Chapter 9

The Reaper

Meredith ducked, stone flying over her head in the form of darts. The soft sound of them impacting with the grass alerted her to Eddie’s movement at her side, hands glowing with magic.

“Hey, just stand still and let me hit you!” one of the Order members shouted. He was holding his stone sword in front of him, like it would protect him from her current advance, while his other hand was touching to one of the walls. From there, the stone darts were forming. His companion remained unmoving.

“Watch my back! We’ll take them out and get out of here,” Meredith said from the corner of her mouth. Eddie acknowledged with a nod and his hand was lit ablaze. The fire swirled, but Meredith swung her sword out. The cultist raised his own and the two clashed. He was pushed back. “Sorry.”

Meredith whipped her foot out. The cultist was sent off balance by the kick contacting his chest. He made a brief sound of air expelling, and his eyes bugged out of his face, before he went flying down to the ground. Eddie, too, was acting. The flame flowed from his hands like a pair of whips that went for the remaining cultist and wrapped around his legs. With a yank, the man was sent spiraling through the air and landed atop his compatriot.

“Oof, that hurt…Why’d ya hit us so hard? We just want some answers!” the first cultist cried. He shoved his ally off, both rubbing their heads and attempting to stand. Meredith turned her body to the side, keeping her sword at the ready. Neither of the cultists moved to act, though the one that hadn’t attacked was on his knees, head bowed in prayer. “We’re lookin’ for somethin’! So, tell us everything.”

“Uh…you attacked us, you know?” Meredith pointed out. She was starting to feel her eye twitch. For being harbingers of doom wherever they went, the members of the Order didn’t seem all too bright.

“We find people talk better when they’re all beat up.”

“Oh goddess, have mercy, they know not of their ignorance.”

“They’re weird,” Eddie said. He wasn’t backing away, however, as he made to bend towards the ground. From the change of colors in his soul, Meredith knew exactly what he was trying to achieve.

“Look, we have nothing to say. We’re just passing through, so get a move on.” The first cultist blinked before his eyes narrowed into an enraged glare.

“How dare you besmirch our Order! Our goddess!”

“When did I-? Aw, hell!” If she thought they were stupid before, the man’s reckless charge just proved it. He swung his blade wildly, but Meredith bent her body backwards to avoid the attack. Planting a foot on the ground, her knee came up and knocked the unskilled cultist’s hand away.

The man was knocked off-balance and Meredith struck, her sword swinging for his side. His eyes widened, scrambling to back away, just as anticipated. He stumbled, and Eddie plunged his hands down. From the ground came writhing tendrils of dirt that wrapped around both cultists before freezing up and locking them in place.

Meredith wasted no time, reaching out for the soul in the nearby stone. It granted access and pillars flew out. The nearest wall crumbled from the loss of its structure, but the stony projectiles walloped the cultists in the face and sent them flying into another, larger wall. Meredith dropped her blade, waiting a moment, and then the crash echoed around the vicinity. After another moment, there was a loud groaning, and the wall began to fall, dust rising into the air along with it.

“That’s not good…” Meredith said, a grimace taking over her features. “If there are any others nearby, they’ll have heard that. Let’s go!”

Meredith’s hand snapped out to grab Eddie’s arm and began to drag him along, away from where they’d left the two cultists. He caught on to her pace, eventually removing her hand, and pulled ahead to begin guiding the way through the maze of ruins that sprawled before them. Only once did he throw his head back to chastise her. “Mera, do you ever think? That was pretty loud!”

“Sorry I’m not some perfect magician like you are!” Meredith said, her eye twitching once more. The duo turned, a longer corridor of grass and stone visible past a waist-high wall. Not one to waste time, Meredith turned on an angle, gripped the top of the wall and flung herself over. Eddie pulled to a stop, but soon followed. “I’m still working on basic control of my magic without having it run all over the place.”

