Chapter 13: Chapter. 13: The Bordering Lands

Hmm! My bones creaked as I stretched my body, the sun entered my bright white room. Sleeping was hard⁠⁠— In the end I couldn’t stop thinking about the old man, hence sleeping was hard. At the same time, my conversation with Ash was enjoyable. I was beginning to like my roommate⁠—

Well… I paused. Did I ever not like someone? At least here, it really was the case… Wait, that made no sense. Wouldn’t that make me easily approachable? Wouldn’t that made me weak⁠— No, no, that was fine here since strength didn’t seem particularly important. Well then again, what can one expect when so many strange beings get thrown into a single place? 

I sat on my bed, and rubbed my feet against the soft carpet. Sigh, it wasn’t soft enough. Perhaps I should get a softer carpet to knead. It just felt nice, and at the same time it made me relaxed. 

I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, it had been charging the night before. Apparently the magic on it would run out. Er, electricity. I looked at it and⁠— 9:45 am. I paused. Wasn’t I supposed to be there by ten?! 

If waiting for a taxi took approximately ten minutes, then another thirty or so to get there… I’d be there by 10:25 am! What to do?! 

I grabbed onto my head as my eyes darted around the room. There was actually nothing I could do! I had forgotten to set the alarm thing! Aah! How could I forget?! It was supposed to be important! And yet I forgot anyway! 

I had forgotten something so important. My feet stomped against the carpet. I had forgotten… No, I hadn’t forgotten, I just didn’t give it enough importance… And I was the one that invited him too… My face felt heated. Perhaps the Old man wasn’t my friend yet, but he could’ve been my first friend… 

I sniffled. “But what can I do?” I muttered feeling hopeless. “There is nothing I can do, nothing human anyway…” I paused. “Human…” 

My shoulders lifted. I was the heir of the Necros Family! I wasn’t a human! I could just use my magic to get there! 

“Okay, then I should probably get ready…” I mused as I put on some clothes. Unfortunately all I could wear was black underwear. 

I should probably buy pajamas from a store. I thought to myself as I put on my boots. I should actually just buy more clothes. Since well⁠— I had two sets of clothes and they both looked really similar. 

I fixed my hair and tied it back,and gave myself a smile. What was the time? The screen on the phone lit up, the background was an abyssal blue with nothing on it. 9:53 am. Okay, there was still time. 

I went out of my room. 

“Ash!” I called standing by the door. 

My voice rang hollow inside the apartment, the sun filtered through the blinds in the kitchen, dust floated up into the air, the quietness of the morning made me feel relaxed. And Ash? Well she seemed to be gone as always. 

Everything seemed to be in order. I went back inside my room and made sure I had everything. Phone, wallet, and the dingling⁠— keys? I had no keys. I quickly grabbed them from my table and stared outside. Everything will go alright… I think… 

I raised my hand into the air. How long had it been since I had done this? A tingling sensation began to run its course through my hand and into my palm, the shadows of the room quivered and soon a part of them gathered at my shadow, as if my hand was dripping blood a black mass emerged downwards. 

And soon it became a stick that touched the ground. My hand let go, and I had about the equivalent of a walking cane. A sigh escaped my lips. Why is every way to summon it annoying in its own merit? I gripped the soon-to-be weapon, and tapped it against the ground. More shadows gathered, this time into the butt of the stick. It absorbed them greedily until it was much taller than me, a ghastly curved blade decorated it on one end, and soon my hand felt warm. 

My scythe. It happily hummed in my presence. I never quite understood what caused the scythe to hum but it seemed to mirror my emotions. I smiled back at it as I felt it in my hand, it was light and comfortable, it made me feel like I could do anything. 

I grabbed it with both of my hands and pulled it behind my back. A Grim Reaper’s scythe had its own thoughts, and for all intents and purposes it was more than a simple tool⁠— it was our will, and an extension of ourselves. My scythe vibrated in my grip, trembling in excitement. 

To the park, to the Bordering Lands! 

I brought the scythe forth, it produced a bell-like sound as reality itself seemed to open on the blade. Soon, a cut was born, the vision past it ashen and devoid of life. The scythe felt cold in my hands in sadness. I didn’t like the Bordering Lands. A short sigh escaped me witnessing the sight. 

