Disclaimer: I don't own the Ninja Turtles, but I do own some of the other
stuff in this story. I'll disclaim it in the next chapter once everyone
has read about that other stuff.
----
Michelangelo's breath caught in his throat. He couldn't breathe for several moments, but eventually the air escaped from his throat in a choked sob. He fell to his knees, his eyes moving frantically over the body of Donatello, his hand feeling for a pulse that wasn't there. His brother was dead, and Michelangelo couldn't believe it. His hand fumbled for the cell phone, but as he pulled it from his belt, his shaky hands fumbled and dropped it to the ground. Mike tried for it again, this time able to bring the phone to his ear.
"Leo? Raph?" His voice trembled, sounded old. There was a long pause, and then a voice on the other end.
"Mike?" It was Leo, "Hey, me and Raph just met up, but neither of us found anything. Did you find him?"
Michelangelo couldn't answer. He didn't know how to tell Leo that their brother was gone. He sat in silence. Several moments later Leo's voice came again.
"Are you there? Did we lose our signal?"
"No..no.I'm here." Mike said quietly, his eyes turned away from his fallen brother.
"Well, did you find him?" Leo sounded hopeful. Mike couldn't bear to shatter it..but he had to.
"I.found him. Leo..he's.." Mike choked off another sob. Leo heard it. "Oh god.Mike, is he ok?" "No.no, he's not ok.he's dead."
----
Donatello watched in horrible fascination as he and the serpent man stepped through a rip in the fabric of the living world and stepped into a place that Don could barely believe. They seemed to step out of nothing into a throng of people.though 'people' was not the word Don would have used to describe them. The serpent man had been right about calling his people Demons. They were every color that existed, covered with all manner of spikes, horns, fur, wings, claws, fangs, stingers, pincers, scales...Don couldn't even begin to categorize all the beasts he saw. He even saw a few humans, though they seemed to be the minority here. Stranger still was that no one even noticed them. Clearly they had stepped out of nowhere, but this seemed to be a normal occurrence.
Don was also fascinated by the buildings. Some of them were so tall that he couldn't even see the tops of them, which were wreathed in clouds thousands upon thousands of feet in the air. Others were so small that Don could have stepped on them. He was so fascinated that he barely noticed the serpent man's vice-like grip on his arm.
Everywhere there were vendors, most of them peddling food, but other selling all manner of baubles and trinkets. Donatello wondered what type of monetary system existed in a world of the dead, but he could see no exchange of anything. People just took things off of the stands and walked away with them. The vendors didn't seem to mind at all. He thought to ask the serpent man, but was distracted as they came over a rise, which revealed an enormous lake, easily hundreds of miles wide, its water a vicious purple hue.
"Wow." Don breathed.
"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" The serpent man said, releasing Don's bicep. "This is the city of Bonang, in the very heart of Goodspeed Province."
"Goodspeed Province?"
"The best and safest place you can possibly live in here in the Demon world. You have to be pretty good to live here, so nobody gets killed."
"Demons can get killed?" Don felt completely out of his league.
"Sure. Hey, let's hit a café, and I'll answer all your questions. It's a bit too busy to just stand around in the street and talk." The serpent man smiled and led Don to a side road. A few more turns past some quaint looking shops, and he seemed to find what he had been searching for. The café was called 'Dragon's Fiddle,' and Don was more than shocked to enter the place and see a dragon sitting on a stool playing a fiddle.
"Boy, they weren't kidding.." He said, plopping down in a chair.
"It's best to take things literally here," the serpent man said with a smile "Especially when it comes to the food. Never order anything that is a 'surprise.' "
"I'll keep that in mind," Don said, rubbing a hand over his face.
"So, I guess you have some questions," the serpent man said, waving away the waitress who had just come to their table.
"Yeah," said Don, "You could say that. I guess, first of all, what's your name?"
The serpent man laughed. "How rude of me. My name is Ssylvar."
"That's a tough one to pronounce." Don said, doing his best to smile, "But I'll do my best. My name is Donatello, by the way."
Ssylvar grinned and flicked his reptilian tongue. "Interesting name..mind if I call you Don?" Donatello shook his head, and the serpent man continued, "Ssylvar isn't my real name, of course, but I thought I needed something to fit my Demonic appearance. My real name is.well...I hate it. My real name is Eugene."
"Ah.well, I'll call you Sslyvar if you like." "I would, if you please." "Ok, next question..does everyone here come from the living world?" Don looked anxious, as if afraid he had asked a stupid question.
"Yep," Ssylvar said, "Everyone here was once a living, breathing human being..well, most of them. We've got quite a few dolphins, some dinosaurs, gargoyles.."
"Really? Dinosaurs? Most everyone is human? But..it seemed like there weren't that many humans."
