บท 6: CHAPTER 6: Mors Vocat Vos!

A large round piece of land was floating in the middle of space. It was encircled by a ring of fire. The only light to be seen there was made by the fire itself. The floor had a cracked surface. Molten hot lava could be seen flowing underneath the ground through the cracks. The whole upper layer of the ground was as black as coal. It seemed like as if it had been burned a million times.

There was an empty throne on one side of the field. It was a large black throne above a small cliff. The sky's color was maroon red, while the air was all full of smoke and ash like particles rising from the burning ring.

Out of nowhere, Valek appeared in the middle of the field. He folded his wings behind his back. The fire at the end of his wings stopped burning immediately.

He took a few steps towards the throne when a tall man emerged on the left side of the throne. His hair was golden like that of Valek and had the same red eyes. He didn't have any wings.

A second later, another man appeared right next to the tall one. He was a bit short-heighted than the other one, but had the same golden hair and similar eyes. The tall one wore a black cloak. Both of them were as white as snow just like Valek.

"Dad," Valek said while looking towards the taller man.

Death stepped in front of the throne and sat on it after lifting his cloak.

"Valek," Death said.

"You summoned me?" Valek asked in a stern manner.

"Oh, so you do receive my invitations?" Death asked Valek while maintaining his eye contact with him.

"What is the deal with the threatening session? Why don't you just stop it?" Valek asked.

"You are much aware of that, Valek. My invitations are not a threat nor any warnings. It is an order from me, to be followed by everyone, including you."

"You can make brother dance around on your fingers, but not me, not anymore dad."

"Valek mind your language," Alastor said angrily.

"You don't need to get involved in my matters brother. So you better stay out of this," Valek replied calmly while not bothering about his brother's anger.

"He is right Alastor. This is, after all, between me and Valek," Death said

"If he gets involved in my matters, then I surely have the right to get involved in his too," Alastor stated while looking at Death.

"Alastor I am sure you have a lot to do in hell. You can go now. I want to talk with Valek alone," Death said while giving a serious look to Alastor.

"Fine," Alastor said furiously. He kept on staring at Valek creepily. He turned around and started walking towards the ring of fire. He walked right into the fire and disappeared completely.

"Why have you asked me to come here dad?" Valek asked Death.

"I got a matter in hand that one of my souls is missing. You have been spending a lot of time on Earth now. I thought you must have known something about this particular situation," Death said while looking doubtfully at Valek.

"What?" Valek said in a confused manner. He didn't want to show his concern with this matter.

"Yes, some soul named as Linda Walker has been missing since this morning. She was going to die in a hospital today and I was going to receive her soul, but to my surprise it was no longer there."

"Maybe she is one of the wanderers too," Valek said trying to divert Death.

"No, I am sure she was going to come to me."

"Maybe she changed her mind."

Death stood up from his throne. Valek straightened himself up at the very moment.

"Valek, I am not only your father, but I am Death. I am sure you know what it means. Trust me when I say this that no soul on the entire Earth moves without me knowing about it. So tell me now, where exactly are you taking her exactly?"

"What me? Dad, you must be mista..," Valek got interrupted by Death just as he was trying to defend himself.

"Valek," he said in a wrathful way. His eyes got more wide and red. His black cloak started flying in the air.

"Helping souls is not your job to do Valek. It is I who decide when someone dies and when someone lives. Now tell me nicely where are you taking her?"

"I am going to give her a new body," Valek replied while sounding calm.

"What?" Death said. He got even more enraged than before.

"Yes. I am going to transfer her soul into a new body so she can have another life and live it as she desires," Valek told him in a calm yet serious way.

"You decided to transfer a girl's soul without my permission?" Death asked Valek. He became more and more furious with every second.

"Yes, father," Valek replied.

"How dare you?"

"I wanted to do something good for her, dad. I want to give her a life she always desired of. You snatched my life away from me. I can't see someone else go through the same phases I went through."

"You are trying to go against me? You are trying to disobey Death? And for whom? A simple human girl?"

"She maybe a plain and simple human being but she is better than you. At least she knows the actual importance of a life and values one too, very much unlike you."

"Valek the human is not worth it, you are just ruining yourself after providing something you couldn't have in your life."

"I maybe ruining myself, but I am happy that I am helping her and I will do whatever it takes to get her a new life. You can't do anything about that."

"Valek!" Death started rising up high in the sky with this cloak still flying in the air. His eyes had gotten blood red.

"Don't make me do something I don't want to, Valek. Don't make me take away your powers. That human girl is not worth anything."

"Actually she is worth more than you could have ever been in my life."

Valek wide opened his wings and with a single flap, he rose in the air as well. His eyes got blood red in color too.

"You ruined my life," and while saying this Valek started rubbing his hands together. Small currents started forming in between his hands. He slowly opened them and a ball of lightning created in between them. His eyes got all yellowish and reddish as if they were on fire. He pushed his arms in front of him while pointing the ball towards Death and shot it right towards him.

Death pulled his cloak in front of him with his left hand, while shielding his body to stop the ball from attacking him.

"I have had enough of your non seriousness Valek," while saying this, Death raised both of his arms one by one slowly, on either side. The fire from the ring and the ashes started gathering behind Death. The fire started merging with the ashes forming thousands of needles like structures from them. The pointed ends of all needles were targeted towards Valek. They remained floating in the air, waiting for the instruction from Death.

Death pulled his arm out in the front and pointed his finger towards Valek.

"Impetus," Death said, commanding the needles to attack him. All the needles immediately flew towards Valek.

Valek instantly folded his wings, covering all of his body to protect himself. His wings received several small cuts from the needles. Valek unfolded them because they had suffered enough.

"Ah!" he cried out of pain. There were three to four needles stuck in his right wing. He pulled them out one by one with his hand. Blood started coming out from those pierced points.

Death raised his arms above his head. With that the fire and the ashes once again started gathering behind him. This time they started moving in circular movements in upward direction. It was as if a tornado was forming. The fire and ashes slowly started transforming into the shape of a giant serpent.

Death pointed both of his hands towards Valek. The serpent followed his command and pounced towards Valek to attack him.

Valek didn't get the time to move from his place. He held his arms to stop the serpent, but in vain. The serpent spit fire over Valek with such force that he was thrown backwards, to some distance, on the ground. He received several bruises and burns on his face and arms. He no longer had the energy to stand up straight or even get his head up.

"EGO HODIE TOLLET DOMINUM TUUM VIRTUTE," Death shouted at the top of his voice. He pointed his hand towards Valek, while still being in the sky. A beam of light emitted from his hand and went straight through Valek's chest. It seemed as if he was draining power from Valek.

Valek cried because of the torture. Steam started rising up from Valek's body. It appeared as if he was burning from inside. Death pulled his arm back and then the beam of light vanished.

"You are doomed to stay powerless unless you realize the mistake you have made."

After saying this, Death held his cloak with his left hand, turned it on his front and disappeared in the sky.

A moment later, after Death went away, Valek tried to sit up straight. He got enough power to turn his body on the right side and he put his hand on the ground. He started accumulating the energy from his surroundings in his body.

He stood up straight and opened his wings. His face remained down, while looking towards his feet. The ashes and flames started revolving around him. His eyes got back to their normal color. He held his left arm with his right hand. There was blood coming out from a cut on his face. He closed his eyes and disappeared from there.