Death's Apprentice

7

"Morning," Death said.

I yawned. "Is it morning? The clock in my room's broken."

"No, it's not."

"Uh, yeah it is."

"Clocks don't work here. Well, normal clocks anyway. That one works fine." He gestured to one hanging on a wall.

I stared at it. "What the-"

"You really need to stop trying to cuss." He walked over and sat plate in front of me. "Hurry up and eat, we've got a lot of people to kill today."

He sat across from me and scarfed down his food before draining a full cup of coffee. He put on his scarf and cloak.

"How am I supposed to kill people exactly?" I asked.

"We'll figure that out later. Now hurry up would you? I have to grab something from upstairs and you'd better be done eating by the time I'm back." He walked upstairs.

When he came down, my plate had no trace of food on it. He chuckled and shook his head. He handed me a cloak and a scythe.

I put on the cloak. The cloth didn't pass my knees. "What is this from? When you were a baby?"

"No. It's from about two thousand or so years ago."

"How old are you?"

"How old do you think I am?"

"I don't know, eight thousand?"

"Ouch. That hurts me right here." Death placed his hand over his heart. "Actually, you'd have to ask God how old I am. Now come on, I gotta teach you how to kill people."

"I'm pretty sure I can figure that out by myself," I said.

Death shook his head, laughing. "I'm sure you could but I'd rather make sure you actually know what you're doing. If I don't you might accidentally make people immortal or something."  He walked to the door. "Come on."

I followed him outside. I didn't question him as he looked around and led me through his world. He stopped in a random spot and took off his cloak. He tossed it to the side.

"Right here should be good. Try to hit me." He turned to look at me.

"I don't feel like that's a good idea."

"If I were mortal, it would be a horrible idea. But lucky for you I'm not mortal." He grinned. He spread his arms wide, leaving himself open to any attack I might make.

I lifted the scythe and reluctantly swung it at him. He stepped back and the blade sliced harmlessly through the air.

"Seriously, kid? Take a swing. Make an actual attempt and not that baby stuff."

"I don't-"

"Kid, you are not going to hurt me. The scythe is full of death energy. Trying to hurt me with that would be like trying to dry a lake with water."

I nodded and lifted the scythe again. I swung it and I swung it with all of the power I could muster. Metal rang against metal and vibrations were sent up my arms. Death grinned and pulled my weapon out of my loosened grip.

"Forgot to mention, I've had forever to practice with this," he said, resting his scythe against his shoulder. "It's almost impossible for you to hurt me."

"Almost?" I asked. As far as I knew, you couldn't kill Death.

"There's a way to do almost anything. Except gettting soulstains out of clothing. It's worse than blood."

"Have you tried lemon juice?"

"I've tried the fiery pits of Hell."

I stared at him, making no comment. He smiled and handed me the smaller scythe.

"You have the basic motion down which is good. Though if you did mess up swinging that thing, you'd be pretty stupid."

"And using a scythe as a weapon isn't stupid?" I asked. "It's a farming tool, not a sword."

"You did not just insult my scythe," said Death. "This thing has existed longer than you and was forged with its only purpose being to reap souls and sever the living's connection to the mortal realm."

"Which is why it's a scythe?"

"Yeah, exactly. And this is a lot stronger than whatever versions you mortals have come up with. Comparing my scythe to a farmer's scythe is like comparing Rafe's hand to a baby's."

"Uh, I have no idea how to respond to that," I mumbled.

"Good, maybe we can get some training done now," he said, cracking his knuckles.

He guided me through basic moves, focusing on teaching me defense, along with the different ways to sever a soul's link to the mortal realm.

My least favorite option involved stabbing or slicing through them with the scythe. It seemed unnecessary when another option was whacking them. I wasn't sure how hitting them with the handle broke the chain, but Death assured me it was as effective as cutting through the chain itself.

"Do you feel any sort of power?" Death asked as he picked his cloak up from where he had thrown it.

"What?"

"Nevermind, it's not important right now. What is important is that we go attack some almost dead people." Death swung his scythe through the air and we disappeared.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around the room. There were a couple reception desks, hand sanitizer dispensers, chairs, and a magazine rack filled with random Sports Illustrated issues.

"A hospital."

"I can see that, but where at?"

"Does it matter? We're here to kill people not donate to their outpatient clinic." He walked through the halls to an elevator. He pressed the up button and pulled out his list. He carefully tore a page out before holding it toward me. "Here. Reap these people and I'll get you a donut from the gift shop."

I took the page. I didn't recognize the names on it, which I was happy about. I don't know what I would do if he told me to reap my family or friends.  "What do I do once I sever their chain?"

"Send them on their way. Just send them up and then they're God's problem. Unless flaming gates appear and they start getting pulled through. That's usually a sign they were a horrible person."

"Noted. See you when I get done, and you better get me that donut."

Chapter: 1,032

Book: 9,435

Welp, I forget NaNoWrite Month was this month

So I'll do that in December which will work out better since I won't have classes for most of the month

See yah