Rigor Mortis

Intruders

One and a half year old. The past two months more Grim Reapers had come to his place. And Rigor had no problems with it.

Wolf, male, adult, death by fight.

Rigor immediatly went on his way to guide. He always felt excitement when it was time to guide someone. It was a wonderful job. Something to look forward to.

A grey fur covered in blood was what he saw when he arrived at the scene. Bites in the face and the back. As he came closer he saw one ear was ripped off. He was shocked to hear a weak wheezing sound. He was still alive?

"Who is there?" he asked, blind as the blood had come into his own eyes. One of them was completely destroyed. It hang out of his orbit.

"Rigor Mortis." he said softly, as if the wind whispered it.

"Who is Rigor?" the weak voice asked again.

"Death." Rigor just said. He was surprisingly calm. It would be over soon.

"I'm a dead man." the wolf said barely audible. Rigor nodded, but the wolf couldn't see that.

"Yes." he simply responded.

"I am here to guide you." he continued.

"No Grim Reaper?" he said. The wheezing grew weaker.

"No. Just me." he answered. Again the wheezing grew weaker.

"Thank you." he whispered, but his wheezing didn't stop yet.

"You're welcome." Rigor whispered back and closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on the sound of his weak breathing. It became weaker and weaker, untill silence struck. Then Rigor opened his eyes again. A faint smile on his face. It was over.

He started his guiding. It was very peaceful.

Rigor had just entered his territory again when he noticed a strange smell. Corax came to him as fast as his wings could carry him. He could only just fly again.

"Rigor! There's a human here. The only thing we used to guide. But they became unpure souls. It was as a poison to Yggdrasil." Corax panted, exhausted from his flight.

Rigor looked at the raven who had landed in front of him with his head cocked.

"What did they do?" he asked. He had never heard of these humans.

"Too much, Rigor, they did too damn much against the rules of nature." Corax said. Rigor sighed. He left Corax and followed the smell of the human. When he knew he was close, he hid himself and sneaked closer. When he could clearly see the female human, he growled deeply. It clearly startled the woman as Rigor increased the noise.

"Get out!" he growled. The woman stood still, looking around her and yelling 'show yourself' at something she couldn't see.

"LEAVE!" he barked at her. The woman screamed and started to run. In the wrong direction ofcourse.

"Whatever the humans did, it sure made them retarded." he whispered to himself in a sarcastic voice. He ran after her and caught up with her. He jumped in front of her and made an unmistakable angry sound. Now she started running in the right direction. Out of his land. Rigor ran after her to make sure that this retarded idiot actually got out. When he succeeded, he only heard her weeping and crying out for help.

Rigor sighed. What could a species have done that made Yggdrasil say she didn't want them anymore and than make the species full of weird idiots that couldn't understand a simple hint?

When Rigor came back to his cave, Dux awaited him there.

"You scared that one good." he laughed amused. Rigor rolled his eyes and briefly looked at the lauging bird.

"I don't see how she couldn't take a damn hint. What about that?" he asked. Dux stopped his laughing and sighed.

"Yeah, it's quite sad, isn't it. They betrayed nature and their souls became poison to Yggdrasil. They did so much things wrong. They lost their bond with nature and they don't even believe in it anymore. They used to be full of respect. But things changed. It all happened a few years before your dad was even born." Dux explained. It was a long story short.

"Why would you ever betray nature?" Rigor couldn't believe it.

"I don't know. Wouldn't even come to mind." Dux shrugged.

"Weird." Rigor ended the conversation. He lay down and looked up when he saw another Grim Reaper arrive in his territory.

"But how's your dad doing?" Dux tried to keep Rigor talking.

"Fine." he said as a short answer. Dux gave up the conversation. Rigor was lying comfortable. He looked to the few things he had collected. The antlers of the deer, the claw of a bird of prey, and the skull of a hare. They were all carefully placed on rocks and platforms that stuck out of the wall on the outside of the cave.

In the middle of the night Rigor woke up. And with him, a few of the birds did. There was a tense atmosphere. Some cawed uneasy. The smell of humans once again made itself clear.

"What, again?" Rigor sighed. He stood up and ran towards Corax' tree. His dad would know what was up, right?

"Dad, why are they here again?" he asked.

"Because they're stupid. But they are armed now, I heard someone say. Armed forces and stupidity. What else do you want?" he said and sighed.

"They got crossbows. Be careful. They seek revenge."

"But I didn't even touch that human!" Rigor said unbelieving. Dux rolled his eyes.

"Rigor, they're humans. They think everything is their's and don't think about anyone else." Dux told him.

"Go do something about it." he continued. Rigor gave him a confident look and followed the smell.

He did the same as he did with the woman. That stupid female was with two man. One experienced older man, the other one a young boy. He was maybe 16 years old. Both had a crossbow. The woman was there to give Rigor away. But he wasn't scared that easy from some stupid idiots.

He growled at them and the woman was startled again. Telling the men that this was the same sound.

"Calm down honey, soon he'll be gone." the older man said. Rigor didn't understand what he was saying.

"Get out you idiots!" Rigor snarled. The young boy fired an arrow in the direction of the noise. It scared Rigor and he jumped out of his hiding spot with a loud bark.

"That's him!" the woman screamed. Rigor looked at them ferocious. He showed his teeth as a last warning. His white skeleton drawing looked furious too.

"Nice fur." the young man laughed. Both men looked at each other and then fired a shot. But Rigor had gone. They had seen him jump in the air and saw his sudden appearance as an eagle. That was a dangerous move of him since he still didn't have the skill for a good dive. But he flew away at great speed, leaving the humans speechless. What they didn't know was that the wolf who was now Icarus, sneaked up behind them and grabbed the young boy. He dropped his weapon as Icarus struck his claws in the back of the young man. He changed back to Rigor and bit his arm untill he heard a satisfying noise of screaming and his arm breaking. It happened very quick and Rigor attacked the older man now. He bit his forearm just to make sure it broke too.

"Now leave!" he shouted. And they finally seemed to understand.