Since she couldn’t effectively kick a puddle, she tossed a fireball into my black liquid form. A whoosh sound could be heard as I went up in flames. Rasks are highly flammable.
“Pathetic,” said Emily. “He’s too weak to be ranked.”
“Edward, are you ok?” Jeb asked.
Then in an act of sheer bravery, or complete stupidity, Jeb looked Emily in the eye.
“Flat chest.”
She made fists with both her hands and the sound of her knuckles popping was clearly audible.
“What did you just say?” she asked. She looked pissed.
“Flat chest,” repeated Jeb.
Before anyone could even move, Emily closed the distance and punched Jeb in the face as well. When he fell to the ground she grabbed him by his mohawk and dragged him out of the room.
“We lose the most students because of her,” mumbled the old man, who gave a silent prayer for Jeb.
The old man looked over at Tarous and Mary. I was still on the ground on fire and in agony. Tarous walked over and did his best to beat out the flames. Mary turned and looked in the direction that Jeb had been dragged off.
“Die well my friend,” she mumbled as she listened to the screams in the distance.
“Poor guy, he will be missed,” said the old man as he wiped away an imaginary tear and slowly began to inch away. “It seems like just yesterday his bright smiled filled this castle with joy.”
The old man began to quietly leave the room in an attempt to escape any responsibility for Jeb.
“Oh no you don’t. This entire mess is your fault!” Tarous yelled at him and grabbed him by the shoulder while he was in the process of sneaking away.
“Is it?” asked the old man in a dazed voice. He looked left and right as if he wasn’t sure Tarous was talking to him.
“Yes, this entire mess is entirely your fault,” Tarous yelled at him again, still holding him in place.
“Who are you sunny? Where am I? Who am I?” he continued to speak in a dazed and confused voice as he slowly tried to inch away again.
“You’re not running away. You’re coming with me, old man, to help me rescue Jeb from Emily!”
“Please don’t! I’m still a young monster of only 803 years. I have several things left to do in life, like have a threesome,” he begged. “What if Emily kills me?”
“Then I’ll go to your funeral and I’ll leave some nice, pretty flowers on your grave. Maybe daisies. I like daisies. Everyone likes daisies,” replied Tarous.
“Wait, who am I? Where am I?” he looked around in a dazed, confused way once again. He became even more frantic.
“You’re not senile, so cut that crap out. And you could never find any woman to sleep with you, much less two. So let’s go.” Tarous turned him towards the direction Emily had gone. He gave him a good kick in the butt for added emphasis.
The old man stumbled towards the correct direction. At that moment a charred body appeared in mid-air and fell down in front of us.
“I’m done with him. You can have him back.” Emily’s voice could be heard, but she couldn’t be seen. It echoed in the hallway as if God had spoken to us.
Tarous, Mary, and the old man all stood in shock looking at Jeb’s burned unconscious form that had just fallen to the floor. What made it worse is he smelled so good, like fried chicken, which just made everyone all the more upset.
Chapter 22
It took me a week to heal, even with my amazing Rask healing abilities. Fire truly was our weakness. It took Tarous two months to recover from the sight of a charred Jeb appearing in mid-air and falling in front of his face. Even at that point, Jeb was still bandaged up and unconscious. Despite having known him for decades, Mary was fine that same day. At least, she was fine enough to hit on me despite the fact that I was a dazed pool of burnt monster liquid.
In the time that I was injured Tarous did find out that the old man’s name was Earl. We met up in his office again after I had fully recovered from my injuries. Mary went ahead and started class the next day.
Earl looked at me over the rim of his glasses. “So you’re a shapeshifting monster. Makes you sound like an untrustworthy and sketchy kind of guy.”
“That’s speciesist,” I replied.
“Don’t worry. As you can tell here we have no issues taking in monsters of all types. You met Emily after all.”
A potted plant near the door suddenly caught fire.
“I really liked that plant…” muttered Earl to himself. He readjusted the glasses on his face.
“At least this time none of you died out of the entire group,” mumbled Earl.
“What was that?” I asked.
“I said welcome to the school,” replied Earl.
I still wanted to kick him, but I wanted to go home even more. After seeing Jeb’s condition I just really wanted to go home. Strange thing was I think Tarous missed Jeb more than I did.
“How many students are here at the school? I haven’t actually seen more than twenty people including Mary?” I asked, honestly curious.
“Well… Recently we had a lot of training deaths.”
“What happened?”
“Well… Some died from training accidents, but a good portion of the deaths were because they saw Emily slip and fall and they laughed at her. She beheaded the lot. And several students in the nearby rooms as well. A few in the above and below floors as well. Also the kitchen staff and a few people in nearby buildings. One was just using the bathroom. Nice chap, I miss him a little.”
I sat there with my mouth open. I felt bad for the guy in the toilet. I imagined the guy in my mind sitting on a toilet minding his own business and then BAM! DEAD! Also, not dead anywhere, but dead on the toilet. Poor guy, I felt for him.
