Status: Active
The Edge
o14
Open your eyes, my son.
Large green orbs were revealed as the boy opened his eyes, sitting up and looking around, taking in the rocky surroundings. It appeared that he'd magically gone from his room in the hospital to a cave. How curious.
Not quite. You're dreaming. I have a message for you. Approach the shadows, child.
The voice drifted towards him, wreathing him in tantalizing sound that seemed so familiar, yet so strange. Nevertheless, Zacky got to his feet and stepped towards the shadow in the back of the little cave, halting at the edge of the darkness. It looked... almost as if the shadow wasn't shadow at all, but a writhing mass of something horrible.
Fear me not, son. You have no reason to be afraid. I have a request for you, and you must obey, for I am your father.
"This sounds like a lame Star Wars knock off, but without all the fighting and I'm not missing a hand." Zacky mumbled snarkily, rolling his shoulders to relax himself.
That whatever-it-was, his 'father', growled, a deep, rumbling noise that shook the entire cave to it's core. You will not disrespect me, child. I have a job for you. I want you to harvest souls for me, I cannot leave this land, therefore I cannot collect them myself.
Confused, Zacky brushed some dark hair from his face. "How exactly do I harvest souls?"
Easy, Zachary. I will give you a weapon crafted to draw the souls from human bodies and using it, you will escape the prison holding you and collect what I need from you. You will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams.
"Beyond my wildest dreams?" Zacky's thoughts instantly drifted towards Brian, to which the shadow-thing yowled, No! You will not associate with a human that way! If you must breed, find one of your own species to do it with.
Zacky heaved a sigh. He wasn't even allowed to breed. Too bad, at least he was only thirteen and he wasn't experiencing that 'I'm-horny-all-the-time' phase yet.
Rolling his shoulders again, he nodded, "Okay. Just give me the weapon and the list of people you want me to 'harvest' and I'll be on my way."
There was a flash of light at the words, and there appeared, floating in midair an arm's length away from Zacky, a great scythe. The blade of it was a gorgeous purple color, while the handle was black steel, carved into different patterns that were easy on the hands and just flexible enough to do great damage but sustain the same.
Take it. You will slay any and all who stand in your way. Use it to help you in your quest for power.
A smirk settled onto Zacky's face, and when he took the weapon from where it was floating, his eyes shown the same purple as the blade. "I will do as you've said, father. I will kill any and all."
Good, good. Do not worry about knowing who you are supposed to harvest. Your instincts will direct you to them. Goodbye, my son. You are now a true reaper.
Zacky opened his eyes, finding himself once more in the hospital bed. But this time, there was a long, black handled scythe next to him, curved purple blade just touching the ground.
* * *
"Hey. Hey, kid. Kid?" Johnny poked at the side of Zacky's head, drawing him out of his mind and back to the real world.
Over the past few days, extreme discomfort has possessed Zacky at the oddest of moments. A voice in the back of his mind plotted ways of getting out of here, ways to find the people he needed to find-- images of these people flashed over his mind when the discomfort occurred. He was fairly sure that it had something to do with who he was supposed to harvest.
"What?" Zacky barked, looking up through his hair into the other kid's eyes.
There was a moment of silence as the other patient eyes Zacky sceptically, one eyebrow raised. "Jesus, no need to be a bitch, kid, you on your period?"
Though there was no draw towards Johnny to tell Zacky he needed to be harvest, the reaper was thoroughly tempted to end him anyways.
After a moment of exchanged death-glares, Johnny finally said, "You were twitching in your sleep and talking... And.. Oh well, must have been a bad dream. Fucking hospital aids better get here soon with breakfast." He collapsed into Zacky's bunch, heaving a sigh.
There was a moment of tension and hesitation as Zacky sat down next to his roommate, rolling over what he was going to say in his mind. "So, you said you'd been here a lot, right?"
"Yep."
More silence before Zacky finally let it out, "You ever thought of breaking out?"
"Don't talk so loud about that shit, kid!" The other kid smacked the back of his head, the question hanging in the air between them as Johnny carefully considered his answer. He responded lowly, "Yeah, plenty of times. But we don't have the tools or the time for something like that. A breakout would requir--"
Zacky interrupted, hissing, "I can break us out. You have to promise not to ask questions until I'm ready to explain anything, but I can get us out."
Johnny's eyes narrowed in consideration, but finally, he nodded curtly. "Fine. When?"
"Now."
Zacky grabbed a hold of Johnny's wrist, extending his abilities through the older kid and making the color drain from his form until he was nearly invisible. Calling his blade to him, Zacky marched right through the wall oh his room and into the next one, knowing full well that only a few more rooms up was an exit. When Johnny didn't follow, he poked his head back through the wall. "Come on, and stay quiet, they can still hear you even if they can't see you."
