Death herself stood over my bed. Who else could it be? The very air was chilled in her presence, a cool hint of what was to come. The scythe against my neck gently hummed, the smooth curve of the top not nearly far enough from the wickedly sharp blade on the other side. In this moment, I felt so painfully aware of how much agony my body was in, but I didn’t dare look away from the spectre who loomed over me.
Because I couldn’t help but notice other things, like how despite the dark room she still wore clothes better suited for working out under the sun, or that her toned arms flexed ever so slightly to hold the scythe steady against my neck. Even the expression of disbelief cast across her face did nothing to detract from her sharp features, and the cold air only highlighted rosy, warm skin.
She’s really pretty, isn’t she?
“Wha-” and just like that, the scythe against my neck pulled away, the girl stepping backwards to hug the scythe against the chest. “S-stop that!”
I blinked. “Sorry?”
“The fucking-” she bumped against something behind her, one hand leaving the scythe to steady herself against the frame. I tried to turn my head, but could only just make out the top of a table before my focus returned to the annoyed glare she sent my way. “You fucking know what! Gods, how in the world is that the only thing you think about around me?”
What I think? “Can you read my thoughts?”
“Hardly need to read them when your soul is shouting so loudly,” she scoffed, then gestured with her scythe towards me. “You know that it’s not even hanging on by a thread, right?”
My soul… I recalled Doctor Lei’s examination. “To lose the connection between my immortal spirit and mortal body is to invite Death to carry your soul off to the Cycle,” I muttered. “There’s nothing keeping me here. I should be dead. And you’re Death.”
The girl nodded, face now grim as her right hand tightened upon the scythe. “That’s right.”
The room only grew colder at the admission. Even as the pain rang through my body, I couldn’t help but notice how distant it all felt; as if I was falling even further back into my own eyes, the walls and ceilings rushing away as the entirety of my world was instead occupied by the girl before me. In the next few moments, I knew that my fate would be decided.
Moments passed. And then a few more.
“...So, uh, why aren’t you killing me?”
“You don’t think I will!?” The scythe swung out, its gleaming point now just barely gracing my throat. “You think I would hesitate to take away a cultivator’s life!?”
“Gods, no no no! I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant!” I tried my best to lean further away, but my body refused to respond, too busy reminding me of all the sins I’d committed against it. Instead I had to stare wide-eyed at the girl whose expression had tightened, her lips pinched together. “I really was just asking a question! I didn’t mean anything by it!”
“...Good.” After what felt like way too long, the scythe slowly pulled away from my neck, the weight of death going with it. Death was looking away now, out into the dark. “You shouldn’t make assumptions like that, it’ll get you killed. Shouldn’t a cultivator know not to question someone stronger than you?”
I managed a weak laugh which turned into another pained cough. “I wasn’t ever much of a cultivator. You were there to see what the real deal looked like.”
“Yeah.” She turned back towards me, her face now grimacing. “Bastards. Though if there was anyone who could be said to deserve a cultivator’s wrath, it’s definitely you. Seriously, what the hell were you thinking?”
I wanted to see you again. “I wanted to see you again.”
If there was any memory from my years of existence that I would treasure until the very end, it was watching the all-powerful representation of mortality, Death herself, with scythe in hand and my very life in her grasp, slowly go beet red.
“Y-you-” her lips slammed shut, and she shook her head wildly, as if to banish the blush across her face. “Who the hell is suicidal enough to want to see Death after avoiding it the first time?”
I tried to shrug, and failed. “I did tell you I wasn’t much of a cultivator. And when I tried looking up any information on Death, nothing seemed to know what it even was, beyond the end. And I didn’t expect you to be...” I searched for the right word.
“You think a girl’s not good enough to reap souls?” The very aspect of Death said tonelessly, grinding the scythe’s haft into the floor. The image was only slightly ruined by her still-red cheeks.
“I just didn’t expect you to be like me,” I said honestly.
The girl clicked her tongue, looking away. “Yeah, well. World’s a mystery.” She hopped up onto the table, setting the scythe at her side and letting her feet kick back and forth. “Guess I’m curious too. You’re the first person who’s ever seen me. That’s why I haven’t taken your soul,” she added, glancing suspiciously at me.
