CHAPTER 33:
"A Deal With A Devil"

Clavis had never been one for fighting. Or, at the very least, only when it was absolutely necessary, and that was true before he encountered Morph.

He couldn't remember why he had decided to fight along side the Shinigami in the Death Note War against the forces of the Brigade of Life, it had been so long since then, but his ill-decision had cost him everything.

He thought his family, his wife and son, were safe—their names written in a Death Note using the less known Infinity Rule, which protects them from dying at the hands of any other Death Notes; the Death Clock forever in an infinite loop, not counting down to its forty-second end, the timeframe of when I person will have a heart attack—but he was wrong. And the very Shinigami that he put his faith in to safeguard his family betrayed them to save his own life.

But no one would have suspected Morph to possess a Death Eraser. It was the only tool that could erase something in a Death Note, and he erased the Infinity Rule icons next to his family's names in revenge for Clavis killing hordes of his Brigade of Life people with his special katana.

The Shinigami offered his Death Note to Morph to spare his life. The Brigade of Life had tools that were able to kill Shinigami by unsavoury means for Morph threatened the Shinigami with. In his case, Clavis maybe would have done the same thing. As the saying went: There was more than one way to skin a cat.

Clavis didn't know if it had been mere coincidence Morph happened upon the Death Note with his family's names in it, or the Shinigami was known to possess the information and was targeted. But in hindsight, Clavis did realize that he had been staying too close to this particular Shinigami and he may have not gone unnoticed.

And in the end, the Shinigami, who was also a friend, was not spared. His surrender for naught.

After that, Clavis had a true reason to fight The Brigade of Life. He fought Morph on multiple occasions, and Morph got the better of him every time, giving him most of the scars on his body.

When the war eventually ended, Clavis learned the Brigade of Life had nearly been wiped out, and Morph had fled, with the reminder of his brethren essence housed within his body like a host. The Shinigami and the Brigade of Life had always been at odds with each other, but it had been Morph who started it when he accidentally murdered a member of General Anonl's family, whom would later become the Shinigami King.

Over the years, Morph popped up from time to time, to take energy from beings wherever he found it, to feed his people inside him. Whether it was guilt or self-repentance, Morph used other beings to anchor to, to suck pieces of their life-force away to take inside him, drifting from place to place like some sort of vagabond, leeching off others. He hadn't caused any noticeable disturbance until he decided to enter the Human World and met Light Yagami.

That's when Quindecim, who had been watching him, raised alert levels, because Morph had unlimited energy to fed off of. Plus, with Shinigami already involved with humans in that realm, eventually, when Morph learned of them, things could become combative. But, oddly enough, Morph had not started a conflict with the Shinigami currently in the Human World. And now, with Morph involved with Light Yagami, and breaking him out of Quindecim, with Ryuk, and altering with timeline itself, Clavis knew things could get very dangerous for all forms of existence.

Oculus and the Quindecim elites had kept tabs on Morph, but after Light Yagami's resurrection, something more drastic had to be done about the supernatural Imp. And now, even more of the dead were rising from the annals of obliteration, some joining Yagami's cause, and some choosing to take up the fight against him. Clavis needed to be careful of the consequences of his own involvement in their fight.

It was best to be an observer and let those charged to take Light Yagami down, other than himself—although, he had merely been a transport to bring others here—to do it in a matter that was conspicuous, so other humans were unaware of the cosmic battle that was playing just under their collective noses.

Light Yagami with Morph's help, went back into the past, and changed the events of his demise, and subsequently, Morph also issued warnings even further back for Light to plan for the future, hence Light, now with a new persona as Shinto Izanagi, was now CEO to a multi-national conglomerate corporation that had spread its tentacles all over the world by using legitimacy and law as a tool for Yagami to rule over a large chunk of the world, while also secretly being Kira, using Death Note's that had been weaponized that gave Kira and his minions even more power.

Clavis knew all this because he had been watching Yagami and remained in touch with L, Kira's sworn enemy, and gathered Intel whenever it broached his way. He also received updates from Oculus in Quindecim on how things were doing there in his absence. He learned that Decim, the white-hairs Arbiter, had temporarily taken his place as elevator operator, and even before he brought them to the floors, he frightened the deceased by continuously starring at them with his dead, cross-filled eyes. He laughed then he thought about it. Decim's eyes was cold.

However, for the moment, he and Castra had their own issues to deal with. Quindecim could take care of itself.

Morph had asked the both of them to meet him in a neutral and secluded spot of his choosing.

