7 - Reaper's Lair

PORT

Val.

For almost a decade, I haven't heard of that name. I've been to different realms and territories, but I haven't seen him again. I wondered what had happened to him.

The portal brought me back to the Terrene world. I felt suffocated just being inside hell. Hearing something from Lilith I had tried to forget nine years ago makes my head hazy all over again.

I calmed myself and continued with the job, traveled from realm to realm, and delivered messages from one terrene to another. I felt exhausted and worried about how Lilith succeeded in getting into my head.

I peered at the basket and saw the last two letters. These are bound to Reaper's Lair. I opened a portal back to Heavenly Realm bound to Reaper's Lair. 

As I stepped foot on the lair, I immediately felt the cold dead air. There are no angels or anything at sight except the bland structures and dead, leafless trees forming a straight column along the pavement. The sound of crows as I stepped on the rugged road sent shivers to my spine, and the glowing eyes of predators in the dark watched me as I passed by.

This place was next to hell, but I reminded myself all of these are just the façade of the lair. In the eyes of Reapers, this place was the same as how other sites in Heavenly Realm looked like—it was, as they claimed, to maintain the balance in Heavenly Realm.

I jumped directly in front of the Reaper's room. Holding the two letters on my left hand as I knocked using the other. I struck three times, and no one opened the door. Another set of knocks, but no one dared to open.

"I am looking for Doom. This is a Herald, sending you a message." I roared in front of the doorstep of the Reaper.

I decided to open the door after standing for several minutes. As I entered the room, I saw a naked angel who was as shocked as me. I witnessed the well-chiseled unclothed body of a gorgeous angel who stood petrified in my presence. I gulped as I examined the wholeness of the angel, and for a while, I forgot my intention.

"Forgive me," I said, avoiding his gaze, "I am here to send a letter. This is your message. Bye." I immediately threw the letter to him; when the Reaper caught the letter, I abruptly left, using my blessing out of the room.

It felt like my whole face was burning, my chest pounding so hard that I couldn't put things into words. 

Maybe I was just embarrassed because I entered his room without his consent. I heaved a sigh from the embarrassment, slowly slapped my cheeks from what had happened.

I looked at the last envelope in my hands. As I studied the receiver's details, I found out it was addressed to a Reaper named Doom—which only means I had sent the wrong letter.

I am certainly doomed.

        

Rule No. 1 – Letters should be sent to the correct receiver. Once a letter is given to the wrong entity, the Herald will be deranked.

I was suddenly reminded of the first rule of Heraldship—and the most important one. I panicked and jumped again to the Reaper's room.

"It's you again," Doom said upon seeing me sprouted in the midair. He was still naked, sitting on a hovering cloud couch. His body was resting on the back of the floating fixture, legs wide spread and arms on the armrest, sitting like a king. As the couch was levitating, I could see the supposed-to-be-clothed-blessing-by-the-archangels. 

Wait. What am I thinking?

I closed my eyes, then turned to my side upon seeing the Reaper in that position. I peered, Doom stood, walked toward the window, then closed it. He was laughing at me.

"Why are you closing your eyes, Herald?" he asked. His voice was so deep that it was a contrast to his grand face.

I asked myself the same thing. 

"Yeah! I'm sorry, I mean, why am I closing my eyes?" I laughed nervously. "I mean, we always saw naked bodies every time, right?" I added awkwardly.

"So, what makes you come here to my room? I heard it's part of your protocol not to enter a room without notice from the owner."

Another rule popped into my head. I sighed heavily when he realized I had broken two rules in less than 10 minutes.

         Rule No. 103 – Never use your blessing from an unsolicited entrance. Blessings will be taken for a week if not followed.

One of my neighbors in Herald's Ville, named Zhù, used her teleportation to enter a room in Keeper's City. It was valid because she dropped some letters inside the room, and the owner wasn't around. Though it was reasonable, it was a clear violation of Rule No. 103 in the Manual for Heraldship, and she faced a punishment.

Zhù's blessings were extracted from her, so she had to deliver messages by foot. Of course, she wasn't allowed to send letters to other realms, but doing delivery in Heavenly Realm by foot—for a week, would be unbearable.

 "I am very sorry, Doom. I wasn't in my mind right now. I swear, it's not my intention to enter your room… I am here to change the letter that I gave to you earlier."

"Oh, this?" Doom showed me an opened black envelope.

 "This is it. I'm deranked." My shoulders fell to the ground. I couldn't believe that all my nine years as a Herald would end up for nothing.

"And what is deranked? Forgive me, I am a re-classed angel, so I don't know that much."

I shrugged. "Since I broke the first rule—which I sent the wrong one, then, 103rd rule—entering without permission, I'll be deranked, meaning I'll be executed, and who knows what that means?"

I fell to my knees, and tears started to trace down my cheeks. Thinking about the possibility of getting executed, I don't exactly know how but I think it would be the worst thing that could happen to an angel.

"I was just joking, Herald." He smirked.

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't open the letter, here!" Doom raised a black envelope, unopened, unharmed.

"Wa-wait, how about the—"

I wasn't able to finish his sentence when Doom cut me off. "That was my first letter this morning."

"Why did you do that?!" I stood and raised my voice to him.

"Oops, in the first place, why did you swap the letter?" Doom raised his brows and smirked.

"I-it wasn't my intention! You were naked when I entered, so I rushed, and the letters were swapped." I explained.

"So…"

"Give me back the letter, and I will give the letter addressed to you,"

"I am curious what's inside the letter for our Archangel," Doom said playfully, fingering the flap of the envelope.

"No, please. Just give it to me, please." I begged.

"What can you do to have this?"

"I can do everything you want me to do. Just give me the letter." My voice cracked. I couldn't myself believe I was begging a Reaper. I could only imagine the worst scenario a Reaper could ask me to do, but I was running out of choices.

"Okay, here's the letter." The Reaper threw the letter back to me. As I caught the letter addressed to their Archangel, I also passed the envelope for him.

"That fast?" I was confused, I thought it would be a complicated deal, but Doom just agreed with the terms.

"Why? Would you like me to report your offense right now?" Doom grinned like a Cheshire cat, which irritated me.

"No, I am fine with it. So, what do you want me to do, Reaper?" 

"Just go back here tomorrow, after your shift." He said, not looking at me.

I opened a portal bound to Archangel Morn's place. 

"Thank you for this, Reaper," I said genuinely. I felt a sudden relief, though I was clueless about what would happen next. But I believed in a famous terrene quote: one problem at a time.

"I have a name. Call me Doom, Port," he said, straight in my eyes.

As I entered the portal bound to my room, I realized one thing, how did he know my name?