CHAPTER 14 - "THE FALLEN - PART 2"
These four humans were Fallen Reapers.
Grell Sutcliff eyed each of them from the top tier of the secret amphitheatre once home to the meeting place of the Inner Circle, now all dead, and a sudden anxiousness came over him. Despite them being stripped of their powers as Reapers, the power within this structure gave them a certain advantage. And he could feel the amphitheatre's demonic aura of power swirling all around him.
Even for a Reaper, this feeling unnerved him. This was just not any feeling, this was a feeling of death unlike any other, a death so cold and callous that no one would be immune from its clasp of insidiousness.
He was trapped here, but so were they. The spirit script carved within the walls kept the Fallen Reapers from leaving this place.
If he denied their request to show the six dead men's cinematic records, what could they do? No one can hurt a Reaper other than another Reaper, or a death-entity, like Sebastian Michaelis, a demon - much like when they fought on the roof tops of White Chapel.
But these Fallen Reapers showed no resolution of malice when it came to getting what they wanted, killing these men just to have a Reaper show up.
But just what was it were they looking for in the cinematic records of these men?
Grell knew of no rule of showing cinematic records to others, other than the so-to-be deceased, it just showed the life a person lead. It needed to be done for each person, or that person's spirit could not pass on…trapped within their bodies for eternity. A person must be allowed to see their life in its entirety, it was the job of a Reaper to do so. Reapers were intermediaries between life and death, the bridge from existence to nothingness. What religion humans believed in was moot. Mathu was right, there was no other place.
He saw Mathu gaze heavily across the amphitheatre at him from a flight of steps as he made his way to the top tier, very nonchalant.
Savannah looked at him straightly from the top tier, and the two twins held their weapons on him from either side - but they ought to know bullets wouldn't hurt him.
He was not afraid of any of them. But there was something wrong, something about this place that didn't feel right that even he was nervous about, and despite being an death-entity, he feared this place. But he couldn't show it. He could not show fear in front of these Fallen Reapers.
"Which one, and for what purpose?" Grell asked, referring to the dead men, all laying dead in the centre of the bottom floor of the amphitheatre, their blood flowing and mixing with each other.
"All of them," Mathu said. "I want to see each of their cinematic records. I don't care which one you start with. These are the last members of the Inner Circle, one of them is bound to have it."
"And what is 'it' you're referring to?"
"Just do it!" he demanded. "Now!"
Grell wanted to be defiant, but what would that prove? So he did his job, summoning the cinematic record of each of the dead and recording each for the Reaper archive.
Mathu seemed to look at each record with stern interest. The record didn't play in real-time, and was sped up about five times the speed of normal, but Mathu appeared to know what he was looking for and only concentrated on certain aspects or a particular event.
After Grell had played each man's cinematic record, Mathu crossed his arms disappointed.
The Fallen Reaper frowned. "It's not here," Mathu said. "I could have sworn we'd find it locked away in the mind of one of these six men."
"Now what?" Sasha said irate. "We did all this for nothing?"
"Calm yourself," Mathu said. "It just means it's somewhere else."
"Unless it's gone," Samuel said. "Maybe passed someone else, alive or now dead."
Mathu nodded. "That's a possibility." He mused for a moment, thinking. Then he smiled as if he had had just made a wonderful discovery. "Oh, that's brilliant…and very likely."
"What are you looking for?" Grell asked.
"Pieces of a puzzle," Mathu said cryptically. "I want to see the other cinematic records of the Inner Circle members who died on the day of the Great Death."
"The what?"
"The day when the little Phantomhive boy summoned his demon butler."
Grell's eyes widened. "How do you know about that?" The Fallen Reaper just eyed Grell sternly, not willing to answer the question. "I can't do that," he said. "Those are privileged records and especially not for the eyes of Fallen Reapers. If the Academy learns what happened here, they could take away by Reaper license forever."
"That's not my concern," Mathu said. The Fallen Reaper turned to Savannah. "I think the boy is more important than was originally thought."
"Do you think the information was passed onto him through his brainwashing and then forgotten?" she said.
"Perhaps," Mathu nodded. "But I'm not sure."
"Then why bother with the other cinematic records?" Sasha said.
"Yes, I agree. Let's just get the boy back!" Samuel said.
"You tried that, remember? And Ciel Phantomhive has that damn demon beat you, even with a hundred men at your disposal. Get too close and he'll sense you for what you really are. If he kills you, you'll need to search for other bodies. Once we get the information we need, then we'll get our own bodies back."
"That's impossible!" Grell said. "Once Fallen Reaper's bodies are destroyed, they're gone forever."
