The Ominous Illusion (ON HOLD)

Chapter Two

A few days went by without Ceylan hearing the eerie voice that gave him nightmares. At first he was slightly paranoid, knowing that the dank air and musty smell had been too real to have been his imagination. The others asked him repeatedly about his strange behaviour, and he had insisted it was nothing.

He had even managed to carefully convince himself.

Ceylan was walking home with Guren, whistling to the tune of the music his ear phones were producing.

'Ceylan...' He didn't notice it, not at first. But then it whispered louder, and he ripped the technology from his ears.

"What?" Ceylan glanced at Guren, sighing slightly. "You'd better have a good reason for disturbing my favourite song."

Guren's confused expression was soon mirrored on Ceylan's. "Huh? I didn't say anything."

"You sure?" Ceylan forced a weak smile, feeling uneasy.

Guren smiled back. "Yeah."

'Ceylan... Go to your garage.' Ceylan felt goosebumps emerging from the back of his neck. He attempted to ignore the voice but it whispered again. 'Hurry. Go to your garage.'

Ceylan let out a long and wary sigh. "Sorry Guren. I need to go somewhere."

"Huh? Dude, why are you-" Guren stopped himself, a sad look taking over his innocent features. There was no point in finishing his sentence. His best friend was already gone.

"What? Why am I here?" Ceylan arrived at the garage, his face pale.

"Because I told you to." Ceylan spun around at the sight of an ordinary-looking girl.

"You're..."

"Yeah, Melodie Thomas. Surprise," The blonde flicked her long hair and flashed a taunting smirk at him. The only thing striking about her was her violet eyes, which were becoming a common occurence in Benham City. "Did you expect me to be some old granny?"

"I just... You're normal. And you don't talk like... Like..." Ceylan stuttered, unable to find words.

Melodie's eyes flickered for a brief moment. "Normal? Hah. I stopped being normal the moment I started reaping souls. You're not normal though. Not by a long shot."

"How do you-"

"Know? Observations, of course. No wonder Gen outsmarted you guys so easily. You're pretty easy to read, easy to spy on... And with reaper powers you're just a puppet." This earned a glare from Ceylan.

He clenched his fists. Who was she to say all this?

"So I guess you don't need my help anymore. Since you know, I'm stupid." Ceylan retorted. Melodie childishly stuck her tongue out in response.

"But my time is almost up! You have no idea how boring it is to do the same thing for a month."

"A month? That's it?" Ceylan started getting excited.

"Yeah," Melodie brought out a scythe in broad daylight, her eyes lightening up at the sight of it. "But trust me, it's no fun."

"Let's just get this over and done with." Ceylan cracked his knuckles. Surely if he was able to be a tenkai knight he could easily be a grim reaper?

"Of course. I'll be training you for the next 3 days and after that you're on your own."

"And then I'll have to mentor someone else for 3 days?"

Melodie nodded. "30 days. Lucky, you've got one day less than me."

"I should've been picked on February." He mumbled.

"Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Yeah. Let's get this show on the road."