Memories of the Reaper

Chapter Nine

Derek Grey could hear the sound of voices as he awoke from his dream. He kept his eyes closed and eavesdropped on the conversation.

"—Reynold, listen to me." a familiar voice whispered. "Derek may be the warrior we need, but not as he is. He's too weak and scrawny. He needs to be trained if he is to survive this war... I know that the council does not wish for a second war, but if we show our full strength, we can convince them to attack our enemy before Seraph gathers more strength."

"I know, Kendra." a voice told her. It had the surety of centuries of lessons, experience, and leadership, but with it, the hardness of unimaginable loss. "Believe me I do... The council members do not realize the entirety of our situation, it seems. I will muster the strength of our closest allies as soon as I can, but I cannot help but feel that there is discord among the many nations. I fear that some may turn to his side and desert us. If this war is to be anything like the last, then we cannot allow that to happen."

"The weak may desert us, but they are only cowards. The strong will be at our side once the battle draws near," Kendra concluded.

"Perhaps, but I must ensure that we are prepared for every possibility. I will not allow idleness to weaken our defenses."

"You need to rest, Reynold. You only got back this morning."

"I will rest when I have spoken to the boy and have learned what I need to know." Reynold told her. "What is your analysis of him?"

"His fighting abilities are poor but can be improved. He is a powerful summoner, but he has no control. The strangest thing was that I was unable to detect his aura. I can sense your presence right now, Reynold, but Derek's aura is indiscernible from a normal human's... Something is masking his aura. I can't really describe it any other way. I've never encountered anything like it before. He must have..." She paused for a moment before speaking up again, this time much more cautiously. "Derek, how much did you hear?"

Derek opened his eyes lazily and looked around. He was in a small, dimly-lit room with only one entrance and one exit. There were no windows from what he could see and there wasn't much in the room aside from the bed he was in. There were no light fixtures, but Derek could see a candle on the edge of a barren bookcase; the view was partially blocked by the bodies of the two conversing voices. "How did you know I was awake?"

"You were breathing too slowly," Kendra said with her hands on her hips. Even in the dark, she was beautiful. Her hair was pulled back and she was no longer wearing her cloak and cowl. Still, she was prepared for war.

On her upper body, she was wearing a black, long-sleeve, skin-tight shirt, and, over it, a breastplate that connected to a thick leather garment that was cut to allow for movement. Underneath the leather, she wore the same black, skin-tight material that eventually disappeared from view under a pair of long, silver greaves that came up to her calves that covered the top of her leather shoes. Her gauntlets were long and ran up the length of her arms almost to the elbow; complete with metal joints to accommodate her fingers and wrists. Like the gauntlets, all of her armor was silver and accented with veins of brown that snaked lazily along the metal.

"What? Did you expect me to be wearing only a metal bra and panties, perv?" Kendra asked him with scalding eyes. She had seen him looking at her with an open mouth; it was not his proudest moment. "Believe it or not, women wear the exact same outfits as men here."

Derek slammed his jaw shut and spoke as his cheeks continued to burn. "I've seen several of you in my dreams, but I've never seen you without your cloaks. I was a little surprised, that's all."

"What else have you seen in your dreams?" Reynold asked him before Kendra could continue to scald him.

Derek propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the strange man. He, too, was in tactical gear that looked similar to Kendra's. The only difference was that his armor had white accents instead of brown. Derek looked at Reynold's face and noticed that he was very young—brutally young, in fact. His hair was silver and he had a robust chin, making him look sagely regardless of his age.