SPLURRGG!
This was the sound that best described the tearing of the flesh that made way for the spray of blood from the neck of its victim, later followed by the rolling head.
The young man looked as the kneeling man fell to the ground, or rather what was left of him.
He breathed out a sigh of relief, 'That should be the last of them. This is the last stop, according to the old man's notes.'
The eyes of the youth were practically glowing, oblivious to the pile of bodies on the temple floors.
His eyes didn't seem to see them. And truly it couldn't. He was blind, he couldn't capture the sense of the world in the same way they could, but... his eyes were special. His eyes and...
The masked individual looked down towards his chest before shaking his head. Now wasn't the time for this.
Finally, back on track, he moved towards the mobile altar. It had several connecting pillars that rotated around the main monument—runes of various kinds syncing with their sequence.
But as if not noticing he moved forward faster, and as he did, those pillars cracked and shattered, the surrounding runes fading. And in its place the center monument lit up, gaining its own runes.
On top of it lay a complex spherical mass comprising those very runes, but he had long since met the requirements needed to solve it.
His hands glided over the spherical object with a speed that seemed unnatural for the human body. His fingers moved with the dexterity of someone who had trained them to the limits of what was humanly possible.
With every tap, they seemed to release a rune, but in actuality, it was just his well-timed movements, matching and moving the runes into the right places.
He was bleeding and his face was all but covered in the spray of blood from earlier, but he didn't seem to notice. In fact, he seemed to fall into a deeper focus as time passed.
By the end of it, he was practically holding back a cackle, revealing teeth that were also covered in blood. Usually, he had a mask on but unfortunately, he had lost it during this venture, but all that wouldn't matter soon enough.
As if on cue the strange spherical mass finally reacted, opening up in a flower-shaped vortex to reveal some rather ordinary objects.
'Is this all?' The Young Man frowned but didn't have much time to debate his grievances as the ground shook, indicating his limited time.
He moved with speed, stashing them in his pockets before leaving directly.
Or at least he planned to until he felt a weak tug at his joggers.
He stopped in his tracks, his heart skipped a beat, but his face did nothing to show it. He looked down at the body that had half its skull bashed in.
Well, it was a body to him, but the man was clearly still alive. For now.
"Reaper... Y...you. Wil..di..e a sorrow...full... dea" The youth whose alias was Reaper simply stood there waiting for the man to finish his words.
But seeing that he was already dead, he kicked off the hand and went out, whistling. In his eyes, there was no guilt, no remorse, just amusement.
...
"Truly annoying." He looked at his surroundings which revealed the starless night sky, then back at the Runic Wall which was starting to collapse on itself.
From the Ethereal wall, he could 'see' faint whispers of the fading temple. Despite how many times he saw such scenes, they never ceased to amaze him. Of course it wasn't lost on him, that only he could see this 'Wall.'
It truly was beautiful. Pillars of white, which seemed to hold up the skies, surrounded the outer structure.
The whole temple was made up of a blue marble-like material that blended well into the night.
'What's up with those old assholes, building elaborate crap like this? Ptchu.' He spat on the ground and stepped on it.
He didn't really get it but his aunt always did it whenever she was angry.
'Aunt Lilia...' He couldn't help but reminisce.
'Sigh.' Everything just seemed intent on pissing him off these days. His clothes? Completely tattered! His mask? Gone!
It was then it hit him.
"My Arch Blacks!" He took off his shoes, only to find holes in basically every point possible.
His face turned from sour to helpless. These were the only pair of shoes he had for crying out loud.
Not to mention they were limited edition! What happened to the promised increased durability?
'Sigh.' Seeing as crying over it wouldn't resolve anything, he shook his head turning his focus to other things.
"Reaper huh..." He rubbed his nose. 'Nice ring to it.'
He didn't know when or how the title came about, but at some point, everyone started to refer to him, or rather, his masked persona, as 'Reaper.'
It had been 10 years since he took on this persona. He would be turning 19 this year.
He remembered that day like the back of his hand, the day his world crumbled before his eyes, just like this Runic Wall. The falling figure of that man seemed to replay itself vividly, his eyes pulsing.
Whenever his heartbeat went out of control, his eyes would pulse like this, the world shattering into digestible pieces. For him to 'see.'
But it wasn't beautiful to him. It made the world seem more like, lines of probabilities than actual Chaos.
But he couldn't see the beauty of it... He only saw variables.
The clouds rumbled, eventually letting down a small stream of water, in the form of rain.
He chuckled. But his eyes didn't laugh with him. With that he turned away, slow and steady, using the trees as support where needed.
Unknown to him, a pair of eyes watched, they had always watched him.
...
Making it back to the motel where he stayed he couldn't help but sigh. He always stayed in these cheap rundown places that lacked any sort of aesthetics.
Of course, he would never dare speak these words in front of the lady who owned the place.
Whoever said money was easy to make, was a con man if nothing else. He didn't even manage to get anything he could sell from that shack of a temple. Where were the offerings?
He shook his head as he pushed open the front entrance, a bell rang earning him a look from the lady behind the counter.
Then as if she had practiced it a million times before, she directly ignored him.
"If you're gonna come in here half dead every time, maybe I should just kill you myself."
"What do you think?" The woman finally looked at him with a smile, but he felt none of the warmth, a chill running down his spine.
Why did it feel like she could read his thoughts?
In truth, he complained but this woman was letting him stay here for free. So when he said he was low on money it was more accurate to say he had no money at all.
'Sigh, to think I would have money problems.' He couldn't help but mourn silently as he recalled his luxurious past.
"Maki, spare the kid." A gruff-looking old man walked in, a cloth wiping down his hands.
Seeing the old man, Reaper breathed out a breath of relief. "Hello Old Rock."
"Good to see you're alive kid. You can take the room out back."
The man gave him a deep look and then spoke, "She's glad to see you too."
"Glad to see him my ass. Say that again when he actually pays for a room." Old Maki snorted.
"..." Reaper stared at the two of them. His thoughts were known only to himself. In the end, he sighed, going directly to 'his' room.
As they watched his figure vanish through the corridors, Old Rock finally spoke up. "You could be a little less harsh on the kid you know."
"Tch. Didn't you see the look on his face? He's leaving soon. The last thing he needs is some pointless sentiments." Old Maki scoffed.
"The world is far too cruel for him to be worried about others. Much less a dead old pair like us."
"..." Old Rock was stunned into silence. Then let out a sigh of his own.
As she spoke, memories of the past seemed to flash and resurface before he suppressed them again, shaking his head with a chuckle.
Old Maki didn't say anything in reply, and soon enough Old Rock went back in. "Catch you in the morning."