REAPER: The Young God

Chapter Ten

Ogmios walked the halls of the Tykonion palace with haste.
"Where is he?" he yelled and the palace echoed.
Choko appeared and bowed her head, "What bothers you, father?"
He grabbed his daughter and pushed her against the wall holding her by her shoulders.
"Where is he? That excuse of a brother," he spoke through his teeth with seething rage.
Calmly, Choko looked into his eyes, "He's likely in the citadel."
"Doing what?"
She kept her silence for he already knew but wouldn't be given the pleasure of a repeated answer.
Ogmios roared as he let go of her and walked away again with haste.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"To bring him back home. We have a family meeting."
Choko thought for a moment and returned to her quarters in the opposite direction.

Simz with his captain and acolyte arrived in the eighth realm, a desolate place where no plantation of essence grew. Remnants of war and battle filled the area. There was no city centre like most realms where portals were used. Where there once was the centre is where the portal took them. 
"The canyon isn't too far from here, we can start there and trace our steps," Robyn said as Simz was still in awe looking at the destruction. Abandoned scythes, shattered and empty cores, not a living soul in sight.
"What happened to this place?" Simz asked.
"That's what we're here to find out. You remember from the summit, the head of the royal family that resides here is missing. They never showed up to the summit," Trent explained.
"And you suspect he was killed?" Simz asked and his captain nodded.
The prince of Tykonia had never seen such devastation in his life. He could not even begin to imagine something as terrible as what he saw. Corrupted essence filled the lands which meant some of the shattered cores resulted in the soul's natural corruption and most likely caused them to turn into ghouls, due to not being reaped properly.
"This was no execution. It was a complete wipeout." Simz deducted as his eyes began to glow.
Trent turned to Robyn with a smirk as this was what Amoli had planned to happen.
Using his weaver's vision, Simz could see the residue of the souls that once were.
"Reapers from the citadel," as he knelt near a shattered core, "They begged for mercy before being killed."
"How can you tell?" Trent asked, intrigued.
"The cores store information about our life's milestone experiences, almost as if etched into the shell. The memories of this core... They were in the second division. I can even see the day they were excited to be accepted into the council."
Remarkable, Trent thought to himself. The power of Tykonions was regarded as the strongest of all the royal families. Having the eyes of a god.
A trail of corruption led to a certain direction, the essence of which was still active though faint.
Simz looked in the direction of the trail. Using what he was taught, he poured his essence out to reinforce the essence that lingered. Trent and Robyn stood in amazement as the land around them filled with essence and recounted the battle that took place.
"Oh my!" Robyn said, wide-eyed and watching it all. 
"This is incredible," Trent said, his mouth wide open in awe.
The image of a tall brute wielding a great axe was responsible for slaughtering all of the souls of the reapers, and even destroying the portals. The image of another soul fought the brute but was no match for him at all. 
"Filipe," Robyn gasped, "Former acolyte of the second division. We knew he was killed in duty but I-"
She was lost for words.
The image of the brute continued its destruction, heading in the direction of the corruption that Simz detected. 
"Probably best we follow it," Simz suggested.
Just then, Trent noticed in the distance the same reapers he killed when he was last in this realm to collect the shard for Ogmios. They bore the same symbol as seen on the brute. 
This was becoming more interesting by the minute, the captain thought.

As they followed the path of the brute for a while, Trent marvelled over Simz.
"I'm still curious, Your Highness," he said to Simz.
"Please captain, you don't have to treat me like royalty," Simz replied with a chuckle.
"I know, I know. It's just that not even my loyal subordinates would go this far to assist in something like this. They'd either be too scared or lack confidence and await orders."
"Honestly I've had enough of that back home. This is a nice change of pace."
"You certainly seem more mature than most royals that we know of," Robyn said.
Simz took that as a compliment.
"Why help us so easily when you don't know what's going on?" Trent asked.
"No offence captain, but judging by yours and acolyte Robyn's expressions back there, it seems like you both also don't know what's going on. And I seem to be the key to figuring things out." The prince said with a grin, "For once, I feel useful."
The path they walked soon reached a massive castle, almost as big as the Tykonion palace.
Eager for answers, Trent walked forward, "This is it. Kristov's castle."
Just then the image of the brute was cut in half from head to toe, but not by another image. Trent didn't sense anyone but was quick enough to block with his scythe as another blade clashed with his.
"Look out!" He yelled as two other figures moved extremely fast, with Robyn and Simz only seeing blurs flanking from each of their sides. Robyn pulled Simz close to her, both standing back to back wielding their scythes. 
"Wait!" a voice shouted and the two blurs stopped, revealing two men. 
The images conjured by Simz vanished as his concentration broke his weaving.
The man who attacked Trent was none other than Royce, guild master of the Bludniv guild.
As everybody calmed down, Royce shook his head.
"Damn, walking around with an illusion like that, here we thought we were being followed by some gigantic fella and his cronies," Royce said. He and Trent shook hands.
"Sorry about that darling, you and-" the guild master noticed Simz standing next to Robyn.
He shot a gaze at Trent, "What the hell is he doing here?"
Simz asked the very same question as he recalled Royce being arrested at that restaurant in Tykonia. 
Trent explained, "Royce and his guild work for me."
"Correction," said one of the other two men, "We inform you."
"Yeah snake, don't get it twisted. We don't do shit for the council." Said the other man.
Robyn placed her scythe back on her back and it vanished as she introduced the two men to Simz. 
Advo and Ridi were Royce's most trusted men. Advo was muscular and tall, the tallest of everyone. Rather than a cloak, his essence swathed him in a vest and baggy combat pants. 
Ridi was adorned with jewellery, looking more rich and fancy than any royal known. 
"What's Ogmios's kid doing here?" Ridi asked.
"He's here to help us figure out what happened to Kristov," Trent answered and both men nodded in sync.
"Beat you to it, your fancy-ness," Royce said.
Trent looked at him and he gave the captain a look, "So he is dead, huh?"
"Yep, but we know who did it."
"Was it my father?" Simz said and everyone went silent.
"Well..." Royce said, "Funny enough, no. The brute which we thought was real, is a guild master of one of the guilds of this realm. The Bungalows."
"Bungalows?" Robyn and Simz said in unified disgust.
"Stupid fucking name!" Advo and Ridi replied in unison.
"Where are they located?" Trent asked with a stern voice.