Afterlife's Vessel

I

  "To summarise everything I've been talking about. Fifty years ago, the Great Cataclysm of the Afterlife arose from an unexpected invasion of the Jyckept Witches. Conjuring a cerebral portal that leads to the Afterlife, they unleashed a pernicious onslaught of cursed sorcery."

The textbooks can barely recall the events, so why should we? Albori begrudgingly picks up his quilt pen, scribbling down the details of each page with incomprehensible handwriting. He's always carried a negative attitude for school, bearing relentless hours of studying was never his cup of tea. In addition to his reputation of a noble to keep abreast with, he's 'burdened with too much responsibility', or so he says.

Just as his final lecture of the day concludes itself, he lethargically packs his belongings into his brown breifcase. The smooth collision of red and yellow amplifying his cherubic facial features; two sparkling emeralds side by side, almost fully cloaked by stereoscopic, hunter green hair. Like a mirror for the beams of light, a tuft of the finest grass in a field.

He might appear to be a studious, seamless, know-it-all star scholar within campus, but beyond the school gates, his uncoordinated and awkward tendencies start to slip out, the facade of perfection dissolving when interacting with anyone including his family, and of course: his best friend Amyn.

Amyn was a retriever; People personally recruited from the Afterlifers that recoup the spirits of the dead to the Afterlife. By placing a seal on a spirit once it's near subduction, they lose their physical form and get imprisoned within the Apparition Lantern of whoever sealed them. The techniques Retrievers use to weaken them are exclusive to everyone, but their goals are all shared: to purify this world of disorder.

When a human dies, their spirit will vacate from their body after 24 hours. Before then, Retrievers will exorcise them before the spirit can physically manifest.

When a death is unregistered or unnoticed, that's when spirits will emerge. The longer a spirit is left unattended to, the more magic energy they will drain from their corpse. Even if they're separated, an imaginary thread will still join the spirit and corpse, eventually until the spirit has drained all, resulting in a potentially large threat.

Contrary to what most people believe, the true role of Retrievers are not to simply provide consolation for a mourning family, but to combat the ghastly fiends that wreak havoc upon our world.

While treading along the rock pavement, Albori carries his worn-out leather briefcase in his left hand, and skittishly fiddling with the hem of his coat with his right. Out of the blue, a hand slaps the back of his head in a playful manner.

"You look gloomier than yesterday, Albori."

"Amyn, the comparison isn't necessary."

"Such a killjoy, aren't you? When are you going to take a break from studying? I need plenty of attention from you, you know..."

Amyn says in a pleading, beseeching tone; blocking Albori's path and placing himself right in front of his face.

"You need to focus on your job more. Being a Retriever in the capital is really important. Everybody is figuratively and literally relying on you."

He sighs and pushes Amyn and his advances away.

"Being a Retriever is really stressful, you know. There's always a looming pressure surrounding the fact that I'll die if I don't retrieve souls on a regular basis. You're making it all worth it, you know."

Albori unexpectedly flushes from Amyn's last compendious statement, caught off guard from how he's really thought of in Amyn's perspective.

"W-Well, you probably don't mean it anyways."