The enrollment into mage study school system was more a study at your ability. If you surpass the grade, then they give harder next level work. There wasn't age boundaries or grades to bet. No to fight for state average and not gearing to outdated exam methods. The real difficulty was practical life applications and learning magic. She surpasses plenty in ability to understand and contorl magic. She was so adapted to this that she makes qualities of a mage agent. If she wasn't so blindly underage, they would have hired her for higher work. But she able to use her free time to better work on her sigil hunters information and to do some requests. She so trusted that she been doing some reaper requests between the assignment that death sent her. She had been lingering about with Mattu; his the soul that death is concerned about. She suspect it was because of Omens having an unhealthy connection this single soul. Death has had many private times with Omens about Mattu. But this has not destabilize Omens talon hold over Mattus soul. Bring about this seeking of her to maybe keep Omens at control.
"What exactly are you expected to do?" Her brother across the table. It's lunch and this was the only caught up time.
"What are you trying to get me tell spill this time?" She knows he always talks subjects like this for the sake of grandpa or someone else. He is being his normal self, nothing off about the fate threads.
"Matthew. Why are you bothering him a lot?" She didn't even make any attempt to deny she was. She sighed and trying to get around no upsetting things.
"It's a hunter of Oath request. I can't explain anything important. But it's also about the tomes. Not just Mat. It's a lot of us. I am appointed the top acting reaper here. Omens has a habit of killing a lot of things behind Mat's back. His not the only killer around the mages. These things attacking undertakers are harming lower ranked death gods. I have been collecting death god corpses. The tomes and blades they left behind." She huffed as that might been to much for him. But her brother is trying. Thinking about this deeply.
"What happens if you end up between all this? What if these attacks are on you since try interacting with the remains?" She smiled as his concern was refreshing.
"Unlike when you die. I know what I am and will be. If it comes to me loosing my human life, I will make it count." She continues eating and he completely negative about that, "Look brother." She takes pause and really looks him straight.
"I am alive and I will continue to be so. I will fight tooth and nail. I will even break some rules if it means protecting what I love most. It has to be cost of my soul to get there. I am not taking anything without a fight. I am a part of life and I want my every worth of it. Up and downs. I expect you to be the same." Although it didn't take away his negative energy, he did unease a smile to her. Once the air lingered, he even chuckles in how on point it is of her to be that secretly strong. He sees something in her that others can't. He can always rely on this. Her unique.
"Are we going to die?" He then asked softly.
"We are human. We can die at any time over stupid things. If course we will someday." She smoothing away in hope his not jinxing them, "I have learnt that there is no guarantee until you are fully severed from your human flesh. Sometimes souls leave of their own volition without death gods aid. Some souls are so attached that they try to be alive long after the flesh has melted. There some really unlucky folks that need help. More times then not, they aren't always lovely. Some are really shit. So you should watch yourself. Sometimes a demon is a nicer lie then a human with a mask." She stabbing her food with that flustered reminder of how she was in this mess. She left the fork stuck in and folds hands at her front, "I will admit that there is something very interesting about Mat. He has a scary side too. An example of not trusting a surface. Instead of me worrying about Mat. Maybe consider that I could be targeting Omens. The god isn't as it seems. It's not some bird guy with good intentions. I have suspected some foul play for a while but I haven't been certain. The god's have a justice system, a court of law of their own to follow. I am sure this request is more to come. Death has been over working himself. Something will snap among them. It's not just the undertakers to fall."
She goes back to eating and this information was of help to her brother. He sitting in watching the surrounding of other mage kids. She become the talk among them. He can't see the things she does but his aware that these kids are blind. Only they can see the mist auras; some of this mist is a spirit and others is the emotions. They arent seeing the monsters among them. The occasional student is acting blank behind the eyes.
"Does anything we can do now make an impact?" He goes back to eating too.
"Ripples in the unexpected forces. Sometimes nothing comes about it. Other timed it causes the crashing of others." She about finished eating and lays across the table. Tray pushed aside. She trying to relax, trying to look unguarded. She stays steady as there is approaching steps of an adult coming to them. She stretched sitting up, pulling the tray back at her front.
