Chapter 1
E-Z-R-A, the sound of each letter reverberated in the boy’s mind threatening to tie themselves down to his consciousness. He could still hear the lab coat’s incessant voice repeating the same exasperating lines above the muted background of hectic shouting.
“Subject E.Z.R.A. Can you hear me? Subject E.Z.R.A. Respond.”
The boy hissed at the memory he’d temporarily been thrown into, hitting himself a couple times in an attempt to shake himself out of it. “Forget about it. You can’t change the past. Gotta forget,” he told himself, as he rolled deeper into the shabby odd smelling blanket. Trying once more to drift away from the reality of his situation, but his mind refused to allow his departure.
Subject E.Z.R.A.
It irked him. A constant reminder that he was no longer a person, but a thing, free for them to do with as they pleased. An object.
No!
He wasn’t an object. He was…was…what was his name again?
…
The boy grimaced abruptly as three sharp bursts of pain ripped through his skull, slamming against the shore of his mind, making his body convulse unnaturally as if bent by a puppeteer.
No.
He mustn’t think.
It hurt whenever he tried to think. Whenever he tried to remember. Yet, his mind always seemed to disregard the boy’s pleas, doing its best to venture back towards thoughts and memories that would only bring pain.
Pain. It was the only reason the boy did anything nowadays. He could still feel the bruises that covered his body from the beatings; the slightest of movements a constant reminder of the torment they had inflicted upon him. He couldn’t remember what they’d done to his eyes but the feeling of loss never left him, hazy memories of a world once full of colour now berated him; replaced by the reality of endless sea of darkness.
He turned over in the blanket trying to stop the tendrils of another memory from grabbing him in, receiving a waft of sweat and ‘he didn’t want to know what’ for his troubles. Yet, some memories held firm in his mind, spurning any attempt to be removed. The same never-ending sea of darkness that clogged his vison seemed to spin to life in his mind—No. It was different somehow. Physical. Real. A world of black. Of void. Where no sound existed. Where nothing was alive. A world of nothing, where he was…alone.
The boy shook his head vehemently, trying to shake himself out of the confines of his memories, “Don’t think about it. You’re not there anymore. You’re not there,” he repeated in hushed tones, as he clutched his knees tight to his chest, rocking himself to sleep.
***
“Relax Jean, the boy will be here any minute from now and then we ca…”
Doctor Jean Mallory, twenty-four, prodigy, leading expert in both Human Biology and Physiology, stopped dead in her tracks to stare her irritating subordinate into motionless silence, before continuing her thoughtful pace of the room.
Mortals.
They disgusted her to no end. Yet, she’d been forced to live among them, work with them, breath like them, all to fulfil her master’s wishes, which for her was cause enough. But it didn’t make the task any more pleasant. Jean eyed the lab doors as she heard footsteps hurriedly approaching, the pace increasing with each step as they became louder and louder. The door snapped open and her expression hardened to that of a scowl, threatening to ruin her natural beauty, as another one of her mortal subordinates entered with medical supplies. Jean sighed heavily, massaging her temples with one hand before resuming her frightening pace of the room. It’d been months since they’d retrieved the boy and begun testing and they were barely any closer to finding out what he knew than when they started. Jean had never questioned her master before, not once, but this time she really hoped her master knew what she was doing, knowing the danger that would arise should they meddle with the strings of fate carelessly. Jean could feel her wrist start to itch slightly when the lab doors swung open. Finally! The human male was back with the boy…slumped over his shoulder?
“What the f*ck did you do?” She asked demandingly, unable to hold back the feral outrage in her voice, drawing questioning looks from the mortals around her. If the boy died…she didn’t want to think about what her master would do to her.
“I found him like this,” the mortal replied, his face as calm as can ever, though the pulse in his neck had become a little more prominent. Jean glanced towards the boy noting a new set of subtle bruises on his arms blending in with some of the old ones she’d had to inflict.
Half-truths, she thought. For him to be out like this, there are probably some more underneath his gown. She’d address the punishment for this particular mortal later, a section of her mind already delving into the several methods of which she’d begin to torture him with, but right now she had a job to do.
“Just get him on the bed,” she ordered, her voice calming but still holding an edge of anger behind it. They needed to hurry. She could feel her wrist starting to burn now, as she pulled up her sleeve hesitantly to assess the damage. Four silver spirals positioned in a diamond lay uncomfortably upon a mound of crimson-patched skin.