“Then leave the magic stuff to me, genius! This is why I said you wouldn’t last a day without me.” Meredith felt her eyes forming into slits, but Eddie offered no apology. They leapt another wall, beginning to dash down the longer corridor. “You stick to sword. I stick to magic…Though the pillars were a nice touch.”

“Right? I’m getting a bit better, but it’s not as strong as I’d like, and it takes a long time to even…” Meredith let her voice trail away, her Soul Vision informing her of numerous individuals moving right in their direction. The dust was still visible behind them. “All right, your way. Eddie, magic us up.”

“On it. I’ll make us a path right out of here.”

Meredith’s feet raced over the frosty grass, sword extended in front of her. Eddie was slower, magic radiating from his soul as they moved forward. The other souls were moving closer, and soon, a few of them arrived in the corridor. One was holding to a pulsing gun. It aimed and fired a shot of energy.

“Oh, I’m more than familiar with that!” Meredith called, swinging her sword in a wide arc upwards. The blade cut into the energy and sent it flying into the air, where it exploded. Her steps never stopped and her blade flashed outward, cutting into the gun. “Hey, these things aren’t very sturdy.”

“Wh-who the hell are you? What’d you do with our-?” Meredith didn’t let him finish, taking her free hand to punch him in the face and send him backwards.

“Sorry, we’re just trying to get out of here. Nothing personal. Your buddies attacked us.” She jumped back from the cultist she’d just hit, the guy clasping his nose. Two others were at his side, their robes making them look like a big blob of black. They actually looked upset, while one began to pray in earnest for “light of destruction from the goddess”. Meredith snorted. “Eddie, now would be a great time.”

“You blasphemer! You will fall before the goddess!”

“Sorry. We don’t believe in that,” Eddie said. Meredith dashed aside. She pressed herself against an intact wall, and Eddie took a shuddering step forward. “We’re just travelers who don’t like it when people think we know something more. Earth Vacuum!”

As Eddie’s second foot touched to the ground, the earth split away, branches and roots emerging from the ground while wind raced along the corridor. Meredith could feel her clothes beginning to pull away from her body, nearly sucked into the nexus of the magic. The cultists were tossed aside while the roots lined the walls and blocked off any entrances that enemies could take. The very ground became unstable, causing Meredith to grip to any part of the wall that she possibly could while her feet were lifted off.

It lasted only half a minute at best before the wind died down and the ground stopped churning. The cultists were sprawled, their guns lying abandoned. Meredith couldn’t blame them, sliding down the wall to catch her breath. Eddie, meanwhile, fell to a knee, himself huffing. He looked tipsy, and before he could fall, Meredith regained herself and caught him, supporting his lean frame.

“That was…something impressive,” she said, hitching him up and walking down the corridor. The cultists were still convulsing as she passed them.

“I’ll have to thank Autumn. She was the one that helped me realize how I could make earth move like branches.” Eddie’s chuckle was labored with a few wheezes. “Those girls can really wallop you with techniques. Their magic is so unorthodox and incompatible that they have no choice.”

“Uh-huh. Save your breath, Eddie. Let’s get out of here before any more of these whack-jobs show up.” She didn’t wait for a response to pick up her speed in dragging him. The further she did, the more evident it became that Eddie’s impressive technique didn’t have tremendous range. Soon the blockade of mud was falling away and the grass looked unfettered. Meredith still took relief in seeing the path up ahead, one that spilled into a final enclosure before breaking out onto fields once more. “One step closer.”

That step was a step into blackness.

Meredith’s body tightened, immobile. Her eyes widened. Her legs locked up. Every impulse in her brain was telling her something was wrong before she could even see it. When she did, she couldn’t look away. The walls were collapsing, being eaten by an unknown force, until one looked down. That’s where Meredith noticed it: the shadow. Like a gaping maw, it threatened to swallow her and Eddie whole, and it waited there, stalking them until the walls were broken entirely. Once they had, all Meredith could see was black: the Order had surrounded them.