That’s impossible. “No one?” I said incredulously. “Not a single person? Not even some powerful cultivator?” Surely there’s some Elder out there with a special technique for this.
“Ha!” She laughed sharply. “As if a cultivator would even deign to meet their inevitable end, or even waste the time developing a ritual to do so. And besides,” Death shook her head, “their souls aren’t mine to take.”
I could feel the bitterness in those words, but before I could ask any more she fixed me in place with another glare. “So no. Not once has any person, dying or otherwise, so much as glanced in my direction. And now here you are. And since you won’t be leaving this hospital without my say-so, I think it’s time you give me a real answer-”
“Sorry, what was that you just said about the hospital?” I interrupted Death herself.
An act that even Death seemed to be surprised by, considering she’d immediately stopped, leery at my words. “What about it?”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“We’re not in the hospital.” The hospital’s rooms were fairly spacious and well lit, which this room certainly wasn’t, and without the ability to even turn my head all I could see was the top lip of the table that Death sat on and the grey stone above. “Why did you say hospital?”
“I’m not quite sure what else you’d call this place.There are more of you cultivators recovering upstairs, and I’ve seen no shortage of doctors and nurses administering medicine. The guy who killed you and that other cultivator brought you right here after the duel.”
Death genuinely sounded confused, and even began to ask questions, but none of the words ever made it to my ears as I felt a dreadful pit begin to open in my stomach. “Oh, fuck,” I whispered.
The hospital of the Seven Falls Sect was a short, squat building sitting on the western-most outcropping of the waterfalls. It didn’t possess any bridges, balconies, or even a second floor; after all, the wheeled carts they used to push patients around in could hardly navigate steps, and mortal orderlies could hardly heft cultivators around on their own. It just made more sense for the building to be expanded horizontally, building up on stilts or carving into the rock as necessary.
The only exception to this were those who were already dead, for their remains would universally be handled by the Doctors themselves who were one and all cultivators. After all, the bodies of high-level cultivators had an unfortunate habit of rising again as monsters. That was why, underneath the clean tiles of the hospital, down a stone staircase littered with claw gouges and burn marks, you would find the morgue. Here, the Doctors would undertake the unpleasant work of putting a cultivator to rest, even if their bodies disagreed.
I had been brought to the hospital. I’d been taken to the morgue. With that knowledge, I could now recognise that the table Death had propped herself on was the same granite top that I’d seen no small number of times, though never from this angle. Here, I’d spent hours mopping up blood, rubbing away ash marks, or scooping organs out of dead bodies, with the occasional moment of running away from those same bodies as they came to life. I’d hurdle tables and hide around corners, hoping that my value as an assistant would be higher than whatever worth those shambling corpses would have to-
Oh, fuck. I needed to get the hell out of here, now. I finally, properly tried to get out of bed.
Nothing happened.
“Okay.” I wet my lips. “So I wasn’t going to mention it, but I think I’m paralysed.”
“Not sure why that matters.” Death narrowed her eyes, hopping off the table and approaching me again. She held her scythe at the ready, as if to threaten me. “You haven’t told me why you can see me yet, and I’m not letting you leave here until you explain.”
“I don’t fear Death.” But I absolutely fear the Witch Doctor of the Seven Falls. “Right now, none of that matters, because we need to get the fuck out.”
“Did you not hear me?” Frustration had written itself across the girl’s face. “How can you see me? Who is this Witch Doctor? Tell me!”
“I’ll tell you later. In fact, I promise you I’ll do whatever you wish, bring you anything you desire,” I pleaded to the girl. “I’ll bring you the moon and stars, or happily walk into the Cycle of my own accord. But please get me out of this building. Please.” Even as I spoke, I intently focused upon my hearing, ignoring the faint droplets of water or squirming flesh in what must be some of the cabinets around the room; instead I put all of my attention on the stairs that I knew laid behind me, waiting for the inevitable footsteps that would spell my doom.
