“Trust not in the undeath. It is not a gift, it is a curse.”

  —Book of the reaper, first volume

  Ludwig awoke to the sound of waves. He could feel the sun on his face, and the air in his lungs. He sat up and looked around, realising that the waves he could hear were coming from the beach he had found himself on. He pushed himself up to his feet and brushed the sand off his suit. ‘The first thing I need to do’, Ludwig thought to himself, ‘Is figure out what just happened.’ He checked his body, pausing as he touched the area around his ear where Locke had shot him. No wound, not even a scar.

  He spun around, trying to get his bearings. In the distance where the sand turned into grass he saw a small building, a home. ‘What the hell have I gotten myself into’ Ludwig thought for the second time, before he felt the ground rush towards him. Or rather, he felt himself rushing upwards towards the ground.

  Ludwig burst out of the murky water and, gasping for air, pulled himself over the ledge and onto a cold tiled floor. As he pulled his feet out of the water and into the cold embrace of room around him he curled up in a ball. He heard the sound of someone’s shoes on the floor before Locke leaned over him, and smiled.

  “I must say old sport, being out for one day on your first go around is impressive. Most people are out for a week the first time they try.” Ludwig coughed and groaned,

  “What the fuck did you do to me?” He spluttered out, trying to ready himself in case Locke were to try and attack. In response Locke squatted down and smiled,

  “We, that is to say the department as a whole, had to test if you would regenerate properly.” He stood up and exhaled, stretching his arms out, “Reapers get to return from death. Its difficult, and it takes a while but its an important skill.” Ludwig, no longer shivering stood up, and was about to ask another question before Locke threw his suit at him, it landed on his head and unfurled over his face. “I took the liberty of having your suit repaired,” Locke said. “Get dressed we need to get through the last part of orientation. I got things sorted while you were out.” Ludwig pulled himself back into the suit and followed Locke out the building.

  “Im still not certain what is actually going on here. Like we’re Reapers, ok. I get most of it, but like what do we actually do?” Locke stood on the stairs outside and looked back at him.

  “Its difficult to explain, thats why I’m teaching you with practice. We’re going to go out, and I’ll show you how to deal with a Hellchild. Then you practice, then comes your exam.” Ludwig’s eyes widened,

  “EXAM? What do you mean I need to take an exam?” Locke raised a hand and shook his head,

  “Not anything hard, if you prepare you’ll be completely fine. That’s what we’re doing right now.” Ludwig wasn’t sure what Locke meant by Hellchild, and he was somewhat afraid to ask, so he instead decided to remain quiet. The two of them passed by a few more buildings, ranging from something like an apartment block to a walled off amphitheatre looking thing. Eventually they stopped outside a building that resembled a hotel, or at least the ground floor of a hotel that just stopped before it reached the first floor. The doors were glass, but tinted in such a way Ludwig couldn’t make out anything on the other side, as the two stopped in front of the doors Locke turned to Ludwig, a serious look on his face,

  “Ludwig,” he paused for Ludwig to nod in response, “I feel like I do have to tell you, things can get…gruesome in this line of work, so be prepared to some unexpected things.”

  “More unexpected than waking up in some extra-dimensional corporate park and coming back to life after getting shot?” Locke paused and laughed,

  “No, probably not. Probably not.” He opened one of the doors and gestured for Ludwig to step inside.

  Ludwig held is breath as he crossed the threshold but found it was unnecessary, evidently not every building in this place existed in some black pocket void like the tower. He found himself in the lobby of a hotel, or something that resembled one. There were a few tables and chairs, some plants, some paintings, a row of elevators and a central desk. Ludwig’s eye was drawn to a painting hanging above the desk, it looked like an old oil painting and depicted three figures. A robed woman who’s face was hidden in shadow, a skeletal man smoking a cigar and a person in a hooded cloak surrounded by crows. As Ludwig tried to study the painting closer the person at the desk cleared their throat. Ludwig looked down, slightly more than he had expected to as he saw the person at the desk was a child, or someone who was about the size of a child, dressed as a bellhop. They cleared their throat again,

  “Excuse me sir can I help you?” They asked, in a manner that came across as…rehearsed.

  “Oh um, I’m with Locke.” He turned to point at Locke, and found the Reaper had walked over somewhere else and had struck up a conversation with another person in a suit and red tie, who’s lower face was obscured by their large shirt collar. Ludwig turned back to the bellhop, “I am with him, I guess he’s just occupied. Can you…do whatever you’re meant to do?” The bellhop blinked twice and shook their head,

  “Sorry, I can’t prepare the journey unless you know the destination.”

