Author's Note: Turns out something that was supposed to be one chapter became two. Enjoy!

Chapter 24 – Reaper and Priestess Part 1

Sander, Alchemist House, Year 595

It was a dark and stormy night, except it wasn't storming. It was just a dark night. Though it could have been storming for all the elderly woman inside the house cared as she poured over flasks and bottles of unmarked liquids. The woman pushed her glasses back up her face as they had been threatening to fall off her nose for a while now. She brushed a lock of lilac hair away from her wrinkled face before she let out a sigh.

"Not quite there yet, huhuhu..." the woman murmured to herself. She was about to begin mixing the liquids together when there was a knock on the door. Instead of doing the polite thing and answering the door, the elderly woman chose to ignore it and began to mix the liquids. A louder knock on the door made the woman's hands slip and drop the vials she had been holding.

As with most science mishaps, the vials exploded and made the elderly woman fall off her chair with a hefty thud on the floor. The knocking at the door continued as the woman pulled herself up onto her feet.

"Alright, alright!" she snapped angrily towards the door that immediately fell silent. While she murmured all sorts of nasty comments, the old lady limped towards the door and swung it open to see her visitor. When she did see who it was, the old woman's face paled.

"What are you doing here?!" she snapped quietly and looked around to make sure nobody else was outside. Before her was a cloaked woman with a black hood pulled over her silver hair.

"Vapor, please..." the cloaked woman pleaded softly as she handed the old woman a small, wrapped bundle. The elderly woman named Vapor knew immediately what the bundle was as soon as she held it. Vapor looked down at the black cloth and peeled part of it away to look upon a small baby's face.

"I'm not a daycare," Vapor wanted to say, but bit her tongue when she looked back up to see the cloaked woman's cheeks stained with tears. Vapor swallowed her pride and nodded her head slowly.

"What name did you give your child?" she asked quietly. The cloaked woman lifted a hand to clear her eyes before she spoke.

"Azrael."

With that, the cloaked woman stared upon her child once more before she moved closer and gently placed her forehead upon the baby's head. The baby shifted slightly upon the touch, but did not wake as its mother cried.

"Please forgive me for not being able to raise you," she whispered to the baby. After a few seconds of more tears, the mother lifted her head and looked to Vapor. Vapor nodded her head without a word, knowing what she wanted to say. The cloaked woman tugged her hood to make sure her face was hidden before she began to run away. Vapor let out a sigh and retreated back into her house.

The baby moved again, but this time Vapor heard its small hand hit against something else in the bundle. Delicately, Vapor fished out a small vial from next to the baby with the word 'payment' written along the glass. Vapor's eyes lit up at the vial filled with a smooth blue liquid. After she placed the vial down on her desk, she hurriedly rummaged through the house until she pulled out a worn out wooden crib for the baby.

"Emirate doesn't need it anymore, so you'll have it next," she told the baby and then chuckled at herself. Once she had made sure the baby was fine, she slipped back to her desk to continue making her potion.

Sander, Caluso Tribe Village, Year 602

"Frankly, I'm shocked," said a burly man with a thick brown beard and turban as he sat on the floor in front of a low table. Next to him sat a small girl with lilac hair who was calmly sipping her tea regardless of the man's shock. The man waited for a response, and when he realized he wasn't going to get one, he continued with what he was saying. "When you brought that boy here last year, I figured it was to get rid of him. But from what I've seen, it's not that, is it, Vapor?"

"Huhuhu, your instincts are as sharp as ever, Chief. I couldn't have everyone in the city know about him, and you were the only one I could think of to help his problem," the little girl Vapor explained as she drank her tea. The Chief lifted one of his large hands and grabbed hold of his own drinking mug before he took a long gulp of his drink.

"To have so much mana at his age though... It puts even my most seasoned warriors to shame. What sort of parents could he have to make such a boy?" the Chief wondered aloud. Vapor smiled wryly and chuckled at the Chief's confusion.

"How is the boy doing anyway?" Vapor asked, skillfully changing the subject before she reached for the teapot to refill her cup. The Chief stroked his beard with a long sigh.

"He's a troublemaker for sure. Even makes my own son Karu lose his temper. But he's strong. He's learned how to control his mana almost as if it were like breathing to him. He may be the only one who can purify Behemoth-"

The Chief was interrupted then by Vapor dropping the teapot with a crash. He looked to her with a stern look over breaking his things as she stared back at him in utter shock.

"You can't be serious! He's only seven!" she shouted, completely ignoring the tea that now covered the tabletop. The Chief closed his eyes and let out a sad sigh.

