PROLOGUE:- A MYSTICAL GAMBLE
1852 Ireland,
Dublin, Brunswick Street.
The jaunting car trotted gently down the street, almost as noiselessly as the crisp breeze that was travelling by ‘Baile Atha Cliathe’ of Ireland, literally meaning ‘town of the hurdle ford’. The luminescent street lamps blew out as soon as the ominous car went past through it as if the burning fire of these lamps got sucked in within the car.
The owner of this prepossessing jet black ‘jarvey’ seemed to be a young maiden; wearing a coal black skirt and a similar black kerchief tied loosely around her neck. Her face was veiled by the black fedora hat on her head. A small aureate badge in the shape of a scythe sparkled under the moonlight on her skirt.
The jarvey started to decelerate in front of a grand British villa. A silhouette of a person was already standing in front of the gates of this alluring house, seemingly anticipating the arrival of someone. The woman, on the other hand, had cognized of this silhouette from a distance as she gave a heavy sigh of disfavour while giving a slight pull to the rein to halt the car and mumbled- “Ah, it’s you again”.
The contour shifted its position and upon perceiving the rider, coughed up a heavier sigh of dislike. A moment later, a silvery voice interrupted the silence of the night, speaking in a matter-of-factly tone- “Of course, out of all the grim reapers in this world, the Order found only you to be the perfect accomplice for this momentary quest”. She sniggered at the remark, replying snidely with a soft modulated voice- “If only had I known it was you I got as my partner for this… ‘momentary quest’, I wouldn’t have…”, she paused for a second, holding herself back from what she was about to speak; The man shook his head in amusement. The woman continued with the same voice- “Anyways, let’s get finished with this uncanny business and return back to our separate ways, shall we?” “Preferably, I would love that”, the man replied, looked around and punned - “But lets a have a ‘lighter’ environment first”.
The man raised his hand and a lurid white flame conjured and enveloped around it. The flames curled into a small ball of blazing heat, hovering on the tip of the man’s index finger as he flicked it towards the nearest lamp post. The lights flared up across the street, uncovering the darkness, revealing both of these sorcerer beings. The man wore an all-white top coat, a linen shirt within, tight knee breeches, knitted wool stockings and heavy shoes. The outfit was completed with a white top hat made of felt. His fiercely intense blue eyes looked straight at the woman and the smooth, peachy, chiselled face broke into a dimpled, cold, unwelcomed smile as the man removed his hat and bowed- “Unfortunately, we meet again, Dullahan”.
The inexplicable woman lifted her hat, revealing a fair, V-shaped face and perfectly arched eyebrows with deep jade green eyes that stared wide-eyed at the man, taken aback with his flashy outfit- “Lets finish the task already, Healer”, the woman provocatively said, stepping down from the jaunting car. The man frowned, clearly annoyed by being called a ‘Healer’- “It’s Nicholas Winston, Healer sounds way too disgusting”, he snapped.
“It’s pretty amazing how you still don’t like being called by your occupation”, the woman relieved an amusing smile. Nicholas gave a heavy sigh as they started walking together towards the mansion- “You know better than anyone how it feels like to be called by our occupation in the kind of work we do. You yourself use Robenia over ‘Grim Reaper’”. “You still have that impeccable habit of ignoring the obvious, I can’t simply introduce myself as the Grim Reaper to undead humans” Robenia replied, widening her eyes to apply greater impact of her obvious tone. “Anyways, unlike me your ‘Healer’ gives you a status of a doctor in the society.”
“And I clearly don’t enjoy being called by such a pathetic profession for the past 1300 years”, Nicholas scoffed
Robenia smiled, slightly impressed by how effortlessly her mission partner could make a profession considered so elite by the society sound so petty. “It’s not that it’s petty, it doesn’t fit within the resume of my real profession”, Nicholas said, grinning widely.
Giving a disgusting look at Nicholas’s grin, Robenia gave a flick of the hand and the large elegant gates flew open, imparting a magnificent lush green lawn, beyond which stood an impressive 19th century Anglo-Irish mansion.
“I wonder what Merlin will say after hearing your opinion…”, Robenia thought aloud.