Earl waved to the stack of paperwork on his desk. “These are the records of just the ones that Emily ate, and I’m not even sure how to write a letter of apology to their parents. ‘Dear parents, sorry your child was ripped into tiny pieces…’ Nope, still sounds terrible.” Earl let out a long slow sigh. He was never going to be able to finish all of his paperwork.
“Why wasn’t she at least expelled?” I asked.
“Well you see… She’s… Really scary. She did almost kill the entire school…” Earl mumbled.
I had to admit he had a point. I sure as heck wasn’t going to be the one to kick Emily out of the school. I liked living. Tarous seemed to have a different opinion as I could tell he was enraged from Earl’s comments. As a human in a monster’s world he remained quiet. I had to admit I was rather starting to like him.
“Currently we have a few other students who are away. Two of them just left on a long training journey - a rare aswang and a werewolf. It may be a few years before they return though.”
I diverted my gaze over to Tarous. I decided not to whistle since it would seem a little too suspicious.
A commotion sprang up outside of the castle. We could hear screams in the distance, and I began to faintly smell smoke.
“What in the world?” I asked, looking back to Earl.
Earl stood and left the room. “Stay here!” he yelled back to us.
Tarous and I looked at each other and then took off running. There was no way we were going to sit and wait. We ran down the castle halls and outside towards the fires. The smoke appeared to be coming from the south side of the city.
“What is it?” Tarous asked in surprise.
“The south side of the city is where the portal I opened to your world is located. The Rask family owns all of the land south of the city.”
Tarous paused.
I wondered if his people had come to rescue him or if this was an attack on the monster world. There was a possibility that the witches had come for Tarous. I took a deep breath and thought about everything dealing with Tarous. From the moment he arrived to how I felt about him now. I weighed the pros and cons and then made a decision.
“Let’s hurry and see if your friends are there,” I told him
with a calm and deep voice. I had made my decision, for better or for worse.
Tarous looked at me in surprise. I looked at him and gave him a slight nod. We took off and ran into the city. Our path had been set and the only thing left to do was to see where our course would take us.
Monsters were running everywhere, but most were running towards the fires. Tarous and I ran towards the fires as well, occasionally punching out a monster or two as they got in our way. When we reached the heart of the fires we saw several witches casting fireballs at all the surrounding buildings.
A knight in shining armor rode a black horse towards us. He drew a sword and pointed it at me and motioned for Tarous to climb up onto the horse.
I turned and looked at Tarous. With a smile I snapped my fingers. I could feel powerful magic being released with that simple gesture. The collar around Tarous’s neck released and fell to the ground. It was heavy and Tarous immediately looked more comfortable afterwards.
The knight immediately sheathed his sword. Apparently my actions marked me as a friend. The knight then removed his helmet, or should I say she removed her helmet. A beautiful dark haired angel I would later learn was named Nyxra looked down at Tarous and offered her gauntlet. Tarous reached up and she pulled him up behind her.
“My hero,” he said with a smile.
I nodded to Tarous and he nodded back. We said all we needed to say with that nod. For those that don’t speak nod I will translate. ‘Sorry for kidnapping you and enslaving you. Monsters have to eat and all that. Now that we got the chance to know each other you’re actually a cool dude and you can count me as a friend.’
Tarous’s responding nod meant ‘I understand and we are cool. Best of luck in the upcoming war, but I can’t let you eat my people.’
Nyxra gave the horse a tap with her heals and they trotted back towards the other witches and eventually past them.
Chapter 23
(Tarous)
We eventually arrived at a large stone building and went inside where several rips in space existed. Holes of light floated in the air. They appeared to be the same portals I had used to enter the monster world. Without hesitating we rode through one of the largest holes and back to our own dimension.
I thought there would be a welcoming party or something. The moment we arrived we were dropped into the middle of a battle between monsters and witches. No matter where we looked there was fighting everywhere. Fireballs flew through the air but every time one came close to Nyxra they would poof out of existence.
“Chaz, now!” screamed Nyxra.
About thirty witches began chanting. Instead of the portals closing they began to merge, forming one large portal. It steadily grew larger and larger.
“Chaz, what are you doing? You are supposed to be closing the portals!” yelled Nyxra.
We both dismounted the horse.
“Sorry my dear, but I have other plans,” replied Chaz.
A giant pentagram appeared, glowing with red lines of power, pulsing. In the middle of the pentagram was a giant hole that was growing larger instead of smaller.
“My dear Nyxra, I plan to bring your mother back. Please don’t interfere.”
I was so lost. What was going on? What did this pentagram have to do with bringing back Nyxra’s mother? Where was she currently at?
The horse we had been riding became spooked, reared onto its hind legs, and then ran away.
“The fabric between worlds has been weakened more than ever. This is the opportunity I have been waiting for. The only reason I even accepted a job here was be near the summoning grounds for when I decided to enact my plan. Today is that day!”
“Nyxra, where is your mother?” I asked in a solemn voice. For some reason I already had a good idea what she was about to say. Despite all the chaos that was going on around us, her words came to my ears clearly. It was almost like the entire world moved around us but was unable to affect us.
“She’s dead Tarous. She’s been dead for a very long time.”
Like a wave reality came crashing back. I suddenly felt a pain blaze through my head that caused me to fall to my knees.