The Gatekeeper...
It wouldn’t be long before he found her. She had a day, maybe two. She dropped her sleeve, briefly scanning around her to make sure no one had seen the mark, before striding over to the bed where the boy lay. Jean looked the boy up and down, assessing the necessary damages he’d suffered. It was clear he may not last another test. His body had become frail from her torture sessions and lack of food, his eyesight was virtually non-existent and worst of all he was still mortal. Looking at his situation now even she had started to wonder how on earth he became—
“He’s awake!”
***
“I’m sorry, I just thought-”
“You thought wrong, dimwit! Just because his vitals are back to normal doesn’t mean he’s awake! His bloody eyes are still closed! I swear, how the hell did you even get hired?”
But I am awake, the boy thought, the irritation from his situation palpable within his mind. Sleep paralysis. A prisoner within his own body, making him unable to move, speak or even open his eyes. He found it odd that he was able to remember what it was and that he’d had it, but nothing around the concerning events.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Put him back under.” The female lab coat, who he’d come to know as Dr.Mallory, ordered.
“What?” One of the other ab coats responded.
“You heard me.”
“But he could die. If the subject isn’t awa—”
“I’m sorry, are you in charge?”
“N—”
“Because last time I checked, I was in charge. Unless you’d like to take a little walk with the Secretary General to discuss a promotion?”
Silence resounded in the boy’s ears. A minute must have passed before Dr.Mallory spoke again, with no one willing to answer the woman’s clear threat.
“I thought not. Now put him under.”
The boy could feel the same uncomfortable sensation of liquid slowly flowing into his arm that he had experienced many times before. It was always before they placed him in the darkness.
Alone.
He didn’t want to go back there. He refused to go back there. He tried summoning all the energy in his body together to try and stay awake; pleading with his limbs to succumb to his will and give him the strength to move. Alas, it was of no use. He could feel his body starting to weaken and his willingness to fight starting to fade.
“His heart rate is steadily increasing.”
At that moment the boy could feel someone hovering above him, watching him intently. The scent of strong lavender perfume filling his nostrils.
Dr.Mallory, he thought. Her voice barely louder than a whisper when she spoke, “I know you can hear me Ezra. This may be one of the last times we speak. So I wanted to pass on my lord’s regards for helping us find you and giving him the opportunity to—” She stopped mid-sentence, as if doing her upmost to select her words carefully.
Your lord? I helped them? How? I don’t understand, the boy thought.
As if reading his mind the woman continued, “Don’t worry in time you will understand. For now, you will help me get the answers I seek, even if I need to send you into the abyss to do it.”
It was clear she was finished when she spoke again, “Nurse, be ready to inject the subject with epinephrine exactly ten seconds after downtime. Without that adrenaline, he’ll be dead, permanently. So don’t mess this up.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“Alright. How long do we have till he’s out?”
“He’ll be out in 5…4…3…”
“Sweet Dreams Ezra.”
“…2…1.”
***
Ten seconds they said. The boy had counted to ten, one-hundred times over by now, hoping that something would change, but of course nothing ever did. Time seemed to run differently here, wherever ‘here’ was. The void between life and death, he had guessed in the previous visits. How long had he spent here each time? Days? Months? Years? Enough time to drive any normal person insane. Trapped in the abyss, mind always awake, left with nothing but their thoughts to keep them company.
Yet, strangely, his mind remained intact. The truth is it wasn’t the thought of being alone in the abyss that scared him, but the very opposite. He was comfortable with it. It felt right. Normal. Familiar.
Every ache. Every injury. Every pain. All seemed to disappear when he entered this void. It was as if the closer he got to death, the stronger he became. If this was death, would it be so bad?
“Welcome, my reaper.”
What was that?, the boy questioned, deeply confused as to how something else was able to exist in this place of emptiness.
The deep voice seemed to come from all directions at once.
“I have countless names. The Final End. The End of All Things. Bela. Lefu. Mortis. Though, I believe that you, Ezra, know me best as Death.”
Death? Death is something that happens to someone, not an entity. Isn’t it? The boy questioned within his mind. How did he know that name? Was ‘Death’ even a he? Wait…,Ezra paused mid-thought before continuing, can you hear my thoughts?
“Well, of course I can.” Death chuckled, causing the boy’s body vibrate. “You’re in my realm after all.”
Your realm? So I’m dead?, the boy thought.
