Death and the Lady

Lily opened her eyes and looked down at the starlit sea under them. She could feel the heave and movement of giant muscles under her and felt a body behind her. Arms were around her, keeping her upright in what felt like a saddle. She was on a horse, but she couldn’t quite remember why.

You dropped off to sleep again, a laden voice said above her.

Lily looked up, right into the morbid features of Death’s skull. Then her immediate past came back to her and she jerked upright. He chuckled as she flailed around, trying to get her bearings.

“I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed as she raked a hand through her hair.

No apology required. We are almost to our destination.

Lily looked down and focussed. What she had thought was a starlit sea below them turned out to be a massive city. She blinked and looked down at the pale horse below her. She remembered Death introducing her to it. A massive charger, pale as snow, a real old time war charger that was used to pull canons.

Is my company that restful to you? Death asked and Lily blushed brightly.

“I remember reading a long time ago, ‘death is but a sleep, yet there is none more restful than the company of the ultimate reaper. Sleep within the folds of his robe and all fears shall disappear, for death brings ultimate certainty’.”

So you take that as advice? Do you not fear me?

Lily shook her head. “Why do you keep asking me that?”

It is strange for me to find one without fear.

Lily yawned and shrugged. “It feels as though I’ve known you for a long time. Like an old friend you haven’t seen in ages.”

Death was silent as they rode through the air. Lily felt it was strange that she was on the back of a horse in mid-air.

“Don’t people see you?” she asked and Death shook his skull.

They do not see me until it is time and they have no other choice.

“So it’s like selective blindness. They choose not to see you because of what you represent?”

Something along those lines.

“I think I understand.” She glanced down again. “So who are we coming to fetch?”

They were nearing a more select neighbourhood. The yards were larger and the houses were mansions. Something made her look down and she saw several people hurrying towards a single mansion that stood lit up like a Christmas tree.

They flew past the house towards what looked like a hospital. There was also a massive crowd surrounding the building. People were singing and crying in the crowd. Several were holding up placards, but Lily couldn’t see what was written on them.

Death said the name of a prominent leader and Lily gasped. Suddenly she understood who they were fetching and she understood the crowd that was rushing towards the hospital.

Death landed on the one of the balconies that jutted from the hospital side. He helped Lily down onto the ground and she turned to pat the massive horse.

“Won’t anyone notice him here?” she asked as he nuzzled her hand.

Would you believe that there was a horse standing here? Death asked as he pulled the scythe from its holster.

Lily shrugged. “Probably not,” she admitted and Death nodded.

Follow me, he instructed and led the way through the hospital.

It was almost comical to her, following a seven foot skeleton through the disinfectant smelling halls of a hospital, his bony feet clicking on the tiles and no one seeing them. Strangely, no one came close to them either. No one bumped into Death. Lily actually saw a woman pushing a cart move to the side without quite knowing why. No one even noticed her and she glanced in the dark glass of a door, gasping when she saw her appearance.

She was dressed in a heavy, black velvet riding cloak with the hood pulled over her head. She saw her appearance flicker between her usual look to the hollow cheeked stranger and back. She hurried after Death and noticed how the cloak billowed out around and behind her. She still had the hilt of the sword tucked into her pocket.

Death paused and took an hourglass out of the recesses of his black robe and glanced at it. Lily saw that there was barely a pinch left in the top bulb. The hourglass itself was gold inlaid with multi-coloured jewels. Jet beads, yellow topaz, flawless green emeralds, tiny diamonds, radiant sapphires and flaming rubies all decorated the carefully spun gold filigree that housed the twin bulbs of the hourglass.

Death stowed the hourglass again and walked through the closed doors of a patient’s room. Lily hesitated for a moment before following him, through the solid wood of the door. It was like walking through pine smelling mist.

On the other side was a mass of what looked like family members, all grieving and crying over a wrinkled, sickly looking man in the bed. His dark skin was like old wrinkled leather, his short hair a shock of white against the dark blue linen. Monitors and machines beeped around him constantly and the hushed silence was broken every now and then by a sniff or a sob.

A young man was seated next to the bed, holding the elder’s hand. Death stood almost companionably beside the bed, looking down at the hourglass in his hand. Even as she watched the last grains of the old man’s life tumbled through the pinch. The man was suddenly outlined by a line of flickering pale blue.