"I have some peace offerings." The god follower sits a seat over but is talking to them. Trying to win them over. This has been an on going. Strange food that looks innocent. The last time he trusted to eat it had got him sick. She already knew this was a threat to keep them from being mages. Trying to make them fail the mage exams. The guise of being a god follower but there a demon inside the eyes or a mask hidden in the hood. It's the prime example of what she was just warning her brother about.
"See. I would rather to have some bat freak trying to talk money." She used her left hand taking a cookie from the box, she makes it magically disappear. Showing she was being surface nice to accept the bad thing. She then makes a match box appear in the same hand. She smiles with cold eyes and strikes the match. Dropping the flame over the remains of the other cookies. The whole rest of the cookie burned intensely with green flame. She lets the flame play between fingers, flicking sparks at the guys face. She clasped the flame seemingly dead in her palm.
"Why did you do that?" The adult asked with monotone. There isn't a emotional waver of anger or sadness.
"I was looking for a reason to remove you." She lets her hand open and the shackles of sinner chain removed the being from the human. The magic flame was purification, taking away the darkness in their eyes, "Maybe think about your life before messing with mine." She pushed the guy to the floor and takes her tray. Standing, "I see you later brother." She left the scene.
"At least you fully clothed." Her brother shurgs and left the table too, "The last time I played with fire magic.... well. It's impressed me that she's better adapt then me." The surrounding kids all disappointed of the failed attempted or the idiot making a fool of themselves. The few hidden among see that was a bad idea that they didn't need to try.
"That should have been a name flicker for you both." The reaper that been watching her a while speaks quietly around the kitchen serve window. She adding to the tray stacks with dropping silverware to a dish soap bucket.
"Sure Geek." She replies and left them too. The reaper frowns in seeing her walking away and huffed leaning back hiding again.
"If you have mail to deliver, passing it to her with your left hand is all that's needed." Omens sitting at a counter across and the reaper flustered in being caught by omens. The reaper moved away quickly to his next watch. Peering back at the god bird itself. Omens scratched some feathers in concern.
"Death knows your meant to be dead but can't alter your soul name for alterations." Mattu putting a tray on the stack, "I suspect he might have hired her for you."
"But a little girl?" Omens huffed.
"The Empress of the unknown abyss, crown of Noctorm. You know that." Mattu scooping the bird and carried comfortable, "She hasn't made a move for my sake. I don't know why."
"Maybe she knows you have plans." Omens scratched the beak harshly and is stopped by Mattu.
"It takes someone that knows darkness to see past that curtain. I don't know the extent of her darkness. Yet she seems insightful helpful in knowing mine." They moved to the main walk ways through the mall to meet back with the other undertaker and the humans that company them. Taking a seat in office meeting room of rowing chairs. He intended to sit randomly and finds that he had to move from the Darkwoods. Putting himself in a seat neat the lead speaker. The advisor seat. He had almost put Omens on the table in front of him but was soon staring about the paperwork.
"We don't have patience to keep holding back the awareness that magic has among normal people. The more cases increase, the focus the media will become. The things we once thought as jokes are very much among us. Magic is coinciding with these issues. Gin in India slums. The attacks of tourist in snow peaks. The American hikers coming back with sasquach encounters. Fea in English woodlands. The more humans encroach these once wild places, the more mysterious beings become real."
The paperwork at Mattu seat was plans to wipe the internet, some the things that aren't predicted that should he included are missing.
"What of the visibility of other creatures? What of humans knowing about damned?" Mattu making sure this was caught up with how suddenly he grasping there is still blindfolds of some types. That they cant see the monsters among living, "How many mental Healthcare providers has increased in the past year? How many of these places are full of activities?" There is trade of confused faces of there being not the full extent of things being revealed.
