CHAPTER 41: THE REAPER'S CHASE

Gabriel sits on a sofa in the club, of course, not the actual club. He sits in a manifestation of his memory. The last few centuries had been fun but sitting in the spirit realm as a human soul makes him to revaluate his life.

He has been around so long he didn't think death was an option but right now he knows how vulnerable he has become.

There isn't any logical explanation as to why it is even possible for them to revive him.

When he lost his immortality he expected to be weak to the voice of death but somehow he still able to fight it. Somehow the universe still wants him to live for reasons unknown to the man.

His link to Samuel is already doing more harm than good as it is. Samuel is the only one he can count on right now, he is the only one he trusts to pull this off but the thought of it makes Gabriel realize how scary death has become to him.

What's worse is that he finds some memories fleeing away from his mind, a sign that the longer he stays in this realm he will become an abomination that lives in it, devoid of emotions and he will be a shell of himself.

The club is empty but Gabriel still feels the watchful eyes of a creature creeping in the dark corners of the club. His hisses exposes him as little lights shine against its slithery looking skin.

"Who are you?" Gabriel raises his voice, "I know you are here," he says. He hears the sounds of little feet running around the club, turning and hiding at every table and dark corners of the furniture.

Gabriel stands up with a clenched fist, "You are in my version of the spirit realm. You will get hurt," he says calmly.

"Hurt? Human, I am a demon. You are a human and you are the one that has fallen into my world.

My name is Tuyul and I have come for the treasures," Tuyul says.

Gabriel's face turns into a hard frown, "You are a fool if you think you are going to get any treasure. I am a human, I have no treasures," Gabriel says.

"I know who you are, Gabriel Tempestas Stone, son of Dracula, sphinx of the storm," Tuyul says. He crawls closer toward the lights to reveal his bald head with strange tattoos on his forehead.

"Where is the gate? Bring it," Tuyul says with a hasty demand in his voice.

Gabriel begins to laugh with one hand on his belly, "You think I can summon the gate? I lost that privilege the moment I was no longer a sphinx," he says.

Tuyul stands up and begins to walk slowly, keeping his gaze on the dark skinned man. His eyes carry a shimmer of green and his voice sounds like a snake's.

Grunting voices begin to fill the club slowly growing with the passing of each minute. Gabriel carries a stool and breaks it, holding one of its leg as a weapon while his eyes stay trained on the child-like looking demon.

"Why don't we go back to a time when you were a sphinx, Gabriel Stone?" Tuyul says and snap his fingers.

The atmosphere begins to flicker like a light bulb, reality shakes like an unstable tv channel, shaking and cracking as Gabriel and Tuyul stand in the middle of it with the ever growing noises of a pig's grunt.

"So where will it be?" Tuyul says with a crooked grin that would make anyone squeal with disgust at the sight of his pointy teeth.

Gabriel runs the opposite direction of the demon and goes through a door with grunts and laughter behind him.

A wave of heavy air hit his lungs and the scorching heat of the sun gets him sweating and his Adam's apple moves up and down as he swallows his saliva. His mouth suddenly becomes dry and his lips hard, his eyes flicker constantly at the sight of the sun and his black hair feels wet.

He looks around the place as he tries to assess his situation. He is on top a roof of a castle made of mud blocks in the middle of a desert. The ground is stronger than it looks, there is a staircase at one edge of the roof and a shade made of white dusty cloth and wooden legs.

His eyes find no buildings for miles to come, the edges of the castle are cracked with lizards crawling in and out. The scent of incense fill the air and the heat only keeps getting hotter much to Gabriel's peril.

His cloth is quickly soaked in sweat and his body begins to tingle with a strangeness he wish he had not known.

"Is this where it is?" Tuyul says, he seem to appear from thin air as he came unnoticed to Gabriel. Gabriel still clutches the wood in his hand, waiting for the demon to make a move.

He hears the sound of chains behind him and he turns around swiftly, he recognizes that sound, "You seem to be distracted. I am quite offended," Tuyul says.

Gabriel returns his gaze to the demon and finds a warthog beside the demon. It has yellow eyes and its breath fill its face with steam.

"Open the gate," Tuyul says but Gabriel just stare at him without a move. He just waits with watchful eyes and an alert mind, a mind that is disturbed by a fear greater than the demon before him.

His sweat begins to dry up and the hot air gradually transforms into a cold one as he breathes.

The warthog begins to grunt as the sound of chains being dragged across the ground becomes audible and Gabriel instinctively ducks to the side and he catches the glimpse a scythe and a black cloak with tattered edges.

"No, no, no. He can't die just yet, Master Azazel will kill me" Tuyul grits behind sharp-edged teeth. Chains are tied around the reaper's waist with the edges dragging against the floor and a scythe in the right hand of the reaper as it floats in the air.

"Go away reaper, you have no business here" Tuyul shouts and the reaper responds with a husky voice and words that are strange to the ears.

Gabriel slowly backs away from the reaper, edging towards a staircase but he won't go unnoticed. The reaper swiftly turns its gaze at him and stretches its hand forward, commanding the chains to move towards Gabriel who doesn't waste time to run off.

Gabriel runs as fast as he can through the castle as the sound of chains seem ever near.

The castle is empty with dusty furniture and age-old infrastructures that threaten to break apart against the tides of time.

Thuds and clangs ring at his ears as the walls begin to wall apart and the route become harder to follow. Each step feels like he gets heavier and the castle as light as it can be. The grounds split open and Gabriel jumps over a few debris before he continues his run.

He finds no doors here and his breath gets heavy with the cold dangling on the tip of his fingers.

Grunts soon join the chase as warthogs follow behind him like flies. He dodges a falling pillar and slides down a broken floor to enter the lower floors of the castle. Dust rises but so does the lingering cold, clutching at his lungs as he loses speed.

He gradually falls under the cold and the chains hold him down, wrapping itself around Gabriel and dragging him through the rubble of broken walls.

His mind and nose becomes dazed with smells of ash and iron, bringing him visions of a black gate with a raven on one end.

He tries to struggle but he is numb to his own feelings. His skin begins to crack as black veins begin to appear on his face and his arms and his tongue taste like dust and ash.

This is most certainly the end for this soul.