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In the Beginning, Death and God had only each other. They did nothing except exist. There was nothing else to do.
Change began as a simple statement, one reiterated throughout eternity as being the one that is most true of any being:
"I am bored," Death exuded.
This was a time before language or bodies so there was little means for him to actually speak.
"I feel that I have a higher purpose and I do not know what it is."
"What Purpose is there?" asked God. It was a good question. The capitol P was impossible to miss.
Death, if he had had a body, may have shrugged at that point. "Let us find out."
Soon after, Death's purpose became clear. God would never truly understand His, but He was more than okay with that.
As some humans would eventually say, curiosity killed the cat. Little did they know that curiosity also invented it.
The first of God's creations was curiosity incarnate; Himself in the form of another. If He had been not God, He would have been this: Not just an angel, not just a means to an end. He would not have chosen to be God, nor did He envy Death beyond that of a greener grass complex, but if it were possible? He would have chosen to be Michael.
The First. His first son. The prodigy, God's mirror image, the grace by which He felt envy for the first time. Envious, because Michael was so dedicated, so perfect, and so young: An embodiment of art, the first of his kind. Michael was also the grace for which God first felt love.
It was the second thing He had ever consciously felt for: He remembered curiosity, feeling it just for curiosity’s sake, and now He knew how to feel for His child.
Death knew in that moment that God was needy. He needed love and balance and He needed someone to be there, always, or He would go too far. Death knew naught but curiosity, love, and the two Graces that, together, twinned his existence. If his Twin, if God and his son needed it, Death would be everything in their world that they couldn't.
Thus Death knew himself for what he was.
In truth Death had been the equal of God, but now he was the greater; for God had given of Himself in love, and Death knew not that the gift of giving love is the act of being strength. To give love is to be strong. To be less but to be strong: A concept Death could never understand, for he was absolute, so, too, did Death envy God’s levity in weakness.
Michael was born but not yet alive, incomplete and incandescent light, and love and curiosity, and that was all. That was all God was in the beginning, so that was what He made. Death saw the new being and allowed God his freedom.
For it was not time for Death.
It was time for creation, time for understanding and love for all. So God created and Death watched, and the Heavenly Host was born. God's creations thrived and grew and, ecstatic, God turned to Death and said, "My dear, come join Me!"
Death declined. "You and I are different," he said.
It was then that God knew what must be done. He had His First Son and then hordes of Others, and what did Death have except Him? Nothing. Death had nothing and that--
That was just wrong.
However, the solution was easy. God beckoned Death closer, and he came to His side.
"Everything that I am and everything I will be is yours in the end," He said, sealing the promise as truth just by Saying it. "These angels belong only to themselves, for I cannot take away what they are, only they can, but I give to you all of Myself. All of everything else I will ever create. It is done for you in the end."
Death thought about it. He had merely to wait and every greatness God ever experienced would be placed at his doorstep. God... wanted for them to remain equals.
God wanted for them to be together until the end.
Eventually, after eons of thought, Death said, "Okay." He exuded warmth, for it was an embrace of true gratitude, returned in kind by the Grace of God. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," said God.
But what He meant was, "You are welcome."
Because He didn't even need to think of it. Even when they were no longer the only two beings in existence, God loved Death most.