  “The what?” Said Ludwig, wondering if they were quoting a poem at him, they repeated themself.

  “Sorry…I can’t PREPARE the JOURNEY unless you know the DESTINATION.”

  “And how do I do that?” Ludwig asked, still confused. The bellhop audibly sighed and, still retaining the same rehearsed mannerisms, continued

  “Are you going to Paradise, Purgatory or the Spheres?”

  ‘Great,’ thought Ludwig, ‘First Reaper, then Hellchild, now im being quizzed on religion. Every second I spend here it feels like im falling down…something. Why does everyone talk like a crazy person?’

  As he tried to come up with an answer, Locke reappeared by his side, greeting the bellhop with a smile.

  “Ah Porter. Sorry about that this is Ludwig, im giving him some experience in the field. I told you where I was planning, we’ll go there.” The bellhop, or since Locke had said it like it was their name, Porter sniffed before they stood up from the desk and walked over to one of the elevators, pressing a button which caused the doors to slide open.

  “Right this way Reaper Locke, I will see you are conveyed with urgency.” The Porter bowed slightly as Locke stepped inside, and then eyed Ludwig with suspicion as he stepped inside. The inside of the elevator was sparse, there were just five buttons. Marked ‘Paradise’, ‘Purgatory’, ‘Field of Flowers’ and ‘The Spheres’. The final button wasn’t labelled. The Porter stepped forward and removed a small winding key on a chain from their jacket pocket and slid it into a keyhole, turning it once. They turned to Locke,

  “The Destination is arranged.” Locke smiled and, in response, he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small metal disc, throwing it to The Porter who inspected it with interest before retreating back towards their desk. Humming to himself, Locke pressed the button marked ‘spheres’ which caused the doors to slide closed and the elevator to, apparently, depart with a soft rumble.

  They stood in silence for about half a minute before Ludwig finally thought it ok to ask what the elevator was, fearing that everything might just be another strange trick by Locke. Locke in response shrugged, adding

  “I don’t know how the transport works exactly. But it takes us basically anywhere, provided the Porter signs off of course.” Before Ludwig could ask his followup question Locke interrupted him, “theres four places in the universe, or four ‘zones’ that everything is a part of. Paradise and Purgatory; the Spheres which is what you might call the regular world, and…” he pointed to the unmarked button wordlessly, clearly something Ludwig didn’t need to ask about.

  “What about us? Or the place we were in? The field of flowers or whatever.” Locke clearly considered his response, stroking his chin in thought before answering,

  “Well, I think the field is like, a pocket Central Office set aside for us. Probably because they don’t really want us, that is to say Reapers, around. Blue ties say we stink up the place, but they’re strange. Oh look, we’ve arrived!” With a soft ‘ding’ a sign above the sliding doors lit up, Ludwig couldn’t make out the word at first, but after blinking a few times it appeared legible,

  “Destination?” He read it aloud, looking over to Locke for confirmation, who smiled again.

  “It means we’re ready.”

  As the door to the elevator slid open Locke handed Ludwig a briefcase, which Ludwig could swear he hadn’t had on him before. He stopped, and looked at the briefcase. It was a sleek black and it felt heavy in his hand. As he looked up, he was met with Locke who had moved uncomfortably close to him. With a tone voice like he was warning Ludwig about some grave danger he gave him a simple instruction,

  “Dont open that until I tell you to.” He then turned on his heels and walked out of the elevator, Ludwig followed quickly as the two stepped out onto sand.

  The first thing Ludwig noticed was the sun, he could feel the heat of it radiating on him. It felt good, like he had been missing the feeling. He looked around, they were on a beach. It looked mostly empty but he assumed that was a result of it being sundown, or sunup, he realised he didn’t actually know which was East or West. But despite that, he was somewhat overwhelmed by the beauty of the orange and purple light the sun cast over the beach. For just a second Ludwig thought he might fall to his knees, start crying, or both. Before Locke snapped his fingers next to his ear, pulling him out of whatever trance he was stuck in.