"Only the half living realms are coming forwards out of hiding. Anything with life status. The world's of fey and myths have been around us. Humans have been collectively so agitated by the undertakers not in action that this is resulting in such barrier break downs. Gremlins and hobbit people from the rolling hills in Iceland were the already made normal. Now other normal to local areas are bringing forth. Even the monsters of native tribes across America's and Africa have been death tolls to human life. Vampires of an unique type are making waves in the modeling industry. Cursed objects are becoming active. House haunting have already put the many populations of rural areas into keen awareness." The broken mask figure seated across from Mattu pulls a paper from his front, "But this doesn't change the boundaries of life and death. The dead aren't breaking through. They can play games but they can't be alive. The method of banishing is still able to keep away the spirits. These methods keep the fey, gin and vampires away. The only exception of this rule is the human hybrids. Those half humans that are born. Doppelganger and changing are especially being the worse. So there a plan to safe guards the hospitals. There no way to prevent all but we shouldn't stop all either. We aren't playing god here, just population density and living arrangements." She putting the paper back down and holds waiting for the rest of the room to react about her.
"The creep is right. It has only been the creatures we thought were living and hidden that are coming to this awareness by the populations of regulars. It's not all good beings but they arent breaking new grounds. The things we call urban myths among them. The creatures living in the shadows. Not the undertakers, angels, demons or the damned. The act of gods is still working over even over these creatures, gifted with blessings and curses as humans are." The human mage king lifting gaze to her, "So what do you come from?"
"I am a human. I am just cursed. Just as the Darkwood are mask. I am a fallown with my own mask. But there a big change difference between me and the damned. The damned are dead souls, normally excluding your darkwoods. I am a living creature mistaken for damned. We are the nightmarish puppets that tend to steal organs, souls and whatever. Well that was if I was among that society. I am a lone wolf. I work under grants. I do only as I am told by gods."
"Clothus!" Omens hissed and went for a talon sweep her way. She was holding still waiting for him to dare it. Mattu holds Omens away from her, preventing the strike. She shurgs.
"Sadly little Ender, your included in this. Just as I am being brought among the visible. You are too. As is omens. This is the issue death has with us. Three of us are in tomes that doesn't allow death to access." She softly stands and stood aside for her human side. Picking up the little girl and seated her to the seat the mask side was just sitting to.
"As are half the god eaters. Those with barrier between living worlds. So the gate keeper to the elvish world and us. The gates in Iceland. The ice world gates. The caves. Soon the medieval English witches will be showing up. Then there be no stopping awareness of magic."
"Eliza." Her grandpa among them here.
"I had to be here since someone can't stop his jaw popping. One more time. If you don't fix that jaw, I will break it back for you." She glaring at Omens. Mattu posed the bird away from her, "Do you even know why?" She asked.
"Is it the teeth?" Omens posed confused.
"Your godly image, idiot. You will loose your true title of you continue being that way. Yes gods can be animal beings and Egyptian afterlife is good proof of half beings in popular human awareness. But there is a line you can't cross. You can't be a nightmarish god without fall. You don't have the time to loose yourself at this situation. That is unless you have plans to use this gods fall for something grand. It's not a bad plan." She leans staring at both god and follower. Both mask and human side in the same arm pose and waiting for some answer, "Just how long will you wait for the flesh to melt before I fix that? Or we making a god pelt?"
"Why are you supporting me?" Mattu asked. She narrows sight in his and he flinched. Her mask side pose hand over the human eyes.
"Sorry. Sometimes my change of sight has eye changes that scare people. I was reading your soul aura. As your soul name keeper, I must make sure your not a harm to yourself. Some changes causes painful alterations and since you don't let me help. You are going to alter the painful way. Slowly and messy."
Her left hand of her shadow side swats a magic spell down on the surface. Disrupting it from making the target. Aimed between them to the human mage king. Ruining some grand plan. The darkwood stand in about to fight the glader and her family moved out of the fighting zone. Eliza doesn't move as she hunting Omens.
"We are doing this!" Mattu was attacked since he was distracted. He staggered but holds the god bird protective. She hissed at the person that did that. Morphing the two sides as one person, an adult version of her jumps over the table with a long sword to brace protecting Mattu being attacked again.
