Grim

Chapter 12 - Chasing Death

That bastard Remiel! I can feel the heat of flames coming out of my eyes. I feel something else that the anger has brought forth. It is foreign yet familiar. Like a long forgotten scar that your fingers probe for the first time in years. I focus on it, reach out for it. My bone fingers begin to tingle, so I extend them out in front of me. Sparks of electricity shoot out from the tips.

I have never been able to do this before, and have never heard of a reaper body being capable of a talent like this. I have heard of reapers shooting fireballs from their mouths or eye sockets. I have heard of reapers projecting their red eyes out from their bodies giving them a different vantage point. Some have even been talented enough to be able to manipulate their bodies while projecting their eyes in such a manner. I can't imagine it myself. Some have even been able to manifest fog or manipulate the temperature in the physical world. This is something new.. unique. While staring at my trembling hand I think of the implications.

The sound of something coming directly at me breaks my train of thought. I turn towards it. A kid around ten years of age is running. What is he running from? He runs through me with his head hitting me just below my chest. The boy trips and falls down into the open grave. The laughter of those who are chasing the boy follows. One of them says, "I think he went this way!"

The patter of several more feet approach. Maybe they will help the boy out of the grave. A girl who is around the same age as the boy finds the open grave first. She starts screaming at the top of her lungs. I hadn't noticed the boy's injuries until now. He definitely broke his neck in the fall, and is barely holding onto life. I drop into the grave and put my face next to the boy's. The rest of the children gather around as if I'm going to tell them a story. The leader of the group says, "Billy? Get up! We were just playing."

I'm not playing though. Billy stops breathing. I see his short life flash before his eyes. While sucking the boy's soul out of his body, one of the kids yells, "No! You can't take him!" Another boy is looking directly at me. All of them look terrified. I swallow Billy's soul. The kids who had gathered around, who were moments before so jovial, now run in complete fear. Perhaps this was their first experience with death. There is no way they could have seen me. I do not have that power.

"Are you certain reaper? Do you not feel the power coursing through you? Doesn't it feel good?"

I turn to see a demon laid out across two headstones as if it is the most comfortable bed. "What do you want Ornias?"

The demon inspects his nails as he says, "Nothing. Everything. What does it matter? For now I only want to help you."

I scoff at the demon. As much as my bare skull can anyway. "Help me? Why would I be so foolish?"

The smile the demon gives me could stop the heart of a small animal. He sings, "I know something you don't know." He repeats the song several times.

I interrupt, "Whatever you know I am sure I have no interest in it."

The smile widens a bit. "Yes, of course.. I only have the next name from the lists Remiel took. Perhaps I'll go torment the soul since there won't be a reaper there to protect him."