Of Demons and Reapers

Chapter 1: A Fateful Beginning

It wasn't as if her life was boring, or that she didn't love her family. On the contrary, she adored them all. Her life rarely ever had a dull moment to it. It was just that she craved for something more. Like she knew there was something missing in her life, but she just couldn't quiet comprehend what that thing was. Thinking back on it all she should have known she would never fit in with the others in her society. She always felt like an "old soul", as her sister had called it. Who had known that the key to getting her missing piece, would be the complete and utter destruction of everything she had once held so dear. Usually on her days off she would spend most of her time together with her friend. This day however, was to be different than any other day they had ever known. With their world in unrest and in constant conflict with each other's countries, it was only a matter of time before war was declared. This day in the year 2015, was when everything went to hell.

As the day dragged on Ariel found herself lost in her antics with her closest and most beloved friend Elizabeth whom she affectionately called Lizzie. Ariel was a normal height of five feet four inches, with brown eyes and dirty blonde hair that went down between her shoulders. Lizzie was five feet six inches; she had grayish green eyes and light brown hair that went just past her shoulders. It was a cool day, nothing very cold that you needed a jacket but cold enough that a long sleeved shirt would be needed. Both the friends were dressed in blue jeans and T-shirts. Ariel was wearing a purple shirt with black undertones; on top was a plaid white, grey, and black long sleeved shirt. She wore her crystals on her neck along with her ear cuff earrings. She was also wearing her blue and white sneakers. Lizzie wore a dark grey T-shirt with a Captain America hoodie. She had her dragon necklace on and wore her brown work boots.

While the friends were feeding the pigeons by the canal side as they usually would, the world they had always known came to an end. At first Ariel heard the sound of something high pitched causing confusion in her. She looked up into the sky, and saw an object getting closer and closer to the ground as an aircraft was quickly flying away. As she looked up into the sky, her friend Lizzie looked as well. Just before the object hit Ariel's eyes grew wide with fear and anguish as recognition of the object came into her mind. "Lizzie, that's nuclear bomb." Was all she was able to say before the skies lit up, her skin started to burn, and everything went black.

Her head hurt her, her eyes felt like they would burst from her skull. Strange visions of colors and shapes passed by her eyes and left as quickly as they came. The ringing in her ears was so deafening she couldn't bare it. She could just barely feel her hands squeezing her head trying to stop the pain, though she knew it wouldn't work. Her stomach felt like it had been rearranged in her body she felt so sick. She felt herself trying to scream from the pain but she wasn't sure if she actually did or not. She couldn't think, could barely breath, and for the life of her wished she couldn't feel her body at that moment in time. As she lay there on the ground in pain, she could only hope it would be over soon. Whether it be by death or the pain going away; she didn't care which at that moment as long as it all stopped.

After some time of lying on the ground, she was able to get her senses back slowly. Once that began to happen, she could feel she wasn't alone there. As she tried to open her eyes the bright light from the sun assaulted them, causing her to quickly close them again for another moment. Upon opening them again a few minutes later she was able to see much more clearly. She saw her friend Lizzie laying next to her in the same condition she was in; writhing in pain and trying to make sense of it all. Both of them in the fetal position and waiting for the last of the pain to leave them be at last.

While laying there as their senses came back finally; both friends looked at each other in bemusement as to what exactly had happened. They had both seen the bomb dropping down and hitting the ground. They both felt its heat as their skin began to evaporate from their bodies. So then how was it they were both still alive? It was a well known fact nothing survived a nuclear blast so close to the detonation site. They should both just be shadows of dust on the ground. It could have been another bomb perhaps, but then the question still remained. How in the bloody hell could they still be alive after feeling everything they did?