I wake up the next morning as the sun peaks over the horizon. I jump up and I am reminded of the battles the night prior. I look down at my body to see all the cuts and gashes. Luckily, the bleeding has stopped. I need to get to the top of the mountain as fast as possible. I've wasted enough time. I collect my things, but I notice something in the dirt next to the campfire. I notice two somethings actually. In the spots that I killed the two monsters lay a shimmering rock sparkling in the sun. I walk over to where the wolf was and see a luminescent purple rock in the shape of a crystal. I pick it up and notice that there appears to be a liquid inside of it. It is to hard to break though. I put it in my pocket, walk over to where the fish man was, and see a green rock of the same type.
"What are these things? All the training I received could not prepare me for the real battle." I say to myself.
I put them both in my pocket and continue onward. After a few hours of walking the path, I am met with a dead end. The only way to continue is up. I look up to see a stone wall, about fifty feet tall. I take a deep breathe and start climbing. It takes me half an hour to reach the top and I pull myself on to the ledge with the rest of my strength and just lay there for a moment. The second that I allow myself to rest, I feel the ground shake.
"Oh come on!" I yell in a hushed tone. I stand up to see a giant spider walking towards me. I looked on at the spider as it towered over me, then I ready my sword and step forward some, so I'm not right on the edge. The spider does something surprising. It just walks over me and down the ledge. I follow it with my eyes, as it's massive legs stomped around me, and just stare ahead, frozen in awe. "What the hell? Why didn't it attack?" I ask out loud, in a mix of relief and horror. It's a good thing it didn't, because it had to have stood as tall as, three, maybe even four men stacked atop each other. I go back to the continued path, ignoring that monstrosity, and walk forward for another half hour, before I finally see the end, just as the sun sets below the horizon. In total I have collected six of those weird crystals and have received many wounds while carving my way past the perilous environment and through the vile and atrocious creatures and their savage disregard for humanity. I finally reach a man who is standing in front of a temple.
"Welcome Candidate! You have finally made it. Come forward and I shall tend to your wounds." King Jornen says.
I walk forward, blood gushing out of many wounds I have received today, plus the ones from last night that have reopened. The King lays his hands on me and every gash closes up as if there were never any wounds.
"How did you do that?" I ask
"Once you become a reaper, then you will be given a power of your own. Some people are born with powers, but others are given powers. To be a reaper, you must have a power to help you in battle more efficiently." King Jornen says.
I thank him and he has me follow him inside. We walk up to the front where a podium stands.
"By the way, I discovered these things in the remains of the monsters I killed on the way up." I say as I take out the crystals from my pocket. I have some that are blue, purple, green, and even black. "What are these?" I ask.
"Those are monster cores. They only form in the chest of a monster after they are slain. They are very important tools. They are used by the Reaper Organization for enchanting, and even physical enhancements. Now, are you ready to pledge yourself?" King Jornen asks. I just nod and kneel down, in reverence and respect, looking up at him, trying to hide my eager anticipation for what I worked so hard for. I contained my excitement and awaited his next words.
"Do you swear to uphold the law, swear to serve the order, and protect those who need protecting as a Reaper?" King Jornen asks.
"I swear to uphold the law, to serve the order, and to protect those who need protecting as a Reaper." I pledge.
"Go to the right, through the big doors, and you will be met by my servant. You must undergo surgery." King Jornen says.
"Surgery?!" I ask in surprised confusion.
"Yes, you are only starting to become a Reaper. You are not yet one, until, you complete the process. Don't worry, you are almost done. After this, you will have the tools you need to receive missions and pay for kills. You will also be able to buy things in any hold without having to have cumbersome bags of gold." King Jornen explains. He motions for me to go on.
I trust him, so I go through the doors and see a huge room with a table and leather restraints tied to the cold steel table. The servant gestures for me to lay on the table. I do, after taking off my shirt, only to be met with an ice cold feeling being sent through my body. He fastens my wrists and ancles into the restraints.
"You may want to bite down on this." The man says as he shows me a wooden stick. He moves it closer to my mouth and I move away.
"I don't need it. I will endure it." I say with unbreakable determination.
"Ok then, if you're sure." He says, sounding none too sure about it himself.
In the next moments, I feel my skin on my left wrist being cut into deeply, as I see him installing metal links into my muscles and tendons. It is a tediously slow and extremely painful process and I scream out in pain, unable to hold it in any longer. The King stands on the other end of the doors and listens as he hears blood curdling screams, which send cold chills down his spine. After an hour of the worst torture I could imagine, my flesh gets sown up, and I can see the device in my wrist. The only visible parts are silver balls forming a circle around my entire wrist.
"Finally! Oh fucking hell, I didn't think it would ever end." I say while out of breathe.
"I hate to break it to you, but, It's not over. I'm sorry." He says in an apologetic tone.
"Wha..." I start to ask before the steel table moves to the other side of the room, with me still on it, and is now standing up.
"What's going on? What are you going to do now?" I ask frantically in both fear and panic, as I start to thrash lightly about to try and see what is going on.
"Calm the fuck down! You're becoming a reaper, act like it! You'll have worse than this ahead. You must relax, or you won't survive this. You still might not, but this needs to happen." He says sternly and in a commanding, yet sympathetic, tone.
I, again, look around frantically trying to figure out what the hell they are about to do to me, this time I refrained from thrashing too much and attempted to collect my composure. A woman walks into the room wearing a blue robe with a mask on her face.
"Are you ready to become a Reaper? I don't mean just the title, but the life-style. Are you ready to actually become a Reaper?" She asks.
I try to slow my breathing. I have spent my entire life preparing for this moment. For a little while there, I forgot about my purpose. I wasn't told about this procedure, but there must be a reason for that. I need to trust them. Trust the process.
"I am, even if it means giving my life." I say, full of respect and pride.
She nods and holds out her hand. "Brace yourself, I'm about to send out magical radiation, which is my ability. This will give you an ability of your own. If it doesn't kill you." She says.
Before I knew it, I could feel an energy flooding my body, starting from her hand. Which, upon closer inspection, I notice has claws protruding from her fingertips. I see a blue and yellow energy going from her to me. Now I start to feel hot. I feel like I'm entering hell. I take all I can and force myself to not make a sound. I can feel my blood boiling and my cells melting. I feel my flesh tearing apart as if it were being ripped off of me. In reality my skin just turned red from heat, but I can feel it being torn off, bit by bit. Blood starts coming out of my ears, nose, and eyes. I look over to see my nails turning black and growing into a point on all fingers. I'm growing claws. My vision starts to change, and I can see every little detail across the room. Now I can hear my blood actually at boiling point as it rushes through my body. My ears grow into a point then, as my teeth start falling out and blood pours out of my mouth, bigger, sharper teeth started replacing my old ones. Somehow, I feel like I'm growing a few feet taller. Finally I have to let something out. I can't stay quiet anymore. I only have enough strength to say one thing.
I start crying from the pain, as it swarms my entire being and existence then, unable to process even a thought, I scream out which sounds more like a deep, demonic, and guttural howl. "PLEASE, JUST FUCKING KILL ME!"