I could go on and on about the deep emotions I felt when I first laid eyes on her, but the moment ended as quickly as it began.
"So weak", she said, a sneer screeching along her otherwise blissful voice.
"Those useless reapers tried so hard to hide you that I actually expected something decent from you. But it turns out you're just a pathetic creature after all. Just what should I have expected from Eardh…"
I remember my heart shattering as she spoke these words. It was, in its entirety, a realisation that my entire life, my fellow people's lives, and my religion, were all just lies.
"Whatever… he should be capable enough to handle Eardh, no need to waste even a trash mage on this dump. You… swordsman, did your brain get left behind or something. Stop looking stupid and listen. You will now be this world's reaper and conduct duties as such. That is all."
With the snap of her fingers a blinding light appeared. At the moment, I was still too shocked to understand what was happening. However, I do remember faintly hearing her say "I can't believe I wasted my time on this trash" a moment before being boiled alive under a blazing sun.
These are painful memories. But I welcome pain now. It's better than unending silence and isolation.
That place where the reaper's go is a rock in the middle of nowhere. A bright white sun blazes down upon us, blinding us. But it is also extraordinarily hot.
The reapers are immortal. They cannot die due to the curse left on them by Malenia.
The curse works by binding our souls to our bones with divine magic. As a by-product of this curse, our bones are extra durable and do not break easily. The heat of the white sun is certainly not enough to destroy them. However, the flesh of an unprepared human is a different matter.
If properly covered and insulated by the reapers cloak, which is a divine artifact, the flesh will not burn. But if caught unprepared, flesh catches alight instantly.
I will never forget the agony of my flesh burning off the bone. Unable to die, I screamed in horror as I melted. My eyeballs popped, skin, muscle and ligaments alike turned crispy black and flaked off me before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
It was strange and alien, and I was scared witless. Seeing with my eyes, feeling without my flesh, smelling without a nose, speaking without a tongue or lips.
Before long after arriving at that rock, I was just a skeleton…
Standing completely naked…
In this unfamiliar place…
The burning bright hell hole.
Now I once again find myself in an unfamiliar place. A grey bloody hell hole. After previously spending countless years in a dark lonely hell hole.
You could say I'm familiar with hell holes.
My scythe slices the flesh of unfamiliar creatures as if parting paper. Limbs, heads, and other extremities fall likes snow. Blood like rain.
Thick red blood, mixed with black corrupt, and occasional other colours from strange aversions of mortals and reapers. There's certainly more out there than I've seen.
My scythe spins at a speed never seen in a reapers hand. A product of [Accel] at its finest. Wisps of [Incarnat] dance like a halo in its wake. Seering each unfortunate creature that endures it gruesomely.
[Radrab], a spell I learnt from the old codger, infects the wounds I inflict with rot, causing the wounds to sizzle and pulsate brutely.
The old codger that runs the reapers management system was the first I spoke to, and I speak with him often now. He taught me everything to do with being a reaper, and the truth behind Malenia.
When I told him about my people's worship of the goddess Inunnu and asked if that was her, he laughed at me. With a hint of pity, he told me that the sweet goddess I prayed to wasn't real. Only that horrible woman was.
The whole process didn't take long. There isn't much to being a reaper, especially in a place like Eardh where magic is non-existent. Was… non-existent.
He gave me my scythe, cloak and watch. He told me about the watch's functions and about the wispy blue lake.
After that he sent me to the desolate soul land between death and life.
It didn't take long to learn about the time dilation between the two. Rather obvious after a while.
I crafted my boat with the occasional extra junk that came along with a soul. Like the wood or metal that was used to kill the person.
Naturally, these materials didn't come through as solid object. They were immaterial and attached to the soul but we reapers can separate the two and do some nifty things to make them solid again. But more of that another time.
Eventually I settled with a wooden boat. I have no idea how long it took to make.
I considered not doing the job anymore after however many years. I asked the codger about it.
"What if we all just stopped working", I asked.
Again, he laughed at me and said, "There are worse ends than eternal slavery boy".
With that, I never thought of acting out again.
Many years passed that way…
Until he arrived…
That boy is the greatest thing I have witnessed both in life and in death.
To grow with such speed and to have the guts to face me in that situation. I could tell he was a strong human at first glance. But not that strong.
I was never adept at magic. I learnt a little bit but without the proper resources or an abundant supply of mana it is nigh impossible to learn.
Not to mention I seemingly have little talent for it. Even now my effective strength as a mage is low. Something about a strong soul tether being needed. Apparently, mine is rather weak. Not that I mind, I am a swordsman after all first and foremost.
I learnt from some of the other reapers who faced him that mana was abundant in the land in-between when they fought him.
This caused some much-welcomed curiosity amongst the reapers who came up with many theories as to why this happened. After all, almost all of them are ancient great mages, and it is well known that mana is much too thin in Eardh to use magic.
Many claimed that not only was there mana, but their magic was also no weaker than normal, suggesting the mana quality was exceptional. But others rebutted these claims, saying they wouldn't know truly powerful magic if it hit them.
Much of this flew over my head as I could not even sense mana at the time.
Most of the theories were outlandish at first. Such as there was always mana present, but no one could sense it for some reason. This got a lot of push back.
In the end, the most accepted theory was that the means the corrupt forces used to invade Eardh somehow flooded the world with mana. Like opening a dam and allowing water to flow through.
Much topic and debate arose from this, marking a never-before-seen time of unity and leisure between the reapers, however, I was the only one occupied with a different line of thought.
If mana flooded into Eardh at around the same time as he died. Does that mean that he learnt magic to that degree through talent and combat alone. Without even a textbook or a mentor to guide him. A boy from a magicless world learnt magic and defeated all of these great mages in front of my very eyes.
That is why I say he is the greatest thing I have ever witnessed. But he is also the greatest thing to have ever happened to me.
Even now, as I enjoy the feeling of warfare again, that boy plagues my mind like a fever. His strength awes me. I want to defeat him.
Shortly after Malenia sent me off to speak with that boy, I was summoned to the front lines of the war against Nether. It seemed that my battle with that boy sparked interest not only in Malenia but also the other reapers.
My strength is not something they have seen before or understand. Strength being in one's flesh. I became quite popular amongst the reapers who want to know more.
When Malenia received a 'request' from Zoraz, The King of The God's, for reapers to join his forces on the front lines, she immediately offloaded the duty to the old codger. I was one of the first to be chosen to go. And I was glad to do it.
It makes sense to use reapers in a war. We are immortally contracted by Malenia and cannot die. If only the bitch was less obnoxious and lazy, she would be incredibly valuable in any war.
Immediately after the king's summons, those of us that were chosen went to the front lines. Our duty was to fight the monstrous forces and hold them back whilst the proper preparations were made to end the war.
The front line mostly consisted of reapers, due to our immortality, but there were others there too.
However, needless to say, but, I, Mordarath the Medjey, was eternally grateful to bask in bloody battle once again.
And bask I did.