Wren of West

My black cloak fluttered in the air as the tall black horse carried us far and fast through the ice-cold wind. There hung a strong stench in the air, one that reminded me of a blend of feces and sweat and stale urine. Everything surrounding me was covered in snow. We passed crowd after crowd of screaming sinners who hung by chains in the air, their bodies cut open and their guts dangling out. Pecking inside their flesh and organs were vultures that were taller than mankind, and beneath them lay puddles of boiling blood where their own dripped into. Surrounding the screaming sinners were three headed creatures, their feathers black and their wings made of flames, who spew fire at their feet. This was the final level of Hell we had to pass before reaching our destination, it was where the most wicked dwelled.

In front of us appeared an iron gate which reached so high up that I failed to locate its edge. We stopped in front of it. The dark rider, who wore a black cloak identical to mine, reached out his hand and helped me off the horse. In front of the gate stood beasts with thick and black fur at least ten times the size of me. Their eyes glowed red and from the corners of their mouth hung enormous drops of thick saliva that brushed the dirt. There were at least a dozen of them, and as Death moved towards the hellhounds, I lingered in the back, not separating my eyes from the giant beasts.

They bent down and sniffed at Death thoroughly, then backed away. The iron gate opened with no sound but a slight shuffling. Snow crunched underneath my black boots as I followed Death who passed through the gates onto a path disappearing inside ice covered trees. But before I stepped through the gates, the hellhounds appeared in front of me and towered above me, and began to sniff my trembling body. Some heavy liquid hit me from above and before I knew I was covered in a thick, gooey coat of warm slime.

"Great. Just great." I shook my arms and looked up at the massive dogs peering down at me. "Thanks, guys."

Once they finally allowed me entrance, I ran to catch up with Death while slapping away the hellhound drool. While strolling along behind Death who gently pulled his horse with him, a thought came to me that made me laugh. Death turned to me with a grunt.

"What's so funny, girl?" A breeze blew his braided beard aside, and the black smudges surrounding his dark eyes made him appear even more hostile. 

"On Earth, there is a saying when one tells you something will never happen. When Hell freezes over, they always say. It means never, you know, that it's impossible." I laughed again while ducking away from an icicle hanging above my head. "Little do they know that Hell really is literally frozen over."

Without slowing down his pace Death looked at me for a few seconds, then turned back around with another grunt. The sky above us was a dull grey and there were no sounds except for the frosted leaves rustling in the wind and crunching beneath our boots. A biting cold traveled down my neck and I pulled the hood over my head and made sure I stayed closely behind Death. We traveled the woods in silence for days on end through dusk and dawn. Neither of us were the talkative sort.

  By the time the woods opened up, a strong odor came off me, one that complemented my itchy head of greasy, tousled hair. The horse slowed down to a rhythmic gallop, its hooves splashing around mud, giving me a good break to  carefully explore Death's homeland. Figures wearing black cloaks, identical to mine and Death's, with their hoods pulled up strolled past us looking down at the dirt, their heads bent so low that I couldn't see any glimpse of their faces. Each of them carried a scythe, some kept it inside a belt while others carried theirs on their backs. In addition to not looking up, they did not speak either. It was nothing but a sea of sullen Grim Reapers. Even the stone buildings seemed to be grieving, drained of color and their walls crumbling. Though I had not expected to enter a carnival upon finally leaving the ninth circle of Hell, this was still too grim to be a home for those who loyally served both Heaven and Tartarus.

Death parked the horse in front of a building that had two steep towers and a tall, arched wooden door, through its cracked windows I saw orange light burning. After shoving a bucket of water in front of the horse, he pushed the heavy door open and led us both inside. It smelled surprisingly fresh inside, and after the ninth circle of hell the air in there came to me like divine perfume. The dark wooden floor beneath my soles felt sticky, and the wooden bar looked just as the floor felt. Sticky and filthy. In here, the Grim Reapers did look up while hunching over their tall glasses of what looked like beer. Some had their scythes still tucked inside their belts, while others had laid them on the tables beneath them. Finally I could see their faces. Among them were men and women, the elderly and the young, and I even saw teenagers and children inside the dark cloaks.

They observed us just as warily as I did them. Then Death pulled down his hood and they leaped off their high barstools and wooden chairs and fell on their knees in front of him. The long haired man passed the kneeling Grim Reapers without acknowledging them and took a seat in the far corner, with me following him closely.

He shoved a leather bound book in front of me. "Food and drinks, make a choice and don't take too long. Dee doesn't like waiting, or picky eaters."

"Who is Dee?" I asked as I inspected the unfamiliar meals on the list of the menu. Some of them had pie in their name, but most of them were completely unfamiliar to me. One meal was called Wicked Wench, another Dreary Drought, and on it went. 

