Yue opened her eyes.

That alone should have been a cause for concern. She wasn't supposed to open her eyes again. A violent shiver wracked her body, memories of being slowly skinned alive, pieces of her body slowly being chopped off, seeing her insides being ripped out of her...

She let out a strangled gasp, trembling hands carefully touching her body. She could feel her skin, her legs were still there, and her stomach wasn't ripped open.

Involuntarily, she began to hyperventilate. Grabbing her head in her hands, she tried to suppress the furious sobs that wanted to escape from her. 

She couldn't understand what was happening. Why was she alive? She'd been so happy when that... that monster had finally been satisfied with her and had at lobbed off her head.

Her hands tightened around her head, rough nails scraping against her skull hard enough to leave small trails of blood behind.

After a few minutes, she finally got herself back under control. Looking around, she finally realized where she was. 

She knew this place. How could she not? It'd been the place where she'd been brought before her death. She shivered when one of her hands touched something awfully familiar.

She was in a pit, or rather, The Pit. The gore pit, the hole of corpses, the graveyard... That monster had bragged about it endlessly, proudly stating to her that he'd dumped hundreds of men, women, and children into it before her.

She grabbed something poking her thigh, and sure enough, after examining it for a bit, it looked terribly similar to her tibia. How did she know what her tibia looked like? Easy. That monster had been all too happy to show her every single part of her body that he ripped out of her.

Letting go of the aged bone, Yue hugged herself, trying to suppress the shivers. It wasn't the cold that tried to shake her, no. Rather, it was the memories, and with them, the phantom pain.

She didn't know for how long she laid there, surrounded by skeletons and dirt. She was ripped out of her comatose state only when a voice spoke into her head.

"Congratulations, Host! You've been chosen by the Grim Reaper Association™, and thus, have been granted the AMAZING opportunity for eternal life! Work hard, young lady! The future is in your hands!"

When she didn't respond to what she was fairly sure was a hallucination, the voice spoke again, repeating the same words, in the same tone. When she again failed to respond, the voice spoke again. And again. And again.

Finally, Yue answered, voice hoarse. "Shut up."

"Great choice, Host! Thank you for accepting the mandatory membership offer from the Grim Reaper Association™! The host will now begin the transformation to a Rank 0 Grim Reaper. Work hard, young lady!" The cheerful yet also emotionless voice of her delusions spoke again.

Yue only had a moment to question what the hell a grim reaper was before an extremely foreign sensation invaded her body. Involuntarily, she let out a pleased moan at the gentle yet nourishing sensation spreading all through her flesh and bones.

She'd never felt anything as pleasant as this before. Unfortunately, it only lasted for a dozen seconds or so, and then it was gone.

In the aftermath, she was left a panting mess. Her eyes were closed tight, and for the first time in a long, long time, she had a pleased smile on her lips. So pleased, in fact, that it could almost be called perverted.

It took her a while to get her wits back together, and when she did, she was left bewildered. Maybe... The voice in her head wasn't a delusion of her broken mind?

"Congratulations, Host, for becoming a rank 0 Grim Reaper! While you are still the lowest of the low, the trashiest of trash, you have now begun your journey as an official soul collector! Work hard, young lady!"

"What..." She muttered, now utterly and completely bamboozled.

She was a mere peasant girl, one born to a struggling and conservative family. It'd been her luck that she hadn't been killed right off after being born, as was the case with many girls born in her situation. The fact that she hadn't received any education whatsoever, and thus, it couldn't be considered her fault that she had never heard what a grim reaper was.

She forcefully shut off any further thoughts on the matter for now. At the moment, the most pressing issue was to get the hell out of this hole and run back home.

Hopefully... Hopefully, they would accept her back? She knew she wasn't far from her village, so maybe...

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

She'd been cast out once, but she firmly believed that, if she showed her parents and elders that she survived, surely they would give her a chance. Maybe she could see her brothers and sisters again?

Deep in her heart, there was a seed of doubt, but it was forcefully suppressed. As a mere eight years old, her desire to be reunited with her family squashed any logic in her.

She struggled to climb out, her limbs feeling suprisingly strong. She smiled widely at the feeling, not fully grasping the situation but enjoying it nonetheless.

After a ten-minute long struggle, and a couple falls, she finally climbed out of the pit. After laying on the ground for a few minutes to catch her breath, she looked around, only to realize that she had no idea where to go.

An idea popped into her mind like a lightbulb going off. "Hey, Voice? Can you help me find my parents?" She asked hopefully.

She wasn't disappointed. "The Grim Reaper Association™ shall provide the appropriate help possible to all Grim Reapers. Worry not, young lady! Work hard for your future!"