Death nodded to himself and swung the scythe down. The flickering line snapped with a faint, high-pitched sound and the old man sat up. To her surprise Lily saw something ghostlike stay behind on the bed. Everything around them faded to strange monochrome, the mourners became pale and ghostly and sounds were muffled and distant.

The old man looked up at Death’s fixed grin and didn’t look at all surprised. He got off the bed, spectral nightshirt flapping around his thin legs. He straightened up to his impressive height.

“So, the time has come?” he said in his surprisingly gentle voice and Lily looked around at the mourners.

They were moving sluggishly towards the bed. Even as she watched one of the women flung herself over the man’s body and started sobbing hysterically into the linen.

Yes, Death said heavily, you must come away, my son.

The old man turned to Lily. “And the young lady?” he asked and Lily’s hand went to her ear.

The man was speaking a language she’d never heard before, but it arrived in her head in the tones of her native tongue.

“I’m Lily,” she said and was surprised when the words came out in the same language that the man spoke.

“A pleasure to meet you, Lily.”

The man turned and looked at the wailing family. A look of worry tinged with regret passed across his face. Lily looked up at Death, who was looking down at the man impassively.

“Many bad things will happen now,” the man said sombrely, “things I’d hoped I could stop.”

“What bad things?” Lily asked and the old man smiled wanly.

“War, maybe. Bloodshed, definitely.”

“Why?”

“Because I am no longer alive.”

Lily felt anger flash inside her. “Your whole life you devoted yourself to peace and equality. If your people go to war just because you died then they never deserved you,” she said hotly and the old man chuckled.

“Unfortunately people need an icon to follow. I only pray that they soon find another.” He turned to look up at Death. “What will happen now?” he asked and Death bowed his head.

Whatever you believed would, Death said and the old man smiled.

Even as she watched Lily saw the old man start to fade. It started slowly and then sped up as more and more of the man’s soul faded.

“I shall find peace,” his voice echoed softly.

Death turned suddenly and started to stride out of the room. A nurse hurried inside and would have bumped right into Death if she didn’t suddenly take three steps back. Death ducked out of the room with Lily close on his heels. She glanced at the nurse and saw the bewildered expression on the woman’s face.

Death stalked quickly along the corridors towards the balcony and Lily looked around as they passed several rushing people. Everyone was rushing towards the bedroom where the old man’s body still lay.

“They didn’t deserve him,” Lily said coldly and Death grunted. “There is no justice in the world.”

No, Death said as he passed through the glass doors. There is always just us.

Lily hurried through the glass doors without thinking and Death turned to look quizzically at her. She came up short and looked up at him.

You pass through solid objects without question.

Lily looked back at the glass doors distractedly. “Well, I figured that were in a different time and place to the things around us, so logically they shouldn’t hinder me. Was that wrong?”

Death shook his skull slowly. No, rather quite the opposite. Most new Reapers hesitate before passing solid barriers. Yet you do it as naturally as though you have done it a thousand times.

Lily shrugged. “I’m adaptable.”

So I see.

Death holstered the scythe and reached down. Without any apparent effort he lifted Lily into the saddle and mounted up behind her in one fluid movement. He reached around her and took up the reins.

Lily rubbed the massive horse’s neck as Death made a clicking noise between his teeth. Lily felt the horse’s muscles bunch and then it reared up. Lily was thrown back against Death’s chest as the horse leapt into the air. Later she couldn’t quite remember, but she may have laughed as they sped into the sky.

“Good and evil are merely parts of the same spectrum. Light cannot exist without the dark, as can dark not exist without light. However, dear young Reapers, we stand outside this spectrum of colour. We ferry the souls of both powerful and weak, good and evil. We do not judge, we do not decree who lives and who dies. Nor does the Master. That is decided by another being. Who is this being, you ask?”

Lily was lounging around the middle of the classroom, leaning her cheek on her fist and looking down at the doodles on the pad of paper they’d given her. As soon as she and Death had returned from the Duty, Ryo bustled her to this classroom with its tiered seats. It was like being back at the college.

All around her new Reapers sat. Not all of them were young either. Along the front of the room as a grizzled old man with a bushy beard and walked with a stick. Next to him sat what looked like a grandmotherly type of woman, knitting almost absent-mindedly as she listened to the lecturer.

