Shae's eyes twitched open. Wood creaked beneath him. No pain, just soreness in every limb. Something low and groaning shifted beneath the horizon like a moving island. He sat up and froze.
The air hummed like static silk. The sky overhead wasn't the sky he knew—it was alive, shifting colors he didn't have names for. Fish glided overhead, their scales refracting with wondrous hues. A school of lantern-jellyfish drifted nearby, pulsing with a rhythm that scratched an itch in the brain.
He looked ahead and saw a cloaked figure sitting at the bow of the boat, motionless.
"W-where am I…?"
The figure gave no reply—just turned their head and looked away.
Shae shut his eyes and felt the breeze pass over him. A cool mist followed from the unknown beyond.
"What happened…" He pressed his palm to his temple. Something flickered.
"D—dad..?"A sharp pain flared behind his eyes. Recent events fractured in his mind like broken glass—flames, a scream, a rooftop.
Shae rushed toward the cloaked figure and clasped their hem.
"Take me back!" he yelled, "My dad, I have to save him—"
Shae's voice caught. He froze.
"Wait…what is this?" he said, staring down at himself. He was dressed in a radiant white poncho and bare feet—foreign, glowing clothing. "What is this?"
"You're dead," said a voice behind him.
Shae twisted around—eyes wide, mouth agape. Gregori stood across the boat, towering above the creaking wood. His tattered bandages swathed about his gangling body.
Shae stumbled in recoil, retreating backward.
"Stay back!" Shae wailed. "W-what do you mean?"
Gregori sauntered forward with his black book in hand.
"April sixteenth, Twenty-Twenty-X. Nine thirty-four, Prime Meridian…" said Gregori.
"Shae Alexander…stumbled…off the ledge at Manhattan Square."
"That's not possible!" Shae shouted.
"I'm conscious—you're talking to me!"
"As transcribed within the Dead End Charter—"
"The heck is a Dead End Charter?" Shae cried.
"As signed by Lord Ohm, representative of the Four Transcelestial Corners Alliance…"
Gregori flipped a page.
"When a Guardian Angel…" he paused.
Both he and Shae looked to the figure in black.
Still silent. Still watching.
"When a Guardian Angel forfeits, or fails to secure the life of their assigned Human," Gregori gestured toward the figure in black.
"…all rights to said person now belong to—"
"What the hell is going on?" shouted Shae.
He gripped the boat's rail, hand outstretched.
"Stay back!"
"In other words," continued Gregori.
Head tilted, hunched over toward Shae.
"You. Belong—to me."
"Let me off—please!"
Shae hurled himself over the bow, landing on something soft, damp, and unfamiliar.
Behind him, Gregori's stature began to shrink.
A faint pop—clack—slither echoed through the mist as his limbs contorted with unnatural ease. He reshaped himself — leaner, almost human.
"Sure," he said, steadying near the ship's stern. "But…"
Shae took a step forward, breath shallow.
Gregori reclined on his side, resting his head on a folded arm.
"If we let you off now…" he murmured,
"You'll forfeit your right to a second chance."
Shae turned and bolted.
FWOOSH—
A geyser burst skyward before him. Mist filled the air. The surface beneath his feet groaned.
He tumbled back.
A sound pulsed through the mist—low, thunderous, almost…elegant.
"A whale?" he muttered, eyes scanning the creature's vastness.
The boat wasn't floating on water—it was perched on the blubbered back of a sky-beast.
"Look around," Gregori called from behind. "You're quite a ways from home."
Shae's eyes followed the geyser upward, into the clouds—into blinding light. On the horizon a sun blazed—vibrant.
He froze. The pain he felt paused.
He'd never seen a star before, let alone one so alive.
"That's—?"
"That there's a star," Gregori said. He tucked himself in the corner of the stern and belted a yawn.
Shae stared—stunned.
"Welcome to the Stellar Plane."
***
An hour had passed.
From Shae's palm came a hollow tick, like an old clock—a faint glow etched numbers into his skin—counting down from twenty-four hours.
"So… I'm dead?"
The cloaked figure beside him inclined their head.
The wind pressed against his face, combing through his towhead hair. He closed his eyes, breathed it in, then exhaled.
"And if we don't make it in time… I'll cease to exist?"
The figure gave no words—only a long silence that answered all the same.
"And you're… my guardian angel?"
Their shoulders lowered, their head dipped beneath the hood.
"I see." Shae's voice was quieter this time. "I…I hope Dad will find peace."
His gaze was fixed on the distance. Clouds unraveled above like torn fabric. A crack trembled through his lips, but he swallowed it down. His eyes burned, wet, though he forced them dry. He bit his lip, arms folding tight across his chest, holding himself together.
The cloaked figure placed a gentle hand on his thigh. Shae flinched and brushed it away.
The sky shifted. The great whale beneath them groaned, the world trembling with its sorrow. Then a voice boomed—vast and resonant, shaking the mist.
