"I'm not sure where to start, to be frankly honest." Shun said as he leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head.
"What exactly am I?" I said with an annoyed undertone. "What exactly are we?"
Shun released his right arm and rubbed his chin with it. "Well that answer requires quite a bit of a history lesson. Tell me, Valor, how is it that a Reaper is born?" Shun asked me.
"We're born from a rupture where the paths connect." I said.
"Correct," said Shun. "And what are these paths?"
"The paths are all the way the energy flows. Everything has energy inside of any dimension. It's how our souls move towards the afterlife or passed along for reincarnation. All energy is connected. We're all one through the paths." I said.
"Correct again," Shun said. "When the war broke out between Heaven and Hell, this created a large number of ruptures. Many of which is still continuing till this day. This planet originally was only gifted one Reaper, Deus. Now there's 6 of us."
"So there's 4 others outside of us?" I asked.
"Not exactly," Shun said while sitting up. He looked out the window for a moment and then back to me. "Us Reapers were designed for one job. To guide each energy source to their next path. The humans are weak. For years I took their souls away from them with ease. I never understood my position. We're far superior to the life forms here. And then.... and then a war of earth broke out. A war that United Nations of all different kinds. A war that shook the seas, sky and grounds. And during that conflict I saw a lot of blood. I saw bodies stacked to walls. I saw ocean shores colored red. I saw the faces of fear and I saw.. I saw lots and lots of tears. That's when I realized that the humans don't need a guide. The humans need a protector. I took it upon myself to severe the binds of contaminated paths to the human world; and in that journey that's where I met..."
Shun looked up at me and smiled. A smile of joy with a bit of fear and a lot of sorrow. "That's where I met your mother." Shun said.
My eyes opened as I stared back at him with a look of disturbance. "My... my mother?" I asked.
Shun nodded while continuing to smile. "That's right." He said.
"No," I said while shaking my head. "No that's not true. I was born from a rupture in the paths... I... I..."
"No," Shun said, interrupting me. "You're the son of a beautiful woman named Shauna. A guardian angel." Shun said with a smile.
I reached up and touched my chest. I could feel my eyes beginning to burn. "A... A guardian angel? I'm..."
"No," Shun said, interrupting me. I looked up at him with a face almost embracing tears. "Your father. Your mother would never speak of him. I don't know who he is. All I do know is that he's from the underworld. Your mother feared for you. She wished for nothing more than you to be a guardian angel. Unfortunately you couldn't. She brought you to me when you were 3 years old. She feared your father would try to come for you and without the guardian angels to protect you, she only saw me as an option." Shun said.
My heart was thumping with such force that I could feel my neck vibrating. "So what am I?" I asked Shun.
"There's a reason why you can't balance your spiritual energy very well," Shun said before turning away from me. "You're having to work against two forces. You see, you're half demon and half angel. This causes you to be enable to pass to the spiritual path. You're, to the humans.... a Demi-God." Shun said.
I stood up and began to walk away but stumbled. Shun leaped up to catch me. "Are you okay?" He asked.
I quickly slapped his arm away. "I'm fine. I just dropped some wood earlier. I need to go pick it up." I said.
Shun took a deep sigh and then sat back down. I walked out of the house and then began to make my way down the path and towards the wood pile.
Half Angel & Half demon, huh? So will my inbalancement keep my tied to this planet forever? Is my fate to roam this earth, waiting for the humans to die out? I gritted my teeth and looked up. The sky has cleared up. Time resumes to that of an ordinary day.
That beast; what he said to me... "That boy has quite a bit of demon energy." "Come with me and I can teach you how to use your yet to be unleashed potential." I lifted up my hand and stared at it. Am I really like him? Is half of me really as powerful and evil as him?
I get it, now. Why Shun sends me to bond with the humans. It's so when the time came that I discovered this dude of me; that when I tapped into it, I wouldn't want to hurt humans. I don't know if it worked, Shun. I think your plan was discovered prematurely.
I reached the one pile and began to load them back on my shoulder. Just as I was placing the last piece on top of the pile, I heard the faint sounds of laughter. The children. They're still playing. Could I have... been just like them?
I dropped the wood again and began to make my way to the village. Images of the family moments I've seen began to flash in my head. A mother helping her child reach something. A father laughing at something his kid said. A family eating together, enjoying each other. It's all something I've always ignored but deep down, I craved.
"Valor!!" The screams of my name came from a group of children rushing towards me as I reached the village entrance. "Valor, you're back!" One of the little girls said to me.
I smiled at them. "Yup, I am." I said.
"Can you play?" One kid asked, holding out his ball to me.
