Chapter 8: throne of skulls

*Back to Leah's POV, first person perspective*

Thursday came quickly, as did my stupid appointment. Apparently I had actually broken my leg when I was fighting Jordan and I hadn't noticed. I had just brushed off the pain. I thought it was just a sprain. Death gods healed really quickly, so it had mended within a few days. While I was in the infirmary the people there had noticed my recently broken leg. They sent me a call yesterday. Apparently it might not have set correctly… blah, blah, blah… I was sure it was fine because I could walk perfectly normally now. I tried to delay the appointment as much as possible. Actually, it had set crookedly, so by the time they fixed it and allowed me to leave, I was half an hour late for training with William.

I made my way up to the library, stepping gingerly on my newly healed foot. I could move fine with it, but I didn't really like the idea of having to run with it… Especially with all the things William put me through in the afternoon like running, jumping, aerial jumps, obstacle courses… any aerial trick or fighting trick you could name, he'd make me do it. Oh man… William was going to chew me out today… not only was I seriously late, I had also forgotten my uniform.

I found him sitting on a bench by the training area reading a book, his death scythe propped up on the wall beside him. He seemed to be concentrating on the book.

"What are you reading?"

I made him jump so high that his glasses almost fell off his face. He sighed as he pushed them back on his face.

"Never you mind…"

"Why, is it something embarrassing?"

"No!"

He stood up and looked like he was going to get mad, but when he saw me laughing, he stopped.

"I'm sorry…." I said in between giggles. "It was just a joke…" William just sighed and shook his head. I figured that meant I was off the hook until he said;

"By the way, how long were you going to make me wait for you? I thought we'd agreed that you would come every day on time."

"Sorry… I had an appointment… they had to re-break my leg and fix it a second time…"

"You're not wearing your uniform today either. Is this a bad habit now?"

"Will you get off my case?" I asked. "I came here as fast as I could. If I had stopped to take my uniform, you would be sitting here waiting for another hour."

"That's strike two" He said and turned to head towards the arena.

"Thanks for being so nice." I muttered sarcastically. He didn't seem to have heard me. He snapped his fingers and the book vanished. He picked up his death scythe.

"Was that the to-die list?" I asked.

"Yes. There are going to be quite a few deaths tonight in the human world. I'm not only to reap the souls of the dead, but I am also to kill the murderers. What a tiresome job… I'll have to work overtime again."

"Can't I come with you?"

"I don't think so, Leah. These are murderers. You are an inexperienced grim reaper who can barely swing her own weapon without overdoing the damage. They'll kill you before you can kill them."

I wanted to argue, but William was right. The last time I had swung my death scythe, I was supposed to only destroy one crate. I had blown up the entire pile. I seriously needed help on learning how to use this thing. However, William could only do so much, as he didn't know how to use it. The last shinigami who had used a death scythe had retired nearly one hundred years ago.

Another thing I forgot to mention. Grim reapers are immortal. We can't die of old age or sickness. We stop aging once we reach 25. Our souls are stuck forever inside our bodies. The only way we can die is by dying in combat, getting poisoned, run through with someone else's death scythe… etc. I think we do have a lifespan, but no one's ever lived past 3 000 years because that's when we were first created. Basically, we can only die through murder, but that's it because technically we're all dead. To kill a grim reaper isn't really to kill them. It's just to destroy a soul.

It would be really nice if I could talk to this guy to get him to teach me how to control my stupid death scythe. Because otherwise, I wouldn't get the position if I couldn't get used to wielding something twice my size in time for my final examination, which consisted of teaching a small group of grim reapers. Then I would be sent down into the world of the humans, in charge of reaping the soul of one particular human and deciding whether or not to go through with the death.

We practiced for a little and then I went home. I froze as I heard footsteps behind me…

"Hee hee hee, if it isn't the little lady." A creepy voice said from behind me. I turned around and nearly had a heart attack… if that was even possible.

"Whoa… who are you?"

"Just call me the Undertaker." The guy had long silver hair that completely covered his eyes, a long black coat with floppy sleeves, long black fingernails and a black hat.

"Under…taker?" That sounded familiar. Oh! It was him. The guy who had helped William, Grell and that demon get the angel out of the library of Cinematic records. The guy who'd been the last legendary grim reaper. Just my luck!

