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Description
Lying in his river, Agito watched the calm surfaces of the water oscillate between scenes.

First, a vain Hirsch Ookami with ebony horns and a fiery coat stared at her own reflection, deep in thought. Her bloodlust had faded in her centuries of service, and with no male company to entertain her, she was beginning to understand how sinfully untamed her life used to be. She was taking her first tentative steps towards redemption.

Then, a verbose, proud old Aur Kami bickered like an old married couple with his temporary partner, a red and black Ralgaine with a foul temper. The two mixed like oil and water, and yet always managed to complete their missions (which now seemed to always involved ferrying the souls of mass deaths) with great efficiency. They would go on to serve decades together, and Jumal would find himself missing his obnoxious, snobbish partner when he passed on first.

A black and purple Chi Shisu finished his service and passed on into the annoyed grasp of his mother. She smacked him soundly on the head for his pure idiocy, then hugged him and reassured him that she never meant to abandon him – that she was killed by a hungry Lisser Cat on her way to the foraging grounds – and that ‘he was still her precious little idiot son’.

The water rippled again to reveal the scowling gaze of Gilles de Rais, still trying to decipher the mystery of the ‘Other Side’ without crossing over himself. Always wanting what he could not have, Agito wondered if the Lisser Cat Cub would ever learn his lesson. Well, at least the old Lisser Cub had decades still to go in his service. The dragon mused that he had yet to see a case where the Sinner had not repented by the time their service time was up, but suspected that Gilles was a good one to follow if one were interested in things like that.

And then a blue Rinto with a mane as silver and bright as the full moon appeared. Now this one, he worried about greatly. She, like Vesta, had a service length in the centuries for her part in the needless deaths of others, but unlike the Hirsch Ookami, she was still far from sane. He had read her history, and though he sympathised with her traumatic childhood, found it difficult to deal with the delusional Chimera. Perhaps he was simply underqualified. Despite everything from emotive pleas to proof-based rationales on his end, she remained immune to the idea that no, Casper never loved her and that no, she was never mated to him no matter what her altered memories said.

‘At least I have something to look forwards to when my service ends,’ he comforted himself. His term would be up long before the end of hers, and he would leave it to his successor to deal with the unstable female. But still, he worried. He had become rather fond of his Reapers, eccentric and deranged as they happened to be, and hoped that his successor would have more luck guiding the wayward Rinto onto a path of acceptance, and through it, understanding and repentance.

Blinking with his third, translucent lids coming to cover his eyes from the side, the dragon suddenly realised something he hadn’t tried. Looking beseechingly up at the sky, he asked:

“Would you mind terribly if I borrowed Casper for a while?”

Thunder rumbled and rains fell. Lightening lit up the sky with distant flashes.

“Oh, alright then,” he grumbled. “No need to get into such a tizzy about it.”

The rains stopped and the storm-clouds dispersed.

He sighed, and stared at the rippling waters of his river until they settled down to the placid state they were in before the sky issued its protest at his request.

Rather than being able to see the bright, clear scenes of the earlier six Reapers, this scene seemed to be blurred, dark and distant. As if one was travelling through a tunnel with only a fading torch for light. He could hear perfectly well though, as if to make up for the decreased visual quality.

It took him some time to recognise the sound as that of bones crunching. Of sharp teeth sinking into flesh, tearing muscle, drooling blood and breaking bone.

“Tsuki?” he whispered. He had never really looked at the world beyond, but since Gilles interest in the fate of the Infer Kami, he had become interested himself. But as always, he could make no sense of the scene before him.

Was there really no place of eternal suffering, and was she living in the joyous eternity of eating all the foods of heaven? Or was her hell deigned to be watching another eat without ever partaking in the food herself? Or perhaps...

She was the meal being consumed, as punishment for a lifetime for gluttony?

He didn’t know, and it annoyed him that even after nearly a millennium in the after life, there was so much he still didn’t know about this strange, grey world and the Other Side which lay beyond it. One would think that as a Ferryman, he would at least be able to see the shores of the Other Side, but all he could ever see was a heavy, grey mist that would obscure a landmass he was forbidden to touch except to drop off his newest passengers. He pretended to be cryptically knowing whenever Gilles was around, but in truth, he probably knew as little as the curious old Lisser Cat Cub. No one ever returned from the Other Side too – for all he knew, there was no Other Side, and souls were obliterated once they passed through the shroud-like mist. The thick mist dampened and hid everything – sound was muffled and he was sure there was some supernatural element to it that kept the secret of the Other Side safe from Ferrymen like him.

With centuries to ponder the mystery of the Other Side (and come to terms with his sins), he was sure he would be ready for anything by the time his turn came to pass on.

A voice laughed, high and low, old and young, male and female.

“You mortals are always so amusing. It’s time,” it said.

He nodded, and dived into the water, heading towards the shore that until now, he had been forbidden from touching.

