Death and the Lady

Chapter 3: Through the Door

Weeks passed slowly and painfully. Every day was filled with intensive rehabilitation therapy and counselling sessions. It seemed to perplex the psychiatrists that she didn’t seem to have any PTSD from her harrowing incident.

Today Lily sat on the edge of her bed in her bedroom. She was still relying heavily on her crutch and winced every now and then at a twinge from her ribs. The stitches had been removed from her leg ages ago and all that was left to see was a livid, red, star-shaped scar.  The bruises had long since healed and the scar was the only physical reminder left of that day.

The day she should have died…

Slowly she reached over and pulled out the skull key from the drawer in her bedside table. It lay heavy and black in her hand, almost accusingly. There was something she had to take care of, and waiting for her body to heal was taking far too long.

Lily took a deep breath and pulled herself up into a standing position using her crutch. She gave a slight wince as her ribs protested. She hobbled slowly over to her bedroom door and looked at the plain, brown imitation wood. The house wasn’t that old, being a new addition to the university in recent years. It allowed for lecturers to live on the grounds with their families, as many of the professors were married. Special allowance was made for children of these professors to also live here.

Lily closed her eyes and tried to remember what Ryo had told her. “Just put the key into any keyhole,” he’d said, “don’t worry, it’ll fit.”

Hesitantly she lifted the key to her door. She hesitated for a moment before pushing the key into the keyhole. There should have been no way for it to fit, but it did. It slid into the keyhole easily and with no resistance. The door slowly seemed to age and crumble, the imitation wood flaking away to reveal old, age blackened oak. It was covered in knots and whorls, as though a chunk of ancient tree had been cut out and used as a door. The handle became old and heavy pig iron, pitted and scarred for incorrect forging.

Lily yanked her hand back, pulling the key out of the door. Like flipping a card, the door returned to normal. Reaching out she felt the door and the plasticky imitation wood seemed to stick to her fingertips. Slowly she opened the door and looked up and down the hallway.

She could hear the tv in the other room and heard her mother chuckle at something on it. Slowly she pulled back and closed the door again.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the key into the door again. This time the change was not as jarring as before. She looked closely at the pitted doorknob. It was in the shape of a skull and it grinned back at her. The borders of the door were a skull and bones motif and where the keystone should have been, had this been an arched doorway, were two crossed scythes.

Lily drew another deep breath and reached out to take the doorknob. It was bitingly cold under her hand. Slowly she turned it and allowed the door to swing inward. It opened without a sound and seemed out of place. A door like that, one felt, should creak like a death-rattle.

Beyond was just whiteness. Stark nothingness that seemed almost as unnerving as the creak-less door.

Lily closed her eyes and stepped over the threshold, not sure what to expect. Nothing changed apart from the texture of the floor under her shoes. Instead of her slightly bouncy carpet it felt like smooth tile.

Lily slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She was standing in a long hallway, doors on each side of it, disappearing into the distance. She glanced over her shoulder and was in time to see the door close on her sunny bedroom. The door clicked shut and seemed to boil like tar, and changed into an ordinary wooden door.

Looking around she saw that the walls were what she liked to think of as ‘asylum white’ and the tiles underfoot was an alternating black and white tile. She looked up at the high ceiling and noticed the words etched deeply into the wall above the door.

BE THEE A KING OR THE LOWEST SWEEPER; ALL MUST DANCE WITH THE REAPER

She read the words silently and looked around. All the doors seemed to have something etched deeply into the wall above them. She could make out the ones closest to her, but the ones further away were harder to see.

“Those are reminders,” a voice said behind her and she swung around, putting weight on her injured leg.

Pain shot through her as she stumbled and felt the crutch slip from under her arm. She heard the clatter and saw it lying beside her, but she was being held up with strong, warm hands. She looked up, right into Ryo’s grinning face.

As usual he was dressed in his white coat with the stethoscope hung loosely around his neck. The bright light of the hallway reflected off his glasses and his usual grin was back in its place.

