It Begins Again

Week 2

Jim

Day 1

Duty

It was as though she didn’t remember a thing.

Sara never mentioned the Reapers’ Game or the UG to me, as though they had never happened. I’d expected her to be surprised to see me back in the RG, but she didn’t seem to be. It was as though she didn’t remember the Game or anything that we had gone through, but she was different. She was not the same girl I knew before the RG, but she was the girl I had met within it. The one that didn’t know me, the one that lived her life to the fullest. She truly did deserve that second chance at life, and she was taking it seriously.

Then there was me.

I had been brought back to life in a way. As though someone had paved over the hole of those days I had spent dead, I entered life unhindered. Here I was, back in high school and back to running on the track team. I was hanging out with my friends, spending time with my family, everything that I had enjoyed before being killed. All had returned to normal, except for one thing: the Game.

The Game had never ended for me. I was no longer a Player, I was full blown Reaper. I could pass between the RG and UG at will, a privilege they said, but it was a responsibility nonetheless. It had been three weeks since my Game had ended, and the dreaded day was coming. The Monday that would begin the next Game in which I would become a Reaper and be forced to attack and erase Players.

I took the trax down to the Gateway, the starting point for the Game. I was nervous nonetheless. My existence was now constantly at stake. If I didn’t erase Players, I would be erased instead. I didn’t know what awaited me, but I at least knew one thing, or one person.

Jessica met me at the trax station. She was a very kind girl, offering to meet me and show me the ropes the first day. New Reapers would tend to partner up with each other, but she decided to take me under her wing. There she was in all of her beauty, smile and blue eyes waiting for me as I hopped off of the train. She was the girl I knew, except her wings were missing. They wouldn’t appear until we approached the UG.

“How are you?” she asked me, the way you would speak to your friend.

“Nervous,” I replied.

“That’s normal for your first time,” Jessica said. “Don’t worry though, you’re not in any danger. We’ll score you a lot of points today too, it’ll put your mind at ease.”

“I don’t know anything can put my mind at ease,” I said as we walked towards Gateway Mall.

“Once you get started, it’ll get easier,” she said patting my shoulder. “So come on, it’s time to head into the UG.”

She vanished into thin air, and then, so did I. I was still standing in the same place that I had been earlier, but now there were black two dimensional wings on my back. There was Jessica, standing beside me, nodding for me to follow her into the mall. I did so, but carefully. I was suddenly invisible to all eyes, and my actions would be invisible to people as well. Good. I didn’t want them to see what I was capable of. Erasing people. Killing them.

“Don’t look at it as killing them,” Jessica said to me. “These Players are already dead. The Game is nothing more than a way to decide whether or not any of them deserve a second shot at life. The Game is designed in such a way that the Composer is able to divine the true nature of their souls and be able to see their benefit to society.”

“That’s why only one of us was brought back to life then,” I said. “She was the only one that was worthy enough to enter society.”

“Yes, the Game is like a refinery. We refine the souls of Players here to be better,” Jessica said. “Those who prove truly worthy are given a full second chance at life. However, any who win the Game, although their soul may not have been nearly as purified, are rewarded as well. They may choose to become Reapers, such as us, and the refining is continued.”

“Continued? How? It’s not like we’re playing the Game again,” I replied.

“You’re existence depends on your scoring points during the Game,” Jessica said. “Although you’re survival isn’t based on the missions, you’re survival is at stake. Trust me, as you come to fulfill your role in the Game, you’ll become more refined and become a better person. And, as you do, you’ll be rewarded.

“Here’s how it goes,” she explained. “We’re grunt Reapers, and we’re not much. As you become stronger and more refined, you could be promoted to an Officer. Game Masters are chosen from the Officer ranked Reapers, and, as you saw by the GM you faced, they take on a hefty responsibility.”

I shrugged. “The last GM seemed horrific to me.”

