G U E S T S

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THE SKY CRACKLED. A bolt of lightning slashed across the skies before the thunder clouds rolled in. The heavens darkened into an ominous purple-tinted gray.

Seated by the windowsill, Dimitri watched with silent interest as the first drops of rain fell. The sky echoed Dimitri's feelings rather well and it seemed as though they were both in tune. Earlier in the day, Dimitri had written down more entries on his little notebook. There were more deaths in the mortal realm and more people rejected from the gates of Heaven.

That meant that more souls would be arriving soon.

A knock came from the bedroom door, capturing Dimitri's attention and forcing him to turn. With a wave of his hand, the shut door opened itself. Such a little trick took Dimitri days to learn but it progressed enough. Training in the Heart of Hell certainly proved useful in enhancing Dimitri's innate magic abilities.

Fabian stood outside the door, a fist in mid-air and eyebrows high. His eyes were trained on the self-opening door, a smile threatening to burst from his lips.

"You've finally mastered the trick," he mused, gesturing to the door as he took a step in. "You wanted to see me?"

With another flick of his fingers, the notebook that was on Dimitri's writing desk soared over to Fabian as the latter reached out to grab it. Without turning away from the droplets that raced down the glass windows, Dimitri sighed.

"There are more dead. Lucifer left for Paradise again for who knows what. Calvin and I will stay here to search for more spellbooks to learn. I will have to trouble you and Wilhelm to fetch these new souls to the village."

"Might as well," Fabian flipped through the pages of the books, briefly glancing at the vastly different faces that were drawn. His hands stopped at one page, fingers holding the edge of the parchment but unable to move past it. "I need to check on the village, anyway. Wilhelm taught them a few fighting tricks a while back and it's time to track their progress."

The notebook felt rather heavy in Fabian's hands but he quickly realized why. With each passing day, more and more entries filled the once-blank pages. As the years rolled by and the lunar cycles bled unceasingly, more and more people were dead. All of this, the burdens and horrors of having to remember each and every soul that had ever lived, was something his dear brother had to bear alone. All he could do was stand there and watch, offering a hand that Dimitri could not take.

Dimitri must have noticed Fabian's sour expression because he laughed, a short burst of a chuckle that held amusement merrily. "What's with that look on your face?" He asked.

"If you ever need any help—"

"Nah." The spirit of death waved a hand in dismissal. "What is there to help? I like doing this. Taking care of the dead helps me to pass this never-ending cycle of time much more easily."

Pulling his knees close to his chest, Dimitri rested a hand on one knee. His eyes were torn away from the racing droplets of rainwater to muse at Fabian's needless worry but now that silence filled the air once more, he couldn't help but turn back. He needed something, anything, to help the time pass by.

"It's hilarious how although I still breathe, it seems as though I've already long died and returned into the hands of our maker," he murmured to himself, his warm breath causing the glass panels of the window to fog up for just a second before fading away. "Death is cruel to some, it seems."

Fabian's lips parted. He wanted to say something that could help console Dimitri. However, no matter how hard he searched, he could not seem to find the proper string of words to say.

In truth, Fabian knew deep down that there was nothing he could do to help Dimitri ease his burdens. Ever since the fall, Dimitri was no longer just a fallen angel. He was also a spirit, a warrior, a harbinger of death. There was now a fine line that separated the three brothers from Dimitri, a stark difference in the power they now hold.

Fabian pursed his lips. "You know where to find me if you ever need it."

The silence between them dragged on as thunder crashed outside. Raindrops fell even harder than before and from where Dimitri sat by the window, he could see dark specks falling from the skies and into the raging seas below.

"Our guests have arrived. We shouldn't keep them waiting."

At his words, Fabian turned. It had been years since the fall and time had not been kind to Dimitri. Fabian understood that being the spirit of death — the record-keeper of souls — was not something that would be easy to live with. Some days, Dimitri's inner darkness stood out more than the bright personality he tried to portray to his dear friends. Others, like currently, was not as jovial to breeze through.

Being the reaper was a lonely job.

Thus, Fabian shut the door and left Dimitri to his own devices. Hopefully, by the time he and Wilhelm returned to the castle, Dimitri would be himself again.

♔ ♔ ♔

"Is this the place?" Wilhelm had to scream to make his voice heard over the thunderous storm.

The bodies that rained from the skies were endless and had been going on for the past hour. Every few seconds, a new one crashed into the waves. From previous experiences, the skies would only clear when the last soul of the batch had arrived in Hell.

"That's an unusually large crowd," the red-head continued to comment, scratching his chin. "Do you think there was a war in the mortal realm?"

"Is battle all you think about?" Fabian scoffed, shaking his head.

Wilhelm shrugged, the corners of his lips turned down in an exaggerated manner. "The years are getting harder and harder to live through. I'm just finding ways for me to remain sane."

"Maybe start by protecting the dead souls that have arrived in Hell," Fabian countered. "Lucifer is bound to find them soon. He knows that they're here and he no doubt plans to capitalize them in a future battle against Heaven. He'll work tirelessly to recapture what he failed to do the first time around."

Lightning flashed across the skies, splitting the clouds above their heads into two brilliant sections. The dark gray clouds were illuminated for a second, gaining a slightly purplish hue to it before lightening in color into a bright white. Just like that, the storm cleared away and the seas were tamed. All returned to as it was before as if nothing had just happened.

Wilhelm scratched his chin, sighing deeply. "That's the last of them. Finally."

The two brothers stepped towards the water, stopping right before the highest point the waves could climb on the sand. They waited as the bodies were pushed to shore by the work of nature. One by one, once-human bodies surfaced. They piled up at the beach, collecting them into a neat line. Shortly after, they all began to regain consciousness.

As usual, some displayed shock at the fact that they were not in Heaven. Others were surprised that Hell wasn't as horrendous-looking and flame-filled as they thought it would be. But out of all the incredulous reactions that came with the batch, Fabian did not expect a single girl, not more than fifteen years of age, staring wide-eyed at all the people around them.

The girl had on garments that Fabian wasn't very familiar with. They were heavily layered with a tight sash right at her waist, accentuating her figure. Her sleeves were long and had large openings. Much like the other women that Fabian had come across in the past, the hems of her dress was long enough to graze her toes.

However, it was not her clothes that made her stand out. It also wasn't the fact that her features vastly differed from the others in the group. In fact, Fabian had only seen such almond-shaped charcoal eyes from none other than his own reflection.

What made the girl stand out from the bunch was the fact that instead of panic or confusion, the girl that sat on the sand had a look of pure rage written across her features. Her eyes burned with red wrath, lips contorted into a scowl with her fists clenched on her lap. Even though she was drenched from head to toe and her dark ebony hair was sticking to her face, she still emitted a fierce aura that Fabian had never seen from any other soul.

Dimitri had once mentioned that he had found the seven sins of the world, one of which was wrath. If wrath had a physical mortal embodiment, the girl that sat in front of Fabian right now would be it.

Her lips started to move, her voice though delicate and beautiful like a songbird, had a harsh ring to it. On the entire beach, only Fabian and Wilhelm could understand the mysterious language the girl spoke in. A curse slipped from her rouge-painted lips, vulgar and uncouth for a young lady her age. It made Fabian widen his eyes in shock and was also enough to elicit a laugh from Wilhelm.

"A bunch of mongrels!"

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