The night was three things, quiet, uninteresting and still. In an unimportant street in a long neglected

  city a young man sat in a fold out chair reading a magazine inside an empty convenience store. He

  glanced towards the clock as one day inched closer to the next, regretting it as he realised it had

  only been two minutes since he had last checked.

  The shop had been quiet for a while. Which was only logical, who would go out of their way to visit a

  store that was just too far from any houses to be a short journey? He tried to refrain himself from

  checking the time by immersing himself in his reading more, a task which he did not succeed in.

  He looked up as soft chimes rang out through the room, indicating someone had chosen to enter.

  Before the young man could put away his reading and stand up to deliver the store mandated

  welcome, he was passed by the dark eyes of an unnaturally tall, gaunt looking person. Their

  unsettling gaze commanding him to remain silent. He watched as the figure turned, ran their

  abnormally long fingers through their hair and stepped over to a row of canned drinks. They bent

  down and began to sniff them, like a dog searching for a scent.

  The clerk, standing stock-still, tried to muster up the courage to say something to the figure but

  found himself met with the same unsettling stare. As if the figure could sense his intentions. They

  continued a lap around the interior of the store, stopping occasionally to stare at, smell and

  occasionally touch various products. Taking time to look back towards the counter, as its glare

  began to turn to morbid curiosity.

  This continued, as the figure continued to circle with no clear motive before, after what seemed like

  hours, the young man blinked for just a moment, as his vision went dark the chimes sounded again.

  There was a third person inside now, a man dressed in a grey suit and red tie. He flashed a polite

  smile towards the clerk, and as the man stepped forward he slid his hand into the pocket of his

  jacket. He looked back over his shoulder and said, in an almost cheerful tone,

  “By the way, I would recommend you keep your head down for this.” The clerk obliged.

  The man in the suit, Cody, hummed to himself as he scanned the room for his target. At the same

  time he removed a small silver stick from his pocket, no bigger than a metal straw, as he stepped

  forward and spoke. “Alright Hell-child, I’ll give you one chance to let this play out in a way that

  doesn’t end with violence.” He paused, feigning waiting for a reply, before he shrugged once,

  “alright. Guess we do this the-” Cody was cut off as the figure charged him. Its face had stretched

  out into a grotesque fleshy snout while its hands had morphed into sharp claws. It slammed into

  Cody, sending him flying backwards into the glass door of a refrigerator.

  Grunting, Cody tried to remove himself from the mess of frozen food, ice crystals and broken

  shelves that covered him. Before he could free himself the creature grabbed his leg and threw him

  hard through the front window. Glass fragments from both the window and refrigerator littered the

  ground as Cody pulled himself back onto his feet. Looking around he muttered to himself,

  “Shit my arm.” He had no time to deal with the pain piercing up his arm as the NotDeer leapt

  through the hole in the glass letting out another screech. Cody stepped backwards, moving away

  from the impact of the monster before pulling his hands across his body and up, readying himself to

  fight.

  The HellChild watched The Reaper with its glassy, dead eyes. It moved towards him attempting to

  slash at Cody with its claws. The Reaper had guessed what it would do and ducked, stepping under

  the NotDeer’s attack and circling behind him. The creature screeched again, turning to make

  another attack at Cody, attempting to bite at him. Cody dodged this as well, moving around the

  HellChild trying to find a good opportunity to strike back. He watched as the monster stepped

  backwards and bowed its head and smirked to himself.

  The HellChild ran at Cody, he turned to dodge its charge, kicking it in the leg as it passed him. The

  creature shrieked in a combination of surprise and pain as it fell off balance. Cody took the

  opportunity to stick his right hand out and call out, “eat this Infernal trash!” He had managed to get

  the Scythe into his hand, and shifted it into the form of a blade as he moved to strike the

  NotDeer. The sudden burst of the Scythe’s new form caused the blade to pierce straight through

  the monster.

  It fell on its back, writhing in pain as it scrambled to pull itself away. A futile task. Cody stepped over

  the beast, adjusting his red tie as his face morphed from that of a man to a glowing skull. He placed

  a foot on the NotDeer’s chest as he looked down at the NotDeer with his now blank eye sockets.

  “On the authority of the Celestial Department of Death, I Reap you. You may rest.” He grabbed the

  spear with both hands and pulled. The creature struggled, then went still.

  Cody gestured again, the spear shifted and shrank back into a small metal stick. He turned on his

  heels and walked back towards the store. He let the doors open and stepped back towards the

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  counter as he felt around inside his jacket. The clerk looked up to see Cody, who nodded at him. He

  pulled out a gold coin, stamped with a crow on one side and a skull on the other. “Hold onto that,

  kid. They’ll find you with it.” The clerk didn’t respond.

