The study had a fragrant a scent of fresh Jasmines oozing out of every furniture. As similar to the white garden that could be seen from any window of the mansion, it was a beautiful atmosphere that warped the study in warm springy lights.
Inside that study, stood a young man covered in black, with glittering lime eyes full of astonishment.
"Oh?"
Rivan Whishipper, the young man let out a small gasp of surprise while looking at the papers in his hand.
'This is...'
The papers were three letters with different forms each. They were placed together, inviting to be read. The starting line of the first letter was the reason for Rivan's surprise.
๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ.
Around 14 years ago, Rivan has experienced a type of death, unknown to any other.
It was a windy early-spring night when he laid down on the couch of the same study before death slowly but steadily aimed its fangs on his soul and mercilessly ripped it off.
Just before his condition worsened and lost his eyesight, the child gazed at the people who gathered around him. Aside from his mother who was already present and hurried to his side the moment he collapsed, and Ms. June who rushed to call the doctor in panic, there was one odd existence.
A shadowed figure stood before him. As if observing him, it didn't move an inch. Likewise, the 4 years old child looked back at the existence from the corner of his blurring eyes. It was just a moment, but the shadow and the child were captured in a curious stare.
Rivan noted, none other than him paid attention to the shadow figure.
The corners of Rivan's mouth rose with an odd smile that could be called warm if it wasn't for his cold gaze. He smiled recalling that piece of memory. It was moments before the pain was all he knew.
Even though it was only once, he never doubted the existence of that shadow figure.
How could he forgot something related to his own death?
Rivan seated himself on a chair and proceeded reading the first letter.
D๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฆ,
" ๐ช ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ. ๐ช ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐ช ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ. ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ช ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต. ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ! ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ! "
Rivan stopped reading. He had a cold angry smile as he clinched on the letter, resisting to rip it to pieces and he thought.
'Ah so this bastard...It took its time pulling my soul out just for some damn pleasure.'
However, he soon calmed himself to read the rest of the letter's content.
" ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ช ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ 14 ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ! ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ! ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ! ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ. ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉat ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐ช ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ?
๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด? ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ? ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ? ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ: ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ? "
Rivan narrowed his eyes. Around 14 years ago when he passed away in a miserable pain, his soul did not rest. He felt a heavy burden that fell on his entire being as if his inners would burst and shatter. That feeling lasted for a second yet it was vivid in his memories.
After dying, he was not sure if it was his soul or body that sensed what happened to it.
However the pain that traveled all over him when he was slammed hard enough to die again was undeniable and unforgettable.
When he opened his eyes, he was welcomed by a whisper next to his ears. The voice was chilly yet it had a tone of pity.
What the whisper said was the same thing written down as the answer in the letter.
"๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ"
Rivan thought to himself as he read it.
'The being that pulled my soul out is most likely one of those Grim Reapers.'
"Hmm."
Rivan hummed thoughtfully, recalling the presented questions and one answer.
'The secret of the Whishipper family? I certainly would like to know why on earth did I die and who or what is this bastard. But I very much doubt I'll get any answers from this weird Grim Reaper being.'
"Tsk."
Rivan clicked his tongue and had a slight frown.
'I learned the reason why for my mother's death. I know I'm among the living but no longer fully alive. I know this much from those 14 years. However...'
Rivan glanced at the letter with a cold gaze. He proceeded reading with an idea of what there to be.
"๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฆ! ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ! ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ.
๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ, ๐ช ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.
๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐ช ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ.
๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ: ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. "
Rivan heaved a heavy sight as he glanced at the last words.
"Haaa."
He was absolutely certain he dislike that shadow and would, undoubtedly, attempt to murder it if he ever happened to met it. For more reason than one, Rivan had a bitter taste at the thought of crossing paths with such an existence. Tie his soul? Punishment? Rivan wanted to scoff. What he faced was not called 'Hellish' for nothing. Rivan was edging to make that Shadow swallow his words.
His eyes moved to to the two other letters and Rivan mumbled under his breath.
"I need some tea for all of this."
End of chapter 10