“Some let the power get to their heads, and that is why they don’t progress,” she said. “From Officer class, you can reach the rank of the Conductor, the Reaper that is in charge of all of us. He runs the Game and make sure everything happens smoothly and according to the rules. He keeps rogue Reapers in check and makes certain that there is no abuse. I know our Conductor may seem intimidating, but he’s a very good man.”

“You said something about a Composer,” I said. “Where does he fit into all of this?”

A hush came over Jessica at the mention of the Composer. She turned to me, a grave look on her face.

“The Composer is above all of us. It’s through the Composer’s divine power that your friend was able to return to life, and it is only through the Composer’s will and love that the Game exists to give people these second chances,” Jessica said. “The only one that can converse with the Composer is the Conductor, and he carries out the Composer’s will without question, or else he would be erased. This entire Game, and all pawns within it, could be erased if it was so decided. This Game, that you seem to dislike, is an act of love on the Composer’s part. Some Composers have closed their Games because the people were considered too wild and untamable. There aren’t many zones left.”

“How many Composers are there?”

“Not many,” Jessica said. “Not many at all. Some of them merely gave up and rejoined society, there have been a few that progressed even above the Composer.”

“What do you become then?” I asked.

She smiled. “An Angel.”

Angels? That word alone sent me for a loop. This crazy Game was how Angels were born? Either she was lying or I had indeed been missing the point of the Game. There was a higher power at work here, and I was part of that work.

That helped me relax.

“So just through playing the Game, you can become an Angel?” I asked.

“No idea,” Jessica said. “Through the Game you can become refined, and from there you can become an Officer such as the Conductor. To obtain a higher rank, the rules change. I don’t know how one becomes an Angel.”

“But you do know how to become the Composer?” I asked.

She nodded.

“How does one become the Composer?”

“You kill the current one,” she replied.

I stared in shock. “These are the actions of refined Reapers, kill the man in charge?”

“The Composer’s love is boundless,” she said. “And this is only proof of it. The Composer stands on a position that all others envy, and many would hound the Composer like wolves if they knew who the Composer was. That’s why only the Conductor knows.”

I nodded. I had to admit, she was right. It would take a lot to put your neck on the line, knowing that if you were ever discovered that everyone would be out for your head. The Composer, by the sound of it, had power, and power corrupted people. I wondered if I would become like my past GM, crazed with my power and thinking myself to be a god by my actions. Would I come to hunger the Composer’s throne?

I shuddered at the thought.

“Would you ever want to be the Composer?” I asked.

Jessica shrugged. “It’s a lot of responsibility. It’s the chance to do a lot of good work, but… I don’t know. Being a Reaper in this Game took long enough to get used to. I faced the despair of knowing I wasn’t good enough for a full shot at life, the fear of having to erase players, and only now am I coming to realize my purpose. You really learn to clash with people, and you come to be better through it. Reaper you may be, but don’t look at it as a bad thing. Take it for the best it has to offer. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll get that second shot at life with no strings attached.”

I wished what she said was true. I hoped that I could prove myself so that I could leave the Game and go back to my life and never have to look back. That seems to be what Sara did, she completely put the Game and everything about it out of her mind, including me. Not that I could blame her. I had never meant anything to her. Her memories of me had been my entry fee, not hers. My self image. I hated myself, why would that be my entrance fee? Perhaps after a week of being a Reaper, I would see myself in a different light, although that didn’t mean a better one.

The Game had begun by the time we had arrived. The Players raced from all corners of the city, where they had been scattered, to come to their destination. The fountain, the same mission as my first day in the Game. There they were, trying to find people to partner up with. It would be easiest to erase them before they found that partner…

I was thinking like a Reaper now.

“Here, you’ll need these,” Jessica said, handing me a punch of pins.

I stared at the pins. They had the images of Noise upon them. So, this was how they did it. This was how Reapers summoned the Noise to attack us. The Noise weren’t their pawns, not willingly. Only through psyches could they be manipulated into doing the Reaper’s will. That is, when attacking a team. As for those without partners, the Noise would attack willingly.

