The Awakening of a Soul Reaper

Chapter 17. The Veil

He moves slowly forward, “I smell fear” he says laughing at her.

“Then it must be your own fear you are smelling” she says to him confidently I didn’t know that they can come out in brought day light she thinks to herself. 

“Well, if it’s not fear then it must be doubt” he moves quickly forward towards her and tries to s***h towards her with his hand but he misses, she jumps and pushed herself out of the way.

He is much more aggressive and eager to fight than the other one she faced, the other one took his time, this one start to attack from the word go she thinks.

She launches herself forward and cuts towards him, the blade goes through his arm, and she can immediately see that something happened, did she cause him pain?  He stands on the opposite side of the mat staring at her.  She looks down at where his arm was, there is now just a type of misty aura evaporating into the air.  While she watches she sees how he slowly start to regenerate his arm.  No, you don’t; I need to finish him before he finishes to regenerate himself, she thinks running towards him, with each step injecting power into it and then launches herself towards his left, then in midair she changes and moves to his right, she cuts of his other arm.  She landing behind him sliding to a stop.  I thought cutting a Vanish would be like cutting through air but still there is some resistance to my blade going through their body that might be the reason why Ignus told her to make the blade as thin as possible.

“Wow not bad!” he says “he picks his nose up into the air sniffing it, that essence of yours that soul, it smells so familiar, hum mm” he licks his lips.  He starts to move backwards she steps forward keeping them at the same length apart. 

“What do you mean it smells familiar?” she asks him pointing the blade at him.

“Humm, you don’t know…?” he says pulling his mouth into a smile and moving his head, taunting her.

“I think I just about had it with your games!” she dashes forward and slices again but misses, this time the blade of the scythe hits the wall creating a big dash in the wall, making some bricks fly through the air.  Oh no what did I do she thinks, looking through the big hole she made.  I cannot be distracted no she thought turning around looking at him.

She remembers Ignus said that if she fights against a Vanus that she should go into the veil, but how, he never told her how to do this.  She starts to concentrate and with her scythe she shoots herself towards a ripple.  Just fore she touches it she slices through the air and she moves through it as she moves into it she a suddenly burst of pain goes through her whole body.  On the other side she tries to recover herself, sitting crouches with her one knee on the ground.  He never said it would feel like this she thought.

She stands up and looks around, everything looks the same but different.  The walls of the gymnasium look tainted with cracks running through them and plaster lying on the floor, a half torn up roof is resting on walls by chance looking like it possibly can collapse at any given time.  The sky that is revealing itself through the opening in the roof is a dark reddish-purple color with dark clouds swerving around occupying most of the skylight.  When she breathes the air feels thick and it stinks of rotten molt, the first couple of breaths she takes is hard to take in.

Looking down at the mats and the floor, they are all torn up and dirty with spots on it that looks like dried blood and pieces of debris of the roof lying on it.  She stairs to where the Vanus should be trying to scan the aria.  All of a sudden, she feels a blow to her back and she gets tossed through the air.  “You should be more aware of your surroundings” he starts to laugh at her standing behind the spot where she stood.  After a couple of tumbles, he gets up and looks over at him, “Cheap shot!” she says coughing still finding it somewhat hard to breath.  “What did you expect my dear, a sleepover with a pillow fight?” he jokes teasing her.

She goes into an offensive stance, and leaps forward pushing herself with her power, as she nears him she, shoots herself to the right and stops.  She can see a glare in his eye, he was expecting that, she thought.  She looks at him, realizing that the first arm she cut off has now fully materialized again, and that he was hiding it behind his back, ready to strike.

“What’s wrong little girl” he sneers at her with a laugh.  She jumps lifting herself in the air moving towards the wall behind him, reaching the wall she lands with her feet pressing against the wall and pushing herself off it leaving plaster and pieces of bricks flying everywhere.  She slices through the air towards him, putting more power in her arms, she slicing towards him with the scythe cutting a big slit from his neck till just above his orb.

