Fallen Haven [Baneful] Book 1

A New Responsibility

"You seem like a grumpy old man half the time," Nyx says, hoping to get a rise out of Darren. Darren could feel his eyelid twitch as he became more impatient. Was he supposed to take care of this little smart-ass? He might as well inject himself with fentanyl.

"I am not a grumpy old man," he says through a clenched jaw.

"I'm so bored down here!" She whines.

"Then how about you go find something to do away from my thousands of dollars worth of equipment?"

"Why would I do that?" She asks like there isn't a single problem with that.

"Because little girls shouldn't mess around with high-tech and dangerous equipment" he tries to get it through her small yet thick head.

"Well, I want to see you work. I've never seen you in action, and the very old man seems to trust you." Darren almost spits out his coffee, hearing 'very old man' come out of Nyx's mouth. Only a child like her would be daring enough to say that about William behind his back.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed, Nyx?" She shrugs.

"I'm not scared of the old man just like I'm not scared of you or the projects" 'Is it too late to back out now?' He wondered to himself. Darren returned to work, ignoring Nyx's pleas to watch him perfect the new serum. "Come on, I just want to watch! I won't touch anything!" Noticing that she wasn't going to get her way, she puffs her cheeks.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Hmph!" She crossed her arms, showing a more stubborn side of herself. Darren wanted to laugh but felt that it would be rather inappropriate to do so.

"You can't hold your breath forever. Just like every human out there, you'll need to breathe at some point." Nyx ignored him, continuing to hold her breath as her face turned reddish and her lips a pale blue. Darren, now realizing how serious she was, instantly became panicked and tried to get her to breathe. "Nyx, come on! This isn't funny. Breathe!"

Nyx let out the rest of her breath and gasped for air as she could no longer hold it without feeling light-headed. Darren let out a sigh of pure relief. "Don't you dare do that again. Do you know how worried I was!?" He was going to go insane caring for this child.

"I feel dizzy" Nyx held her head, attempting to make the room stop spinning.

"No shit, you feel dizzy. You nearly killed yourself with Asphyxiation! That is a serious matter and not something to do out of the blue!" She coughed, catching her breath as everything finally settled down within her vision. "Don't you dare do that again!"

"Cool it, old man, it wasn't meant to get this bad in the first place" Darren patted her back and ensured she was alright before allowing himself to relax.

"At least you're alright" 'I don't want a dead body on my hands again,' Darren thought to himself. "Who taught you to behave like that?"

"Woah! First off, I'm only connected to this girl because of the metempsychosis."

"Metempsychosis? You mean reincarnation?" He had only heard about reincarnation but never believed it due to the lack of evidence.

"If you want to be basic, then yes, reincarnation. We have reincarnated time and time again. We are the descendant of Death, also holding a shred of her, which gives us our abilities in the first place." Darren took in the new information going over it in his head. Everything she said was so hard to believe, yet at the same time, it made complete sense.

"So death, as in like the grim reaper, is real?" He felt intrigued.

"She is an all-powerful being who I happen to respect. In a way, she's like a god but not at the same time, as she controls the reapers under her rule. She is very strict with the whole life and death business and doesn't like that kind of thing being messed with, which means if you bring my 'mom' back to life, she will make sure you face the consequences somehow." Darren walks over to a dresser, taking out a small box.