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  “Are you ok Sport?” Ludwig exhaled deeply and nodded, “Everyone gets overwhelmed the first time they go back. Don’t let it distract you.” Locke moved past Ludwig, and began walking further up the beach where Ludwig, now able to concentrate on something other than the overwhelming beauty of the world, realised there was a town. Ludwig checked behind him, wherever they’d come from, its didnt leave a door behind. He began jogging after Locke, as he began to gain distance on him,

  ‘Im sure this looks completely normal,’ Ludwig thought as he got closer to Locke, ‘two men in suits running up a beach in the morning, or the evening.’

  He eventually caught up to Locke, who had taken a seat on a park bench placed on a concrete path leading to the beach. Locke smiled, and gestured for Ludwig to sit beside him. Ludwig slid down onto the bench, resting the case on his lap. As he turned his head towards Locke he spoke,

  “So what are we looking for? And what’s in here?” He said, pointing to the case. Locke silently adjusted his tie before he exhaled deeply from his nose.

  “What we’re looking for, is something we call Hellchilds. They’re endemic to Hell, or if you want to be formal, Inferno. They’re like animals in a way the…other things…in hell use them as their soldiers. They throw them out into the human world in the hope that they’ll kill a few humans and destroy some stuff to get our attention.” Ludwig furrowed his brow,

  “Then why do we have to go after them? If it’s all just a distraction I mean?”

  “Because,” Locke responded holding up a finger, “they are indeed very dangerous if left unchecked. Plus we don’t want humans to die randomly, it’d disrupt the order.” Locke stood up and began to walk away, before Ludwig added

  “And the case?” Locke didn’t answer beyond smiling. Despite his slight concern as to what Locke was going to spring on him, Ludwig followed along.

  Eventually the two of them made their way through the small town, and past the few people lingering around on the streets, eventually stopping outside a dilapidated house. It was two stories, with much of the wood on outside either appearing rotting or covered in peeling paint. The windows were covered in tarps, or some kind of black curtains, blocking Ludwig from seeing inside. The yard outside was full of discarded furniture: old chairs, fridges, cabinets, rusted sheet metal and sinks. The whole thing was surrounded by a chainlink fence.

  The two men stood in silence staring at the house in the early evening light, as it had become clear by this point that it was sunset they arrived during. Wordlessly Locke turned towards Ludwig, observing his expression for some time before he spoke in a commanding tone,

  “Ludwig, open the case.” Ludwig turned with some suspicion, asking

  “Why?” Locke smiled, but Ludwig could tell he was clearly in a different mood he’d been in before.

  “Because when we go inside you need to be armed, and I don’t trust you to fumble it out of the case in the even we find something bad in there.” Ludwig’s mouth dropped open as he looked from Locke to the house and back.

  “Wait we’re going inside there? But its abandoned, why would anyone be in there in the first place?” Locke stepped forward through a hole in the fence, and gestured for Ludwig to open the case,

  “Hellchilds congregate around places like this,” he said, stopping a few step into the yard and watching Ludwig fumble with the locks on the case, “and its better to deal with them when they aren’t expecting us. Like burning a wasp nest while they’re inside.” At that moment Ludwig popped the case open and pulled out a long thin stick, like a wand. He held it in his hand and looked at it with confusion,

  “Is this a weapon?” He asked Locke “it looks like a toy.”

  “That,” Locke said pointing at Ludwig and speaking with a mild tone of excitement, “is a Scythe. They are perhaps the most important part of a Reaper’s toolkit.” Ludwig spun the Scythe around in his hand, then commented

  “It doesn’t look like much of a weapon.” Locke moved closer,

  “Thats because it’s dormant at the moment, I picked it up before we left. It’s size can shift depending on your need down to about this big,” he gestured with his fingers to about the size of a straw. “But to get it active, you need to will it to become something. Think of a weapon, first thing that comes to mind.”

  Ludwig frowned, looking down at the stick in his hand. He focused, trying to force it to become a weapon like Locke instructed. He lost focus as Locke began to laugh at him, “Ludwig, Sport,” he said between giggles, “just try and let it happen, think of a weapon. Your letting it grow accustomed to you. And that doesn’t require you to look like your taking a shit.” He spread his arms out, “Scythes are like a dance partner, they follow your lead, but they’re not just there to do what you tell them to do.”

  “You’re talking like they’re alive or something.” Ludwig said, looking to Locke out of frustration.

  “They aren’t alive, but they do have a will of their own somewhat. Every Scythe the department has, contains a piece of the first Scythe ever forged, they’re all apart of the same family in a way. But every Scythe is also different, and as a Reaper uses it more they both become better at understanding each other, they dance in sync better than before.” Before Ludwig could respond Locke clapped, “and look at that!” Ludwig looked down, the stick had shifted, and changed its shape into a small one handed sword. He looked at it, the blade shimmered in the moonlight, and he could see his expression looking back him.