“Well, I was wondering what was working them into a frenzy…now I see it’s just a child. Two children. Ho.” The voice was nasally, almost high-pitched, and certainly didn’t fit the man emerging from the shadows.

The first thing she saw was his belly, wide and protruding, bouncing with every step he took. Yet he remained like iron, unwavering as he became visible. Like the other Order members, he, too, was dressed in a black robe that did little to hide his portly figure. Other than that, Meredith noted that he had little that was remarkable about him, but for his baldness, gleaming in the cold light of the sun. His gaze, dark and swallowing, lingered on the teens a moment before he looked back to the cultists they’d left behind.

“Our apologies, Master Gaius!”

“That’s Devourer! You know to address the priests by their title!”

“Gah! Sorry, Devourer Gaius!”

“Quiet…” Despite the pitch, Gaius’s voice carried with it the authority to quell the murmuring crowd of the Order. Many bowed. Meredith put her second hand on her hilt, and Eddie put his back against hers as best he could. “You’ve done quite the damage.”

“They punched my face!” The cultists said nothing beyond that, and Gaius gave no reaction. If he was moved by the harm done to his fellow believer, he didn’t convey that. Meredith swallowed, holding back on saying anything.

“What would little rats be doing here in the ruins of Invaria?” Gaius asked. He was walking forward now, each step as noticeable as the last. Above all, Meredith could see the shadows swirling around his figure, like tendrils that threatened to eat everything around them. The fellow Order members were backing away as he approached. “A Renegade? Out seeking information on our Order?”

“No. We’re not Renegades.”

“But you’ve heard of them.” Gaius’ face twisted, the grin making his entire visage seem wider than it should have been. Every feature was stretched, and his shadows flew out without warning.

Pressure erupted around Meredith, and her hand was forced to let go of her sword. It hit the grass with a dull thump as her arms were pressed to her sides, the shadows snaking up, as close to her face as they could get. So close to the source of them, Meredith could see Gaius moving his fingers, like a puppeteer. She swallowed again. The cultists they’d encountered moved past, joining their compatriots.

“W-we’re just…p-passing through!” Eddie cried out. His voice was firm, but with enough of a warble that Gaius’s grin detected. The portly man pushed his hands down and Meredith found herself and Eddie forced to their knees. He took another step closer.

“Yes, a likely story…but mere travelers wouldn’t harm anyone, would they?” With every word, Gaius was closer, until his protruding belly was practically in Meredith’s face. He crouched, his doughy complexion now in Meredith’s face. She stared back at him. “Now, speak. My shadows are hungry. What do you know of the Renegades and their movements?”

“What’s it matter to you?” Meredith said. Gaius blinked at her, surprised she would challenge him, but took it in stride. “You have nothing to do with them, right?”

“They’ve been on our trail for some time. Pesky annoyances. Seem to think they’re the arbiters of right and wrong in this world,” Gaius said. He had dropped all menacing aspects, now treating the conversation like a light tea party. “Hah, as if they’re the Corps, right?! Everyone wants a piece of power, but they seem to be after the heads of anyone remotely connected to anything ‘bad’.”

“And what are you and your Order after?”

“A weapon.” Meredith felt her breath constrict, the words disturbingly familiar. Gaius’s grin reappeared. “Ah, you’ve heard of them. Yes…I can feel it in your body movements, so don’t deny it. My shadows sense all: heartbeat, perspiration, the very hunger in your stomach. I know you know something, but are reluctant to share it. Would a cut make your lips loosen?”

Meredith’s lip trembled as the shadow around her further snaked, touching to the skin of her cheek and making a hair-thin cut. Blood trickled. “What do you want them for?”