“That Cambion loves medicine more than his life. He will most likely try to kill me upon hearing his career path being called ‘pathetic’”, Nicholas replied flatly.
“Debrief about this mission, I had to unwillingly leave a beef buffet in the mid-way when I received this damn letter from The Order.”, changing the topic, Nicholas pulled out a black envelope from his coat, showing the letter which, he had received from Robenia’s workplace, The Order of the Grim Reapers. The middle of the envelope was embroidered with two golden scythes, creating a cross. “It gave me a pretty excellent idea about what I need to do in the mission. Here, see for yourself”, he handed the envelope to Robenia, who pulled out the letter and unfolded the black parchment. Within it, were inscribed just three words in a beautiful golden cursive writing- ‘Brunswick street, Ireland.’ Robenia suppressed a laughter upon realizing his sarcasm, and simply nodded and replied “I will tell you about it. I sincerely apologize for your beef, though.”
“It’s funny, eh?”, Nicholas scowled.
“Very”, she said, laughing.
“I seriously wouldn’t bear with this disrespect if it hadn’t been for the excellent amount of money you people provide”, he snapped back, scowling deeper than before.
“We are here to pick a very precious Marked Soul to transport him to the afterlife tonight”, Robenia spoke, completely ignoring his complaint against uncivilized employees of her workplace. “Of course, it is a Marked Soul, huh, what was I even expecting?”, Nicholas mumbled.
“Technically, he should have died 30 years ago, but strangely enough, every time one of our Reapers went to pick him up, the name on their letters always changed at the last minute. For the first two times, we believed he escaped out of pure luck considering we do have such rare cases where our original target sometimes manages to escape from their death. However, in this case, the Marked Soul has managed to escape from us for 6 times in a row.” “I don’t remember the Reaper’s Government to be so lousy with their work before”, Nicholas interrupted. “Seriously, this man…”, frustration boiled within Robenia, “you know we are still not legally allowed to kill lethal and harmful spirits without prior notice to the Order.”
“I know that, and I suppose you people must have at least investigated how he escapes every time”, Nicholas questioned, walking a few steps ahead into the lawn, intently staring at the house that stood ahead of him. He turned back to look at her, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course. He is a Disabled, he doesn’t have the vision to see ghosts or other… spiritual creatures”, Robenia flinched.
“You still hate them?”
“Obviously.”
Nicholas sighed and shook his head but didn’t questioned further, “If he’s Disabled, isn’t it possible that someone from our side might have helped him escape every time?” “We haven’t ruled out that possibility but the probability of a spiritual being helping out a mortal seems very thin, since Grim Reapers can immediately sense it if a ghost or a spirit tries to interfere in any way in the lives of humans.”, Nicholas knit his eyebrows, deep in his own thoughts as he continued to stare at the front door of the mansion.
“That means either a human with a Vision or someone from the Dark Realm might have helped him out…”, Nicholas thought out aloud, “Presumably”, Robenia assured his suspicions. “Tsk, damn, I seriously hate the mess the citizens of the Dark Realm create”, he tutted, “Whew, fine. Let’s chop down his damned silver cord once and for all, my stomach is so very screaming ‘beef’.”
Soon enough, a creature walked right through the door, providing an unpleasant sight to the eyes of the Healer and the Grim Reaper.
Robenia kecked in disgust- “Gross. I just encountered with the taste of my vomit!”
Nicholas rubbed his stomach with his hand, nauseating in agreement with Robenia- “Damn. He definitely knows how to make someone lose their ‘screaming’ appetite.”
What stepped out in front of them was not a soul, but a demonic creature with a human-like wraith limping into the night, it’s body grey and sickening, rotten and deteriorated beyond recognition, its narrow-withered limbs dangling loosely around its grossly large bulging stomach and its face with bloodshot eyes and a tiny mouth weirdly balancing on its unusually long thin neck.
“Uh-huh, I am definitely going to throw up”, Robenia concluded, unable to relax her facial muscles from the scrunched-up expression she had created in disgust upon seeing the creature.
“Totally. Count me in.”, Nicholas agreed, his gaze fixed on the creature from the shock and disgust his eyes had to suddenly face.
“That explains why I didn’t sense his helper. He never received any help from the outside, he was receiving it from what thrived inside him.”, Robenia said, realization dawning on her face.
