The Knight and The Reaper

PENUMBRA

noun

UK /pɪˈnʌm.brə/

US /pɪˈnʌm.brə/

A part of a shadow in which only some of the light is blocked, used especially about a shadow made during an eclipse:

In a lunar eclipse, the outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks a portion of the sun's rays. — Cambridge Dictionary.

There above them was framed in the sky the Penumbra, the Eternal Eclipse, the moon had been in front of the sun for so long that not even the surviving Gods remember how long it's been this way.

There, The Reaper observed The Knight sleeping.

The Knight would grunt and thrash.

— Nightmares, I hate how nowadays everyone only has nightmares. The Reaper complained to no one.

The knight would always have the same nightmare over and over, about how things were before the Eternal Eclipse when sun and moon were separe things, and there was still day and night, but then the Knight would dream about the day the Penumbra came, and when the God Slathering happened, The Knight would dream about how the moon covered the sun, the day became night and everything went mad, even the Gods.

The Knight woke up scared and stressed, and saw the Reaper sitting on the other side of the fire pit, looking curiously.

— Are you okay noble knight? It seems that demons not only hunt you when you're awake, but when you're sleeping too. The Reaper was making fun of the knight, but there was genuine worry in the Reaper's commentary, he seemed to like the Knight, at least he had someone to talk to, someone who was not mad.

The Knight slept with it's full plate armor, including with the helmet, so the Reaper had not yet seen the Knight's face, since they first met 2 days ago, the Knight's armor was totally rusted, to the point that someone could easily think that the armor was made out of copper, but after all no one would be crazy enough to not wear this type of protection at all times in those lands.

The Knight grunted at the Reaper in reaction to his commentary, and sat in front of him, the fire pit between them, the Knight raised it's hands towards the fire, trying to harm up.

— Do you wanna know why mortals only have nightmares since the God Slathering happened? It's because the Gods that were not slaughtered went mad, and were distorted into cosmic abominations, Valleydrian, the Goddess of Dreams and Sleep were amongst the distorted. The Reaper really wanted someone to talk with.

— I know. But the Knight didn't seem the social type of people

— How long I've been sleeping? The Knight sounded very tired

— For about 3 hours, but I don't think you remember how much an hour is, do you?

— Yeah… it was a dumb question

It was true, since there was no day and night anymore, measuring time became very difficult, and nobody knows exactly how long ago the Penumbra was, the lack of time, one more factor that got people mad beyond understanding.

— Your armor, noble knight, it's a full plate heavy armor, it probably used to be very shiny and beautiful, no ordinary knight has an armor like that, you were from a Royal Guard, weren't you? You served a noble house I suppose, but I don't see any coat of arms on your armor…

— Why it matters? It's gone now. The Reaper detected so much sorrow in the Knight's statement that he felt bad

The Reaper was an interesting creature, it had a humanoid body covered in dark blue fur, but if in four legs, he could be easily mistaken for a large werewolf, the reaper was skinny and tall (considerably taller than the Knight), his head was the skull of what seemed a large canine and his eyes, were dark holes from which bright yellow points could be seen, presumably his pupils, and the feature that really caught the attention of the Knight, the Reaper had massive deer-like antlers, that the Reaper would trim for aesthetic reasons, pretty much how princess and nobles would care for their hairs in the olds times, and the Reaper had a long furry tail that we would brush when bored or when it got full of knots.

— What do you eat? I'm hungry, but I couldn't find any non-corrupted animal to eat along the way. The Knight ate it's last reserve of dry meat the day before

— I eat souls, but I couldn't find any non-corrupted soul along the way to eat either, so I'm also hungry

— Do you have a name? I remember the Reapers from the court of my kingdom having names

— Names are a very powerful thing noble knight, they can be used for all shorts of dark magic, so let's trust each other, why don't you say your name that I say mine?

— I guess I will be calling you just "Reaper" then

— Oh come on! I've been trying to socialize with you for the past few days but you're as socializable as a rock! The Reaper was really infuriated

— Not to mention that, because of this thing right here we will likely be stuck together for a while. The Reaper hold onto an invisible chain that was stuck to his neck like a leash on a dog, showing it to the Knight, the Knight could not see the the chain, but could feel it, the Knight could feel that the chain went from the Reaper's neck all the way to the symbol in the Knight's right wrist.

— How exactly it works? The Knight asked

— The Reaper Enslavement?

— Yeah

— Basically, you see the symbol of a closed padlock in your right wrist? From that symbol springs an invisible magic chain, don't worry, only I can feel the chain physically (thanks for that noble knight, there's nothing more comfortable than a leash), two days ago when we met, you casted a Reaper Enslavement Spell on me, which means that now I'm metaphysically (and physically in my case) connected to you, as my master, you can tell me which souls to reap and who to kill, until you decide to free me, but I don't think you will be doing this soon, will you?

— I have many uses for a Reaper on a leash. It was the closest thing to a joke that the Reaper heard the Knight saying

— Oh good, condemned to for ever be the sex slave of a kingdomless knight! The Reaper shook the chain around his neck

— My first order to you as your master is for you to get your hairy ass off of there and help me break camp. The Knight stood up taking it's long two handed sword from the floor

— The irony of the world after the God Slaughtering, one day you're a Knight serving a King, and in the other you're a Reaper serving a Knight. The Reaper stood up and helped the Knight undo the campaign.