“My Lord, everything is in order, ” informed the spindly butler who had his head hung low whilst standing behind the Master’s back. Part of him wanted not to interrupt the man, another part of him wanted to fulfill his job. The Master of the Rantzen Clan was after all doing some...important stuff. No one would dare interrupt this moment including him, but on this occasion, he just had to. The one addressed didn’t so much as flinch a brow as he continued his work. He stood at the balcony of his chamber dressed in a full robe as black as obsidian with the night sky and the sea of stars accompanying him. A few feet away, swirls of what looked like feathery clouds rose up on command of his hands. It almost looked like it would disappear with the darkness of the sky, but then it swooshed down to a long staff that housed the sharpest curved blade. On command of his hands again, the feathery clouds enter

“He...y, ” Jacob groaned through his blood-soaked mouth. He watched as the Grim Reaper paused from his tracks seemingly listening to his voice. “Hey! He...re! Look...here!” The Grim Reaper looked down into the poor state of his caller and arched a brow feeling genuinely surprised. “You can see me, human?” he asked. “You’re a grim rea...per, ” Jacob stated, disregarding his question. “You...you mu...st be from that clan.” The sentence definitely hit a nerve. ‘How?’ the Grim Reaper thought. How could a normal man know of a clan of grim reapers? It was supposed to be a well-guarded secret, unless... Unless this man wasn’t that normal as he thought at first. Halpas—the half-baked demon man—tried to kill him after all. Maybe, there was more to this

“You’re late, ” an old man sitting on a couch pointed out the moment Solene walked through the front door. For a seventy-five-year-old senior, he still had a thick mass of gray hair and could still walk properly without the aid of a cane. Solene dipped her head shyly and approached her grandfather. “Sorry pops. I’m on a tight schedule with my school work.” She stooped low and placed a quick kiss on his forehead. Her grandfather cringed. “Seriously, you’re the only college student I know who goes to the library almost every day, ” he commented. Solene didn’t see it as a complaint though. She just chuckled and walked towards a bookshelf near the kitchen. “All part of a student life pops, ” she answered whilst placing her newly acquired books on the shelf. “Bah!&rd

By afternoon, despite her conscience telling her otherwise, Solene braved herself to leave the house. She had only one goal in mind and it was to go to the library and ask Dally for a copy of the log records yesterday. She remembered the time when she had seen the man inside the library. She knew how to focus her search and oust those names which were students of the University. She could narrow her search down to his name — whatever name he had — and possibly try and track down his address. By the time Solene arrived in the library, there were only a handful of students in sight, mostly men taking their IT major. Dally was in her usual counter, busily sorting out piles of magazines. “Hey Dally,” Solene greeted, showing a soft smile. “Oh, back so soon?” Dally looked at her from behind thick-rimmed glasses and smiled back. “Yeah, I need to

“Okay, let’s pick up where we stopped,” Myrna stated once they settled onto their seats. This time, they chose the University library to finish their planning instead of anywhere outside the school. After the incident they experienced that morning, Solene returned to the house to change clothes. She had coaxed her best friend not to visit the hospital. She didn’t need it when really nothing had happened to her. Myrna told her she had an insane amount of luck, but Solene just shrugged the statement off. Clearly, her best friend knew nothing of her growing fear. “We were about to make the second draft of our thesis, Myr,” she reminded, getting comfy with her chosen wingback chair. The latter puckered her lips and grinned. “Oh, so you really were paying attention to me other than just checking that stranger in the cafe.” Solene rolled