Death's Apprentice

Lily had a sudden mix of emotions rush through her as she and the boy stared at each other. This was the person who had taken her away from her mommy and daddy and forced her into the land of the Inbetween. He was also the reason why she was Death’s Apprentice in the first place and the reason for meeting Arno and visiting the Dreamland and having to deal with Dark Entities.

She didn’t know how to react.

“Lily? Are you alright?” Arno asked, standing right behind her.

Millions of questions went through her mind of the boy in the room. Why did he come to her school? Why did he do those awful things? Did he even know who she was?

“Hi there.” she waved as cheerfully as she could. “What’s your name? I’m Lily.”

The boy said nothing. He simply fell to his knees and continued to stare.

“Um… We came to save you?” she said, unsure of herself.

Instead of letting her lead him out by the hand like she had done with Vicki, he pulled at his hair and let out an agonizing wail-crumpling to a fetal position on the ground. Lily paused, and then slowly approached him.

“It’s ok. I forgive you. I’m fine now-really.” she told him, reaching a hand out to him. He jerked back vehemently.

“GET AWAY FROM ME.” he hissed, part of his face turning black. “How could I have done that?” he lamented. “What have I done? Why… WHY?!” His body shook and began to change, bubbling up like boiling ink.

“Please-we need to get you out of here cause-”

“NOOO!”

The room changed, and suddenly, Lily was looking at a group of people that she knew. Edgar was there. And Miss Rose. And all the other kids she had seen come to the land of the Inbetween. And off to one side standing next to a little red haired boy that she didn’t know, was an image of herself, smiling back at them in her colorful dress and bouncy blond pigtails. The boy pounded the floor and the image changed again to the empty classroom.

But by this point, he was no longer a teenage boy.

He was a Dark Entity.

But he remained cowering there on the floor-his hands over his head. Lily did not back away. Instead, she reached out her hand to touch his back.

Immediately, she was pulled into a death vision. He was running. She could feel the anguish and hurt inside him. There was yelling, and screaming, and gunfire. The boy fell to the ground.

She came back to reality as he jerked away from her again. The empty classroom had turned into another broken down dark room like the rest of the hallway.

“But…”

The newly born Dark Entity turned to her and gave a painful screech, and then scurried past her and disappeared through a hole in the floor.

“Lily?”

Lily felt her eyes burning, and the snot began to run out her nose. She rubbed the tears off her face.

“Lily. Did that boy…”

“He came to my school. He made me come here.” she sniffled. She turned to her Guardian and reached out to him, pressure building up in her face. He lifted her up into his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder as she began to sob. She squeezed his neck and wished with all her heart that the boy had not done such a horrible thing. Not for her sake, but for his…

Through all of this, they had accumulated quite the group of people shuffling down the hallway. Most of them were the workers, but some of them were actual occupants that had been convinced to come out-much to the joy of everyone who saw them. They had also come up to a floor of people who had been attacked by the dark entities, and to the relief of many of the workers, some of the victims were finally able to wake up due to the coaxing of the Savers.

Lily continued to rest herself on her Guardian’s shoulder, feeling tired and sad.

“I can’t believe you just-you forgave the person that-.” He sighed. “I think I at times forget the nature of children. Morpheus was right. Innocence and forgiveness… We need a bit more of that here…”

“But I told him that I forgave him-so why didn’t he come back?” she asked sorrowfully. “I don’t understand.”

“Lily, sometimes forgiveness is not for the person we have to forgive. It’s for ourselves. It’s all very complicated...You’ll understand some day…” Lily closed her eyes-glad that she had Arno to protect her and comfort her.

“How are you feeling Lily? Are you ok?” Daya asked, catching up with them patting the little girl on the back.

The little girl mumbled something unintelligible.

“She’s sad because the boy who killed her turned into... you know.”

As her Guardian said this, Lily felt her eyes burning again, and she buried herself into his shoulder.

“She… feels sorry for him?”

“Yes. Maybe you can help-she doesn’t understand why he wouldn’t come with us.”

After a little pause, she could feel Daya’s hand on her back again. Hesitantly, she looked up and stared into the caramel face of the woman in front of her.

“Lily, you’re Death’s apprentice right?”

