I am a little boy living in a middle age village. In this place there live humans, prophets and reapers. The reapers are dressed in black and are the messengers of death, they consume you if you are a sinner. The priests are meant to educate you and keep you safe from the reapers.
There is a large group from my village doing a walk of mid solstice when a group of reapers appears. The priest start chanting, everyone else begins to pray. I say the only thing that comes into my head ‘I am righteous’, I repeat it over and over again. The reapers fly through our group consuming people at random. I do not understand how so many people who I always thought were good honest people could be the reapers targets.
My group continues walking forward, leaving those attacked by the reapers behind. I am still slowly repeating ‘I am righteous’ over and over in a clear and steady voice. We reach a bridge and start to walk over it. A larger group of reapers is on the other side of the bridge and starts to come towards us. I panic and raise my voice. I am louder that the priest, but cannot speak quieter or contain my fear and panic. The reapers fly through us taking a few with them.
We reach the end of the bridge and continue walking along a dirt road. I calm down and only whisper ‘ I am righteous’ now.
We reach a second bridge with a single reaper guarding the bridge.
He lets us cross grinning as if he knew something we didn’t know. We don’t get far onto the bridge when it starts shaking beneath us. The middle of the bridge explodes in a huge ball of fire. We all fly backwards, the reaper guarding the gate turns and stars at us in utter surprise as we come hurtling at him full pace.
I try to apologiese before I crash into him, knocking him a few meters onto the dirt road.
Somehow that is a huge commotion, reapers attack the people farming over the hill. Another group of humans fire guns at the reapers from up in the trees.
In the chaos I spot my old school teacher and run to her.
She hers the small group of children underground to safety.
She ushers us along tunnels and through underground markets. She is walking too fast, I cannot keep up and lose the group.
I am in a big market and somehow it transforms into a present time street festival. Everything is loud and colourful. I start to mumble ‘I am righteous’ again and hide under a potato stall. I crouch in the dark and wish for a future without reapers.