DCMAGR | Chapter. 44: Warning (2/2) (Patreon)

A/N: Officially 14 chapters ahead!

The Grim reaper stared at me, making me nervous. I had just taken a life, and now… this? I struggled to calm down. Had I done wrong in killing him⁠— in sending him to Elysium? No, that was my duty as a Grim reaper⁠ and⁠— I looked at the Grim reaper; I had done my job, and yet again he had shown up. I was in the right.

“Kaiti,” he called. “I am not here to… punish you.”

I frowned, still feeling aghast from taking the human’s life. “Then?”

He shook his head. “I cannot understand why you’re always on edge despite being a Grim reaper, peculiar, peculiar,” he mused. “A talk has been had with your father. Between the two of us.”

I nodded. “What came of it? And if you’re not here to punish me then why are you here?”

“No rush, no rush.” He waved dismissively. “As I was saying a talk had been had, I have to say I was never too talkative with your father, but he is a breath of fresh air, so he has convinced me that⁠—

A spike of hatred and pure aggressiveness went off on the distance, prompting me to draw a sharp breath. I had to help Ash.

“Therefore we can⁠—

“Please, hurry up.” I interrupted.

He paused and seemed to think for a second. “Why the rush? I can understand you’ve just taken your first life and all, must be a weird experience⁠— I’ve already forgotten it, mind you. But if that is already taken care of, then why the hurry?”

I frowned. Was he being serious? No, he totally was⁠— his emotions had been completely the same the entire time, just like other Grim reapers. Every single one of them was eccentric in their own way.

“My roommate is fighting a One-eyed beast.”

He hummed. “Ah yes, the big source of anger, and the small source of apathy,” He nodded. “Yes, I can understand why you must be in a hurry.”

“Then, can you⁠—

“So just follow me, let’s rid ourselves of the pesky monster first, yes?”

Ha? Without letting me answer, he turned around. His steps quiet and his body phasing through the plants as if it was immaterial; his scythe in hand actually collided with the stalks. I paused as he left the clearing, then looked at the corpse of the human I had… killed. Sent to Elysium. A sigh left me.

“I am sorry I cannot give you a proper funeral, but I will come back later to do so.” His soul was gone. His vessel however, still present. Wait, hadn’t I left the dog’s corpse to rot? My mouth dried in an instant. F⁠— no.

I took a deep breath. I could deal with that later, even if I felt bad. The fight still raged. I gripped onto my scythe harder and it hummed to me in an attempt to reassure me. I nodded and followed after the Grim reaper; going into the direction of the monster.

Jogging through the gray plants I saw no trace of the Grim reaper, it did not take long before I finally exited the field. And at last, I saw a shadowy figure walking towards the shack. But he seemed to just be⁠— walking. Where was the urgency?

“I can sense your displeasure,” he said from afar. “Unfortunately the destination for all living beings is much the same, outside⁠—” He paused and continued walking. “Hmhm, I cannot tell you such knowledge yet.”

“It’s not,” I denied. Not that I was aware of. “But if we don’t hurry perhaps Ash could get hurt.”

“Ah, your companion,” he recalled. “I suppose that for the sake of your training you want them alive, yes?”

I frowned. “Is that some type of threat?”

“Not at all, but do you feel that if we did not hurry, would it affect you negatively?” He asked.

Was this some trick? I couldn’t figure out what this was about⁠— negatively? Spoke with my dad? Perhaps he had been tasked to train me as well? If that was the case then⁠— if it impacted me bad, wouldn’t it be against his interest?

“Yes, it would.” I said.

“Hmhm, I can sense your doubt.” He shook his head. “But I understand, friends are important after all. My recommendation is, make sure their lifespan is as long as yours. For life is quite fleeting.” His scythe creaked with an odd sound. “Nothing better than a reaper’s scythe for a companion.”

I shook my head. “That’d be the same as being alone. A scythe is an extension of ourselves, even if they are sentient. It’s lonely, since they are part of you.”

“I suppose so,” he shrugged. “Technically speaking you and your scythe are the same entity, but if it has its own thoughts and compatible behaviors⁠— who is to say it’s not a companion?”

“I guess… But I still want to save Ash.”

He nodded. “Yes, indeed. It’d be detrimental to force you to stay with your scythe, unfortunately, loneliness is something you have to learn.”

Hearing him I recalled what had been happening as of late ⁠— the time period in which Ash was missing ⁠— it was very quiet. Even with the Old man, even though I felt close to him, he was missing most of the time. He was away for most of my days. I was alone during most of that time. I frowned.

“Loneliness is…” I paused. “Something I do not desire.”

“You will desire it soon enough,” he said before rounding the shack. “Oh, we are here, how fast indeed. Though your companion seems to be…”

“Seems to be?” I rounded the corner.

“I̶ ̸s̷h̵a̵l̸l̴ ̸e̶x̴t̵i̵n̵g̷u̸i̴s̵h̴ ̸t̵h̵e̶e̵,” corruption said with pure anger.

“Shut the fuck up,” Ash gnashed.

Eh? Thick tentacles filled the surroundings, and at the center Ash was standing there with half of her onesie missing. Blood kept pouring out from her as her injuries struggled to heal. But she had a vicious grin on her face, and under her fluffy foot there was an eyeball the size of a boulder.

