The Reaper's Token

Our Evil Nemesis Takes Us to the Beach

We dropped hard as the crash of serf sounded in the darkness. My knees dug sharply into the sand as Xavier dropped me. His eyes fiercely scanned the nightscape for Violet.

Then there she was. Standing above us on an outcropping overlooking circlets of stone. I

I scrambled up to my feet, but Xavier held me by the back of my head. "Violet, I'm sor-" I started to say but was cut off.

"We can talk about this later, alright?" Violet snapped as she glared at Xavier.

"Violet," Xavier said softly, drawing out every syllable as he stalked her from the shadows.

"What do you want from me?" Violet asked. 

Searching the half-light and dark shadows for his figure and walking towards us.

"You shouldn't be here!" I tried to protest. "ARG!" I cried out as Xavier removed the knife from my leg and swiftly plunged it between my ribs. 

I struggled to breathe, a rather annoying reflex which surprisingly didn't go away once I died. I hoped the bleeding would clot soon before it got too difficult. My head throbbed as I fell forward. The restraints on my arms kept me up.

"It's rude to interrupt," Xavier smirked as a pained expression crossed Violet's face.

"What have you done to him?" Violet asked, her voice filled with concern.

"Nothing that he didn't deserve," Xavier said. "When I said he wouldn't have very long before you made up your mind, it was true. The Waters of Death make a fascinating poison. Its work is slow but effective. Of course, it isn't enough to destroy him on its own. When mixed with multiple attacks on the body, however it will bring on seizures, coma, and return to Limbo. But... we still have time to change that. Did you bring the box?" He asked.

"Of course," Violet said.

"That's my girl," He said coyly, like a teacher approving of a first class student.

She dropped the box to the ground between us as she growled, "Now, what do you want?"

 "Let's not rush. Shall we." Xavier stated as he calmly scooped up and cradled the box. "It's about what I want from the both of you," He said with a smug, satisfied grin. "We know what that is... don't we, Violet?"

I watched as they communicated without words. His eyebrows raised, and Violet's expression darkened in a wordless conversation that only made me hate this guy more. I felt that I was missing something, some crucial piece of information. It was hopeless. I was too thick to even guess what they raised their eyebrows about.

"I won't do it," She said quietly. "I can't do it. No one has ever been successful."

"Really?" Xavier said, now rather amused. "Violet, have I ever told you just how special you are?"

Violet didn't answer. Instead, she crossed her arms like my Grandmother used to do whenever I did something stupid. Like when I accidentally strapped her into an inversion machine too tightly and couldn't get her out.

"I've always had my eye on you, Violet. Your circumstance has always served a higher purpose that even I didn't know would become relevant."

"And by relevant, you mean you want to shove us into a dark hole that no one has ever returned from because you think I might actually make it back?" She asked.

Xavier smiled.

I snapped back to my senses with a wince. "Hey, can you repeat the part about the black hole again?" I asked.

"As I was saying," Xavier continued bending his fingers along the bridge of his nose as he fended off another headache.

Obviously, he was annoyed that I took the buzz out of his little power trip.

"Potential," Violet offered. "You wanted to tell me how special I was?"

 "Yes," Xavier hissed. "The prophecy requires its Token... The Guardian of Life demands it."

"You honestly think that is me?" Violet scoffed." 

 "No. I know it is." He said coldly. "Think of your body like a tall drinking glass. Your life force was emptied the second you hit the ground. You were just a shell waiting to be revived... and I did revive you - but barely. The process could not be completed, and I was too weak to fight. So, I left. Once I revived you. You were mostly Death (the water). That is probably why you have so much in common with Death apprentices, especially the Death mentor, Keith. Although the Life mentor, Alice, formed a bond with you, it left you ill for some time. It never fully connected."

I remembered Violet describing it as feeling like a plug halfway in a light socket. She felt unable to receive a full charge or get all the juice that a full plug-in would.

He was talking again, "Life is a lot like oil, beneficial for many things... but what we know about oil and water doesn't mix very well. Unless a surprise ingredient is added," Xavier said that last part while looking over at me.

BANG!!! I suddenly remembered the same experiment from physical science in the 6th grade! "So I'm the dish soap?!" I blurted out.

Xavier sighed. "Surfactant is the more proper term, but that is correct enough. You see, Violet, when Dominic burst into my office that night, he formed an irreversible bond with you during the explosion. Once the surfactant was added, the water and oil could mix. At that moment, Violet, you became the Token. You are shared between the forces of Life and Death. You are two pieces of a whole."

 Violet's eyes snapped up to me in shock. I watched as a dark storm gathering over San Francisco Bay. It looked sinister and unnatural. The waves beat frothily against the shoreline, and an eery green mist grew and spread across the skyline. He had that creepy, mad scientist look again. I struggled to free myself from Xavier's grasp as a wicked smile played on his lips. Violet's composure faltered as her fingers shook. She clenched them into fists at her side, unable to do anything but watch.

Xavier stood in the wind, looking out with his wistful expression and unsettling grin. He had taken us outside the fort onto the beach as a thick, green fog rolled across the waves. He would send us into that pit, the black abyss he kept tossing me into in my dreams.

Xavier brought out a long golden spike. He drove it into the ground between us and started saying some kind of eerie chant.

Violet nervously glanced between us as a large crater developed. Sinking sands shifted in a swirling motion from the spike. It reminded me of a kiddy pool - the ones you see with the whirlpool jets.

Xavier dragged me forwards, and I struggled to avoid the growing Kiddy Pool of Darkness.

I looked out into the black abyss as my ears prickled uncomfortably. The sand was slipping away. We faced the sizeable gaping mouth about to suck all three of us in. "The Tide has come," Xavier howled over the pounding surf. "Remember Violet, no weapon, no antidote," Xavier snarled. "Land on your feet this time."

With that, he threw me in.

"Dominic," Violet gave a distorted yell.

I watched in slow motion as Xavier wrapped a hand around Violet's throat, squeezing it before throwing her down after me. I wrapped my arms around Violet as she slammed into me, and we both sunk into the eclipsing darkness of the abyss.