Chapter 5 (Part 1)

Back in Limbo after the events that took place at the school.

When I woke up I was back in Limbo, in the same room I woke up in before, but it was different this time. 

There were two others in the room with me. 

At first I thought it was Tinu and Astrid but when I sat up I saw that one of them was Grim and the other, was one of the hooded crows. To my surprise, the hooded crow leaped towards me and wrapped it's arms around. It took all I had to keep myself upright. Why was it even hugging me? 

"I'm so glad you're awake." It said, in a girl's voice, with a heavy sigh of relief. 

And in a voice I recognised. 

Instantly I hugged her. "Caitlin?" I asked in disbelief. We broke away "You're a crow?" I turned to Grim. "What's going on?" 

Grim simply nodded towards Caitlin who brought her hood forward a little. "After you destroyed my decaying body, I wound up here instead of moving on to the afterlife,  that's when Grim offered me the choice; either continue on to the afterlife or stay here and help you as a way of repaying you for freeing my soul." 

"But you don't owe me anything." I argued. 

"Yes I do," Although her hood covered most of her face I could still see her soft smile. "That corpse prison was hell, I was in so much pain," She sniffed. "I couldn't control what I was doing, and I even attacked you..." 

"So I gave her a second choice," Grim said when Caitlin was unable to answer. "To join the Legion or the Crows," He put a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "She said she wasn't much of a fighter," That generated a laugh from her. He took his hand off of her shoulder. "She's to be your own personal Crow, basically your assistant." 

I was speechless but I was also happy. I didn't know just how close we were, I guess I never gave it much thought when we were alive. But now that she's given up her afterlife, maybe now I can make it up to her. 

"What would she have do as my personal assistant?"

"Pretty much what any other Crow would do; she'll heal your wounds, mend your clothes, she'll even accompany you to the living world on hunts where she will also act as a method to contact me, should you need my advise for anything."

After he had finished speaking he took out a cigarette and lit it as my thoughts wondered back to the events that played out at the school. 

"I'm guessing you know about what happened there?" I asked, almost shamefully. 

He nodded, blowing smoke over his shoulder, but said nothing. 

"My magic seemed to listen to my commands but at the same time I had no idea what I was doing, and it wouldn't let me call on it on my own terms."

He chuckled. "Yeah, magic's funny that way," He replied as he blew another puff of smoke over his shoulder. "I'm not saying it has a mind of its own, far from it, but you may have noticed it's not like the magic you've heard of or read about." 

"You mean I don't need to recite spells to activate it?" 

Grim nodded. "It reacts to your emotions; for example, the first time you unknowingly used it in school, you wanted those girls to die, it reacted to your hatred for them, and when the other students began to attack you afterwards, it reacted to your fear." 

"And when I made the castle shake?" 

"Fear again, your magic was following an instinct to protect you, that's basically what magic is, it's the manifestation of your instincts, and after you train a bit, you'll be able to shape it to your will, even pass a portion onto others if you become strong enough."

"Is that how the Crows possess magic?" 

Again he nodded. "I lent them a small portion of my magic," He shone us both a coy smile. "But don't worry, I've got plenty to go around," He took another puff from his cigarette. "Yours is a different kind of magic from mine, however." 

I looked at him with a confused look, wasn't all magic essentially the same? "How so?" 

He seemed to hold a dark sort of grin as he looked back at me. "The magic I possess is ancient, stemming from the primal darkness that existed before life was even a concept, it's pretty much limitless in his potential, and it's known as Void magic," He flicked his cigarette away, which vanished into nothing, as he blew out a puff of smoke. "Yours is almost as ancient, the difference being that yours takes it's power from life, again it's almost limitless, depending on your skill at wielding it, and it's called Purification magic." 

As a brief silence filled the room I looked around the room, my green jumper and tie were folded neatly on the small table in the centre of the room. I looked up to Caitlin again and she shone me her smile whilst still keeping her her hood up, I smiled back and turned back to Grim.

"That sounds like my magic is used for exorcisms." 