“Are you gonna keep regenerating, huh?” Ash asked the eyeball. “Try it, fucking try it.”

“T̶h̵i̶n̷e̴ ̵d̴a̵y̶s̸'̴r̶e̷ ̷c̴o̷u̶n̷t̵e̷d̷,̴ ̸t̵h̴y̵ ̶s̸h̴a̶l̴l̸ ̴s̴e̸e̴” The eyeball said.

The Grim reaper slowly approached Ash, as she just kept talking to the eyeball. Eventually after two more seconds he reached.

“Looks like you need help, yes?”

Ash froze for a moment, before turning towards me and then towards the Grim reaper.

“If you’re going to finish this thing off, yes. If you’re here to tell me something else, then I’ll pass.”

The Grim reaper nodded. “Yes that monster will die, though its fate is not my hands, I shall make an exception. At the large scale of things, the life of this poor beast does not matter.”

“P̷o̵o̶r̴,̶ ̷m̷e̵?̵ ̸I̴ ̵s̶h̸a̷l̵l̶ ̸s̵h̷o̵w̴⁠—

“Yes, yes.” Ash dismissed. Before getting off the monster and walking towards me, one of her sleeves was missing, and I could almost see her naked chest. The hoodie portion was gone, and the only whole parts were the legs. “Normally I’d say you took too long, but I don’t think it would’ve made a difference.” She shook her head.

“How so?” I asked before Ash sat on the ground with a heavy sigh.

“His magic allowed him to teleport his tentacles into other dimensions and back, basically a form of teleportation to instantly reach you,” she shook her head before pointing at her injuries. “Hope those heal, or I’ll need to go to the Underworld,” she sighed.

“You’ll be fine,” I reassured.

Ash looked at the Grim reaper who was looking at the eyeball without doing anything, and yet the eyeball simply quivered in fear.

“So, what happened? Why are you suddenly his friend?”

“I am not his friend,” I scoffed. “He showed up after I sent the human to Elysium to give me a warning, but the warning hasn’t been given. I told him I needed him to hurry up with his explanations, since I had to come here.”

“And?” She urged.

“Well, after hearing you’re my companion and that you’re fighting he chose to come here first?” I said with doubt.

Ash nodded. “Yeah, Grim reapers don’t like to rush things. Though should he try something on me, well…” She shook her head. “Well hopefully it doesn’t come down to that.”

At that moment I heard a deep sigh come from the Grim reaper.

“What a senseless beast you’re, even though I offer you salvation you still insist on ceasing to be.” He shook his head. “How utterly disappointing, very well⁠.” He swung his scythe lazily, as it made contact the beast released an ear-piercing screech.

“Å̵̢̺̳͊̆A̶̺̠̯̽A̶̡͚̻͋̃̇H̷̟̬̺̉̍́͆̅Ḧ̷̺̜́͜G̴̯͝H̵̠͇͑̔͂Å̵̢̺̳͊̆A̶̺̠̯̽A̶̡͚̻͋̃̇Å̵̢̺̳͊̆A̶̺̠̯̽A̶̡͚̻͋̃̇Å̵̢̺̳͊̆A̶̺̠̯̽A̶̡͚̻͋̃̇H̷̟̬̺̉̍́͆̅Ḧ̷̺̜́͜G̴̯͝H̵̠͇͑̔͂!”

The eye bloated, and bubbles started to form on its surface before it suddenly exploded into black mist. And just like that, its emotions disappeared. The Grim reaper shook his head once more in disapproval and turned to us.

“As I was saying, I came here to give you a warning.”

I stared. “Yes… What is this warning?”

“Before that,” he said. “I was saying I spoke with your father, what a pleasure it was to speak with him. Unlike others he was different, which is always nice. And after a day or two of back-and-forth talking, a consensus was reached. There would be no punishments for infringing in my territory in the past.”

I nodded.

“But that isn't the warning. Though you should already know that what you’ve done so far is perpetuating into my lands. But I shall forgive you, instead the warning will come right at this moment.” He seemed to take a breath. “This will be the only time I lend my help with Elysium. Should you try it again, there will be consequences.”

Help? My brows furrowed. “How did you help me? I did it all by myself, all you did was watch!” I argued, but he just shook his head.

“What needs to be said, has been said. Farewell, may fate reunite us again.”

I snorted.

“Ah, and Ash. I can see your…” He hesitated. “Problem, yes.”

“Problem?” She asked with annoyance.

“Hmhm, never thought it’d meet another royal here, anyway. For helping Kaiti with her journey, take this token of appreciation.” He flicked his hand and a small pearl went flying in Ash’s direction. Ash caught it with surprise. “I shall take my leave now.”

Ash instantly put it in her mouth and sighed with visible relief. The Grim reaper turned around and his scythe went into his arm and body, then he slowly started to disintegrate. Shadows escaping from its feet and going to other places. Soon he was gone.

I turned to Ash, who seemed to be in a better mood. “What did he give you?”

“Something I needed,” she dismissed. “Something that I would've needed to go to the Underworld for, a special type of medicine. Well, medicine is a strong word. Just know it helps.”

“I see,” I pondered about other things, before recalling the farmer. “Can you em, help me bury a human?”

Ash looked at me with confusion. “Sure?”