The Visit from Death

- 1 -

The Early Visitation

I got my first job during the 1300s.

It was around the time when the Black Death claimed hundreds, no, thousands of lives. From central Asia, it steadily spread its wrath all the way to Europe. Eventually, almost the entire world was in a state of peril, as numerous individuals died every day due to the deadly disease.

I was dispatched to help claim the numerous souls of humans who had finished their time on the surface world. As a novice grim reaper, I couldn't help but to feel excited about the prospect of getting multiple jobs on my first day. It wasn't everyday that a plague would wipe out a large portion of the world's population. I was simply ecstatic at the on-field experience that I would be getting.

The area I was in charge of collecting souls was in Norway. I smiled as I remembered the mission file that I have read. Apparently, a ghost ship from England that had carriers of the disease drifted to the shores of Norway. The unsuspecting citizens of Norway were thrown into chaos as the Black Death claimed many of their men's lives.

It was fun collecting their souls. The more I names I crossed in my notebook, the better. After I had swept a small town of the departed, I came across another town. I read the town sign and immediately recognized it. Before I had officially become into a grim reaper, I had one of my trips to the surface world in this town. The town was prosperous because of its wealthy land tenants. There was laughter in the air and everyone peacefully lived with their families. Norway, at this time, was enjoying a period of prosperity.

I surveyed the town. Presently, the lands had mostly become untended and the houses around the farm were mostly empty. It was like that in the rest of Norway. There weren't many people outside their homes, probably due to the fear of catching the plague. Even those who mourned their departed loved ones mostly stayed away from the deceased's bodies in fear of catching the dreaded disease.

"Let me see..." I paused in my tracks, opening notebook. "Are there still any souls that need to be collected?"

I moved my hand as I scanned through pages. I grimaced, looking at the list of crossed out names. Clearly, the one previously in charge of this area had already had his or her share of collecting souls. Most of the people in this town had already passed. It was obvious from how the town was eerily silent, but I refused to be left out of the fun of collecting souls from every town in Norway. Just as I was about to give up, I found a lone name that wasn't crossed out. The name read as Sigurd Erlingsson. His cause of death would be the Black Death.

I let out a relieved whistle. "Good thing I haven't moved to the next town." I continued walking down the path, looking around me.

Erlingsson. Surely, that surname belonged to the nobility. It was the branch of nobility that was closest to the king's lineage. Both common people and the nobility fell in face of the Black Death. It wasn't a surprise – after all, if you strip both social class of their names and material possessions, they were the same. Both were still human beings, susceptible even to the smallest and least deadly disease.

I stopped in front of a sizeable house. It only had one floor, but the width of the house made up for what the height it lacked. I tilted my head - I hadn't seen this house in my previous trip to the town. Despite the growth of vines around the house, it still bore markings of someone inhabiting it. The garden beside the house, though filled patches of weeds was well taken care of. There was also a faint trail of smoke coming from the chimney.

"To think that someone was still living here..."

I opened the front door and quietly walked across the wooden flooring. The house was modestly furnished, equipped with the necessarily utilities and fixings. The decorations were sparse, much to my surprise. There weren't also many rooms to look at. At most, the house had five rooms. I took a peek of one of the rooms – there was no one there.

"Now that I think about it...there's no one here?" I mumbled.

The situation of the nobles was direr than I had thought. Normally, there would be at least one or two servants running around the house. But in this house, there was none. Did Sigurd only take care of himself? There was only one way I could find out. I checked the rooms one by one, until I was left with the room located at the farthest part of the house. Without giving it a thought, I opened the last door.

"Who's...there?" A gentle voice came from the room.

I looked up and saw a beautiful man sitting upright on the bed. He looked at me with his midnight blue eyes, his pale lips curled into a small frown. This must be Sigurd Erlingsson, whose soul I was supposed to get before I could proceed to the next town...and he's alive?

"You're not dead?" I asked, dumbfounded.

End of Chapter