Description
Lying in his river, Agito watched the calm surfaces of the water oscillate between scenes.

First, a vain Hirsch Ookami with ebony horns and a fiery coat stared at her own reflection, deep in thought. Her bloodlust had faded in her centuries of service, and with no male company to entertain her, she was beginning to understand how sinfully untamed her life used to be. She was taking her first tentative steps towards redemption.

Then, a verbose, proud old Aur Kami bickered like an old married couple with his temporary partner, a red and black Ralgaine with a foul temper. The two mixed like oil and water, and yet always managed to complete their missions (which now seemed to always involved ferrying the souls of mass deaths) with great efficiency. They would go on to serve decades together, and Jumal would find himself missing his obnoxious, snobbish partner when he passed on first.

A black and purple Chi Shisu finished his service and passed on into the annoyed grasp of his mother. She smacked him soundly on the head for his pure idiocy, then hugged him and reassured him that she never meant to abandon him – that she was killed by a hungry Lisser Cat on her way to the foraging grounds – and that ‘he was still her precious little idiot son’.

The water rippled again to reveal the scowling gaze of Gilles de Rais, still trying to decipher the mystery of the ‘Other Side’ without crossing over himself. Always wanting what he could not have, Agito wondered if the Lisser Cat Cub would ever learn his lesson. Well, at least the old Lisser Cub had decades still to go in his service. The dragon mused that he had yet to see a case where the Sinner had not repented by the time their service time was up, but suspected that Gilles was a good one to follow if one were interested in things like that.

And then a blue Rinto with a mane as silver and bright as the full moon appeared. Now this one, he worried about greatly. She, like Vesta, had a service length in the centuries for her part in the needless deaths of others, but unlike the Hirsch Ookami, she was still far from sane. He had read her history, and though he sympathised with her traumatic childhood, found it difficult to deal with the delusional Chimera. Perhaps he was simply underqualified. Despite everything from emotive pleas to proof-based rationales on his end, she remained immune to the idea that no, Casper never loved her and that no, she was never mated to him no matter what her altered memories said.

‘At least I have something to look forwards to when my service ends,’ he comforted himself. His term would be up long before the end of hers, and he would leave it to his successor to deal with the unstable female. But still, he worried. He had become rather fond of his Reapers, eccentric and deranged as they happened to be, and hoped that his successor would have more luck guiding the wayward Rinto onto a path of acceptance, and through it, understanding and repentance.

Blinking with his third, translucent lids coming to cover his eyes from the side, the dragon suddenly realised something he hadn’t tried. Looking beseechingly up at the sky, he asked:

“Would you mind terribly if I borrowed Casper for a while?”

Thunder rumbled and rains fell. Lightening lit up the sky with distant flashes.

“Oh, alright then,” he grumbled. “No need to get into such a tizzy about it.”

The rains stopped and the storm-clouds dispersed.

He sighed, and stared at the rippling waters of his river until they settled down to the placid state they were in before the sky issued its protest at his request.

Rather than being able to see the bright, clear scenes of the earlier six Reapers, this scene seemed to be blurred, dark and distant. As if one was travelling through a tunnel with only a fading torch for light. He could hear perfectly well though, as if to make up for the decreased visual quality.

It took him some time to recognise the sound as that of bones crunching. Of sharp teeth sinking into flesh, tearing muscle, drooling blood and breaking bone.

“Tsuki?” he whispered. He had never really looked at the world beyond, but since Gilles interest in the fate of the Infer Kami, he had become interested himself. But as always, he could make no sense of the scene before him.

Was there really no place of eternal suffering, and was she living in the joyous eternity of eating all the foods of heaven? Or was her hell deigned to be watching another eat without ever partaking in the food herself? Or perhaps...

She was the meal being consumed, as punishment for a lifetime for gluttony?

He didn’t know, and it annoyed him that even after nearly a millennium in the after life, there was so much he still didn’t know about this strange, grey world and the Other Side which lay beyond it. One would think that as a Ferryman, he would at least be able to see the shores of the Other Side, but all he could ever see was a heavy, grey mist that would obscure a landmass he was forbidden to touch except to drop off his newest passengers. He pretended to be cryptically knowing whenever Gilles was around, but in truth, he probably knew as little as the curious old Lisser Cat Cub. No one ever returned from the Other Side too – for all he knew, there was no Other Side, and souls were obliterated once they passed through the shroud-like mist. The thick mist dampened and hid everything – sound was muffled and he was sure there was some supernatural element to it that kept the secret of the Other Side safe from Ferrymen like him.

With centuries to ponder the mystery of the Other Side (and come to terms with his sins), he was sure he would be ready for anything by the time his turn came to pass on.

A voice laughed, high and low, old and young, male and female.

“You mortals are always so amusing. It’s time,” it said.

He nodded, and dived into the water, heading towards the shore that until now, he had been forbidden from touching.