  “Wow,” he said, “I guess it’s easier than I thought…” Locke nodded in acknowledgement before he signalled for Ludwig to follow him to the house.

  They walked around the side, staying quiet to make sure no one would overhear them. As they stopped outside of a side door Ludwig asked quietly,

  “What sort of thing are we looking for exactly?” Locke shrugged,

  “We can’t always know what kind of Hellchild we’re going to find, we can only really know how many there are. Luckily there should only be one.”

  “Who finds out about them?” Ludwig asked, realising he couldn’t easily guess. Locke smiled and whispered,

  “The bureaucrats do, it’s not all field Reapers in the department, we have office workers as well. Them and Taxation monitor this stuff.” Before Ludwig could respond Locke pushed the door open, apparently whoever or whatever was living here didn’t lock the doors.

  The house smelled disgusting as Ludwig stepped inside, the most overwhelming smell was some sort of ammonia like odour that burned his nose. But almost worse than that was the smell of rot that he could taste in the back of his throat. He covered his nose and mouth with his free hand to stop himself retching. The house was very dark, clearly the window coverings were doing their job, Ludwig had to follow the cream outline of Locke’s suit jacket as they crept slowly through a few rooms. Each room was filled with stuff, most of it looked abandoned or stolen. Some of the clothes scattered around seemed waterlogged, or at least soaked in some kind of liquid.

  Eventually they came to a small hallway, at the end of it they could hear a sound like a television playing the news. Ludwig could see Locke turn in the darkness to him and hold his finger up to his mouth, then pointing down the hallway. Ludwig nodded, and followed. As they approached the source of the sound, the smell became worse, and Ludwig began to bend over slightly to try and hold back anymore physical responses.

  Together they passed into the central room, it looked like it had been a living room at some point, but due it was clear that it had been in disrepair for a while. The television was on, and in front of it was an old sofa. Behind the sofa a staircase led up into darkness.

  “Oh fuck.” Ludwig said as his eyes fell on the most gruesome part of the scene, splayed out on the sofa was a body, or something that could reasonably called a body. One of its arm was missing, and various pieces of it had been removed as if with a knife. Locke looked around quickly,

  “This is bad Ludwig, I’ve seen this before…we should have anticipated it was this.” Before Ludwig could ask him what he meant they were interrupted by a figure making its way down the staircase.

  It was humanoid, but looking at it is was obvious something was wrong with it. Its body was metallic but looked as if it was showing the muscles beneath its skin. Its head was obscured by an insect-like helmet, with a pair of thick tusks running down from where its mouth would be. It moved jerkily, as of being pulled along on a string by a child.

  “Oh my god what the fuck is that?” Ludwig asked, panicked. The creature reached the bottom of the stairs and made a strange chittering noise, like it was trying to vocalise something. Locke’s breathing steadied as he removed a small metal stick from his jacket, and it formed it a long, thin, cleaver like blade. Locke turned around and before Ludwig could follow, Locke commented

  “Ludwig, face the stairs. There’s another one behind us, and I don’t know how many more there are. Bit it could be as many as five if my judgement is correct.”

  “I thought you said there was only one Hellchild.” Ludwig said, somewhat confused. Locke nodded, and kept his vision fixed on the hallway behind them.

  “There is only one Hellchild. These are Legionnaires Ludwig, one conscious being split across numerous bodies. They hunt the isolated. If we stick together we should be able to force them to come to us. Do you understand?” Ludwig gave a noise of affirmation, before Locke continued, “Good. Well, this is a special lesson for you Ludwig…group engagements.”

  Book of the Reaper, Volume 9. Index of the Infernal:

  Legionnaires: a form of HellChild common to the realm of Violence within Inferno. Legionnaires are hoard beings, and each Legionnaire soul is usually split between multiple bodies. Legionnaires are armour on the front and back of their bodies, leaving their side’s vulnerable to attack, despite this getting close is risky as their claws are sharp enough to cut Clay Discs directly if needed. In their base form their tusks are capable of paralysing victims, including Reapers, who they will consume the insides of over the course of several days. Legionnaires use their victims bodies to achieve a temporary physical body, granting them enhanced strength through the combination of their Infernal and Spheric forms.

  A Note on Style: