"You truly are an enigma," I say out loud. As I focused more on her, information about her came flashing through my mind.
Name: Elaine
Lifespan: Null
"Let me go…. Who are you?" She asks with tears in her bright blue eyes. Beautiful as they might have been, they now seemed dim, swollen, and lifeless. She looked like she had lost much and was ready to give up.
"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is that I need you," I say to her. The girl was taken aback by what I said.
"I don't know you, why would you need me?" She asks wiping away her tears. "I have my reasons," I say to her then pull her away from the edge. "Now, explain to me why someone like you would want to kill herself," I demanded.
"I-I have nothing else to lose," she says as though it felt heavy to say each word.
"You have yourself," I assure her.
"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! My brother was the only family I had left. Knowing the last of my family had fallen victim to some book.... I can't believe life can be so fragile," she shouts at me then goes back to her sulken mood.
It was at that moment I noticed the blinding light around her getting dim. 'Shit!' I thought.
"Then live for me… I'm not asking you not to kill yourself. Just to postpone doing so until I'm done with you. You're right, life is that fragile. But there's no reason for you not to put some worth to it before you go," I say to her.
"Ha-haha-hahahaha," she laughs hysterically as if a good joke was what she was waiting for all along. "Why are you laughing?" I ask puzzled.
"You're a strange man. But it's paid off. You've convinced me to live just a little longer so, thank you. If I can be of some use to someone before I go, then I can go with no regrets.
I'm quite curious to know what a random handsome man such as yourself could possibly want from me. Or was all that just hot air?" She says with a smile on her face as the light around her began to shine bright again.
"I'll let you know soon enough. Just don't kill yourself when I'm not around. Go on ahead to the ground floor, there will be a tall brown woman waiting for you, you can't miss her," I say to her then signaled with my hand for her to leave.
"Where will you be?" She asks. "I have some other business up here," I say to her.
"You, you just stood there and watched. Why didn't you do anything?" I ask the angel, who was present the entire time.
"I cannot interfere with the lifespans of humans. It was her time, there is nothing I could have done to change that. No matter how much I wanted to…I cannot go against Theos. Nonetheless, I'm glad you showed up. She doesn't deserve a death like that.
However, I never expected a Reaper to save a life the way you did. Has the new Reaper finally abondaned his philosophy and taken a liking to this human?" The angel asks genuinely.
"Are you asking to die?" I ask him reverting back to my 8ft reaper form and releasing my aura of death. 'This guy must be trying to insult me!' I thought to myself. Before doing anything though, I focused more on him and allowed information about him to flash through my brain.
Name: Uriel
Lifespan: ∞ (infinite)
'Lifespan infinite? He might very well be stronger than me,' I thought to myself. But then, another thought came to mind.
'If I manage to kill an angel, just how much stronger would I become?' I think to myself in anticipation. "You can't kill me Reaper. If it is not…" he tried to say before I signaled for him to stop with the rise of my hand.
"I am well aware of that stupid saying of yours. I assure you, it won't be long till it no longer applies to me," I say to him.
"So enthusiastic; so full full of ambition. You remind me of Cain throughout the first few hundred years after becoming a reaper. He to had ambitions.
My time as Elaine's guardian angel has ended. Even though she is still alive, I will soon be assigned to another human. I have no choice but to leave her in your care.
I don't know what plans you have for her, but I ask you allow her to die peacefully once you've accomplished them," he says to me.
"I'll kill one of you some day," is all I said back to him. Uriel smiled then suddenly disappeared in a sublime blinding light.
"Tailed Lilith," I say out loud. The tailed Lilith then appeared behind me, coming out of a dark cloud. "I believe you've already heard everything. I'll need you to take care of that woman until I can safely revert back to my human form," I said to her.
"Why should I have to take care of some human?" She asked unwillingly. "Because I said so," I replied then opened a gate and walked through it. "Bastard…" she said.
...
