Area 51, Groom Lake, Nevada

8:39 PM

Reaper. Damn.

For a moment, I’ll explain what these disgusting, vial, soul-sucking creatures are. Believe me, it’s better to know instead fighting one without it.

Reapers are better known as the Malcar’Ji, a unique magical insectoid-reptilian species that live in the deepest part of the galaxy comprising of a few tribes. They like to keep to themselves, most of the time. Generally, Malcar’Ji try to be good-natured people, devoted to the bitter end. Their bodies look evil, yes. They roar enough to rattle your bones, yes. Who am I kidding, I’m describing a species that acts differently than the surprise reaper on Terra Firma, one that is not supposed to be there. You better know the difference between a reaper and a rogue reaper, like the monstrosity bombarded by plasma and magic fire.

First is the eyes and mouth. With normal reapers, they don’t glow red, nor any color for that matter. It’s the result of huge amounts of magical energy flowing through them, but it didn’t make sense to glow blood red. Worse was that I felt no magic radiating from the thing, not even a minute spark.

Rogue reaper’s bodies are all black instead of the standard brown, grey and yellow scheme. The scythe appendage is the same, but for rogues its super strong ivory, close enough to be berium. How it transformed from Griffon was a mystery, or it is Griffon’s true form?

The Malcar’Ji tribes and the Galactic Council made a pact at the very beginning of the Republic if rogue reapers appeared. Why you may ask? Well, they know they have a problem and they want to fix it; to expunge their dark needs and stop consuming souls, their primary source for magic. I don’t know how long, but I’m guessing thousands of years, there’s been no progress so far.

Did I mention souls?

When they eat a sentient soul, like any citizen of the galaxy with a conscious mind, they transform into rogue reapers: hard to kill, powerful as hell, and have a thirst for death.

Meeting the real Malcar’Ji is always unsettling for me just because of knowing their true nature. I feel like running for light years from the nearest reaper like bug repellant. I had once run into a rogue reaper and killed it myself before it had a chance to slice my head off. It gave me nightmares on cold, rainy nights.

All mercenaries, battle group members, trade leaders, planets, and anybody who can hold a gun or cast a spell know one thing: spot a rogue reaper and do whatever you can to render it dead, down to incinerating its brain.

The soldiers surrounding it got my message, dropped whatever they were doing, and let loose every weapon and spell they had on the reaper. The light caused short blindness, but the collective energy was powerful enough to shatter a diamond to dust.

I unloaded an entire clip of plasma on the writhing and screaming reaper, concentrating on its cowl-covered head. The clip finished and ejected itself; I was ready for it and reloaded in half a second. Ten more plasma bullets blasted the reaper’s hide, and the rifle was empty again. My rifle felt hot from repeated firing. In ten seconds, the attack created enough smoke to obscure the reaper’s mangled body.

Brill ordered all of us to back up fifty feet in a sprint and ordered the Endeavor to fire a gauss rifle round at the beast. I dragged Scott and Katie as terrified as they were. I didn’t argue. The metal slug hit it, the ground shook, and the smoke thickened. Mike’s body was incinerated to ash.

No more sounds came from it.

“I think we got it,” I sighed.

Brill’s eyes were as wide as ever, still reacting from the discovery, “Great Kai, what is a reaper doing in restricted space?”

“The hell should I know. That was Griffon, or is, I mean…”

The familiar holler shut me up. Impossible, that reaper should’ve been dead. I saw the scythe come out of the smoke, longer than ten feet. The reaper came out, free of injuries, and began slaughtering Nova soldiers; none of them were ready. The scythe whipped and sliced through bodies like weak bugs. Blood from several species splattered the ground. I pulled Brill down to duck from the scythe. The reaper moved on to weaker prey.

“You okay?” I asked him and he nodded. My attention drifted to Scott and Katie holding each other, not able to stop staring at the reaper.

“Hey, listen to me,” I yelled and they looked up. “Get the crog up, go straight for the dropship, and don’t you dare look back.”

Scott started, “But…”

“Don’t you butt me. Go, now!” I reloaded my rifle again and shot the reaper twice to draw its attention away from a rookie. I turned back and saw Scott holding Katie's hand running straight for the dropship.

"I'm calling in a Slipspace rift. That will surely kill it," Brill suggested. A sickening laughter came from the reaper, which gave me a bad feeling.

"That feeble dimension won't eradicate me," the reaper said, retracting its scythe. Each corner of its snout formed an unappealing smile. "Not even your weapons can harm me, mortals. I’m invincible!”