“Fucking- fine! They keep medicine upstairs, right?” Death disappeared from before my eyes, reappearing only moments later with a bright red jar in her hand. “Here, got the first thing I saw. Will this do?”
I stared at the clearly labelled jar of Ruby Tears of the Phoenix Sovereign Remedy, which sold for 40,000 yuan a piece and were kept firmly locked away in a warded safe, only to be brought out in the case of an Inner Sect Disciple’s terminal injury. Did she just grab it out of a Doctor’s hands?
“Maybe.” Death pulled off the lid with a satisfying thwoomp. “Open up.”
“Ah-mmmmmfmff!” Without even waiting, Death began to pour the priceless pills into my mouth.
My first thought was that even if this healed me I’d still simply choke to death. And then the first pill began to dissolve and I felt every single cell of my body cry out in relief, the pain inflicted upon them fading in seconds, nerve damage undone and muscles healed back with such ferocity that they almost tore themselves all over again.
And then the rest of the pills dissolved.
I had been enlightened. Immortality had been distilled within the contents of these pills. I slowly lifted up my left hand, rotating it slightly, checking it over. I did not simply look at the surface for faint scratches; I saw within, and understood that I had truly ascended mortality. The panacea in my veins had taken me past all mortal concerns, and now unburdened by the nature of existence, I looked towards Death and made my thoughts known.
“Mmsfmsfeelsgood.”
“Whatever you say.” Death tossed the empty jar to the side, and I looked forlornly after the shattered container that now laid on the floor. Surely, by the transitive virtue of enlightenment, the jar itself would ascend to the Heavens? I wanted to let Death know that perhaps we should take a moment to ensure the jar’s remains would be enshrined in some appropriate location for lowly mortals to worship, but she interrupted my well reasoned explanation before it even started, instead slamming the haft of her scythe into my side and sending me flying across the room to crash against the wall.
I slowly stood, feeling slightly less immortal even as the pills I’d been force-fed knitted my freshly-broken spine back together again. I glared at Death, rubbing at my side. “That was unnecessary.”
Death was utterly unrepentant in the face of my displeasure. “I’ve done my part, and you owe me. Now let’s get out of here before that Witch Doctor of yours arrives.”
I spun back to face the staircase which was, blessedly, still free of visitors. “Good point.” Glancing back towards Death, I hesitated. “Then…”
The stone rumbled above, and I heard the faintest echo of a shout of anger. Death just twirled the scythe in her hand, a sharp smirk falling over her face. “Better get running.”
And so I did. I ascended the steps in seconds, peering left and right before bursting out into the hall, rushing towards the exit. Somewhere far behind I heard another roar and the loud clamour of boots, but I didn’t dare look back. Of course, the other hospital workers and visitors couldn’t help but look, and I found myself ricocheting down the hallway, outright jumping over one poor clerk and bouncing off an Inner Disciple. I couldn’t offer them anything more than a “Sorry!”, focused as I was on getting out.
I exploded out the doors of the hospital into the afternoon sun, the golden hour casting everything in a beautiful orange glow. I didn’t stop there; I sprinted across the bridge connecting the hospital to the rest of the Sect, leaping over the crowds of navel-gazers and tourists. I bounced off the walls of buildings to reorient my direction, dipping into the darker passages, even making a momentary detour into the Alley, accidentally starting a fight as I brushed against two poor bastards repairing their doors.
I kept running until, at long last, I’d found myself on one of the rare few outcroppings without any buildings; connected to the rest of the Sect by only a single hidden bridge, with nothing more than a bench looking out over the Falls. Here, I finally allowed myself to collapse onto my hands and knees, panting heavily even as my body continued to process the quarter-million yuan in invaluable drugs. That’s going to bite me in the ass someday.
But for now, I was far more concerned with my immediate fate. With slow, soft steps, Death walked over to the bench to sit down in front of me, resting her scythe right next to her within arm’s reach. She laid her hands in her lap and fixed me with a piercing stare. “Tell me everything.”
As waterfalls cascaded down past the outcropping, with the sun above burning a hole through the mist to light up this small, forgotten corner of the Sect, I began to tell Death the tale of Ryan the Outer Disciple.