Ludwig held the sword of his Scythe at the ready, as the Legionnaire on the staircase descended slowly towards him. He couldn’t bring himself to turn around, both due to Locke’s order that he keep his attention on the HellChild in front of them and because he was afraid that if he turned around he would have to come to turns with the fact the two of them were surrounded. It was quiet, the Legionnaire had stopped its chittering and Ludwig could only hear two things, the drone of the television and Locke’s calm and controlled breathing. Before Ludwig could ask anything Locke spoke clearly and calmly to him,

  “Ludwig, on my mark we charge. Understood?” Ludwig nodded, before realising that Locke probably couldn’t see him so gave him a short

  “Yes.” In acknowledgement.

  “Good.” Locke said, “Legionnaires are weaker from the side, so try and get them from that angle. And watch the tusks, they hurt like hell.” Ludwig paused, waiting for Locke’s ‘mark’. As the Legionnaire reached the bottom of the stairs Locke yelled “NOW.”

  Ludwig dashed forward, watching as the Legionnaire in front of him raised a hand up ready to strike at him, behind him he felt a rush of air and heard a sound metal on metal, followed by a chittering screech. He wanted to turn, but knew he couldn’t, he had to deal with the creature in front of him.

  He swung wide, hoping to catch it off guard as it swung at him. He felt the blade of his weapon connect with something soft, as the claw of the Legionnaire grazed past his ear. The Hellchild let out a chitter as Ludwig pulled his sword back, taking the opportunity to kick it backwards. There was a satisfying crash as the Legionnaire collided with the bannister of the staircase.

  Behind Ludwig, Locke was delivering an unrelenting series of slashes towards his own Legionnaire. He was more skilled than his protege, but it was clear he had not fought with a regular Scythe in some time as more than a few of his attacks glanced over the hard armour of the Legionnaire facing him.

  Ludwig let out a yell as the Legionnaire‘s sharp claw pierced through the shoulder of his suit. The pain dissipated though, clearly it hadn’t gotten him too hard. Ludwig ducked and stepped back, taking care to keep track of his location in comparison to the sofa and television. ‘If only I had something to pierce him with, a spear or something.’ His hand felt tingly, glancing down he saw that the short-sword was gone. In its place was a thin rapier, with a basket hand guard. ‘Well,’ Ludwig thought to himself, ‘I guess it does change based on my thoughts.’ He dashed forward again, thrusting the rapier forward towards the Legionnaire’s weak spot. It was strange, Ludwig knew he’d never held a sword like this before. But something inside him was spurring him on, as if an invisible hand was guiding him in how to strike.

  Locke overwhelmed the Legionnaire, he had dropped the assault for a second to knock it off balance using the flat of his blade, before shifting it to a long thin stake with which he could stab into it and force it to defend. As the Hellchild let out more and more chittering, Locke went paused, allowing it to move up a bit before he planted the stake deep into the Legionnaire’s side. Leaving it slumped on the ground. He straightened up and turned towards Ludwig, walking briskly down the hall towards him.

  Ludwig blocked one of the Legionnaire’s blows, and felt it dig into the flesh of his forearm. He let out a short exhale, trying to push past the flashes of pain ringing through his body. As he circled the Hellchild, looking for another opening, he saw Locke moving towards him.

  Before either of them could say anything, a door jutting off from the hallway burst open, and a third Legionnaire emerged, letting out a loud chitter as it grabbed Locke and tackled him through a door on the other side of the hallway. Ludwig shouted out Locke’s name, no response beyond Locke’s shouts mixed with the chittering of the Legionnaire. Ludwig tried to run towards Locke, hoping he could help him escape…whatever the monster was doing to him.

  He soon realised this was a mistake, as his focus on helping Locke gave the Legionnaire behind him an opening. With a screech, it landed on his back and begins attempting to slice up his back. Ludwig attempted to wriggle free, or at least gain enough movement to turn over. He tried to shake the monster off him, unable to see anything beyond the wood grain of the floor. He balled his hand into a fist, realising he had dropped his Scythe in the struggle.