"That's the great part about this world. You see, when a person is brought here, they're given the opportunity to choose a sort of 'demon form.' It can look like whatever they want it to look like. The only thing is, it's permanent.they can't change it once its been created. They can change back to their old form if they want to." Ssylvar's body suddenly began to ripple.at least, that's how Don perceived it. Then, unbelievably, where there had once been a serpent man sitting in front of Don, there was now a skinny human teenager.
"Wow." Don couldn't say much else. Before he got a chance to comment any further, the boy's body rippled and there was once again a burly serpent man sitting in front of him.
"I'm not fond of my human body," Sslyvar said, and shrugged.
"Ok..so..do I have to choose a demon form?" Don looked a little worried.
"No, you definitely don't HAVE to."
Don sighed with apparent relief. "Good.I don't think I want to change how I look..it's just too weird for me."
Ssylvar grinned. "Many people don't choose right away. You may feel differently later."
Don shrugged and was certain that he wouldn't.
"Ok," Donatello said, his voice losing any bit of friendliness, "Time to get serious here. Why did you kill me?"
"Ah, so you've finally accepted reality?"
"I guess I have no choice. Otherwise, this is one really elaborate dream, and I can't say I believe that theory, as my dreams are never THIS detailed." Don crossed his arms on the table, "So, out with it. Why'd you kill me?"
"Well, that's where things get rather complicated. Perhaps if I tell you about myself and what I do, you may understand better?"
Don shrugged, "Whatever you want. Apparently I have all day."
Ssylvar grinned, "Indeed you do. Make yourself comfortable Don."
Ssylvar leaned back in his chair and began his tale.
"I've been dead for a long, long time. Five thousand, four hundred and fifty-five years, I believe, if you count the rest of this year. You may ask why I speak perfect English but the answer is rather simple. Everyone hears their own native tongue. When you're a demon, your mind translates everything without you even knowing it.
"But anyway, that's just a minor technical issue. As I said, I've been dead a very long time, and I barely remember my life back in the living world. I was about thirteen when I died.fell off a cliff. Well, actually, I was pushed off a cliff by my cousin, but that's neither here nor there. He got what was coming to him.
"I was escorted here by a man named Ichthius. He appeared to me as a tall, regal man, and I wasn't frightened by him. He explained a few things to me and sent me on my way in this very city. I was pretty much left on my own.
"I lived on the streets for a short time before a family took me in and explained everything, including Ichthius.
"You see, when a person dies, they can't get to the demon world on their own. They have to be brought here by someone. A 'Messenger of Death.' A Reaper. Ichthius was a Reaper, one of three hundred and sixty-four others. One for each day of the year. They work in teams of seven, one team per week, escorting the formerly living to the world of the dead. Their power is great, and time slows down for them when they're working. Otherwise they could never keep up with the dead.
"As you may have guessed by now, I am a Reaper. I was chosen by a group vote among the existing Reapers after my predecessor decided to retire. The Reapers are ranked one through three hundred sixty-five, with number one being the most powerful of all. The number one is known as the Siyem, the most powerful demon in the world.
"All Reapers are powerful, but there are some rules. Most importantly, we can't kill anyone unless they attack us first. There's no rule that says we can't provoke the attack." Ssylvar grinned maliciously at Donatello, who frowned slightly. This was becoming just a bit too much for the young turtle.
"Anyway," Ssylvar said, "Reapers can't just go around killing people. Other demons can kill all they want, and many of them do, because once a demon dies, his or her power is passed on to their killer. Reapers can collect the power of other demons when we're forced to kill them, but we're not supposed to.
"We Reapers are also the only demons with the power to return to the world of the living, but we can only do it if we're escorting someone here, or, on the rare occasion that Gaia orders us to return."
"Gaia?" Donatello leaned forward on the table.
"Gaia. The spirit of the Earth. She's the one who makes our rules. The only one of us who can speak to her is the Siyem, and her power and rules are passed down through him to the rest of us. As long as Gaia is bound to the Siyem, we are bound to her.
"And that brings us to why I had to kill you. Very recently our Siyem was destroyed. We don't know how it happened..the Siyem is very difficult to kill. All we know is that fifteen of our other Reapers are dead as well.
"Nearly all Reapers are chosen by the remaining group, however, when it comes to the Siyem, as well as the three hundred and sixty-fifth Reaper, both are chosen by Gaia. She chose you long ago, when you were only a few years old. Ideally, you would have been approached many many years after your death, when the current Siyem had decided to retire. However, his untimely death forced us to kill you early and bring you here. It was a very rare occurrence indeed, for I actually got to speak to Gaia myself in regards to this matter." Ssylvar looked rather pleased with himself.
"So.wait," Don said, "You're saying that I'm to be the next Siyem? The most powerful demon of all?"
"Yep."
"What if I refuse?"
"Then you die."
