Chapter 34: Reaper
Elaine was at a barren wasteland of a place with Pain, dark clouds as far as the eye could see. There was a white sigil on the ground next to them. She had a pouch filled with a black dust to activate the sigil. She opened the pouch, took some dust out, and blew it in the direction of the sigil. The sigil activated and glowed a dark purple.
"My lady, what is going on?" Pain asked.
"You'll see." Elaine smiled, she wanted Pain to be happy, and him sitting at her side all day being bored wasn't what she wanted.
A large skeleton emerged from the sigil, clothed in a long dark purple cape. It had a tall scythe with it, and it adjusted it's laurel wreath that was resting on its head.
"What is it, Elaine?" the tall skeleton spoke, teeth clacking together every time it closed its mouth.
"Lord Death, this is my lover, Pain, he has been searching for a purpose ever since he came back to life. I would like to give that to him. I would like you to consider hiring him as a Reaper. He has an innate ability to see spirits, as he is half-spirit himself." Elaine gestured towards Pain.
"You didn't have to do this for me, Elaine." Pain gave her a sorrowful look.
"I wanted to, I want you to be happy, sitting inside all day will give you cabin fever. I'm saying you can use your strengths to do great things, instead of wasting away inside." She frowned.
"But I'm supposed to be your watchful knight, how can I know what's wrong if I am not by your side?" Pain asked.
"Your existence isn't just to protect me, I'm fine now, remember?" she said.
"But… You only read the book two weeks ago, you told me how it affected you," Pain said.
"I told you, I'm alright," she said.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." She nodded.
"So he is half-spirit, yes? I have two simple tests for him. The first one he has already passed." Death pointed to the ground in front of Pain, but it wasn't ground. There was a void beneath his feet.
"What's this black stuff?" Pain asked.
"I opened a portal below your feet when you weren't looking. Half-spirits can float, and that's exactly what you are doing," Death said.
"Oh, I didn't realize I was doing it. Sometimes people point out to me that I'm not actually sitting in my chair either, and that I'm floating slightly above it. I have trouble discerning whether or not I'm floating at the moment." Pain laughed awkwardly.
"Your second test will also be easy, but it is just to verify if you are half-spirit or not." Death raised a wall in front of him.
"What's the wall for?" Pain asked.
"If you phase through this, you pass." Death gestured for Pain to come closer.
Pain stepped up to the wall, and put his hand to it. His hand sunk into the wall, and the rest of his body followed. He appeared on the other side, and looked up at Death.
"See? That wasn't so difficult. Besides, the fact that you can see me shows you can see spirits, as I am one, so it all checks out. Do you want the job?" Death asked.
"If Lady Elaine went to all the trouble of bringing me here, the least I could do is accept." Pain bowed.
"You don't have to keep calling me Lady Elaine, just Elaine is fine enough, and you don't need to bow to everyone." Elaine was uncomfortable about how polite and cordial Pain was, Hex didn't care about pleasantries, and had more of a rowdy behavior. She started to feel that Hex and Pain weren't really the same person, even though he mostly acted like it.
"Sorry, force of habit, in heaven everyone did that, and it felt like I was there a long time." Pain rubbed the back of his neck.
"You were only there for a few hours in actuality." She sighed.
"Time is very slow in heaven, at least that's what I experienced." Pain frowned.
"You will start your training tomorrow. Go now, and rest." Death disappeared, and the sigil became white again.
"I guess I got the job?" Pain looked down at his feet, the void below had disappeared.
"Yes, I knew it would be easy for you, since you're a natural. Let's go home." She opened up a portal back home.
Pain asked a few questions about the reaper job afterwards, stuff like what he had to do, the various jobs he needed to cover in the field, she told him to talk to Zlyena so Zlyena could get him started, since Elaine's mother left a lot of her spiritual knickknacks behind when she was redeemed. She didn't want to admit, that when he bowed and called her Lady Elaine, that she liked it. She was starved for politeness from Hex, and any ounce of cordial behavior from him made her heart skip a beat.
Read the rest of the book here: https://www.moonquill.com/book/113
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