CHAPTER 18: The Veil

"Kluk, There are faster ways to do things. Why do you make us run around wasting time when we can just teleport them into the castle," the other skeleton asked who's bones looked younger and seemed to gleam with the strength of youth compared to his partner who was slowly assessing the state of the new body he had just acquired, 

"I've lived too long and I'm easily bored. If I'm going to have to keep doing the same old job for decades then I might as well make the hunt interesting," Kluk answered without turning around to look at Leth his partner as he continued to analyze the frozen body in front of him casting a strong enough spell to confirm that both the body and soul was in top condition, 

"Whatever...just hurry it up, please. We still have five hundred more to go and a whole lot of places to visit," Leth replied, and even though he was new at his job, he too couldn't help but agree with Kluk about the boring nature of their assigned work, 

"I'm done…," waving his hands over Andra's body, Kluk watched it disappear after storing it away before he began walking towards Leth, 

"You get to pick one next," Kluk suddenly reminded him, as an uncontrollable frown suddenly appeared on his face the moment he remembered that Leth enjoyed going after young children the most, 

"I'm heartless but I'm not that heartless," Kluk sighed in his mind thinking of how many small children he had watched Leth Kidnap, silencing them with a small snap of their necks, 

Leth walked further away from Kluk only to suddenly come to a stop with a look of longing and agony was etched all over his face as he looked into the distant lands covered with snow in front of him, 

"I wish he weren't so limited. Imagine the things we could achieve," said Leth with a yearning that bordered on insanity even as he performed certain hand signals right before righting and inscribing some writings in the snow, 

A dreamlike scene gradually appeared in front of them as Kluk saw a family, a pregnant mother and her two children of no more than six years old, cuddled together by the hearth of a fire as he held them even as they all seemed to be staying awake for a specific purpose, 

"Mother," the boy's voice came out softly calling the attention of its mother who seemed on the edge of drifting off to sleep even as he tried to tap her awake, 

"When is father coming?" Asked the boy in a clear voice even as he tried to ignore the cold that slightly seemed into his worn-out coat which had been sewn too many times for some holes to ever be truly fixed, 

"Shhhhh," came a warning from his sister who sat beside him as she laid on her mother's laps, bringing her index finger to her lips to shut him up, 

"Mother needs to rest and you know how worried she gets when father comes home late….What you need to do is act like a man and less like a scared cat," his sister told him, spotting an annoyed expression on her face as she did, 

"I'm no scared cat…," her brother argued right back in a louder tone which one seems to irritate his sister who looked more mature than him even though she had only been born two seconds ahead, 

"Are too and will you keep quiet," she furiously whispered doing her best to make sure that their mother stayed asleep, 

A few seconds of unabashed staring ensured as none of them seemed willing to bend over to the other until they both got tired leaning away from each other as they quietly went back to their various positions beside their mother, 

A few more seconds of waiting in silence and strangely they too easily dozed off to sleep, 

"I'm glad they seem healthy in all aspects. That is an undeniable  criteria for experimental materials," Leth observed right before plunging his arm into the veil-like scene in front of him, grabbing hold of the boy in it and pulling him out with ease without waking any of them up in the slightest, 

"I guess it's my turn then..." Kluk sighed shaking his head at the scene in front of him, unable to hide how uncomfortable he felt knowing how slowly and cruelly Leth enjoyed dissecting the goods he gathered, 

Quickly Kluk was about to erase the symbols on the snowy ground, not wanting to be around when the sleeping mother awoke to see her son gone, 

"Sure but right after I pick the girl too," Leth said even as he plunged his hand again without finesse dragging the girl from underneath her mother's arms without so much as stirring her awake, 

"Now you can erase the veil," Leth said in an absent-minded manner staring at the girl in a more interested manner than he had used on the boy, 

Watching his partner, pick up both children, placing them on each of his bony shoulders with ease even as he walked away respecting him to join, Kluk turned his face away towards the veil about to erase it with a sad expression on his face only for him to sudden pause as his feet hung over the symbols on the ground, 

His hesitation only lasted a few seconds right before plunging his hands into the veil and plucking the woman out before he changed his mind, 

"She's young and the fetus is good experimentation material that most of the people he knew would pay good money for," he muttered to himself throwing her quickly in a small storage cube, as she shrank and easily sank into it, 

"If I leave her here Leth would definitely come for her and more importantly I'll be sure to give her a quick death," Kluk thought as he erased the symbols on the ground.

The veil instantly vanished as he did, right before he ran to catch up with Leth, his partner as they began heading for another section of the enclosed land they were cursed to roam, with nothing but a veil to connect them to the outside world.