The young Grim Reapers stand in front of the gate that Death had opened, unsure if they should go in there or not.
They hear their teacher's voice reassuring them "It's alright, no need to be weary. If things start to go bad i will get you guys out of there immediately", as he stands behind them, he proceeds to go in first, making the group follow behind him into limbo, "The Forgotten Space" or as Death calls it "The Training Zone".
After they enter this mystical unknown place, covered in fog, souls wandering around in a trans state, not knowing who they are or where they are, what purpose do they have in this place or what they want, souls trapped in a confused space cursed to wander aimlessly for all eternity.
The green fog that surrounded the entire space, had a weird smell, a smell that made you want to forget, and disconnect from everything, as you inhale it further, a path clears out in the distance showing nothing but barren terrain, nothing but grassy land, which upon touching it gave a sense of relief and calmness, making the effect of the fog even stronger.
A finger snap is heard, which normally shouldn't make a loud noise but somehow it felt like a thunder strike and the three students get back on their senses, realizing they fell for the limbo's trans effect.
"This place is infamous among the other Reapers, that's why they never come here, just a little bit of carelessness on their side and the desire to remain here forever will be planted on their brains and they will never get out of here. But i have been so many times here that i am immune to its effect." says Death with a proud voice.
When the kids turn around to look at him, their expression changes.
All of them yelling at the same time, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IMMUNE, YOU ARE WEARING A DAMN GAS MASK!".
As they yell, their lungs inhale more of the fog, repeating the same sensation they felt but at that time Death summons three gas masks for the students and equips it to them, getting them back to their senses yet again.
"Alright, so every once in a while, we can take a soul from the limbo and place them in heaven, ending their meaningless suffering and you guys will send one soul each." says Death as he looks around limbo for a potential soul retrieval.
Confused, Remiel addresses what Death said "But we can take only one soul, so who should be the one to send that soul to heaven sir?"
While cracking his fingers, Death turns to Remiel and responds "All of you will send a soul each".
"But you said we can send only one soul to heaven" says Remiel, worried about all of this.
"Oh don't worry about that, if the Great Pantheon is so worried about their rules being broken, they can come and fuss about it all they want, what you need to know is, all three of you will send a soul and that is it." says Death as he sits on the grassy land, letting them know to start their first training.
"Usually when you reap souls out of humans, you have to find a spot on their soul where u can extract. We call that "The Extraction Point". It may depend on the person on where it may be located but you can sense it with Soul energy if you focus enough. However in this case, they are already souls, so there is no extraction point, just send them into a portal which i will open to heaven. Oh and before i forget, the weapon doesn't have to be a scythe necessarily, as long as you link your Essence and Mana to it, it will be effective on souls." Death says to his students.
"But we don't have any weapons on us teacher" says Domiel with an excited expression causing him to make a higher pitched tone than usual.
Death could see the excitement on all three, not only on Domiel, reminding him of the time he used to train with his fellow disciples and his master, getting him caught in thought of the "good old days" and he lets out a chuckle then redirects his focus on his students and thinks to himself "I wonder what would you say, master, if you saw me being a teacher."
He then points with two fingers on the air, moving them downwards quickly, slashing the air and opening a small rift, where he then pulls out some weapons, a sword, dagger and a cudgel.
He proceeds to hand out the weapons to his students.
A sword to the scrawny optimistic kid Remiel.
A dagger to the massive intimidating Domiel.
A cudgel to the shy Aldis.
The two students are in a state of confusion with their teacher's choice, thinking he might've make a mistake while distributing the weapons.
"Are you sure you gave us the right weapons sir?" says Ramiel to with a worried face.
"Well, i want to see how well you do with the weapons you are given. If you don't match with your weapon, i will give you one that suits you best." replies Death to the students as he removes his mask then lays down on the grass, relaxing and enjoying the fog's effects.
The students worry about their teacher, but they remember that he must have a good reason for doing what he did and so they continue with their task. Deliver a soul to heaven.
They remember their classes in the academy and begin fusing their Essence and Mana with the weapons.
First they focus their Inner Essence into the palm of their hands, touching their weapons and slowly sliding their hand all the way, feeling a sense of connection to the weapon, they imbue their own Essence.
The second step is connecting their mana to the weapon which is a little bit more tricky than imbuing Essence. They start to concentrate and feel the flow of mana all over the place, absorbing it into their body then directing it to their mana pool.
Aldis's focus is sharper than the other two and she is able to make a small blade made of mana, cutting her finger so she can write her name on the cudgel, finalizing the connection between her and the weapon.