  “Just my luck.” Ludwig said, trying to make out his Scythe in the semi-darkness.

  The sound of wood splintering rang out, as Locke sent the Legionnaire flying backwards, breaking the door. He stood up, wiping some blood off the side of his face, as he grasped the club-like Scythe in both hands. ‘I haven’t fought one of these in a while’ Locke thought, ‘although not using my power makes it harder’. He strode towards the collapsed Legionnaire, which lay in a pile of wood from the door and the chairs that had been left strewn around what Locke guessed had been a bathroom at some point, with haggard breath Locke drove the club down into the Legionnaire, and with a shudder it stopped moving.

  Ludwig began to feel overwhelmed, the slices on his back were beginning to move from annoying, to painful. He didn’t know if, or how, they could repair suits but he was sure he’d need some sort of repair after this. He could see the Scythe just beyond his reach, he strained his arm, trying to reach it and get the Legionnaire off his back. He shut his eyes, trying to focus on getting out of this. As he tried to think of anything, other than the monster that was tearing up the skin of his back, he felt something odd swim up to the front of his mind. He could see a woman, or the outline of a woman at least. Her hair was long and dark, and despite the fact it felt like he was looking at her through glass, and was unable to discern anything about her face, he felt calmer seeing her.

  Without thinking, he swung his arm up. He wasn’t sure why, he knew it probably wouldn’t do anything. But with a satisfying sound, the blade in his hand plunged into the Legionnaire, leaving it slumped on his back. Ludwig blinked, then pushed the body of the Legionnaire off his back, wincing as he tried to stand up. He looked down at his hand, the Scythe had changed shape again, now resembling a small thin dagger. ‘Did it, move into my hand?’ He thought, before looking up, ready to help Locke deal with the Hellchild attacking him.

  This proved unnecessary however, as Locke emerged from one of the rooms connected to the hallway, cleaning some blood off his face with a handkerchief. He looked at Ludwig, then to the body of the Legionnaire. He smiled, in the gloom he look terrifying. A tall gaunt figure, his pale suit splattered blood and his face pulled into a grin. Ludwig held his breath for a second, and stepped back a bit instinctually, as if the sight of the Reaper scared something deep inside him. Before Locke walked into the dim glow of the living room and crouched down next to the Legionnaire.

  “I must say Sport, you certainly handled that one quite well. I’ve seen Reapers get torn to ribbons first time they encounter a Hellchild but you,” he stood up and moved close to Ludwig, pausing for a second before he patted his shoulder affectionately “You’re a natural.” Ludwig laughed, somewhat dryly. Wincing at the pain in his back. Look’s expression shifted to one of concern, “you alright? You didn’t get spiked did you?” Ludwig shook his head, still wincing. Now that he wasnt in the middle of being attacked the pain had seemingly caught up with him. Locke leaned over him, and his expression grew more worried, “damn. It got you good. Don’t worry about the suit, we’ll get them patched up back in the field, and the injuries don’t look too bad, nothing a stiff bottle of the Lord’s own and a dip in the pools won’t fix.” He laughed and made towards the stairs behind Ludwig,

  “Where are you going?” Ludwig asked confused, “I thought we got them all.” Locke shook his head,

  “First, where are we going. Second, the bodies are still there, if we got rid of all of them they’d have dissipated by now.” Ludwig paused, looking at the corpse on the sofa. He felt sad looking at it and had to turn away.

  “What about…” he trailed off,

  “The body? Nothing much we can do for them.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “But they’re dead Locke. It just feels wrong to leave them here.”

  “Ludwig,” he said, looking at Ludwig, then down to the body, “we can’t stop things like this. If you want to do anything for them, the best we can do is deal with the Hellchild that did that to them. Ok?” Ludwig didn’t speak, he only nodded and began to follow Locke up the staircase.

