Episode 4- Grimzon Ckleston

Grim ran as fast as he could in the small streets of the village. His heart beating to a painful pound, his breath violently shrinking and inflating his lungs.

Reapers were a simple creature; they were humans but with invisible skin, muscles, hair and organs, making only their bones visible. Due to their similar looks in only looking like skeletons, Reapers took to fashion, they wore gothic attire that was often form fitting as they used clothes to give themselves more individuality.

Grim quickly skidded to a halt and dived into a bush. His lungs tore at his chest. He felt a deep horrific pain that battled his lungs however. 'Sorrow'

Grim's nose began to drip a thin line of blood as he felt tears fall down his face. It wasn't impossible to feel emotions but he would only feel emotions to extreme amounts. Making his nose bleed and making him feel dizzy.

Foot steps followed after stopping in the clearing.

"GRIM?! Please! If that really was you! We miss you… please come home and talk." Her voice was desperate and pained only for her to sigh. "Just… be safe for us, brother."

(In the Present)

Why was he remembering this now?

Zack spoke up, "So, elements…" Grim nodded to him. "Yup! We are looking for the main ones so Dark, Light, Earth" He gestured to Zack before getting up and starting to walk. "Fire, water and Air."

Zack looked at this odd man, he looked nonthreatening despite lacking honesty. He also had no chance by himself, so a dude with a dragon was a privilege.

Grim started the trek to Urifell, a long one. But not impossible with a dragon. After a week of nothing but camping and walking Zack got to a level of exhaustion he didn't expect to feel again. Zack felt his leg give out and he stumbled. Grim was quick to turn around.

"Am I going too fast? Sorry… we can take a break. I forgot you hoomans are fragile." He said as he quickly walked over and stopped Zack from trying to get back up.

"I… I'm not used to walking this much." He said and Grim froze.

"Nah i bet you're just hungry. Wait here I'll go fetch some fish. You don't mind fish meat do you?" Grim said as he removed his boots and rolled his trousers up to his knee and took his coat and gloves off.

"No, that sounds lovely!" Zack said, feeling his stomach growl.

Zack was too embarrassed to ask for food and with the way Grim looked it was clear even to him as a foreigner to this planet, that Grim wasn't wealthy. He rubbed his knee trying to chase the ache from his muscles, he jumped as the dragon came closer and curled round him with a calm nonchalant attitude. He couldn't quite tell if it's because the Dragon trusted him or knew he could kill him if he did anything.

After a while Grim returned with some odd looking fish and Zack was unsure for a moment but as soon as the familiar scent of fish came from it he was eager to help. Once the Fish were done the moon was bright in the sky. So large it lit the sky in natural blue hues, stars visible at the horizons from how bright it was. The fire was a nice heat in the cold chill that swept from the west the dragon snored calmly and Grim had lent against him telling Zack to join him.

"Want the rest of my Valley Fish?"

"Do I?!" He said as he took the bite of fish from Grim and began to eat it.

"We call our moon, Vallet. And then its sister is Varia. In Wind Waltz traditions they dance for Varia and bathe in her light. Some like the Werewolves of Arctillia see Vallet as the goddess of protection. They think she blocks the sun to let us rest." Grim smiled as he looked at the blues across Vallet's surface.

"What do you think?" Zack asked.

"Well I don't know. I think it's all a bit of a stretch, but its none of my business. If a werewolf wants to have an excuse to have a day off from work and dance the night away to thank the mother for the things it gave us. Who am I to stop them? Plus I'd get a free drink and food out of it. Friends… I'd hopefully make some inspirational connections, you know?" Grim smiled.

"Oh boy. If only humans lived similarly?"

"What do you mean?" Grim asked, and Zack lowered his head, feeling a little embarrassed to admit it. "Well. On earth we are similar in diverse beliefs and traditions and people get a little nasty over it."

Grim stared for a moment, 'How odd.'

"What do you think Vallet is to us?" Grim said and Zack looked at the moon.

"Well back home our moon is a big rock that circles our planet. And there are more like Earth, just no one living on it. Jupiter is one. They call it a gas giant and looks like an orange version of Vallet, just bigger maybe. So I'd say Vallet is a gas giant."

"Woah. That's… different." Silence fell between them for a long while until…

"What's it like… on Earth?" Grim asked as he stared at the moon.

"Earth?"

'Complex'

"Taken for granted." He said.

"Oh. Do your people not understand the mother of life?" Grim asked, Zack had the same confused look on his face and Grim nodded before speaking once again, "Mother of Life. She is our…planet." He grinned using the word Zack had. "Our planet is the mother. The mother isn't biased. She created us from tree to god, so we can exist through her life, on her skin." Grim patted the grass beneath him. Zack stared, truly amazed by his claims.