He nodded. "Well, in a way, it is," He went quiet for a moment, like he was reminiscing. "It was once used as a way to stem the demons hordes, by angels." 

I was stunned. "You mean, angels really exist?" 

He wore a dark expression on his face. "Existed," He corrected. "They're practically extinct now, the only ones left are those that fell whilst humanity was taking its first steps." 

His answer shocked me, though maybe I was still recovering from finding out they existed in the first place. How could they all be gone? 

"How?" I simply asked. 

He looked at me for a silent moment. "A tale for another time perhaps." He replied in an almost haunting whisper. 

I looked at him in silence and watched as he quickly regained his usual suave. 

"Anyway, I'm sure the two of you have a lot to catch up on," He said with a smile. He walked towards the door, turning back to me when he reached it. "Unfortunately, I'm needed elsewhere." He bowed to us before he left, lowering the top half of his body in a rather comical way, which generated some light laughter from the two of us. 

When he had left the room I turned back to Caitlin, who's hood still slightly revealed her mouth and chin.

"Do you mind if I ask why you still have your hood up?" I asked cautiously, careful not to offend her. 

She seemed to grab her hood defensively, as if trying to cover her face completely, even though her hood couldn't move any further. 

She turned away from me and I started to feel a guilty for asking. 

Caitlin let out a soft sigh. "Well, um, when I joined the Crows, I noticed some subtle changes to my body," She replied softly, almost inaudibly. She turned back to me. "I haven't even gotten used to the changes myself yet." 

"What kind of changes?" I asked, blunter than I had intended. I hoped I hadn't offended her with my tone of voice but at the same time I was curious as to what these changes were.  "Sorry, that didn't come out right."

Caitlin shook her head. "No, it's fine," She let out a soft sigh. "Just don't feel differently about me, okay?" 

I shook my head. "I never could." I reassured her. 

I saw her smile as she gripped the sides of her hood. She pulled her hood down and I could see just what the changes were, I would never have been able to imagine what I was looking at. 

Her long blonde hair was now a trail of pitch black feathers, although her eyes were their usual shape, her blue irises had expanded, covering the whites of her eyes entirely, and had turned black. it was quite a sight to behold. 

I stared blankly at her as I took it in, it was unbelievable how she looked now. 

"Well," I finally said, in a somewhat sharp tone. I licked my lips nervously. "You certainly look different." It was impossible to hide my surprise, but in that moment another thought came to mind. I leaned forward and looked into her eyes with the most serious face I could muster. "Do you have wings?" 

She stared blankly back at me for a moment, it almost looked like she had just been asked that by a complete stranger. 

And then, simultaneously, we burst into laughter, we laughed so hard that we could barely breath

When our laughter died down my thoughts wondered back to the school, the remains of the zombie horde, the survivors, I was even curious about happen to the souls of the conjoined b*****s. 

"I know what your thinking," Caitlin said softly. "You've got your thinking face on, I remember seeing it all the time when we were roommates."

I smiled softly at that, however, it was brief. "Can you tell me what happened to the school after I killed the demon?" 

"Grim went down to bring you back here whilst Tinu and Astrid swept the school, destroying the rest of the zombies and Grim cast a spell over the survivors so they think a passing gang came in and massacred everyone they could before leaving."

"And what about the demon itself?" I asked curiously. "It wasn't like the other souls I've seen, more like a shapeless blob, and it didn't ascend either, it just kinda, dissolved." 

"Grim said it went straight to hell," She laughed softly, I guess she could see the confused look on my face. "Grim told me a lot while you were out, even that the weapons of the legion have a magical link to hell, meaning that souls reaped by them will get sent there instantly and safely." 

I simply nodded, taking in what she had told me. "Have you met Astrid and Tinu yet?" I asked curiously. 

She shook her head. "Not properly, I've seen them coming out of here a couple times though." 

I smiled. "Then let me introduce you to them." I said, practically jumping out of bed, to my slight surprise, my shoes were already on my feet. 

Caitlin stood up and nodded, pulling her hood back up and following me out of the room.