"Boss, boss..." a skinny looking man called out. "What is it?" Moonlight answered as he skillfully played with a knife on his hand, moving it between fingers as though it was one of them.
"We found him," the skinny man said raising a book up. On the cover was a tall dashing man sitting on a chair. The same man that burned down Club Rumors.
Moonlight then immediately stopped playing with his favorite knife and got up from his chair. He walked up to the skinny man, that held the book, and grabbed it off his hands.
"That shit stain had time to write book?" Moonlight rhetorically asked out loud. He then signaled for everyone to leave the room with a swish of his hand as he walked back to his chair.
By the time he sat, he was completely alone. He opened the book and started reading till the next day, when he finished.
"Holy fuck-" Moonlight said to himself in disbelief. "Exactly who are we dealing with here? Anyone who can think like this is no normal man. Anyone who can think like this…isn't someone I want to kill.
The deep insight he has revealed on human nature gives a feel of a god that has seen through all the shadows of humanity. I need to find this man," Moonlight says to himself out loud.
He then shakes his head as though coming out of a trance. "Thomas!" He shouted. A tall, well-built Asian man who seemed to be wearing a uniform, walked into the room a few seconds later. "Get the car ready, we're going to the airport," Moonlight commanded.
***
A 7ft skeletal figure could be seen hovering above what used to be a vast cornfield, bringing with life. All the plants were now dead however, making the once beautiful scene look like a wasteland.
The skeletal figure manipulated the dark cloud around him and conjured all manner of objects between his hands. The skeletal figure then stared intensely at his hands.
The cloud seemed to move away from them, causing his skeletal hands to heal and be surrounded by flesh once more.
'It's getting easier to manipulate the cloud. I will be able to last longer in my flesh form if I transform only parts of my body instead of the whole,' I thought to myself.
"Alright, time to see how the rest of the world is fairing," I say to myself. Images of human beings, all over the world, began to flash through my mind.
Through the eyes of my shadows, I could see all of them at an incredible pace. So incredible was the pace that it felt as though I could see them all at the same time. I then narrowed my focus to the humans that were approaching death's door.
'I see the deaths I have caused are still piling up,' I thought to myself with a grin on my face. 'However, this will not last. I must initiate phase two,' I thought to myself as my grin was replaced by a serious look.
"Tailed Lilith," I called out. The tailed Lilith then flew out of a dark cloud from behind me. "What do you want?" She asks in a mood.
"What is the situation with Elaine?" I ask her not caring for her mood. "I have rented a suit for her in some Equinox Hotel. She has been in her room from the moment she got there and has yet to come out," she said in one breath.
"Alright, tell her to get ready then take her to work her work place. I'll be meeting her there shortly," I said to her. "What are your intentions with her? Have you perhaps fallen for this woman?" she asked curiiously.
I slowly flew closer to her to the point where I was right in front of her face. "Have you known me to do anything out of love?" I said to her in a cold tone.
"My mistake," she quickly said then disappeared into a dark cloud. I then flew back to the house and pulled back the dark cloud from my right hand to open the door.
I couldn't help but slip out a victorious grin from the smoothness of this process. Clearly I was becoming more proficient with the cloud.
I stepped into the house and went straight to the kitchen in search of an air tight container. I eventually found a glass tube, similar to the ones one would see in a chemistry lab, then kept a small portion of the dark cloud within it. The dark cloud hovered within the glass tube, constantly changing without form.
'This much will do,' I thought to myself then covered the tube with a cork. I went upstairs, soon after, then put on one of my father's suits. All the while nulling the dark cloud's decaying effect and keeping it away from my face and hands.
The only parts that the dark cloud didn't cover on my body were the parts that weren't clothed. Beneath my clothes, the dark cloud still raged on.
'Phase one has worked better than I expected. The lifespans I have taken away are clearly helping with my control of the cloud. Soon, it will be like controlling any other muscle in my body,' I thought to myself as I held the glass tube in the air.
"With this, phase two shall begin!" I said out loud.