“Tarous!” screamed Nyxra.
The scythe on my head had reappeared. I couldn’t see it, but I knew what this feeling meant. I knew who he was summoning. The sky darkened and the wind blew harder. Soon the wind was whipping the tops of all nearby trees back and forth. Everything went from gloomy to sinister as the sky became even darker and soon the wind was howling around us.
In the middle of the pentagram appeared the grim reaper in all of his glory. Robe darker than night, standing at over thirty feet tall. I had never seem him appear so fearsome. The sky quickly turned completely black. The wind caused the reaper’s black robes to whip around him. The wind’s howling scream was like a soul escaping hell. The pressure in the air was heavy and it was hard to breathe.
The grim reaper gave off an aura of death and loss. I had never seen this side of the grim reaper. I had only ever seen his kinder side. Now he stood before me in all his frightening glory.
Chains of magic shot out of the corners of the pentagram and wrapped around the grim reaper. Spinning and twisting, wrapping him in a cocoon of chains.
I tried running to help him, but the tyrannical energy of the pentagram knocked me backwards. Red beams of light tore through the ground from the pentagram leaving trenches behind.
“Tarous!” yelled Nyxra.
Another beam of red light shot out of the pentagram and struck a tree, cutting it in half.
“What is going on?” I asked her, still laying in the dirt. I noticed another beam of light starting to form and I pulled her down onto the ground with me.
“My father has been obsessed with the grim reaper ever since my mother died. In the past he has made deals with demons to gather forbidden knowledge. I think he is trying to steal the reaper’s powers.”
“Why?”
“The reaper is a position. It is a physical manifestation of a power of the universe given a medium. When someone becomes the grim reaper, that person is essentially giving their life to serve the universe. The universe has to be in balance so when a person gives up their life to become the grim reaper, one person of the new grim reaper’s choosing is allowed to return to life,” she explained.
“To become the reaper you must give up your mortal life. There must be balance so in compensation one person is allowed to come back to life,” I reiterated to make sure I was understanding what she was saying.
“Yes.”
He planned to kill death, so he could become death. When he became death he could bring one person back from death.
That was freaking insane.
I had to stop him. The reaper was my friend and I knew he was the reason I was still alive. I stood and ran towards the pentagram again. I punched, kicked, and even tried running through the pentagram, but it was useless. I still had the cube from before. Two short swords appeared in my hands. The flames of my withering fist spread to my swords and my body. I stabbed the barrier repeatedly, but it appeared to be having no effect.
Nyxra walked up beside me.
“I’m sorry about your mother, but he is my friend. Killing him is wrong. He is a good person.”
She paused in thought. A ball of red and black energy began to swirl in front of her face. I just knew she was about to blast me. The energy took off towards my head, but missed it by several inches and slammed into the pentagram instead. Her attack seemed to have a better effect than mine as the whole thing flared red.
“What my father is doing is wrong, despite the reasons he is doing it. I will help you to stop him.”
I felt bad for Nyxra as I knew what kind of sacrifice she was making. She was doing the right thing. If our roles were reversed I didn’t know if I had the kind of strength to do the same. I turned my swords back into the cube and placed it in my pocket. Normal attacks weren’t going to work. I was going to have to use my trump card.
I placed my han
ds on the barrier and used Devouring Life to try to pull the energy into me. Nothing happened. The barrier wasn’t made of life energy so it had no effect. I tried again, but with the same results. Meanwhile Nyxra’s energy blasts pounded against the barrier and appeared to be weakening the area in front of us. I tried not to chuckle. I was having performance issues, this was a first.
The scythe on my head glowed darker and I could sense knowledge passing from the grim reaper to me. Suddenly the technique Death Cannot Be Stopped became perfectly clear in my head. It was a technique that allowed me to pass through any barrier. It was complex beyond words. If I tried to learn it the normal way it would have taken me centuries it was so complex and profound. With the way the grim reaper had transferred the knowledge of the technique, it was forever burnt into my mind. I would never forget even the tiniest detail about this technique.
Like a wisp, but one made of death qi, I floated through the barrier to where the grim reaper was still trapped. He continued to struggle against the chains that bound him. The little tiny pulsating fluff ball of death qi that was me flashed and changed back into a witch.
“Now what?” I asked. I had no idea how I could help. We were surrounded by powerful witches, far more powerful than me. There was nothing I could do. The grim reaper looked down at me and I felt death qi consume every inch of my body.
“NO!” screamed Chaz.
Chaz reached into his robes and removed an ornate knife. He placed the blade on his wrist and with a quick but steady movement he drew it across. The blade cut deep and blood flowed from his arm. He didn’t stop there. He placed the blade on his cheek and sliced deep into his own flesh. Next he cut his forehead, then his other wrist, and eventually he moved on to his legs. Soon his entire body was covered in blood from the hundred cuts now covering his body.
The speed at which death qi was pouring into me from the reaper lessened, but it still continued. Slowly, memories began to float into my mind. I looked up at the reaper, a giant skeleton in a black robe carrying a terrifying scythe wherever he went.
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