It that very same day they first met, the reaper again had come to visit, but this time he did not spoke and he just stood silently like a statue. It did not take long before the room suddenly turned dark and enveloped by mist as another otherworldly voice came to be heard. "I have been watching you from the deepest of the void, your job was to harvest these souls", it yelled like thunder, piercing their ears and shaking their spirits. "From now on, I have no more use of you, for you have disappointed me. If you love this soul that much then I shall take back your soul instead as payment for her existence". And so, it did, the room went back to normal. The reaper dropped his scythe as it slowly dissipates into the thin air. The woman rushed to catch him in her embrace as he fell to the cold floor, weak and unable to move. He turned bright blue, and like his weapon, he too slowly disappeared like dust in the wind.
"For all the millennia that I had been a reaper, you're the only one I spared for the reason I don't know", he weakly whispered before flickering a faint smile. "Live your life to the fullest this time and start over— so when the other reapers finally comes, you'll be glad for the things that you did and never regret the thing you did not".
The moon glowed blue that night. No one knew why except for the woman. She knew that it was due to the death of a reaper. The beacon of hope, the proof that she can start over, and a reminder to cherish every moment for the sake of her visitor that night that never gave up on her even though she herself did.
"What kind of crap is this, the writing is awful and the story itself is uninteresting", Nicolas whispered to himself. He tried to calm himself down but confusion and anger got the best of him, "BULLSHIT"
It was so loud that the whole library heard him. In fact, they all looked at him with the sharpest gaze they could show with their pointer finger raised in front of their lips reminding him to be quiet. Their eyebrows almost glued together in annoyance.
"Pardon me", he sat back down. "If only I knew the legend is this kind of rubbish I would have not even bothered reading it. Such a waste of time", he sighed as something came to his mind. He did not like the idea of asking but what else would he do. Closing the book, he hesitantly walked towards the receiving desk.
"Madam", he asked but the librarian only replied with grunt. "Do you— uh— happen to know anything about the Blue Moons Tale?".
The librarian, who still has suspicion in her eyes, let Nicolas knew that she was wary of him. Her actions confirmed it as she refused to look at him straight on and instead resorted to a sharp side eye, "What about it?", she asked.
"I— uh— just trying to learn about it—"
"Sure, I think I know something. I'm the librarian after all", she confidently stood up, clearing her throat. "The Blue Moons Tale— certainly that's not it", she explained pertaining to the book the boy is holding. "That book was made for children after all. To teach them about hope and not to give up even if life does not go the way you want it to be", she expounded as she forcibly took the book out of his hand, dusting and placing it on the table. "The real tale or should I say the Legend. It was never written in any piece of literature. The only way it was still known today is through oral tradition."
Nicolas leaned in closer as things finally sounded interesting.
"It was said that a long time ago when Yggdryas was the first ever city that had been built in this continent. The ruins was the said proof of that by the way. From then, it was believed that a certain civilization lived here with the power to—"
"Wait, ruins? do you mean the abandoned alleys at the far end of the town?"
"Do you really want to hear about the legend or not? and do you even hear what you are saying, are you born yesterday?", she cleared her throat this time with more force, as she calmed herself because of the sudden interruption. "Those are the remnants of the past war, what I mean ruins are the small wall like boulders at the entrance to the forest. Just that, provides the proof that there was indeed an old lost city somewhere."
"Sorry, continue"
"As I was saying, the first civilization that were to live in Yggdryas was believed to have some kind of mysterious ability."
"Ability?"
"The power to show the reflection of their soul—", this shook Nicolas's entire being, it's a big news to him and for this, he knew he had made the right decision to ask the lady. "The reflection of the soul is different from person to person. It varies in the way the soul is reflected; mainly it can take the form of a sword, a bow and arrow, or a shield. With each category having different forms but that's not important"
"What does that mean for me?", Nicolas's thoughts slipped out his mouth. There was a brief pause causing the librarian to look at him again with more suspicion.
"For you, what do you mean for you?", she raised her eyebrow.
He could only hide his sweat as he suffered the consequences of his action. "I— I mean— continue, I mean continue", he disregarded her question, hoping that she'd believe it. "I should just shut up. There's no way she'd buy that pathetic excuse", he thought while hiding his anxious expression.
"So— Shields"
He sighed in relief.