"Fat chance," I replied. I thought back to the caravan back in the mountains yesterday; it made me smirk. I turned my rifle into cannon mode, splitting the barrel into three sections floating in a magnetic field. I loaded three plasma bullets in the chamber, charged it—almost seared the skin off my hands—and I fired the green plasma ball at the reaper before it charged after us. “Take that, demon!”

The reaper took action in an unexpected way. He didn’t run, but stayed put. Instead of dodging the ball, the reaper grabbed the plasma round with its bare claws. He slid from the inertia, grunting a little, and stopped. The plasma was touching it and it wasn’t burning him. I mean come on, that’s just cheating. He laughed and said, “Told you,” and threw it at me.

“No fair!”

I sidestepped fast with Brill in my grasp, letting the intense heat fly by and destroy a hanger and two unused tanks. I felt the heat on my back and it probably melted something on Brill’s suit.

“That’s impossible, no reaper can do that,” Brill screamed. “That thing will tear through our ground troops in no time.”

“I know that!” I yelled. “Call in that rift. We’ll tell Denverbay about it later.”

“On it.” Brill connected to Obi and his fliers for a targeted Slipspace rift, good enough to seal away whatever that reaper was.

After it sliced through a wizard, the rogue reaper took a breather. “This is tiresome,” it grunted. It took a breath and I felt magic stir finally. I felt very faint and I was confused. Could it be that the pattern was different and my body wasn’t accustomed to it? He released the magic saying, “Minions, protect your master! Slaughter your enemies!” The magic rippled out at the speed of light, quite possibly good enough to travel past the base.

A haunting choir of human screams and hollers erupted in multiple directions. The fight restarted, but I felt like it had more fury than before. But it was half the story.

“Oh my Kai! Jaruka, Wringheart reports zombies are running to our LZ right now. We’re surrounded!”

“Great, just great. What else is new with this reaper! Do what you have to Brill, I’ll draw that reaper away.”

Brill nodded, not even questioning what I was improvising. Although, once I looked at the reaper, things got complicated.

The bloodlust changed and it ran on all fours toward Scott and Katie.

I told Brill to hold off the rift and went after the beast.

Too tired, too hungry, and the piss scared out of me, we ran like there was no tomorrow. I wanted to know why Griffon had turned into that monster, the reaper Jaruka had called it, and we had to listen to him. It was the only way to safety. God, stop this stupid shit. My hand was gripped tight on Katie's, and Keeji the coward was unreachable. Great guard dog he is.

Realistically, I wanted to crawl into a hole and ignore everything. A man can dream.

At the dropship, I spotted Kantra (Katie had asked for his name a while back) and Reba arriving there. Kantra pulled her up. Reba's clothes started to dissolve into mana and evaporated, and her torn hospital gown reappeared. She screamed and covered herself amongst the alien soldiers as her totem calmed her down. One of them looking like a drider with a sword strapped to each leg gave her a blanket. Kantra spotted us and yelled, "Come on, keep running!"

A few feet away—that was all it was. Katie reached first then me. I caught Reba changing her expression as she pointed behind me. “Look out!”

I dared myself to turn around, disobeying Jaruka’s word. The demonic reaper was charging after us. It was staring straight at me with those god awful glowing red eyes, saliva spewed from its mouth. I couldn’t move or speak. My motivation left me. Those eyes hypnotized me to stand still.

The worst part, I saw those eyes before, a long time ago.

The reaper jumped on all fours and rammed itself into the dropship. The massive blow caused it to hover away from me. Katie tripped off from the force and fell to the ground with an oof, but she was still fine. Reba and the other passengers lost there footing, sirens inside the ship ringed, and the pilot struggled to stabilize it with a damaged thruster sputtering fumes and sparks. It had to fly a hundred yards away to crash land safely.

I felt that familiar fear from two years ago rise like a broken hydrant. Why now? Please leave me alone.

“You are not leaving, Dunne!” I turned slowly to the reaper. It whipped its scythe, ready for an attack. That voice, it was definitely Griffon’s. Even that smile was his. How can this be?

It spoke again, “You are mine and you will give me what I desire!” The reaper let out a snarl and charged at me.

Katie scurried upright and stood in front of me. “Leave him alone,” she screamed and charged her mana. That confidence boost with Roland had changed her. I had to thank her for stepping up to protect me, even if it was a stupid idea to begin with. It was too late for her to speak one Celtic syllable—the Reaper punched her away with brute force to her left side. She flew up into the air and plowed into Jaruka as he was coming to the rescue. Katie screamed from what I guessed were broken bones.

