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Chapter Three

Acacia's POV

Fuck it burns! Those damned snakes were poison-spiked! I ground my teeth together, willing my healing powers to kick in. The strange thing was that they didn't. The poison's pain hit a peak level, and I rose off the bed, shrieking in pain. But for some reason I felt it was no longer the poison causing the pain. It felt like lava was replacing the blood in my veins. I thrashed around wildly, faintly hearing Feratz yell my name. Then I sensed it. A Reaper was near. More than one actually. Then voices started yelling in my head.

*Tis the Grim.* The Reapers whispered to one another. *She is finally eighteen.* What? True, it was my birthday today, but the Grim? She had been killed years ago. The only way her kind, the Elzan race, passed on their powers was through... Their youngest child. No. No! NO! Impossible! I was just some useless half-breed, I couldn't possibly be the child of one of the People of Power! Let alone one of their royal family! I struggled against the power I felt surging in me, but I sensed it was being repressed.

*The tattoos! That demon bound our Grim!* Huh? So they weren't for my protection?

*He'll pay dearly. But it will be by her hands, not ours.* At least there was one voice of reason amongst the clamor calling for revenge. *Not like it matters. Watch, her power is burning away the bonds.*

*Soon, our Grim will be back in her rightful place, and the Reapers will flourish again.* That voice was female, I could tell that much. Suddenly, the burning stopped, and I felt weightless.

*Wow.*

*She's awakened!* Crows of joy came from the Reapers.

*Now all she has to do is call upon her Scythe.* My Scythe? The Reaper's Scythe?

{No, the Grim's Scythe. I am sorry for not telling you earlier, my daughter, but your jackass of a father cut all your ties to me when he bound your powers by locking away your Scythe. Call it. The tattoos are gone! You're finally free of this life!} The pain started again, this time centered over my heart. I could only wait for the visor to filter images into my mind as my Scythe appeared from my chest. It was beautiful. The staff was a pure white, and the blade pitch black. Runes that I recognized as ancient Elzan glowed softly along the edges of the long blade, throwing off an array of colors. I sat up in my bed, no longer in any pain. I reached out with a shaking hand, carefully grabbing it in the middle of the staff. Surprisingly, it had almost no weight to it.

"I am the Grim Reaper." I whispered, and finally became aware of Feratz' presence. He was watching me with a look of incredulity on his face.

\\Acacia...// Before he could finish yells and sounds of fighting came from outside my door. Feratz' head turned towards the door, then whipped back to me. \\No time. You need to get out of here. Now. I hate to say this, but you need to go back to the werewolf. I'll come get you when it's safe to return. Go Acacia!// Taken back by the fear in his voice, I did as he said, transporting back to the house I had left only days ago. For a while all I could do was stand there, until the front door opened and a familiar face appeared.

For some reason I couldn't move, all I could manage was to stand perfectly still as his eyes searched my surroundings, then landed on me.

"Acacia."