Crow, The Odd Sleeper

An old man watches the ceiling of a hospital with dead eyes. The monitor beside him beeps as it keeps tracks of his heart beat. He was surrounded by his loved ones; daughters, sons, friends, and grandchildren. His eldest daughter held his hand with tear full eyes. She called out to her father, but he didn’t hear her. His eyes wandered to the side and saw his dead wife smiling at him. Beside her was a dark shadow, a grim reaper. A single tear escaped from the corner of his eyes with a small smile.

The grim reaper lifts it’s scythe and cuts the old man in half. His soul pours out from the cut and leaves his body. The monitor keeping track of his heart made a long dead beep. His loving people around him cried for his passing. The old man looks back and then turns to his wife. She held his hand with a smile. He smiles back at her and taps his forehead against her. They were elope in a bright light as they disappeared. The grim reaper, covered in dark shadow, also vanished.

At a park where all of the humans from all different ages were out and about, the grim reaper from earlier materialized itself. There was laughter, screaming, and crying from all over the place. The sun was hanging up high in the sky at high noon. The grim reaper looks around and finds a place to sit beneath a tree. It removed it’s hood revealing its feature of an older gentleman in his early thirty. At a single glance, anyone could tell he was a dead person due to his deadly pale skin. He closes his eyes and bathes in the sun with a deep sigh.

No one saw him since he was a grim reaper, and strangely no one went near there. Even though the sun was out blazing hot, it was strangely cold there. Also, for some reason, the dogs were barking at that spot, spooking out their owner. He lightly opens his eyes and glares at the dogs to shut them up. The dogs whimper behind their owner.

With no more distraction, he continues to enjoy the warm sun against his skin. In `` Under Realm, other reapers found his behavior strange. When a reaper finishes their task, they head back to the Under Realm and turn in their report. However, whenever he had a chance in the Lower Realm where the sun was the warmest, he would take his time and bathe in the sun. He was a strange grim reaper, but no one said anything to him because of his smarts, wits, and strength. After a good while, he heard a ringing in his ear. The grim reaper opens his eyes and touches his ear as though he was wearing a wireless headphone.

[Your presence is required.]

He gave out a disappointing sigh and clicked on the invisible headphone. The grim reaper gets up and takes out his scythe. He swings his scythe and cuts the space. He enters the cut-up space. It closes up behind him.

Tartarus of the East a.k.a. TOTE - Under Realm

The eastern part of Tartarus was in charge of taking the souls from the Lower Realm of have passed from natural causes. Someone runs up to him and hugs him from behind. It was a little girl dressed in a similar outfit as him.

“Welcome back, Crow!” the little girl smiled.

Crow patted her head, “I’m back, Anna.”

She giggles at him, “Pia-Ne wants to see you.”

“Okay,” said Crow.

“Did you enjoy the bathing in the sun today?” Anna asked.

“I did.”

Crow held Anna’s hand as they walked side by side. They traveled to a skyscraper building that had a sign, “Operation Management.”

They walk into the building. It was bustling inside with countless grim reapers rushing to their destination, talking on the phone, processing material, and etc. They went towards a transportation platform. Crow and Anna stand on the platform. Crow writes a number in the air, “44.”

A glowing black light coming from beneath the platform surrounds them and disburses them into thin air. In the next second, Crow and Anna popped up on another platform on the 44th floor. There was a single large rogue-colored door in front of them. Crow reaches the doorknob and opens the door. The air inside was heavy with smoke making it irritating to the eyes. Anna waves her hand around to clear the smoke in front of her.

“Pia-Ne, what are you smoking this time?” Anna asked as she coughed.

“It’s called opium,” answered a dry voice on the other side of the room, “Apparently, it gives the user euphoric effects and a good rush. But I don’t feel anything even after waiting for eight hours.”

“I supposed cocaine didn’t do anything as well since you changed over to opium,” said Anna.

An elderly woman walks out from the smoke with a pipe in one hand. She took in a huff and blew out the smoke, “I wonder if I’m doing something wrong here.”

This person before them was a grim reaper and also one of the executives of the Operation Management department. Her weird gaze and voice sends down chills to the bones of those who feel overwhelmed by her presence alone. She turns attention to Crow, “Oh, you’re here. Good.”

Pia-Ne snaps her finger. In an instant, all of the smoke in the room disappeared as though it was there to begin with. Pia-Ne walked over to her desk and took the top folder. She hands it over to Crow, “It’s your new assignment.”

Crow takes the folder. He opens it up and reads it. When he finished, he gave Pia-Ne a wary gaze. She smirks at him. Pia-Ne took in another puff from her pipe, “Orders from the top, hon.”

“What? What is it?” Anna asked Crow.

“...I’ve been assigned as the protector for the next Guardian of the Sealing of Chaos,” Crow answered.

“...What?!” Anna was surprised and shocked, “But why? There’s never been a protector assigned to the Guardian before.”

Pia-Ne shrugs, “That’s need to know. Anyway, you start on the first moon of winter.”

“...What happened to the former Guardian?” Crow asked with concern.

Anna looks at Pia-Ne waiting for her response. Pia-Ne took in another puff of her pipe and puffed out smoke right at Anna and Crow. A small sadistic smile forms on her wrinkly old lips.

