The world around him shifted and he recognised the plain room that he last met Death in. "Hello, Death. How's life, no dramatic entrance?"

Death’s handsome face smiled, "I've been working on my dance moves. If you want me to, I can show you how much!"

Neo’s eyebrows rose, "No, no, I'm good thank you."

Death’s face fell before he started to use the old puppy dog eyes, "Please!"

Neo shivered, "Nope, don't do that man, it’s creepy."

Death smiled, "Ok, ok so things are little interesting here, want to get away from it?"

"Please." Neo replied, but he continued asking, "How do we do that? I'm a magical being now, part dragon, so can I leave the Bubbles? And I'm being quarantined so I can't exactly walk out."

Death shook his head before speaking, "Nope, you won't have to leave the bed. I'll unlock the Astral Cohesion."

In front of Neo the scroll appeared, it had been a while since he'd opened it, Neo thought. He was surprised to find that he had more souls than he thought, it reminded him to ask what happened with the souls. "Death what happens with the souls that I collect and then use here?" He said pointing at the scroll.

Death blinked, "It is merely a tally, you don't use the souls. It's like trading in the soul for soul points. Anything you do or don't buy doesn't affect anything apart from you. So spend them how you like and don’t worry about morality, didn't I tell you this? Perhaps if you find it a little annoying to use, I can set up an automatic selection program that'll you can pre-pick what you like as you collect the souls."

Neo tried to remember if Death mentioned how the souls were used, but nothing came to the forefront, "Hmm, ok, good to know. A selection program would be cool, so, yeah sure. I like the idea. It'll save time, and I can plan how to use them."

As soon as he said so, the room lit up as the scroll burst into flames before falling to the ground into a pile of ash. The ash glowed gently, slowly melting before forming into another scroll that floated up to rest in front of him. It unravelled, the pages flipping on its own until it came to a page that showed Astral Cohesion. Neo read the description to learn that Astral Cohesion was the ability to form an astral projection a certain number of times. It was an ability to help him get to difficult places and give him the capability to adjust its cohesion, so that nothing can get in his way and nothing can bar Death!

'Cool!' Neo thought, as the grey words changed and bright red colour, indicating its activation. Then Death stepped up, with his hand out in front of him, and placed his warm hand on his chest. "Let me help you get the feeling down, since it is quite hard to do first time."

Death then pulled his palm back and Neo's body shook as his body stretched while Death pulled further and further. It didn't stop until he could see Death wall in two separate points of view but Neo found the two to back ground it almost flew by Neo as he wasn't focus on what he was seeing. He saw the blackness of Deaths room and the white room with red stripe through them. An audible pop could be heard in the air as Neo moved from his sitting point of view to a standing one. "Neo focus on an image of your body."

Neo thought about his body’s every undesirable curve, more defined muscles, the hair on his head his legs and arms, their adjoining appendages, then his body, and finally, where his heartbeat and his lungs pulled in breath. As the feeling of disconnect faded, Neo managed to become aware of his surroundings and saw his body lying on his bed, seemingly asleep.

It was a bit creepy that he could see himself. He reached out and touched his own leg and felt it on his leg as he was standing. 'So, I can still feel whatever my body feels, it could be dangerous to leave my body anywhere vulnerable.'

Taking in the area, Neo noticed that the world had greyed slightly, even though Death was still in colour. His black clothing was like a void in the grey world. Nothing in the room stood out, even his own body was greyed out, "So now what?" Neo asked Death.

"Well, in order move around on the ground you can walk forward, or, if you want to fly, then you will need to simply think about the direction to go. Also, if you wish to move very long distances you just need to know the destination’s name and general landmarks of the place, and then imagine yourself fading out here and in to a space near said landmark, It gets more precise the more you know the area!"

Neo followed Death’s instructions and disappeared from view. Death sighed, "Well, should have seen that coming, at least it worked ."

A thought later Death disappeared and then reappeared next to Neo, who was looking around his old room. He found it unusually tidy, but otherwise untouched. The door was closed and there was a fine layer of dust coating everything. Death sighed and thought, 'not the best time to be emotional in control of your cohesion.' Instead he spoke, "Neo, we should leave just in case someone comes in."

But Neo picked up a picture looking down at his mother, sister, and himself sitting on a mountain top looking warn and tired. Neo’s gut was in knots as he felt guilty for leaving them. He turned to Death and asked again, "Are you sure I can't go back?"

Death replied to Neo's question with an understanding and calm tone, "Sorry, but you can't. They'll be able to see you as you are now. It's bad enough that your here now, so close to them."

"Why can't you just tell me the reason?"

