Reapers - Thirteen Brothers

XXV - Scythe

Rosario unrolled The Third Tome of Immortals and muttered, "Death."

For a while, we both watched the golden scroll as it unrolled itself, spreading an endless tangle of ancient parchment all over the massive table. The dry, musty air in the Archives made it a little harder to breathe but I didn't complain. The scroll stopped unfurling and dropped down the table.

"Display," she said and the scroll jerked to life before floating in the air about a few yards away from us.

A faint light emanated from it, flashing to us. After that, moving pictures started to appear like holograms. First was a bright light that took a human form with no face or other features-merely a blindingly vivid silhouette. The next image was the shadows of thirteen people peeking from a giant crimson goblet.

A pleasant sounding voice of a man came from the scroll in a story-telling tone as a moving picture of an incredibly handsome man with russet skin, high cheek-bones and a pair of striking silvery-gray eyes projected in front of us. "Death is the youngest of the Thirteen Immortals; dubbed as such because of the eternal punishment given to him when he was banished from the Immortal Realm we now know as Nirvana. For eternity, Pilgrim Reaper, the gatherer of spirits-as he had named himself-was given the punishment to collect all expired souls from the mortal realm."

Who needs a TV when you have that? I thought.

Tiredly, Rosario turned to me. "The Grand Master Reaper is as old as earth itself. It has been a rumor among familiars and Sons alike that he fathered to thirteen boys in an attempt to escape from his punishment. But as it turns out, having thirteen sons only relieved part of his burden. They do his bidding, clean up his mess and carry out his job, but he's still banned from Nirvana or any Gate for that matter. That's why he desperately wanted Master Vincent to swear full allegiance to him, until now. He wanted to test the young master's ability and use it to try to crossover."

"But Vincent became a Reaper eventually, didn't he? And since Pilgrim Reaper is his dad, wouldn't that automatically mean they're allies?"

"Weren't you listening?" she retorted derisively. "As far as I could tell, Master Vincent doesn't want to have anything to do with his father. That's why the Sinclairs are considered free-lancers. They do the job without constant orders from the Grand Master. When Adrianna died, he blamed himself. He thought if only he was able to defend himself, she wouldn't have died. That was why he submitted himself to be immortalized. But he made a vow to not take any familiars so as not to repeat what happened to Adrianna."

There was a mixture of wistfulness and wariness in her hazel eyes when she flipped the scroll. "But here you are."

"He was planning on dumping me back to hell anyway so no worries," I replied with a humorless chuckle.

"You know what your problem is?" she said quietly. "You're blind. You never see how lucky you are to be his familiar. He resurrected you. Doesn't that count for anything? I'm telling you all of this to make you see. You have to realize how precarious Master Vincent's position is."

"W-what do you mean?" I asked taken aback.

Rosario's eyes bored into mine. "You're an illegal possession, Aramis. You're immortal, yet you still have your own soul inside you. You didn't go through the appropriate process to become a familiar. If the Grand Master knows of your existence, Master Vincent would have to face the highest form of punishment for immortals. That is... death."

It was barely a whisper but her words racked me to the core. I just stared emptily at her for a while, wanting to laugh at the joke, wanting to cry when I realized how serious her words were.