by Ikaros Marks

Created on: May 07, 2009

Chapter 1

Lightning flashed in the dark sky. He sighed. He never liked it when the night started off like this. He really should try to get a decent day shift. This night work was becoming more and more ridiculous. The rain slowly began to patter down, sprinkling his cloak and hood. He groaned; he hated being wet.

He reached into his cloak and pulled out the timepiece, his pale fingers clutching it, pressing the button to hear the familiar click as it swung open. This watch was strange on a few levels, one of which was that it lacked an hour and a minute hand. The second peculiar thing about this watch was the light blinking below the "XII" etched into the watch face. The third thing about this watch that set it apart from other watches was that there seemed to be a compass needle located just opposite the blinking light, just above the "VI" marking at the bottom of the watch face. He casually tapped this compass with his fingertip, as the needle swung idly, settling back on pointing straight in front of him. He coughed and shut the watch, the snick of the closing latch barely audible over the now pouring rain.

He had rushed out of the rain and into a small doorstop at the side of the street that he hoped the owner wouldn't mind. From the information he had been given, his assignment tonight wasn't going to be easy. She was a young woman; just over the age of twenty-five, suffering from a brain tumour that she had no idea existed. Tonight was going to be her last night on earth, and he was the one to fetch her to the ferryman. Being a soul-reaper was never an easy job.

He pulled out the watch once again, the light had now started blinking amber and the compass hand pointed to the east of him, straining like a dog on a leash that had caught the scent of a rabbit. The second hand ticked unwaveringly, counting down the seconds before the young woman breathed her last. The amber light was a warning to him, as the reaper, that he had a little under an hour to get to the location of the soul he was to fetch. The light changed from green to yellow and finally to red, signifying the last fifteen minutes before the soul expired. If he failed to get the soul before it expired, it would exist for a few minutes as a disembodied spirit and then it would be ripped apart by the ethereal wind, destroyed forever. Each soul he lost added a year unto his service.

Being a reaper was a choice he had made when he had first approached the black river Styx on the night he had

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