  As Cody stepped out into the night he inhaled, he’d done it. He’d defeated a Hell-Child on his own,

  and now all he needed to do was return to the field of flowers and…

  On his left someone began to whistle, close enough that they must have been watching him fight.

  Cody turned towards the noise. Slowly he reached into his pocket to remove the scythe, im case

  whoever or whatever was whistling had ill intentions. He watched as from an alleyway someone

  emerged. A person. Wearing a black duster and a vibrant red scarf. Cody watched in confusion as

  the man slowly approached him, lifting a hand up as if signalling to someone.

  “Hello there.” The man said as he moved closer, stopping about five metres from Cody he put his

  hand down. “My name is Hume, might I ask what yours is?” Cody furrowed his brow, ‘what is he

  doing?’, the Reaper thought to himself as Hume lifted his mouth into a smile. He crossed his arms

  before responding,

  “Cody. But what’s that to you?” Hume’s smile grew wider as he clapped his hands together and

  spoke,

  “Amazing, amazing.” Hume paused, his eyes wandering over the other man’s shoulder, something

  which the Reaper unfortunately did not notice. Hume cocked his head to the side and spoke again,

  “and you’re a reaper correct?”

  “I don’t have to tell you that.” Cody replied as he stared at the mysterious man. Hume nodded,

  “I guess so, but I thought I’d allow you to show your pride one last time before you lose.”

  “I’m not losing to anyone tonight.” Cody shouted as he flicked the scythe he’d subtly removed from

  his jacket as it morphed into a sword. He moved towards Hume, whatever this man wanted, it

  wasn’t good.

  “I don’t think so.” Said Hume as he flicked a hand forward, as a spear flew from behind him and

  wedged itself in Cody’s shoulder. Cody was shocked, he’d only ever heard about reapers

  controlling their Scythe’s remotely, but the idea someone would throw one at him shocked him. The

  Reaper let out a scream of pain. Cody dropped to one knee as he grabbed his shoulder. He spoke

  between ragged breathes,

  “What, what are you doing?” Hume simply continued to smile.

  Cody tried to pull himself up, to wipe the smile off Hume’s face, before something struck him. from

  behind. A monotone female voice rang out,

  “Formed Scythe, Lockdown.” Cody suddenly became aware of something, not only was there a

  spear in his shoulder, but he couldn’t move any part of his body. As he tried to move his eyes to

  look around he was pushed onto his back, only able to look up.

  Standing over the immobile reaper were three people. Hume, still pulling the same grin, his hands

  grasping the spear in Cody’s shoulder. Across from Hume was a short, black haired, woman with a

  necklace of keys around her neck. The woman, in contrast to Hume seemed to be uninterested in

  the whole scene. The third figure stood at Cody’s feet, towering over not only him, but his two

  companions as well. Cody couldn’t see their face, as it was obscured by their long hooded cloak.

  Underneath their cloak he could make out that the tall one wore some kind of black bodysuit, dotted

  with thin lines of black and orange. The figure turned its head slightly, the hood flapping slightly in

  the night air. A voice emerged from the hood, low and gravelly like the figure’s throat was lined with

  sandpaper.

  “Do I kill this one Simone?” The woman, Simone, shook her head as she spoke in the same

  monotone voice as before,

  “No Descartes. Not yet.” Cody tried to speak, he tried to shout, to ask them what they were doing.

  What three reapers were doing trying to kill him. But he couldn’t. Whatever Simone’s scythe had

  done to him locked him in place, only able to watch as things played out in front of him.

  Hume crouched down next to Cody and smiled at him, a much warmer smile.

  “Im deeply sorry about this Cody. But you’re in the wrong place. This is not your fault, and its not

  our fault. You must simply blame your bosses.” With two fingers Hume brushed some hair from

  Cody’s forehead, on which he planted a soft kiss. Hume stood up, his scarf whipping in the wind

  before he looked to Descartes. Hume turned away, as did Simone, while Descartes pulled back his

  hood. The sight underneath was unsettling, Descartes’ head was completely devoid of any trace of

  flesh, all that looked down at Cody was a skull, itself dotted with red lines similar to the ones on his

  bodysuit. His eyes were almost completely hollow, save for two small red pinpricks of light in the

  middle.

  Wordlessly Descartes pulled out a Scythe from the inside of his cloak, which shifted into a sword as

  large as a person. Descartes stepped forward, wielding the blade with little effort, as he lifted the

  sword he spoke,

  “On the authority of higher powers. Cody. You are sentenced to die.” Descartes dropped the sword,

  as it fell towards Cody’s throat all he could do was scream inside himself.

  Then metal hit flesh.

  And in a moment, Cody heard nothing. Cody saw nothing. Cody felt nothing.

  In the dark water of the Charnel pits, within the field of flowers, a soul woke up. A soul with no

  memory except a single word. Ludwig.