"You're insane!" The darkwood hissed at her.
"I am not interested in darkwoods or Gladers. You hurt the wrong person." Her voice over spoke everyone in the room as it her nightmare voice, "How dare you play with these lives that aren't yours!" She says the mage in a fast sword slash upon the break of meeting clash.
She hold the longsword to ready block but now she was right at their side. She able to cast healing. Healing both Omens and Mattu. Her eyes of in sadness and worry. She maybe creepy mysterious but she very still human in her emotions. Grateful that the wounds closed.
"This changes nothing!" A weapon through her back and angling up. The tip cuts her front. She was light headed but in keeping this weapon through her, beheaded the attacker. Her hand trying to keep her in one piece.
"That is the guarantee to make us not neutral party." Her grandpa slays others and her mother working with her partner. The last threat drops the floor in dismembered parts. That be around when Joseph opened the door and stares about the corpses. Grandpa makes a hand gesture and Joseph turned with slaying those threats about to enter.
"I am sure this price paid is worth it." She removed the dagger from her, the floor around is more then blood red. Black too... she had to steady herself again. Once she was up right, she posed over the pool and it forms into a tome. It turned flames of purple and solidifies the book. She waved her other hand and a pen is made, the pages open and she writing into the tome. Breaking something loudly and then aligning something back. Clearly it's not a normal pen and book of writing. Her blood was moving over Omens and Mattu. Both of them looked much better. She closed that book. It in solid mass is slide into her, a gaping hole plugged back.
"Your not finished yet but I was on borrowed time. So you take it as it should be yours." She speaks gentle and puts herself to a chair. Holding the hole through her and her face.
"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Death walks through with a gate.
"Well tough. It's want was meant to happen. You lot don't follow the script correctly." She has a spare set of arms being used as gesturing.
"You did fix my jaw." Omens being impressed, "What did she do?"
"Paid your price. Your meant to been next in the tome order. She didn't break the rules as its not uncommon for another death to take in replacement of the intended recipient. She paid three times. That's my concern. How do you pay three worth of lives?" Death asked.
"Three Fallowns. That simple. I am one. The idiot that helped the human make me, satisfied my revenge. And then I took his current lover too. She happened to be in the wrong place as such time. Who would have guessed that the dementor was just going to spring for the kill? Since they are alive too. Living killing the living. Nothing unnatural there."
"The dementors and court beings are your domain. It's still your sin." Death warns.
"Yes... sins. Very bad." She not being serious.
"She can breaks chains." Omens voicing deaths concern, "And fate threads. She breaks a lot of things. I have been having many failed attempts by her hands."
"And that's in law?" He questioned and shurg passing between both Omens and Mattu. Given the gods aren't in the spectrum of being heard by all here. Joseph was making his way up to his sister and has some item to hand. Opening the potion bottle, a trade good fro sigil. He pours it over her wound. Watching it clean away the bad bits.
"Back." He ordered and she leans back, letting him pouring her front, "You going to do that creepy breaking thing again. The spine pop thing."
"Nah. I should stop pretending to be human. I have no one to fool. Really this actually doesn't kill me. Not really." Her brother resigned to this fact as it was any other day. Seeing her doing not human things as unfazed him as she been without filter around him a few times. It doesn't change the horror mom is in and that she refuses to beleive this was her Eliza. This was to be expected and follow with the course this woven of history understands. Today the human Eliza is dead. Her mom in grief and shock faints once again.
Being overwhelmed by sudden changes and expected to just accept it wasn't her mom. Eliza grandpa takes Joseph side of veiw. Yes she weird and half dead but she still in some way with them. She will still be protective of them and act in follow of their requests. She changed but she still the same person inside that form.
"So given that the Darkwoods didn't respect the neutral party laws. We automatically have some better relationships with the Gladers. But this isn't entirely without some distrust. Gladers and Darkwoods are the same coin of two sides. Just as the Fallown and the Seer are two sides of a coin. Bring to this group of outcasts knowing there aren't matching outcasts of glader darkwoods." The undertaker takes pose of note.
