Young Writers Society

Schadel Kueper:

She froze when she saw the two human boys. Terrified of accidentally saying something that would reveal she was the boy from earlier with the silver scythe, she remained silent for almost a minute. "Hi! I'm Schadel," she finally said. "Schadel Kueper. I'm an amateur detective." She gestured at the seemingly human boy next to her. "This is Archernar."

"I'm Joe," the boy who had called out said.

"My name's Luke," the other boy introduced himself.

She pretended like she had never met either one of them. She had to; she didn't want to face the consequences of being found out. "We're heading to a cave near here. Would you like to come? I'll just tell you this as a warning. The group there aren't exactly normal, and might terrify you if you're unprepared."

Luke let out a hint of a smile. "If you knew what we went through today..." he muttered. He looked over at the rising sun. He felt a small sense of security. He knew that a whole lot of dangerous animals- in this case monsters, it seemed- took to shelter during the day, but the sun also warmed his cold, exhausted body.

Soul Error Arwitch:

If he was human, he knew he would be blushing in embarrassment. "I'm Soul Error Arwitch," he muttered, staring down at the ground. It was always awkward when the person he was healing was unconscious; he still had yet to figure out a way to make it easier. "I'm the one who healed you, but you probably already guessed that..." He finally looked up. If Zogin was here, she would be chastising him for not getting to the point. "I had to embrace you to heal you. There's other methods, but that one was the fastest and the best. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, and I'm really sorry for scaring you!"

Before the man could offer a response, Mage spoke up. "Archernar ran off," he informed Faustus. Recognition quickly flashed across the man's face at the name. "Right now, we have two people missing. Archernar and Schadel, both of whom ran off without any explanation."

"F-five," Aska quietly spoke up from his spot next to the strange dragon-human. Now that Soul thought about it, was it Nendros, Aska's friend?

"Five?" Mage questioned, turning his attention to the trembling suit of armor.

Aska nodded. "There's f-five missing." He hid behind who Soul guessed to be Nendros. Did Mage scare him that much? "L-Luke and J-Joe are still out th-there, fighting th-the mon-monsters, along wi-with the b-boy who s-started fi-fighting as I l-left.."

Soul took over the explanation. "Luke and Joe were with me and Aska, and a boy with a silver scythe suddenly joined the fight. Does anyone know him?"

No one did.

Before Soul could figure out what they should next, there was the sound of people entering the cave. He turned to see a teenage girl, a boy, Luke, and Joe. Underneath his armor, he smiled.

Jackie ?

I woke up, surrounded by sand, I reach for my face, whew, the helmet is still on, but there is a slight bit of sand inside it, all over my face.

"Dang it."

I get up and see figures, I run as fast I can, my black suit was killing me, along with my motorcycle helmet, hey, at least it was the most effective disguise.

I look back a little bit, until I can't run anymore, I fall onto the sand helmet first.

Julia:

Julia lifted her face from the sand. The sun was high up in the sky. Julia rubbed the sand off her face and stood. Her mouth was dry. Beads of sweat were rolling down her face. Her clothing felt weird from the sea water that had dried in them. She wasn't sure what to do, but she knew that she had to find water. And fast.

Nendros:

He crossed his arms. His gaze traveled from newcomer to newcomer, finally settling on Schadel. The human girl looked unsurprisingly nervous; after all, she had suddenly bolted off.

"Hi," she quietly said. She wasn't oblivious of his glare. Good. That wasn't to say he could actually glare well. He had never been able to do that. But it did get across how upset he was. "I went off to find food...We only have dead bread, and that's not nutritious. And we'll probably run out soon with all of these people..."

The excuse sounded weak to his ears.

"Where's that guy?" one of the two boys asked; this one was the one with the gunmetal blue eyes.

"What guy?" Magestorrow questioned. The boy looked absolutely terrified of the demon.

"He had a silver scythe," the second boy replied. He looked at them strangely. "You haven't seen him? He ran off, saying he was going to come up to the cave and help fight. He should have beaten us here."

Schadel was staring down at her feet. Nendros found the action to be an intriguing one. What was making her so uncomfortable about this conversation? She should have been grinning at the prospect of the mystery. After all, she was a detective!

An idea crept into his mind. One that couldn't possibly be the truth, but, at the same time, was a very feasible answer. "Schadel."

"Yeah?" she asked. She seemed to be struggling to keep her voice steady.

