The Untold Story of a Grim Reaper: Chapter 32: Seven Deadly Spirits

Bubbles blurred my vision as I rose to the top of a black-lit ocean. The water tasted sweet and tickled my eyes and ears. 

After a few minutes, I finally reached the surface. Treading water I examined the area. The ocean looked like it stretched for miles. The black lit sky was unending and I could not depict if there was anything for me to pursue.

After treading water for another minute or two I relaxed on my back and simply floated. I told myself to be patient. After everything that had happened I was quite content with just floating. 

I felt new. My skin didn’t burn anymore and the hate that feasted on my heart could not be traced. I stretched my arms and was grateful for this. Although, I had a strong thirst that could not be quenched by the water I floated in.

I noticed a small moon in the distance, the lunar wonder expanded the more I swam to its glow. The warmth reflecting off of it was alluring.

As I kicked through my feet began scuffing a surface. I was in shallow waters and eventually was able to stand. Planting myself I took another moment to soak in my surroundings. Still nothing but darkness. The darkness was not cynical though… it was relieving. 

“Welcome.”

I spun around several times yet couldn’t see who spoke. It spoke again. 

Its voice rich and deep, “Keep walking. Away from the water.” 

I caught a sense of its direction and nervously pursued it. My shuffling feet eventually brought me to the shore; finally my foot kicked an obstacle. Waving my arms around and dragging my feet in circles I acknowledged that I was at the foot of an unseeable staircase.

Reluctantly, I found the first step and eventually discovered the rhythm of the stairs. Gliding my way to hopefully would be the answer to my infinite questions. 

The horizon of darkness carried me to a platform out of the staircases. And to my surprise I was brought to the grounds of a meeting being held by seven strange creatures. They were congregating in a semi-circle sitting on stumps, planted within the heart of their gathering was a brass, rusty hourglass. Upon my arrival they all simultaneously twisted their eyes towards me.

None of them spoke and from the shock of their appearances, my throat became too knotted up to make a sound myself. They had the body structure of people but the heads of animals: a horse, frog, cow, goat, bear, wolf, and pig. From the neck down it looked as if they were made of tightly woven wicker. Their posture and movements were in constant unison. Every twitch, every blink, every adjustment of their bodies were in perfect harmony.

The goat headed creature, who sat in the middle, spoke proudly but did not open his mouth, “Welcome, Lillian.”

I stammered, “I’m not Lillian. I’m Noa.”

The bear spoke, “Ah, Edith.”

The creatures broke their harmonic movement and exchanged confused glances to one another. But all eventually fell back into mimicking the goats movements. The goat sighed, “It seems you have taken her place and are worthy to reap the benefits.”

“Benefits?” They didn’t react to my question. I clenched my jaw before relaxing it to speak, “Who are you all?”

The goat answered as the others twisted their attention to it all at once, “We are your final choices.” 

I noticed a giant scar across its right eye. 

I tried to swallow but my tongue was chalk in my mouth, “Choices?”

The goat beast stood, the others collectively kept their eyes to what seemed to be their leader. 

It crossed its hands behind its back and announced, “Out of us, you must choose one, a gift you must accept in your eternal life.”

I shyly asked, “What Lilli was promised for breaking those souls?” They all nodded, “And how do I know which of you to choose?”

The goat man sat back on his stump and they all rejoined in their synchronized movements. Farthest to the left they began to introduce themselves. 

The horse, “I am Cifer, importance and overruling of everyone else’s needs for self.”

The frog, “I am Mon, taker of qualities better meant for you.”

The cow, “I am Asmo, pleasures of the flesh.”

The goat, “I am Egor, reaction on ones own terms.”

The bear, “I am Amo, justified and answered hatred and revenge.”

The wolf, “I am Levi, owner of possessions.”

The pig, “I am Elze, more than you’ll ever need.”

They leaned forward as if expecting an immediate answer. I looked into each of their eyes and saw that their promises were true but empty. They were intimidating and I felt they might scare an answer out of me that I didn’t believe in.

The most tempting was the bears since it spoke to my history. It whispered reasons of why I was here in the first place. But if I could actually justify my hatred and revenge, make people pay for what they’d done to me… if I could force them to bow under my anger to them… would that bring me to peace? Would making others pay for their faults make up for my own?

Gritting my teeth in thought, I asked, “And I have to choose one of you?”

They nodded and spoke in unity, “Choose wisely.”