"We have reason to believe they're not. You see, nothing is truly gone. Let me enlighten you to one of the most brilliant thinkers of the 18th century, Sir Issac Newton. He said, and I quote: "Energy cannot be created, nor destroyed. It can only be transformed from one form to another. Humans are made of energy; we are bio-thermal factories. As such, we are subject to the same scientific laws of the universe as any other form of energy. So, when we die, the energy has to go somewhere."
"So how does that help you to get your bodies back?"
"Memories are to reality as reality is to our eyes. The mere remembrance of our bodies can bring them back. And if someone has stored the memory of what we looked like in the mind of Lukas Phantomhive, for whatever reason that was, we can use those memories to restore our original forms, and not continue to jump from body to body, as we have for centuries since we fell."
Grell shook his head confused. "How will memories of your bodies restore them? And how can Lukas Phantomhive have the memories of your real bodies if he was only born less than thirteen years ago? You're not making any sense."
"You're thinking too literally. Humans believe in reincarnation, and so does this planet. And we have followed the bloodline of the Phantomhive's for centuries, unable to find the person who holds the memories we need to fulfill our wish. Until now. I believe Vincent Phantomhive had the memories we needed, and now his two sons do, more so Lukas Phantomhive. But it would be better to retrieve them from a more stable source. What would be his father."
Grell was still confused.
"Let me explain," Mathu said. "Memories are a result of chemical reactions within the brain, and chemicals last forever. When a person dies, what a person is collapses to dust and ashes back into the Earth. Much like Newton's law, matter can not be created or destroyed, so it is transformed back into a new vessel, but still retains the memory of its past, ever building new ones.
"If a person tells a story, new chemicals are birthed from existing ones to retain an image of the story being told. Then it is passed on. Or think of it this way, even a drop of sweat or a tear can pass on a lifetime of memories because it holds the chemicals of that person from birth to that point in time. Shake a man's hand, and the moisture from it can pass on your entire life to that person and that of your past ones through chemical transference.
"Can you not see the brilliance or this? This would also mean humans know the existence of their universe by the chemicals they possess in their bodies passed down from generation to generation or interaction with their fellow kind, even if its own a chance encounter."
"You forget, however. The human brain can only handle one personality at a time, or it will implode. That's why during reincarnation of human energy, the cinematic record is wiped clean to start anew with a new life. I think I understand your theory, but those who believe in past-lives still keep their established personalities dominant. Those who believe they are their past lives are jailed in psychiatric hospitals."
"Because of chemical imbalances," Mathu said straightly. "Unfortunately human medicine has not grown to the point to understand these imbalances. Over time we four have learned quite a lot about the human condition and its chemical reactions. Eventually modern medicine will catch up to what we've learned, but we're so close now. No more waiting. It's time to take back what you Reapers have stolen from us."
"So what do you intend to do? You Fallen Reapers are trapped here like me."
Mathu pulled out a small object attached to a gold chain from around his neck. It was a Triad. And the object had a separate triad within.
A triad consisted of three points: beginning, middle, end. And much like an infinity circle, it always returned to the starting point. The inner triad meant three additional points existed within the original triad, meaning dimensional points, subjecting a spiritual domain.
Grell saw each of the Fallen Reapers had one. This meant with those triads, the Fallen Reapers could pass through an spiritual barrier without harm, not bound by its infinite script, while he remained trapped. He couldn't warn Sebastian Michealis of these four, to defend his masters.
Grell was taken aback. "Where did you get those? Who in the Academy helped you? Other Reapers?"
"Others, who feel our cause is worthy, sympathizers, if you will. And when we are successful, our cause will open the door for other Fallen Reapers to follow," Mathu said. "Now, give me your deathscythe."
"What? No. Tell me who you were as a Reaper?"
"It will make little consequence, but I'll give you hint. I worked in one of the top special branches that worked on secret projects. In fact, I was banished because of the project I was working on that involved the alteration of space and time, so Reapers could move more fluently. But then I thought, why use it for merely that? Why not steal secrets, and change events. I got tired of just being a Reaper, I wanted more.
"I then found an advanced race of humans living on an island off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They we so advanced for the times, I never knew humans could be such when other parts of the world still consisted of the likes of Neatherthal man. I gave them weapons and knowledge so they could expand their kingdom. They were a peaceful people when I first meant them, but like the old adage says: power corrupts. And they destroyed themselves with dark energy, disappearing like ashes in the wind. I was punished and cast out of the Reapers for this."
"Are you talking about Atlantis? That was over ten thousand years ago!"
Mathu shrugged. "This is my brother." He gestured to the twins, his soul split into two bodies. "And my wife." To Savannah. "We worked together and we were punished together. From that little story, you might be able to work out who we are, but it won't matter. There's nothing the Reapers can do. So I ask again, give me your deathscythe."
