Chapter Seven

THE MAN WHO CALLS HIMSELF THE GRIM REAPER

***

THE UNFAMILIAR FANCY-looking ceiling greeted Astier the first thing when he opened his eyes. It was decorated with gold linings around the edges and in the middle hung a luxurious chandelier. He felt the soft mattress underneath him, a fluffy cushion where his head rested and a warm blanket covering up to his chest.

An image of a strong dark force flashed into his mind, prompting him to recall what had happened in the valley, resulting in him hastily rising. His head spun as though he had drank tons of glasses of liquor the night before. He held his head as he waited for a moment to pass until his vision comes back clear.

He heaves out a sigh and gently sits at the edge of the bed. He glances down at his body and realised that he is once again covered in bandages, this time including his legs and arms. He cautiously traced them with his fingers. He felt no more pain. Did he self-heal again?

He then decided to scrutinise the fancy-looking room he is currently in. The air frolicking the room was warm, the chairs placed by the side of the fireplace emitted an orange glow, and the flawless floor reflected the fire.

But amidst the luxurious things around him, Astier noticed something off from the mantlepiece, he approaches it and reached for one of the frames. All the images bore someone else's, whom Astier is not familiar with.

He nearly dropped the frame when the door creaked loudly open, startling him.

"Oh, good! You're awake!"

"Forgive me, did I startle you?" apologises the former.

Astier took a glance at the frame and at the new person who entered the room. 'It's him alright.' he returned the frame on the mantlepiece.

"How are you feeling, my lord? Your wounds must have healed by now."

Astier stared at him for a moment or two before uttering a word, "I'm sorry, who might you be?"

"Oh! Silly me." The new person amusingly chuckled at himself. He bowed, as though paying respect to someone royal. "Forgive me, but allow me to introduce myself, my lord. Most beings know me by the title the Grim Reaper, but few people only know my real name. I, Grim Yanrec Eivox, Grim Reaper, a practitioner of Illusion Magic, and a loyal follower to Destroyer of Peace."

It took Astier another moment or two before he processed everything. He gently nodded his head thoughtfully. 'So, this is Death himself.'

"I see. So, you are the man who calls himself the Grim Reaper. I didn't know the Grim Reaper had an actual name."

"In this world, there are possibilities that the world you thought you came from lacked. You'd be surprised if one day you'll soon remember that Mother Nature also has a name of her own."

Astier thinly smiled. And recalling his good friend, he queried, "Is this your house? Did you bring me here? What has become of my friend? Is he alright?"

"Ah!" Grim clicked his tongue. "He is alright now. I gave him some remedies to heal his wound. If you would please follow me, I'll take you to him."

The Grim Reaper ushered Astier to the guest room which was located on the first floor of Grim's house. It was there that he realised that he was actually put inside Grim's room.

Everything seemed to be so fancy, it was nearly unreal to Astier having to know that the house was sitting in the middle of the Valley of Death. But meeting the Grim Reaper, the taker of souls, face-to-face, the valley's name finally made sense to him a little bit.

And he never thought he'd find the eponymous valley amusing.

"I must admit, I didn't expect your house to be this glamorous," Astier commented as they turned to another corridor.

"Why is that, my lord?"

Astier pretended he didn't hear the Grim Reaper's "formal" address to him hoping to save himself from a cringy moment. "Because I didn't see a fancy-looking house while we were fighting some undead."

"Oh." The Grim Reaper stopped in his track, he thought deeply as though remembering something he did earlier. Astier could nearly perceive a light bulb appearing above the taker of souls' heads.

"Of course, this wasn't the actual appearance of my house. It is all but an illusion."

"I-illusion? D-do you mean that---" he cuts him off.

"Would you like me to undo it?" Before Astier could even deliver his answer, Grim had already beamed at him. "Wonderful then!"

