I was boring?”

“You have no idea.”

“Why me?”

Death stared for a second, “Why not you?”