The voice still felt as fake as before, but nonetheless, it helped Yue out. Under the directions of the voice in her head, Yue only spent a few hours walking nervously until she reached a familiar sight.

The village she'd been born in lacked any sort of wall or gate, instead, it was just a collection of straw and shoddily-made huts and houses. All in all, it was just one of the millions of villages within the Zhao Empire.

Drawing a deep breath as though she was breathing in gaseous courage, Yue stepped forward and out from the forest and walked forward to her village, eyes filled with expectation.

She wanted to go back to her mother, wanted to play with her siblings, and most of all, wanted to forget everything that had happened.

The village was small, with only around 100 people in it. Thus, people knew each other by name, hence, the moment someone spotted her, she was immediately called out.

"Little Yue! What are you doing here!?" The kind yet strict old man from the neighboring home shouted after a few moments of disbelief.

"I-... I'm ba..." Yue tried to say, stuttering, only to be roughly interrupted when she saw several people gather, curious about the old man's shouting.

"Mom..." Yue murmured, spotting her mother in the crowd. However, contrary to her every expectation, the woman did not come running to her crying, but instead, she just shook her head with a sad gaze.

Several adult men rushed over to surround her, quickly manhandling her into their arms despite her screaming protests. "What are you doing?! Let me go! Let me go!"

She could hear the crowd murmuring to each other, and through her suprisingly fierce struggles, she spotted her family standing at the side.

Her heart fell when she noticed that not only were her youngest brother and sister missing, they all looked even thinner than the last time she'd seen them. 

The village's grand elder stepped forward. He was an old man, but despite that, he had once been a small official in the larger cities, hence, the village folk respected him, which allowed him to be the leader of the small village.

Yue looked at him with trembling eyes. The old man stared down at her with a faint frown before turning around and speaking to the crowd.

"We are facing difficult times, as you all know! We cannot afford to feed those who are useless or lazy. We have already been merciful towards those we cast out, but this girl here dares to spit on our kindness!? Let this be a lesson for all. Those who do not work hard, have no right to live!"

Yue's eyes went as wide as saucers as her struggles doubled, but it was all in vain. With an apologetic smile, one of the men holding her down grabbed her head, and with a rough twist, broke her neck.

Until her last moment, Yue had harbored hope that someone, anyone, would step forward for her. Her father, who had always been strict but still showed his care, or her mother, with her determined yet loving attitude, or her siblings and their rough yet playful ways. Hell, she would have been crying in happiness if one of the neighbors that she'd always played with stepped forward.

Alas, none of that happened. Her eyes quickly lost their light even as she remained in disbelief, held down by four of the village's strongest.

However, right before she fell into sweet yet terrifying oblivion, she heard a voice. "Host 68425215 has been killed. Worry not, young lady, your journey as a Grim Reaper isn't over!"

Then, before everyone's eyes, her corpse turned to dust.

Yue opened her eyes.

For a full hour, she stared into nothing in particular, ignoring the rough bones digging into her skin from below her. A skull gently rolled from next to her, settling right next to her neck, it's empty eye sockets seemingly staring directly at her soul.

"Host has died a meaningless death, but worry not! The Grim Reaper Association™ will not let it's employees go so easily! Your cause of death has been analyzed. Determined that the Host needs more motivation. Activating the Motivation Provider..."

Abruptly, Yue lurched forward, her eyes bulging out as she vomited out a stream of blood mixed with guts and pieces of organs. She couldn't even scream as blood flowed out from every orifice on her body while a soul-wrenching pain attacked her.

For a full hour, she suffered just as much, if not more, than she had at the hands of that monster. Then, it stopped just as abruptly as it began.

"Motivation has been provided. Due to concerns for employee-employer misunderstandings, a booklet will now be provided. Work hard, young lady!" The Voice spoke, causing Yue to tremble in fear.

She hugged her knees, her tears long since having run out. Her eyes were empty, as though her soul had been sucked out.

"Host seems to be in trouble. Does the Host need more motivation?" The Voice's demonic voice spoke once more in Yue's head an hour later. The young girl scrambled back, as though that would get her further away from the demon in her head.

She furiously shook her head, murmuring 'no' repeatedly. Thankfully, the voice remained silent, and no pain came.

Scrambling forward, she reached out with trembling hands to grasp the small booklet that had previously appeared out of nowhere.

She hugged it to her chest, closing her eyes for a moment before quickly opening them when images of the villagers surrounding her, jeering at her as the monstrous face of the village's grand elder cheerfully announced her death while demons held her down, leering at her.

She held the booklet tighter, and contrary to her previous expectations, she indeed had more tears stored up.

After a few minutes of silent crying, she forced herself to open the booklet.