“As your doctor I should be scolding you,” he said pleasantly as he helped her back upright. “But, as your benefactor I must say that I’m happy to see that you’re finally here,” He bent down and lifted her crutch. “Although, it’s earlier than I expected.” He held out her crutch and she took it, slipping it under her arm and putting her weight into it.

“Earlier?”

“I would have liked to see you recovered more.”

“I’m not one to leave debts unpaid.”

Ryo grinned at her. “I can see that. Follow me.”

He turned and lead the way down the corridor. Lily looked around at the doors and read the inscriptions above them as they passed.

“You said these are reminders,” she asked as she hobbled after his quick stride. Ryo nodded without looking around. “Reminders of what?”

“To remain humble.”

“To remain humble?” she asked but was cut short when Ryo stopped. They had reached a pair of massive double doors. Lily tipped her head back to stare up at the heavy etching over the door, much larger and ornate than the others.

TO THOSE OF EITHER HIGH OR LOW DEGREE, THE GREAT SUBMIT TO DEATH, AS WELL AS WE

She whispered the words as she read them and saw Ryo glance towards her. He stepped forward and knocked politely at the door, waited a moment and then pushed at them with both hands. They swung back on well oiled hinges, revealing a massive, brooding study. He motioned her inside and Lily stepped forward.

The study was much larger than she’d expected, lined with massive bookshelves and thick, heavy drapes. Her eye was drawn to the heavy desk in the middle of the room and noticed the figure seated there, writing in a massive ledger.

Ryo walked to the front of the desk with Lily in tow. The figure was massive, towering over both of them as it sat, still writing, seemingly oblivious to their presence. Then Ryo bowed deeply.

“Master,” he said and the writing paused.

Death sat for a moment, looking down at the ledger before raising his polished skull to look at them. Slowly he set the pen aside and rose to his feet, unfolding his impressive height. He regarded them in silence for a moment before slowly lifting a hand.

LEAVE US, RYO, he said and Ryo bowed again.

“Yes, master,” he said and turned without glancing at Lily. Her gaze followed him as he silently left the study without a word or a backwards glance. Slowly the doors closed behind him.

Lily suddenly became aware of the silence in the room, heavy and oppressing, almost suffocating. Slowly she turned back to face Death as he stood over her, looking down at her without an expression on his polished features.

SO, he said, YOU HAVE COME TO REPAY YOUR DEBT, LILITH KNIGHTLY.

He walked from behind his desk, hands clasped behind his back. His bony feet made soft click-click noises on the tiles as he moved. Suddenly Lily became aware of just how heavily she was leaning on her crutch, of the almost ghostly pain of her ribs as she breathed. Maybe it would have been better if she’d waited longer.

“Yes,” she said and Death nodded to himself.

YET YOU COME TO ME STILL INJURED?

“I felt it’s best to get it out of the way sooner than later.”

ALAS, YOUR INJURIES WERE VAST AND SEVERE, RECOVERY MAY TAKE LONGER THAN YOU EXPECT. I MAY HAVE BEEN FOOLISH IN CHOOSING YOU.

“Do you ever really make mistakes?” Lily fired back at him and Death seemed to hesitate. His grin seemed to widen for a moment before he continued.

NOT AS A HABIT.

“Then why choose me if you feel my injuries were too severe?”

I AM IN NEED OF GIFTED REAPERS WITH STRONG SKILLS. AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE, YOU HAVE SKILLS THAT I CAN MAKE USE OF, THAT YOU CAN TEACH TO MY OTHER REAPERS.

“Why do you need me to teach your Reapers how to handle a sword?”

Death signed, it sounded like the whistle of wind through a dead street. THERE IS A WAR, AND MY REAPERS ARE FAILING. THEY NEED TO LEARN TO DEFEND THEMSELVES. THIS IS WHY I CHOSE YOU. He seemed to hesitate for a moment. THERE WAS ALSO A REQUEST, A FAVOUR BUT THAT YOU WILL DISCOVER IN TIME.

Lily stood watching him in silence, regarding him. Death, in his turn, was also regarding her in silence. Finally, she took a deep breath, lined the words up in her mind, and fired them out at him.

