//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Resurrectionem animae // Story: The Twilight Reaper // by Arceaion //------------------------------// It had been several days since Twilight had agreed to Death's offer and since then he had kept her in a room designed to house spirits and insure they didn't become what he called Lost. Despite her inability to leave the room she wasn't exactly lonely, just bored. Death came to visit her each night and bring her books for her to read but no matter how much she liked reading the fact she was trapped in this single room for so long was not fun. Twilight sighed as she finished another book and moved to the last one Death had brought her however as she reached for it the door to her room opened and Death entered. "Death!" Twilight exclaimed happily as she jumped to her feet and embraced him in a hug. Death appeared taken aback by the gesture but brushed it off with a chuckle as he leaned down and patted the child’s head. "Hello Twilight, how are you today?" He asked. Twilight sighed as she let go and looked up at Death. "I'm alright, just so bored, I like reading but I can't leave the room or anything!" Twilight whined earning a head pat from Death. "Then you'll be pleased to know you can come out, I've completed the preparations needed to return you to life. Now we can only hope it works properly." He said as he gestured to the door causing Twilight to smile as she ran to it and pushed it open. "Follow me Twilight; we have a very short window to do this so we must be quick." Death said as he stepped ahead of her and she followed as he led her through the maze like corridors of the mansion they were in till they reached a small study, a large circle of runes was carved into the floor of the study and Twilight immediately began to analyze them. "What is this?" Twilight asked after a minute of her trying to figure it out on her own and she stepped closer to the circle to better examine it. "Step into the circle and I'll explain." Death said and Twilight did as he asked. "Now, this is a Ritual circle and one I made specifically for the task we are about to perform." Death explained as he moved about the room using a glowing stick of chalk to create several more markings on the floor. "You see, I cannot resurrect you back to life as you were; not only is it forbidden for me to do so but it would make you incompatible with my power. What I'm trying to do is create a body for you that is bound to my domain but can interact with the land of the living; and that is much more difficult than you would think." Death said with a frown. "The reason I'm doing it this way is because my power cannot be used by one who is bound to the realm of Life; it would corrupt them and drives them mad. So to counter this I have to resurrect you into my domain and to do that I need to place a part of myself inside you." Twilight frowned as she thought about what Death was saying. "So I'll be your daughter?" She asked, causing Death to stop in his work for a moment. "I suppose you will be..." He said quietly before returning to the runes he was writing with the chalk. "My other servants are bound entirely to my world so while they can be seen by mortals they appear as ghosts and only when one is about to die, this is not what I'm going to do for you. Instead I plan so that you will be able to freely travel across the borders of the Living and Spirit world; the ritual I'm going to perform will hopefully allow this however there will be some elements of risk involved and of course there will be the obvious side effects." Twilight nodded. "I understand but what do you think will happen?" She asked in concern. "First you will be able to interact with both the physical world and spiritual world; the overlapping of both will make it difficult for you to tell the two apart since you will see both the spirit world and mortal world at once." Death said as he finished the last of the runes. "Second I imagine you will gain wings of some sort seeing as you will be immortal in a sense." He said as he looked at the young child before him. "Finally, as we spoke of before you will no longer be Twilight Sparkle but Aeternum Rest, don't be surprised if your physical appearance changes; though how much it changes I can't be sure yet." He said as his hands lit up with blue fire. "Now brace yourself, I imagine this will not be a painless process." He said as he set his hand down on the chalk and the entire circle lit up, and then Twilight screamed. As soon as Death placed his hand on the circle Twilight felt like her entire existence was being ripped apart, she was pulled, compressed and ripped apart all at once leaving her with an unbearable pain she couldn't even describe. As she was ripped apart she felt magic begin to seep into her body and then the first sensations of an actual body began to come together. From outside the circle Death watched as Twilight's soul writhe and screamed in pain before it froze and rose up into the air as magic began to pour into it. At first Death thought he had failed and the soul was destroying itself but as he watched his fear turned to astonishment as bones began to grow. They started slow, with them expanding out from chest and then forming arms and legs, the head was the last to form before the spirit wrapped itself around the body and the eye sockets of the skull lit up with two glowing violet orbs of magic and it fell to its knees as two bony wing like protrusions grew from its back. Slowly the magic began to construct organs which were quickly covered by muscles and then flesh. As this happened feathers, hair and other parts grew from the body and then the vocal cords grew and the newly reborn Twilight Sparkle, now Aeternum Rest, screamed in agony before going limp and hitting the floor passed out, though whether it was from the pain or exertion of growing a new body Death wasn't sure. Death knelt down and placed his hand upon the bodies’ neck and waited. Nothing happened and Death sighed about to deem his attempt a failure before he felt it, the beat of a pulse; it was slow, barely there but it was indeed a pulse. Death pulled his hand back and looked at the newly reborn child before him, as he had guessed her appearance had changed. Her skin was now a bit paler than before and the tips of her hair turned gray; there was also now a stripe of silver in her hair alongside the magenta stripe. The child’s wings glowed with a silvery color in the light of the study; Death knelt down and opened the child’s closed eyes to find that her eyes had changed to a slate gray as well. Death smiled as he examined the girl, she had changed just enough to look both the same and different from her first life. Death picked Aeternum up and carried her out of the study and walked through his mansion, passing the servants and maids who maintained the old manor, till he reached a recently cleaned room. Standing beside the door was a woman in a snow white kimono; the woman was as white as freshly fallen snow, from her skin to her hair with the only contrast of color being her piercing ice blue eyes. Death eyes the women calmly nodding to her as she bowed before opening the doors to the room; the woman was one of the denizens of the Spirit World, a Yuki Onna, and served Death as the head maid of the manor. "I trust the room has been fully prepared Ms. Izayoi?" He asked as he entered the room to find it pristine and freshly cleaned. "I just finished Master; I assume this will be our newest tenant?" The Yuki Onna asked as she looked at the child. "A bit young for a maid.” She commented dryly. "That's because she is not going to be a maid." Death said calmly as he placed Aeternum on the bed in the room and covered her. "She is special Sakuya, the first soul born into the Spirit World with the power to walk among the living and she even bears a shard of my essence." He said, causing the Yuki Onna to turn paler than before. "That means that even though she is a reincarnated soul she is your daughter!" Sakuya said in shocked fear. Death nodded as she stood and looked down at the sleeping child. "A child of death, my little Grim Reaper." Death's voice was soft, almost wistful as he spoke. "Do I detect a hint of fatherly pride?" Sakuya asked in a mischievous tone. "To think she was only created mere moments ago and you're already attached, Heaven help the poor soul when she finally starts dating." She teased. Death blushed and pulled the cloak of his robes lower. "Yes well, I assume the staff will be properly notified Ms. Izayoi?" He asked as he turned away from Aeternum. The Servant bowed, a small smile playing across her face. "I shall inform all the staff of who she is Master." Ms. Izayoi said as she rose and turned to leave. "I'm sure they will be happy to serve your daughter." She said as she exited and Dearth groaned. "You're never going to let that go will you?" He muttered as he looked at Twilight one more time before rising and exiting the room.