On the far end of the row in which Lily sat was what looked like a Japanese salaryman, nervously adjusting his glasses and taking notes as though he expected some sort of exam.

There were so many different types of people that Lily caught herself wondering how Reapers were chosen and how many there were. Slowly she turned her gaze back to the lecturer in front of the class.

The lecturer was a woman in a tweed suit and her grey hair pulled into a bun at the back of her head. She wore those horrible half-moon spectacles that older people wore to peer over the top of. Her voice was expansive and important sounding, but Lily couldn’t keep her attention on the woman.

“It has many names. God, Fate, Luck,” the woman was saying expansively. “There are too many to name. Only master Death knows who this being is. Do not try to understand the ways of our Master, young Reapers, or the Masters of the lives within the world.”

“Why did he make the Reapers?” Lily asked without looking up and the woman frowned.

“No one knows, not even the eldest of us. Some speculate that it is because the world population has grown too big, others say that it is because Death himself wished for companions. Companions who did not live in the same unending world as him, as with the other Masters.”

“Has anyone tried asking him?”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “One does not ask things of the Master,” she growled.

“The other Masters?” someone behind Lily asked and the woman gave a self-satisfied smile.

“Mistress War, Mistress Famine and Master Pestilence.”

“Oh, you mean the other riders of the apocalypse,” Lily asked as she doodled on the pad with the black pen.

The woman gave her a long look over the top of her spectacles and cleared her throat in an annoyed way.

“Yes, I speak of the Riders. You may meet them when you are out on your Duties. Do not count on seeing them; however, it is rare to glimpse the other Masters.”

Lily put the finishing touches on her doodle and sat back. The woman was giving her a long, cold glare and she countered it with a bright smile.

“So basically what you’re saying is that we collect the souls of those who have already died, but we do not kill them in the process. We only take what has already been spent.”

The woman narrowed her eyes at Lily. “What is your name, child?”

“Lilith Valleyscape, but everyone calls me Lily.”

The woman glanced down at a list on the desk in front of her, running a manicured nail down the list of names.

“I do not see your name here, Lilith.”

“I was probably supposed to be in an earlier lecture, but Ryo put me in here when I got back.”

“Lord Ryo is your benefactor? Strange, he usually doesn’t take apprentices.”

The woman opened a drawer and pulled out another sheet of papers. She ran her finger down this one and hesitated. Then she looked at Lily with a cool, unimpressed gaze.

“You are that child?” she asked and everyone turned to stare at Lily.

“Excuse me?”

“Why did you miss your lecture?”

“I was out with Death on his Duty.”

There were a few gasps and people started whispering around her. The woman nodded as she walked behind her desk and leaned her palms flat on the surface. When she looked up her face was cold.

“Understand one thing, child. The master may have deigned to smile on you for reasons that are his own, but you will not get special treatment from your senior Reapers because of that fact. You still have to prove yourself to us before you will count as our equal. Do not, for one moment, think that you are special.”

Lily was taken aback by this sudden turn. She felt all the stares prickle on her skin and the classroom suddenly felt small and hot. She got to her feet so fast she knocked her chair over.

“I’m sorry, I have to go,” she said hastily and hurried out of the lecture hall.

Outside she ran into a small kid with blonde hair so light that it looked white. He was carrying a frayed bunny with him and looked so innocent and young. Lily froze as she looked down at him. How could such a little kid be a Reaper?

“I’m sorry,” she muttered as she ducked past him and ran down the corridor.

Lily ran blindly through the corridors and burst through a door at the far end. Her feet scattered gravel and she tripped, falling hard on the small stones. It took her a moment to realise that she was outside the place. Slowly she sat up and looked around.

There was no colour around her. Everything was in shades of either black or white. The grass on either side of the chalk white gravel path was gloss black and above her was a white sky in which black stars twinkled.

Black trees with white trunks surrounded the massive white and black building behind her. It was big, but not nearly big enough to house a third of what she’d seen inside. Actual dimensions seemed to be a matter of choice rather than a matter of course.

Slowly she pushed to her feet and stumbled to one of the trees, feeling sick. There was a white bench under the tree and she sank heavily into it. Her hands went to her spinning head and she groaned.

