Ch. 2: SECOND BURST

**THE PARTS WRITTEN BETWEEN TWO ASTRECKS CONTAIN GORE! SKIP THEM IF NEEDED**

Here I stand in front of a ghosty purple image of myself... And it's very rude.

"Who- What the fuck are you?" I asked in a badly masked scared tone

"Let me give you hint." Said my image

It raised its hand in the air and purple sparks started shooting out, and before I knew it, its hand turned into wood with a curved horizontal steel blade. It was my sythe

"My.... soul?" I asked even more scared now. That weapon caused so many nightmares.

"CORRECT-MUNDO!" It said enthusiastically

I remained silent... how is my soul talking to me? Why did it have to show me that thing?

"You do realize that I can hear every thought you have right? And I'll tell you later" It examined the Ego-Weapon curiously.

"LEAVE!" I shouted

"Huh?"

"NO ONE SHOULD KNOW I HAVE A WEAPON"

"Oh right," the sythe disappeared "they can't see me unless I'm in weapon form... I think"

Well, that's good to know.

"So why are you here now?" I asked

"I'm BORED!" it said like a little kid

I remained silent guessing there was more

"Ok fine. Don't freak out. But your Ego is getting unstable" it said hastily

Despite the warning, I still freaked out. The last time that happened I lost my mother, my father abandoned me. I lost my childhood to repeating nightmares. I started shaking, my legs started giving up.

"I TOLD YOU DON'T FREAK OUT!" Its shouting didn't help

"OF COURSE I'M GOING TO FREAK OUT!" I shouted back

"RAVEEEEEEEEEEN!" said a crooked third voice. It was the history teacher.

Madam Aero came into the room with the kid that broke someone's nose during training. Pretty sure his name is Jacob

"Why in the 9 hells are you shouting?!"

I stayed silent for a bit before speaking

"Father Gard is going to be mad at me for coming home late?" I lied

I could feel my image shrugging. It really can't help

"Well, that's your problem. Now sit quietly!" she pointed at one of the two desks in the office

I sat on the left desk and Jacob sat on the other. Madam Aero got out of the room and closed the door. I could hear the sound of 500 pounds of sand appearing to block the door, can't escape I guess. I looked to face my soul

"You can call me Ray, by the way." It said to me "you can talk to me through your thoughts. And listen up I'm going to say very important things"

I took a deep breath.

*why now?*

"You're unlocking new abilities that no human should have. That's all I understand."

*what abilities?*

"Talking to the souls of the dead. And your own."

My brain stopped for a second. I can talk to souls?

*how do those things correlate?*

"Oh, it's simple. Your body and I aren't able to handle it"

Wind started blowing at me, I turned to look at Jacob trying to get my attention.

"Hey, how does it feel not being able to do this." He said smugly as he started causing a tornado in front of me

"I couldn't care less," I said coldly, he didn't get the hint.

He started causing all of the papers in the room to fly around me.

"Pretty cool right? Too bad you're unarmed"

"Got a problem with that?" My eye started twitching

"Your eye sure does a have a problem" He sent a bottle of ink at my eye, but before it could hit me a shot of electricity made it explode.

I was surging with lightning before I heard Ray speak

"Raven! You need to calm down-"

But before he could finish that sentence I turned him into my sythe, my body was moving on its own. My mind was somewhere else. I blinked and found myself floating in a black void with electricity running through me, am I dreaming? I was having an awful headache, I wasn't moving a muscle but I felt like I was sprinting, jumping, attacking. When I was back in my body I saw my sythe pierced into Jacob's gauntlets.

**Jacob clenches his stomach as if he ate a moldy piece of bread, the sounds of wind could be heard coming from him, followed by a bloody, gushy sound. He spat blood as he started spinning. The sound became stronger, it felt as if a storm has willed itself into existence inside him and now it's blending his insides. He spun faster and faster before his body exploded open like an overfilled balloon blood and guts going everywhere. And there I stood, covered in blood and what looks like liver.** I let out a shout as the room itself starts thundering with me. The door is kicked in by Madam Aero wielding her mace. I look at her with bloodshot eyes.

I could feel her talking, but I didn't hear a word. I was in that void again, the same feeling. Now I remember, I know this feeling, that's exactly what happened when my mother died. Why was this happening again? When I was back in my body Madam Aero's mace head was on the ground.

**she opened her mouth again but this time she started coughing, taking huge gasps of air in-between. She began to rub her eyes as if she was both crying and had something in her eye. She coughed harder on me, but there was no saliva in that cough, instead, she was vomiting sand, and when I looked at her eyes sand was coming out of it too. Soon sand began pouring out of every hole in her face, forming an enormous hill around her trapping her. Before long, sand fully stopped coming out, it filled her mouth and eyes to the brim, the sand was covered in red while dropping out of her nose and ears, it seems to have pierced most veins in her nose and ears.** I was scared, sad, confused. What is happening, why is it happening, how am I linked to the Grim Reaper. I didn't have an answer but I was sure of one thing: I must stop this thing.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" I shouted at the top of my lungs and electricity shot out of my fingers onto the Ego-Weapon, and it disappeared. Static and lightning were running through me, soon someone broke down the door and saw me standing covered in blood, guts, and sand, as well as Madam Aero's body buried in her sand. Father Gard was first to speak.

"What in the world have you done, Raven?" This time he said my name with even more spit and hissing than ever. I was too stunned to talk back. Soon whispers turned to shout. All I understood were the words execution and banishment. I was too focused on Ray laying on the ground as he kept glitching in and out of existence until I heard someone speak up

"Remember the beast we banished? I think I can make a deal with it and not have to deal with the kid ourselves."

There were whispers of doubt but father Gard spoke up

"Then so be it, if the kid kills it, then he earned his freedom away from this town, and if he dies trying, that's a problem thrown off our shoulders"

Meanwhile, Ray was slowly shrinking, his nose and mouth were coming outwards then downwards like a beak, his arms grew razor-sharp feathers. Soon enough, he was turned into what I can only describe as a purple crow with silver feathers. Before I could comprehend what I saw someone knocked me out with their Ego-Weapon.

I woke up in the middle of the woods, leaves, and bushes ruffling. I could have sworn that I saw a pair of yellow eyes looking at me. Before I knew it, what looked like a bright orange fox with razor-sharp claws and the same yellow eyes jumped on me. But before I could react the fur began falling and the arms and legs turned to look more human, the snout of the fox turned into a human mouth and nose. The ears however stayed the same, and a playful high voice spoke to me.

"Don't worry. I won't eat you"

I immediately faint. Today was too much.