"This is as far as I can take you."
The ground itself seemed to breathe beneath them.
Gregori stirred from his nap, stretching languidly.
"That's alright, King Midas. You've done enough, old friend."
The trio slid from his back onto solid ground.
"Oh, just call me Midas—Midas Whale!" the beast's laughter thundered through the mist before vanishing into the clouds.
At the base of Mt. Nigai, east of Terra, loomed a Torii gate. Its beams splintered, Kanji carved across the top: This way to death.
Shae shivered. Gregori gave a low chuckle. "Charming."
Beyond the gate, the Stellar Plane shifted. Bright skies faded into a desert wasteland—black sand stretching for miles, twisted trees like crow's claws raking the sky. The air was muted, cold. In the distance, a tower pierced the perpetual night.
But Shae's eyes only lifted upward. For the first time, he saw them.
His father's voice echoed: "The sky was once freckled with stars, my boy!"
The heavens were scattered with strange light—countless sparks pricking through the black. Foreign. Dazzling.
Stars.
"Pick up the pace," Gregori muttered, shoving the cloaked figure ahead by the shoulders. "Time doesn't stop just because you're gawking."
"I've never seen them before," Shae whispered.
"Seen what?" Gregori paused, then smirked beneath his wrappings. "Oh… I know."
Shae scurried to catch up. "So then, what happened? Why are they gone?"
"Save it. Tower first, answers later."
Shae kept his eyes on the stars as they walked. They were the only thing that made the wasteland bearable.
When he finally lowered his gaze, the Tower rose in the distance, swelling taller with every step. His eyes drifted to Gregori ahead of him.
"I've been meaning to ask…"
"More questions?" Gregori muttered.
Shae measured him with his eyes.
"Why are you dressed like a mummy?"
Gregori slowed, his voice flat. "Everything I touch dies." He turned his bandaged palms upward, studying them as if they belonged to someone else.
Shae blinked. "Oh…"
Gregori tilted his head, the wrappings hiding whatever expression lay beneath.
"We're here."
The Tower loomed before them, its tungsten walls breathing mist into the air.
At its base, droves of people gathered—hundreds, all moving in trios toward the gates. Each group looked the same: a disheveled soul clutching a glowing timer in their palm, a well-groomed companion with Victorian airs, and a bandaged Reaper.
Shae's eyes lingered on the other Reapers. Some bore scythes, others jagged weapons; some loomed tall, others broad; some shrouded in tattered bandages, others exposing patches of pitch-black skin.
His glance flicked back to Gregori.
"Just you—everything you touch?"
Gregori looked across the horizon behind them. "I didn't do all this myself." A low chuckle slipped from beneath his wrappings.
Shae's chest tightened as his gaze swept the barren stretch—the clawed trees, the endless black dunes of sand.
"I see," he whispered.
The gates split open with a groan.
Inside, the walls pulsed faintly. Shae felt the floor shift beneath him. From above came a low moan — not wind, not stone — but the building, as if it was breathing them in.
Shae paused and looked back at his companions.
"Keep walking," said Gregori. He inched closer to Shae, fingers tightening around the haft of his scythe.
Shae stumbled backward, "wait—"
The boisterous crowd went silent. Gregori and the guardian vanished. The entrance to the tower was swallowed by darkness. A cold wisp blew upward. Shae craned his neck.
Specks of light shimmered around him, like stars in a night sky.
The floor dissolved into black. The walls stretched into nothing.
Shae stood alone.
Shapes flickered in the distance. Not close, nor far. Figures suspended in the void, each haloed in faint light.
Whispers brushed in the air.
"Hello," Shae shouted. "Gregori? Guardian… Anybody?"
The stars began to move.
Slowly.
Then spiraling.
The darkness peeled back like a curtain.
A single pillar of light split the void.
Clash.
Clash.
The sound of exploding stars reverberated through the dark.
Then it softened.
Slowed into something almost familiar—
Applause.
A youthful man stepped out from the light. The smile on his face cut through the dread.
He stood tall, straight. His chest was bare, a loose poncho drifting weightlessly around him.
"Let's cut to the chase," the figure grinned.
He clapped once.
"Yes, you're all dead. Yes, that's unfortunate."
Murmurs rippled through the void.
"Some of you were pushed. Some of you jumped. Some of you simply ran out of time."
He spread his arms, embracing the void.
The darkness split again. Hundreds of reapers peeled through the dark.
They surrounded him— some kneeling, some standing rigid, many bowing at his feet.
He closed his eyes and inhaled, smiling.
"Welcome to the Reaper Games."
The hollow figures flickered violently. Whispers swelled and fractured.
Some staggered backward.
Some fell to their knees.
Some stared upward, unblinking.
Shae's heart thundered.
Yet he stood firm.
"So this… is our second chance?"
The void went silent.
The murmurs froze mid-breath.
The man before the pillar of light grinned.
He clapped again.
The darkness folded inward. The hollow figures collapsed into form.
