For someone who claimed to hear the dead, he missed every warning the living gave.
Flashback
On a valley drowned in mist, Raven Creek lay below its roofs uneven and crooked. Above, the storm stayed still, thunder waiting to roll.
A lone figure appeared, walking the ridge.
The air around him bent sideways, making lanterns in distant windows grow dim. His cloak trailed shadows behind him, heavy like chains, and his steps made no sound, but every crow in the trees shivered and fled.
This was Kael, one of the oldest reapers.
His frame was tall, shoulders broad, and his cloak heavy as he moved. The fabric did not sway like cloth, it hung like it had its own gravity. His face was carved with a brutal symmetry, skin pale as ash, and eyes cold.
His gaze alone could quiet storms, his voice, when he chose to use it, made the living tremble.
Others of his kind kept their distance.
Kael came to a halt. He could feel the air humming with a strange pulse, like a heart beating under soil.
Then he felt a restriction, an unseen force that limited his movement.
"Don't."
The sound came before the figure appeared.
The mist parted and another reaper stepped out, smaller in frame, but unflinching.
Her hair spilled long and black, and cloak shimmered faintly as if threaded with dying starlight. Her silver eyes seemed lit from within, hand, pale and long-fingered, hovered in the air. It was her will that had stalled him, causing the barrier to restrict his path. She did not move quickly, she didn't need to.
If Kael was storm, she was night.
Kael turned his head slightly, and the fog bent with him as though it feared his gaze. "Seris."
"Kael," Her voice hit hard, like a flint on a rock. Unlike the others, she never lowered her eyes before Kael.
He turned fully, his hood sliding just enough to show his eyes that were pale grey, cold as the grave.
"You think to bar me?" His voice sounded low, but it carried weight.
"You don't hear it, do you?" She said.
The ground hummed faintly, as rain drummed against the dead leaves.
"Something is wrong with this place."
He pulled his hood tighter, scythe resting against his shoulder. "One name waits in that valley. His soul belongs to me."
"Leave him," She replied, lightly. "Let another take him. This place, this town… will trap you. I feel it."
He looked back into the valley, jaw set, his cheekbones catching the weak light like a blade's edge. "Souls are tied, and I cut ties. That is the job."
She stepped a few paces towards him, close enough for their cloaks to nearly touch. Her silver eyes held his. "I know you feel it too. That power… It doesn't flow out. This place doesn't release what enters. Even you cannot break what waits there."
His lips curved, faint and humorless. "The world is stitched with curses, that never stopped me before."
Seris stepped in front of him this time. The barrier rippled, fading as her will released it. "Always running headfirst into fire. Do you ever think, Kael? Or do you just trust your strength to break every wall?"
He leaned closer, his eyes catching the dim glow of her silver gaze. "Power is the only thing that doesn't betray."
Her lips parted, the faintest breath leaving her. "It blinds you. You walk alone so no one sees when the chains slip around your neck. You make it hard to communicate with you."
Kael's shadow reached for hers. "And yet, you stand in my way. Why?"
For a moment her gaze softened, and then she said. "Because you're not untouchable, Kael."
"I've carved my way through worse, haven't I?"
Her chest rose and fell once, slow. "You are convinced the world bends before you."
He leaned down slightly, his gaze sharp enough to cut. "And it has."
She did not move back. If anything, she lifted her chin. The mist pressed tighter around them, like it wanted to flee but couldn't. "That pride will be your undoing."
They stood in silence for a moment, then a ringing sound, heard only by her shook her to the bone. It was another death.
Seris flinched, flashing her eyes with urgency. "I'm summoned."
Kael straightened, his shadow settling behind him again. "Then go."
She hesitated a bit, her hand brushing against the barrier as if she might raise it again. Her voice was brittle now. "Kael, leave this place. I beg you."
He turned his face toward the valley, the bruise-colored haze swirling to meet him. "Begging doesn't suit you."
Her gaze lingered on him for one last breath, as she dissolved, her body fading into black smoke.
Kael exhaled, "One last name. One last soul, then I'm free." he murmured to himself, and descended the slope.