"The mother is not a god, we cannot talk to her. But it is her who gives us the wind to breathe in, the food to eat and the heat to survive. I couldn't think of a better thing to worship than her."

"But you are aware that this 'Mother' could kill you?" Zack shivered and Oscuro curled his wing round acting like a shelter.

"We are simply energy, Zack. We are not chosen through fate. Because she simply gives us the energy before we eventually learn to give it back. A cycle of Give and Take." Grim paused seeing the look on Zack's face. "So? As a Hooman do you want to become 'nasty' with me?" Grim joked as he grinned at the new friend.

"Depends… do I get a free drink?" He smiled and they both broke into a gentle laughter.

After a few moments Zack looked down at his feet where once again the pebbles gathered at his shoes. "But seriously. Though it is a huge euphemism, it sounds better, easier to process. Thanks, Grim."

"What do you believe?"

"I believed it was… Birth, live, die. But the idea of it being a trusted balance of selflessness and selfishness… makes it all feel lighter to know one day i'll give my energy back to…" Zack struggled.

"Your mother... I wonder if by being born on earth you are now her child or maybe-"

Zack turned over with a laugh and Grim eventually did shut up and go to sleep.

Grim had been struggling with slight nightmares for the past week. Perhaps it was because he was finally breaking the continuous cycle of sleeping, eating, and surviving. He began to remember the first time he broke the cycle.

When he ran away from his sister that night after searching for any traces of the mothers elements.

He was young, 12 when he finally fought back.

Grim ran in his old clothes down a cobble path, he was running from the doctors who had poked and prodded at him with sick fascination. He remembered the ease he had with simply disappearing into the forest and not looking back.

He stumbled, his feet aching and the forest seemed to lack a horizon. What type of morbid recreation had his brain gifted him in this slumber? He soon reached the end of the swamp, he looked down as a surreal looking cliff, deep as a widows pitch black sorrow. He was 12! Why was he here? At a dead end so quickly?

Like that day, howls of wolves rose with the setting sun and he looked back into the swamp, thick vines and bushes hiding the nearing threat. He looked down at his boots which stood dangerously close to the cliff into darkness.

'Why was he there?'

As the wolves grew close enough to nip at his coat he felt his body step back. Falling into the dark before waking with an aggressive flinch in his body beside the sleeping boy.

'He was there because… who he was.'

A reaper woke from her bed beside her partner. She had a flowing gown with floral embroidery on her shoulders to ribs. She moved the sheets off her and the husband sat up quickly helping her.

"Sweet heart!" He said sleep still in his voice. She rested a reassuring hand on his hand and smiled.

"It's okay. We are okay." She smiled resting her hand on her belly where a distinctive bump for a baby was.

Little would she find that same day her baby was due. After plenty of rest the husband was beside her bed with two cots for her new twin children. She was limp against the pillows and her husband rubbed gentle circles into her hand. As expected she was frowning, but this frown was not from exhaustion.

"It's okay, He will be okay… surely." The husband said as he glanced at the twin girl sleeping happily in her cot.

She looked at the twin girl, "Bonnet. And her twin brother Grimzon." She mumbled and the husband jumped at her words.

"Lorrain! Don't name him! What if he doesn't…"

"My boy was breathing, was he not? So he was alive? If only for a little while… is he not our baby boy?" She had a strong heart. She was sure. He was a fighter. For whatever reason the doctor had to take him from her as soon as he was out… it wouldn't change his beating heart.

When that night came she held her baby girl in her arms feeding her with relative ease. Soon the husband entered with a young reaper beside him.

"Mummy? Is this my sister?" He grinned looking over at the feeding baby with curiosity.

"Now Skllell! Give moma and the baby some space." The husband picked the boy up into his lap. "Is Grim-"

Suddenly the nurse walked in holding a swaddled baby in her arms with a smile.

"Mrs Ckleston. Your baby boy. He is healthy." She smiled as she walked over to give her her child. The husband stood taking Bonnet off her so she could take her son.

"Why did you take him?" She said her voice was breaking slightly. The nurse nodded and apologized.

"Well… Your son is very healthy. However, he has a mutation. Are you aware that us Reapers today are different from our ancestors? We have the Tamashi."

"It's how we feel emotion, seeming as if we had no space for one in our brain, correct?" Lorrain said, curling her son into her arms.

"Yes, well your son… he has been born without one like his ancestors. It's not common. Which is why we had to do tests to be sure he was okay." She said,

Lorrain looked at her son before smiling, "Hello Grim." She smiled, nuzzling his forehead gently and pressing a kiss on his tiny nose.

'My sweet baby boy.'