Damn, I really pulled a trigger for her, huh.
But, in a way, this puts things in some perspective. Before I had seen her do inhuman shit that was beyond explanation but now that it happened to me, I think I'm buying into her story of being a Grim reaper, or Grimmer, as they're calling themselves.
But that still doesn't explain quite a few things.
"Okay, okay, sorry. I understand and even believe you now," I said, her leg now off my head, I looked up at her with a strain. It was starting to hurt, actually. "Fine, we all have a soul, nay, we are the soul and we either become Rakshas food when we die or get saved by you all so that we can be reborn again experience the shitty cycle of life once again. But that still doesn't explain why we're here. Or rather why I'm here."
"Because you're in danger."
"Yes, you said that, thank you, but you didn't say from whom, and also—would you just release me from this damn thing? I'll end up breaking my neck or something by just talking to you," I said trying to get out of the bindings by myself. I failed. But hey, atleast she listened to me.
I stretched out my limbs like a cat waking up from its nap as I stood up. Suddenly the urge to sit down kinda just vanished. "Wait, is it Quadro? Is it the one that's after me or something? I thought your short friend killed it." Maybe it wants revenge? For what? Giving it a target to hunt down? A target that it could kill easily? Strange way of showing gratitude. No wonder it's a Rakshas
"Kill who?" The Grimmer asked.
"Quadro," I repeated but then realised she probably wasn't familiar with my technical term for it. "The Rakshas from yesterday. What was its name? Akkororororoi or something."
"...y-you named the Rakshas that almost killed you?" She asked with a smile creeping up on her face.
"Well, yeah, I did—Oi, why are you laughing?! Don't laugh at me! Just—Just answer the damn question!"
"Sorry, sorry," She tried to get her hysterical laughter down but she still looked like she would burst out any moment. It's not that weird to name your enemy...is it?
"But, yeah Ryou did kill...Quadro, Haha!" and she burst out in laughter again. Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed down and continued with a grin, "Okay that was the last time. Yes, my little brother did kill the Rakshas but that's not the one we came here for. Well, not the only one we came here for. Our official mission is to take care of the rising Rakshas quantity in this town. Unofficially, right now, we're have decided to be here for you. To save you."
"But why? What did I do? I didn't even know about their existence until yesterday. I didn't even know you all existed, no offence." Which, if you ask me, seems a bit fishy. Like I get not meeting a Grimmer or meeting one but not recognising them but a Rakshas? They don't seem like the folks that would blend in with the rest of the crowd.
Don't see a lot of tentacled humans with crystals inbetween their eyes every day.
Unless ofcourse they're always shapeshifting.
"Nothing. You're completely innocent. It's just...look it's really complicated and honestly, I didn't even want to do this thing. I was basically forced into this by Ash. Honestly, I'm not sure why he wants to do this. So can't you just accept everything so we can move on and have him explain things to you in a few days?"
"No! I will not move on. If I'm in danger, I need to know about it!"
Right? Tell me I'm not crazy for wanting to know more.
"I hate this extra work," She mumbled and took a pause in her speech. Probably thinking about how to explain things to me. Hopefully.
"Okay, think of it like this. Rakshas are eternally hungry monsters that are always on a hunt to search for food, to satisfy and fill that empty void in themselves. And to do that, they consume the Light Ruh. So think about it—" she took a totally unnecessary dramatic pause, like seriously, why? Why can't she just say it? "—why don't they just kill humans left and right?"
Okay, that question does warrant a fair use of dramatic effects, my bad. But, also, how the fudge am I supposed to know? Why does she think we're being taught all of this stuff in our schools?
...But you know, the way she framed the question..."Because they can't?" I guessed.
She nodded and smiled. Probably happy she doesn't have to explain stuff to some idiot who can't connect a few simple dots by himself. Or probably that's just me indirectly self-praising my intelligence.
