BXBX NOVEL Chapter 48: I lost 33 lbs in one night.
"How Ironic. This all sounds so insane no one would believe it," I muttered to no one in particular.
Yesterday I learned of such truths along with the complex history of the reapers. In short, I could be as rich as I wanted to be and live as debauch as I pleased. Provided that, I get to survive the nights in between. I haven't exactly experienced being called to Hellsgate. I wondered if it was like the teleporters we used to go back to earth.
The moment I thought about Hellsgate, my heart clenched in loneliness. Although I did experience more pain and suffering than a human should endure there. I also met people I felt would become corner stones in my life.
A red-haired cop from Brazil. The dark and fair skinned Descendants from Italy, a tall Viking from Antarctica, a foul-mouthed girl from Australia and a mysterious ninja from Japan. The time we spent was short, for the latter three even more so. Yet when I asked for their lives, they all followed me without question into certain death.
Bella, Jas, Jo and Liv were above average in the looks department. Robyn looked like an androgynous pretty boy, so I wasn't sure about her. Aki remained covered all the time I spent with her. From their wildly different personalities and backgrounds to everything else however I found myself curious about them.
The only similarity we all shared was that we were Formless. You might as well add Lilly to that group. Unlike me it looked like they all suffered due to that label. Personally, I found me doubting my own words. Was I doing the right thing? What if I failed?
Did I really have it in me? Where would the path I intended to go lead?
It was human nature to second guess oneself. While I wasn't attracted to these girls romantically. I found my thoughts drifting to wish for their safety. They said they would be back in a week, right? They all said they would follow me. But my plans kept on expanding due to my greed.
To survive as a reaper. Then to become the strongest Revenant. Now to kill more undead than several reapers combined. What if by following me I led them to their deaths? Was this something I was prepared to shoulder?
Yet when I thought about their circumstances there wasn't much difference. Bella like me had no sponsor or handler. Jo and Jas were abandoned and were in similar straights.
I didn't know if Liv, Aki or Robyn were any better, but I saw how merciless reapers were to our kind. If I didn't take them with me, would they have been able to survive the enlistment? What was the right thing to do here? Fuck, my doubts were starting to paralyze me from fear.
I punched my cheek in order to man up.
"Ouch. Right, planning about tomorrow is fine but worrying is not. Do all that you can in the time you have. Once you had there is no point in worrying."
This was a quote I heard from an interview once. I can't remember the exact words, but I remembered the meaning. A businessman was asked if he was nervous about how his company would fare. His answer blew my mind. It went something like this.
"I have done all I can in the time that I had. After that no matter how much I worry it wouldn't change anything," so he calmly explained.
To do all you can in the time you are allotted. It meant not leaving anything to chance, results would follow as a natural consequence. Worrying was ultimately pointless as it just drained one of one's spirit and peace. It was a nugget of wisdom I always carried with me.
"Okay, if I worry about them, then the root problem is that I believe they are too weak. This would be like an RPG, I will have to arm, raise and develop them up as my party. Only then would we will rise together."
I started to make a mental note about my circumstances. The girls and I were Formless, so we had no soul weapon or soul form. We could supplement this with a soulgear like Lilly did, but it seemed pointless.
'Rather than wasting time learning about new weapons, using guns would be faster,' I mused.
Hellsgate considered guns stupid because they couldn't be blessed. But could bows be blessed? I needed to find out as soon as possible if my plan to use firearms would be viable. Looks like my day would be busy.
I got out of bed, took a brief shower and toweled off. As I tried looking at the mirror my clothes and I didn't appear on it.
"Interesting, the shirt is seen so long as it isn't on my body. But once it becomes 'part' of me it becomes invisible. But how am I supposed to fix myself then?"
Annoyed, I tried looking at my body to check any changes. I then noticed how the muscles on my arms were more defined, they looked ripped. But as I couldn't use a mirror to check, it could have been just my own vanity. I next stepped on a weighing scale and got a pleasant surprise.
"Hmm. 167 lbs... I lost 33 lbs. in one night?"
Well, if you consider how much running and fighting, I did it would make sense, I guessed. Normally people needed to rest to allow the body to recover after hard training. {Rewind} destroyed that logic. It allowed me to replenish my stamina and remove injury.
"Could it be that {Rewind} doesn't actually go back in time but forces objects to experience a passage of time? Thats opposite of what I understood before but otherwise there wouldn't be a valid explanation to losing so much weight."
'But on the flip side. Who the hell cares? I'm no longer overweight! I didn't notice yesterday but I really do feel lighter. If only I could see the evidence,' I mused.
"Who knew how hard it would be to not appear on mirrors and cameras. This is such a pain in the ass."
Just then a heard beeping sounds from one of my phones.
I checked my cheap ass phone and didn't see anything. But when I checked the reaper phone, I got three messages. I opened the notifications to check what they were.
[Sender: Ishtar]
[Good morning, dear! I hope the morning bids you well. I will be preoccupied with matters concerning the battlefront today. So, it is unfortunate, but I cannot be by your side. Please do not miss me too much. Take care and please contact me if you need any assistance.
- Fondly thinking of you Lilly.]
"…"
Even without the endnote, this message just screams Lilly Browning, cold and direct to the point like a military report with a hint of egotistical arrogance. I checked the next message and noticed it was also from her.
[Sender: Ishtar]
[If you are wondering how I got your contact info, I used my connections to add myself into your phone before you even got it. I am the princess of the NA battlefront my dear. If you wish to hide anything from me, you will need to do better. Hehe.]
Right, the girl was also annoying as hell. I sent a short "Okay, take care Lilly." and moved to the last message. It was from a different sender, but I could figure out who it was from after reading it.
[Sender: Minerva]
[I hate you! Do you have any idea how many John Smiths there are in Arizona alone? 417! In 61 different cities! What pineapple did you give me to peel, huh?! … Anyway, miss me Mr.
code? My transfer request got delayed so I might not be in the North American battle front for another week. I have to warn you though. The sponsors of the people you killed have sent assassins for you. Do not trust anyone honey. I'll keep in touch.
-B]
How was it possible to hear a voice through text? After we spent a night together, Bella's rants were more endearing than offensive. It was a shame that her transfer got delayed, but her cryptic warning made me shiver a bit.
"The sponsors of the people you killed have sent assassins for you," I read aloud.
Great. So now I have people coming for me. Now I understood the reaper's silent rule.
'Yes, dear. That is the case, many come back for their loved ones only for those people to become their weakness. It is an unspoken rule among reapers. Mingle only with the humans you are prepared to lose.'
If I still had a girlfriend at this point, I would be distraught how to protect her. Luckily, I don't have anyone so this would be much safer.
I sent a reply to Bella with instructions while telling her to take care. My instructions were simple, assist the rest of the girls with any problem they might have and report any issues to me.
The girls placed their lives in my hands, they would form the core of my squad and would be the cards I dominate with. Naturally I had to take care of them.
"Still, where would they come for me? Here? Or in Hellsgate? I feel like a protagonist in an action movie."
Somehow, I was not afraid of being targeted. Would they be scarier than a 15-foot Undead brute? Were they deadlier than a blood thirsty undead horde? I guessed it was true what they say. What didn't kill one made one stronger.
"Well, being targeted is a given. But whether I would be an easy mark is a completely different matter."
With such words I began getting my shit in order. According to Lilly more reapers died to assassination than fighting in Hellsgate. Thus, I need to prepare. Fortunately, I had the time to do just that.