While Lucian found Old Death’s little notebook to be interesting in a magical sense, it wasn’t practical.
Sure, it seemed intuitive, but since Lucian had already designed his Soul Point system and an inventory list, he figured reconfiguring the Mark System was well worth his while.
Lucian placed his fingers on the inked pages and moved the image into the air.
His mind did the rest, forming a search bar and a large map. Mentally pinching the map, Lucian was able to zoom in to certain areas and also zoom out, just like he was used to doing with a smart device.
He could mentally “type” a location, and it even had an autofill from locations he already knew and understood.
Now focusing on the map, Lucian noticed a hot spot just a few miles away. He pressed his pinky and thumb together and disappeared, instantly reappearing in the Beverley Hospital parking lot.
“Makes sense,” he said to himself as he looked up at the hospital, recalling the last time he’d been to this hospital.
Not many made it out of the ICU, but Lucian had, and as he thought of the place he again touched his pinky and thumb together.
His body materialized in the ICU, a light flickering above him.
A nurse and a doctor walked past Lucian, both entering the room of a woman hooked up to a blinking patient monitor. Lucian remembered being hooked up like that, the constant beeping, waking up every damn hour when the nurse came in to check on him.
Part of him had come to the conclusion that he would have gotten better faster had they actually let him rest. The constant intrusion, drawing blood, the pills, forcing him to eat apple sauce, bringing him documents to sign and going over his vitals.
It was endless.
He shuddered thinking about it.
It was a miracle that he’d made it out of the ICU. And even now, floating in the hallway, Lucian’s chest tightened, that same sense of overwhelming dread he’d once felt in this space returning to him.
His eyes settled on the real reason he was here.
A few of the goddamn parasites were so large that their walrus-like forms trailed out into the hallway.
But even if he felt a real hatred for these beings, he couldn’t help but realize that by killing them, he was allowing a person to die.
It was continuing to dawn on Lucian that Death wasn’t so innocent in this at all. Death not only increased the speed at which someone died, Death also benefited from their passing.
It was no wonder that Life had a grudge against his kind.
And Lucian felt this even more when he looked through the glass into one of the rooms to see a man lying on his back, mouth open at the side.
A peach-skinned parasite fed as a woman leaned against the man, playing music from her cellphone, letting the man listen to what Lucian assumed was his favorite song.
To his right he saw a lady laying there with her eyes open, staring blankly past him. He lifted his hand to wave at her. The woman started coughing, turning the other way as a bulging parasite fed at her side.
“It’s going to be a bloodbath,” Lucian whispered to himself as he quickly checked his power.
A different nurse passed Lucian, a tablet in his hands. Lucian ignored the man as a weapon began to take shape before him. He needed something better than a shotgun, and he didn’t want to go with his Glocks this time.
It was time to level up his weaponry, and the first weapon to come to mind was a futuristic blaster called the MX-11 from the Total Destruction remake, a popular first-person shooter. It began to form, the weapon large but wieldable with one hand.
It wasn’t that heavy, and once it had completely materialized, Lucian checked the power pack on the side, just as he would have in the FPS.
A green light indicated it had synced up, and to give him a little more leverage, Lucian went with one of the pronged claws he’d created earlier.
And just before he was about to launch into action, Lucian checked his power once more, especially after conjuring a new weapon.
He recalled Old Death telling him he wouldn’t die if he ran out of juice around parasites. He would simply be fed upon until he could either break free, or an injuresoul got whiff of him and came to collect, which was definitely something he wanted to avoid.
Lucian counted at least a dozen rooms in the hallway, seven or eight of them with parasites large enough to partially be in the hallway.
Figuring it couldn’t hurt, and also realizing that he’d need to create better explosives in the future, Lucian equipped a grenade and tossed it down the hallway.
The explosion caused the glass to shatter and the parasites to squeal as portions of their bodies were splattered against the walls.
Lucian rushed to the left.
A parasite’s body bulged out of the room on the right, sharp talons and eyes forming in a matter of seconds. The creature lunged for Lucian. Lucian threw his arm wide, delivering two of his claws to the creature’s throat as he fired his new weapon down the hallway, stirring up more tentacles.
Purple blood sprayed onto the ground, instantly dissolving the tiling as the parasite went down.
Lucian fired another blast of concentrated energy at a parasite with a hardened shell like that of a beetle. The creature scurried sideways along the wall, its mandibles chomping at him before he blew its head off.
Spinning into action, he kicked off the wall and extended his legs to the ceiling. Lucian ran upside down toward the end of the hallway, firing blast after blast of blistering energy at the tentacles, claws and salivating maws trying to get at him.
A large, muscled arm exploded out of one of the rooms, tripling in size as it tried to swipe Lucian away. Another arm tore from its bicep, latching onto Lucian’s neck and slamming him into the tile below.
He tried to cut and blast his way out of the hand’s grip; more tentacles came, wet and sticky protuberances clamping onto him.
Lucian kept firing and slicing, eventually able to get a leg up.