"Sure." I said, taking the ball from him. I dropped it to the ground and kicked it. All the children raced after it and began to kick it to each other, every so often to me. We kicked the ball for a few minutes, nothing long. In those few minutes, I embraced it as if they were my brothers and sisters. I felt nice.
"Oh, Valor. You've come back." Said a voice behind me.
I turned around and was met by Suisho, who was walking out of her house. "Yeah." I said before chuckling.
"Did you forget something?" She asked me.
"No, I just had some free time so thought I would come back here." I said.
"Oh," said Suisho. "Well we're about to have dinner. Will you join us?" She asked.
Dinner? Me and Shun don't really eat. It's not that we can't, it's that we don't need too. Eating is simply a pleasure for us."
"Yeah, do it, Valor!" I heard the kids saying to me as the approached us.
I looked at them and then back to Suisho. I then looked down out of embarrassment. "Sure." I said.
The children cheered and then Suisho ordered them to go wash up before going to the dinner table. She then led me inside a large building and had me sit next to her.
The table was quite long and had a lot of people around it. I leaned in towards Suisho. "Why are there so many people here?" I asked.
"It's tradition. We eat breakfast and lunch as an individual, however dinner is ate as a village." She said.
I see; Even those without a family have a family in this village. Are all humans this way? How could a world of such kind organisms have a war as chaotic as the one Shun speaks of?
"Suisho, why don't you have any children?" I asked.
She chuckled. "Well I'm fairly young. I'm only 18." She said while giggling.
Only 18, huh? I thought she was at least 20. "Tell me, if you were to have a child and you keeping it endangered it, would you pass it to someone you trust?" I asked.
"Of course," Suisho said. "I can't be responsible for hurting my child." She said.
"But what if it was a small chance. The endangerment is awful but it's only a small chance that it'll happen?" I asked her.
"Hmm," She said while looking up. "That's hard. I guess it would have to be something really awful. I would never want to give my child up but maybe if that small chance was bad enough, I'll have to just endure the pain and do it." She finished with as she smiled back down to me.
I looked away from her. Endure it, huh? So a mother's attachment is that strong?
The children soon finished washing up and the village started eating dinner. It was an enjoyable time and the food was quite pleasurable.
When the dinner was done, Suisho walked with me to the village entrance. "It was nice having you here. Try to get your dad to come down some time. I would love to meet him." She said.
I looked up at the mountain top. "Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen." I said.
Suisho then hopped in front of me. "Okay, well then one day you'll just have to take me up there to meet him." She said with a large grin.
I stared at her in shock. "Yeah, one day." I said. I then started to walk past her, towards my house.
"Be safe!" She called out.
I threw up my right hand to wave back to her. "I will." I said.
I collected the wood on the way and carried them to the top. I placed them down near the house and then walked to the side of the mountain, where rocks hang over the edge and overlooks the mountains depths.
I sat down and just stared out into the abyss. Dinner tonight was fun. I saw many different families, all who were enjoying each other's presence. I've always thought I was a spiritual creation. Nothing more, nothing less. I never flirted with the idea of having a family. However, now....
"Mom, look what I can do."
"Mom, can I have this."
"Dad, quit it."
"Don't drop that, son."
"Mom what's that?"
"Where are we going, dad?"
"I'm porous of you, son."
.....
.....
.....
.....
I want all of it.
"WHO ARE YOU!???" I screamed out into the abyss as tears streamed down my face. "I'm supposed to live a life that you chose but I...." I glitched my teeth and looked down at the rock I'm sitting on. "I don't even know who you are." I finished with, before laying on my side and sobbing quietly.
After a few minutes, I heard footsteps approaching behind me. "Tell me, Shun. What kind of person was my mom?" I said to him.
He sat down next to me. "Was? Is. Your mother still exist. Actually, I visit her quite often. I can move between paths as often as I like, being a Reaper and all. Your mother can only visit earth once every 15 years. I don't know what that job of visiting consist of, but I do know that she used her last visit to deliver you to safety." Shun said.
I laid in silence as I just continued to stare out.
"She's proud of you, you know? She's happy with the person you've become. She wishes she could see you. I try my best to describe your appearance but that woman won't budge until she has her eyes on the real you." Shun said while chuckling. I just continued to stare.
"Shun. I want you to put me through your hardest training. I don't want anything to be given to me from here out. I want everything you have to be thrown at me." I said.
"Sure, but I don't know if your spiritual energy can handle it. Hybrids have a hard time expa-"
"No," I said interrupting Shun while sitting up. "I'm no Demi-God. I'm not a Demon, either; Nor am I an Angel."
I was sitting up, staring out into the abyss again, absorbing everything around me. I've made my decision. I know what I'll do.
"I'm a Reaper."