I couldn’t do anything to help.

Keeji screamed in my head to move. I tried, but my body refused. Keeji said, Oh God, and I realized that something was really wrong. I felt Keeji leave my body to join Katie.

Among the fighting, the gunfire, the zombies, the alien words, and the alien ship looming over the base, I gained a whole new sense. These terran bodies are a marvel, one question that will never cease to be asked. If we were in a quiet place to understand these things, I could be fighting along side Katie. A couple spells. A balanced mind. More interaction with Keeji. I blame it all on my doubt, my inhibitions, and my damned past.

At Area 51, I was useless. That reaper, that sniveling general, unearthed feelings and emotions in me I caged up a long time ago.

Fear.

Solitude.

Regret.

Disappointment.

My mind prison caged me up once more.

Watching my parents die had crippled me, and it still does, but this was something else, like I was stabbed in the spine. I was unable to move, only feel the indescribable pain, but the last sound I heard was Katie screaming in terror.

Move dammit, you can do it, I thought.

I was able to move my head. My eyesight was clear as day, but I fell on a piece of bone. That same bone punctured through my shirt… and dug into my chest. Following the bone’s path, it connected to the reaper’s appendage. The monster breathed on my face, its breath smelled like sulfur and rotting fish.

No.

The scythe lifted my body off the ground. My hearing came back and I heard Katie screaming at Jaruka to save me. The Reaper snarled and spat out drool. Gravity took hold and I felt my body slam against the ground, bringing more pain. The reaper did it again—I heard stone crack. It brought me up again and its snout was inches from my face.

“For two days, I’ve been attempting to reconnect with you mutants. You, Dunne, were the top of my orders,” it growled. “Every spell, every attempt, but to no progress. My comrades and I will find a way to regain control, even if it takes a decade. For that to happen, I demand to know your secret of resisting my power so these mutants will become my loyal zombies. I know it’s in there, don’t deny anything. Now tell me!”

He pounded my body against the ground again. I was unable to yell, or push the scythe out of me. It moved after that last pound, electric pain shot through me.

“Tell me!” It demanded as it slobbered over my face.

How could I? I was feeling death come.

And if that was bad, with a twist of the scythe my body functions ceased.

The last thing I saw and felt before I fell into a coma, again, was an intense release of pressure from my chest, blue liquid covering the reaper, and the reaper swinging me off its scythe.

I waited for death.

I flipped through the air screaming in pain. Jaruka came out of nowhere to catch me. I landed on his chest as we dropped. When I looked at my left arm, two bones had punctured through the cartilage armor and through the skin. One bone from my radius and another from my wrist. It was the same fracture from last time back on the high school volleyball team. The pain was familiar but the bone sticking out of my armor felt horrible.

That barely meant anything compared to watching the reaper stab Scott through the chest and feeling my mana heart vibrate like no other.

All my motivation and fighting spirit disappeared. How stupid of me to stand in front of that reaper, and Jaruka had told me not to. Keeji kept on barking at it, knowing too well not to attack that monster.

Most of all, I failed to protect Scott.

Scott was slammed to the ground three times—I felt each one mentally. I buried my face in Jaruka’s vest to look away. That reaper treated Scott’s body unlike anything I had ever seen. It was hell.

“Great goddess! Katie, look,” Jaruka exclaimed.

I refused at first, but looked just in time to see the reaper’s scythe twist in Scott’s chest. The reaper wasn’t determined to kill him, I had heard it demand information, something about regaining control, but nothing specific. I was certain that Scott had died. Then I stared at something unexpected.

Thick, blue, familiar liquid gushed out of Scott’s chest like a geyser all over the reaper. The monster gurgled and thrashed like a frenzied animal to evade as best it could with Scott still on the scythe. Arana reminded me it was mana—pure, uncharged mana. There must’ve been gallons of it, most on the reaper. Is that how much is in me? Arana said yes but with stern intentions, left out how much exactly.

The mana shower stopped but the reaper still thrashed. One last whip of the reaper’s scythe slid Scott off and flung him several feet away, rolling a little, just as a dead body would. The reaper ignored us as it kept on wiping the mana off.

I pulled away from Jaruka’s arms, trying very hard not to move my left arm and hand, and ran for Scott. Jaruka told me to stop but I ignored him. Farther away, I saw zombies run at us with full fury. There were things I couldn’t stand, but I wasn’t ready to leave Scott, not like that, and certainly not without his body.