He had to basically drag the other through the wall, Johnny was too busy staring dumbfounded as his clear hands. A few of the patients they walked by looked up and stared at them-- it was true what they say about the mentally diseased being able to see what no other could.
The last wall led right through to the paved outside of the asylum. Amazed, Johnny jumped up and down, having a hard time containing his joy. "Yes! Yes, free, come on you freaky little kid, let's get going!"
Johnny took of running, laughing and not even bothering to wait for Zacky to catch up (they both had short legs as they were around the same height-- it wasn't hard for Zacky to join Johnny). "Thanks, kid!" Johnny yelled, panting slightly from running as fast as possible away from the place that sucked the life from you.
"No problem." Zacky came to a stop, instinct telling him to go North while Johnny was heading West. "But I can't keep with you. Have some shit to do."
Johnny nodded, waving, "Thanks man, thanks! And er, how long till this wares off?"
"It'll be about a half hour so you have time to get away. I'll see you around, Johnny."
"See ya around, kid."
* * *
His first harvest went well.
The woman was in her mid-twenties, rather short but filled out, hustling along on her way home from work. All Zacky had to do was lure her into the alley where he waited with a series of
illusions, and then used the long, arched blade to slice her open, right down the middle. The only messy part had been finding her soul and capturing it before it escaped into the sky-- his father had warned him about that.
The souls of mortals, as it turned out, lived in a tiny cavity behind the heart. They were spindly, alien things, long limbs that branched out and made them appear to have fins or tentacles that wound around the heart to anchor it in place. The little creatures shied away from contact and the only way to get them out was to pull at the spines in their back, which in turn caused them to unravel their fin-tentacle-things from the heart and allow themselves to be removed from the warmth of the human body. Souls are a silvery-white, mildly transparent and about the size of Zacky's palm, and as he took a gentle hold of the soul, it slipped easily out of the body and into the jar Zacky had waiting for it.
He watched the little soul for a moment, screwing the cap onto the jar and poking several holes in the lid. It was fluttering about in the jar, fin-tentacle-things waving about lazily. The way it was moving made it look as though it was swimming in the air. If Zacky wanted to be honest, it was rather beautiful. He could only imagine how many more of them he was supposed to collect and what they'd be used for.
"Do I have one of you inside of me?" He asked the silvery fish-like thing softly. "Do I have a soul?"
Rather than answering, it glowed purple for a moment, but then returned to it's normal color, fluttering idly around in the jar.
* * *
Large green orbs were revealed as the boy opened his eyes, sitting up and looking around, taking in the rocky surroundings. It appeared that he'd magically gone from his room in the hospital to a cave. How curious.
Not quite. You're dreaming. I have a message for you. Approach the shadows, child.
The voice drifted towards him, wreathing him in tantalizing sound that seemed so familiar, yet so strange. Nevertheless, Zacky got to his feet and stepped towards the shadow in the back of the little cave, halting at the edge of the darkness. It looked... almost as if the shadow wasn't shadow at all, but a writhing mass of something horrible.
Fear me not, son. You have no reason to be afraid. I have a request for you, and you must obey, for I am your father.
"This sounds like a lame Star Wars knock off, but without all the fighting and I'm not missing a hand." Zacky mumbled snarkily, rolling his shoulders to relax himself.
That whatever-it-was, his 'father', growled, a deep, rumbling noise that shook the entire cave to it's core. You will not disrespect me, child. I have a job for you. I want you to harvest souls for me, I cannot leave this land, therefore I cannot collect them myself.
Confused, Zacky brushed some dark hair from his face. "How exactly do I harvest souls?"
Easy, Zachary. I will give you a weapon crafted to draw the souls from human bodies and using it, you will escape the prison holding you and collect what I need from you. You will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams.
"Beyond my wildest dreams?" Zacky's thoughts instantly drifted towards Brian, to which the shadow-thing yowled, No! You will not associate with a human that way! If you must breed, find one of your own species to do it with.
Zacky heaved a sigh. He wasn't even allowed to breed. Too bad, at least he was only thirteen and he wasn't experiencing that 'I'm-horny-all-the-time' phase yet.
Rolling his shoulders again, he nodded, "Okay. Just give me the weapon and the list of people you want me to 'harvest' and I'll be on my way."
There was a flash of light at the words, and there appeared, floating in midair an arm's length away from Zacky, a great scythe. The blade of it was a gorgeous purple color, while the handle was black steel, carved into different patterns that were easy on the hands and just flexible enough to do great damage but sustain the same.
Take it. You will slay any and all who stand in your way. Use it to help you in your quest for power.
A smirk settled onto Zacky's face, and when he took the weapon from where it was floating, his eyes shown the same purple as the blade. "I will do as you've said, father. I will kill any and all."