Death thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging, "It's because, no matter what you do, if you see them then they can see you. Even in your astral form. If you soul is present they will see your slowly rotting and decaying corpse, forever reliving their loved one’s death and being tormented as you are destroyed by the universe. Do you really want to give that image to your family?"

Neo stuttered to a stop as his mind digested what he’d been told. Sighing, tears fell from his cheeks. "Okay, I can't put them through that, I guess we should leave."

A hand fell on his shoulder and he felt like he was being sucked into a drain before he disappeared, dropping the picture to the floor.

Light returned to Neo’s world as a he was regurgitated out and into the open world, where he could see bright blue skies. The sound of traffic zooming by and the blaring horns of outraged drivers caught his attention. Looking around he noticed he was standing directly over a large river with a slightly grey but still recognisable Tower Bridge nearby.

It was a few moments before Neo realised that he was actually in London, "What are we doing in London?"

Death, taking his hand off Neo’s shoulder took a deep breath, "Ah, got to love this place, it’s filled with dead and dying, tonnes of them. It's so relaxing. As for why we're here, well, to introduce you to some of your future companions, then we'll do some work."

Neo was suddenly quite interested in finding out what his future teammates were like, and how insane they were. "Sounds interesting, who are we meeting and where?"

Death pointed towards Tower Bridge, "We just have to fly through the centre of that to enter the Trade Centre bubble that's there. Let's go."

And so, Death flew toward it before flying through it and disappearing. Neo went to follow but stopped when he saw the greyed-out forms of people walking across the bridge below him. They had flames in their chests. Some had smaller flames while some were even flickering, while the children were giving off vibrant and bright flames that encompassed their entire body.

A voice spoke, "Come on what's taking you so long? Oh, you’re seeing them. What are you seeing, if you want to tell."

Neo looked over to the upside-down face of Death, "I'm seeing naked flames of varying sizes for different people. I think there is a small flame for a young girl, is she going to die?"

Death shrugged, "Possibly, there are several reasons for a flame to flicker and grow smaller and it is affected by the life itself. Close calls in accidents, illness, and simply life, anything can affect it. Come, you can't help them, since you might be the reason for their smaller flame."

Neo, hearing that, changed his mind about helping. He looked back, as the young girl went out of sight around a corner, Neo thought he saw her flame reignite. Shaking his head, Neo stepped through and into the bubble. He stepped into a world of confusion, as for a few moments Death looked as if he was standing on a rock while being upside down. It took him a while to see the land below him. Eventually, he saw other rocks floating around in the air, with simple and plain buildings on them. Like mini planets, with their own gravity. There were wires running between all of them.

As Neo turned himself upside down to match Death, Death opened his arms and said, " Welcome to the international trade centre bubble, we are in the food sector."

Neo nodded and Death started walking away towards a building that had the long wires travelling out of it. "So, where are we meeting your minions?"

Death smiled, "Well, we'll be running to the International Trade Police Department. They kind of work there." A question popped into Neo's head, but Death beat him to it. "Don't ask me why they decided to join it. I don't get it, but I don't get in the way of their personal lives as long as they collect souls and meet the quota, I'm happy."

Neo looked around at the market and people as he walked through towards the wired connection. The street was busy, with lots of people walking about, so many that Death and Neo stepped up and into the air and flew toward the building. But, as Neo travelled passed a dark, tinted glass building, he suddenly found himself very attracted to the building., He even started flying towards it before a hand gently landing on him. "Neo, you'll need to learn to ignore that feeling. Since they are sort of living beings that made a choice, and we will respect it. Of course, if you need to defend yourself, they're but crops for reaping."

Death chuckled at his own joke and Neo smiled, a bit confused but he had some ideas as to what was in there from what Death had said. Death continued onwards while pulling him away, even as he found himself staring at the domineering building.

But it wasn't long before Neo was out of sight of the attractive building as they floated over the queue's and ticket booths and landed on the other side, slipping on to the cart. The cart started moving over to the distant rock, but Neo asked, "Why are we taking the cart when we could be flying over?"

Death shrugged, "Thought you might like to see the sights and learn a little about this bubble, and how life is lived here."

Neo head tilled, "Why do I need to learn how life is lived here?"

Death started whistling and looked away, "No, nothing for you to worry about. You still have that disease problem to deal with before all this."

"How did you know about the maddening disease?"

Death looked serious as he spoke, "What do you take me for, a blind and un-omnipotent being, how insulting honestly."

Neo stared at the slightly smirking Death, "Then how did you learn about information then?"

"Oh come now, how do you think, I'm dea… Oops," Death stopped himself before pointing to forward, "We're almost there, let's go."