  The upper floor of the house was better lit, not only were the tarps covering the windows blocking less light but a few of the ceiling lights had been switched on. The stairs led up into a kitchen, the fridge had been laid flat on the floor, and the table was laid with two sets of cutlery, although both of them appeared untouched. Locke stepped forward and crouched down to inspect the fridge, opening it slightly.

  “Locke,” Ludwig asked, “why are you looking in the refrigerator?” Locke pulled the door down, looking inside.

  “Because you never know where Hellchilds are going to hide, they’ll go anywhere they can to get the drop on you.” He paused, then added “also…” he looked over his shoulder and have Ludwig a thumbs up “Sometimes people store chocolate in their fridges.” Ludwig’s brow furrowed,

  “Chocolate?” He asked. Locke nodded,

  “Yes. Chocolate, I don’t have time to explain but I like having some on me.” Ludwig, rather than responding walked around the fridge and past Locke.

  The main room of the upstairs house, the kitchen, was connected to a similar sized living room. The couch in the middle had been slashed multiple time, reducing its main cushion to ribbons of fabric. Ludwig stopped and looked at the damage, then winced slightly as he remembered the cuts on his back. ‘Yeah, thats definitely from them,’ he mused to himself as he gingerly touched his back to make sure he was still alright. The wood of what had once been a coffee table was scattered across the ground in splinters, it didnt look like it had been split apart by one of the Legionnaires though, it looked more like it had been broken in some sort of struggle. Ludwig straightened up, as his Scythe shifted its form between the short sword and rapier forms.

  As Ludwig crossed from the living room through a small hall he was presented with two doors, one shut, the other ajar. He could only see a small sliver of the the room beyond the door, it appeared to be some kind of bedroom. As he prepared to call for Locke, figuring that it was a bad idea to try and check one door on his own, considering the Legionnaires had already shown themselves to be fond of hiding behind them for ambushes, he heard a quiet sound like someone crying. Followed by a quiet, barely perceptible voice.

  “Who’s there?” The voice stammered out its words, and the sound was repeated a few times before Ludwig realised what it was saying. He strode towards the door quickly, assuming someone must have been in danger.

  As he pulled the door open three things occurred, which unfortunately Ludwig was only able to. Notice in perhaps the worst possible order. First, he saw that the tarp covering the window in the room had been mostly torn apart, allowing the light from the outside to flood into the bedroom. The second thing he noticed was Locke screaming at him, Ludwig was able to turn his head just enough to see Locke, holding a severed human hand as he emerged from another room looking shocked. Before he could take in anything Locke had said he noticed the third and final thing, the person in front of him as he opened the door. They looked vaguely human, but their eyes were glassy and their skin appeared stretched as if had been pulled over something else.

  Ludwig was only able to yell “oh”, and raise his blade before the thing grabbed him around the throat. It moved incredibly fast, faster than even the Legionnaires had, and it was clearly much more physically strong. As Ludwig tried to choke out a yell he heard Locke running up towards them. He saw reach an arm out towards him on his left, only for Ludwig to be rammed through the opposite door, sending splinters into his already damaged back. He had time to scream in pain before the charging creature sent him through a window. Or more accurately, leapt through a window, with him in tow.

  Inside on the second floor Locke paused for a moment to adjust his tie, pausing for a moment he looked at the window. ‘Why does he keep doing that?’ He asked himself as he stepped backwards, preparing to enact his plan. ‘Was I that idiotic when I started? If so I need to apologise to Astrid when I next see her.’ As Locke stepped forward, beginning to run forward towards the window he thought, ‘I really didn’t expect them to be incarnated, if this gets worse I might need to bring out the shadow.’ He dashed forward, leaping out through the window to continue the fight.