He clapped his hands, once but loudly. Almost instantly that the house's current image dissipated and turned into smoke, vanishing into thin air. The fancy-looking walls of the corridors are now replaced with run-down and broken ones. The flawless and glossy floor turned into a creaking wood, and inconveniently, the ceiling and the entire roof itself disappeared; revealing the dark and gloomy sky as though it was warning them that a storm is coming.

Astier exclaimed in surprise, "What in the world just happened?"

"I removed the illusion from my house. And now it's reverted to its original image."

Astier stared at him inquiringly. "But then why do it in the first place?"

Grim innocently beamed at him. "Forgive me, my lord. I simply wanted to impress you."

"Oh. Well, you didn't have to do that. I don't always associate myself with fancy things. But where's the roof?" he added.

The Grim Reaper chuckled at his amusing reaction. "My house does not have a roof, my lord."

"Why? What will you do if it rains?"

"It doesn't rain in my valley, my lord. Besides, it gives me quicker access to leave the house."

"But you have a "door"," Astier emphasized his last word with an air of quotation marks.

"But then I have to come down and go through it. Whereas, a roofless house allows me to just facilely fly away and land and it's always convenient."

Astier inwardly grimaced. 'What sort of stupidity is this?'

His thoughts were halted when Grim spoke again, "This way, my lord. Young Lord Ardelian is here."

'Young Lord Ardelian? This guy's killing me with his weird nicknames.'

They stopped in front of a run-down door. Grim made three knocks before asking permission to enter. He was instantly granted, Ardelian has been awake since five minutes ago.

"How are you feeling, mate?" Ardelian asked Astier the moment he entered the room. And just like him, he's wrapped with bandages, except for his face and neck.

"I don't feel any pain."

Ardelian thoughtfully nodded his head. "You self-healed." And his countenance changed so rapidly, betraying his calm physiognomy. "But what a foolish thing to do! You can't use a massive amount of energy like that carelessly, not without your staff. The consequence of using such a technique with an ordinary weapon will cost you your strength. And that's not even the worst part."

He didn't have a choice, they were about to be eaten by those creatures. But he held himself back and decided to keep it to himself lest he should further anger Ardelian.

In the end, he raised his two palms in the air, waving his flag of surrender. "I'm sorry, okay? It won't happen again."

"It better not. Because I'm not going to wait for three days until you wake up! I'll be dragging your unconscious ass at the end of the wagon the next time."

He waved off his friend's exaggerated sarcastic concern--- but then what did he say?

"Wait, what did you just say? Three days? I was out for three days?" Incredulity was sprouting from his green eyes.

Grim broke their silence by confirming, "Yes, my lord. Such is the disadvantage of becoming an Ulterion Wizard. You become weak without your staff."

Astier was stunned at the truth of his weakness. He thought he woke up a few hours just after their fight in the valley. He never thought that it had been three days that passed. He was unconscious for three days?

He never read that one in the book. The only thing it emphasized was that Destroyer needed his staff and that he can't do anything without it in his possession.

"Ordinary weapons are not blessed by your powers, which explains why it melted after you used the technique. Aside from that it couldn't withstand your power but your power is also rejecting it," Ardelian eloquently informs Astier after they've settled themselves in Grim's bookless library.

Astier nodded his head. "I 'do' seem to remember now that Destroyer possesses a staff in the book. But when I came here I didn't have it with me. I don't remember someone taking it in the book."

Ardelian gazes upon Grim, his eyes questioning if he had knew anything about it since Destroyer's disappearance. But the latter read his eyes differently.

"What is it, my lord? Do you need anything? Water, perhaps?"

Ardelian sighed. 'Sometimes I forget he's too naive and innocent.'

♛♛♛

IN A DARKENED room where the only light present comes from a small candle laid on the bedside table. The door creaked open as a man entered, allowing a small portion of light from outside through. But it vanished as soon as the man closes the door.

He spoke, and his voice was strong and authoritative.

"Wake up."

His simple command compelled the person on the bed to rise.

"He has returned."

"What shall you want me to do, my lord?"

"Kill him. Mother Nature mustn't be released at all costs!"