Their bodies reappeared.
Stones rose from nothing— walls stacking, spiraling, locking into place around them.
They stood inside the Tower once more.
A voice murmured behind Shae's ear.
"Of course."
Shae snapped backward.
The man now stood inches from him. Smiling.
"Each of you has been granted a second chance."
He stepped forward.
And with every syllable, he appeared somewhere new.
Behind one participant.
Above another.
Across the chamber.
"All you have to do…"
He stopped at the center.
"...is make it to the top of this tower."
"Then we go home?" someone shouted.
The man tilted his head.
"Not quite."
His grin sharpened.
"At the summit, you will be given a choice."
"To return to Earth — and live your life again."
"Or remain in the Stellar Plane."
"Forever."
Murmurs swelled.
"However…"
He smiled.
"That's if you make it."
Silence dropped like a blade.
"W-what happens if we don't?" a voice trembled.
The man's eyes gleamed.
"Each floor of this Tower hosts a game."
"Win, and you ascend."
"Lose…"
He paused.
"You will be erased."
The darkness shifted.
Reapers phased into existence behind every participant.
A hand settled on every shoulder.
The murmurs fractured into panic.
Shae felt a presence looming behind him.
A familiar wheeze.
A grumbling stomach.
Gregori.
"We eat…" he whispered.
Shae tried to move. His limbs refused.
The man continued.
"Every human is assigned a Reaper at birth."
A throne formed from shadow at the center of the chamber. He sat.
"The day you die marks the day your existence is scheduled for erasure."
He leaned forward.
"You've seen our land. The black sand. The wasteland."
His smile faded.
"We did that."
A murmur rippled through the chamber.
"We are cursed. We hunger for the lifeforce of all things."
His gaze drifted across the participants.
"And that lifeforce… is inside you."
A pause.
"We call it Aether."
Silence tightened.
"Fail on any floor…"
He closed his eyes.
"We eat."
He opened them.
"You will be erased."
No one spoke.
A bead of cold sweat slid down Shae's brow.
Someone sobbed.
Another voice began to pray.
From the shadow, the Victorian figure stepped forward and took Shae's hand.
"Stay close," they murmured.
The man smiled faintly.
"Ah, yes. Your Guardians. Cling to them if you like."
"They may be useful."
"W-what's the first game?" The same trembling voice asked.
The man's head snapped toward her. He winced.
"Run."
"What—?"
Steel whispered.
Her head separated cleanly.
For a heartbeat, her body remained standing.
Then it collapsed into dust and blue fluorescent light.
The chamber erupted.
Screams tore through the void.
Participants scattered, reapers descended.
Shae's Guardian swept their cloak around him.
They pointed to a set of towering double doors at the far end of the corridor.
"End of the hall— move!"
Gregori's bones cracked and stretched.
His frame swelled, shadow folding into muscle and blade.
"I'll give you a head start."
The man's laughter rang above the chaos.
"I know you've all played tag before!"
"Outrun the reapers!"
***
They ran.
The corridor stretched impossibly long.
Someone screamed.
A scythe slashed as blue dust burst across the stone.
Hand in hand, Shae and his Guardian ran.
A pillar exploded from the floor ahead.
"Left!" his Guardian snapped.
Shae slipped — bare feet skidding across what once had life.
His timer ticked.
Closer.
Condensation burned from his lungs.
Behind them—
Gregori's scythe struck low.
CLANG.
The Guardian parried.
"Keep going!"
Steel shrieked past Shae's ear.
A body collapsed beside him.
"Help me!"
He kept running.
Then he stopped.
Breathless, he turned back.
"I got you."
He hauled the fallen participant upright.
The floor shifted.
Pillars surged from the ground.
The path shattered into rising columns.
Shae shoved the stranger toward the nearest platform.
"Jump!"
They leapt.
Shae followed — landing hard.
Another pillar shot up.
Another.
He sprang across the moving stone.
The platform beneath him launched toward the ceiling.
SLAM.
Shae slipped.
The world vanished beneath him.
He fell—
SNATCH.
His Guardian caught him in their arms.
They hit the ground running, sprinting for the end of the corridor.
Multiple contestants made it through.
Many more were erased from existence.
SCREECH—
Gregori slid in front of them, blocking their path.
Shae panted, arm outstretched.
"Gregori, please…!"
Gregori lunged.
His scythe cleaved the air above them—close enough to tear wind from their hair.
They ducked.
Their cloak snapped. Shae felt the blade's cold pass.
"What are you waiting for?" Gregori whispered.
His Guardian met Gregori's stare, then nodded.
Shae blinked, confused.
His guardian planted their feet.
Blue light erupted around them.
Static coursed through Shae. His hair rose.
His teeth clenched. His ears popped.
The air snapped.
BOOM—
They burst past Gregori and crossed the threshold.
Shae's timer hit zero.
A voice echoed through the chamber:
"Shae Alexander — Cleared."