“Yes.”

“So you’re trying to learn all about the different realms?”

Lily sniffed and nodded.

Daya gave her a warm smile that made Lily feel like she had swallowed hot chocolate.

“When you work here in the Insanities, you are called a Saver. We are the ones responsible for helping the people here. In order to do that, you must be forgiving and selfless, no matter who you are trying to help. It’s not saying that what they did was ok, but it’s in the past.

Of course, some of the occupants here simply can’t let go of the things that they’ve done. It overtakes them and they won’t let anyone help them. No matter how evil someone may seem in the living world, they still have a sense of good inside them. When they get here, that sense of good drags them down into despair as they realize how wrong they were to do those things.

When someone turns into a dark entity, they can no longer be saved as far as we know. I don’t think that boy could stand the thought of you forgiving him of what he did to you. Sometimes we would feel better being yelled at or reprimanded by those we’ve wronged. It feels worse to have them love you.”

Lily still didn’t fully understand, but she felt like she was getting it little by little.

“You would make a great Saver Lily.” Daya told her, causing the little girl to blush and hide in Arno’s shoulder again.

“There’s the glass portal!” someone exclaimed. Lily popped her head up and looked forward.

“Ok-only a few people at a time can go through, so we’ll have to go in shifts.” Daya called out to everyone. There was a murmur of agreement from the crowd, and about five people stepped up. Lily patiently watched as little by little, the large group of people disappeared in the darkness of the glass ball. The calm of the situation ceased as soon as the screeches echoed from down the hallway from whence they had come. Everyone slowly turned and looked towards the sound fearfully. There was nothing there yet, but they all knew what was coming.

“The Dark Entities…” Arno whispered.

Everyone started to back up as a dark shadow emerged at the end of the hallway-the lights flickering ominously. It was joined by others, and it soon looked like they were some sort of dark black sea staring at them from afar.

With another screech, they came for the group of people. Screams filled the air, and Arno quickly dropped Lily to the ground and took a step towards the darkness. He put his arms out-drawing carts and tables to him by some unseen force. They moved at his will-beginning to form a wall. They all connected together in a blockade against the Dark Entities, and then he stayed there and braced himself.

The dark sea slammed into Arno’s wall with ferocity, but the barricade held fast. The Guardian struggled to hold them back-a bit of light coming from his hands.

“Get everyone out!! NOW! I’m still not used to this Guardian mumbo jumbo!” he managed under the weight of the things that once were people. There was suddenly a mad rush to get everyone out. Five at a time, they rushed into the glass orb. Arno grunted with effort-his feet sliding back slightly as he acted as the only thing between the Dark Entities and the innocent souls behind him. The wall he had made started to crack in some places.

“I-can’t-hold them back-long enough!” he said through clenched teeth. Suddenly, a wispy dark cloud came up out of nowhere, and standing there was Death-accompanied by a group of reapers. They stood there next to Arno-helping him hold the dark entities back. Lily stood in the midst of it all-not knowing what to do. She looked over to see the last group of people step into the glass portal.

“That’s everyone!” Death yelled. “Now let’s get out of here!!”

Arno gave one last nudge and added a bit more to the barricade, and then they all turned and ran. The Guardian picked Lily up, and she waved the piece of Death’s cloak around them like the other Reapers were doing with scarves or trenchcoats, and thought about going wherever Death was. They all escaped in a flourish of black dust…

Arno stumbled backward, holding on tightly to the little girl as they landed a bit awkwardly. Lily looked around at all the uprooted people around her. The pillars and stone walls looked familiar.

“Well look who it is!!” the booming voice of Sergeant Downey called.

“Why are we in the Guardians Realm?” Arno wondered aloud, looking around.

The Sgt. clapped a large meaty hand on his back. “How’s the soldier?”

“I’m a Guardian not a soldier.” Arno said rather distastefully.

“Same thing.”

“Oh! Hi Ashley!” Lily piped up.

“Waaait… Your name is Ashley?”

“Uh... Well, carry on then, it’s good to see you again!” the Sgt. said quickly, and then he left them to go check on some of the others.

Arno and Lily snickered to themselves.

At that moment, Death walked over and pulled them aside.