“They’re an artifact, and I’m a Priest of Religious Artifacts. They’re proof of our great goddess and her power,” Gaius answered. Meredith remained reticent, even with the thin trail of warm blood trickling down her neck. The man reached forward. “You’ll tell me, won’t you? You’ll tell me everything. Who you are…why you’re here…what the Renegades are up to…and the weapons…”

“Leave her alone!” Eddie shouted, his voice strained. Gaius ignored him, but his cries drew jeers from the surrounding crowd, who looked almost excited. Their cheers were inaudible to Meredith, focused only on Gaius and his hand reaching closer. She wasn’t scared, not of a man who needed an army of believers while he relied on his goddess. She stood her ground with a steely glint.

“Not going to answer without persuasion, are you? You’re better than some of those spineless village fools, running away crying at the slightest look of a shadow…at the slightest thrill of death!” Gaius’s eyes were bulging, yet Meredith remained immovable. “Though that may be the only thing to loosen your tongue. An arm, hm? A leg, maybe? What should I feast on first?”

Eddie struggled against his bonds, ready to cry out once more before a shadow slapped itself over his mouth. Gaius’s hand was as near as ever.

Then it stopped.

A beat pulsed in Meredith’s ear.

All went silent.

As sudden as it had the day she set off, it entered her: the dark, encroaching thrill of death.

“That is enough, Devourer.” The voice was deep. Cold. Sweat ran down Meredith’s back, and her breath hitched in a way she never thought possible. “There’s no need for such violence.”

“Your Worship. I wasn’t aware you’d returned.” A switch had been flipped, and Gaius turned, bowing low to the new arrival. He wasn’t alone, with every other cultist bowing to the one that had appeared at the end of the corridor. “Did you find anything in your scouting?”

“Nothing. I did not expect to. This kingdom was broken far too long ago to hold anything of worth to the Order. Our wait for answers is prolonged.”

“Mera…” Eddie hissed, his voice so high, it sounded like he was holding back tears. She couldn’t blame him.

Her own body was frozen, unable to move. Fingers trembled and her mouth went dry. The only part of her that moved of her own volition, something which even she doubted, were her eyes, drawn by a magnetic force to the one approaching.

They were in a cloak of night, darkness and death exuding from their figure. With every flick of their obsidian robe, they demanded attention. All was silent as they walked, closer and closer. Meredith could feel tears leaking from her eyes, unbidden in the presence of such a figure. Even without the blurring image, she could see the mask that covered their face, hiding them from the world, making them inscrutable. Only the woman behind them, adorned with glasses of ice and a merciless glare, was unaffected.

Yet what caused Meredith to shut down most of all was what she sensed inside: they had not one soul, but many. So many, that Meredith could discern nothing. No gender. No magic. Nothing but a writhing mass of souls, wailing.

“A pity, Your Worship. I’ve heard tell that it worsens as the people stray further from the goddess,” Gaius spoke again. The figure stopped, head lowered, and then they nodded. They passed Gaius, coming to stand before the two teens. Meredith’s body shook, bile rising in her throat. The blood dried on her neck, running cold. “Is there anything else you’ve discovered?”

“No…our Reaper has taken no souls today,” the woman spoke, adjusting her glasses. Gaius didn’t seem fond of her speaking, but reacted with no words. “They just stared at the sea.”

“I wished to know the state of things. How much has been consumed? How many will turn to the goddess to sate the weakness in their souls?” As if they were asking her, a finger touched to Meredith’s chin, tipping her gaze up at the figure. The Reaper. A fitting name. “Though not this one. Your swift shadows have caught quite a prize, Gaius.”

“Just looking for information. I was going to get some. I could taste it.”

“Hoh, I’m quite sure you could,” the Reaper said. They stared into the depth of Meredith’s soul, causing her to shake. Still, she could not look away. “However, this one has not what you’re looking for. Not yet.”

“We…we don’t know anything! We’re just heading for the Trial of Self! We’re just on a Guardian pilgrimage!” Eddie’s shout alerted all to him, breaking the shadowy restraint on his mouth. The Reaper pulled back, surveying Eddie. Perhaps there was surprise, or perhaps some foreign emotion that Meredith could not, or didn’t want to, sense.

