Masters of Death

Gabriel and Raphael speak to an assembly of angels and reapers. They explain that Death is missing and that they must find him. Cal and Mayra meet in the middle of the meeting hall, barely touching each other’s hands. Raphael notices, and after the meeting, he summons Cal and Mayra to meet with him and Gabriel. The angels remind Cal and Mayra that they cannot have a relationship. Mayra makes fun of the angels, knowing that they are corrupt by running the game.

During the game, Death takes a secret from his opponent, even if Death loses. In the game against a young demi-god, Death promises immortality but takes away the demi-god’s ability to speak the truth. The demi-god returns for his mastery over the truth. Later, an angel plays the game for the freedom to love freely. She loses, but Death tells her that someone will love her even if they cannot pursue their love. A mortal plays the game, and Death goes easy on him because he knows that the mortal will pay for playing the game. A water spirit plays the game and wins, wishing for mortality. Death grants this but says that she will feel emotion so greatly that it will pain her.

Brandt asks them what they are doing in the house, and Viola explains that Fox is a medium trying to exorcise Tom from the house. Brandt laughs, telling Fox that he has turned into the thief. Fox demands that Brandt take him to his godfather, but Brandt says that he does not think he can return to the tables. Fox asks Brandt what he was trying to steal, and Brandt says that he kept a ledger of the game in the house.

Lainey speaks to Volos, asking him when she can be free. Volos tells her that she must play the game again. She does not want to, but she knows that she cannot pay her debt to Volos any other way. In the heavenly courtroom, Raphael and Gabriel argue over the importance of keeping the game’s ledger safe. As they argue, Volos walks in and demands to play the game.

Mayra and Cal return to the Parker mansion. Fox asks Brandt how he has the ledger; Brandt explains that he created the ledger himself. He kept it safe in the Parker mansion. Cal does not believe Brandt and puts him in handcuffs. Fox says that he will let him go when Brandt agrees to take them to the game. Brandt explains that Death banned him from the tables. Before he can explain more, Raphael and Gabriel knock at the door.

An hour before, Raphael tells Volos that he cannot play the game, but Volos explains that he is entering the game under the name of the mortal whose skin he wears. Volos tells Raphael and Gabriel that they must start the game again since he meets the criteria. Volos threatens to tell God and Lucifer about the illegal game, so the angels agree on the condition that they can enter their own player as a challenger. Volos agrees, and the angels say that they want to enter a mortal named Fox D’Mora. Later, Volos gathers the immortals together. When they say that they do not want to help him, he puts them in cages.

Raphael and Gabriel tell the group at Parker mansion that Death is bound to an immortal game by Volos and that they need Fox to defeat him in the game. The angels tell Brandt that he must transport Fox through the realms, get Death’s ledger, and then take him to the game. Gabriel says that they need to take Tom with them. Tom and Fox refuse to go, and the angels tell them that humanity’s existence is at stake, as Volos will destroy the mortals. Mayra reminds Fox that he will be able to help Death. Fox agrees to help, and the archangels leave.

Whey they are alone, Brandt explains to Fox that after Death banned him from the game, he kept the ledger to see if there was a way that he could get back in. Brandt says that a player can challenge others to play the game in a tournament. Brandt hopes to make it to the top of the tournament and play Death again, as is Volos. Brandt explains that he was trying to make it back into the game so that he could play for Fox again, but this makes Fox angry. In the other room, Isis tells Viola that immortals and mortals play the game to get ahead. She says that immortals are willing to sacrifice something because they have eternity to win it back.

Isis invites the Creatures Anonymous group to the Parker mansion, offering to sell it to them. She believes that the Parker name keeps Tom trapped in the house. Tom says that he will only leave the house if Viola comes with him. They sell the house, and the Creatures Anonymous group reminds Isis of the water spirit who used to be part of the group but played the game and won. The water spirit’s name was Lainey, which surprises Tom.