“Death! What took you so long back there?”

“I need to talk to you.” Death said seriously. The Guardian nodded, and then followed the cloaked man down one of the Guardian hallways. Death looked around, and then pulled them into a little alcove.

“We are in a bit of trouble.” he whispered.

“But I thought we got everyone out?”

“Some of them yes, but we have another issue on our hands.”

“Oh no… What now?” Arno exasperated.

“It’s the other reapers. That’s what took so long. Many of them refused to help.”

Lily didn’t understand. Why wouldn’t they want to help? Why would they leave those poor people in the Insanities?

“Wait-you mean they didn’t take orders from you? But-you’re Death!”

“Yes… They were fine taking orders from me for a very long time, but with the prospect of taking orders from a five year old… Well…”

“But you didn’t choose her-something else did-right?”

“Yes, but I fear we may have a reaper rebellion on our hands. The Guardians realm is the safest place right now. The timekeepers have put a hold on everything in the living world for the time being until we figure out what is going on with the Dark Entities. But I just wanted to warn you. There may be some reapers that may try to come after you two.”

“Oh… great...” Arno said sarcastically. “That’s good to know… It’s not like we are dealing with anything else on top of that…” He sighed. “Death-I know you have all this faith in me and all, but...I’m just one person. I can’t…”

The Master of the Dead took a good long look at him. “Arno. I think it’s time for you and Lily to go to the Realm of Fate.”

“But...why?”

“There’s someone there who I think will be glad to see you. And besides-Lily has to finish seeing the realms. I apologize things are so rushed, and I know things are hard, but often times those are the things that make us stronger. You’ll understand when you get there.”

“Fine. Ok.” Arno turned to leave, but Death stopped him.

“And Arno-”

“Yes?”

“Lily has more power than I think anyone realizes. The Fates will help you find out more about that. Don’t underestimate her simply because she’s five. She will be taking my place after all.”

Arno looked down at the wide eyed child in his arms.

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine!” Lily exclaimed happily. “It’ll be fun!”

The Guardian nodded a bit absentmindedly.

“Yes...Fun…”

“Arno? Do dead people sleep?”

“No. But it’s good to stop and rest every now and then so you aren’t overloaded with too many things at once. And careful with that cloak now, we don’t want you to go off somewhere without me.”

“I won’t. It doesn’t do that unless I want it to.”

She didn’t know how she knew that, but she did.

Lily yawned and pulled Death’s piece of cloak around her, using it as a blanket. They had been told to rest and wait for a little to give her a chance to let everything sink in. After all, she had been through quite a lot since she had arrived in the Inbetween. The little girl and her Guardian had found a nice quiet room so they wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else for a while-a room with a warm glow of torches and some pads to sit on.

“Arno? What’s a Nozzy? I keep forgetting to ask.”

“It’s Nazi. It was a group of people that did many horrible things.” He told her, leaning against the stone wall behind them.

“Why do people think you’re a Nazi?” she asked curiously, hoping she wouldn’t get in trouble for doing so.

“Because the Nazis came from my country. But it doesn’t mean everyone joined them. They made a lot of people become soldiers because of the war.”

“Like you?”

“Yes.”

Lily thought about this for a good long while and snuggled up against her Guardian, wondering what had happened to the Nazi people.

“Arno, will you tell me a story?”

Her Guardian scoffed a little.

“I’m afraid I’m not a very good storyteller.”

“Well what’s a story that your mommy and daddy would tell you?”

Arno thought about it a moment. “Well, there was one…” Lily looked up at him expectantly.

“Hey-I’m not promising anything good now-it’s been a while…”

“Ok.”

He took in a deep breath and thought for a moment.

“Once there was an enchanted princess…”

“What was her name?”

“Uh… Can’t remember…”

“Can it be Andrea? That’s my big sister’s name.”

“Sure… So Andrea. Enchanted princess. Stolen by a sorcerer or wizard or something...Anyway, you get the point.”

Lily nodded.

“So uh...There were two brothers. One was mean and was really kind of a jerk to everyone, and the other was as kind as could be. They were named…”

“Oh! The first one can be named Ashley! And the second is named Arno!”