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I came to pick up a few cinematic records I wanted to look at… and talk to you. It's interesting that the next traditional death scythe holder would be a pretty woman like you… May I see your bracelet?"

I unclipped it and gave it to him cautiously. He examined it.

"Hmm… most amazing… What you have here is not only a traditional death scythe… the silver will work with your mind and bend into whatever shape you want your death scythe to take on. However, its original shape is the most practical."

"You mean it can change into any weapon?" I asked. In response to my question, the Undertaker moved his hand over the bracelet and my death scythe changed into a machine gun. "That's so cool!"

"Indeed it is. To my understanding you're not doing too well with handling your death scythe, are you?" Seeing the expression on my face, he hastily added; "Don't worry, it happens to everyone. Especially since this thing is nearly twice your weight. Traditional death scythes are the hardest to use. Would you like me to help teach you how to use it properly?"

"Yes please" I said. This was more than I could hope for.

"I believe you'll make a very nice grim reaper, milady. However, there are quite a few things you don't know yet." He said as we walked straight back into the arena. He gave me back my death scythe in its original form. "You need to remember that whenever you take a soul to treat it with extreme care. With great power you gradually fail to understand the importance of things that cannot be recovered."

"I understand…"

He showed me how to hold it so that my wrist was bent slightly as I held it to give it more speed and accuracy.

"Remember, this isn't a sword. If you swing it as hard as you swing a sword, you will destroy everything in your path, and that isn't a good idea."

"Right." I said as I slashed a training dummy right in half. Soon, with the Undertaker's training, I got better at using my death scythe. Slowly I progressed from destroying the entire pile of crates to five, to two and then only to one. I managed to swing it and throw it like a boomerang. It zoomed straight into my head. I created a bow and arrow out of my death scythe and managed to shoot a bull's-eye with it. Undertaker smiled creepily and nodded in approval.

"You're improving very well." He said as my bow changed back into my skull bracelet. "Remember that you have great power, Leah Hayes. Much more power than any grim reaper could ever dream of."

"What do you mean?" I asked as he began to walk away.

"Hmm? Do you really want to find out?" He asked as he walked back towards me.

"Sit down." He said.

He gave me a stack of cinematic records. He put one more on top of the pile. It had a strange cover, like it was made of molten gold.

"Go ahead. Touch it." He said. I stuck my hand straight through the golden cover like it was air. Instantly, the book opened. There was only one page, but things seemed to be moving. I noticed that the ink was tracing a picture.

It was a young girl sitting on a throne made entirely out of skulls. A traditional death scythe was draped on her lap. Around her were painted pictures of death. The girl had short pixie cut hair and a malicious light in her eyes that made you feel like she was just waiting to drop an ice cube down your shirt or something worse.

"What is this? Who is this?" I asked the undertaker.

"This is the golden oracle. It will tell you your past and your future. That first painting is your past."

'I've never sat on a throne of skulls in my life. My hair was only ever that short when I was ten."

"It's not what actually happened, but images that you have to interpret. That throne of skulls is composed of people who died. There are thirty five skulls in that throne. You've seen thirty five people die. That's more death than half the population of actual grim reapers have seen happen at a time. That's where the background comes in. I'm guessing you looked like this when you were ten. That was the age where all this happened."

"Hold up… there was good stuff in my life as well. Where did all that go?"

"The golden oracle only shows the biggest and the bitterest parts of your past. Touch the cover again."

I hesitated but I touched the painting. The lines began to reform and paint a new painting. It looked like a war. Smoke came off the buildings. Some people in black uniforms lay dead on the streets. Two crowds faced each other, all armed with death scythes.

"Is this some kind of civil war?" I wondered.

"Look closer at the tattoos of the people on the right." Undertaker said. It looked like \_

\_ \

"I've seen that symbol before…"

"It's up to you to figure out what it means. Goodbye, little lady. I will see you perhaps again."

He left, leaving me feeling extremely confused. Why did he show me my future? Sure, I'd seen tons of people die, but what was so special about that? Why did it make me more powerful than all the other shinigami? Sure, I possessed telekinesis powers, but so did everyone else. They just didn't know how to use them.

What did all of this mean?