He zoomed off to the outside of the station, as Neo caught up he went to ask but Death shot off again saying, "Come on, we're going to be late."

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Neo thought, 'He’s trying to avoid the question?'

Neo got a slightly worried about the unknown, and what it could mean to him. ‘As Death would get information from the dead, then who's died that knows about the disease?’

Catching up to Death he was led down a small alleyway where Neo was guided to a door. They simply went through into a surprisingly clean and well-lit room, where there were a dozen patrons dotted around the room and the bar. There were two that really stood out. It wasn't because they were the coolest looking ones there, in their plain looking jeans, shirts, and jackets they certainly weren't. But it was the fact that they were both looking directly at them. Both were also looking a bit wary of them, but they plastered smiles on their faces as Neo followed Death over to them.

They both nodded, but didn't say anything as they got up and left into a back room that was filled with books, shelves, and nice-looking leather chairs.

It gave Neo the opportunity to look at these two of Death's Reapers. One was tall, easily over 2 metres, with a strong looking body, was black with brown eyes and black hair. The other was a little short, but much stringier, with a lanky body, and was a pasty white with black hair and black eyes.

They stood confidently, but cautious, their eyes flickered between the two of them, lingering on Neo as they intensely looked at him. Death spoke in a loud and commanding tone, "Hello, Whitechapel, Yona. This is Neo, my apprentice. Just brought him to meet you, and for you to meet him, so how about a cup of tea?"

Yona nodded, exiting through a side door saying, "Yes, it's a good idea. Tea’s great to have a conversation over, be back in a few."

Whitechapel gave a slightly strained smiled and started speaking, "So, Neo how are you finding your new world?"

"Well…." Neo and the other stalked for a long time over tea.

Everything was so interesting. They spoke about their pasts, and they had long pasts. Whitechapel was born in the 1800's, while Yona had been born in the 1700's.Yes,they were over a hundred years old. Both of them had much to talk about. Their experiences were truly an interesting insight into the past, and some insight on the two people in front of him.

But Death’s head tilted and changed the direction of the conversation when he asked Yona, "How'd that D-Soul hunt go?"

Yona shivered, "Not as well as I would of liked it to. It managed to get away from me twice. I couldn't believe it, I managed to get it after it killed again."

He brought out a jar that cooled the area. Neo could even see the condensation of his breath in the air. It only took a few moments for it to happen, when the jar's bottom hit the table the hot tea was no longer warm. Whitechapel whistled and Neo rubbed his hands, 'Damn bloody thing sucked the life out of the room!'

Inside the jar was a black orb, like an abyss. You could stare at it forever and never see a thing, yet it could definitely stare back. It reacted viciously to Neo's and Death presence, bashing at the glass but accomplishing nothing as it just wearied itself.

Death reached forward, grabbing the jar within his hands and bringing it up to his eye, which started glowing, examining it closely. He sighed, and with a saddened face placed it back onto the table. Staring grimly at Yona, he spoke, "Good job, a bonus of 30 souls will be given at the end of the month. Sadly, we won't be able to save it!"

Neo burst forth, "Why can't we save it?"

Death stared at Neo, "There is nothing for us to save. No hope, no good deeds, and no perceivable regret. It's also mixed with parts of other souls, making a monster of it. It's dangerous and now thoughtless."

"But can we do surgery or something to pick it apart, search for the good? Everything has good, even if it's pure evil, their own perception will give them something good?"

Neo felt annoyed, and a little sad as he looked at Death, who kept a stoic face as he spoke. "Unfortunately, if we started to pick holes in it and picking bits out of it, separating the pieces of other souls, it won't be a soul anymore. In this form they can be useful, if not a sad reminder that even after death nothing is simple or kind. I think it’s time for me to show you some more things. Come on, I'll need a few seconds to talk with my two Reapers, please."

Neo nodded, he remembered the outside area and teleported into the bar room, where it had become a lot busier. Neo leaned back and tried to listen into their conversation, unsuccessfully, as Neo didn't catch everything or who was asking what. "I think he’s a bit we…" A crash cut off the rest and Neo glared the one who had dropped something. "But he seems like a nice person, I hope he survives. Got some good pot…" A conversation got a little out of hand, muffling the voices Neo thought, 'Survive what, is there some horrific test at the end of his training?'

Closing his eyes, he tried to get back into the conversation, "Need any help?”

“Yeah could you get the items, I can't get involved. This is important for the future, please."

"Yes, of course we will, nothing will stop us, will head out now."

"Thank you."

Then a whisper right into his ear sounded, "Found anything interesting?"

Neo jumped, opening his eyes and finding Death with a grin on his face. Neo spoke excuses, "Sorry, just feeling a bit tired!"

