“We are not soldiers. We are the hands that hold the knife. We wield our blades with remorse, not malice. We bring a quiet peace. We are a gear in the clockwork of the universe. We are Reapers, and we are death bringers.” — Book of The Reaper, first volume.
The Soul became aware it was deep in a dark ocean, floating in inky blackness. Looking, or simply thinking, of up it could see something. A small pinprick of light piercing through the darkness and illuminating the nothingness around The Soul. It did not know what the light was, but it was certain of one thing, it had to reach that light. Pulling itself more and more through the thick emptiness. As it climbed upwards more things, memories, rushed past it. Many passed too quickly to remain, some floated alongside The Soul and some bounced off it. But it did not care, it simply needed to reach the light. It was close, so close. It could almost see through the light. It could almost reach out an arm. It could almost reach an arm out and pierce the surface, pull itself out of the darkness.
Ludwig emerged from the pool, pulling himself up onto the damp stone which bordered the pool. He gasped for air, wishing to fill his empty lungs, before rolling over onto his back. The ceiling was arched and painted with an image of five winged people surrounding a star. Ludwig took more breaths. The air was stale and tasted, somehow, of ink. As he moved to stand up, turning over and beginning to rise his gaze met that of another person. The man wore black trousers and a cream suit jacket. Ludwig’s eyes focused on the man’s necktie, a brilliant crimson pinned with a small icon of a skull. The two of them stared at each other, the man in the suit’s expression remaining completely neutral. Ludwig moved one of his hands, he wasn’t sure what he would do if the two of them would have to fight. Especially considering he was damp, out of breath and completely naked.
Then the man in the suit clapped his hands together and his face spread into a wide smile.
“Well, I’m impressed by your tenacity old sport.” He placed his hands into his pockets and chuckled, “most souls need much longer to emerge formed. But you managed it probably the fastest I have personally seen.”
Ludwig cleared his throat, confused by the man’s sudden tone shift and pushed himself up onto his feet as he spoke,“Excuse me, I’m…confused. What…what’s happening?” He said, placing his left hand across his chest and on his shoulder. The man in the suit looked at him for a few seconds before suddenly gasping, “Oh my, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Locke. I’m a Reaper.” Ludwig blinked a few times in confusion,“A Reaper? What’s that?” He asked, not sure if Locke expected him to know what he meant.
Locke adjusted his suit jacket, still smiling, and chuckled to himself before answering the question, “well old sport that is a question with a difficult, difficult, answer. One that I’m probably not fully qualified to answer. But I guess, considering you are new I will do my best.” He paused and pointed to a small door that adjoined the room. “But first, we took the liberty of preparing you some clothes, for modesty’s sake.”
Ludwig looked down at his still wet body, then back at Locke. He couldn’t quite parse what sort of feeling Locke gave him, the man spoke like he had zero cares in the world, was dressed like he was going to a party but Ludwig could tell, somewhere in his gut, that if he wanted to Locke could cause a lot of damage. The naked man nodded to Locke once then turned towards the door and entered.
After some time Ludwig emerged, dressed in a suit not dissimilar to Locke’s, although the jacket was black and he hadn’t been given a pin. Ludwig took note that it felt as if the suit had been tailored to him exactly, despite the fact he was currently under the impression he hadn’t had a body until less than an hour before. Locke nodded at the now dressed Ludwig, and gestured for the younger man to follow him.
“Let me just say you look quite nice in that,” he paused and thought for a second, “oh, I forgot to get your name!” Locke turned sharply and locked eyes with Ludwig, “what’s your name? Or, what name did you think of when you emerged?” Ludwig took a step back, slightly shocked by Locke’s sudden probing question. “Oh….uh Ludwig…at least I think.” He said, startled. Locke nodded, as he gestured for him to open the large door at the end of the room. Inhaling, Ludwig reached forward and turned the handle and stepped outside.
He was at once hit by the blinding daylight, realising that the room he had just been in had been quite dark. He gazed at the scenery around him, some kind of meadow filled with flowers that stretched to the horizon. They were mostly white, with patches of yellow and red in the distance. He couldn’t see a sun, or a moon, yet it looked like daylight.
Locke firmly grasped his shoulder and gestured with his other hand. “Welcome to the field of flowers. Home of the celestial department of death.” Ludwig turned to him, a look of utter confusion on his face, “The what of death?” He said, trying to figure out if Locke was being serious. “Department.” Locke replied, smiling. Ludwig shook his head. Locke cocked his head to one side and watched him before continuing, “well, this is your new home. And job. So, chop-chop I need to get you through a proper orientation and if we want to do that on schedule, we do not have much time.” He took off down the path towards the central tower.
Ludwig chased after him, panting as he attempted to keep up with the reaper. He tried to go over out what knew so far in his head. He’d been dead, or he assumed he’d been dead he hadn’t actually thought about it too much, until five to ten minutes ago. Locke, this strange man, was some sort of reaper, whatever that was, and it seemed like Ludwig was now one too. Or at least he was going to be one.