"I know the truth about you," he ominously said. He drew himself up in an attempt to look just a bit more menacing than he already did. Her silver eyes widened in horror, her mouth dropping to form a perfect "o". "I've possessed this knowledge from when we first met. I've kept quiet about it. You didn't want me or anyone else to know it, so I've honored your wishes." He gave her a cold smile, revealing a set of incredibly sharp teeth. "But now you've decided to lie to us. You didn't go to get food. I can see it in your eyes. Because of your decision to lie, I have decided to reveal the truth about you!"

The only answer she could muster was a nervous laugh.

He gave her a rather smug grin.

Her gaze dropped once again down to her feet, and she clenched her hands into fists. "Alright," she admitted. "I lied. Are you happy? I'll tell you all the truth, since I know Nendros is going to anyways." After a moment of silence, she looked at the curious faces of the group. "I was the boy from earlier. I wanted to help fight, but to you guys, Schadel Kueper can only see ghosts. I can change my form because I'm a grim reaper."

Peregrine Baines:

He looked quite out of place on the sandy beach. Dressed in an immaculate black suit, he seemed as if he belonged in an office building. His black loafers, which had recently been polished, quickly traveled across the sand once he spotted the girl.

Her movements were sluggish and slow. The sand littering her hair gave him enough information to assume she had been asleep.

"Hello," he greeted her with a smile and a British accent that had yet to disappear, despite all of the years that had gone by since the war for independence. "My name is Peregrine Baines."

The seemingly human girl, who had a dark complexion and eyes the color of springtime leaves, looked up and took in the more unusual aspects of his appearance. She took in his dark blue eyes, and his bright purple hair that was kept in a low, neat ponytail. She took in the skull insignia on the purple handkerchief in his chest pocket. And she took in the way he didn't seem quite human.

"I'm looking for a woman by the name of Schadel Kueper," he explained. "She has black hair and eyes the color of polished silver. I know she is here." The smile remained. "I would be grateful for any information you have about her."

Evion Fevalda:

Here he was. Thanks to his being hugged by an apologetic person in a suit of armor, his injury was now completely gone, although the armor at the original sport of the wound was still in tatters. A few people were reported missing, and a few new people showed up almost after that had been said. On top of the snake that made his face pale every time he sighted him. The girl who'd vanished earlier had returned, but the other two were unfamiliar to him. They seemed normal and human enough, but you could never be sure. Regardless, one of them looked like he didn't belong, thanks to his strange clothing and an expression that indicated that he wasn't exactly used to all this fighting, use of magic, or these strange surroundings. Evion honestly would've felt the same way if it wasn't for his profession and where he worked, so he couldn't help but pity the boy.

And now the girl - named Schadel, Evion remembered - had been accused of hiding something by Nendros, who still remained eerie in Evion's mind, although he seemed friendly enough. This judgment turned out to be correct, although Evion didn't have the slightest clue of what to make of it. Yes, he was used to people shapeshifting into all kinds of forms. Swapping gender? Seeing ghosts? A "grim reaper," whatever that meant? That was new to him.

He buried his head in his hands and groaned. He had to deal with this. He could deal with this.

Yet there was something that, hilariously, didn't add up, and he decided that he may as well say it. Averting his gaze from Achernar, who was now casting many a curious and strange expression in his direction, he faced the imposing Nendros. "Well played," he commented simply, surprising the man and everyone around him. Shying at the way that many gazes fell upon him, he never having had much of a significant speaking role or prominence in any situation before beyond those with his friends and comrades, he nonetheless held his ground and stared sharply at Nendros as he continued.

An eye mildly twitching from his anxiety, he took a deep breath, bringing back some of the color to his face. "You didn't know what the truth was, did you? You put on a dramatic air, said a few words, and you never actually made any claims. I'm guessing you might've stuck some pieces together when you heard about the mysterious boy and saw Schadel's reactions - both of which I could see, by the way - and decided to bluff your way into finding out what happened. I'm surprised it worked. It was too obvious, and not even my uncle would've been dumb and brash enough to fall for it. He would've given a bad lie, sat in the corner, and let somebody else control the show for him.

"But I'd like to know a little more," continued Evion with more confidence, turning to Schadel. As she was standing right next to Achernar, he addressed her with a sideways stare, still not willing to see the snake, who now seemed mildly amused, to his frustration. "What do you mean when you say you're a "grim reaper"? How does that allow you to change your form, even your gender?

"And how in the world can you see ghosts?"