To Neo’s surprise, Death took him seriously as he came closer and held a hand to his forehead. Where Death had placed his hand Neo felt pins and needles, withdrawing his hand Death spoke, "There doesn't seem like there's anything wrong, well, beyond the obvious. Maybe you just need some proper sleep."

"Obvious! What do you mean?"

"Your still infected with that maddening disease. It's still there, in your blood. It hasn't magically gone anywhere. Come on let's go, quicker the better"

Death touched Neo on the shoulder, and they disappeared into a void and spat out again. Blinded by light after the dim bar, before his eyes had adjusted Neo could smell where he was. Opening his eyes Neo found himself in a hospital, with clean white corridors, and the presence of uniformed people in their area, walking back and fore, checking on patients. Neo forgot everything else as his eyes were glued on the flames of the people walking past, watching the interactions of them.

As the two of them walked through the wards of the hospital, he saw flames brighten as a nurse or doctor gave them medicine. As well as people who were rushed into a surgery room and put under with anaesthesia, with but a flicker of a flame, but as the doctors worked hard for many hours the patient’s flame brightened with hope as they closed him up, placing IV's of blood and saline in him which added fuel to the fire.

Neo couldn't look away as the he gained a new view of the hard-working doctors and nurses. Death didn't seem that impressed as he spoke while they walked away from the surgery room, out through a wall and into another ward, "Neo, look more closely at the nurses and doctors themselves, and their flames when they interact with their patients."

Neo followed a nurse that held trolley that held lots of pills, they ended up following him into a new ward where the sound of coughing and puking echoed through the door. After the nurse scrubbed his hands and grabbed a disposable mask, he walked on through to the bedside of each resting patient. There he handed their pills over after ticking their paper and helped them by pouring some water and sitting them up. He rubbed their backs if they coughed or struggled to swallow. Neo's eyes opened wide as he watched the nurse’s flame flicker, at almost every patient his flame infinitesimally shrunk.

Once the nurse had left to continue his rounds, Neo just stood and asked Death, "Do they exchange their flames with their patients, or is it just the effect of the patient’s illness having an effect on their body?"

Death’s answer was simple, "Both."

Death placed a hand on Neo’s shoulder and pulled Neo down into the morgue of the hospital. He knew that it was the morgue from the now ever-present chill that caused the breath coming from the assistant’s mouth to have trails of condensation as they opened and closed the mortuary. There was also the stainless steel tables and the total lack of monitors and major medical equipment.

"This…" Death started as Neo got used to his surroundings "… is the centre of where we start working, at least in a hospital anyway. Watch what I do, there’s an easy way of doing things and then hard ways. In this case I'll demonstrate the easy way for us."

Death pulled out a beautiful scythe that held gold and silver inlays. He then pulled his arm back ready to swing. He started his swing as he called, "Reap the dead, let living, live. May all souls come to my comforting embrace, for thy world is cruel. Thee quenches its wants and wills, with thee a will that is strong, righteous, and believing, will gain an ordered escape, letting the chaos of life be."

After his swing finished, what felt like a storm whipped up around Death and from the mortuary flowed all sorts of lights that coalesced around Death. He held out his arm, with his scythe in hand, and as the souls touched the weapon, the colourful rays of light illustrated life times worth of experience, friends, and family.

The illustrations didn't stop once they had reached the upper floors of the hospital, but went beyond, flickering past so fast that Neo could see but scraps that showed their beliefs, wishes, and adventures to come. Pure white light that blinded, a dark flame that scorched Neo's face, a land filled with life and finally an image of monsters, dragons, and advanced worlds.

The illustrations faded as the downpour of souls slowed and stopped. Death turned around to Neo, "That's the easy way. Each Reaper has their own weapons that can be activated using their words, or in your case simply by using it with intent. Now, let’s go find any problematic souls and see what we can do about it."

He looked up and seemed to scan through the building, obviously finding something distasteful. Clicking his tongue, he gestured for Neo come close to him. Placing his hand onto Neo’s shoulder before disappearing and reappearing in a long corridor He simply pointed down the corridor at something. Neo was not surprised at all that it was and older gentlemen in overalls with a bucket of chemicals and a cloth. Death hissed with distaste, "One of our sworn enemies are in front of us, if only I could kill them all at once. They destroy my beautiful plagues even before they're noticed, but fear not Neo, we will overcome them. We shall be the ones to evolve in this war."

Neo tried to not laugh but he still had a huge smile on his face as the janitor entered the toilet, obviously to start cleaning. He stood for a few seconds, watching the people coming and going from the toilets. He could tell that when people left they had better looking flames, and there were those that had minor decreases in their flame which also affected those around them as they walked down the corridor.