"I am Dee."

I looked up and next to me stood a woman with green flesh and yellow eyes, looking like she were the spawn of both a reptile and a human. She wore a red stained apron tied around a yellow dress. "What kind of meat is in these meals?"

"Human meat," she said with a blank face. My lips parted and my eyes grew big, to which Dee laughed. "Don't worry, kid. It's just beef and poultry."

"I'll have the, eh..." My heart pounded as I felt pressured by Death to make a choice quickly. Shaking my head, I closed the menu and threw it on the table.  "Chicken. I'll have something with chicken in it, and potatoes if you have any. I don't know, surprise me."

"And, what would you like to drink?"

"White wine," I said. "And water, please. Lots of water."

Dee nodded and scribbled something down in her notepad, then locked eyes with Death. He closed the menu and laid it on top of mine. "For me the Greedy Golem with a bottle of scotch. No ice, I'm cold enough."

The meal I received was a whole chicken on a bed of round sliced baked potatoes, accompanied by carrots and peas. There was no cutlery in sight, which didn't bother me. With my bare hands I ripped the chicken apart and shoved it  piece by piece inside my mouth rapidly, and once the plate was empty I ate the leftovers on  Death's plate too; chopped beef inside a savory pie. Then, I detected the two chunks of bread on the table and devoured those as well. As I leaned back with my hands resting on my stomach, I noticed that each and every one inside the tavern was staring at me, even Death who had barely looked at me in the days we'd been together. I smiled and wiped off my mouth with the back of my hand and gulped down the last bit of wine that was left inside the bottle. 

"Is your stomach satisfied?" Death asked. "Or should we order you another plate?"

A smirk crept up my face. "After days of eating nothing but berries and plants, yes, this certainly satisfied my stomach."  I filled the iron cup with water and added, "However, if we still have a long way to go, then you should definitely order me another plate, or two, for on the go. Or, I swear, I might eat that horse of yours."

Death shook his head and twisted his face into a disgusted expression. "You should not be here among us. The evil coming off of you, you belong among the wicked and you should be burning among them in the deepest pit of Hell."

"Well, I am among you." The wine had me feeling warm and slightly dizzy. I leaned in closer to him and placed my chin on my palm. "Better yet, it seems that I am above you, even. My power surpasses yours. "You merely reap the souls whose time is up, but I am the Watcher of the West, the guardian of the waters, and they all answer to me; the oceans and the seas, of the rain and the rivers. They all obey no one but me, and..."

"And I am Death," he cut me off, leaning in until our noses nearly touched. "Whatever they made you believe about your powers, oh, make no mistake, girl, for I am death; your greatest foe, your inevitable fate. A day will come where I will reap your soul, too. Maybe it will take centuries, or maybe I will reap you tomorrow, even I don't know when it will be, however, no one lasts for an eternity. Not even a demonic watcher such as yourself."

"Be it as it may." My back fell against the harsh wall. "In the end, I am no worse of a sinner than you are. And I deserve to burn just as much as you do, and..." I pointed at Death. "...and you have no right to judge me." As I shook my head wildly, which had started to feel heavy, I rested my chin on my palm once more. "None." And with that, the world spun, then turned dark and quiet.

A powerful headache woke me up and I found myself wrapped inside soft covers that smelled like flowers. I pulled them over my head and sniffed deeply. Stretching my back over the soft mattress, I threw my head back and grinned. For weeks I had slept on either the horse or on the cold ground, and I had never appreciated a bed more. It was a room with brick walls and a dark wooden floor, there was a wardrobe and an empty desk both in the same color as the floor's, and across from me stood a lit fireplace with tall dancing flames. I turned sideways and, just as I was about to close my eyes again, I noticed the figure sitting there. I shot upright, then threw the covers off of my body.

"Clyde?"

He pulled me closer over his lap and I wrapped my legs around his hips as I gripped his body tight. For a long time he stroked my hair and my shoulders, then leaned me back to look into my eyes. "How are you holding up?"

"Like hell."

He laughed. "I bet you're having fun with those puns now."

"Just let me have this," I said as I laid my cheek on his shoulder. "It's been hell for me."

"Of course." His fingers slid around my face, and I knew it wasn't Clyde being affectionate but merely inspecting for wounds. "You look good."

It made me freeze. Indeed, I did look good. I sat upright and looked down, noticing for the first time the thin blue nightgown I was wearing. And I smelled good, too, I noticed as I sniffed my arms. "They bathed me. Undressed me." I jumped out of Clyde's lap and rubbed my hands frantically over my hips and upper arms. "They took off my clothes and washed me while I was asleep."

Clyde shrugged. "Count yourself lucky, everyone else here is burned for an eternity."