“Dead,” said Pia-Ne, “They found the body completely devoid of any sign of life. It seems the former Guardian used it’s last magical power and life force to keep Sealing of Chaos at bay.”

“That’s why the time limit is the first moon of winter?”

Pia-Ne nods, “If there’s anything you desire to do, then do it now. Once you’ve become the protector, you’ll never be allowed to leave the Beyond Realm.”

“How could that be…” Anna couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “Crow has done nothing but work hard for the Under Realm! How could the higher up just assign this cruel task to him! Not even allowing him to leave the Beyond realm!”

“Anna, I understand that you care deeply for Crow since he took you in,” said Pia-Ne, “But this is an order we cannot defy.”

“But…!”

“Understood,” Crow interrupts Anna, “If that is all, then I’ll take my leave.”

“Wa… Wait for me, Crow,” Anna followed after Crow.

Pia-Ne tilts her head and walks back to her desk. She taps out the used ashes inside of her pipe and gives out a sigh. She looks at another folder on her desk. It had a top secret stamp on it. She opens the folder revealing the contents inside. There was a picture of Edna and information about her.

“Angel and a reaper… Let’s hope they don’t fail,” said Pia-Ne with a grimful gaze.

“Crow… Crow…!” Anna called, “Wait for me…!”

Anna bumps her nose into Crow's back as he suddenly stops walking. Anna rubs her nose, “Crow…?”

Crow turns around and embraces Anna. Her face flustered with redness until she suddenly felt a shock wave she had never felt before come crashing towards them. Crow finally lets go of her when he was sure that the shock wave was gone. Anna’s heart pounds at an alarming rate, “What was that…?”

Suddenly, there was a tremor shaking the whole Under Realm. Anna held on tight to Crow, panicking and confused. Crow looks around and notices several miasma drifting into the Under Realm. 

“Miasma… But how…?” Crow mutters under his breath.

Anna didn’t hear him and was about to ask him what he said, but Crow left in a hurry. He uses his scythe to cut up the space to where he wanted to go and slips in between the cut. Anna couldn’t catch up to him even if she uses her scythe since she didn’t know where he was going.

The Border Of Under Realm

Crow stood on top of a cliff. Beneath it was an endless pit of void with heavy miasma coming out of it every now and then. But no matter how much miasma came out, it would always be purified in no time. That was how it was before, and now every miasma that came out was just slowly seeping out more and more without being purified. Was this because the former Guardian had passed away, but Pia-Ne had told Crow the Sealing of Chaos wouldn’t react like this until the first moon of winter. Crow whips out his scythe, “Hell Flame!”

A spiral of black and malicious flame enters the endless void lighting the darkness away. Even though it was supposed to be endless, the Hell Flame had caught on to something and burned it into smothering. A loud screech was heard and a burst of miasma burst out from the void. Crow blows up a barrier around him to purify the miasma.

“A fiend…?” He narrows his gaze at the endless pit, “Is the seal breaking?”

But that can’t be, is what ran through Crow’s mind. When a Guardian uses up the last of their life, it is when the sealing against the Sealing of Chaos is at its strongest. There was something strange going on. A ridiculous theory popped up in Crow’s mind. No matter how strange of a reaper he was, there was no way this kind of speculation would make sense. However, it was the only explanation. Someone or something had killed the former Guardian, how else could the seal on the Sealing of Chaos be in such a weakened state.

Crow shakes his head, “A ridiculous thought… I need to get back and report this.”

He turned around and was about to open another rift in space, but was stopped by a sudden slash attack. Crow jumps back only to be surrounded by fiends. The fiends looked deformed with horns on their head, back, and they smelled disgusting. More foul than evil spirit. Crow had to cover his nose just to keep sane.

One of the fiends opens its eyes backward and chuckles at Crow. Their mouths were watery, carving for flesh, any kind of flesh was better than eating each other. They all made a horrifying screeching noise and rushed towards Crow. He gathers his power around his scythe and cuts down each fiend coming after him. One after another they fell like flies. However, the fiends were smart, they started to observe Crow’s fighting pattern and launch a formation attack.

Like two arrows aimed at the same spot, Crow was able to cut down the first fiend but not the following one that hid behind it. Taken back by their action, Crow jumps backward and has to use his scythe to defend himself.

“Ugh…!” the fiends didn’t miss this opportunity and dug into his shoulder with it’s long vicious claw.

Crow breaks its arm and cuts it down. He faltered back and kept his sight on them, full alert. The fiends laugh at him like a cat playing with it’s food. There were reasons why the fiends were so difficult to fight with thousands of years ago. They may look like intelligent creatures, but they were the complete opposite. They grew at a freighting speed. It’s never a good idea to prolong a fight with them.

“This is going to be difficult…” said Crow as he surrounds himself with dark energy, “If I don’t fight you fiends seriously, I’ll lose my life.”

Crow can only hope that the other Grim Reapers catch on as quickly as he has and back him up. He left Anna behind because she was still inexperienced in fighting. Hopefully, she will alert Pia-Ne about this situation as soon as possible. The fiends lunges forward with madness reflecting their terrifying eyes. Crow pulls his scythe behind him, ready to take out as many of them as he can.

To Be Continue

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