A/N : Well, that was a pretty long chapter. Thanks again to anyone who reads this.I really really appreciate it.
----
Michelangelo's breath caught in his throat. He couldn't breathe for several moments, but eventually the air escaped from his throat in a choked sob. He fell to his knees, his eyes moving frantically over the body of Donatello, his hand feeling for a pulse that wasn't there. His brother was dead, and Michelangelo couldn't believe it. His hand fumbled for the cell phone, but as he pulled it from his belt, his shaky hands fumbled and dropped it to the ground. Mike tried for it again, this time able to bring the phone to his ear.
"Leo? Raph?" His voice trembled, sounded old. There was a long pause, and then a voice on the other end.
"Mike?" It was Leo, "Hey, me and Raph just met up, but neither of us found anything. Did you find him?"
Michelangelo couldn't answer. He didn't know how to tell Leo that their brother was gone. He sat in silence. Several moments later Leo's voice came again.
"Are you there? Did we lose our signal?"
"No..no.I'm here." Mike said quietly, his eyes turned away from his fallen brother.
"Well, did you find him?" Leo sounded hopeful. Mike couldn't bear to shatter it..but he had to.
"I.found him. Leo..he's.." Mike choked off another sob. Leo heard it. "Oh god.Mike, is he ok?" "No.no, he's not ok.he's dead."
----
Donatello watched in horrible fascination as he and the serpent man stepped through a rip in the fabric of the living world and stepped into a place that Don could barely believe. They seemed to step out of nothing into a throng of people.though 'people' was not the word Don would have used to describe them. The serpent man had been right about calling his people Demons. They were every color that existed, covered with all manner of spikes, horns, fur, wings, claws, fangs, stingers, pincers, scales...Don couldn't even begin to categorize all the beasts he saw. He even saw a few humans, though they seemed to be the minority here. Stranger still was that no one even noticed them. Clearly they had stepped out of nowhere, but this seemed to be a normal occurrence.
Don was also fascinated by the buildings. Some of them were so tall that he couldn't even see the tops of them, which were wreathed in clouds thousands upon thousands of feet in the air. Others were so small that Don could have stepped on them. He was so fascinated that he barely noticed the serpent man's vice-like grip on his arm.
Everywhere there were vendors, most of them peddling food, but other selling all manner of baubles and trinkets. Donatello wondered what type of monetary system existed in a world of the dead, but he could see no exchange of anything. People just took things off of the stands and walked away with them. The vendors didn't seem to mind at all. He thought to ask the serpent man, but was distracted as they came over a rise, which revealed an enormous lake, easily hundreds of miles wide, its water a vicious purple hue.
"Wow." Don breathed.
"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" The serpent man said, releasing Don's bicep. "This is the city of Bonang, in the very heart of Goodspeed Province."
"Goodspeed Province?"
"The best and safest place you can possibly live in here in the Demon world. You have to be pretty good to live here, so nobody gets killed."
"Demons can get killed?" Don felt completely out of his league.
"Sure. Hey, let's hit a café, and I'll answer all your questions. It's a bit too busy to just stand around in the street and talk." The serpent man smiled and led Don to a side road. A few more turns past some quaint looking shops, and he seemed to find what he had been searching for. The café was called 'Dragon's Fiddle,' and Don was more than shocked to enter the place and see a dragon sitting on a stool playing a fiddle.
"Boy, they weren't kidding.." He said, plopping down in a chair.
"It's best to take things literally here," the serpent man said with a smile "Especially when it comes to the food. Never order anything that is a 'surprise.' "
"I'll keep that in mind," Don said, rubbing a hand over his face.
"So, I guess you have some questions," the serpent man said, waving away the waitress who had just come to their table.
"Yeah," said Don, "You could say that. I guess, first of all, what's your name?"
The serpent man laughed. "How rude of me. My name is Ssylvar."
"That's a tough one to pronounce." Don said, doing his best to smile, "But I'll do my best. My name is Donatello, by the way."
Ssylvar grinned and flicked his reptilian tongue. "Interesting name..mind if I call you Don?" Donatello shook his head, and the serpent man continued, "Ssylvar isn't my real name, of course, but I thought I needed something to fit my Demonic appearance. My real name is.well...I hate it. My real name is Eugene."
"Ah.well, I'll call you Sslyvar if you like." "I would, if you please." "Ok, next question..does everyone here come from the living world?" Don looked anxious, as if afraid he had asked a stupid question.
"Yep," Ssylvar said, "Everyone here was once a living, breathing human being..well, most of them. We've got quite a few dolphins, some dinosaurs, gargoyles.."
"Really? Dinosaurs? Most everyone is human? But..it seemed like there weren't that many humans."