"You know how I said the human body has its purpose? This is one of them. Among many other functions, it also works as this protective layer for the soul within. It's almost like this layer of poisonous meat with a disgusting sauce slathered all over it that's covering a tasty and healthy meal of pure ecstasy." That's...gotta be the weirdest definition of a human body.
"Hmm, okay, logical. But, there seems to be a flaw in your explanation," I picked up a nice round rock that my eyes caught sight of by some strange curiosity, maybe hoping that it'd act as some sort of stress ball for the current situation. "I was attacked. Quadro—" just the mention of that name brings out a burst of stifled laughter from the Grimmer but I continued with a glare of 'Do not start laughing'.
"Quadro attacked me. And the last time I checked, I was still alive inside this poisonous meat of mine."
"That would be because you're different."
Okay, I know I keep saying I'm just built different but this so not what I wanted it to mean!
"I'm different because I'm alive but my body isn't a rotten piece of poisonous meat dripping with disgusting sauce?"
"Yes, no, can you just stop saying it that way?"
"You're the one who came up with that analogy!"
"No one said to continue it!"... I mean, f-fair point, I suppose. "Your body repels things just fine." I know that it's something I should be happy to hear about considering the situation but I don't feel good. I don't wanna have a repulsive body!
"It's the Ruh thing, isn't it?" I said, remembering the conversation these guys had yesterday, as well as the thing that Quadro said to me. "Something about how they...love me or something." Still not sure how I feel about that. Especially if their love could mean me being a target of a hungry monster. Or monsters.
"So you were eavesdropping."
"What? No! I...I did not eavesdrop—I have never eavesdropped be—okay yeah, I did eavesdrop," I admitted once she gave me the cold annoyed glare. No point in faking it now.
"Yes, it's got to do with the way the Ruh behave around you. You're somehow exhibiting the signs of a Grimmer at Ardhjiv stage, only weirder," She said, yet once again, a term I wasn't familiar with and just expected me to know about it. "And we...we don't know how," she said softly as if even admitting that she didn't know something brought a great shame on her.
"Yeah, you'll have to explain that to me," I said, "We don't learn grimmer terms in our course."
"We Grimmers are former Light Ruhs. Souls that exhibit a certain extra potential and strength are selected to be Grimmers. Such a stage is called the Ardhjiv stage."
"So I'm basically showing signs of a dead soul who has the potential to be a Grimmer?" I asked. "H-how? I'm not dead..."
"Duh, idiot. Hence why I said it's weird." Okay, now she's lashing out because she can't answer the question. That's just rude. "Ashraf has some idea on it, I think. He hasn't told us anything yet."
Okay. This is a lot to take in.
Rakshas and souls and disgusting sauce bodies with a potential to be a Grimmer. I have officially reached a new level of weirdness in my life. Unless I suddenly wake up in my bed and realise that this was all a giant weird dream. Either way, it's all weird.
"Look, lady, there has to be some mistake made by you people—"
"You've been having a recurring dream, haven't you?" She got up and started pacing towards me, my grip on the rock becoming stronger and tighter with her each step. "A dream of you being in some distant place. A place you've never visited. A place that's so strange that it doesn't even seem to belong in this world. Yet you feel it is familiar. Like you've always been here. Next thing you know, you see something, someone, in that place. You can't get near them nor can you hear them but you know they're speaking to you. Am I right?"
The black desert. The white sky. The shining lady on a golden chariot.
Counting yesterday, I remember seeing that dream atleast twenty-three times. While they were never as clear as the one last night, it still aligned with what the claw girl said. But...how did she know?
"Look, we don't know what's happening to you, not entirely. All we know is that you are showing the signs of being a Grimmer, signs that we have seen before in ourselves and found a path towards understanding it," she said. Her face suddenly looked all sad, solemn. And with a tone that was barely above a whisper, she said the next few words that rocked my world.
"It's why we have also decided to bring you with us to the Aatmahal, to the realm of Inbetween. To our home."