“Are you? Well, then you need fear nothing. We will not harm you, child,” the Reaper hissed out, their words both distinct and snakelike. “Forgive the overzealousness of my fellow believers. They believe time runs short, and rush to intercept any and all who would stand in our way. Believe us a threat.

“I do not worry in that way. I only seek information on one thing at present.”

“Wh-what’s that?” Eddie croaked out. The Reaper didn’t answer. They just looked at both in turn. First Eddie, and then Meredith. She swallowed again, and felt as though she could imagine this force pressing in upon her soul, but unable to breach it. Deciding it couldn’t, the Reaper spoke.

“The alchemic forge to the west. Do you know anything of its secrets?” Meredith shook her head, unable to vocalize. “Really? I thought you were on a pilgrimage, yet you aren’t aware of what lies near that Trial of Enlightenment. Pity.”

“You don’t need to ask them these things, Your Worship,” the woman spoke. She had drawn near now, frost coming off her figure. Whatever goosebumps hadn’t appeared from the Reaper’s presence, now rose from the cold. “We have our man on the way. He will not fail in gathering the information needed, and we shall catch up as quickly as the nighttime shadows encroach upon the day. There are more pressing matters that desire our attention, in other locations. We’ve tarried here long enough.”

“Maybe we have, but to trust him?” Gaius spat, his previous reverence falling away. “He failed in obtaining one before, and we can’t even trust any stooges of the Corps to lead us to it. None have ever found the path.”

The Reaper breathed out, a rattling hiss that sent their warm breath over Meredith’s face. “That is irrelevant. Free them, Gaius. We have no use for such children right now. That soul is worthless.”

“Very well, Your Worship.” Like chains breaking loose, the shadows were removed from the teens, and Meredith found herself nearly falling into the grass. Eddie grabbed her, supporting her, and she could tell that he was shaking as well. “Go.”

Neither needed to be told twice. They scrambled to their feet, Meredith only pausing to pick up her weapon, and they began to hurry past the cult in hasty departure. They were nearly at the threshold when the Reaper’s voice emanated once more.

“Just remember, child: we let you go. It would be a pity if ones such as you perished so easily. Take your trials.” Their final words as enigmatic as all before, the Reaper waved their hand, dismissing them. Meredith sucked in a breath and turned to leave the corridor, hurrying along before her legs nearly gave way beneath her. She hit the grass, still hearing the Reaper and the others in her head, their voices carrying over the ruins.

“Are you sure it’s wise to let them go?”

“They are no threat to the Order. The world could use more like them.” The Reaper paused here, chuckling. “Besides, they will spread the word, and then they will flock to me. A soul that burns with the same belief. An apprentice who will help us find what we seek.”

“If you insist…but we should…”

Meredith could hear no more. She didn’t want to. Her legs were moving of their own accord, the vomit rising in her throat.

Silently, she ran the remaining length of the ruins, back to the plains. The cold air burned her lungs, but she did not stop. Eddie lagged behind, but she did not slow. She wanted to get away, far away from the many-souled person that had questioned her. Questioned her about her ultimate destination, as if it could peer into her soul, but not cross into it. That was the sole bit of warmth she clasped to, until the encounter with the one who exuded death made her fall to her knees, just outside a forest of snowy pines.

She didn’t know how far she’d run, or for how long. She wasn’t aware of any hunger, or fatigue, or the kind soul that was Eddie’s reaching her, eyes wide, but comforting. Her own brimmed with tears she could not stop, her hand clenching on the frost.

The writhing souls.

An apprentice.

The alchemic forge.

The Weapons.

The Order.

And the Reaper.

Meredith turned her head, the crusted blood on her neck cracking. Eddie was watching her. Before she could help it, her crystallized tears fell, and her lip trembled. Finally, she uttered two words she’d never once said in her life, before she collapsed.

“I’m scared.”