"I'm just a gatherer, not a record keeper. The ledgers of those individuals, the Inner Circle including Vincent Phantomhive, are with Records; it's out of my hands. My deathscythe can not gain you access to the Hall of Records."
Mathu smiled. "But it can get us to the point of moment of the Great Death with the knowledge as a former Reaper I possess, and we'll see who passed on the information to Lukas Phantomhive after seeing their cinematic records."
"Vincent Phantomhive died before this so-called Great Death you speak of, as did his wife. His son, Ciel was slated to die that night too, and tortured until…"
"Until the boy summoned a demon to slaughter the Inner Circle. Yes, we know. But in getting to Vincent Phantomhive before another Reaper plays his cinematic record, we can view it and find what we seek."
"And what if he doesn't have what you're looking for?...or someone else has it?"
"I'm confident Vincent Phantomhive has what we want."
Grell mulled it over in his mind, and then handed over his deathscythe. He knew it was a violation to hand over "company" equipment to unqualified personnel, as his superior Will would say, but he did so anyway. He knew they couldn't harm him, but he wanted to see the looks on their faces when they saw it.
He placed the pair of miniature scissors in Mathu's hand when he came to collect it. The look on his face was priceless, but Grell repressed a smile.
Mathu held the tiny deathscythe in the palm of his hand. "What the hell is this? I said give me your deathscythe!"
"That is my deathscythe," Grell explained. "You see, I was punished for engaging in an act much like Fallen Reapers, but instead of being banished, I was put on probation and my unique, one-of-a-kind deathscythe was taken away and I was given this one. You should've seen it, that deathscythe was a work of art - "
"Silence! Stop joking around! I want your 'deathscythe', a weapon of great magnitude that all Reapers carry. Be it a half moon razor blade attached to a staff or something else of equal devastation. This is not a death scythe! This wouldn't cut string, little lone cut a hole in space and time so we can travel back -"
Savannah came to stand next to her husband. "Calm yourself, Mathu," she said. "He's just playing with us."
"I assure you, Madam, I am not." And Grell explained to them what he had done to deserve his punishment and this tiny deathscythe. "So, if you had planned to use my deathscythe for your scheme, sorry. You lose."
Mathu squeezed the deathscythe in his hand and blood oozed out from his closed fist, the blades cutting his flesh. The plan it must have delivered to his human body must have been excruciating, but he didn't show it.
He threw it back at Grell, covered in blood. Grell caught it.
"Oh, disgusting!" Grell said, his black gloves now covered in human blood. He cleaned it off, and put it back in his overcoat pocket.
"What now?" Savannah said.
"Yeah, what now, dear brother," Sasha and Samuel said in unison, sardonically. They were of one mind, so they spoke of one voice.
"I never expected this," Mathu said. "Out of all the Reapers we could've captured, we had to catch one whose been emasculated."
Mathu folded his arms across his chest in hard thought, and Grell saw the Fallen Reaper's eyes moving from side to side looking at nothing in particular, almost trying to readjust a once well thought out forged plan in his mind. The fore finger of his right hand twitched on his left bicep like a fast piano pendulum as he thought.
But Grell knew he had inadvertently foiled the Fallen Reapers' plans. Who knew that his punishment would do some good? Now all he had to do is escape this place and tell the other Reapers about these Fallen four.
Mathu's finger quickly stopped twitching and he smiled broadly, cocking his head slightly. He looked back at Grell, his eyes as cold as ice.
"If we can't use your deathscythe to travel back in time, then we bring the Great Death to us," he said. "I believe he's still leached to that that little pup, correct? Through him, we can get to either Vincent's two children. Then we'll drain their memories from their minds and restore our bodies."
"You don't mean…" Grell said.
Mathu smiled. "They say people who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I say, without history, how can we learn at all." The Fallen Reaper took out a black book from the back pants pocket. "I am prepared for every eventuality."
It was a book of dark magical spells, and he opened it to a bookmarked page, and with a few spoken phrases, the energy in the amphitheatre intensified thickeningly, and the Latin script embedded in the wall began to glow a blood, almost gothic red.
"It's time to bring the demon back home to roost," Mathu said over the swirling atmosphere of the demonic aura being stirred up in the amphitheatre. "It's time for the Great Death to return for an encore. Only this time, he will obey me, or he'll never get his master's precious little soul that he hungers for."
Mathu raised his hands into the air, as if to pray to the heavens. He closed his eyes, and said, "O' great demon, I beset you! I summon thee to this house of death! Come to me, Sebastian Michaelis!"
To be continued…