"That's the great part about this world. You see, when a person is brought here, they're given the opportunity to choose a sort of 'demon form.' It can look like whatever they want it to look like. The only thing is, it's permanent.they can't change it once its been created. They can change back to their old form if they want to." Ssylvar's body suddenly began to ripple.at least, that's how Don perceived it. Then, unbelievably, where there had once been a serpent man sitting in front of Don, there was now a skinny human teenager.
"Wow." Don couldn't say much else. Before he got a chance to comment any further, the boy's body rippled and there was once again a burly serpent man sitting in front of him.
"I'm not fond of my human body," Sslyvar said, and shrugged.
"Ok..so..do I have to choose a demon form?" Don looked a little worried.
"No, you definitely don't HAVE to."
Don sighed with apparent relief. "Good.I don't think I want to change how I look..it's just too weird for me."
Ssylvar grinned. "Many people don't choose right away. You may feel differently later."
Don shrugged and was certain that he wouldn't.
"Ok," Donatello said, his voice losing any bit of friendliness, "Time to get serious here. Why did you kill me?"
"Ah, so you've finally accepted reality?"
"I guess I have no choice. Otherwise, this is one really elaborate dream, and I can't say I believe that theory, as my dreams are never THIS detailed." Don crossed his arms on the table, "So, out with it. Why'd you kill me?"
"Well, that's where things get rather complicated. Perhaps if I tell you about myself and what I do, you may understand better?"
Don shrugged, "Whatever you want. Apparently I have all day."
Ssylvar grinned, "Indeed you do. Make yourself comfortable Don."
Ssylvar leaned back in his chair and began his tale.
"I've been dead for a long, long time. Five thousand, four hundred and fifty-five years, I believe, if you count the rest of this year. You may ask why I speak perfect English but the answer is rather simple. Everyone hears their own native tongue. When you're a demon, your mind translates everything without you even knowing it.
"But anyway, that's just a minor technical issue. As I said, I've been dead a very long time, and I barely remember my life back in the living world. I was about thirteen when I died.fell off a cliff. Well, actually, I was pushed off a cliff by my cousin, but that's neither here nor there. He got what was coming to him.
"I was escorted here by a man named Ichthius. He appeared to me as a tall, regal man, and I wasn't frightened by him. He explained a few things to me and sent me on my way in this very city. I was pretty much left on my own.
"I lived on the streets for a short time before a family took me in and explained everything, including Ichthius.
"You see, when a person dies, they can't get to the demon world on their own. They have to be brought here by someone. A 'Messenger of Death.' A Reaper. Ichthius was a Reaper, one of three hundred and sixty-four others. One for each day of the year. They work in teams of seven, one team per week, escorting the formerly living to the world of the dead. Their power is great, and time slows down for them when they're working. Otherwise they could never keep up with the dead.
"As you may have guessed by now, I am a Reaper. I was chosen by a group vote among the existing Reapers after my predecessor decided to retire. The Reapers are ranked one through three hundred sixty-five, with number one being the most powerful of all. The number one is known as the Siyem, the most powerful demon in the world.
"All Reapers are powerful, but there are some rules. Most importantly, we can't kill anyone unless they attack us first. There's no rule that says we can't provoke the attack." Ssylvar grinned maliciously at Donatello, who frowned slightly. This was becoming just a bit too much for the young turtle.
"Anyway," Ssylvar said, "Reapers can't just go around killing people. Other demons can kill all they want, and many of them do, because once a demon dies, his or her power is passed on to their killer. Reapers can collect the power of other demons when we're forced to kill them, but we're not supposed to.
"We Reapers are also the only demons with the power to return to the world of the living, but we can only do it if we're escorting someone here, or, on the rare occasion that Gaia orders us to return."
"Gaia?" Donatello leaned forward on the table.
"Gaia. The spirit of the Earth. She's the one who makes our rules. The only one of us who can speak to her is the Siyem, and her power and rules are passed down through him to the rest of us. As long as Gaia is bound to the Siyem, we are bound to her.
"And that brings us to why I had to kill you. Very recently our Siyem was destroyed. We don't know how it happened..the Siyem is very difficult to kill. All we know is that fifteen of our other Reapers are dead as well.
"Nearly all Reapers are chosen by the remaining group, however, when it comes to the Siyem, as well as the three hundred and sixty-fifth Reaper, both are chosen by Gaia. She chose you long ago, when you were only a few years old. Ideally, you would have been approached many many years after your death, when the current Siyem had decided to retire. However, his untimely death forced us to kill you early and bring you here. It was a very rare occurrence indeed, for I actually got to speak to Gaia myself in regards to this matter." Ssylvar looked rather pleased with himself.
"So.wait," Don said, "You're saying that I'm to be the next Siyem? The most powerful demon of all?"
"Yep."
"What if I refuse?"
"Then you die."
A/N : Well, that was a pretty long chapter. Thanks again to anyone who reads this.I really really appreciate it.