'Eww,' Neo thought when he figured out what the difference was. But as the janitor walked down the corridor cleaning things, everyone around him benefited. It was like a wave, cleaning its way around the hospital, quite magical in its own right.

Once the janitor had left the area there was a distinct feel that made Neo smile. What made him smile more was the grumbling Death next to him that voiced his displeasure. "Honestly, I wish we were back in the days of doctors and healers being our only enemies, but now they have warriors making that entrance difficult to gain access through. I only pray that those few who can't be bothered, think that they're safe and spread, stopping this nonsense."

Neo had a huge smile on his face as he spoke, "I doubt that, only way it could stop would be to destroy civilisation."

Death turn to glare at Neo, "Don't tempt me. The others wouldn't like me getting involved in the system, but I have no problem in ignoring them."

Neo smile disappeared, listening to Death, he made a mental note. 'Don't test Death’s planet wiping moves, or his hatred for cleaners.'

Death regained his cooler demeanour and started walking off, away from the direction of the cleaner. Flowing through several doors, he came to a stop in front of a private room and slid through the wall.

The room was pretty simple, with a vase with fresh red roses in it, a picture that was placed on the side table, and an empty chair tucked into a corner. Otherwise there was only a single woman who was lying on a bed with her eyes closed, with wires and tubes exiting out of her and into bulky equipment that made rhythmical sounds.

Neo’s eyes bulged as he saw the woman’s soul. It wasn't a regular flame, it had black spots growing and flaked throughout the tiny flames. It caused Neo to dry heave, as a feeling of disgust rolled through him. "What is wrong with her?"

"She should be dead, it's one of the failures of humanity and one of the things that fascinates me about them. D souls were a rare occurrence once, but now it's a problem that worsens every day."

Death walked up to woman's bed and dragged a chair over to beside her, "Her life should have ended but these machines keep her body alive, even as her soul rots and corrupts. Yes, there is hope for her to survive."

Death stroked her hand in a caring way, "Even if she does come back, she may never be the same again. There may be problems, which can cause pain to her and those around her. When she does die, she will have a hunger to squelch the loss of passing and will attack people, souls, and animals in order to get revenge on the world."

Neo was going to hate what might happen but asked anyway, "So what can we do about it?"

Death looked at Neo and stopped his stroking, "You can kill her now and easily cleanse the soul, or we can wait and see whether fate is on her side or not. We could also perform a miracle and heal her at the price of another, since the balance must be kept."

No, Neo didn't like that answer at all, "What's the likelihood that she'll wake up and be fine?"

Death stared at the woman, "It's been a while, so I would say that she has a two percent chance of awakening moderately well and in good health. The rest of that is in variety of different states of health."

Neo walked over to the table, curiosity nagging at him, or perhaps he just wanted a good reason to not have to do something. He was making out the picture as the door opened and a child’s voice spoke, echoing through the room, "Dad, how's mama doing, I hope she isn't mad?"

A chill went down his spine as Neo heard and then saw a young girl, who was hiding behind the leg of a haggard looking man with red and puffy eyes and who sorely needed a shave. The worn-down man walked over, placing a hand and rubbing the hair of the little girl while she a jumped up onto the seat. He had dragged the other chair beside the bed and held the woman’s hand and started talking "Hey honey, your daughter has a request, she asked me to ask you not to be mad."

The young girl had tears falling down her cheeks, "Mum, I know I'm selfish girl who..." sob "asks for stupid things…" sob "That I've gotten you into trouble…" sob, sob "but could you come back for my birthday?" sob, sob.

The father continued in his daughter’s stead as she continued crying, "It's only a few days away, she says you can go back to being mad afterwards, and she said she won't ever ask for anything ever again." He managed to finish. As the tears streaked down his face he hugged his daughter.

No one witnessed the end, as the room was clear of all other beings. Neo couldn't stand it and ran, Death followed. He was now floating above his home, not really thinking of where he was going and so he ended up back home.

Death asked, "So what will you do?"

Neo glared at Death, hating him for even asking that question again, but he knew he wasn't going to do the right thing either way, "I'm going to leave it for her family to decide, it's not my place. Leave it to fate."

Death smiled, "Right then, I think that about as much as we should do tonight."

Neo didn't protest this idea as he just wanted to sleep now, and not be confronted with morally crushing ideals.

Death placed a hand on Neo's chest and Neo felt his soul being pushed and stretched before he snapped back into his body. In his bed, in his room, with the darkness surrounding him, Neo tried his best to sleep but found it disrupted with the cries of the child.