For as long as there has been life on earth, death gods – or grim reapers – have been around to take the souls of the dying and departed. Reapers are a proud, prosperous race that live along side humans and only kill those whose time comes, but it wasn't always that way.

In the beginning, there was but one. A reaper who had watched the humans discretely through the eyes of the skull on his scythe and it would be he who passed judgment on them. If he felt they did not deserve to live he would ensure their death by manipulating either the marked or those around him, then take his soul and add it to his collection. The more souls he took, the stronger he became.

As humans began to develop in mind and body, they finally understood the rapid rate of abnormal deaths by day and by night was not merely fate, but the work of something far more powerful than any of them could hope to be – a god. They feared it would soon take their lives, as well. They tried everything they could to please him, from praying for forgiveness of sins to offering sacrifices of livestock, crops, and even other humans (who went on to become reapers themselves), but the onslaught continued.

Even now, this mysterious reaper continues his work, forcing humans to take their own lives and the lives of others and adding more and more souls to his collection, becoming more and more powerful. Together, with his reaper scythe, Baneripper, he intends to put and end to them once and for all.
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"Humans, such vile creatures. They act as if this planet belongs to them and only them, but I will prove how wrong they are. Since time began, I have walked this earth, stealing the souls of those wretched beings, slowly growing in power with every kill. True, my progress has been slowed due to the recent spawning of new-born reapers, but, as long as human minds are weak and vulnerable, I shall be successful and the human race will be no more. Baneripper, show me my next soul." The ruby eyes on the skull of the scythe glowed and projected the image of human who looked as if all life had just given up on him, but he tried to prove otherwise to his peers. "Let us go."

After the collection of the soul, Baneripper followed its master loyally, collecting several other souls and storing them within its skull. Upon returning home, the reaper said, "I find humans and their need for names for each other confusing and useless, but, I suppose, a name for myself would do no harm. Baneripper, I order you, find me a name." The loyal scythe glowed the color of dried blood and inscribed something on the wall. "What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of the end, and the end of every place?"

"A riddle? As expected. Fine. I will play your game. The answer is quite simple, actually. It is the English character E. Is that what you want my name to be, Baneripper?" Nothing more came from the scythe, but the reaper understood. "Hm...E...then so it shall be...my name..."
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"This gentleman's intimidating, hooded eyes are lavender and sparkle hypnotically. He has shoulder-length, silky, straight hair the color of the evening sky. His build is rather thin."

"Baneripper"
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No one ever said that every main character had to be a good guy. I will admit, I may have gotten a tiny bit carried away, but it's been so long since I got to write something like that. It was exciting.

I spent about an hour coming up with this story, but several hours trying to find a name for the scythe. It was a tie between Psimaster and Baneripper, but I eventually settled with Baneripper since it fit most with the evil E's plan of the total annihilation of all human life on earth. I think I may have made it a little too cartoon-y but, it's ok.

Originally, E didn't have a mouth...because I couldn't draw one that matched him by hand and stupidly scanned the picture without giving him one, but I added the stitches-like one while editing it because he is a reaper, so he had to have some sort of semblance to the ones we originally heard about and see in a lot of media. That's also why his skin is china-white. The purple things on his face...to be honest, I don't know why I put them there. Maybe just to make him look cool, or something. I dunno. Well, they're there, so deal with it.

By the way, the small words in the picture are the lines of the riddle, and the giant letter in the back is the letter E. The font is "A Charming Font" found on some random website, in case anyone wanted to know.
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E without Baneripper here: Hooded Reaper E
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Even though I didn't win, I do plan on working with E and Baneripper more. He just seemed to interesting to abandon.
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E and Baneripper (c) Me