Chapter 20: child of death

I was sitting and correcting some papers. It was roughly about time to leave, but I was working overtime, so the library was peacefully empty. A piece of paper slipped out of my pile. I bent and picked it up. It was one of my spell sheets that I frequently looked at for possible spells to teach my class. I noticed that almost all the spells on the list were crossed out. Time to get some new material. I unlocked the library and hurried along the corridor.

The library was in semi darkness. There were no lights installed in this place because there was never any need. No one ever came here after dark. I was one of the few exceptions along with a few others, and like them, I would only be here for a few minutes. Or so I thought until I came across a particular spell book in the tiny section of the library that wasn't made of cinematic records. I made my eyes glow as brightly as possible so that I could read it.

It was for the golden oracle, the enchanted cinematic record that would show a person their past and future. It was made to take more information out of the oracle. Not about the future, as that was impossible, but if someone happened not to know their past or were meant for something special, the oracle would tell them. It seemed interesting, but I already knew all of my past… or did I? It would be cool to learn if my eyes glowed just because of a normal thing, or was it because of something else? It would also the perfect way to see if someone was really trying to kill me.

Let me tell you straight off, I really regret my decision. I should have just taken the goddamn spell book and moved the hell out of there. But no, I had to take the golden oracle out of its special shelf and read it the spell. It shone with a strange light. Instead of drawing pictures on the page, it made a holographic projection in front of me, like I was watching a cinematic record.

The place was like an ancient church, something out of an ancient fantasy. It was dark, black as night. People were moving around with candles in their hands. They wore long cloaks and what I realized where black bird masks the doctors from the plague wore way back then. Those doctors weren't really doctors. They were grim reapers. The demon that had caused the black plague had created a lot of work for the grim reapers of way back when, and so many of them had to live in the human world for quite a while.

They never actually did any treating. They only checked up on the people who were ill with the plague to see if they were those on the to die list. If they were meant to die, they would make the death faster for the victim, and if they weren't meant to die, which was very few, they would be given the correct medicine to help them get better. My grandfather had been a grim reaper in the human world. I think I still have that bird mask lying around somewhere. I'd have to go look and check.

The grim reapers gathered around what looked to be a ray of light shining into one particular space. One grim reaper moved forwards and took off their mask. I was shocked to see that the man who had taken his mask off had the exact same eyes that glowed just as bright as mine. However, they were different somehow. They looked stranger than mine, more entrancing somehow, something that conveyed a feeling of power and death, a quality my eyes didn't have. He moved into the light.

"I relinquish my powers of death. I allow the next child of death to prosper and continue their quest to overcome the obstacle in their life. I have overcome my obstacle. I have done a great favour to our kind. I no longer require the powers I have been blessed with, as I have lived with them for so long." As he spoke, he took out his death scythe, a large gleaming executioner knife. He held it in front of his face. "They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Let my eyes be the windows that pass on the legacy." His eyes glowed so bright that they illuminated his entire figure. A skull made of golden smoke hovered above his figure. It vanished in a bunch of golden sparks. He opened his eyes again. They were the regular grim reaper color, no longer glowing or predominantly yellow. They were the perfect balance of green and yellow.

The image shifted. It was the same church and the same gathering, but a different time. This time, it was a woman who took off her mask. She had the same glowing eyes as the man. She recited the same thing he did, and when the skull had disappeared and her eyes turned back to the regular color, she moved back into the circle and replaced her bird mask.

Several other people did this exact thing in several different clips.

"This is interesting and all… but explain what it has to do with me." I told it.

The image shifted again. It was the grim reaper library, looking almost exactly as it had before. There was some sort of difference that I couldn't see, however. I looked at all the people walking up to the grim reaper library and realized that the houses behind the grim reaper library were still intact. The 'great murder' as it was called, had not taken place yet. They walked into the library and grabbed the golden oracle from the shelf.

The head of the group was wearing a white cloak with the same strange symbol I had seen in the golden oracle before tattooed on the back of the coat. A hand emerged and flipped the book cover open. The person recited the same spell as I had a few minutes ago.

"Tell me what is to become of us." The book leapt out of her hands and shone in front of the woman. To my astonishment, I heard a voice coming from the book. It was like many different voices speaking together.

"What you do is sinful. It is a shameful disgrace to your existence as a grim reaper."

"Why you…"

"You must stop your actions at once."

"Or what will happen?"

"You will be destroyed entirely. You will be turned into dust by the seventy fourth true child of death from the ninth district."

The book snapped shut. She seized the oracle and threw it against the wall. It made a hole in the wall, but the book was unharmed. The cloaked woman turned towards the group that was gathered there.

"Kill everyone in district nine. Do you hear me? Don't leave a single family or child alive. We need that child of death gone! We will show them that the century's rebellion will not be shown down by any child of death. We are the true children of death! I should be that true child! KILL THEM ALL!" She yelled.

"You stupid woman." I whispered. Even I knew that a prophecy could not be avoided. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be, and nothing could change it. The oracle snapped shut. I caught it and replaced it on the shelf. I walked automatically to my house, like a machine.

I dug through all the crates and boxes until I found my grandfather's black doctor mask. I looked at it and picked it up as if it was a piece of glass. The black mask shimmered in the light. I walked to the mirror and put it on my face. I didn't know if I was that child of death or not. Most likely not, but when that time came when the child of death would be known, I would fight beside them. I would help them kill that woman. I would help them turn her to dust for her crimes.

This face and this mask will haunt her every time she closes her eyes. I will have my revenge. I promised myself.