Schadel Kueper:

She had never been so horrified in her entire life.

She had been too shocked by Nendros' accusation to even notice, much less call out, his bluff. But now that Faustus had drawn her attention to it, the signs were all too clear. The puffed out chest. The smile that didn't reach his eyes. The deeper voice he spoke with.

In most situations, she would be embarrassed at the realization that she had been tricked. Instead of embarrassment, this time all she felt was fear. If she was human, her heart would be beating faster than it should. Her adrenaline would be rushing through her bloodstream. Her palms would become sweaty.

She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"You can't tell anyone this," she began. It was a useless gesture. She couldn't control their actions, and every single person in the cave understood that.

It was easier for her to speak if she wasn't trying to gauge the reactions of everyone assembled. Her gaze focused on Faustus instead; he had been the one to ask the questions, after all.

"People usually know grim reapers as one entity. The Grim Reaper. Typically portrayed in stories as a tall skeleton dressed in a shabby black cloak. He is always carrying a scythe to reap the souls of the dead, and sometimes he also carries an hourglass."

From the back of the cave, the knight whimpered before rushing up to Nendros and using him as makeshift shield.

"I know it seems obvious once you know about the grim reaper." She gestured at her jacket. "It's ratty and black, like the Reaper's cloak. And I know the silver scythe is also really obvious. It's just that I really like scythes, and Blanx gave me the coat-" Upon realizing she was starting to get off topic, she took another deep breath. "Anyways, back to your questions. There are actually multiple grim reapers. No, multiple is an understatement. There's at least as many as Earth's current human population, which is around seven and half billion for everyone not from Earth."

"Grim reapers take the souls of humans after they die and bring them to what humans call the afterlife. We do so by using our weapons. I would use my scythe, but like I said earlier, that was a choice I made because I thought scythes looked cool." She paused. "I don't normally look like this. None of the grim reapers do."

Her form suddenly began to change. Her limbs became longer. Her skin turned an inky black and became more like shadows than anything else. Her hair receded back into her head, and all of her clothing (except for Adam's silver cross and the black coat Blanx had given her) simply disappeared. Darkness licked the air around her.

She was grateful that the ceiling was higher than her natural form. It would have made the conversation even more awkward if she was ducking the entire time. "This is what we really look like. We don't have a clear gender when we're created. You only know I'm female because that's how you know me as and because my voice is feminine. But that's something that develops over time. Our accents, if we have them, on the other hand, come from when we were created. I have a German accent as a result of living in World War Germany the first years of my life. Blanx, who came into existence during the Revolutionary War between the Americans and British, has a British accent because it was the British soldiers who found him."

"To answer your last question?" she asked. "Well, it wouldn't make much sense for a grim reaper not to be able to see the manifestion of a bodiless soul, would it? Blanx has a theory that our powers come from our purpose. That's why we can take on human forms. We were meant to interact with humans." Even if other grim reapers didn't believe that, she always would.

Julia:

"I don't know what you're talking about." Julia said.

Achernar:

As he concluded very quickly, the young boy was quite literally standing next to the personification of Death. The reaping of souls, taking them to the afterlife, the nature of this Grim Reaper and how the person next to him matched that description, her new appearance, and her ability to see souls - it all made sense. Schadel was an aspect of Death - one of a multitude, yes, but the association still, quite clearly, stood.

He didn't know whether to feel amazed or terrified. On one side, he was actually facing Death. On the other side, he was actually facing Death.

Yet...what had he to worry? Achernar trusted her, and doubted that she had any malicious intent. The fact that she had gone out of the way to explain who was what and what her job was indicated to the boy that she was trustworthy. Then there was the fact that she'd helped him escape a blaze, and had generally been a friendly and kind person. He couldn't be dead either, as he hadn't seen her or her scythe before. She had never shown any signs of being threatening or harmful, and he saw no reason as to why she would break from that behavior any time soon. It was sad that she had fallen for such a clear bluff, but at least everyone was finally being open about their identities and truths. He was never much satisfied with an environment of secrets and lies, especially, as now, when nobody had any reason to threaten anyone else. They were in the same dreadful mess together - why should they worry about such restraints?

He smiled, a little confident and relaxed though it was clear that most everyone else didn't feel the same way. At least, the soldier didn't - the man had given a slight yelp and was now hiding behind the quivering suit of armor, who, in turn, was hiding by the man with the massive wings.

Ah, yes, he'd almost forgotten about the soldier.