  Ludwig had first landed on the roof of a partially disassembled car, then slid off that into a bath tub. While this was an embarrassing position to be in, that was dwarfed by the danger of being slumped in a bathtub posed, especially as the horrible flesh creature leered over him. His Scythe was gone, he was completely at the creature’s mercy, he had no idea where Locke was and he was almost certainly about to die. Or maybe not, he had come back before. He wasn’t sure how but he had. And even then, he’d been dead before he’d become a Reaper. ‘My head’s stinging, I’m probably just spiralling.’ He let out a short laugh, as he watched the monster extend a several sharp blades of bone from its hand, like claws. Ludwig raised his hand up worthlessly and looked up at the monster. ‘If only I hadn’t dropped my Scythe…’ he saw something shoot out from the window of the house.

  As he leapt out of the window, his suit jacket fluttering behind him, ready to strike at the Legionnaire the moment he saw it, Locke saw something he had not anticipated. Ludwig’s Scythe was moving through the air, towards the Legionnaire that stood over the bathtub, as it flew he saw it shift into the rapier it had taken on the form of before, and shoot straight through the HellChild’s body as if an invisible interloper had stabbed it from behind. Locke landed on the ground and went into a roll, straightening himself up and looking to where the Legionnaire had been. Its body twitched for a moment before a pale mist began to fizzle out of it, and the creature turned into a fine mist in the air.

  Locke stepped forward and leaned over the bathtub looking down at Ludwig, who had grabbed the Scythe in his hand.

  “Locke…look, I didn’t lose my Scythe.” He let out a soft laugh. Locke looked at him in shock,

  “Ludwig, what…how did you do that?” He looked at the Scythe in pure confusion. Ludwig groaned and pulled himself into a sitting position, the pain in his head had turned from a thumping bass to a subtle strum. He blinked a few times and looked at Locke, as the Scythe shifted into a small stick about the size of a pencil.

  “How did I do what?”

  “Make the Scythe move remotely.” Ludwig blinked a few more times, he was confused. He hadn’t really done anything to make it do that, beyond just think about the Scythe. But if it was something he could do why did Locke seem so shocked?

  Locke reached into the bathtub and grabbed Ludwig, pulling him up onto his feet. “Like I said, how did you do it?” Locke repeated, still holding onto Ludwig’s jacket. He shrugged, not sure what exactly Locke wanted him to say. Locke’s mannerisms also seemed odd, he seemed almost scared, or at least very angry about Ludwig’s movement of the Scythe. Ludwig pulled himself together and responded verbally,

  “I don’t know. It felt like I just, recalled it back towards me. Like calling to an animal, or something like that.” Locke let go and took a step back, “is it something Reapers can’t do normally?” Locke shook his head,

  “No, its not impossible…but remote Scythe manipulation is rare.” Ludwig cocked his head to one side,

  “How rare is it?” Locke didn’t respond at first. He looked at Ludwig, then up to the sky. Then he said quite softly,

  “I’ve only ever known one Reaper who could do it.”

  “Who?” Ludwig said with interest, figuring that if he could learn how to manipulate his weapon from someone else who knew the technique it would come easier to him. Locke responded by shaking his head,

  “Its unimportant. He’s gone now. Our bosses do, but they’re not inclined to show up and teach hidden abilities to random Reapers. So you might be on your own for this one, although…” he paused and stroked his chin in thought, “im sure I could help you with what I do know about it.”

  Locke turned and walked towards the fence, before he started walking away from Ludwig. He signalled over his shoulder for him to follow. “But for now, we need to head back to the field of flowers. And celebrate a job well done.”

  Book of the Reaper, volume 4: The Armaments of Reapers

  Remote Scythe Translocation: A difficult to master technique of Scythe manipulation. Allows the wielder to remotely control the movement of their Scythe. Remote Scythe Translocation requires a soul naturally attuned to it and an unformed Scythe, it is made more difficult through the need for the user to genuinely believe they are able to move their Scythe remotely. Attempting to teach the technique is not recommended.