Something struck Lucian from behind, sending him right back down into the mess of parasites now pooling at his feet.
A tentacle latched onto his face, digging its claws into Lucian’s eyes as he fired blindly before him.
One of the tentacles lifted him while another formed a sharp barb, which it aimed directly at Lucian’s check.
Pain rippling through him, Lucian barely managed to press his pinky and thumb together, disappearing seconds before the barb reached his chest.
Chapter Nine: We are Inevitable
“That was some entrance.” Old Death looked down at Lucian, who was splayed before him, one arm wide and the other hand on his chest as he sucked in deep breaths, his MX-11 lying next to him. “Some gun, too.”
His stats materialized before him.
Lucian noticing that he’d killed one of the parasites, but with all the action, he didn’t know which one he’d taken out. It also appeared that combat itself took a toll on his Soul Points.
He had expended quite a bit of energy, something he was keenly aware of as he sat up, wincing at a cramp in his side.
“Where did you go?” Old Death asked. He placed the book that had been in his hand next to Ezra. The cat stood, yawned, and fell back onto the couch, relaxing its head on the leather-bound book.
“Hospital.”
Old Death started to laugh long and hard, to the point that Lucian was about to teleport to his room.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Old Death said on the tail end of a laugh. “I should have told you about hospitals. They’re great places to get parasites, obviously, but the parasites grow in power when they’re closer to one another. How many did you kill?”
“One.”
“That’s it?”
Lucian nodded.
“You’re lucky you got one. Some Deaths pride themselves on their ability to clear out a hospital. I know of a Death who can clear an entire ward remotely. But most just stay away, or they go for a single parasite, rather than disturbing the herd. You’re lucky y
ou got out. Eventually I would have come looking for you, but I’m running low on power due to lack of parasites, so I may not have been that much help.”
A chair appeared behind Lucian.
“Take a seat,” Old Death said. “I can tell something is bothering you.”
“A lot of things are bothering me,” Lucian said as he remembered his brother snorting up the line of white powder, and the epiphany he’d had after killing Lisa’s parasite.
“But you understand the system, right? You’re using the book I gave you?”
“I’ve got my own system,” Lucian said. “We come from different times.”
“Clearly.”
“And while I think it is magical as shit to simply open a little black book and be presented with a map and other pertinent details, I figured I’d turn it into more of a HUD system.”
“HUD system?”
“Head’s Up Display,” Lucian said as he took a seat. He ran his hand in front of his eyes. “Here. I’ve now created three menus that appear in front of me whenever I want to recall or check something. This makes it so I don’t have to use the book, nor do I need to remember the weapons I’ve already created.”
“Show it to me,” Old Death said.
“How?”
“How do you think?”
Lucian’s Soul Point data formed in front of him and he swiped his hand, sending it over to his predecessor.
“And these Soul Points are the parasites you have killed?” Old Death asked, his hand on his chin as he looked at the floating data.
“Yes.”
“Why not Parasite Points?”
“It sounds like “pee-pee” if I abbreviate it. Also, and this wasn’t intentional, the more of these things I kill, the stronger I become, so they are related to my soul in that way.”
“Not at all, but I do get your reasoning,” Old Death said as he flicked his hand, moving to Lucian’s inventory list.
“The list is still small. I’ll need to spend a few days here adding more weapons and improving what I have already. It’s a work in progress.”
“Not a bad idea. I can also train you a little.” Old Death shook his head. “I’ve just been so tired. I apologize. It is wrong of me not to show you more of the things I’ve learned.” He scrolled to the Mark System that Lucian had devised. “Clever, this is all very clever, my boy. I don’t know when someone last took Death’s mantle, but I can tell you it was well before the Internet. The other Deaths will be interested in what you’ve created here. And because of that, I’d keep it a secret. For now.”
“Competition?”
Old Death nodded. “Precisely. Now, what is it you wanted to ask me?”
“We are actually killing people, aren’t we?” Lucian asked, coming right out with it.
“Come again?”
“If I see a kid with a parasite attached to it, and I check that kid’s date of death and go after the parasite, the kid dies. If I don’t kill the parasite, the kid lives for longer.”
“Everything dies,” the elderly man said.
“You know what I mean. The parasite is keeping the kid alive. I’ve killed the parasite. The kid dies.”
“The child dies shortly after you’ve killed it,” Old Death said. “So yes, you are correct in that regard.”
“Then why kill the parasite? Why not let it feed on the kid?”
“Because it is Death’s role to prevent these abominations from using creatures as hosts.”
“But do you see what I’m saying here? Life thinks we are the bad guy. If a kid has some condition that could kill him, and I get rid of the parasite, the kid dies. Thus, I’ve killed the kid, and Life is right.”
“Yes and no. Eventually, the parasite would have killed the kid in your scenario. I see it as ending the child’s suffering. That’s all you’ve really done.”
“I don’t buy it.”
“Then don’t kill parasites and see what happens,” Old Death said. “Your understanding of worldly morals won’t get you very far in this field.”
“It’s a profession now?”