The area around them wasn’t empty, stretching out across the meadow was a collection of buildings not dissimilar to a small town. Some houses, a few large tower blocks, and some things Ludwig couldn’t easily identify. There was some sort of large circular structure that looked like an arena, which was flanked by a pair of large turreted towers.
In the centre of it all, like a pin holding everything in place, was a central tower, stretching far up into the sky. As the two made their way through the buildings, passing by a few other people, Reapers Ludwig assumed, moving between the buildings. Some carrying briefcases, some carrying small cloth sacks and one even inspecting some sort of small disc held between their fingers.
Everyone seemed to be busy, but as they made their way towards the central path he did note that a few of the people took time to stop and gaze at the two of them, as if Locke’s presence was somehow surprising or shocking to them. Ludwig wanted to ask him what the deal was, but second guessed himself, thinking it might come across as rude. Instead he asked Locke a different question, “Locke, sir, why is your suit a different colour to everyone else's?” Most of the people they had passed were dressed in black, like Ludwig, or at least very dark blues which stood in stark contrast to Locke’s light cream jacket. Locke looked over his shoulder at Ludwig, “Hm? It’s a privilege of rank, if you work long enough you’re allowed some flexibility with your uniform.” Ludwig considered pushing him further, and asking him how long he’d worked here, but decided to just see how things went before he went asking that stuff.
By the time Locke stopped outside the central building Ludwig was completely out of breath. He stood there, bent over, struggling for air before looking up at the cream suited man, and between pants spat out, “Slow…down…please…” Locke gazed down at him before leaning down and straightening Ludwig up. He smiled at him again, “Now Ludwig, if I slowed down, we’d have less time for orientation.” He turned and jogged up the steps leading to a set of ornate double doors before pausing, looking back at Ludwig and adding, “and that would certainly be a shame.”
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Locke pushed the doors opens and stepped inside, disappearing into an inky darkness. From the bottom of the stair Ludwig, clutching his side with one hand, began to make his way towards the doors. The stairs were much more difficult for him to traverse when compared to how Locke appeared to almost glide up them. He pulled himself up the steps, groaning as he asked himself ‘What am I getting into?’
As Ludwig came to the landing in front of the door he turned and looked out at the place around him. As he was chasing after Locke he hadn’t had time to take in his surroundings, and now he saw what he hadn’t noticed before. Beyond the buildings gathered around the central tower was flowers. An endless field of flowers, stretching out to the horizon and beyond in every direction.
Ludwig looked at the landscape in awe for a few seconds, truly unsure of what to think, before he turned towards the darkness the doors opened into and, taking one more deep breath, stepped inside.
Crossing into the tower felt like stepping through a waterfall. Ludwig had to hold his breath as he crossed the threshold out of an implicit fear that if he didn’t he’d swallow something. As he straightened up he took a look around him. From outside the tower had appeared large, but still relatively realistic in its scale but the inside was something else entirely. The inside of the building was, seemingly, made up of platforms and rooms floating in an inky blackness which stretched on forever.
Ludwig stood in awe of their surroundings, completely enraptured by the view before Locke cleared his throat. Ludwig refocused, the two of them were standing in a sort of reception or waiting room. The sort of thing that would belong in the 1950s, even if Ludwig couldn’t place that exactly. At one end of the room was a desk, behind which was a large board resembling a map. Sat at the desk was a gaunt looking person dressed in a suit not dissimilar to Locke’s, except for its more basic colour and the thin green stripe that ran down the middle of their tie, on their shoulder perched a raven. Locke sidled up to the desk, leaning casually on it. “Morrigan, how’s the office?” They didnt respond, instead looking up casually to Locke, then back down. Locke continued and chuckled like they had made some sort of witty comment, “you do have a way with words. Now, I need an investment room for…” he looked back at Ludwig who, realising he probably needed to follow Locke, quickly moved towards the desk. “Oh, um…Ludwig.” Morrigan stared at him, which made him feel uncomfortable, before the raven flew off their shoulder and stood on one of the pegs attached to the map. The bird stuck its beak into a slot in the wall before it fluttered back, dropping a small key on the desk which Locke pocketed. He turned and gestured for Ludwig to follow him commenting, “nice to see you Morrigan.”
They made their way up a flight of stairs which lead to a corridor of rooms floating in the air around them. As Locke scanned the numbers on each door Ludwig thought it pertinent to ask, “Who was that? At the desk I mean.” Locke craned his neck around and flashed Ludwig a smile, “That Sport, was Morrigan. They run the desk.” Ludwig stared at Locke, ‘I could assume that much’ he thought, before asking “why don’t they talk?” Locke shrugged, “not sure, but they still manage to say a lot without that. You just need to learn how to understand them, took me a while but I learned. You’ll pick it up.” He paused, “hopefully.”
