Thanks to MrCrowley667, our original founder of Anthology Addicts, for their entry! Guess the song in the comments!

Nothing Lasts Forever

Be not afraid.

Sometimes I find myself inexorably drawn towards saying that and when I do I die a little inside... God, I'm old... Sometimes I wonder if I'm too old, but then, like a knife in my spine I am reminded of my promise and I linger on in self deprecating servitude...

Times have changed and with its passing, so too have I. My past feels like a distant memory, another world... Another life, one in which I used to carry a bow and not this fucking thing...

Back then the world was a simpler place. My job was mundane to say the least... But now as I stand in this piss smelling alley and watch my prey, I find myself mourning the old days, and of course that blasted bow of mine... Of course a gun has better accuracy but where is the fun in that... I used to obsess about the trick shots, focus my entire being on finding new and ingenious ways to hit my mark... Now I just point, aim and fire...

Arrow or bullet makes no real difference to be honest, either way they can't see me unless I want them too.

Sometimes I am drawn to revealing myself, mainly from the crippling loneliness, but now, I don't need to warn them not to be afraid. They are far less attentive in this century. After all, a hood is all it takes to hide my skeletal visage and that is if they even look at me in the slightest... More than often they speak to me without removing their cursed eyes from their fucking phones...

At one time in history, they used to sit with me under the starry light of the stars and ask me everything that their limited minds could ask... We would talk until the first golden rays of the approaching sun... but now I'm lucky if I get more than a few minutes of their damned time...

You would think that creatures such as they would make time for pleasantries what with their imminent end approaching at my brothers hands. But no they have lost the true point of their existence... We didn't make them mortal so they could scurry through life like rats... We did it not out of malice but kindness... for if you have all of time in your very hands then you find yourself all too eager to make it pass speedily...

Trust me, I should know... My brothers and I are the very definition of hasty... we have sped through millennia after millennia without truly paying much heed to our existence for no other reason than we just can...

And now they have joined us in their attempts to hasten the spans of time...

I find myself hunting them less and less every year... They don't know it but soon I will stop completely and they will mourn my passing as they are forced to live in this loveless world...

My brothers and sisters are forever optimistic but I know better... The end is nigh and despite popular belief it won't end with a mighty battle for their souls, they won't perish from their own misdeeds... nor will they ascend from this world.

They will simply cease to be... For even the wild beasts that roam this earth still hold love in their hearts... Loveless creatures have no purpose in this world... They will die out and time will erase all traces of them...

They foolishly thought that they were the first of beings to become sentient... They were wrong... Others will emmerge from the very ashes of their world. It was true last time and it's true now...

I stalk my target, remaining mere inches from him, and I remain completely unseen. I have not cloaked my presence nor have I muted my steps... he just doesn't see me.

Even when I raise my gun to his chest plate he still pays me no heed. With fury in my eyes I fire...

The bullet slams into his chest and fuses with his heart... Hey presto this mortal now feels the first seductive pangs of love course through his being. His eyes widen with shock as he absentmindedly touches his ever quickening heart. I turn and walk away to seek out my next mark and it is then that I finally feel something other than contempt for them...

"Who are you...?" the man asks finally seeing me for the first time...

I laugh to myself and turn slowly into the light. The man moans in terror as the light reveals my skeletal form in all of its splendour...

His eyes widen with fear and he backs himself into the stone wall. I can't resist... I stalk forwards and get right in his face and whisper to him.

"Be not afraid..."

The man stares at me, he sees beyond the horrid appearance and smiles as a dormant part of his brain ignites for the first time since his mother pushed him from her sweat stained and fatigued body.

"I know you..." he whispers, still unsure of his sanity.

I stare at him in silence and he invites me inside...

We speak until the dawn approaches and I feel the first twinges of hope in my soul... maybe just maybe they can be saved...

I saunter through the empty streets and follow the rising sun; my gun guides me to my next target...