The man was amusing. His fear and antics were hilarious, if only because they were ill-founded. Yet...There was something about the individual that caught his full attention. Being the only other recognizable person in the vicinity, the soldier was possibly the person Achernar could relate to the most. On the other hand, he dressed like the guards in the old stories he listened to, had the same fears as those in the old stories, and otherwise acted like he came right out of those texts. There seemed to be a lot to this soldier that Achernar didn't know about, and that made him immensely curious. Who was he? Where did he come from? Was he really one of the general's guards? What had happened to the country his people had fought a war in, and had distanced themselves away from for a few decades?

Something fit into Achernar's thoughts precisely. An idea began to form in his head. He pointed towards Faustus, who paled and tried to make himself inconspicuous behind the scared suit of armor. "If I heard you right," he began with a curious tone, "you said your uncle wouldn't fall for a bluff like that. I'm guessing he has to deal with this stuff all the time? If so, wouldn't that make him a general, or a politician?"

"He's none of my business," replied the soldier in a dismissive tone, peeking to glance at Achernar for a second before hiding again. "And he's none of yours either."

"But...," pondered the boy to himself, the thoughts in his head coming together to form a coherent conclusion and picture. He clapped his hands once in satisfaction, and continued, "...if you dress like one of the guards, and know somebody who appears to be a powerful man...would that make you related to the Commander, Yasuko?"

"The commander?" The responding voice was laced with confusion and uncertainty, but its owner did not bother to move from his position. "Yasuko isn't a general anymore, the man is the king..." he trailed off, obviously struck by the realization that it had probably not been the best idea to say that.

Achernar laughed. A high-pitched, but not irritating or squeaking, laugh. Explaining quickly, delightfully, and loudly. "I'd always wondered if the Ormarr were out of date in their records. A few decades of fleeing to an icy wasteland and they haven't learned a thing about what they've left behind! That not only makes you one of the general's guards, but one of the king's guards. And I imagine the king would choose relatives and the people he trusts for such a noble position, so you must be related!"

"The king's family is a bunch of liars, manipulative scoundrels, and temperamental idiots," replied Faustus scornfully. Given the rising tone and loudness of his voice, he was evidently angry and displeased, which wasn't helping his case. "He wouldn't trust them to hold anything without them crashing it down on his head. Stop making assumptions about who I am and why I'm here - it's none of your business." It was clear that he didn't have any good excuses at this point.

"Yet his followers were always described as loyal," retorted Achernar casually. "It looks like you're hiding something, aren't you? You seem to have their temperament yourself, and I can only conclude that you're a member of the House of Hyusei..."

"Listen," boomed the soldier, who was quite clearly done with this conversation. Achernar had obviously pushed too deep, and had managed to invoke his anger. Pushing aside those he was hiding behind, he was completely red in the face, the blood vessels in his neck bulging. Pointing an accusatory finger at Achernar, Faustus shouted a reply. "I am not a part of that lying, treasonous family. It has cost too many people their lives, especially those too close to me. My uncle is a liar, coward, and traitor, with a wife perhaps more manipulative and destructive than he is. All of my grandparents are dead, and all for the sake for war. My great-grandfather is a decent man, but aloof, distant, and domineering. I refuse to be a part of that gathering of wretched people. I am Evion Fevalda, and......and...and..."

Suddenly, the soldier transitioned from looking powerful, angry, and tense to fearful and horrified. Achernar had unwittingly collapsed the man's lie, and everyone realized it. Particularly the soldier, whose gesture fell. Knees slightly shaky, he took a few steps back, and ran into the wall of the cave.

"Something you want to explain?" said the boy with a raised eyebrow.

Peregrine Baines:

The smile turned to a frown. "I see," he simply said. He turned his gaze to the figure farther down the stretch of beach. Clad in a motorcycle helmet and black jumpsuit, they were strangely running away from him and the human girl he had yet to have learned the name of. They did so for about a minute longer before tripping over their own two feet and landing face first into the sand. Gesturing for the girl to follow him, he approached the fallen motorcyclist.

They sat up, revealing themselves to be female. "Hello," he said with a smile. This person couldn't possibly be his Soldier; his Soldier would have done more than simply stare.

"My name is Peregrine Baines," he introduced himself. "I'm looking for a woman by the name of Schadel Kueper. She has black hair and eyes the color of polished silver. Any information you have on her would be greatly appreciated."

