The Reaper's Token

I Swim in Plague Water

Imagine the world's longest waterslide where you can't see anything. Multiply that by 60, and you've got a pretty good idea of what falling into a black hole of nothing is like. It was also cold and clammy. I clung to Violet. All the heat from my body seemed to escape me as we fell. I was slowly regaining the ability to breathe as my body mended itself. A bright light engulfed us as we sensed the end nearing. My body cringed as I hit a... floor? It was jarring but not bone-breaking. My muscles trembled as I broke away from Violet, and I pushed myself up. Violet grabbed my arm as she steadied me, and we looked out into an open room.

"This isn't so bad," I said.

Violet grabbed my hand unexpectedly. I could feel her fingertips tremble as she whispered. "I shouldn't have left you alone, not tonight."

"Vi, please don't. Katrina poisoned me. Xavier was determined to have one of his crones bag me. I am just glad you aren't hurt." I coughed.

Violets chuckled as tears brimmed her eyes. "I am sorry, this whole situation is just absurd."

Vi helped me stand to my feet and dusted herself off, and her shoulders relaxed slightly.

My eyes fixed on a young woman across the room. She seemed to be in her early 20s. Her dark hair rested along her shoulders in a loosely curled, Greek or Romanesque up-do. A circlet of golden vines crowned her head. She wore a pale, green, flowing dress and looked like she was older somehow, almost timeless. I don't mean by centuries. I mean by millennia. Heck, she could even be primeval. She was holding a golden sword in her hands.

"Hey," I croaked and stepped forward.

"Wait!!!" Violet cried out simultaneously and tried to pull me back.

A sound like stone grating against stone reverberated around the room. A few panels in the walls had raised, and a black liquid raced toward us.

"Oh, that is not cool!" I muttered as the gunk steamed against Violet's shoes.

She yelped and let out some fancy Latin words as she backed away from it.

"Not so bad?" Violet quipped.

"It didn't look like it until now!" I yelled.

I turned to the stone wall that had formed behind us. The liquid didn't have the same effect on me for some reason. It just rolled across my sneakers. But Violet jumped up and down like she was dancing on a batch of hot coals.

"Violet!" I yelled.

I opened my arms, and she jumped into them. The liquid steadily filled the room and began pooling around my shins. It would be at my knees pretty soon. I looked toward the young woman. A row of steps and a gleaming marble platform kept her elevated above the black mass. She stood watching us in silence. Violet's body was slung across my chest, evenly distributing her weight.

"What is this stuff?" I asked. "And why is it only affecting you?"

"It must be the Waters of Death or the Black Death if you want to be specific," Violet said. "Technically, only Death or a mentor or apprentice of Death can stand in them.

"Wait! You mean like the plague!?" I asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately, a few hundred years ago, a ship from Spain landed on an island. You know, the boat that carried the infamous rats. The ship landed on an island that had previously leached out the Waters of Death underneath the beach. This was before L&D took over legal rights to the island. It has been missing for the last few centuries. Anyway, it wasn't the rats that spread the plague.