The Reaper

Chapter 3

Liella's POV

Aspen is acting so weird. He's pulling at the air. Is this some sort of gang thing? I look around again. Nope! I don't see any other people- IS SOMETHING ACTUALLY MATERIALIZING?!!

I try to move closer but the surge keeps pushing me back. That's it. I've had enough of this crap. Aspen doesn't get to disappear. Not like Angel did. "Aspen! What the hell are you doing?! Wha- what's going on?!" My voice cracks and my tears turn to sobs.

I can barely see Aspen whip around, a look of pure terror on his face and I don't know if I want to know why.

My knees collapse from underneath my shaking form right as a large weapon of some sort appears behind him with an ethereal woman wrapped around it.

***

Aspen's POV

I'm focusing the surge into only the small amount of space that is the clearing so I don't unintentionally kill any trees, which is actually a lot more work than I initially anticipated.

Soon I feel the air start to solidify and immediately know to start pulling at the space to my right. Ferid taught me the specific technique of creating my scythe. I have to pull it into existence using the force of the surge and the picture in my mind. I guess you could say, I'm pulling it out of thin air!

I'm actually really excited for it if I'm being completely honest. It's gonna look so cool! After I make it, I'm gonna polish it and carry it around everywhere (not that I have a choice) and I'm gonna brag about it to all the other Reapers at the guild when the next meeting rolls around and everyone is going to be so jealous and-

"Aspen! What the hell are you doing?! Wha- what's going on?!"

Wait.
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•
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SHIT!

I whip around to see my best friend sobbing and clutching her chest. No. No Liella damnit! Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! You weren't supposed to come here! Why? Not again! Shit!

I go to take a step towards her but soon realize my mistake when her knees give out. Shit! No! Tears form in my eyes. I back up but am stopped by tender fingers. Shit! Not another one! I turn to see a woman with a sweet smile on her face. As if to reassure me.

It doesn't work.

My hands are immediately in my hair and I'm pulling. Hard. Why today? Everything was going fine!

She reaches out her slender fingers and gently pulls my hands from my head and then sets them in front of me with the the palms face up. My face is probably extremely panicked as she runs her smooth knuckles against my cheek.

"Calm."

My body relaxes.

"Good boy. Your friend will be okay."

At the mention of Liella, my head instinctively turns to face her but the woman pulls my attention back to my front. She runs her hand through my hair and points up with her other hand. "Look."

I do and am shocked by what I see. My scythe, floating in all its glory is drifting towards me. My tears spill over again as I reach forward. It's so beautiful. My hands glide over the grip and fit perfectly. Well, it was made for me after all.

I turn to the mystery woman and wipe my eyes, nodding to her. "Thank you. I would love to chat more but if you don't mind, I have to go to Liella. Could you maybe wait until tomorrow to talk more?" She nods with a wistful expression on her face and disappears into the woods with "You know where to look."

Not wasting another second, I rush across the small space to my best friend and kneel at her side, tears streaming as I throw up a jumble of apologies. "Liella im sorry! I'm so sorry! Please be okay! Can you get up? How's your chest? I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry please forgive me I never anticipated your arrival tonight I should've told you please get up are you okay I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so-"

Liella jumps into my arms and starts sobbing again. "You idiot! I thought you were dying! What..." she sniffs and tries to catch her breath. "What the hell was that? Stop apologizing and explain! Why did you turn transparent? Why do I feel so weird..." my eyes go wide and I can feel them dilate to an inhuman size.

"Liella. Hold on." I push her back and hold her at arms width. "What do you mean I'm transparent? And what do you mean you feel weird? No. Wait. First start with how you're feeling." That's the most important thing right now.

In the back of my head I know she's already dead but I just want confirmation from her first. It's too hard to believe that I've killed my last real friend.

"Well... I feel like I'm not really attached to anything anymore... but the thing is, I can feel you! I feel your hands on my arms, which are really warm by the way, but I don't really feel attached to my own body. Is that weird?" She slightly tilts her head at her thoughts and her hair sort of falls into her eyes.

If I wasn't so absorbed with the reality of the situation, I probably would have noticed the change of color in her right eye.