banana. trying to look as lady like as she could and not just jam the whole thing in her mouth, and then ask him to manifest some ribs and a chocolate cake. A banana was safe to eat, she wouldn't throw it up. She couldn't exactly say the same thing about the ribs and cake.
“What do you mean?” Nina asked around a bite of banana, trying to stifle a grimace as the food hit her stomach with the impact of a brick.
“I mean...” Uri paused as if weighing the how much information to give her. “I can take you to the Underworld as a human under temporary contract.”
Temporary contract? That sounds fishy. “What’s a temporary contract?”
Uri blinked at her, like he was surprised with her answer. "Didn't Grim explain the reaper history? He told me he told you everything," he asked with just a touch of suspicion that made Nina forget her headache and stomachache for a moment. That's right! Just like Grim, Uri was a walking history book too!
"He only told me bits and pieces, but not the whole story." Nina responded vaguely. Whatever Uri was about to tell her was going to be important, but Nina didn't want to let him know that she was genuinely curious. Curiosity can't kill a dead cat.
He seemed to puzzle over her response for a few seconds before accepting it. "It's a long story, so I'll give you the Spark Notes edition." Uri said, surprising Nina by his modern use of slang. Apparently he keeps up with modern times.
The thought of Uri sitting down and watching reality TV shows to keep up on the lingo was almost comical to her. If they hadn't been about to discuss a way to get Nina some extra time from her impending death, she might have laughed outright. "I'm all ears."
"Well, you know how this world was created right?" Uri asked, and only continued when Nina shook her head no. "Well, the people that you worship as Gods are actually just super old and crazy scientists. When I met them, they introduced themselves as Yin and Yang, but that could have just as well been a joke. They tend to be a little crazy, so…"
"But anyway the world was created because they basically f’ed up an experiment. The Big Bang was them. And humanity? That was just a fluke. They can't even remember how they did it; just that they mixed some stuff, and poof! humanity.
“After that the world started to get too crowded because nothing was really dying. Animals didn't have the instincts to hunt, kill, or survive. They just sort of existed. Well, Ying and Yang decided that there needed to be a sort of balance--life and death.
"Is that how reapers were made?" Nina asked, fascinated by the story and completely ignoring the cold coming off of Uri in waves as she leaned forward to hear more.
Uri shrugged. “Well, yes and no. At first there was no medium. People just sort of died, and Yin and Yang took their consciousness and fiddled with it. When humans first started they didn't really have a soul, just a conscious mind separating them from animals. But over time Yin and Yang developed that consciousness to be its own separate entity: the soul.
“But anyway, they had to make mediums because the souls were overwhelming them and they were too lazy to really deal with everything. But don’t say that to them; they’d be pissed if someone actually said it!” Uri said with a laugh, like he was talking about real people. Well let’s keep an open mind, Nina. They could actually exist. The world’s first mad scientists!
Uri winced as he continued. “They constructed reapers out of the bones of dead humans. They did a little hocus pocus that gave us our powers, and that’s how reapers were made. Except we kind of freaked people out and a lot of souls refused to go on and just became ghosts, wandering around refusing to part with their souls but having no bodies.
“It’s said that the old reapers noticed this and tried to devise a way to safely get humans to trust them and go with
“What do you mean?” Nina asked around a bite of banana, trying to stifle a grimace as the food hit her stomach with the impact of a brick.
“I mean...” Uri paused as if weighing the how much information to give her. “I can take you to the Underworld as a human under temporary contract.”
Temporary contract? That sounds fishy. “What’s a temporary contract?”
Uri blinked at her, like he was surprised with her answer. "Didn't Grim explain the reaper history? He told me he told you everything," he asked with just a touch of suspicion that made Nina forget her headache and stomachache for a moment. That's right! Just like Grim, Uri was a walking history book too!
"He only told me bits and pieces, but not the whole story." Nina responded vaguely. Whatever Uri was about to tell her was going to be important, but Nina didn't want to let him know that she was genuinely curious. Curiosity can't kill a dead cat.
He seemed to puzzle over her response for a few seconds before accepting it. "It's a long story, so I'll give you the Spark Notes edition." Uri said, surprising Nina by his modern use of slang. Apparently he keeps up with modern times.
The thought of Uri sitting down and watching reality TV shows to keep up on the lingo was almost comical to her. If they hadn't been about to discuss a way to get Nina some extra time from her impending death, she might have laughed outright. "I'm all ears."
"Well, you know how this world was created right?" Uri asked, and only continued when Nina shook her head no. "Well, the people that you worship as Gods are actually just super old and crazy scientists. When I met them, they introduced themselves as Yin and Yang, but that could have just as well been a joke. They tend to be a little crazy, so…"
"But anyway the world was created because they basically f’ed up an experiment. The Big Bang was them. And humanity? That was just a fluke. They can't even remember how they did it; just that they mixed some stuff, and poof! humanity.
“After that the world started to get too crowded because nothing was really dying. Animals didn't have the instincts to hunt, kill, or survive. They just sort of existed. Well, Ying and Yang decided that there needed to be a sort of balance--life and death.
"Is that how reapers were made?" Nina asked, fascinated by the story and completely ignoring the cold coming off of Uri in waves as she leaned forward to hear more.
Uri shrugged. “Well, yes and no. At first there was no medium. People just sort of died, and Yin and Yang took their consciousness and fiddled with it. When humans first started they didn't really have a soul, just a conscious mind separating them from animals. But over time Yin and Yang developed that consciousness to be its own separate entity: the soul.
“But anyway, they had to make mediums because the souls were overwhelming them and they were too lazy to really deal with everything. But don’t say that to them; they’d be pissed if someone actually said it!” Uri said with a laugh, like he was talking about real people. Well let’s keep an open mind, Nina. They could actually exist. The world’s first mad scientists!
Uri winced as he continued. “They constructed reapers out of the bones of dead humans. They did a little hocus pocus that gave us our powers, and that’s how reapers were made. Except we kind of freaked people out and a lot of souls refused to go on and just became ghosts, wandering around refusing to part with their souls but having no bodies.
“It’s said that the old reapers noticed this and tried to devise a way to safely get humans to trust them and go with
Similar Books