Old Death laughed. “One even older than prostitution! Stop worrying about that aspect of it. Your feelings about redemption will go once your moral compass has shattered and reformed. And hopefully soon. It makes the job easier.”
Lucian shook his head. “What if I don’t want this job?”
“You already have the job. If you don’t want it, you know where to find heavy concentrations of parasites. Now, what is your other question?”
“I found a parasite I couldn’t kill.”
“You mean it was stronger than you?”
“My attacks passed right through it.”
“Your attacks passed right through it,” Old Death repeated, suddenly alarmed. “I’m sorry, Lucian, that just doesn’t seem possible.”
“Are there parasites that we can’t hunt?”
Old Death considered this for a moment. “Are you sure you struck it?”
“I put a gun up to its head and fired it. Nothing. My bullet passed right through it,” Lucian said, recalling his action. He remembered the bullet hitting the wall, another hitting the floor.
It was odd that his brother didn’t notice these things, but Lucian had already come to grips with the idea that his actions seemed to take place on a different plane of reality, one that only the parasite could experience.
“Frightening,” Old Death said, the look on his face indicating he was clearly disturbed by what Lucian had told him. “I will need to see it for myself.”
“Now?”
“Do you have other plans aside from going to the room I’ve provided for you and brooding?”
Lucian smirked. “That’s not what I was planning to do.”
“Right, and I wasn’t planning on sitting here, rifling through the Book of Enoch, and eventually nodding off. Let’s go,” he said, placing his hand on Ezra’s head and startling the cat. “We’ll make it quick; I want to see firsthand what you’re referring to.”
Old Death and Lucian appeared in front of a well-maintained home just outside of Beverly, Massachusetts, a light breeze kicking up a pile of leaves in the yard.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for this,” Lucian said suddenly. A rainstorm was on the way, perhaps the start of a Nor’easter, dark clouds hanging overhead.
“Why not?”
“That’s my mom’s house.”
“We all have to die.”
“I know, and that’s bad too, but I just can’t see…” Lucian shook his head. “Look, there’s something else going on with my brother. He’s using something. I caught him doing drugs, snorting some pill.”
“I see.” Old Death’s hands came behind his back as he took a few steps forward, admiring an old tree that was off to the right of the driveway.
Lucian’s mother lived in a ranch-style home, single level, with a circular driveway and a pool in the back. No one used the pool, not since Lucian’s father passed, but she still paid someone to maintain it.
Old Death turned to Lucian. “In this business, we consider hospitals, nursing homes, and locations where drug users congregate low-hanging fruit, that is, until you witness just how many parasites can gather in these places. If you are strong, which I am sure you will be in the future, it will be a place for you to truly gain power. But if you are unable to handle it…”
“I’m aware.”
“Shall we go inside?”
“Well, he’s here,” Lucian said, pointing at the truck in the driveway. “Which means he went home and used drugs, skipped out on work, and came to our mom’s house instead.”
“This is just the tip of the iceberg of things you are going to witness as Death,” the elderly man reminded him. “Everyone you know will one day die, and there’s nothing you can do to stop that. There may even be other humans that you feel close to, who will also die. We are the ‘game over,’ to use a phrase that may resonate with you.”
“Whatever,” Lucian said under his
breath as he pressed through the front door.
“You’ll get used to it, my boy, please trust me in this regard.”
They heard Connor talking as soon as they were inside the home.
“...Lucian wouldn’t have wanted a big thing, Ma,” he said, annoyance in his voice. “He would have wanted a small affair, and hell, he once joked about having an open bar at his funeral.”
“An open bar? Absolutely not!”
“It was his joke, Ma, not mine,” Connor said, throwing his hands up in the air to exhibit his innocence. The two sat around the dining room table, Lucian’s niece off to the right playing with big plastic bricks.
“People aren’t supposed to die this young,” Lucian’s mother said, her bottom lip starting to quiver. “And I was just planning to bring some casserole over to him…”
“Ma, come on,” Connor said, clearly trying to stop from tearing up as well. “He’s up there now, with Dad. We will all see him in the future.”
And as much as Lucian didn’t want to do it, he looked at his mother’s death date.
Name: Sylvia North
Date of Birth: 05/04/1950
Date of Death: 09/16/2036
From there he looked to his niece.
Name: Jennifer North
Date of Birth: 08/17/2017
Date of Death: 11/30/2103
It was hard for him to imagine that Jennifer would live into the next century, but it made sense. And part of Lucian had always wanted to live that long.
“It’s a done deal, Connor,” his mom said, her voice growing harsh. “And it’s tomorrow. I’m not making any changes now. Everyone has already been invited. The obituary invited people too. We’ll see who shows up.”
“It will probably just be some high school friends, maybe some coworkers, maybe an old girlfriend or two.”
“Who? Katy?”
“I sent her a message like you said. She’ll come. But other people? Who knows. He’s been out of commission the last couple years because of his heart.”
“Daddy, where’s Lucian?” Jennifer asked, looking up from her toys.
Death's Mantle: A Dark Fantasy GameLit Novel Page 6