"There will be. This is a six faced dice." She countered, "This is the tool you are gambling on. To what purpose does the collective leader of the American undertaker unions has to gamble, is unclear. But it doesn't meant that your aren't being watched intensely by your allies and enemies. Stirring humans to grasp the hidden pockets is your game. You made a lure for the monsters to bridge gaps." She posed the free hands to hold together at her front, "You hoping that monsters of the living realm will sort out the threat that wiping out undertakers. Purposely sending lost numbers to the wendigo woods. This mage tower of hidden reptiles, another place to remove these pests by monster. You are insane." She has her brother stop hovering over her wounds, patting his shoulder and twisting him to help mom. He looks at her concerned but complies. Knowing that one bottle isn't enough.
"I should have been more afraid of you." The monarch lowered his head, "You played an amazing illusion of being a harmless little girl. I didn't realize the broken thing you actually are. Why do you know about the undertakers lost to the American woods?" She tilts in trying to best pose this to the monarch to realize.
"The court wolves give me tributes. This is a cost they sacrifice to keep my blessing. All hidden living things are not marked in the book of life. Even the fey tribute their dead to me. I am their protector, their keeper of their curtin and mist they shroud in. The goddess of souls. I am the Empress of the edge between soul and soulless. Tome keeper of the occult and unwelcomed." She stands with arms of to many posing in strength, "The stronger the hidden become, the more power over life and death I can carry. Although..." She pulled put a complete vessel and puts death into it. She leans on the true title with open palm, "I am with deaths order in a backwards way. We respect each other and don't break each other's rules. I give him any souls the been left wondering the lost darkness. I protect the undead from the war that life and death play. Really, it's because death's wife could be a causality. I like her as a friend. I don't like my friends harmed." She stops leaning on death and death crossed his arms.
"Well aren't you in a difficult place." Omens talking to the American undertaker monarch, "You made it their problem to make yourself allies. You unwittingly are getting bite."
"What exactly will solve this?" Mattu asked her.
"Well once I am done soul editing the names of the leaders to the tapeworm folks. Everything else will just go about business as always. They will make their own place within the law of life and death. Maybe end upon the territory of either me or death's wife if that doesn't work. Who knows, maybe they might become ordinary living problems in the living realm and no longer be any of our problems at all. I have to edit the soul names first. That's been my goal. But I didn't want to step on someone else's space to do so. If you want them erased from the books, we can arrange a massacre, Ender."
"Ah, that's why you are protective of him." Death taking a causal comfortable pose, "The god follower is the Ender. And this makes sense for Omens to be so attached." He crossed arms, "His not entirely clued up to his whole part in this."
"The true title is sleeping, the host has been a little mind scrambled with Omens." She removing limbs and laying them to the table, "some very nice art work in crafting these arm joints ans wrist sockets. Your artist is amazing." She sliding to the monarch as he looks at the arms.
"Tributes... why do they do this? Why are they paying a cost for?"
"Existence. Life isn't free." She point the moanrch with a long reached claw to his chest, "There are some concepts that make things what they are. Even gods cant break things. The privilege of existence has always been a cost, as you may not even realize you give."
Mattu stares between the whole lot of them with a lot of confused complexities. The monarch owned up to making this issue on her indirectly and wasn't expected to have back lash from unlikely of places. Omens and death talked through the general information about where the tapeworm kingdom could be. As it's clear that life has some tricks in her sleeve with all this. What matters most is that Eliza need to get her hands on the tapeworm folks, once she ordered the letters correctly. This will be the universe to do as it wishes.
"What if I removed you?" Mattu says and was meaning entirely over Eliza. She takes this very moment seriously.
"You want me removed again?" She counters and he shook at that, "We doing this again. Why am I the trouble?" She really locked eyes with him and he of her. There a long pause of really no one knowing what move to make. Maybe this was the plan all along, make them separated.
"We don't need that again." He the first to lower gaurd and instead of her attacking him. She lowered too but she bowing in waiting for his word. His say.