Tom pretends not to be upset that Lainey is a creature, but Viola knows better. Viola asks Tom why he wants her to go with him, and Tom says that she is his only friend. In the kitchen, Mayra asks Isis if she knows Volos, the demon king. Isis explains that Volos calls himself the king of vice and wears a mortal’s skin, like a snake.

Brandt explains that his copy of the ledger is not complete and that there is at least one game that he does not know about. Brandt asks Fox if he ever loaned his ring to anyone, which angers Fox. He gestures to the ring and the watch on his wrist, telling Brandt that he could never take them off because Brandt gave them to him. Fox did not want to forget about him. Fox asks Brandt why he left, and Brandt says that he cannot tell him.

In 1833, Fox walks up to Death at the tables and demands answers. Death tells him that he is a mortal: There are some things that he cannot understand. Death says that he does not want Brandt playing again because he steals. Time has not stopped complaining about the watch that Brandt stole from him.

A month later, Brandt finds Fox in his village. Brandt offers Fox an apple, but Fox does not want immortality. Fox asks Brandt how he gets the apples, and Brandt explains that Iðunn gives them to him. Brandt tells Fox that he will visit him again next month. On the next visit, Fox says that immortality seems aimless. Brandt agrees that it is lonely. When Brandt visits Iðunn, he tells her about Fox. Iðunn asks Brandt why he does not visit Fox more often. Brandt replies that he fears it will haunt him later.

When Brandt visits Fox again, Brandt gives Fox a ring that will summon Death when he turns it on his finger. Fox thanks him and then asks if he is in love with Iðunn or indebted to her. Brandt cannot answer. When Brandt visits Iðunn, he says that he cannot stop thinking about Fox. Iðunn understands that his heart has changed toward Fox and thinks that he may need to be free. She says that his time with Fox will be short, but it should be spent together. Iðunn releases Brandt from his bond to her, knowing that they will meet again. 

In the Parker house, Fox sees Viola in her cat form. Viola asks if he can speak with the dead, but he tells her that he is a fraud. Fox says that he assumed he would make something of himself since he was the godson of Death, but he feels useless. Fox wishes that he could stop feeling his emotions, but Viola wishes that she could feel hers. As a creature, she feels nothing.

Later, Brandt transports the group to the Tree of Life. Brandt tells them that Death lives in the cave at the base of the tree. Fox and Brandt sift through Death’s possessions. Fox sees a scroll and unrolls it: It is the ledger that they are searching for. Fox shoves the ledger into Brandt’s hands, pointing to the name Tom Parker I.

Fox has a flashback to 1835. Fox asks why Brandt comes to see him, and Brandt admits that he wants to see him. Brandt gives Fox Time’s watch. He explains that it will keep Fox young. Fox asks Brandt if he can still feel emotions. Brandt tells him that he can feel everything, just not as deeply as Fox feels them because sensations are more precious when they can be taken away.

Later, Fox tells Death that Brandt left him. He feels crushed by heartbreak as Death tells him that Brandt is not a good man. A year later, Fox gives Death a rubber band to wear around his wrist for aversion therapy. He tells Death that he should snap the rubber band on his wrist when he curses or returns to his gambling obsession. Later, Fox steals a bracelet from a house, and Mayra appears. She tells him that the bracelet is her relic, so now he can summon her because she is his guardian angel. Over time, Fox tells Mayra about Brandt. Fox says that he has looked for Brandt, but he does not think that Brandt is in the mortal world. Mayra suggests that he find a reaper to help him track Brandt.

After Fox meets Cal, he tells Fox that he does not think he can find Brandt without Brandt looking for them. In New York, Fox becomes a medium. After a while, Fox moves to Chicago, where he meets Tom Parker I in a bar. Tom Parker I asks if he can speak to the dead, but Fox evades the question. Tom refills Fox’s drink, and Fox feels suspicious of him.

Fox and Brandt explain to the others that they found Tom Parker I’s name on the ledger. Fox says that they should go to the tables since they have the ledger. At the tables, the group registers their names at the door to an atrium building. Fox stares in amazement at the walls of individual cages inside, each containing a person sitting at a table. At the top of the atrium sits Death, hooded and bound at his own table.