Arno had to stop himself from laughing out loud. “We can keep the first name, but I don’t know about the second.” Lily thought about it.

“Jeremy. The other one is named Jeremy. And the princess is named Sarah.”

Her Guardian wasn’t exactly sure why she chose those specific names, but he simply shrugged his shoulders and continued on.

“So a cry went through all the land that… uh… something about three challenges and the winner could have the princess or something like that. So Ashley decided he was going to do it cause he was so big and tough.” At this, Arno made some muscles, causing Lily to laugh.

“He traveled to the castle on horseback and ran over some anthills, destroyed a beehive, and then killed some ducks for fun.”

“Why did he do that?”

“I don’t know. I guess because he was mean. He made it to the castle, and the wizard or sorcerer or whoever it was had their assistant come out to meet him to give him the three challenges. For the first challenge, the assistant spread a bunch of seeds on the ground and told him to pick them up in an hour. Ashley thought it was stupid and not manly enough, because he had issues with his girly name, so he went on a jog instead. Of course, when the assistant came out an hour later to see that he didn’t even try, he was not very pleased. But he gave him the second challenge anyway. The assistant then threw twelve keys into the river and told him that he had an hour to get them out. Once again, Ashley thought this was stupid, so he refused to do it. Even though he failed the first two challenges, he was allowed to try the last one. He was brought up into the tower with his sword and shield, ready to fight off anything that stood in his way. Instead, he found three veiled figures-.”

“What’s a veiled figure?”

“Oh-they were basically people with blankets over them so you couldn’t tell who they were.”

“Ok.”

“He was told that one was the princess, and the other two were not. He would have to choose wisely and was given an hour to think about it. Without thinking, he simply pointed to the one on the right, (because he was kind of stupid), and the veil fell to reveal that it was actually a dragon, which promptly ate him up.”

Lily’s eyes grew wide. “But what about Jeremy? What happened next?”

“Well, after a little while, Jeremy knew something had happened to his brother. So he went out to try the challenges himself. On his way, he found some anthills that had been trampled on, so he helped build them back up. He shared his bread with some ducks, and then placed some nice flowers for the bees so they could have pollen. Then he went to the castle, where the assistant gave him the same first task that had been given his brother. Jeremy tried his best to pick up all the seeds, but it was really hard. When all hope seemed lost, the ants that he had helped lined up and picked up all the seeds for him, helping him complete the first challenge.”

“Wow! Those ants must have been smart!”

“Yeah...So after completing the first challenge, he was given the second one-to retrieve the twelve keys from the river. This worried him a little, because he couldn’t swim very well, but he tried anyway. When all hope seemed lost, the group of ducks that he had shared his bread with, dove underneath the dark water and brought him the keys, helping him with the second challenge.”

Lily clapped her hands excitedly. “Now time for the blanket people!!” she exclaimed. Arno laughed a little to himself. “That’s right. The blanket people. So he had to pick which one was the princess. And if he chose wrong, a dragon would eat him up!”

The little girl gasped and threw the cloak over her head. “The dragon can’t eat Jeremy! He needs to save the princess Sarah!” Arno grabbed her playfully, causing her to squeal, her childish laughter filling the small room.

“Listen to the rest of the story! It’s almost done.”

Lily carefully peeled the cloak away from her face.

“Jeremy couldn’t figure it out. Was he going to choose the one on the right?”

“But that’s the dragon!!”

“He decided he was going to choose the one on the right…”

“No!!”

“But before he told the assistant, the bees that he had given the flowers to swooped in through the window and started buzzing over the head of the one in the middle. All hope was not lost! He chose the one in the middle-which happened to be the princess, and he broke the spell and they got married. The end.”

Lily clapped her hands. “Yay!!”

Arno seemed very pleased with himself.

“What’s going on in here?” Death asked, poking his head in. “Is everything alright?”

“Sorry…” Arno apologized sheepishly. “I was just telling her a story.”

“Yeah!! Jeremy had to save the Princess Sarah!”

Death’s face fell slightly, and Lily could see the sadness in the wrinkled lines.

“Oh… Well, you should… rest.” he said quietly.

Then without so much as a word or whisper of a sound, he closed the door behind him.