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zepybespectacled · 4 years

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Death and Taxes

“Nothing is certain but Death and Taxes…”

The thoughts went through the head of Bart. Once known as Bartholomew Williamson, he was now known as “Bart from the Tax Department”. He had been doing his job for a long time, even longer than most. He had numbers to crunch and quotas to fill, and doing it was almost second nature to him. He shifted slightly inside of his hoodie to make himself more comfortable in his seat as he scanned the next stack of documents. Everything seemed in order so far. Based on the amount they were earning, if all the operations continued as they were, they would be able pay all of the taxes the ones up-top needed them to. The door to his office burst open and a figure, also wearing a black hoodie and some loose-fitting pants, appeared. “Hey uhh Bart…?” “Get to the point, Jerry. What’s so important that you had to run into my office?” Bart asked.

“Y-Yeah we uhh… have some problems…” Jerry answered.

“I said to get to the point” Bart cut in.

“Right right… Uhh yeah it’s about the… incident on the ocean near the arctic shelf. The boat catastrophe? Yeah the uhh… guy we sent in to deal with collecting the payment from that’s been… held up by people from our competition. The delay’s going to be way past protocol…” Bart put down the papers he was holding, let out a sigh and shook his head. “You could’ve explained all of that a lot quicker and a lot simpler, Jerry…” He replied.

“Y-Yeah, sorry sir I just-” “Are our agents in reserve still not available to help?” Bart asked. “No sir, they’re still busy with-” “I understand. Get back to your office and resume your work. I’ll deal with this… development,” Bart said, shooing Jerry away. Once his co-worker was gone, Bart stood up from his desk and tapped a button on his intercom. “Samantha, I’m heading out to deal with a situation. Tell my next three pending appointments to either re-schedule or cancel,” He said as he pulled open a closet to the side of his desk.

“You got it, boss. Don’t want me to phone the upper departments for assistance?” The intercom speaker asked.

“Give them the details from Jerry, but tell them not to worry. I can handle this myself,” Bart responded.

“Alright, boss. Good luck!” Bart pulled out what appeared to be ornate-looking belts from the closet and began to wrap them around his torso one by one, tightening them carefully over the black hoodie. Once they were secured, a humming sound was heard from the metal on the belts and a faint glow emanated from them. Lastly, Bart wrapped his bony fingers around a long and beautifully designed scythe, taking only a second to appreciate the sight, before swiftly swinging it to his side as he strode out of the office.

“Nothing is certain but Death and Taxes…”

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The sounds of screams and creaking metal could be heard nearly everywhere. The cruise liner was hopeless. Water was rapidly climbing up from the lower decks. Poor souls trapped by the collapsed ironworks were starting to drown below, while those above were at risk of falling into the freezing depths as the boat shifted against the raging waves. The last of the lifeboats had begun to detach from the ship, and many of the lucky ones were off to sail away to rescue. Those who were not so lucky, could now only wait for the cold to take them. Some cried, some sang, some prayed, some screamed in fear, others screamed in defiance, but ultimately none of it would matter. Their fate was sealed.

Invisible to mortal eyes, two figures floated high above the icy seas. Bright glowing creatures that appeared similar to dragonflies, with 4 great golden wings, and several pairs of long and thin arms, each with hands holding up to five clawed fingers each. Two lines of golden parchment with indecipherable symbols orbited around their main bodies, criss-crossing into an “X” at their front and back. At the top of the body appeared a human-like head, as if taken from a marble statue and attached to the top of these glowing creatures. They stared emotionlessly at the spectacle of despair and desperation that was taking place below them.

Behind the great flying creatures, the air bent and distorted, as if the sky itself had started to become rubbery in that particular patch. Emerging from the distortion was the figure of a skeleton that wore a pitch black hoodie with subtly glowing belts all around it. In one hand they held a long and beautiful scythe, hanging lazily off to their side as they floated in the air.

“Pardon me… But what are you doing here? These people still need to be processed” Bart said, getting the attention of the flying creatures in front of him. The glowing ones turned around to face him. One of them spoke, though Bart could not tell which, as neither of their mouths moved.

“These souls pray for our salvation. They plead for His angels to take them to peace and paradise. We are here to answer their prayers” The angels responded.

“I see. So answering their prayers involves your lackeys getting in the way of my people who were coming to help these souls pass on?” Bart replied dryly.

“They prayed for our help. Not yours, reaper” The angels replied.