Good, good. Do not worry about knowing who you are supposed to harvest. Your instincts will direct you to them. Goodbye, my son. You are now a true reaper.
Zacky opened his eyes, finding himself once more in the hospital bed. But this time, there was a long, black handled scythe next to him, curved purple blade just touching the ground.
* * *
"Hey. Hey, kid. Kid?" Johnny poked at the side of Zacky's head, drawing him out of his mind and back to the real world.
Over the past few days, extreme discomfort has possessed Zacky at the oddest of moments. A voice in the back of his mind plotted ways of getting out of here, ways to find the people he needed to find-- images of these people flashed over his mind when the discomfort occurred. He was fairly sure that it had something to do with who he was supposed to harvest.
"What?" Zacky barked, looking up through his hair into the other kid's eyes.
There was a moment of silence as the other patient eyes Zacky sceptically, one eyebrow raised. "Jesus, no need to be a bitch, kid, you on your period?"
Though there was no draw towards Johnny to tell Zacky he needed to be harvest, the reaper was thoroughly tempted to end him anyways.
After a moment of exchanged death-glares, Johnny finally said, "You were twitching in your sleep and talking... And.. Oh well, must have been a bad dream. Fucking hospital aids better get here soon with breakfast." He collapsed into Zacky's bunch, heaving a sigh.
There was a moment of tension and hesitation as Zacky sat down next to his roommate, rolling over what he was going to say in his mind. "So, you said you'd been here a lot, right?"
"Yep."
More silence before Zacky finally let it out, "You ever thought of breaking out?"
"Don't talk so loud about that shit, kid!" The other kid smacked the back of his head, the question hanging in the air between them as Johnny carefully considered his answer. He responded lowly, "Yeah, plenty of times. But we don't have the tools or the time for something like that. A breakout would requir--"
Zacky interrupted, hissing, "I can break us out. You have to promise not to ask questions until I'm ready to explain anything, but I can get us out."
Johnny's eyes narrowed in consideration, but finally, he nodded curtly. "Fine. When?"
"Now."
Zacky grabbed a hold of Johnny's wrist, extending his abilities through the older kid and making the color drain from his form until he was nearly invisible. Calling his blade to him, Zacky marched right through the wall oh his room and into the next one, knowing full well that only a few more rooms up was an exit. When Johnny didn't follow, he poked his head back through the wall. "Come on, and stay quiet, they can still hear you even if they can't see you."
He had to basically drag the other through the wall, Johnny was too busy staring dumbfounded as his clear hands. A few of the patients they walked by looked up and stared at them-- it was true what they say about the mentally diseased being able to see what no other could.
The last wall led right through to the paved outside of the asylum. Amazed, Johnny jumped up and down, having a hard time containing his joy. "Yes! Yes, free, come on you freaky little kid, let's get going!"
Johnny took of running, laughing and not even bothering to wait for Zacky to catch up (they both had short legs as they were around the same height-- it wasn't hard for Zacky to join Johnny). "Thanks, kid!" Johnny yelled, panting slightly from running as fast as possible away from the place that sucked the life from you.
"No problem." Zacky came to a stop, instinct telling him to go North while Johnny was heading West. "But I can't keep with you. Have some shit to do."
Johnny nodded, waving, "Thanks man, thanks! And er, how long till this wares off?"
"It'll be about a half hour so you have time to get away. I'll see you around, Johnny."
"See ya around, kid."
* * *
His first harvest went well.
The woman was in her mid-twenties, rather short but filled out, hustling along on her way home from work. All Zacky had to do was lure her into the alley where he waited with a series of
illusions, and then used the long, arched blade to slice her open, right down the middle. The only messy part had been finding her soul and capturing it before it escaped into the sky-- his father had warned him about that.
The souls of mortals, as it turned out, lived in a tiny cavity behind the heart. They were spindly, alien things, long limbs that branched out and made them appear to have fins or tentacles that wound around the heart to anchor it in place. The little creatures shied away from contact and the only way to get them out was to pull at the spines in their back, which in turn caused them to unravel their fin-tentacle-things from the heart and allow themselves to be removed from the warmth of the human body. Souls are a silvery-white, mildly transparent and about the size of Zacky's palm, and as he took a gentle hold of the soul, it slipped easily out of the body and into the jar Zacky had waiting for it.
He watched the little soul for a moment, screwing the cap onto the jar and poking several holes in the lid. It was fluttering about in the jar, fin-tentacle-things waving about lazily. The way it was moving made it look as though it was swimming in the air. If Zacky wanted to be honest, it was rather beautiful. He could only imagine how many more of them he was supposed to collect and what they'd be used for.
"Do I have one of you inside of me?" He asked the silvery fish-like thing softly. "Do I have a soul?"
Rather than answering, it glowed purple for a moment, but then returned to it's normal color, fluttering idly around in the jar.
* * *