So, as it turns out, I am more ignorant about this world than I thought.
I’ve heard of reapers and Death before but only from crazy ghosts sipping on expired lemonade in club parking lots. Jess didn’t even mention reapers or Death. I find myself having to read more and more of the book just to get enough context to understand.
“Let’s not freak out. Calm down,” I say to myself “Let’s take this slow and read one sentence at a time,”
I take a large breath and read the text over:
When all above fails, you have two options for moving on. You may summon a regular reaper or you may summon Death himself. They will be able to manually take you to the afterlife. Please note there is a difference between the two.
A Reaper:
Death’s immortal helpers that assist souls to move on and manage souls of this world to their ultimate permanent destination.
Pros
– Easy to summon
– Easy to work with
– Cheap
Cons
– Only can help very specific cases
– May not be authorized or able to help with complicated matters
Death:
The head of all reapers. Oversees all soul management.
Pros
– Can help with all cases
– Will have a solution with whatever case involving mortal ghosts
Cons
-Hard to work with
-Expensive
-Difficult to summon
-Easy to anger and hard to control
“Alright, so I did everything right with the process of moving on. So, this part of the book is irrelevant to me,” I say pressing half of the book aside. Now, I have to summon one of these things for help. I know that… but what are these things?
I groan, tipping my head back. It’s like I’m back in school with all this nonsense. What reapers are they talking about? Soul reapers? Grim reapers? That guy from Billy and Mandy? Like I have no clue and they do not expand further than this page.
And Death… who do they mean by that? Thanatos or someone of the sort? Is he a bony wicked bony man with a scythe? I haven’t the least idea but if he is the personification of death, I’m bound not to be fond of him.
I rub my temples and try to think things through. At the moment the Reapers are looking a whole lot better than Death. I’m reading over the summoning process and it’s pretty straightforward. I just need some chalk, some stones, and this spell on page sixty.
There is something that’s bothering me about the Reapers.
They said that you can summon them but they might not be able to help. Summoning drains a ghost and you can only do it once a year according to this book. I need to think carefully about this.
The thing that’s deterring me from Death is the sheer amount of random things I need to summon him. My list is crammed with things that Death needs:
-Chalk
– Eleven smooth medium stones
-Fire from ancient books
-A Calling Crystal (Carnelian Quartz Crystal only)