009
1469 Words
Chapter 9
I stormed into the spiritual realm, slamming it's large gate hard behind me.
The realm’s guard flinched at how much energy ad force it wielded.
I didn't bother turning. I headed straight for the “Elder territory.”
“Remur! Aiyana! Potter!" I barked their names as I headed in. The guards at the entrance bowed to me, but I walked past defiantly.
Normally, I should have waited till they summoned me but I didn't bloody care at all.
“Where are your elders in this realm?" I questioned one of their servants there.
“Get someone right here before I lose my temper right now." I barked.
Two months.
“Remur, you lied to me. Didn't you?" I yelled, as he was rushing towards me from the end of the hallway.
Aiyana from the end of the hallway behind. And Potter behind Remur.
“You all lied to me, didn't you?" I stretched backwards, my hands covering my face in frustration, my teeth gritting.
“What is wrong, reaper?" Potter asked calmly. Too calm that in this situation, the only thing I wanted to do badly was send a gut-wrenching punch to his stomach.
Yes, it'd cost me punishment… maybe years of punishment, but it'd mean enough has been served.
“Oh! Maybe like you don't know so you can tell me." I sneered, then a mocking laughter followed.
“You lied to me, Remur. You told me my powers would return once I went on that mission and it's been two God damn months." I made a sign with my fingers, yelling “Two!"
“Reaper—"
“Oh. Let me speak, I'm not done." I shunned Elder potter.
“I do all I can, just to make sure my powers return and I'm free, but now, it seems you all connived to steal my powers, didn't you?" I made sure I looked all three of them in the eye. The silence that followed was heavy. “You bloody bunch of thieves—”
"Arden Atticus!” Aiyana roared my name. Stern. Firm.
The air shifted immediately.
I almost lost the fueling anger inside of me.
"If you refuse to behave, I shall have the guards escort you out and ban you from ever setting foot in this realm until you regain your senses."
By guards, she meant the "war guards”. The same who fought our wars against the spiritual werewolf-vampire hybrids, and rogues.
I wasn’t quiet because of fear. If at all, I was the last person to ever get scared.
But I was quiet out of respect for this same woman had raised me. She, the head of mothering elders, had raised me for over seven hundred and fifty years since I found myself in this realm.
And even as a seven hundred and seventy seven year old reaper, she still stands as my Mother.
I didn't apologize. I didn't avoid her gaze instead. I was just there… standing like a ticking bomb that would never explode.
Her gaze stayed on me for a moment longer than comfort allowed.
That was when I remembered the burning energy I'd drawn from my staff was still the only weapon I should've tossed away, so I did what every other child would have.
“What's wrong with you, my child?" She rushed to me, but didn't touch me. She knew how to deviate between being a strict Mother and a soft Mother.
A quiet beat passed.
"My powers haven't returned.” I finally looked at them, my gaze softening.
“Arden,” Elder Remur called my name. Our gazes locked, his was infuriating because I knew what he was going to do next.
He came at me with his staff and whipped me. God.
Had he grown too old to understand I was now the Soul Reaper of the realm? And no longer that baby wolf his wife used to raise?
And why was I running? Because I was used to being chased for fun, by him.
When he stopped, all three of them burst into laughter. Only I didn't.
I was too serious. Too damn serious.
“The reason your powers haven't returned is simple. You haven't completed your mission, Reaper.”Elder Potter clarified.
A silence settled, heavier this time.
“But it's been two months. And you have no idea how much I've been trying to complete it. I—"
“Son," Mother Aiyana called softly, so I turned to her. “Your powers will return once you get your mission completed.”
I heaved a sigh. Not because I was relieved, but for the exact opposite.
A long pause hung between us.
“The things I do make me uncomfortable and I don't know how to.” I explained, my voice misty.
I wasn't going to cry… but my vision was already misty.
All of them looked at me with pity and concern because in reality, I was Arden…the man who'd haunted down souls all his life.
I really didn't know how to love someone.
“Love her, Reaper.” Potter told me.
“Love" and “Reaper" in the same sentence was clearly the same as a word and its opposite.
“You cannot stay for too long, Reaper. You know the realm cannot accommodate those with unfinished—"
I knew what he was going to talk about, but the bells began to chime before he finished talking.
Even the realm doesn't want me in it.
Right there, I wielded power from my staff and travelled back to earth.
The shift was instant, but heavier than expected.
It was dark here meanwhile, I'd left as early as 6AM before Elana got out of bed.
I hated everything I had to do but I couldn't help that it was necessary.
Wanting and having to do something are two different topics. I didn't want to do them, I had to do them.
Love. Love had always been a foolish thing to me. It'd falter your judgements and then, leave you in ruins after everything.
My powers left me, twenty on years ago and since then, it felt like a major part of my life had been taken away.
Who would a Soul Reaper be without his powers?
Every God damn time, I had to wield power from this staff just so I could travel through both realms and also realm souls.
The elders tried to contact the moon god and goddess in quest for whatever I'd done wrong, asking that he temper justice with mercy.
Nothing worked until this mission eventually arrived.
I walked into the pack's wine bar, passing through the many people who were having fun in their own terms.
The noise of them barely touched me.
“Let me have two bottle of Fina Cheng, please.” I said to the receptionist.
“The alcoholic or non-alcoholic?"
I mind-linked her to bring the first one.
When she brought it, I paid and left. Alcohol didn't use to have effect on me, but since my powers left, it began to.
When I got home, Elana wasn't home. She'd mentioned she'd be at Greyman's.
So I sat in the living room and poured myself as much wine as I could.
Maybe drinking to forget all my worries would be good.
That was the original plan, but when one bottle was almost downed, my mind became chaos instead.
My mind started returning to her name. Elana. Each sweet-sour gulp felt like a taste of her lips. From that night.
"Arden!” Her voice broke through my head. I raised my head, pouring another gulp down my throat. " Jesus. You reek!” She tried to yank both bottles away from me, but my grip was stronger.
She didn't stop struggling until she had the first one, but I held the second. Almost empty.
“Whatever might be going on with you is not enough for you to waste yourself this much on alcohol, you drunkard!" She hissed and I could say, something stung inside of me.
My body stilled, my grip on the neck of the bottle. "Do you ever feel hurt and miserable?” I didn't know what pushed me, but I found myself questioning her.
A beat of silence.
She scoffed, glanced at the bottle in my hand and then brought her gaze back to mine.
Silence stretched between us, before she finally answered. “Everyday of my life, Arden."
Something inside of me quieted. That was true.
Her life was more painful than mine. I handed the bottle over to her for a sip, but she shook her head.
"Everyday of my life makes me hurt and I regret living.” She sniffed. "But I'd rather deal with my pain than do this…” h
- Writer
