"So, what will it be?"
I sighed, closed my eyes and rubbed at my head.
"I guess...I guess I'll be a Reaper."
"Really?!" York flipped in the air once and then moved towards me. He threw his arm around my shoulder, and I shoved against him. "I definitely didn't think you'd agree."
"Why wouldn't I?" I grunted when he finally let go of me. He was hugging me like we'd known each other for years, and it was definitely weirding me out. Funny, the whole Reaper thing and discovering what happens after death is cool, but someone showing me physical affection? Bizarre.
"No one else has. We've been trying to fill the Z spot for forty-six years now."
"Seriously?" I raised a brow at him. He smiled sheepishly.
"There aren't a ton of people who meet all the qualifications to become a Reaper, and the ones who have, have all picked a new life."
"Let me guess, filled with fortune and fame." He shrugged, yawning a bit dramatically.
"Most beings I've met are quite similar. They all seek the same thing. Lucky for me, you are a bit odd."
"I am very normal." I argued. It was kind of part of the whole, "not being special" thing.
"No, you are one hundred percent not, my friend. But that's not important right now." He clapped his hands together. "What's important now is getting you to Sumerian so we can get you all sworn in."
"Where is Sumerian?" He smiled then like he was trying to hide something and waved his hand in dismissal.
"No where you'd know. Don't even worry about it." Okay, well, now I was definitely worried about it.
"How are we getting there?" Now his grin was a little evil looking.
"You won't believe me anyways, so there's no point explaining it. You'll find out everything soon enough." Why couldn't he just tell me now if I'm going to know anyways? And who's he to say I won't believe him? "Look. Just. Shut up. Close your eyes, and trust me, okay?" I grunted, glared at him for a moment longer, but eventually did as I was told and closed my eyes. I felt him grabbing my right forearm, and I tensed up, but didn't open my eyes. I heard what sounded like something being unsheathed, and I furrowed my brow. The air pressure dropped suddenly, and the air left my lungs for a split second. It returned before panic could even set in though, and my eyes immediately opened.
"What the-"
"We're here." York interrupted my bitching, looking around me to wherever "here" is. I scoffed at him one more time before turning away from him to appease my curiosity.
Hm. How anticlimactic.
We're in the bottom of what looks like a giant cavern. A very dry cavern, at that. The air is dusty, and I can see the sun from all the way down here. All the way down here being hundreds of feet. A fall from the top would definitely kill you. "Nice place you got here." I said, nodding my head and holding a thumbs up to York who shook his head at me.
"This is just the human part of Sumerian. Patience." He held a hand up to me and moved over to one of the stone sides of the cavern we were in. I watched him carefully as he faced the wall. He held out a giant Katana, like it's no big deal. I hadn't even noticed he'd been holding it before. I was too focused on the teleporting thing, I guess.
I kept my eyes on him as he brought the blade to his palm and sliced it open, not flinching once. He stowed his giant fucking sword in the back of his hoodie before walking closer to the wall and smearing his ink black blood all over the place. He's clearly drawing something intentionally, but I can't tell what. It just looked like lines to me. I wonder if his black blood was a him thing or a Reaper thing.
I'm more than a little surprised when the lines he drew begin to glow, and the ground began to rumble. Rocks started falling away in a rapidly appearing ground hole, and I backed away a little cautiously. It stopped growing at about six feet wide.
"Don't worry." York laughed at my reaction. Huh. A staircase leading down into the earth has appeared. I could hear rocks still tumbling below, and I wondered how deep down the stairs go.
He turned around and grinned at me, motioning towards the hole in the ground. I hesitated, and he rolls his eyes at my apprehension of the magically appearing hole-in-ground stairs. He held his hands up in unsaid defeat and walks down under the ground while I stood back for a moment, watching him disappear into the earth. I didn't hear him getting brutally slaughtered by demons or anything... I guess it's safe.
I scratched the back of my neck and looked around a little one more time.
I wonder if it was too late to accept that reincarnation.