Chapter 3
Rio knew she had a job to do,but it wouldn't hurt to take cover from whatever was going on outside,right? She was unfamiliar to the land of the living,where apparently,water fell from the giant grey clouds in the sky. Rio wiped her forehead with her hand,putting it up to her nose to smell. The water smelt earthy and a bit dirty,it was clear,like any other kind of water. Rio shook the water off of her hands,taking a good look at them to see if there was still water on them. You have a scar. Rio was still trying to look for a wound that could become "a scar" as the girl had said to her.
Rio stepped into the cottage and was immediately met with the feeling of coldness. Not just the chill that breathed against the bottom of her bare feet,but the feeling in her soul that the house was cold. Rio had never been able to be able to feel energy like that,maybe it was the exposure to Death and it's power,she didn't know.
Rio stepped out of the doorway of the house and went inside,looking around with a curious glint in her eye. Besides from the house of the Calderus,Rio had never stepped foot into the house of a living person,and even then,the time she spent there was brief. Rio wondered,is there a reason I can't stay here long?
She took in the cottage for a moment,taking note of the various things inside. There were three separate rooms,a sitting area where a rocking chair and a few toys sat. There was also a lantern lit dining room,a small table placed in the middle of the room with two burgundy red wooden chairs. The kitchen was small,holding a shelf that held pots,pans,bowls,and more above the furnace that looked like a giant monster.
Although it wasn't her house,Rio had the urge to touch everything in the home as a way to pass time,her father taught it to her when she was young.
"Dad,where are you going?" At first, Death didn't respond to the name,but Rio kept calling him until he looked over his hooded shoulder. The only slightly human features Rio could see were his green eyes that had a glint of annoyance. "My name is Death,and I'm going to the land of the living."
"Why?"
"You're curious aren't you?" Rio nodded her head with a small,dimpled smile. "Well, I'll tell you when you get older." Rio frowned. "Aww. If you won't tell me can I at least come with you?"
"Not yet,not yet."Rio's shoulders slumped with disappointment,"But I'll be- what's the word?" Death laughed,"Bored. And if you are,I know a way to pass time. You see that shelf right there?" He pointed to shelf in the kitchen. "I want you to start there in your race around the house,which ends at the front door. You have to touch every object that you come across to mark as a checkpoint,and by the time you finish, I'll be home or- close to coming home."
In Rio's head,she thought it could bring her home,touching every item like a ritual and making her way to the front door. She wouldn't get the wood,though,and it would delay her way to becoming the next Death. And that was something she wanted more than the chance to go home instantly.
Rio felt something was missing from the home,there was a girl here earlier,I knew there was. She tilted her head to look out the window of the small house,it was pouring outside,water pounding against the window. Rio could see how wet the ground was from inside of the cottage,and she could practically hear her own footsteps walking on the mushy ground if she ever went outside,or were they her own? Her eyes searched the wooded area that surrounded the village like a shield,there. Rio's eyes landed on the girl marching out into the woods,her long dress lifted by her own hands as she carried a bag on her back.
Rio was unfamiliar to this world but she felt a pull,a need to see what was going on. Maybe it was her natural curiosity,or maybe her newfound interest in the girl. Rio twisted the doorknob the open the door,carefully putting her hand out to examine the rain. Plop. Rio felt something cold and wet sprinkling on her hand,it was the raindrops. Rio's head tilted at the raindrops that fell around the house and on her hand. She took a step forward,another,another,until she was outside of the house. There was a squish underneath her bare feet and an earthy smell to the air,which somehow charmed Rio. This "rain" wasn't so bad.
Rio recalled that the girl was named Agatha,and she followed this girl through the forest until they found themselves in front of a giant,hollow tree trunk that lay on the wet mud on its side. Rio ducked behind a nearby tree as Agatha sat herself on the tree trunk,setting down the bag,which had spilled out chunks of wood as soon as it was set down.
She hummed quietly as she took out a little piece of paper and tiny chunk of wood. Rio's eyes flew open in surprise when she saw that the chunk of wood could write on the paper,all Rio had seen was a feather and the blood of bugs used to write,but never a chunk of wood. Agatha suddenly turned her head upwards to look at Rio,as if she were aware of the fact that the apprentice of Death was staring at her. Rio was startled by Agatha's sudden awareness and felt a bit of power surge out in the form of a pink azelea in front Agatha's feet.
She didn't approach it with caution or suspicion,she just picked up the flower,looking at it curiously. "So you're like me?" The silence between the two was broken by Agatha's question. "What do you mean? Is it that we both have-"
"You can do nice stuff. Like make pretty flowers! I can't do that,but I guess what I can do is like that." Agatha looked excited about Rio's powers,she wasn't worried like Rio's dad had been,she didn't even fear them,she just called her powers what they were,nice. Rio heard a wince from Agatha,who dropped the flower and clutched her hand. Her hand was inflamed and red with a rash. That was when Rio first learned that her powers could hurt others,even if she hadn't meant for it to happen. She looked on guiltily,"I'm sorry,I can't control it."
