The New Reaper (Chapter 1)
The Transformation
Why am I here? Don't they understand the joy and pleasure you receive when you kill your own kind? When you take the life of an innocent human being? It's exhilarating! The multiple stabs and slashes, how easily the knife cuts through their flesh, the rush of adrenaline you get when you go in for that final strike! Then…silence…cold dead silence. I am Tim Wakes. They all think I'm crazy, so they put me in this asylum, in this room that I will spend the rest of my life. They don't understand the real problems out there in the world. The only way to deal with those problems is simply make it go away by force. The many people I've killed…and I have no regrets. I don't know why I am writing this paper. Am I writing to myself? Maybe I really am crazy.
That was the only thing that the asylum guards found in Tim Wakes' cell when they went to check on him. It's not possible for him to escape; the door was sealed shut, no windows for him break through. He couldn't have possibly vanished in thin air could he?
…1 day before Tim's vanishing…
"There, that's all that there is to write, for now at least. No one will ever read these letters anyways." As Tim began to climb back into his bed he heard a dark voice from inside his cell. "Your time has come Tim." Tim immediately fell to the floor and he crawled as far back into his corner as he could. "Don't be afraid, everyone has a time, they just don't know when there time is." "Who are you?" Tim cried. "You don't recognize me Tim? I was there for every one of you killings." "No one else was around when I killed those people! I made sure of it!" "Believe me I was there for each one, you stole those people from me; they were mine to slay." The mysterious figure took a step closer. He was completely covered in a black robe, his face was hidden deep within his hood, but there was something even more strange about this man; there was a sense of guilt and regret that he brought with him. "Do you recognize me now Tim?" Tim's heart dropped, his eyes begin to tear up, and Tim felt all the guilt that had been building up for so long. "Your…you're…" "That's right Tim, I am the infamous Death, but you and your pathetic race may otherwise know me as the Grim Reaper." "Why are you here? It's not my time to go yet it can't be!" "O how much I love to see the fear in their eyes. For your sake Tim you are correct, I am not here to take your life; I am here for something much more important."
Death pulled his hood down to reveal a skull, completely bare of skin, as a face. "If you're not here to take my life then why are you here Death?" "The prince of evil himself, Lucifer, has sent me personally to find you. Why you ask? Simple, you are a cold hearted killer; you feel no remorse when you take the life of another human even if it's your own flesh and blood. What other man has the emotionless heart and cold soul to kill his family? And what is the reason behind this man's rampage? To simply please himself with the agonizing cries of his victims. I have watched men kill men for centuries and none are as soulless as you Tim. I stood there with you in each and every murder, watching you literally rip apart you mother and father, knowing that neither of them could do anything to prevent your attack. And your face covered in blood from the violent splash of organs that you tore out of your sister with your own bare hands. Lucifer and I both have been watching you very closely and decided that Lucifer needs a new Reaper. "So Satan sent you to find me and bring me to him? I don't understand…how can I become a Reaper?" "That is up to Lucifer. Come Tim, it's time to depart."
At that time the whole room was covered in a heavy darkness. So thick and heavy that I could no longer see Death, who was standing no more than a foot away from me. The walls and door that were once there were no more. The entire time I felt like I was falling, with the temperature quickly increasing. It got to a point where I felt like my skin was going to melt off my bones. Then suddenly…I stopped falling. I slowly lifted my head to the beautiful sights of burning bodies, impaled carcasses, and skeletal corpses. I looked up, and that's where I saw him, the devil himself, sitting on a type of throne like a prince. He and Death, who was right beside him, just stared at me. "Welcome to my paradise" said the Devil. "Death and I are both very pleased with your progress." "You wanted to make me your new Reaper right?" I asked. "That is correct; I think you will be my most profitable Reaper yet." "And what if I refuse your offer?" "Well then I think a little persuading might be in order."
The once humanoid figure transformed into something monstrous. His fingers became long and sharp. Spikes pertruded from his arms and back. His face began to disfigure and converted into a hideous being. Long, sharp horns sprouted from his head, and the same type of horns burst from his shoulders. "You are in my domain and you reject an offer that comes once in a millennia? Do you not know who I am? This is just a sample of my true power! I could rip the skin from your bones, make it grow back and rip it off again! I could set you ablaze and throw you into the pit along with every other condemned soul here, or impale you on one of the many spikes that you lay before you! I could even send Death to slash through your body like paper! Or maybe even spontaneous combustion, that's always been one of my favorites! I have all eternity to torture you! The point is boy, is that you do not have the luxury of argument here! Back on earth you were a feared serial killer but here you're just another condemned soul! You are in my hands now and I will do with you as I please, now do we have a deal?" I remained silent. "Good we're finally getting somewhere." Lucifer then reverted back to his humanoid state and we got back to the reason I was even in this place.
"How do you plan on making me a Reaper?" I asked. "You ask such simple questions. First we must dispose of the current Reaper." Satan merely looked at Death and he and his robe caught fire, a few seconds later he fell to a pile of ashes on the floor. He didn't even have time to scream. "Now that that's taken care of we can move on to you. Stand still and I promise this will hurt a lot." He gave me the same look he gave Death and I too was set ablaze. I screamed out in agony; the clothes I was wearing burned away in a second. My eyes exploded and oozed from their sockets, my skin liquefied and fell from my bones. My nose and ears simply fell off and burned up on the ground. Mt tendons and veins burst and fell from their once secure place.
The fire went out and I stood up. I was nothing more than a skeleton now. "Now wasn't that fun?" Lucifer said in a sarcastic tone. "I…I…I'm nothing more than bones." "Well here put this on, it will hide those bones." Satan threw me a black robe and I put it on over my skeletal body. And before I let you go, you'll be needing this. He tossed me a weapon: the Grim Reaper's signature scythe. "Now go my puppet, go back to the surface and begin your new life." All in a matter of an hour, my life changed and I had become Lucifer's new Reaper.