I landed on my knees and rolled Scott onto his back. His eyes were closed, his mouth was open, and he showed no signs of life left in him.

I punched Scott with my good arm and nothing happened. I gasped and felt sick seeing Scott’s chest, bearing a four-inch gash, deep and wide enough to see inside. Minimal blood surrounded the wound, and thinking back to basic first aid, I knew that it was a very good sign that the heart had survived. I saw it—his mana heart, just like in my spellbook. It was cracked open like a lobster shell, devoid of mana.

“Scott, wake up!” Keeji screamed as he came up. Wait, if Keeji is alive, could Scott be?

Jaruka kneeled beside me and examined Scott’s neck as he noticed Keeji still living. He shuttered and cursed, “That’s crazy. He should be dead. Scott is alive, barely.”

“What?” Keeji and I gasped. I couldn’t believe it either. I placed my fingers on Scott’s neck and felt a vein pulse. “He’s got to be in shock! Does Brill have any teleport technology on that ship?”

“Yes, but it requires locater chips and the wizards need DNA for a summons. That dropship was our only window.”

The reaper roared again. “What is this!?” It demanded. His skin was the mix of black scales and vibrant mana. It uncovered it’s glowing red eyes and mouth and set its sights on us. “I don’t know what this is, but this won’t stop me from my goal!” How can he not know what it is? He had terrans dead and examined their mana hearts. I didn’t recall seeing mana stored in test tubes, but I theorized that if a terran dies, the mana disappears too. Scott was still alive so that was good for him, but not good for us.

It screeched again and charged at us with its malevolent scythe. My mana heart’s vibration increased. Blame my selflessness on love, but at least I was with Scott.

Then something else happened to the reaper to make it stop cold. As it was mere feet from us, a blue bubble grew from the scythe’s base on its back, glowing, it grew transparent and spotted blue and white swirls within it. There was a flash of light and a tremendous explosion. The reaper grimaced and let out a screech loud enough to pop my eardrums. As it stomped backward, the scythe was gone, and then the whole appendage crashed beside us on the ground.

“Wait a minute, that doesn’t make sense,” Jaruka muttered.

My mana heart stopped vibrating and Arana took that as a good sign. I realized that the alien weapons and magic was no match to dent the thick skin and scales.

The reaper after all became shocked. “Impossible! I am a god!” Three more bubbles grew and exploded, blasting off chunks of skin and muscle, a couple of its spikes were obliterated from wisps of mana steam. It backed away to try to rip off the mana, but the mana became sticky and grew to cover the reaper. The remaining mana on the ground started crawling to the reaper like an army of white blood cells fighting back.

Anyhow, how could uncharged, useless mana act like that? I asked Arana.

Have no idea, not even the book says it, she said.

So much for that, I thought, but Jaruka filled that gap, sort of.

“Oh no, it’s a magic allergy! That stuff is gonna blow that reaper apart!” Jaruka replied.

“An allergy?”

“Quick, we got to run now before it goes critical!”

I gasped and hugged Scott tight, “Not without Scott, he can make it.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” I shook my head to prove my stubbornness.

The reaper suffered several more explosions, writhing from every point of injury. Every time a bubble exploded, skin, muscle, and blood went everywhere. Even for a brief second, I caught a glimpse of a ball of light leave the reaper and absorb into the earth. The bubble’s growth and popping rate had increased.

“Not good!” Jaruka yelled. “We have no way to survive the blast.”

I don’t know why, but I thought of something reckless, “Jaruka, I got an idea.”

“I don’t like your tone, lady,” he implied.

Arana read my mind. Your too distracted, Katie, run for your life! This will be the death of you!

“Trust me! This will work. I believe it will!”

As I prepared, having Jaruka and Keeji crouch and myself over Scott’s unconscious body, the uncharged mana started glowing over the reaper. The monster was frightened—even bewildered at what was happening to him. Several bubble bursts kept him from running by destroying his calf muscles. The mana swelled to create a mass of bubbles over half the reaper’s body, preventing him from moving at all. The approaching zombies were almost on us, screeching with blood pouring from their eyes, they were mere feet away from touching me.

One last look and the reaper’s head was half covered by mana. It could feel it happening as it made one last roar to the sky. I timed it just right.

Face it. I was a novice spellcaster that dreamed of one day practicing real magic. I learn fast.

And it was enough to survive the explosion.