Reapers -- The First Familiar (Reapers Chronicles Book II)

Prologue

Reapers - The First Familiar

By Shim Simplina

©2013 All Rights Reserved.

A sequel to Reapers -- Thirteen Brothers (NOW PUBLISHED IN THE PHILIPPINES UNDER CLOAK POPFICTION. Pleas get a copy!)

Other Titles from the Reapers Chronicles
Reapers - Thirteen Brothers (book 1)
Reapers - Master of Souls (book 3)
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Prologue

"When he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night

And pay no worship to the garish sun."

― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

The world was hazy. Distorted. Unimposing. Ever since I'd been thrown into this Godforsaken place. Detachment was the only way I'd escape the loathsome reality.

My thoughts travelled to somewhere far away. Somewhere secure. I was taken back to the home where I grew up. My thoughts were immediately drowned in reminiscence of the time when I and my brother were still one of the Living and our mother was still with us. When we were still normal. But even that, I couldn't reach anymore. It felt like I was a thousand years away from those memories. And perhaps, I was.

More than six hundred years of existence had transformed me to a wholly different being. Time had obscured who I really was. What used to be my dreams. My simple whims way back then. Even my mother's face, I could not clearly remember anymore.

I cursed inwardly at myself. It was unforgivable. I'd sworn to never forget her-never to put behind me all the pain and suffering that man had caused her. That man I used to call Father. That man who denied everything that brought me contentment.

Six hundred years worth of boiling wrath welled inside me. Once again, he took away a part of me. First, my mother and now... her. She was only thing that made this damned life worth continuing. For a while, I'd thought I could finally stop hating myself, everyone else, the world. I could never be more wrong.

He did it before. Now, he was doing it again. He was never satisfied. Wanted everything for himself. Craved the world in the palm of his hand. Maybe that was the reason the Immortals banished him to this world. And he absolutely deserved every painful second of his eternal punishment.

I gnashed my teeth hard. It was a tussle to clear all the ferocious thoughts out of my mind. I caught my head in my hands. They were trembling with rage and now I did not know how to stop being angry. She 'd always known what to do. She'd always seemed to understand. Even though she's stubborn and loud and sometimes, dim.

I tried to prevent myself from thinking of her. It was unbearable, tormenting myself like this when I knew I'd never see her ever again. Doubt flooded back into my head. Did she make it alive out of Nirvana? Had she forgotten about me? I hoped so. But then, deep within me, I was ambiguous.

I wanted to see for myself that she was well. Though, doing that'd inevitably put her life in danger. Several times had I wondered what could've happened if I escaped with her. The possibilities seemed infinite. Appealing. But not bound to happen.

The quiet footfalls from the entry point of the dungeons disrupted my internal struggle. With my eyes still closed, I listened intently as though it was a rhythm from a symphony. It'd been a while since I saw someone other than the Ethereals passing through the castle walls and the lowly familiars appointed to furnish me my daily dose of torture. No delight in that. However, seeing their aggravated expressions afterwards extracting not a morsel of information from me was comforting enough. No amount of physical pain would make me talk.