“No, my realm has many layers to it. This realm is exactly as you believe it to be, a layer where those transitioning between life and death pass through. Which you no doubt are.”
Ah, so people do go here as their dying, the boy thought, smiling internally, pleased at his own intuition.
The sound of laughter seemed to shake the boy’s bones again, “Correct, my reaper, but not in the way you think.”
Not in the way I think? How else could it be?, the boy thought, confused at Death’s words.
“You will soon know understand in time.”
The boy’s head was a mess, his mind struggling to process the weight of the information that had been bestowed upon him. Death seemed to realise this as he spoke out before the boy could ask another series of questions.
“You no doubt have many questions so let me answer the ones that plague your mind, before we continue. Firstly, your willingness to accept death is what has allowed us to speak now, before your mind was reluctant to do this, and so I did not force it, as the mere slithers of my essence would devour the last vestiges of your being.”
What the heck does that mean?, the boy thought to himself, slightly irritated by Death’s unnecessary jargon.
“You would cease to exist.”
Ah…thank you for not doing that, the boy replied gratefully, a little lost for words at the sincerity of Death’s statement.
“No need to thank me, my reaper. For one day you shall be me back in kind.”
The boy didn’t know why, but mountains of corpses swathed in blood seemed to cloud his mind’s eye briefly before Death continued.
“Secondly, I have chosen you to become my reaper as you alone are the only mortal being in existence without a soul. Thus, meaning that when you die you will cease to exist, unless you become my reaper.”
I have no soul? How could I have no soul? That’s not possible! Everyone’s born with a soul! I want to exist, but if I don’t exist, I wouldn’t care that I don’t exist. But I do exist. Wait, how do I know I can even trust what he says?, the boy thought, his thoughts increasing sporadically as panic erupted in his mind.
Another loud cackle seemed to erupt from Death before he spoke again, “I have no reason to lie, my reaper. In any case, it is extremely rare for a being to be born without a soul. I myself know of only one other being who has been blessed in the manner that you have in all that has ever existed. It is likely the reason why that charlatan has been sent to find you.”
Blessed?, the boy thought, his life had been many things up till now but, ‘blessed’ was definitely not one of them. Wait. What charlatan?
Death continued on, ignoring the boy’s thoughts, “It would also be good for you to stop thinking like a human, reality is not so one-dimensional. For example…”
In that moment the boy felt something brush over his face, forcing his eyes to close, then it was gone, just as quick as it had arrived.
“See now.”
What did he mean ‘see now’?, the boy thought to himself. The void was nothing but a vast expanse of darkness and his vision was still—Suddenly all his thoughts came to a screeching halt as his eyes opened once again.
What is this? How can I— , the boy struggled to finish his thought, as hundreds of thousands cloudy grey lights glistened in the distance all around him, illuminating the darkness like stars on the backdrop of infinite night.
“Souls. Every single one of them, as far as your eyes can see. I have improved your vision my reaper, so that you may carry out my will. You will be the judge, jury and executioner for all that you see, and all that exists. And for those beyond saving, true death awaits.”
The boy didn’t know what to say. Judge. Jury. Executioner. How could he decide whether someone should live or die? He wouldn’t kill someone. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
“E.Z.R.A, Ezra. Though you cannot remember it, it is your true name. A name rarely used throughout the many worlds and languages that exist except yours, because only in your world did they get its meaning wrong. It has never meant ‘god protects’ or ‘god helps’. It has always meant ‘god destroys’. It is your fate, my reaper. Your destiny.”
“You’ve always wanted a life free from pain, my reaper. Accept this and I promise, one day you’ll be strong enough to never feel pain again.”
A life without pain?, the boy thought. What was he willing to do for that?
Anything.
I accept, the boy thought.
As soon as he thought those words, his mind and body instantly felt different. Stronger. Calmer.
“Good, you will return now. Should you have need of me, you need only think it, we are connected now and I am always listening.”
So Death really is ‘all around us’, Ezra thought, chuckling slightly, surprised he remembered the reference.
A loud snap of fingers seemed to sound around him and then he was gone.
***
“Subject E.Z.R.A. Can you hear me? Subject E.Z.R.A. Respond.”
I must be back in the lab, Ezra thought.
He could hear the lab coat’s incessant voice once again, repeating the same exasperating lines above the muted background of hectic shouting.
“Subject E.Z.R.A respond. Can you hear us? Tell us what you saw?”
But this time, with no difficulty, he opened his eyes.