“No,” she said, her voice echoing around the empty room, “I defy all counsel, all redress but that which ends all counsel, true redress – Death! Death! Oh, amiable, lovely Death. Thou odoriferous stench! Sound rottenness!”

It was Constance’s monologue from ‘The Issue of Your Peace’, the monologue she had practiced so often for one of her classes. She knew she’d gotten the pitch of her voice just right as the room drank up her voice.

“Arise forth from the couch of lasting night, thou hate and terror to prosperity, and I will kiss thy detestable bones and put my eyeballs in thy vaulty brows, and ring these fingers with thy household worms, and stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust, and be a carrion monster like thyself!”

The words poured from her like a breached dam. Death stood impassively watching her, but she could see the pinpoints of blue light, felt them bore into her as she spoke. She spoke the words, older than her, and said what needed to be said. It felt like a promise, of something to come. He didn’t need another servant, but a warrior. A knight to save his people, his children.

“Come, grin on me, and I will think thou smilest and buss thee as thy wife. Misery’s love, oh come to me!”

Death regarded her in silence. SHAKESPEARE, he said solemnly as he turned his gaze away. DEAR CHILD, YOU WHO CAN BARELY STAND UNDER YOUR OWN POWER, DARE TO RECITE THESE WORDS AT ME? DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE PROPOSING? DO YOU HAVE ANY UNDERSTANDING?

With horrifying speed and silence Death was suddenly in front of her. She would have fallen over if he hadn’t grabbed her arm. For the second time she heard the clatter as her crutch fell to the ground. She locked gazes with him and she felt his anger burning against her skin.

ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY THE TOLL AS YOU ARE NOW? he asked, his face inches from hers.

“I am here,” she said with half a shrug and saw the pinpoints of blue flash red for a moment.

IT MAY STILL KILL YOU, EVEN NOW.

“I am not afraid to die.”

Death regarded her in silence for a long time., eyes searching her face. He seemed to sigh and straightened up.

NO, YOU ARE NOT. FOOLISH HUMAN, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT DEATH MEANS?

Lily was aware of the smooth bone on her arm as he still held it. In essence, he was the only thing keeping her upright at the moment. He extended his other arm in a sweeping motion and took a curved staff from the wall. In truth, lily hadn’t noticed it before now.

There was a click as he set it on the ground and the room filled with blue light as the blade slid from the wood. He pulled her arm forward, bony hand sliding across her skin and stopping at her wrist. He held her hand inches from the wood of the scythe.

TAKE IT, he instructed.

Lily started to move her hand towards the polished wood, but hesitated a hair’s breadth from it, feeling the cold radiate from it. It seemed to take all of her strength to close that final gap and take the scythe.

Then her hand closed around the polished wood, nothing seemed to happen for a moment. Then pain exploded all along her arm and she screamed when her skin turned white and started to tear. She tried to make her fingers uncurl from the staff, but her hand wouldn’t respond. Her legs sagged under her and she fell to her knees. She gripped her shoulder with her other arm and tried not to scream again as the pain shot through her.

Using the staff of the scythe, Death pulled her to her feet. She let out another involuntary scream as the flesh tore and rotted all the way to her shoulder. To her horror she could see pale bone through the rotting flesh.

“What are you doing to me?” she screamed through the pain. Everything was blurry as her eyes filled with tears.

Death thrust his face close to hers. THE TOLL IS TO BECOME SOMETHING BETWEEN HUMAN AND DEATH.

Lily screamed again as the rot moved across her chest and she saw, through the dripping strands of what remained of her clothing, the barely healed fractures of her ribs. The rot moved up her neck and over her cheek, making her one eye go blind. The pain was all around her, searing and white hot, cutting right into her bones.

Her scream was cut short as the rot moved into her chest. Her lungs stopped working and she left the agony as it moved into her organs. She tried to wheeze for breath, but nothing worked. She could no longer scream out the agony. Death lifted her and held her aloft by her rotting hand. With her remaining eye saw him leaning over her, his face impassive with that permanent grin stuck to his face. She could feel her life ebbing away from her as her vision began to fray at the edges.

