The Unknown God of Death

It was warm where I opened my eyes.

A vast blue sky rested before my eyes. I couldn't open my eyes very well though. They kept closing again and again. I was so damn sleepy. Everything was a blur.

My breathing sounded so...overwhelming. It was all I could hear. Like a hurricane. Or like I was under water. It was distant and yet...very close.

But then suddenly a grey wave appeared before my eyes and it seemed that I was beginning to lose vision. My breathing got heavier. Like I was falling down into something really deep.

I could barely keep my eyes open, even though I was trying so hard. My lips were parted, dried like sand.

But still, I managed to lift my head.

A stone wall right at the edge of a deep trench. And her. Standing on the edge of the stone wall. Her hair flowed about. So I wasn't really sure anymore if we weren't underwater.

"Kiria."

That was my voice that got muddled in a bubble. But she was looking at the distance. Into the trench.

It got impossible to keep my eyes open anymore. They were really heavy. For just a second, I blinked.

"In another world", I heard that voice.

I don't know who it belonged to but as distant as it was, it was really vivid.

When I opened my eyes again and looked for her, it wasn't her anymore. I looked closely and realized it was Lady. They both had fair hair so perhaps I...

No.

I blinked again. Those hair weren't fair at all. They were dark like a night. That wasn't a girl at all but a doll. A doll with blank eyes, deeper than the abyss she was gazing into. Just a little girl.

I didn't even know how to call out to her. But then I couldn't breath anymore. My vision got blurred. There were countless bubbles in front of me. I wanted to reach out to whoever that girl was but...

"Wah...hack...kha!", I woke up coughing and struggling to breath.

"Man, aren't you one grown up schmuck to be having nightmares, Seraph?", Chopper hung over my head,

"Ch-Chopper-san!"

"God, you're one noisy twit right after waking up."

I was still catching my breath. I realized I was dripping in sweat.

"Well...isn't it too inhumane to block someone's nose and mouth when they are sleeping?", I asked, baffled.

"Mmm, you seemed to be having a bad dream. What's the big deal?"

I hadn't seen him in a while but he was the same old Chopper. I sat up in my bed, scratching my head. It wasn't noon yet. Mornings were a little pleasant when the red sky was at its lowest.

"Well, what were you dreaming about?", he asked, sitting back in a chair.

I noticed just then that he was still in his travelling gear.

"Mmm", I mumbled, "I can't remember."

"You running a fever, kid?", he asked before getting up to feel my head.

"I don't...think so, Chopper-san."

He stood looking at me a while. I didn't know what he was thinking.

"Lady sent for me saying you had something important to tell me."

"Uh...hmm", I nodded before getting out of my sheets.

After I was done dressing up, I asked him where he'd been. He vaguely explained a bunch of things, that he'd been going around all sorts of places but hadn't found anything worth mentioning.

I told him all about Agartha and Shamballa. Things I hadn't told Lady, like Mer Claire and Rouge and of course, Kiria. I was like a kid that came back from a field trip. I told him everything and he was patient enough to listen, even though I'm sure he wasn't particularly interested. But that was Chopper, he always listened to things regardless of how pointless they may seem. We talked over coffee and I elaborated our whole adventure to him. Soon enough it was time to go out. Chopper changed out of his travelling gear and we went up to the hall.

Lady was fiddling with her box. I perhaps should have mentioned this before but Lady had this mysterious box on her table. I don't think anyone knew what was in it but everybody I asked said it'd been there as long as they remembered. I'm pretty sure it was locked. It was a small, pretty box like a jewelry box. That morning when I saw her fiddling with it, I wondered if that was the treasure she was trying to protect.

I wondered why it hadn't occurred to me before, considering how much Lady cherished it.

"Mornin' boy! Morning young Chopper", Sight greeted us. He wasn't dressed for the day. And it was a sight to behold, seeing his gigantic figure dressed in duck print pajamas. He even had his sleeping mask on, which had eyes drawn on it. This was the first time I'd seen him outside of his usual all white trench coat look.

To be fair, it did kind of kill me inside but though Chopper scrutinized him in silence for a while, he seemed to not mind his look.

"Morning, old man", he replied.

"Well, sure took your time, you lazy mutt. But since we're all here, let's hear it, Seraph", Lady said, seeing Chopper and I.

Considering Chopper had come home only a day after we did, I thought he was pretty fast. His reaction to Lady's welcome was a simple, "Tch, crazy old hag!"

I noticed Deli and Lubbock weren't around yet. And Grim was dozing off in his usual corner. June was hard at work, buried under her pile of papers.

"Well, we went to a place called The Gospelion of Barathrum with that professor Claire. I already told you he was looking for the source of the red sky too. And well, he activated the thing."

"Oi oi oi oi oi!", Chopper cut in, "You're sure you're not mistaken about the name?"

"Mmm hmm. This is what he called it."

"Claire...huh?", Chopper muttered to himself.

"So what did he find out?", asked Lady.

"He said he was able to see it. The red sky isn't the end. Something is approaching us and it's not very far. He also said the one behind it is some unknown god of death."

"A god of...death, you say?", Lady smirked in the weirdest possible way.

"Yes, but he said it was an unknown god. So I thought, Chopper-san...", saying that I looked to my side where Chopper was supposed to be standing.

He wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was loud bang just behind us, in the corner Grim was sleeping. Chopper had him pinned against a wall. I say the wall, but it was pretty much all crumbled up into rubble.

"Maa...what is this way to wake an innocent man?", Grim said, in his usual mischievous voice.

I just stood there dumbfounded at this sudden turn of events. June's typewriter had begun filling the air with its slow tip tap.

"Now now, Chopper. No need to be so hasty about it", said Lady, at which Chopper let Grim go and dusting his hands off, helped Grim out of the wall.

Chopper looked disgruntled, as he kept eyeing Grim. His look was screaming, "I've had about enough of your pranks". But Grim's grinning face was teasing him with a "Tee hee!". And I'm sure it got on his nerve even more.

"As for you, our dear unknown God of Death, don't we have something to talk about?", Lady asked, rather casually with her usual smirk.

"Yes!", replied Grim, grinning ear to ear.