"Young he may be, he's stronger than our own priestess. He's our best chance at removing that thing that grows within Behemoth. I know it's rough, but if we don't do something, Behemoth is sure to suffer from it," the Chief stated and pushed himself up onto his feet. Vapor remained sitting as the Chief called for his aide. A minute later, the aide came with a young boy beside him.

"Big Sis!" the young boy cheered happily and ran over to Vapor. Without even a shred of restraint, he hugged Vapor tightly with a large smile on his face. Vapor's face twinged in guilt before she patted the young boy's head gently.

"Good to see you, Azrael," she said while regaining her calm look. Azrael sat down next to Vapor before he smiled up at the Chief.

"What did you need, Chief?"

"You will be accompanying me today into Behemoth," the Chief spoke curtly. Azrael's smile immediately vanished. He slowly looked at Vapor, but she avoided eye contact with him and kept her eyes to her cup. Azrael turned his head back the Chief, but said nothing as he stared at the bulky man. The Chief frowned as he looked down upon the child.

"It will be dangerous, but I have every faith in you, Azrael. I'll be waiting at the village entrance." The Chief turned away from the two and left the room quickly with his aide right behind him. Vapor remained silent for a moment before she reached into her sack and pulled out a small black book.

"Take this," she said as she slipped the book in Azrael's clothes. Azrael looked down at where Vapor had tucked the book under his top. His confusion was evident as Vapor drew in a shallow breath. "I was planning on giving it to you today anyway. Read it when you get the chance."

Vapor stood from the floor and patted Azrael's head gently. As she moved past him, she softly whispered in his ear.

"Do not lose hope."

Azrael turned his head to watch Vapor leave before he reluctantly headed the same direction the Chief had gone.

The air was damp and disgusting, which was to be expected from being inside of a giant beast like Behemoth. Azrael kept a hand over his nose as he did his best to follow the Chief and his aide deeper into the bowels of the beast. Well, it was more to the heart area, but it might as well have been the bowels. After a long trek through the insides of Behemoth, the Chief stopped in front of a large, green, pulsating, egg-shaped object.

"This is it," the Chief announced to his aide and Azrael. The Chief stood still as he gazed upon the object until his eyes fell to black erosion near the base. He lifted a hefty hand to motion to Azrael and then the erosion. "Concentrate your wind towards that. Try to remove it without damaging the core."

"O-Okay." Azrael gulped nervously and stepped towards the erosion, not noticing that the Chief and his aide stepped back. The little boy raised a hand slowly towards the black erosion and paused to let his breathing steady itself. The palm of his raised hand began to glow a mint green against the erosion. As the core felt the glow, it began to tremble slightly, but Azrael kept going.

Oh? This is interesting.

Azrael flinched. He was sure he had just heard a voice that was not his own in his head. The glow from the boy's hand intensified, as did the shivering of the core.

Trying to remove me? Your blood is screaming.

Azrael felt his body tremble at the voice. The erosion on the core started to shrink, which made the Chief and his aide gasp in excitement. Azrael did his best to keep his hand steady amidst the trembling that ran through his small body.

Well, alright. If you insist.

The erosion shrank until it was a small circle. However, when Azrael's hand shook harder from his trembling, the erosion erupted from the core and latched onto the hand. Azrael let out a cry in shock, taking a step back as his hand, and soon his arm, was engulfed by the erosion.

"Kehahaha! Thank you, maggot! This mixed blood is just what I needed!" a voice from the erosion cackled out loud. Azrael continued to cry in agony as the erosion sank into his skin. The Chief and his aide jumped to Azrael's aid while the boy slowly lost consciousness.

Red. That was the only color Azrael could see when he slowly reopened his eyes. Everywhere he looked was red. The core, red. His hands, red. The floor, red. Azrael's eyes widened when he saw what appeared to be a severed foot next to him. The steady dripping was all the boy could hear. He looked down to his hands to see where the sound was coming from.

Blood stained his whole body, forcing the little boy to convulse once he realized it. Once he had settled down, Azrael took many deep breaths to calm himself. But that was when he noticed something strange. He was already calm. His heartbeat had not changed at all and his breathing was still regular. In fact, once he noticed this, he completely forgot why he was trying to calm himself in the first place.

Azrael lifted his foot and began a steady march back the way he had come. It would not be until later that other Caluso tribesmen would come to see why their leader had not returned. Though it would not be until later that they found out that the blood there only belonged to the Chief and his aide.

When the news reached the rest of Sander, people would forever remember it as the only time they will ever see Vapor cry. No one knew how the little boy made it out of the desert alone, but over the next year rumors of a young, silver-haired boy would reach the city of sand. Rumors of a heartless killer called "Azrael the Reaper". These rumors ran rampant throughout the continent of Fluone until one war that would start the snowball towards the end of the world.