|[ The Soul Reaper - 2 ]| [UNDERGOING EDITING]

Chapter 9 // Ālis

I screamed as the floor dropped out from underneath me and I began flailing in the darkness, flying past the dim stone walls. The manacles were still wrapped tightly around my wrists and I was suddenly pulled to a stop, the manacles ripping through my skin. I slammed heavily into the wall I was chained to, my head hitting stone with a sharp crack.

I shouted in pain as warm blood flowed down my wrists and along my fingers. It was an awful pain and I heard something snap in my arms and shoulders. Had I broken bones? What had even happened? I was hanging, suspended in mid-air. It was pitch black, and I had no idea if there was something beneath me – if the floor was only a few inches below me or if it was hundreds of metres below. I swallowed down my fear and glanced around trying to pick out any shapes in the blackness. Pain flickered sharply in my arms and shoulder, blood sticking to my skin like hot ink.

"Help!" I screamed as the sound of giant wings flew down towards me. It sounded as if hundreds of wings beat the air around me – a murder of crows that made up the darkness around me. I tried to struggled, tried to kick against the wall – but the bones in my arms shrieked in pain, and I knew that I would cause more damage than good if I continued.

"There is no use screaming," Death's laugh echoed from above me, "There is no one to hear you."

"Why are you doing this?" I cried, "Why?"

"I am curious," Death said softly, "As is my brother, as you surely already know. Why is it that you, a mortal with no particular talents or abilities, has some form of protection that allows you to pass into Alninė and still remain alive?"

"I don't know!" I cried, "And why am I here? I went to the Crystal Forest!"

"Most annoyingly, yes," Death sighed, "But I had two of my Night Elves steal you away for me."

"Night elves?" I asked.

"Spirits of deceased elves – at least the evil ones. If they had led good lives they would have left Eltor and gone to spend eternity in the Sylktäs... they disgust me – their souls are blackened like coal. Nowhere near as beautiful as those my brother guards. And yet they have their uses."

"And yet you stole me away," I snapped, "Who's to say you wouldn't steal some of the pure elves?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Death said, his wings buffeting me with cool air. "Either way it wouldn't be long before Abbadon discovered it and took them back home. But you, my dear Halfling... I can play with you as long as I want." I heard him move closer, and I wondered how large his wings were, just by listening to them move. It was a relief to feel the coolness on my hot, flushed skin. My wrists still stung where the flesh had been torn away, and the sticky half-dried blood coated my skin.

"Why did you take me?" I asked, "What could you possibly want with me?" I winced as my shoulders lanced with pain, "Please...let me go."

"I have already told you why I stole you from my brother," Death sighed, sounding slightly bored, "It is true we don't know what is so special about you, but that doesn't mean we can't figure it out. But if you really wish for me to let you go, it can easily be arranged."

I couldn't believe my ears. He was going to free me? Just like that?

"Of course. It doesn't mean you will enjoy the arrangements." There was a cool edge to his voice and my heart leapt into my throat. The chains suddenly unclamped themselves from around my wrists and I fell for a few moments through dark air until I crashed into a surface. I felt every inch of me smash into the ground, become one in a farrago of pain. My body crumpled to the floor. I could hear my blood flowing. My head hit stone ground with a sharp whack.