1 Prologue: Dreams and Reality

Grimm Reaper.

To us, it is a figure of death. Its nature challenged life, yet brought balance with its existence. With what light life has given, death shall take away. And with the life that has been taken away comes the beginning of another.

This is the natural cycle of life. Where death takes place, life must be breathe in to it.

Life can work magic into our lives like it always has. You are an example of the great magic life has given you. You're simple existence is a gift, a present that shall be cherished 'till the end. And with life comes families, and friends that you'll meet along the way, memories that will be made which you'll cherish later on in life, and love that will stay with you 'til you find the "one", your other half. The lights are bright and full of gifts, yet they still cast a shadow.

Amongst the shadow from the light comes mystery. Unsolved oddities yet to be explained by even the highest beings. This mystery is life that comes from a darker, malevolent force.

This mystery is life given breathe by death; reincarnation, resurrection, reanimation, and recreation.

These anomalies disrupt the natural cycle allowing those who have passed to have a second life after death. Each soul given life by these darker forces tips the scales further and further.

And once this balance tips, apocalypse will follow.

As the forces of the unknown grow, when chaos has disrupted order, when the scales tips ever so slightly, we are called upon to restore it.

We are souls given power to restore the balance.

We are Reapers.

"I am a reaper and my name is..."

~Aeris~

And then I woke up.

I've been having strange dreams for quite sometime.

They say dreams are a way of a person's spirit to roam the world outside your body. Well if it did, it did some supernatural mumbo jumbo while I was asleep.

I woke up with a splitting headache, confused by what I just dreamt about, dazed by its fantasy. It was a few minutes before I realized the time.

"Crap."

----

I was running through the crowd, hurrying for work. I'm late! It's my first day at work, God damn it! I forgot to set the alarm clock!

Not only that, I was almost mugged by the alley with a gun straight to my face, tripped face-first on a mud patch, almost ran into incoming traffic three times, and the list goes on.

Well isn't this an unlucky day. Kill me now, please. I'd rather die than show up to work like this.

So there I was, face smeared with patches of dirt, a little bruise on my cheeks from the punch that the mugger gave me, sweaty all over, and suit all messy. I mean, I might as well turn back now. They might fire me on the spot or just downright tell me to go home.

This is just unacceptable!

I shook my head. No. I can do this. I just need clean my face, change my clothes, and explain the situation.

'Turn back.'

What? No. I'm a step away from success.

'Turn back.'

A voice inside my head keeps telling me to turn back. No. Not on this day. Nothing will take this away from me.

I was still running, bumping every unfortunate businessman and women out of the way, spilling their coffee and knocking their phones out of their fingers. I heard their curses and felt their stares as I ran.

Suddenly everyone parted and it opened a path for me to run through.

'Turn back now.'

It's that voice again. I can feel as if something is pulling me away and tempting me to turn back and head home.

I stepped off the curb and sprinted my way to the other side of the street. Suddenly, I bumped into a lady and tripped again, this time it was face-first into the pavement.

"Are you ok?" She asked. Everything was blurry. It was like my senses were suddenly knocked out of my own body and back.

"Yeah, I think." She offered her hand to help me. I grabbed it and stood up.

When I regained my senses, I found myself face to face with a lady so beautiful, she couldn't possibly exist.

She had long hair falling from the top of her head to the back of her waist. It was black fading into a little bit of blonde near the tip. She had cute slanting eyes which was hazelnut in color. Her smile was eternal, radiating happiness from end to end, with teeth white as snow and braces to compliment. Her skin wasn't white nor black but morena which only made her so much more beautiful. She wore an open plaid blouse with a black fitted tank top that complimented her black, skinny jeans.

"Whoa." I was amazed, losing all my senses again, this time focused on the beauty of the lady in front of me.

"Why? Is there something on my face?" She wiped the end of her lips trying to check for debris that didn't exist

"No! No. There's nothing." Then I realized I had a job to go to and a sense of urgency shot through my body. "Crap! It was nice meeting you but I gotta go!"

I ran and bumped into someone again.

Except I didn't bump him. I phased through his body. And that's when I noticed. I was no longer filthy. My suit all tidy, my face wasn't in pain, my ankle seemed ok. And I was glowing white.

I saw people running towards me, each passing through me, not even batting an eye, as if they couldn't see me or I didn't exist.

I turned my body and followed them. People were mounting by the dozens as if something happened. Before I could walk back, a hand grabbed my wrist. It was the lady I saw.

"Who are you? What happened to me?"

"My name is Death. And you're dying."