Diary of a Red Reaper

(13) Lessons

Dank very quickly started spewing out all kinds of information, I barely managed to hear it all.

"The most important thing to know about Hell, is that it is completely separate from other words. This place exists outside of time. There is a day and night here obviously, but time itself is non existent."

"Therefore while you are here you will not age. Thats why when I open portals for you, which are called 'world tears' by the way, you need to move quickly and avoid drawing attention to yourself because you may not be in the same time as before. But despite that you will not need to worry about 'altering' time, everything that you do was already meant to happen."

"You are not the only Red Reaper, there are several of you, I have no doubt that you will encounter others eventually."

Dank took a short break and a deep breath before continuing his lecture.

"When a Red Reaper is created their soul is taken as payment for their new powers, often along with their memories so they won't try to return to their normal lives. But, a body without a soul will soon wither away into a lifeless husk. To keep this from happening, a special red flame is placed inside them where their soul should reside.

"Soon, you will have an inner battle, a battle that will decide what you become, for most reapers it is one of the greatest fights of their existence. Normally it takes a much longer amount of time and spiritual development for a reaper to go through this process, it is set in motion the first time they transform into their beastial form, But you, for some unknown reason, transformed very soon after your arrival in hell. But that wasn't the only thing off about your early transformation."

"Your beastly body was extremely far along development, correct me if I'm wrong, but you tripled in size at the very least, and you already had wings. This is NOT normal for your first transformation... You also seemed to have developed even more in your most recent fight, horns and a tail now. I watched it through a crystal ball. Not to mention your ability to masterfully use your weaponry and your fire abilities. If your powers keep growing like they have, you will surly be consumed.

"Well what could has caused all these sudden changes?! How do I stop this?!" I ask desperately.

"It can not be stopped, its far to late for something like that, and as for why... I can only guess its because of your little buddy there." Dank says as he motions to Scythe.

"What? Scythe? How could he be causing this?" I ask.

"Well, after seeing you battle with him, using such extreme power, I did some research. He seems to have a striking resemblance to a legendary tool used by one of the first Reapers... Forged long ago and imbued with the blood of Satan himself..." Dank stated.

"Yes? So what? I already told him that, what does that have to do with anything?" Scythe asked.

"The raw, dark power, that gives you life must be slowly seeping into Red's body, right into the spot where his soul goes. Normally his soul would be tainted, which would kill him if he was human and that would be the end of it. But since his soul is gone and he has a flame instead, his red flame is being replaced with a black one... Very few beings can mantain their sanity, or even their existance while in possesion of a black flame."

"Up until now, you've worked with the darkness, used it as a tool. But now is very well may consume you. Your mind will be destroyed and you shall cease to exist... Well... When I say you will cease to exist I mean... Something else... Will inhabit your body. It's very difficult to explain.

"Assuming you are able to maintain control of your body and hold onto your sanity, you will likely develop your lightning abilities, red lightning will be at your disposal. It is extremely fast and Versatel."

"I don't think there's much else that's I need to tell him, we can start some physical training soon. Not that it will even matter, he'll go insane soon enough."

"Hey now. Don't think like that, stay positive." Scythe replied.

"How can you possibly stay positive after just hearing all that?" Dank asked rudely.

"I don't know, but I like to have hope. Is there any ways to help maintain his sanity?" Scythe asked.

"How should I know?! Try eating your vegetables, haha!" Dank said while laughing.

"Come on Dank! Help me out, stop being such an asshole for once!" I pleaded.

"Fine, try keeping a diary or something. Maybe if you can review your thoughts later it'll help you keep a grasp on your state of mind. Now if that'll be all, Master... I'll take my leave." Dank said, as he walked through a new world tear he had made.

Dank'a final words before he disappeared were muffled.

"Let's hope he doesn't go grim... There would be no saving him then..."