Reaper

Reapers

Jasik was at my door a few nights later.

As I stood in front of him, leaning against the door frame with that familiar chill clinging to my spine, I noticed that he looked a little different.

He was still wearing his usual formal black clothes, his black hair was still neat and clean, and his eyes were still that strange black-rimmed golden color, but he looked different- perhaps more humble.

I raised an eyebrow expectantly at him.

"I wanted to speak with you about the other day at school." he said, his voice a little softer than usual. "May I come in?"

I thought for a moment before stepping aside and opening the door further.

"Thank you," He stepped inside and immediately started looking around, clearly just trying to familiarize himself with the place as the chill in my spine spread throughout my body. It really seemed like there was absolutely no amount of heat radiating from him at any point.

I directed him to the living room, and we both sat down on the leather couch.

He was clearly struggling to find a way to begin his explanation, which was unusual for him.

"What exactly did you do to those jocks?" I asked.

He looked slightly relieved that I started the discussion. "You're going to think I'm absolutely insane no matter how I answer that."

"Having simply seen that made me think I'm insane, so answer it however you want."

He dropped his gaze to the floor, took a deep breath, and looked at me. "I....I basically cut their lifespans in half, and double-marked them for death. I mean, everybody is already marked for death, but I'm sure you understand what I mean by that."

"Sort of; how did you make the glass skulls appear?"

"Those were spiritual molds of their own skulls that I summoned from the spiritual realm. They're neither physical nor imaginary; they're more like interdimensional objects."

"What was the red smoke stuff that went into them, and why did the eyes of the skulls turn black afterwards?"

"The red smoke-like substance was their life essence; every human has it. The eyes of the skulls turned black so that their life essence would stay inside the skull, and once those skulls return to the spiritual realm, the life essence will liquify and only fill up half of the skull, but only if the victim's lives were cut in half. They will be completely filled when the person dies. You've heard the saying, 'the eyes are the windows to the soul,' right?"

I nodded. "Now, what was the black smoke?"

"That was just dark energy; it can hold a human in place by connecting itself to their souls."

"Why did the jocks' skeletons flash like they were glowing?"

"It was a broken-boundary reactant, which means certain parts of the human anatomy- usually the skeleton- may be visible when the boundary between the physical and spiritual worlds are broken by dark energy that manifests as a visible, smoky form. It's not always the skeleton that becomes visible, though; sometimes it's the heart, intestines, or some other organ."

"That's actually kind of disgusting,"

"For some,"

"Why did your eyes turn completely black?"

"My father told me that it's supposed to happen when I use my abilities- and I'm not trying to sound like a superhero or something. I think we both know I'm anything but a hero by this point."