I made sure I was ready and stepped past my room and into the other realm. What greeted me was the park I had always visited, but everything was gray and devoid of people. An alternate reality, the lands between life and death. 

I looked around, and breathed in the air devoid of smell and feeling. The Bordering Lands were probably most frequented by Grim Reapers, however like any other realm it had its own inhabitants. Highly aggressive and dangerous for most denizens of any other realm. 

I was always wary of entering the Bordering Lands, thankfully the monsters were far and few between. They were so rare that the Bordering Lands wasn’t considered a realm in of itself but more like a tunnel. Still, it never made me not nervous, not after how seriously dad spoke of the dangers of the place. Though thankfully Grim Reapers were the bane of said monsters. 

I never understood how it worked. I shook my head, erasing the thoughts away from my head. I had other things to do, namely look for a place to go back to the human realm. I brought my phone to my hand to look at the hour, though I didn’t even know if it would work here. 

To my surprise the display lit up, 9:57 am. I didn’t have much time. I couldn’t really look for a random alley, somewhere nearby had to do, but where⁠— I looked around me to the sparse trees. 

Eventually settling on one that seemed to be in the corner of the park with a wall behind it, there were probably no people there! Though I had to gamble. I arrived at the tree, it looked isolated from everywhere else, mostly because it was on the corner of a wall. 

To my original realm I go⁠— to the human realm I go! 

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I swiped, though I had almost landed in the underworld by accident. It opened, the sunlight visible from the crack. I stepped beyond, it closed and I let go of the scythe, it hummed a farewell as its shadows that composed it began to fade into nothingness. 

I felt the sudden warmth of the sun and smiled. Everything had gone well. The wind was calming, and I had about a minute to get to the bench. Though, there was fear in the air, namely from my left. Did something happen? 

I turned and⁠— 

“A lady came out from the tree!” I heard a shrill trembling voice. 

It was a small child wearing an orange hoodie, with blonde hair, maybe reaching about my hips in height. He had a ball in his hands. His eyes looked at me with fear⁠— 

Why was he here? He turned to run, but I had to silence him! Before he could take a step I janked him from the hood atop his head, the ball rolled away. And soon he stared at me, trembling against the tree. 

“D-Don’t hurt me, my mom said to not get close to strangers…” He stuttered. 

Sigh. I fumbled around my pockets looking for candy to calm the kid, and maybe even get him to never speak of what he had seen. But to my disappointment I had nothing. I felt my wallet in my pocket and remembered how happy the servant in the cafe was when I told her to keep the change. 

I leaned close to the kid. “Are you a good person?” 

“Good person?” He whispered back. “O-Of course, my mother said good people go to heaven, and I want to go to heaven.” 

I had no idea what heaven was, but I smiled as I reached into my wallet. 

“Then never speak of this again.” I said as I put a bill on the kid’s hand. His eyes widened as he looked at the money. 

“M-My silence won’t be bought, bad people accept money for such things!” 

A sigh almost escaped me. Kids were just⁠— “No, no,” I denied. “This is a present for keeping my secret, you can do that, right?” His mind seemed to pause as excitement bubbled within him

“Your secret?” 

My smile became somewhat softer seeing his interest. “It will be our secret.” 

The kid hurriedly nodded. “Your secret is safe with me, you have my word!” He exclaimed as he walked away with the ball in hand. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

“You’re late.” I winced hearing the Old Man’s flat tone. 

He was sitting on the bench looking into the distance, he wasn’t mad but displeased. Whether it was his small frown from his gray brows or him not looking at me, either of them made me feel somewhat sad with myself. 

“I got caught up in something…” I couldn’t tell him I bribed a kid to keep silent. 

“Well,” he looked at his wrist, a thing wrapped around it. “You’re not too late. Let us go then, any place you want to go to?” 

Places to go? Oh I know! “How about the aquari⁠—

“Look mom, there is the lady of the tree I told you about!” A kid screamed somewhat far away. 

The Old man and I turned to look in the direction. It was the same kid wearing the orange hoodie, his golden hair somewhat messy, he had a bright smile as he pointed at me and looked up to his mom. The mother’s hair was just as radiant, but her smile was a lot less pronounced. 

She looked at me and waved. She seemed to be in a great mood. 

“Lady of the tree, eh?” The Old man asked, suppressing a chuckle. 

So much for buying silence…