Dirge of the Afterlife - Chapter 4 The Reaper

After the hasty escape of the Death Knight, Ristaccia, Kaffleen and Felicia rushed to the Fountain of Eternity. Little did they know that they were followed by a dark shadow. It wielded a blade of death, curved and on a pole. A scythe.
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'How far?' asked Ristaccia, the youngest of the three. She fingered the hilt of her broadsword thoughtfully as they plunged through the forest with speed and precision.

Felicia shook her head and laughed, softly. Despite being several millenia old, they were still impatient as a youngster.

'Too impatient...' reprimanded Felicia. 'We'll arrive at dawn tomorrow, assuming nothing goes wrong.' She grinned and added,'When you get to my age, you won't actually mind the time passing.'

'How old are you?' Kaffleen asked. Felicia had never actually told them.

'Me? I lost count as the centuries went by.' said Felicia.

Suddenly, there was a rustling above them. All three quickly readied for battle.

A second later, a massive figure wreathed in black dropped downwards, silent and deadly- the scythe gleaming even in the dim light spearing through the foliage- and struck out at Ristaccia, who dodged with barely an inch to spare.

She quickly fired a blast at the demonic creature, which was forced back. Yet, striking the massive tree trunk behind it, it didn't even stagger, and charged for another attack.

Felicia lashed her weapon (now the form of a whip) at the demon, and managed to ensnare it's throat (or the area where it's throat was supposedly located). It turned around and backed up (the whip still ensnared), then with one skeletal hand (fingers long and bony) grasped the line of the whip (which in turn glowed a dark purple). Malevolent, dark energies cascaded back to Felicia (eyes widening as it came), who convulsed and gasped in sudden agony.

Then Kaffleen was in, slashing at the hand with blinding speed. She slashed at it, seemingly about to sever it-

-and her blade glanced off as if to no consequence. All it garnered was the attention of the beast, which promptly released the whip and turned to her.

Felicia wasted not a moment. 'RUN!' she screamed, and started racing for the rope bridge not far away, overhanging a gaping chasm. Ristaccia and Kaffleen quickly followed. The thick foliage made it hard to see where to go, and more than once they nearly tripped.

The monstrous demon had no such limitations, easily gliding between the towering trees. Glancing back into it's hood, Ristaccia squeaked in fear. In the hood, there was nothing. No twisted face, no bleached skull, nothing.

Then they reached the bridge. Felicia spun and waved them on. 'Go! I'll catch up.'

Kaffleen skidded to a halt, and so did Ristaccia. 'We won't leave you!' they shouted simultaneously.

'I'll just delay him! I'll be right behind you.' said Felicia, and then she dove at the demon, blade flashing.

Ristaccia wanted to help, but Kaffleen dragged her across. 'Move! She can handle herself.'

Felicia sliced at the arm of the demon, staggering it but not actually harming it. It let out a venomous hiss, and swung the scythe in a great arc. Felicia ducked and lashed out a second time.

Then, just when the other two made it across, she made a great dash for the other side, her weapon now twin blades extended to the sides, to slice at the rope bridge. Felicia feinted a stumble, then flipped up and onto the other side of the bridge just as it fell, the demon falling with it.

Ristaccia shivered. 'What...was that?'

Felicia grimaced. She was slashed, albeit a minor wound, on her left arm. 'That was the Reaper.' She healed the cut with a minor spell, then continued on. 'The fall wouldn't have killed it. We have to hurry.'

As they moved on, Kaffleen asked Felicia about the Reaper's invulnerability. Felicia shook her head, and replied,'The Reaper is death incarnate. It cannot die, and it can only be banished. But we lack the magical skills to banish it, for our magics are of a different type.'

Then they reached a dead end. Right below them was a sheer drop out of sight, thick swirling mist obscuring their vision downwards. Kaffleen whistled. Then she suddenly spun around.

'Wait a second. I thought Genesis came with us. We totally forgot about him!'

The others started. On the way to the Temple of the Ellyna, they were with him, but once they started to infiltrate the Temple, he was gone. And they, for all their formidable skills, had not noticed.

'...No matter. We have to go on.' said Felicia at length. Peering down into the mist, she sighed. 'Below lies the Fountain of Eternity. But we have to go down there to find it, and it's rather misty in there.'

'We have no choice, then.' said Ristaccia to the other two, startling them with her resolve. Bracing herself, she leapt.