Woven

Ryan: Chapter 10

Uh, total twist there; Ryan was totally not expecting it. And, of course, the one person who Dom wanted to meet the least was the one who happened to be able to help them. Speaking of Dom, Ryan glanced over to him. He had a hand over his face and was shaking his head, evidently not liking the situation.

Dom gave an exasperated sigh, "Of course it's you. Do you know of anyone who has information about the Reaper?"

Animus chuckled heartily, "Heck yeah, that's me!"

Ryan thought that his accent had a certain ring to it. Faintly middle Southern, perhaps?

"Y'know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a passive aggressive attempt to avoid me," his face darkened and his voice lost all traces of the accent, "You wouldn't try to get rid of me, now would you?"

Just as Ryan was shocked at the change in attitude, Dom also seemed speechless, but he managed to choke a few words out, "Sir, w-we'd be glad to accept any help you have."

The all-powerful being brightened up again, "Well, isn't that precious. Maybe it was my accent that irritated you, so I guess I'll stop that."

Ryan sighed, "Thank you."

"Careful," Animus warned, "you wouldn't want to show exasperation, now would you?"

"Uh, no?"

He shrugged, "Fair enough." He waved his hand and seven chairs appeared in a semicircle in front of the desk. There was even a cushy bed for Mia, "Sit down; I have a story to tell you."

Taking their seats, they all politely turned their attention to Animus. Ryan found the differences between him and Anima to be very major; while Anima was flowy down to her core, perhaps not counting her slightly masculine face, almost everything about Animus was rugged. His curvy face was covered with a five o'clock shadow, his clothes were bulky leather, and the muscles that showed were bulging and veiny.

Animus spun on his chair once before settling in, "Well, you see, a long time ago, there were three beings that presided over Dream. Those were Anima, the Reaper, and myself. We all lived in balance and harmony for a while until blah, blah, blah, tragedy, treachery, and undercooked waffles."

Unfazed by the comment of a poor breakfast experience, Ryan desired to know more than the rushed details, "Can we maybe know more than the rushed details?" He winced to himself; he certainly had Therin's eloquence.

"Why, certainly, good sir, if there are others who wish to hear the full tale?" He glanced at each of them sequentially, and they all consented when it was their turn, "Very well, I guess I'll tell you.

"Long ago, there were three powerful beings, each with responsibilities in Dream, where they watched over the land and the people in it. Anima and Animus, that's me, were a perfect balance for each other. We still keep the other in check, though she ends up scolding me the most, unfortunately. I hate that woman. But I digress; a while back, a few decades, centuries, or eons, whatever, the Reaper became dissatisfied with the attention he was getting. Or rather, the lack of it. It was mainly focused on me. It really didn't like how, since it was charged with maintaining the balance of Essence, that he had basically no job, so h- uh, it started making his job important, moving Essence around from one being to the other and fixing it, pretending it didn't know the cause of the disruptions.

"Eventually, I caught it in the act, with a little help from Anima. Together, we cautioned the Reaper that if it continued in what it was doing, there would be dire consequences. Of course, since she did most of the talking, it didn't listen, so we were forced to try and weaken it, but I fear we only made things worse. Now, it roams around, sucking up all the Essence it can from an area before moving on. For some reason or another, demons from regions it visits all follow it around, aiding in the destruction and relishing in the pain they cause.