Domiel follows suit, doing the same as Aldis and also creates a connection with his weapon.
Romiel on the other hand is struggling to manifest the blade he needs to proceed with the connection.
"Just a little bit more" says Remiel as he tries over and over and over again, but to no veil.
The boy's effort are for naught, not being able to utilize a mana blade, he is on the brink of giving up, when he feels a hand pressing his back and a voice saying "Whatever happens , try not to die".
A huge surge of Mana goes into Remiels body from the transfer that Death is executing in order to help him expand his mana pool.
Remiel starts screaming his lungs out, feeling incredible pain, begging for it to stop, his entire body bleeding and starting to collapse, he musters all of the strength he has left and endures for a couple more seconds.
The transfer stops and Death holds the boy from falling.
Exhausted and the pain still lingering, Remiel says with a low hurt voice "Th-thank you sir.", tears going down his eyes.
Before passing out, Remiel uses the blood from his body and completes the connection between his large sword and himself.
Death lays him down and sits next to him, watching over him while the other two continue with their task.
Before they approach their designated souls, Death uses his scythe to open a portal to Heaven, so they could send them without any problems.
Domiel stands infront of a man, who kept blaming his incompetence for being in this place and not remembering anything from his life, striking a memory for him, when he used to blame himself for everything, something he still hasn't overcome.
He shakes his head slightly and takes a deep breath, "You are not the failure you used to be, YOU HAVE TO BE BETTER!" he says with a confidence boost following it along as he pierces the soul with his dagger, throwing him into the portal, straight to heaven. He then lets out a heavy sigh of relief.
Aldis on the other hand, is having a lot of trouble resolving herself to use her weapon to send the soul that was chosen to her to heaven.
"I-I c-can't hit a little kid with a cudgel!!" she says while shaking, thinking what to do.
The little kid still on a trans state, oblivious of what is happening, suddenly says something, "Mommy, i'm still waiting like you asked me to". The kid had been abandoned on the park by her own mother, while she was waiting there the whole time, waiting for her to come back. She never did.
When Aldis heard the little girl's words, she just collapsed on her feet, unable to continue her task.
Death notices the trouble that Aldis is going through and approaches them.
He extends his hand, helping her to get up and tells her "Well, you don't necessarily need to use your weapon on souls. You can just guide them to the portal and they can be sent like that."
"WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me that before, I had to stab someone to send them into that portal" says Domiel clearly furious.
"Sorry, slipped out of my mind" says Death with a small laughter following right after.
As Domiel sighs, nagging on his teacher for forgetting about that small detail, Aldis grabs the little child's hand and slowly guides her through to the portal, finally freeing her from this unending nightmare. "Maybe she will find better people there, friends aswell." she thinks to herself as the girl snaps out of the trans and remembers everything that happened, including the encounter with Aldis. The girl turns to her and waves at her with a warm smile that would be enough to melt even the coldest of hearts.
As the little girl goes to heaven, Aldis lets out a sigh of relief, smiling at the thought that she helped someone find their peace.
"Being a Grim Reaper isn't easy, you have to deal with all kinds of people. People that are as pure as snow, some who have a darker heart than darkness itself, and some people who don't even know whether they are good or bad. In the end we are only the middlemen of the gods, doing what we are told, like puppets." says Death to Aldis as he stands next to her.
She looks down and asks him "Who would abandon their own child?", as she grits her teeth looking on her shoulder.
Death puts his hand on Aldis's shoulder, "I.. don't know." he says as they both stare into the portal leading to heaven.
"Must be nice to live in heaven, doesn't it?" Aldis says as she makes a half smile.
Death chuckles at her words and says "Yes, it must. I'll make sure to take you there some day, all three of you."
"Thank you. For everything. It means a lot to us." says Aldis with a smile on her face, you could see she is trying her best to act normal around Death, but the anxiety is still stronger.
Death resummons his scythe again, opening a portal back to Phasma Dimension, The home to all Grim Reapers.
"What about Remiel? He didn't have a chance to send someone to heaven." says Domiel, expressing his worry to his fellow student.
Death picks up Remiel's unconscious body and looks over his shoulder, replying to Domiel "He'll have another chance to complete his first lesson, let's just go back home for now."
As they head into the portal, Death hears a voice calling out to him.
"We will be there. When you show a sign weakness, we will take over and consume you whole."
Aldis and Domiel ask why he suddenly stopped moving.
He just shrugs it all off and proceeds to go through the portal with his students.