Stepping forward, Nicholas crossed his arms and composedly stared in the eyes of the creature- “I know you are in there Charles; can we talk?”
The creature’s eyes averted towards the soft, sympathetic voice of the Healer. As soon as the ghost locked its eyes with Nicholas, it dissolved within the soul of the person it had possessed, as if it had immediately got enchanted by him. The soul, which Nicholas had called out as Charles, seemed to had taken the form of his younger and healthier self, a man in his thirties with exceptionally fit body, a slightly freckled face with a sharp chin and hawk-like eyes finished with a well-trimmed moustache.
“I guess the people were right about you, you indeed do not happen to be a normal person.”, Charles spoke for the first time, his voice a little rough yet polite.
“Yes. Let’s just say that I am not a human like you were, but I am someone whose job is to simply handle evil beings of the other side…” Nicholas said softly and full of sympathy, “and currently, one of them has been living off your physical body for quite a long time.”
“I always wondered why I had been suffering from lapses in my memory ever since I came back from that cursed journey all those years back, I suppose this explains it” Charles hesitantly confirmed.
“How do you know him?” Robenia muttered inside Nicholas’ mind.
“He had come to visit me 30 years back, for a free mental check-up before he ventured out into the sea. He used to be in the navy, you see.” Nicholas replied back.
Robenia stepped forward and casually started to speak with the client she was asked to escort to the afterlife tonight, “Hello Charles, I guess I haven’t introduced myself. I am the Grim Reaper and tonight I will be escorting you…” pointing towards the sky, Robenia continued “… to the doorway that will lead you up there, thank you” she finished with a wide smile.
Charles astonishingly glanced at Robenia, “Uh… I know it’s not my place to say, but isn’t she a little too cheerful for a Grim Reaper? I mean, I thought Grim Reapers were supposed to be, you know, grim.” Nicholas burst out laughing uncontrollably. Robenia sighed heavily, “For god’s sake, I have heard this for a thousand times”
“And it’s still funny!” Nicholas completed.
Robenia shook her head in frustration and then glared back at Nicholas “Do you have any plan to kill the Grigori or should I just stab Charles with the Grimfrost?”
“I have a question for dear Charles here” wiping his tears away from the hearty laugh he had, Nicholas looked back at Charles and asked him “Well, what’s the last thing that you clearly remember before the memory lapses began?”
“We were about to depart the next day from our regular stop at a small island, where we had docked for a few days to refresh our food and water supplies. I…” Charles squinted his eyes, straining to remember the events of that ill-fated day “was probably heading towards the ship after having a couple of drinks with some of my friends I knew from my previous ventures in the sea that lived on the island.”
“Hmm… I see.”, Nicholas rubbed his chin, deep in thought. ‘What are you even thinking? He’s clearly lying.’ Robenia’s voice ushered into his mind. ‘No. He’s only speaking half of the truth of that night.’ Nicholas stared at Charles’ eyes, necromantically searching for the answer that he is seeking within depths of the soul’s memory. ‘Ah, I see it. He did head towards the ship, but as he stopped to walk at the beach, he supposedly met with this wandering Grigori, and permitted the Grigori to take control of his body and soul under the condition that he never gets to starve ever again because of his low financial status. The Grigori buried away that part of his memory deep within his sub-conscious. Simply put, he doesn’t remember sacrificing himself to the demonic ghost.’ Nicholas concluded. ‘Wow, he’s one of those rare, stupid kind of species of the human race you don’t get to see every day…’ Robenia sighed in astonishment.
Charles stared at them, unable to appreciate the expressions they were sharing with each other without uttering a single word. To him, it seemed they were speaking through their mind, which indeed, was true. Charles dramatically coughed loudly to draw both of their attention towards them “Um… May I ask what needs to be done with this thing that is inside me?”
“It’s a quite a simple process, actually” Nicholas instructed “Reaper, wield the Grimfrost. You kill the Grigori, in return, I promise to provide you with immunity from the Council’s wrath at the Order of Reapers for the non-permitted assassination of a Nightling. Deal?”