Agatha looked up at Rio and then back down at her red hand. Agatha exaggerated shaking her own red hand as if she were shaking the pain away,"What's there to be sorry about? My hand doesn't hurt at all." Rio let out a light laugh and smiled at Agatha playing off her pain. Rio had realized that the living had unique lives and emotions that even she experienced, something she didn't think would happen. Agatha was a great example of that,she played off her pain so Rio wouldn't feel guilty for hurting her with a flower,but she didn't understand why Agatha would do that. Rio wouldn't ask though,she wasn't as interested in that fact as she was in the wood-thing that Agatha wrote with. "What were you writing with earlier?"
She looked startled at the question,"Quiet down! Someone might hear you. I snuck out here to write."
"Why do you need to sneak out?"
"You have a lot of questions to ask." Agatha was right about that,Rio had never learned anything about the earth,that was simply because she was a visitor who didn't see herself coming down often. "I don't know this place. I'm a tourist,as my dad would say."
"Then you should could more often. And I guess I'll answer your many questions. That thing I write with is a pen-cil. And I sneak out because I'm not allowed to write or read,not in front of other people." Agatha put the piece of wood in Rio's hand."Pencil,"she murmured to herself. Wait,I need wood, I forgot about that.
Agatha cleared her throat," Now I have a question for you. What is your name and what are you doing here?"
"My name is Rio and I... I'm here to become to become Death." Agatha raised an eyebrow at the response,"How do you do that?"
"I'm collecting wood from the living." Agatha was sceptical,Rio could tell by the look on her face. "That's not true. Nobody can become Death."
"Well, I'm not death,yet. I have the power to become Death." Rio technically wasn't lying to Agatha,but she if fact didn't have the power to become Death or reap others. " Then collect me right now." Agatha smirked at Rio and put herself in Rio's face,confident enough in the belief that Rio wasn't death to ask for that. "Well- I- I'll collect you some day. Then I'll prove it to you."
"Nope! I'm going to live forever,so even if you were death,you wouldn't be able to collect me." Rio smiled at Agatha's confidence,"Sure. Well, I'll still see you,right?" She shrugged in response to Rio's question,"Yeah,I guess I like you enough."
Rio chipped away at the tree in front of her,pieces of moist bark flying at her face as she did so. Agatha had left a few minutes ago after sibling on the paper for a bit,so Rio had been trying to chop down the tree since Agatha started walking back towards her home. Rio remembered looking at her paper as she walked off,curious about what she wrote.
Agatha pushed the door to her house open. After a long day of trekking through the woods,she was happy to be back at last. "Explain yourself,Agatha. What possessed you and made you escape out to the woods?" Agatha tossed her mother a bag full of wood,"Just doing what you asked. Now can I go to my room?" Evanora Harkness looked stunned at her daughter's response and nodded her head. "Make sure to tell me next time,I don't want another incident for the coven to deal with."
June 2nd,1681,
It's spring,so I thought it was about time I wrote again. The rain always brings a reason to write and good things to write about too. I saw a girl out in the pouring rain,I had never met her before,but it feels like I have met her. She's weird like me and can do magic,as my mother calls it,but her's is different. She made me a pretty flower,but I think it was poisonous because my hand turned red as blood after. She says she's a 'tourist',which I think is true,but what can't be true is the claim that she is Death. Oh well,I guess I'll never find out. She did have a strange request though,to blast the soil around that tree she insisted on cutting with my magic. She's just as weird as me.
Rio had finally chopped down some of the branches from the tree,smiling at her work. She had only a second to admire her work before she felt herself falling through the air. Rio let out an excited shriek as she fell and landed in a bush,wood in hand. She turned her head up to look up at her dad,who towered over her with his hand outstretched and holding a piece of blue wood.
Her father put the piece of blue wood into Rio's arms and at that moment,she could swear she heard the whispering of souls come from the wood. Her father grabbed Rio's hand and pulled her up. "Congrats. You got a little sidetracked in the beginning,but you finished the task."
"Well,of I did. I discovered rain!"
"I know that. I was watching you,and it's understandable. But Death has a hard and tedious job,so you need to learn how to save time." Rio's small smile dropped a bit after hearing about saving time. It wasn't her fault she got distracted easily. "Oh. Alright then. What's next?"
"Well,you have to make an object to go between the land and the living. I use a staff,but that's just what the souls picked for me. Other Deaths have used bows,knives,da-" He was interrupted by the whispering wood,which started to chip away it's very own bark and the bark of the enchanted tree. Rio watched in awe as the pieces of wood binded together and flew into Rio's hand,leaving a long slash on her pinky finger. Thick,crimson blood dropped down her hand and onto the dagger,blood seeping into the cracks in the wood.
Rio's dad opened her hand carefully,prompting Rio to look at her own hand,which looked like it had been stained red. She wiped the blood onto the ground,dusting off her hand to reveal no wound on her pinky. "You've healed. Now we can start."
"And how exactly does that happen?"
"You collect your first body,and just say a vow first."
"Repeat after me. I, Apprentice of Death, (name),promise to prioritize my duty and keep the natural order of the world. I will not fall in love with a mortal. I will not break the rules of life. And I will not try to kill anyone myself."
"Wait,but I don't know what some of those words mean."
"Just say the vow." Her father sighed,pressing his fingers to his temples. "I, Apprentice of Death,Rio,promise to prioritize my duty and keep the natural order of the world. I will not fall in love with a mortal. I will not break the rules of life. And I will not try to kill anyone myself."