Anger suddenly bubbled through her. After everything she’d gone through, after everything she’d survived, she was going to die here. She was going to die as miserably as she should have done under that rubble.

“No,” she wheezed out and saw Death’s expression change to surprise.

The word seemed to fill her with rage. She was not going to give in here, not after everything she’d gone through. She was not going to die here. The anger seemed to set her mind on fire. Then Death threw his bead back and laughed.

It was the strangest thing Lily had ever seen and she watched in fascination as the lower jaw jerked in time with the ponderous laugher. She felt her body mend as the rot receded, felt the knitting of flesh and skin as she healed. Something flowed up from her throat and she felt the ichor leave her body. It flowed over her body and dropped to the ground below her dangling feet. She coughed and spluttered as it left her.

Suddenly her fingers uncurled from the staff and she dropped heavily to the ground. She braced for the pain on impact, but it didn’t come.

CONGRATULATIONS, Death said as he stepped back.

Lily looked up in time to see him replace the scythe on the wall and turn to his desk. She quickly patted down her body, searching for any traces left by the rot and decay. Then her eyes snapped up and she surged to her feet, anger bubbling through her.

“What the hell was that?” she demanded and Death grinned down at her.

YOU ARE NOW SOMETHING BETWEEN HUMAN AND DEATH.

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

YOU HAVE NOW BECOME A REAPER.

Lily hesitated before snapping at him again. “What exactly are Reapers?”

REAPERS ARE MY SERVANTS. THEY GO INTO THE WORLD AND RETRIEVE THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO HAVE DIED.

“You mean I have to kill people?”

Death shook his head. I ENSURE THAT THOSE WHO MUST DIE, DO SO AT THEIR ALLOTTED TIME, THE REAPERS MERELY RETRIEVE THAT WHICH HAVE BEEN SPENT.

“So, what do I do now?”

YOU MUST STAY HERE FOR SOME TIME TO LEARN YOUR DUTIES AS A REAPER, AND YOU MUST TEACH THE OTHERS TO DEFEND THEMSELVES FROM THOSE WHO SEEK THE DOWNFALL OF THE REAPERS.

“You mentioned this before. A war, I think you said.”

THEY CALL THEMSELVES CLERICS, ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE LITTLE TO DO WITH THAT NOBLE PROFESSION. THEY FEEL THAT REAPERS ARE ABOMINABLE, THAT THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN UNDEAD AND THAT THEY MUST BE PURGED.

“And they kill Reapers?”

THIS IS CORRECT. ALTHOUGH REAPERS ARE EXTREMELY HARD TO KILL BY CONVENTIONAL MEANS, THE CLERICS HAVE DEVELOPED WEAPONS WHICH CAN HARM AND EVEN KILL REAPERS.

“Can’t you do anything about it yourself? Why do you need me?”

I DO NOT KILL; I MERELY TAKE WHAT HAS BEEN SPENT. I VISIT THE FALLEN REAPERS AND USHER THEM TO THEIR END.

Death gave her a pitying look before slowly sitting down behind his desk. He pulled the ledger towards him and lifted the pen he had been writing with.

UNFORTUNATELY, YOU HAVE ALREADY MET A CLERIC, he said and Lily blinked in surprise.

“I have?”

HIS NAME IS JOHANNES EISENBERG.

“That paramedic? Why hasn’t he tried to kill me yet?”

IT MAY BE BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT YET COMPLETED YOUR TRANSFORMATION FROM HUMAN TO REAPER, HE MAY HAVE HOPED TO SAVE YOU STILL.

“And if I see him now?”

HE MAY FEEL THAT EXTERMINATION IS IN ORDER.

Death reached over and rang a small bell that stood on his desk. The doors opened and Ryo walked in, looking a little pale and worried. He bowed when he reached the desk.

“You called, Master?”

TAKE LILITH TO HER ROOM AND ACQUAINT HER WITH THE PREMISES. SHE WILL BEGIN HER TRAINING IMMEDIATELY. Death seemed to regard Lily closely. ALTHOUGH I SINCERELY DOUBT THAT SHE WILL NEED IT.