“As long as you keep the promise, deal.” Robenia curtly nodded, raising her hand while stepping forward towards Charles, black wisps of smoke emanating from her hand as she summoned the Grimfrost. Charles started to step back, starting to feel timorous about the unknown process the Healer mentioned earlier.
All of a sudden, Nicholas grasped the soul’s arm jerking it towards himself and thrusted his other hand at Charles’ chest, mystically impelling the Grigori out of his body. Jumping into action, Robenia pulled out her Grimfrost (which, for some strange, unknown reason, happened to be a pair of metal scissors) and teleported right in front of the Grigori. Before the Grigori could react any further, Robenia impaled the scissor (aka Grimfrost) perfectly into the evil spirit’s heart.
The Grigori shrieked from pain in a terrifyingly shrill voice before burning away into a thick, inky wisp of smoke. Robenia heaved a sigh of relief as she turned back to Nicholas “One part is done; the rest is yours to complete.”
“Do you realize that you exorcised an evil spirit, a Grigori, with tailoring scissors?” Nicholas pointed out, shocked from his partner’s unusually specific weapon of choice. Robenia simply shrugged “Just focus on finishing up your part of the job, so we can leave as early as possible. I have more souls to pick up on the cart, you know.”
“Whatever. The Grigori’s dead so I am hungry again, now.”
Nicholas looked up at Charles, who was petrified like a stone, his eyes rolled at the back of his head. He bought his hand near the chest of the soul and strained his fingers inwards as he magically pulled out a red, wispy structure out of him. Then, he leaned forward and whispered in Charles’ ear “You will remember me when we meet again in your next life. I hope at that time, you are rich and pure enough so as to never gamble your soul with devils like them for the sake of money. I wish you luck in your journey ahead, Marked One.” He let go of Charles’ hand, thus pulling him back to his consciousness. Nicholas swiftly pulled out a small, delicate glass vial from his pocket and transferred the wispy structure from his hand into the vial, corked it, and put it back in the pocket. He nodded his head to Robenia, signalling the successful completion of his task.
Robenia gently escorted a dazed Charles towards her jaunting car. After assuring that he is sitting comfortably, she turned towards Nicholas “So, I guess this is where we part, Healer”
Nicholas let out a soft smile “Escort him well. I really pity such people who willingly sacrifice their souls for the sake of surviving in this world.” Nicholas said, with a sad distant look in his eyes “Charles was severely underpaid for years, his only way of escaping from his financial difficulties was to give up his soul under the control of such a Grigori who used to gamble people until they gave up their most prized possessions to him.”
“Don’t worry. My job is to just hand him over to the Irish Branch of the Order. They will be pursuing with the rest of the procedures to either serve him with a punishment or send him to the heavens.”
“I sense a ‘but’ in the sentence…”
“But… I will surely file a request letter asking the Order to consider the adversities that lead Charles to make a such a trade before they call out the final decision. Also, I can’t promise you anything since soul gambling comes under one of the highest ranked crime under the Order’s lawbook. I’ll only say that I will try my best for him.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it” Nicholas sighed and gave a small smile.
Robenia climbed onto the jarvey and put on the fedora hat on top of her head again. She grabbed the reins of the horse and looked at the Healer one last time “It was… quite decent working with you, Healer” she said, back to the same soft voice with which she first spoke with Nicholas.
Nicholas tugged his suit a little, gently touched his hat and bowed, depicting his appreciation “I wouldn’t say anything less than that, Dullahan.”
Both of them started to move in the opposite directions. They stopped after moving a few paces and glanced at each other from the corner of the eye. Then, they raised their right hands in the air and snapped their fingers in unison, lighting up the whole street back to the way it was, before magically disappearing into thin air while the people of Brunswick Street slept away peacefully, completely unaware of the magical events which took place in the middle of the night.
Glossary:
Grim Reaper: A person who has received the punishment for a heavy sin which he/she committed, to escort souls and spirits to the Heaven.
Grigori: An evil ghost, who after committing a huge sin as a human, wanders in this world aimlessly. It is usually filled with greed, lust, hatred and anger.
Grimfrost: A fictional weapon used by the Grim Reapers to sometimes kill evil spirits or remove a soul stuck within the dead body of a human.
Disabled: A person without any insight to the other side i.e. the spirit realm.
