Ego Of A Reaper

Ch. 3: THE BANISHED

[BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING THIS CHAPTER I WANT TO APOLOGIZE FOR BEING INACTIVE! I HAD FINALS COMING UP AND DIDN'T HAVE TIME! BUT NOW I PROMISE TO WRITE MORE]

My eyes slowly open as I fade back into consciousness, I could see stars covering the night sky, I must've been out cold for hours at least. I look in front of me to see the orange fox person sitting no more than 3 inches away from my face, it's covered in blood. It looked familiar but I was too scared to try to remember. I let out a scream as I pushed it away from me.

"Ow! That hurt!" It exclaimed when it hit the ground as I backed away.

"Stay away from me! I- I warn you!" I tried to sound confident and intimidating but my face and stuttering were betraying me.

"I said I won't eat you!" At this point, sparks were coming off me and I fight for control over my body. I stand up and look around trying to find the best route to escape. When I find it, I charged without looking back. I heard it groan as it disappeared into a nearby bush. I run, run and run. Not looking back and barely seeing what's in front of me. I zigzag my way through the woods not even knowing where my feet are. I saw a pair of yellow eyes drop from a tree and in front of me, it was the same person.

"WAIT!" It cried but I ran away before the words registered.

At once I remembered why it looked familiar, five years ago it killed and ate a man by the river, I wasn't about to become its latest victim. As I was remembering that, my foot slipped off of the uneven ground and I fell forwards into a deep cave. I hit almost every branch and pebble as I rolled down to the bottom.



I shook my head and rubbed my back as my vision became more clear, that orange fox is going to have a hard time finding me here, that's what I hoped for at least. As I stood up and looked into the cave's darkness, I heard hisses and rattles surrounding me. The hisses turned into growls as I saw wolf-shaped creatures with scaley tails. Some had green liquid dripping out of their fangs while others had it seeping through their claws. They were viper-hounds. I closed my eyes and wished that my sythe would help me for once in my life. But no matter what, nothing happened. Instead, I felt one of them jump on top of me, as it winded up its claw it flew away from me with an orange flash. It was bloodied, and soon enough, it dropped dead. On top of it was a bright orange mountain lion with yellow eyes. The lion pounced off of another one, killing it.

I stood up and immediately went for the biggest stick I could carry, it would be too risky to use my sythe. I take a deep breath and let out a battle cry as smacked one of the hounds in the face. I saw the lion turn into a bear as it mauled through five hounds with its claws. One of the viper hounds slashed the bear in the back leaving a bright green slime behind, it was venom. I dashed towards it and bashed its skull inwards. The bear turned into a big viper hound, but with three tails and venom dripping from both the claws and fangs, the pack leader. It let out a loud howl and all of the hounds backed away whimpering. Soon I heard a loud howl again, but this time it came from the cave, and out of the cave emerged the pack's true leader, it looked at the orange version of itself with a snarl. The orange hound gave me a warning look and I knew that was my cue to back away. The two hounds were at a stand-off, waiting for the other's move. The orange shapeshifter pounced first, it jumped forewards 8 feet and went to slash its opponent. The leader winced in pain before biting the shapeshifter's neck. The orange one bit it back and now they were rolling around the den entangled. The shapeshifter turned into a small mole and dug its way to safety emerging 14 feet away as a hawk. The hawk swept down to attack the leader but it had to glide away when the leader attacked first. I grabbed my stick and charged forwards and clubbed the hound away. I saw the hawk soaring above it before flying down perpendicular to it. It turned into a human with feathers sticking out of some places and what looked like a pair of fingerless orange gloves with 3 short blades coming out of each hand. The feathered human fell onto the pack leader and used its blades to finish the job. It walked towards me covered in blood after standing up from the dead hound and spook to me in a cheerful voice "I didn't introduce myself earlier. I'm Checker"

Checker and I set camp nearby, we started a fire and roasted a viper-hound.

"So what's your name, purple boy?" they asked.
"It's Raven. Sorry for running back there" I answered.
"How about you thank me for saving your ass?" they said before cackling wildly. I chuckled back in response. "That's a weird weapon you have. Spooky!" they added happily.
"It honestly feels like more of a curse than an ability like yours" I responded after sighing."Well, my weapon has drawbacks too, ya know?" they said "Who knew consistently turning into an animal would make your brain go coo-coo crazy sometimes? I may have injured the man by the river, but I didn't eat him. What am I? A monster?"
"You give the impression of being a monster sometimes"
"Now that you mention it I may be doing that. Guess we're both accidental monsters"
After many weeks I finally managed to give a full-hearted laugh and said with watery eyes "Yeah I guess you're right"

They cut off two pieces and gave me one. We ate and joked about funny stuff that happened to us. For the first time in years, I felt like had a friend, though I must admit; their consistent cheerfulness is a bit creepy, but it's better than being with a pessimist, I suppose. I still wanted to know more about what happened to Ray, but I needed this peace.

"I must say, this has been a fun night," I said after a while of joking
"I agree! It's so much better with someone to talk to" they responded"Wait, you're telling me you spent years living all alone like this?"
"I suppose so!" they said in a cheerful voice after they had finished eating, but I knew there was pain behind that smile"But hey, now, we're stuck with each other," I said"I don't mind that at all!" they said in a truly happy voice yawned and stretched "God, I'm tired"
"Wanna hit the hay?"
"I guess that's a good idea," I said after laying down on my back with my hands under my head
They twirled around on all fours, with their head covered away in their hair "Alright then! Goodnight!"

After an hour or so I finally drifted away to sleep. I found myself in that dark void again, this time there was a skull and a sythe next to each other. I went to touch them, but then I saw that there were words carved into the sythe that said 'The cycle must not continue'. After further inspection, I realized that the word 'Not' was written in a different handwriting than the rest of the words. I suddenly woke up and I saw Ray pecking at Checker in the sunlight.