“You need to attack before the Noise get them by themselves,” Jessica said.

“Lead on,” I replied.

“I have a ton of points stacked up,” Jessica said. “Today is the day to score the most points. You need to do this. Squeeze the pin, direct the Noise, or else you’re going to be erased.”

Kill or die, I had no choice.

I squeezed the pin and soon Noise descended from the sky, attacking the defenseless Players. I wanted to turn away, wait until it was over, but I couldn’t. I had to watch as the Noise attacked. Just as my first day in the Game, I was paralyzed as I watched that guy get erased. Again, here I was, watching someone else die as I stood by, helpless.

“There,” Jessica said. “are your points.”

I nodded as the Player vanished. I kept nodding as I went around the area, erasing more Players. There certainly were a lot of them, and there were lots of Reapers gunning for them. Some were ruthless like Derek, a cynic laughing at the plight of the Players as he harried them. Others seemed nervous, and a few were reserved. However, in the Players’ eyes, the Reapers all meant one thing: death.

They stared at me in terror, in fear. They cursed me as the Noise attacked them, as they were erased. A few managed to form quick pacts and they fought off the Noise. As they survived the initial onslaught, they ran in fear. Some were so terrified that they ran out of the mall and away from their destination. Was this how we had appeared during my Game? A bunch of scared rabbits, scurrying for our lives, never thinking. Someone had to think though, someone had to take charge or else they would all be dead.

They bore familiar faces.

“Yo listen up!”

I was far enough away that I couldn’t be seen, but I could see them. Jim and Rachel barged through the Noise, erasing them with ease. They had indeed been more refined by their first Game and the Noise fell to them much easier now then they had earlier. After erasing all of the Noise in the area, as well as giving a few of the newer Reapers a fright, they turned to address their fellow Players.

“My name’s Jim,” Jim said. “An’ this is Rachel. We’ve played the Game before and we know how to beat it. We all gotta work together to get outta this aight? Now, don’t lose your heads and we’ll all survive. Le’s finish the mission aight?”

The words had quite an effect on the Players. They had won, what were they still doing alive? The answer didn’t give them any comfort, knowing not all of them would come back to life. But they realized what their options were, and they chose to follow Jim and Rachel’s advice. As a large group, after forming their pacts, they moved towards the destination. More Reapers tried to assail them, but none prevailed. There wouldn’t be any more points scored this day, especially when we received the text to lay off.

“Those two are going to make this week hard for Reapers,” Jessica said of my former friends. “They’re quite the team, aren’t they?”

I nodded. “I want to go scope them out… you know, see if we can’t find some way to beat them.”

Jessica nodded as she followed me. We moved to the fountain area and there they were, all of the Players resting after the first day. The first day was the easiest, they were in for a long and exhausting week.

“I don’t see him,” I heard Rachel say.

I slipped closer to hear, but I made sure they couldn’t see me.

“Gah!” Jim growled. “We were too late! He probably got jumped by some Reapers before we could do anything… man, to win one Game only to get erased in another. Dude’s luck ran up.”

They thought I was erased because they didn’t know about the third option. They didn’t know that winning Players could become Reapers. I wanted to jump out and let them know that I was alright. But then they would know that I was a Reaper, they’re enemy. I didn’t want to see the disappointment in their faces, or the anger. I didn’t want to see my own betrayal reflected back at me.

“Come on,” Jessica put a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go get some dinner. The first day is… well, tomorrow will be harder still, but it’s hard, I know.”

I nodded and followed her to a nearby café. We entered the RG and enjoyed a light dinner, and then we parted ways as I took the trax back home. Along the way, all I could do was think about Jim and Rachel. We were strangers to one another, and they were sad because they thought I was dead. I meant nothing to them… and yet, they cared. I didn’t understand it. That had always been the problem, I could never understand it. I could never understand what drove people to care and love for each other in such a way. My first day, one meant to help me become a better person. I walked away feeling like crap.