💀Death's Apprentice💀

Chapter Five: The Tablet

The Apprentice

Guards began to pour into the room, pushing the furniture against the walls and bringing in artifact after artifact that had once filled the halls of the manor. An enormous stone slab was placed into the center of the room as a makeshift pedestal. Hawthorne paced back and forth in front of the fireplace as he waited patiently. He held the Scythe deftly in his hand as a smirk played across his lips. I watched with a glare from beside Rose-how could a human see through the Scythe's veil?! It was impossible!

Only beings with magic in their blood could-unless... My eyes fixated on his glasses. They had wooden frames, and when they glinted you could see a shimmer of blue light. Hawthorne felt my gaze and turned to look at us carefully. We glowered at him with even more intensity. He pointed the Scythe at us.

"Thank you for collecting this for me." Hawthorne taunted. He leant over the table before snatching up the Rose's phone and files and tossing them into the fire. The guards beside me grunted as Rose jerked and struggled to get free, but it was no use. She was only able to wince as they tightened their grips. Hawthorne chuckled as the last artifact was carried in. I zeroed in on it instantly.

          Onto the pedestal it went. It was a gigantic tablet of dark stone etched with sparkling runes. It looked like someone had somehow melted down diamonds and poured them into the grooves. Something about it's magic was...off. Hawthorne strode over to it and examined it.

          "What do you want?" I snapped.

          "The world...but this will do for now." He replied as traced the runes thoughtfully with the tips of his fingers. "There are so many laws of nature that we're forced to adhere to. We all are given the gift of life. We all grow up alongside our families, fall in love, and get old. And we all at some point must die.

           Not everyone gets a fair life, or even death. Some are taken early. Others are taken late, but in gruesome ways. Others are taken at just the right time, but have had such a miserable life that they may as well have not." Hawthorne leaned forward with an excited grin. "But it doesn't have to be that way! Why can't we live a life we design, and choose to go when we please? Or even deserve the right to not go? Who says we have to abide by these unfair laws of nature?" Hawthorne rambled on.

          "Me!" I shouted.

          "You..."Hawthorne spat venomously. "You have been quite the problem, haven't you? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get close to you-not to mention the legendary Scythe? It took me ages to find an assistant with the right personality for my plans? I wasn't even sure this one could pull it off!" Hawthorne gestured to a snarling Rose.

          "But she did, and I will forever be grateful for that because now...I can do this." Hawthorne lifted the Scythe above his head and brought it down with a vengeance. He swung so hard I thought the blade might break, but instead a surge of power ripped through the air in a blue ripple before dissipating. Blue light began to emanate from the runes as if pure magic was being poured into it. Hawthorne squeezed his eyes shut as power a haze of blue smoke began to materialize in front of the pedestal. I watched in horror.

          A shape began to form in the midst of the smoke. It rose from the floor and into the air. Thump! The mist dispersed as the silhouette fell to the floor. It was a young woman! She couldn't have been past her early twenties. A long, satin dress clung to her petite figure, and sparkling diamonds were draped around her neck and ears. Her lips were blood red.

Her hair was brown like Hawthorne's, but her eyes were bright green. They flashed around the room in terror. She had no idea where she was... Hawthorne rushed forward to help her up, but she shoved him back with a shriek as panic set in. He flew back and collided with the wall.

           "What the h-" I started to murmur as Cedrick stared in shock. The woman tried to back up, but her legs were too wobbly to get far, and she began to fall again. Hawthorne leapt forward to catch her. He forced her to look him in the face as she tried to wriggle away. She tried to jerk her head away as if to look for an escape route.

"Katherine! Katherine, it's me!" He cried.

"...Cedrick?" The woman-apparently Katherine-whispered. Hawthorne nodded in excitement and apprehension. Katherine looked over his face carefully, as if trying to figure out whether or not he was real. Then she launched forward to tackle him in a bear hug. The two of them laughed as he spun her around and sunk to the floor. Tears streamed from both of their eyes.

"My baby brother's all grown up." Katherine murmured. Hawthorne laughed. "You've gotten so tall! And you're wearing glasses now!" She giggled. Hawthorne nodded as his face grew serious. He gently pulled his older sister up as he fixed me with a glare.

"Actually, I don't wear glasses. I just needed them tonight in order to see..." Hawthorne turned his sister around to face Rose and I. "...these two. Death and the living dead." Katherine spun around to watch me carefully. Her eyes assessed me coldly. Curiosity shone in her eyes.

"You see, Katherine was stolen from me at a young age. Murdered at a gala by our middle step-sibling. For money. They would have murdered me, too, if I hadn't beaten them to it. She should have lived a long, happy life. Instead, you made sure that she died a painful death before accomplishing her dreams, falling in love, anything really.

"She was all I had left in the world. You took everything from us. And now I'll do the same thing to you by destroying your perfect little system. I will break the laws of nature, take anyone you love away from you, and then I will leave you alone in the world for all of eternity. No one will fear Death ever again." Hawthorne seethed. I began to look around the room as Katherine put a gentle hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Cedrick..." Katherine spoke.

"Not now."

"Cedrick!"

"What?!"

"That's not Death!"

"...What?"

"Death was there to escort me to the afterlife when I was killed. That's not him!" Katherine explained. I continued to look around the room. Even without the Scythe I would have enough magic left in me to travel. But I couldn't leave Rose, and I definitely couldn't leave the tablet with these maniacs.

"Then who is this?" Hawthorne asked.

Katherine shrugged.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Hawthorne roared.

"I'm Death's Apprentice..." I growled. Bam! I jerked my head to the left and head butted one guard. His grip loosened for a moment, and I took advantage of it by slipping out of his grasp and swinging right to punch the other guard square in the nose. It wasn't enough to knock them out, but it was enough to get loose. I leapt past the siblings and snatched up the tablet from the pedestal.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" A guard bellowed. It was too late. I had a feeling that if we stayed we'd be shot anyways. Hawthorne tried to block me, but a quick swing of the tablet and he was on the floor in an instant. Katherine gasped and flung herself to the ground to check on him. I sprinted towards Rose as fast as I could. The click of a gun could be heard amongst the disarray. I dove and reached for Rose's arm...

BLAM! Searing pain tore through my leg and a scream erupted from my mouth. I forced myself to move through the pain and curl my fingers around Rose's wrist. Woosh! Black fog enveloped the two of us as the sound of wind and shouts whirled around us. Rose screamed as we were lifted and thrown through the air.

          "NO!" Hawthorne boomed.

          Then everything went quiet.