He breaks free and quickly retreats to the opposite side of the room “Wow, you almost got me there!” she says with a taunting sound in his voice.  She suddenly feels a pressure in the air, like a big weight have been put on her.  Then a big smash comes from behind the Vanus she is battling, debris flying through the air and in a hole that appeared in the wall stands a new Vanus.  Her eyes grow big I thought this cloak would hide my presence from Vanus and I don’t think I’m ready to face off against two of them goes through her mind. 

“What do you think you are doing?” the new Vanus asks the other one that she is battling.  This new one is much bigger and have a more mescaline formed of a man figure with a black aura that looks like flames that is licking the air.  “You were ordered to search for souls, for the master, not to start fights with Reapers” he yells at the smaller one whose wound is slowly starting to melt together from where she cut him. 

“Yes, but I thought…” the smaller one says with a tremble in his voice.

“You thought, you thought, you are not here to think, right now I feel like crushing your orb myself for disobeying direct orders” the big one shouts furiously, the black flames on him starting to grow bigger and more intense. 

“Now go, before I crush you!” he shouts ripping towards his core with his hands, and grinding his teeth.

The smaller one quickly disappears through the hole that the big one has just created when he burst through.

“Reaper!  I suggest you leave now it’s not time yet for you to come and play with us” he big Vanus says, slowly turning around looking at her. 

He is more collective and in control than the other ones even though there is hate and anger burning in his eyes and face.  She looks at him not really knowing what to make of this, why would he just dismiss her like this?  Just like the first one and what does he mean it’s not time play yet; does he have other plans for me?”

“Who are you?” she asks him.

With a sigh he replies “It does not really matter who I am, but I will tell you, I’m one of the three generals of ‘Tenebris’ you can call me ‘Hastam’, but now, go!” he shouts at her.

Not wanting to face off against this fearsome looking Vanus, she decides she is going to retreat, she concentrates and moves through one of the ripples.  Once again, she feels the pain of going through the ripple ripping through her body.  In the realm of the living, she sits flat on one of the training mats taking a rest as her cloak and scythe slowly starts to dissipate into the air.  After everything she conjures Ignus.

“Why didn’t you say it would hurt like that when I move through the veil?” she asks him a bit upset with him.

“I didn’t think that you would go through at this time” he replies looking at her and bowing his head.  “For souls and Vanus it’s easy to move from one realm to the other, we are not restricted by a vessel that feels pain, for humans its different, your whole body gets reborn into that realm when you move through it.” He tries to explain.

“Wow, birth surely is painful” she replies with a smile, “Luckily it doesn’t last long” she continues.

“For you, it doesn’t, because our essence and the cloak help with the transfer and also the healing once you are in the other realm, but if a human without these abilities would go through, I can think a painful death would await them on the other side.”

“Have a human without abilities ever gone through” she asks while standing up and getting her things ready to go home.

“Not that I’m aware off” he replies gliding in the air beside her.

Walking down the street on her way home she keeps Ignus manifested whispering to him while they walk.

“Have you ever seen the inside of the veil?” she asks.

“Not with my own eyes but, I have a conscious awareness about how it feels inside, even though I can’t see it I know what it looks like, death, destruction and the rottenness of foul souls that only brings chaos.” He replies. 

She tells him about the big Vanus that appears and that he calls himself one of the three generals.

“I once heard about that, in fact just before your father died…” he stops looking over at her.

“You are allowed to speak about him, please tell me" She asks.

“The one that came forth from between the others, he was followed by 3 other Vanus almost just as big as he was, I couldn’t see them clearly, before I was transformed” he replies.

She also tells him about what he said about not ready to play yet in an ominous way like he was playing with his words trying to taunt and confuse her

“I need you to be very careful, what you describing can only mean that they are up to something” responds.

Later at home she starts dinner her aunt is not home yet; she makes some pork chops with rice and mashed potatoes with a pepper gravy as she waits for her aunt to come home.  After her aunt comes home the two of them sits down and chat about the day’s events.