"Aren't you a positive little demon."

"Not little."

Indeed, he was most definitely not little. It was a tall and lean man. His sunken cheeks made it seem like he hadn't eaten for months, and the dark circles around his blue eyes made it seem like he hadn't slept in years. Clyde looked strong in a wild and crazed manner. "I'm so happy you're here."

"So am I." He stretched out his arms and caught my body. I hugged him tightly. "But I'm not allowed to stay."

"Why not?"

"This is the home of the Grim Reapers, I'm a demon. Even Tartarus has its boundaries."

I nodded. "So, when are we leaving?"

A darkness crept across his face, and Clyde looked down. "We aren't. I can't take you with me."

"What? Clyde, what are you saying?"

He rubbed his hand over his forehead. "I tried. They won't let me take you. Wren, this is your home now, you're never allowed to leave Tartarus, except for when you reap souls."

"Wh-what..."

"But I'll come visit." Clyde grabbed my hands and leaned his forehead against mine. "I will visit you as often as they let me, Wren, I will never abandon you. I'm going to be right here." Clyde turned his head and pointed. "Right over there. I'll stay here in Tartarus for you. And you can visit me as well."

It took a while for my mind to register the true meaning of his words. I pulled my hands out of his and stood up, and walked to the furthest corner of the room and leaned against the wall. My bottom lip trembled, and I began to shake my head. "No..." A tear rolled down my cheek, then more. I fell on my knees and punched the floor. "No, no, no." I pulled my hair and clawed at my arms while still shaking my head. "No!" A long time went by as Clyde did not touch me and let me cry.

Sobs shook my body as I lay down gazing at the ceiling. "Dominik."

"What about Dominik?"

"He did this to me."

"What?" I heard his footsteps and not long after he kneeled beside me. With a hand on my back, he gently pulled me upwards. "What did Dominik do to you?"

It was still so clear in my head that day. Dominik had showed me a light inside a mountain, and we went there. There had been a pool of water inside an opening within the mountains, leading to a cave. Little did I know that the water was poison, and he managed to trick me into drinking it.

"Ask him."

They allowed Clyde to stay for two nights, which we mostly spent in bed, before his time was up. I didn't know when I would see him again, but having to let go of his hand as he turned away from me and rode off was more difficult than I had ever imagined it to be.

"When will you be back?" I asked as he hopped on his horse.

Clyde gave me a slight smile. "After I kill Dominik."

With Clyde gone, I felt alone and bare. If anything happened to me then there was no one I could run to. No one who would be there for me. It'd been like that all my life, but with Clyde I had gotten used to always having a team member with me who would walk beside me wherever I went. No more, it was now just me again.

The castle where I resided stretched far and wide, with a dozen dark towers peeking out. The courtyard was mostly stone and mud, with a large green pond in the middle. There was laughter and chatter, coming from the packs of black cloaked reapers who were, like myself, still in training. They hung around benches and leaned against walls while holding onto their scythes. Mine lay resting against my spine, tucked safely inside a brown leather belt. I pulled up my hood and looked down at the floor as I hurried past the packs. The halls were covered in melancholic paintings of men wearing white robes and women dressed in long dresses, the way they'd dress a long time ago, and they were all either suffering, or dying, or about to meet some other horrible fate. Beside each of them stood Grim Reapers, waiting to reap their souls.

A pair of hands clasped my shoulders. I stopped and looked up. In front of me stood a girl with orange-red hair and a round, pale face completely dotted with freckles. Except for her cloak, she looked like a doll I used to own. On her shoulder rested a giant bird, its feathers were black except for its white head and tail, and its beak and feet were yellow.

"Tell me, is your name Wren van Velsen?"

I nodded.

The girl laid a hand across her chest and sighed out of relief. "Oh, at last I found the right one. It took eight wrong ones." The girl shrugged and shook her head. "Everyone looks alike here, right? Well, anyway, you have to come with me." She turned around and I followed her. "My name is Sheila, by the way." She pointed at the eagle perched on her shoulder. "And this is Tommy."

"Tommy?" I threw her a forced smile. "Nice to meet you, Sheila. A-and Tommy."

Sheila let out a high pitched laugh. "Why, it's nice to meet you, too, Wren." We walked for a little while before she stopped and opened a creaking door. "Here we are."

The room seemed to be empty at first as I was met with a bare cement wall, but then Sheila stepped past me to the left and I saw it; a blue and black spiral stretching from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, twisting infinitely. It seemed to hypnotize me and suck me in. With slow, cautious steps I approached it. 

"This is our entrance to Earth," Sheila said as she stepped in front of me. Stretching out her hand, she nudged her head. "Come on, you're going on your first mission." The eagle flapped its massive wings and Sheila grinned. "It's time to reap."