“Understand that we do not kill. Reapers merely sever the soul from the body after actual death has taken place. Think not of yourselves as murderers, but as collectors. Do not forget that you are both human and Reaper. Keep your compassion, remain humane. Just as the Reaper thinks constantly of the harvest, so must your thoughts be upon your task. You care for the Harvest of Souls, remain strong and steadfast in your dealings.”

Lily stared at the ground as the melodious voice spoke, coming closer to her. She lifted her head and made her face blank. The man who approached her was old and wrinkled, but he didn’t feel old. His hair may have been white and his pallid skin wrinkled and thin as parchment, but his eyes held the sparkle of life. Lily felt as though she should know him.

He stopped in front of her and smiled down, his warm eyes twinkling as he did. Lily sat back and looked up at him mutely, pushing the turmoil that was raging inside of her far away so that it didn’t show on her features.

“That was the introduction that was given to me when I became a Reaper. All these tiresome lectures about morality and the understanding of the Reaper duties. It’s all needlessly complicated and long-winded. We humans do like making things complicated.”

Lily sat looking at him in confusion. Before she could even think a question rolled over her lips.

“What about people who come back from the dead?” she asked slowly and the old man chuckled. It was a warm sound.

“They are not on our lists,” he said simply as he sat down beside her. “Their time is not spent, they will return. However, those who have died are to be Reaped. Their hourglasses cannot be overturned.”

He moved with deceptive slowness. It looked like his movements were glacial, but they played with the perspective, just like the building. He moved slowly, but didn’t seem to need to cover any distance. He was just there beside her, seated on the bench with his hands on his knees.

Lily regarded him as he stared into the distance with a knowing smile on his face. He was dressed in a white robe, like the ones she imagined wizards used to wear. His hair was long and chalk white and his face not quite as wrinkled as she’d first thought.

“Then why do we become Reapers? Aren’t our time spent?”

“Ah, Master Death chooses certain individuals to become his Reapers and shares his time with them. All of those here at the home of our Master were chosen by Death’s hand to become a Reaper for him. Understand that not all those chosen become Reapers, that is what the test if for.”

Lily frowned. “Test?”

“A chance to challenge Death for your life. There are certain things that must be said, that must be done in order to become a Reaper. In the end, the challenge must also be won. That is the ultimate test.”

“But not all tests are the same?” Lily asked and the old man smiled.

“The test varies from person to person, personality to personality. Some have a test of knowledge, some play a game, others have a test of endurance,” he smiled down at her, “others take up arms and fight.”

“I fought him,” Lily said and waited for the man’s look of surprise, like she got from everyone else.

The old man just nodded. “As did I,” he said and Lily turned to look at him.

“Who are you?”

“You may call me Helandel,” he said and smiled down at her. “You must be Lilith Valleyscape.”

“How do you know my name?” Lily asked.

“My dear, you are the talk of the town. The young Master Reaper whom the Master took under his rather dark and bedraggled wing.”

Lily groaned and ran a hand over her face. “I don’t want to be different. I just want to be me.”

“You’re not very smart, are you?”

Lily’s head jerked up and she glared at the old man. He was smiling in that annoyingly knowing way some old people had. With a sigh she looked down at her hands and smiled.

“It’s a good act, isn’t it?” she asked and he chuckled.

“Very good. I can see how much the knowledge tortures you. Why act indifferent?”

“Because that’s what people expect. I mean, I knew that something was strange with that paramedic so I never told him about meeting Death. How could I possibly explain to someone that I could feel that he was a Cleric on some bone deep level?”

“You felt a deep distrust when speaking to him, yet you couldn’t explain why?”

Lily sighed. “Yeah, and sometimes when Ryo asks me something too. I’m not really all that comfortable around the other Reapers. It’s like I’m standing outside and looking in on their world.”

“That is because you are. You are different from the other Reapers. Being a Master Reaper is not something you can become; it is something you are born to. Somewhere in your family there was another Master Reaper and his power was passed on to you.”

“How do you know?”

Helandel looked down at her with a smile. “Because I know you, Lily. I’ve watched you grow from a child to a talented young woman.”

Immediately Lily was suspicious and she glared at the man. “Why would you be watching over me?” she snapped.

Helandel chuckled. “Because I bear the name of Valleyscape also. I am your grandfather.”