My eyes fixated to the centerpiece in the room, the only choice that didn’t speak to me. I tiptoed toward the relic, captured by its ambiance.

Forgetting I wasn’t alone, I was caught off-guard by the creatures abrupt stomps that shook the platform. As the vibrations settled, I stumbled over myself, the creatures spoke, “Choose out of us.”

I bit my lip thinking over their demand, I reminded myself that they didn’t command me, that they did not own me. 

On impulse, I lunged toward the hourglass and staggered to pick it up when the beasts enclosed around me, trapping me within an inclosed circle. 

Hugging the artifact I collapsed to my knees to better protect it from animalistic brutes. I yelled, “It’s my choice.”

“Choose one of the Seven Spirits of Vice. Bestiam intra vos est. Choose one of our blessings for we live within.”

“Let me be!”

They shouted, “Choose one of the Seven Spirits of Vice!” They repeated themselves, “Septem bestiae. Septem fines.” they kept repeating the phrase. Their voices built on top of each other with a heavier tone upon each repetition. 

I squeezed the hourglass tighter and felt an inscription in the brass scratch my chin. I looked down at the hourglass and blew away the dust that concealed its statement, 

 

It is finished

 

 I forced a breath and trusted my final decision, screaming over my monsters, “I choose!” 

They all stopped chanting, they stepped closer to tighten the circle around me. Their harsh bent necks kept their severe glares at me. 

Shaking, I gave one last look into each of their eyes, they reflected back everything I had been running from all my life. And within their beady eyes I saw it. I saw what had been keeping me a prisoner, what had been keeping me a reaper. I saw why I was not at peace, I saw why I ended up like this, and I saw that I was finished.

 

The full moon eclipsed and I confessed, “I choose to forgive myself.”

 

With a roar, I rotated the hourglass over. The monsters snarled as they lunged at me but they turned to stone. From the crown of their heads, a whistling wind carried them away into dust. 

These monsters were the beasts that have always lived within me, from the lack of love I had for myself I created them. 

I forced myself to relax and tiredly rested the entity in front of me. The gold sand bled slowly and peacefully through the funnel, whispering thoughts of hope.

I read a second engraving on the hourglass, “She who continues knocking will have the door opened for them.”

The sound of multiple footsteps approached, the small vibrations gave me incentive to the direction in which they were being delivered.

Suddenly, faster than a heartbeat the approaching footsteps became clear. A avalanche of fog rushed in, seeming to be pulled by four horses. As the horses arrived to me, their wall of fog behind them grew larger. Once they stopped the fog breathed all around, pushing to cover the ground in a grass made of fog.

Four horses; one white, one red, one black, one pale. Unmanned by anyone, the four horses stood two by two in front of their carriage of fog.

The horses adjusted themselves in place, grunting and huffing at one another. When I neared the pale horse in the back on the right hand side, it noticed me. Stopped fidgeting and fixated completely on me. The other three joined, captivated by my presence. As I tiptoed closer they did not budge.

Something about them was familiar for me. They made me feel important for some reason. But out of the four, the pale horse seemed to not only know me so much as it understood me. A sense of empathy between us.

The fog began to part at my feet, creating a small opening in the dense smoke. 

A little voice laughed, and a small child stepped out, “Hi, Noa!”

My jaw dropped and I kneeled down to the child. He held out his hand and I took it with both of mine. His smile warmed me. 

I shook in disbelief, “Did I save everyone? Is everyone alright?”

He took his hand from mine and placed both of his palms against the sides of my face, “Everything is as it should,” he continued, “It’s time to go. You’re going to have to be strong, Noa... you’re going to have to be brave.” He smiled, “Can you do that for me?”

Like Eliakim, his eyes were celestial, each star was a blessing that mapped my way home. I could see my northern star and I knew I was found. 

I nodded, “Yes, yes, I can, anything for you.”

A happiness flooded my eyes and for the first time since I died, I cried. The tears flowed from me with such overwhelming joy that I didn’t want to stop. I was finally freed from purgatory, the shackles of being the Grim Reaper had slipped from my soul and I was free from its affliction.

The child used his hands to wipe the tears from my face and kissed me on the forehead, “You’re going to do great things, Noa. You’re going to be great things.”

I covered my mouth and whispered, “Thank you… I am so sorry.”

He pet my hair and sweetly shushed me, “Noa, it’s time to go.”

“Okay. Where are we going?” 

He took my hand and walked me into the fog, consumed by the smoke, I took my last glimpse of Aaron.