Page 74 of Reaper's Quest

I need to be more careful.

My energy and form fluctuated and flickered.

I should probably retreat, but… I turned my attention to the palace far beyond the gate and fixated on the shimmer of distorted air flexing in the space between.

Magic. Powerful magic. Magic that would put my last reaper task to shame.

“What’s that?” yelled one of the gate guards.

The collection of them began shouting between themselves.

I grumbled under my breath and backed up a step. Then another, and another.

The shock from the barrier had started with a flicker of my form and then knocked me back to my physical state. With my mist illusion shed, I stood completely exposed in front of the palace gate guards.

“Halt.” The guards aimed their weapons at me.

I sighed.

So far, nothing about this day had gone to plan. Not that Ihadmuch of a plan.

I probably should have gone in search of the Valen person my father mentioned, rather than trying to find the key, solve the curse, and reap a royal. My strategy choice resembled a less-than-ideal work in progress.

My anger had gotten the better of me, had ruled my actions. But that ire no longer burned with the same intensity.

What’s done is done. I’m already here.

“Who are you?”

“What are you?”

“Where did you come from?”

“What kind of cursed magic was that?”

“Explain yourself.”

The shouts came from different directions, the questions falling on top of each other, revealing overzealous soldiers or a confusion in the chain of command. Their actions quite possibly born of either, or both. I suspected the guards had fallen out of practice in dealing with…well, anything…and had likely become beyond bored with their jobs after living in a cocoon for a hundred years.

Outside of the rare exception when reapers happened to get into the citadel, had every day for the past century been basically the same? I grimaced at the thought.

Sharp, quick burns of new markings sliced across my arm. I winced and tightened a fist.

I didn’t need to examine the names on my skin to know that at least two of the soldiers’ checkouts were overdue. For five days I’d tried to complete my assigned tasks, and for five days I had failed, but that wouldn’t stop me from trying yet again.

The nightmare needed to end. So far, all of my reaper tools had failed individually, but a way to call the stuck souls home had to exist. Maybe a combination of tools? A winning discovery wouldn’t happen without trial and error.

I didn’t count the woman from that morning as a win because…well…I hadn’t reaped her, and I found the idea of me having caused the healing impossible to believe. Plus, her name hadn’t burned across my skin, Chace hadn’t succeeded in extracting her soul, and so…not on the reaping list.

With a blink, my collector’s eye ignited, and the fires of hell consumed my skull. I pushed the stare close to full power, and I knew the red-laced, violet flames burned in my eyes, likely looking otherworldly to the guards.

The internal fire caused a backflow that sent my hair into wind-whipping action.

After what happened to Aldine, and taking yesterday’s incident with the afflicted woman into consideration, I had practiced great care with regard to my reaper tools. But none of these soldiers appeared to be on the afflicted spectrum, and so I felt relatively safe giving my collector’s eye a go.

“Devil!” someone yelled.

All the guards advanced a step, their weapons still held high and at the ready.