Before Ludwig could rationalise a response Locke slid the key into one of the door, opening it with a series of clicks. Locke slipped inside, sticking a hand out and gesturing for Ludwig to follow.
The room was drab, painted eggshell white with no decoration at all. A simple metal table and a pair of chairs sat in the middle. Locke moved forwards and sat down in one of the chairs, Ludwig followed with the opposite. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as Locke stared at the other man, before he leant back and stretched. “Alright Ludwig, I’m here to give you a formal introduction to your new job. With the department of death.” Locke spoke as if this was a completely normal way to talk, before Ludwig could respond Locke raised a finger and continued, “Im sure you are wondering what I mean by that. Well old sport, theres a sort of…order to things in the universe. We call its the Hierarchy, or you can call it the Celestial Burecracy, but it has roughly five hundred names minimum. Everything is run by Head Office.” ‘He says that like im meant to be intimidated’ Ludwig thought as Locke continued to explain, “Now. Theres three powerful departments that broadly manage everything to do with the”, he paused and waved his hands around, “regular world. Any questions so far?” Ludwig paused, thinking for a moment, before he shook his head. “No, I follow so far. You can continue.” Locke smiled, “good. Now, like I said, three departments.” He raised one finger for each as he began listing, “The Department of Spiritual Affairs, they manage all the things that keep things well oiled, if you meet one they wear blue. Although unlike us they don’t respect the concept of a dress code as much.” Ludwig began to wonder if he should have been taking notes, it all sounded complicated.
Locke continued rattling off details, “then theres us, The Department of Death. Or the Reapers, if you want to be informal. We, well we kill things. Mostly monsters. Sometimes humans, although they do the job of dying themselves pretty well. We wear red ties.” He said pointing at his own, and Ludwig’s tie. ‘Come to think of it’, Ludwig thought, ‘that Morrigan person was wearing one as well, except for that stripe. I wonder if it means something.’ Locke paused, then continued “and then theres the Department of Celestial Taxation. It’s a stupid name, but its somewhat apt. They make sure things are orderly. They wear yellow. We work with them a lot, so you’ll probably meet one, when I get around to assigning you.” Ludwig continued nodding along, and taking in what Locke was telling him. Locke continued, “once things are in order, you will be placed into what we call teams, composed of about four or five Reapers. You’ll work together, get stronger together and, hopefully, bond with each other.” Ludwig paused and considered the prospect of working with other Reapers.
“So I’m going to be working alongside you?” Ludwig asked intrigued. Locke laughed, then shook his head,“No, sorry Sport, I’m a bit too high ranking to be running around in the field with newcomers. But!” He raised his finger up with a smile, “I am going to be your supervisor though. Every team reports to one of the High Reapers, like myself. Luckily though, I’m the newest of that prestige group, so I’ve only got two others teams I need to worry about. Now, theres really only one more thing I need from you at this particular stage,” Locke said with some mild apprehension.
Ludwig watched as he straightened up in the chair and leaned forward, speaking seriously, “so Ludwig, do you want to be a Reaper.” Ludwig responded immediately, “Yes, I don’t really seem to have a choice…” “Oh no Sport,” Locke said as he reached inside his coat and paused. “Don’t delude yourself with a mindset like that. We always have a choice. One last thing for this part, what do you remember about your life?”
Ludwig paused, he hadn’t considered this. He racked his brain, he knew things for sure, he knew a lot of things. But as far as he could tell, there was nothing. ‘No, I just need to focus.’ He racked his brain, trying to recall his home, or what city he was from, or who his people were, or if he knew cuneiform or the face of his mother. But there was nothing. “Ludwig?” Locke said, looking slightly concerned. “Um, I…I don’t really have any exact memories. I think I know a lot of things, but I can’t exactly remember anything in particular. Is that odd?” Locke’s brow furrowed, “Yes, that is unusual. I’ll have to look into that. Now, there’s a quick test we need to run. Then we’ll be on our way. Are you ok with that?” Ludwig nodded. “Good.” Locke removed his hand from his jacket, pulling out something Ludwig recognised, despite having never seen one before. As Locke raised it and pointed at him Ludwig could only respond in one way, “Is that a- he was cut off as a loud BANG rang out in the room and Locke fired the pistol at Ludwig. Ludwig fell backwards with an exhale.
Celestial Bureaucracy Dictionary: Reaper. A term denoting field agents of the Department of Death. Responsible for the protection of the Spheres and greater Celestial realms against both HellChild and Demonic Incursion. Reapers are generated from the reconstitution of formerly Human Souls. Reapers are under guidance of the central board of the Department of Death, who in turn operate on the authority of the First Reaper.
in all seriousness hope you enjoyed the first (proper) chapter. Dont worry its not all talking in offices, we’ve got some fights and stuff planned for the next arcs.
also stay tuned for more AN on future chapters, channeling my inner mangaka to put hugely important details in here at points.