“Nice try, but you can’t pretend you’re simply fulfilling the wishes of your followers. These people prayed for help. If you truly wanted to help them, you would’ve saved them from this disaster. Instead you watch and wait like vultures to snatch their souls as they leave their bodies,” Bart said venomously.

“Are you not here to do the same, reaper?” The angels asked.

“I am, because that is our duty. We take souls to the other side, peacefully and intact, and process them for their proper afterlife. You want to take them right now without having to deal with us,” Bart replied.

“To leave them in your hands, risks the lion’s share of souls to be condemned into Hell,” The angels said, their tone taking on a hint of anger.

“So... you’d rather take it all right now for yourselves? We distribute these souls fairly and equally. If you have a problem with our methods, file a complaint” Bart answered back.

“Better for these mortals to be in the skies of Heaven than in the depths of Hell,” The angels retorted.

“Oh please, don’t act as if you and the demons are any different. The method and purpose doesn’t matter. Both of you only want more and more souls for your dominions. You need us to make sure neither of you grow fat” Bart replied.

The reaper knew comparing them to demons would start a fight, and thus he was ready when one of them rushed towards him. Several gangly limbs were outstretched as the angel attempted to claw at him from the side. Floating to the opposite side, Bart raised his scythe to parry it and used the speed of the angel’s charge to send them flying away from him. Spinning around, he brought up his scythe as the second angel attempted to slash down on him from above. Their claws and his scythe locked into each other for a moment before Bart’s belts began humming louder, and with a wave of magical energy sent the angel spinning away from him.

Bart heard new waves of energy vibrating behind him and turned around, swinging his scythe. The blade cut through the first angel’s golden parchment and sliced into their dragonfly-like body. A loud inhuman screech echoed in Bart’s thoughts as the angel reeled away from the blade. Bart was not about to let them recover however, and dashed forward to deliver a long and wicked slash through their middle. With another scream, the angel’s form dissipated into brilliant golden dust.

The reaper turned around to face the remaining angel, who had their arms out in a combat stance, but was otherwise holding their position. Below the two of them, the cruise ship sank ever lower, and Bart could sense the first souls being wrenched from their bodies from the lower decks.

“Will you return to Heaven of your own accord, or must I send you back there like your friend?” Bart challenged them. The angel stared at them but did not respond. “Clearly your superiors were not expecting you to get intercepted by a reaper. They sent others to delay my colleague, so weaklings like you could harvest these souls,” Bart taunted further. He figured this would either break their spirit, or make them attack him. In either case, he wanted to end this fight quickly so he could begin guiding the dead souls before they wandered off, or were snatched by others. The angel spoke again

“What gives you the right to decide the future of these souls?” They asked.

“The fact that we hand them out back to you if it seems right, or send their energy back into new lives on the mortal plane. You only keep them forever. Now will you let me do my job, or must I send you back?” Bart asked in return.

“They will not be happy if I return empty handed,” The angel answered.

“Allow me to provide you with an excuse then,” Bart said, before the glow on his belts shone brightly. He pulled back his scythe and seemingly teleported right in front of the young angel and cleanly cut them in two before they could react. With another screech of eldritch pain, the angel disappeared into shining golden dust.

Having evicted the angels from the mortal plane, Bart looked back down on the cruise ship, seeing it much deeper in the water than before. He could also make out the specks and swirling energies of lost souls starting to light up the area in an almost beautiful spectacle of shining sprites, not that any of the mortals could see it. With another sigh, he floated down and away from the scattering dust as he prepared to ferry these scared souls into the peaceful domain of the reapers for a proper transition.

Bart knew that the angels came in the hopes of being able to claim more souls this month than what was decided upon in the energy taxes they paid to Heaven. The angels made no secret of their displeasure over the Hell taxes being higher than theirs in the previous month. Bart sometimes had doubts as to whether treating souls as numbers on a spreadsheet was the right way to do things, but he knew that they had to in order to keep the angels and demons from becoming too powerful. Otherwise, they might convert the world into becoming a part of their kingdom, making mortals completely and eternally subservient to their whims. At the end of the day, Bart understood that a reaper of the Tax Department had to do many things to ensure the balance of the world, so that humans and other creatures may continue to live by their own choices, even if they all end up the same way when they do die.

“Nothing is certain but Death and Taxes…”

#Gurnovadis #Reapers of Gurnovadis #grim reaper #Angels of Gurnovadis #angels

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