When the girl offered no response, he changed tactics. "It all seems like we are stranded here. None of us seem to belong in this place, so I suggest we all stick together for the time being. Our first plan of business should be to introduce ourselves and explain how we ended up here." He continued to smile at the two humans. "As I said before, my name is Peregrine Baines. I own Baines' Antique Shoppe in New York City, a family business. Something which I now assume to be a portal opened before the woman I mentioned earlier, so I followed her through in an attempt to understand what had appeared."

Nendros:

An awkward silence settled in the cave, the soldier unwilling to answer the boy's question. Nendros cast a glance in the direction of the boy from Earth, Ann's group, and the boy who had seen through Evion's ruse. They seemed to be, as of right now, the only people who weren't concealing the truth about themselves (save for Aska, who was still cowering behind him). It was a depressing thought. Even he had been guilty of lying.

"I've noticed something," he suddenly said. "The majority of us have been lying, myself included. Sure, lying is a good survival tactic, but it's not one we should be using in this situation, even if we're not comfortable with telling the truth. We're stuck on an island with no means of leaving at the moment. For some of us, help most likely won't be coming."

He started to pace around the cave. Aska gave a startled cry before rushing to catch up to him. "We have no idea what we can find out there on this island, except for murderous creatures that come out in the night. We need to trust each other if we're going to be surviving this. I don't know about you, but I don't want to trust someone I know is lying."

He came to a halt in the center of the group. "That's why I suggest we all tell the truth. I suggest we say our names, explain what we are, how we ended up here, and if we can provide anything that will help us survive."

Schadel, having recovered from his accusation, nodded. She had yet to return to her human form, and Nendros would be lying if he told himself her true form didn't terrify him. "That sounds good to me. Want me to go first?" He gestured for her to continue. "My name is Schadel Kueper. Like I've informed you all, I'm a grim reaper. We have something called gateways, which are basically portals from our dimension to Earth. I was going through one that should have brought me to a cemetery in Germany, but I ended up on this island instead. The only thing I can offer is the dead bread I brought with me, and the small water bottle."

"I'll go next," Nendros volunteered. After all, it had been his suggestion. "My name is Nendros Exel Xenon. I'm the prince of Laetae, but please call me Nendros. I don't like being referred to by any royal title. I'm actually a human." That statement was met with understandable shock. "I was kidnapped by a dragon named Tieth and brought to the Castle of Blood. She cursed me to look like this because I'm the new Dragon-Human Ambassador. As I said earlier, I was reading a book that's probably magical, and before I knew it, I ended up here. Unfortunately, I'm not good at fighting, hate hunting, and my first aid skills are mediocre. The most valuable trait I have in this situation is my ability to fly." He glanced behind him. "Aska?"

"Me?!" his best friend exclaimed. When he realized everyone's attention was now on him, he hid behind Nendros even more than he already had. "M-My n-name is Ask-Aska," he quietly said. "I-I'm cursed by T-Tieth as w-well. She s-s-said I t-tried rescuing a p-princess I thought was in the C-Castle of B-Blood centuries ago. She m-made forever b-be a knight in sh-shining armor." With shaking steps, and his armor clanking together, he walked out from behind Nendros. "This ar-armor is em-empty. I'm the ar-armor." He removed his helmet.

From nearby, someone other than Evion screamed. Nendros was shocked to see that the one who had done so was Magestorrow, who had now taken a leaf out of Aska's book and was using Soul as a shield. "That's not right, that's not right, that's not right!" he yelled. "I'm imagining this! Ghosts definitely don't exist! I'm not seeing a ghost, I'm not seeing a ghost, I'm not seeing a ghost!"

"I'm n-not a g-g-ghost," Aska said.

Magestorrow fell silent, peeking around Soul's arm. "You're not?"

Aska shook his head. "I'm al-alive. You just can't k-kill me."

The demon walked out from behind Soul. His face was almost as red as his horns and tail. "Oh," he said, finding the ground to be incredibly interesting.

"I r-read the same b-book Nen d-did. I can't d-do anything he-helpful..." He put his helmet back on again.

Luke Eberhard:

Luke shifted his weight awkwardly. He had no idea what was going on, no clue what was up, he couldn't exactly understand how these people got here, and hearing what these people could do, he felt pretty darn useless.

"Um... I'm Luke, I'm a human, and... uh... I can play poker pretty well,"

IS ANYONE EVEN GOING TO POST SOMETHING?! I FEEL SO ALONE! XD