"Wha-" Sun placed his hand over Fire's mouth, effectively silencing him.
"Shh. Look."
Having no choice, Fire surveyed the direction Sun was indicating.
It was just a reaper. And it was capturing a soul so it could be taken to Life for judgment. There was nothing special about that.
Seeing the look of confusion in his eyes, Sun hinted, "Look at the soul. Use magic."
Following his instructions, Fire directed mana to his eyes. His vision flickered in and out of focus as he struggled to keep the mana in place. He hated magic. To think he had previously wasted his life chasing after it. Fire, who saw that the reaper had stored the soul in his scythe and was about to leave, focused his mind on the task and stared at the stored soul.
Well, it was just a norm-, wait, that wasn't a soul. It was a spirit. Before he could get a better look, the reaper took off.
Why would a spirit be here and why was a reaper capturing him?
Spirits lived in the Spirit realm and could not leave until it was their turn to reincarnate. Or they were a mid or high God. And there was no way a high God could be replaced without an Almighty.
"Is he a new mid-God?" Sun asked.
"No, I've never seen him before. But a spirit would not appear on Earth. If they got here somehow, Life would send someone else to retrieve them, not a reaper."
"What just happened then?"
"Don't look at me. Just because I serve under Life doesn't mean I'm an expert on souls, spirits, and everything in between."
Sun gave him a sideways glance. "Yet you seem to know every useless fact in the book."
"I don't. Well, I do, but — you know what I mean."
"Oh?"
"Anyway, that's not the point. What do we do now?"
"I go eat and you do whatever you're supposed to do."
"But I was supposed to pick up the Almighty around here. What if that spirit was the Almighty?"
"The Almighty is already in Heaven. You don't need to worry about it." With that, Sun started to walk out of the alley they were standing in, but was grabbed and held in place by Fire. He let out a sigh. "What?"
"Let's investigate."
"That's ridiculous."
"Too bad. You don't have a choice." He proceeded to drag the displeased vampire back toward the portal that had yet to close.
"Tyce, don't be so rash."
Fire paused for a moment. He hadn't been called that in ages. And he certainly did not want to be called that by Sun now, not after the way their last meeting ended. A few thousand years and he still hasn't gotten over it. How pathetic. He bet Sun couldn't even recall the conversation by now. But now was not the time for reminiscing.
Turning to face Sun, he said, "We'll investigate this real quick and then come back. We'll go there through the portal in Heaven so we won't encounter the reapers on Earth and alert Death."
"Fine," he replied with undisguised hesitation, unable to say 'no' to the eager face in front of him. He could always finish the mission Atiri assigned him later.
Tyce's eyes lit up and the smile on his face widened enough to make his cheeks ache. "Let's do this."
With a jerk, both of their figures disappeared into the portal.
***back in Heaven***
"I'm so dead," the low God said.
"Why would you die?"
"L-lord Ignis, why are you back so soon?"
"We-"
"Tyce, concentrate."
He almost flinched. Ignore it.
"'kay."
He could only watch as the two of them walked away.
After they arrived in Heaven, the two of them make their way to the underworld portal.
The area around the portal was bleak with black earth and there was not a single blade of grass to be seen, much less a flower.
"Where's Neo? Didn't that low God from before tell us that he was here?"
"Maybe he left," Sun said, unwilling to dwell on the fact.
"Yeah, probably." Fire stepped forward to enter the coordinates. "I'll just bring us to the portal on the other side. It'll be hard to explain to Death if we enter somewhere else."
Sun nodded in acknowledgment.
"That's odd."
"What?"
"The coordinates are already set and the portal is activated. It just needs mana to power it."
"Then power it."
"But-"
"The person who activated it is most likely on the other side."
"Oh, right." He began to pour his mana into the portal.
Watching him and waiting, Sun couldn't help but comment, "Curiosity killed the redhead who jumped at every anomaly. You're such a fool."
Fire just shrugged and said, "It takes one to know one." And Sun had red hair as well. It was solely crimson red unlike Fire's which faded to a bright blond.
Soon they could see a dimly lit hallway with lanterns hanging on each side. Unlike what people would usually picture when thinking of Hell, there was no blood, cobwebs, or bones to be seen. There might have been a time when it did fit such a description. However, neither of them was old enough to have seen it in such a state; Death became a God before them after all. The sparse decorations in the Underworld were detailed yet minimalistic just as Death liked it.
It was a common scene in hell; nearly every hallway looked the same. Seeing nothing wrong they stepped through.
***in the Underworld***
Processing the scene quickly, Sun pulled Fire toward the shadows.
A few meters from them, a portal stood wide open. Unlike with the usual ones, they couldn't see through to the other side. There was just pure darkness.
The circular passage was about three meters tall, but was shrinking with every passing second.
In front of the portal stood a Time Wraith. It already had one foot in the portal.
As its name suggested, the wraith was part of a group that tracked down criminals who went against the normal time flow. The wraiths served directly under Time and were solely loyal to him. Anyone else was disregarded. They were known for attacking anyone, even a God, who got in the way of their missions. Only fools would dare provoke them.
"Let's just keep quiet and wait for it to-"
"Hey, what are you here for?" Fire cupped his palms and yelled out to it. Sun tensed and threw a wide-eyed look at the redhead.
The wraith turned around and caught sight of them. The next second, it flew into the portal.
Sun breathed a sigh of relief at its disappearance. Then he turned and roughly grabbed Fire's collar. "Can't you keep your mouth shut for 5 seconds?" he hissed.
Rolling his eyes, Fire pushed his hand away. "It's gone now anyway."
"Idiot, what if it attacked us?"
"It wouldn't do that for no reason."
"You know better than anyone that's not true." And that he did. How could Fire forget?
"Anyway, it ignored us. Maybe it's after a criminal or something, probably the one that opened the portal. I heard that a low God has been illegally experimenting with portals lately."
"That so?" Sun bowed his head, deep in thought. Why would Death allow a wraith into her territory? Could this be related to the reaper they saw earlier? And where was the guardian of the portal on this side?
"Let's go," Fire said, standing up.
"Huh?" He looked up just in time to see Fire jump through the portal. "Have you gone mad? Stop!" He reached out to grab him, but it was too late. "That idiot." Sun saw that the light that bordered the portal was wavering unstably. It could close at any moment. Gritting his teeth, he jumped into the darkness. "You owe me one, Tyce."
The faint white light of the portal faded a few seconds after that.