Ultraviolet

Chapter 7: Grim Reaper

(Author's Note: In some places, you will see three dashes in a row. Those are meant to resemble an em dash. I just put them there because there's not an actual character on the keyboard for the em dash, so I would have had to go copy one to paste every time I wanted to write. It was easier for me to replace them with three dashes.)

I continued my desperate search for hours until I felt like giving up. I had accepted the deaths of Rukni and I. I had failed to find Nopira, and I decided that there was simply no way to return to the other side once it was closed. He could leave the labyrinth, but then he would not be able to accompany me on my adventure, which he said would lead to my ultimate death. I would also never get to see him again. In my attempt to find Nopira, I had gotten lost, so the chances of me finding Rukni or vice versa were slim. I would die here in this twisted prison. There was a ceiling to this place, so Rukni could not fly out. He probably wouldn't ever find the exit either. I was all alone. Vainly hoping that I would find something, anything that would give me a clue to where I needed to go next to find either of my friends, I marched onward. The spring in my step was gone. My will to keep exploring the labyrinth was gone as well. I hopelessly stumbled around a corner, and my eyes lit up at what I saw.

It was Rukni! Even if it wasn't Nopira, I was still happy to see someone I knew.

"Yenyanga!" I howled.

"Rukni! There you are! I'm so glad I found you. I don't think I could have kept going any longer if I hadn't found someone," I cried out jubilantly.

"Oh, Dianne! Thank goodness! I was worried that I had lost you for good!"

"I see now that you were right that we should use the feathers to find Nopira. I am willing to use the feather method now, as long as we try to hurry. I dread what could happen to him if we wait any longer."

Together, we continued the search for Nopira. It felt great to have a friend beside me again, and better yet, a smart one too! I gently plucked feathers off of his tail, scattering them every several steps. I walked and he flew for miles upon miles. The dead ends and backtracking were discouraging, but we kept our hopes up. After much excruciatingly painful exploration, we came to a segment of the labyrinth that seemed familiar.

"Rukni! This place seems familiar, come along!" I called out to him.

I ran down the path, taking a right turn, knowing that if this was truly a familiar path, that there would be a feather near the right wall. Sure enough, I spotted a black, crow's feather right beneath my feet as I turned a corner. I looked up and saw Nopira sitting against the deceitful door, staring at the ground.

"Nopira, I made it back!" I busted out.

He jumped, clearly not expecting to hear such a loud scream.

"Dianne! I cannot believe it! Where is Rukni?" he inquired, just as Rukni appeared from around the corner.

"Yenyanga!" Nopira screeched.

"Rukni! Oh my goodness! You made it back too! I'm ecstatic, I can hardly breathe! I was sure you guys were goners. Now as for me, I could have just walked out of this place anytime I pleased, but I could never just leave you guys here!"

"If you left us, I never would have forgiven you. Not that it would even matter, since if you left we would have just had to go our separate ways," I joked.

From there, after our heartwarming reunion, we got ourselves together and began to conquer the rest of the labyrinth. We went back the way that we found Nopira, being too suspicious to use the door with the lever again. After an even more excruciatingly painful couple hours of labyrinth exploration, we made it to the end. Seeing the moonlight pour into the exit of the final hallway filled me with joy. We had done it! We had escaped the labyrinth. I never wanted to see another lever-activated door or symbol-covered stone walls ever again.

Nopira, Rukni, and I raced out of the exit, breathing in the fresh air, letting out celebratory howls. Our celebration was cut short by the rustling of leaves from around a corner.

A terrifying creature stepped out from the shadows, standing tall, giving us a menacing look. The creature's body looked like a tornado made out of pure darkness. It had the smile of a serial killer.

"WATCH OUT! It's a scahg!" Nopira screamed at the top of his lungs.

The scahg charged at us, and I was blinded by a flash of electric blue light. All of the sudden, Nopira was floating in front of the creature, holding a gigantic scythe. Had he transformed into the Grim Reaper? I didn't know whether I should run or gasp in shock. The creature teleported around him, and Nopira slashed wildly. Rukni and I backed off, fearing that we may be harmed in all the chaos. The creature gave an ear-piercing shriek and began to melt. It clawed Nopira and left a gaping wound in his side. Nopira slashed his scythe once again, but this time, it flew with a trail of the same electric blue burst of light that had blinded me moments ago. The creature seemed to involuntarily absorb some of the blue light, and the remainder of the light faded to a strange dark substance and rose into the air like smoke. At the absorbance of the light, the creature shrieked even louder, and Nopira kept slashing, despite being injured.

As the creature kept absorbing the light, he slowly began melting. Finally, after much fighting, the creature had almost melted into a puddle of darkness, and gave his last cries of desperation. It could no longer fight back in its form. Nopira pointed the tip of his scythe at the night sky, and it absorbed the darkness that had floated into the atmosphere. To finish the creature off, Nopira slashed his scythe one last time, channeling the darkness, and the puddle evaporated instantly.

Once again, I was blinded by the flash of electric blue light, and when I could see again, Nopira was on the ground, hunched over, breathing heavily. I saw the wound on his side magically heal, and he finally caught his breath.

"Whoa! What was that, Nopira? Are you okay?" I questioned.

"Oh, I just summoned my Dark Scythe," he answered.

"Ah, yes, of course, just your casual, Tuesday afternoon, Grim Reaper doing his job. Not! 'I just summoned my Dark Scythe.' What? You didn't tell me you had superpowers!" I hollered.

"Dianne, calm down. Every being from the First Reality has powers similar to mine. They can be extremely powerful when used, but they can only be used about once a week. Not to mention, we are also forbidden from using them unless we absolutely must by the Council. I only hid my powers from you because I did not want you to feel threatened by me."

"Wow, okay. I believe you. I feel like we should get out of here, like right now, though. I'd be furious if another one of those 'scahgs' as you call them came to attack us. You can't use your powers anymore, so we would definitely die."

"Yes, let's. Now that we've passed the Great Labyrinth, we can travel to the Miraculous Gateway with ease. If Nopira didn't already tell you, that's the portal to the Third Reality. First, however, we should take some time to rest. You and Nopira took on the Misty Forest, we just spent hours in a huge labyrinth, and Nopira just slayed a monster, so we deserve to take off some time from adventuring," Rukni said.