Reluctantly, Clavis agreed, but he'd decided to remain on high alert, in battle mode, in his black bodysuit, and with katana in hand. Castra also had a weapon, an Energy Disruptor that had a half-moon curve handle with two barrels on either end. She had brought it with her when they came to the Human World. If Morph tried anything, she would blast him, and could, possibly, hurt him, killing his people that resided within him as energy beings.

But to use it on him directly would be useless, as Morph would just block it.

The meeting place was a desert, the Mojave Desert to be exact. It was an arid rain-shadow desert and the driest desert in North America. It resided in the Southwestern United States, primarily within southeastern California and southern Nevada, occupying near forty-eight thousand square miles with areas that extended into Utah and Arizona. It was a barren place and hotter than hell.

Clavis readied himself for a fight.

They stood ten feet away from each other.

"Talk! You diminutive little shit!" Clavis cursed.

A hot breeze momentarily blew Morph's thick white hair. "You're angry, I get that," he said cooly. "But it doesn't have to be this way."

"You killed my family, you son-of-a-bitch! And you gave me all these scars! Damn right it has to be this way!" Clavis's face has a rigid scar across it. And that was just what could be seen. The rest of his body was marked with deep slashes and scars from Morph when they had their battles.

Morph cocked it head and smiled. "Most becoming," he laughed. "They add flare to your personality, amongst all the jewelry you use to hide your pain. I don't know why you wear all that stuff?"

"What the hell to you want, Morph?" Castra put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him, his anger rising. Her touch did exactly that. Clavis breathed out deep, calmly. "I agreed to meet you here to talk. What's your endgame? We were charged by the echelon in Quindecim to bring back Light Yagami. Why did you resurrect him?"

"Because I was bored. I enjoyed Light Yagami's exploits as Kira. Or, that was my initial reason. But things are different now. My 'endgame' as you put it is much different that watching Kira rule the world. But if you attempt to kill Light Yagami, you'll have a difficult time in doing so. He is under my divine protection now. HIs name is written in the Life Note, with an Infinity Rule of its own."

Clavis clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on his katana in his right hand.

"Wait," Morph then said, putting up a hand. "I'm here with good tidings, even a proposition to end our conflict."

"No deals, Morph. You can't be trusted."

Morph gave him an incredulous look. "You haven't heard it, and already you're dismissing it? I feel hurt." He grinned smugly. "I can release you from your eternal torment, Clavis. And I offer you this: Restoration of your family." He held up the Life Note. "This belongs to my brother. I stole it from him, and left in its stead my Death Note that our father gave to us. It was obvious our father trusted Menace more than me, or I would've been given the Life Note."

A darkness momentarily masked Morph's face.

"That welp escaped the Void in Quindecim, I know, and has joined forces with you," he continued, "and now he wants this back. But he can't have it. I'm having so much fun with it. It helped restore so many people back to life, along with something else that came with it; an add-on." He held up a tassel, rainbow kaleidoscope bookmark that gleamed in the sun, producing a multitude of flashing colours, swirling within. "It's called the 'Spectrum Bookmark', and along with the Life Note, it has the ability to restore the life of anyone, at anytime, by-passing the seventy-two hour limit set by the Life Note in resurrecting the dead. That includes your wife and son."

Clavis froze. The moment his wife and son clutching their chests as they died of heart attacks at the hands of Morph returned to him in a horrific flash. But this offer only proved that Morph was up to something. He was a trickster and used people to his advantage, then discarded them away when they out-lived their usefulness. The only reason why he would make an offer like this is because he wanted something.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "You're lying. You can't be trusted. I don't believe you."

"Yes, well, there is a price for using it," Morph revealed. "But maybe your family isn't worth it?" He grinned slyly.

"What sort of price?"

Castra looked at him shocked, and touched his right arm with the katana in companionship. "Clavis, don't believe him. You said it yourself, he can't be trusted. I know how much you miss your family, but if he sent his own brother to be trapped in The Void, do you really think he would—"

Clavis put his other hand on Castra's in comfort, and gave it two pats. Then he smiled boyishly, and said, "I need to know, Castra, just for the sake of knowing. I know he can't be trusted. However, if he does have the power. Maybe, just maybe, we can take it away from him, and Menace can help restore my family. I need to know."

Castra's eyes widened in shock.

Clavis snapped his attention back to Morph. "Tell me, Morph…What is the price of restoring my family back to life?"

And when Morph told him, Clavis gasped in utter disbelief and shock, mouth agape.

"Think it over, Clavis," Morph said, with a smirk. "The offer is always on the table. Are you willing to give me what I want for the sake of your family, or forever wonder what could have been?" Morph then winked at Castra. "And always lovely to see you again, Castra. You're still as beautiful as I remember."

Morph winked, and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

To be continued...