Surviving in this Really Messed Up World

*Cling*

Okay, fighting a monster that actually knows how to fight seems like a disadvantage to me, and i don't know what to do.

"Come on, use me properly atleast your strength will increase by a bit" Vinny casually said.

I was annoyed and jumped back avoiding another hit towards me, damn this thing is persistent. "How do i do that?!"

"Duh use lifeforce, kill this thing and run away from here before all the monsters speeding here catch up to you" Ok you can do this vince.

I drew upon that feeling once more and something unprecedented happened instead, there was another feeling besides the other one and i was tempted ot draw upon that one for a strange reason…so i did.

And then something strange happened, the monster who was about to attack me again, jumped back and growled at me.

I had a strange thought suddenly engulf my mind. "Should i eat it?"

No that wasn't the right word to put, it was more of an instinctual feeling to rip it aprt just because i can.

I could feel my teeth strangely sharpen and my scythe arm suddenly elongated and started morphing into an actual scythe. Vinny suddenly froze as her form entered the scythe.

Then it happened, the scythe lit up in a strange green and red flame. "Oh would you look at that, the little monster is afraid of me, come in weren't you trying to kill me with sooo much enthusiasm"

It was…it was as if my personality mixed with Vinny and that foreign feeling.

The moment my voice came out, I realized it wasn't just my voice anymore. It was layered—my usual tone mixed with Vinny's playful sharpness and something else entirely. Something feral. Something hungry.

The monster—whatever it was—staggered back, its claws trembling mid-air. Its blank face was still expressionless, but its posture screamed one thing: fear.

The scythe in my hand—our hand—radiated with that unnatural green and red flame, flickering like it was alive, feeding on the tension in the air. My grin stretched wider, sharper, and I felt my teeth press against my lips in a way that was far too unnatural.

"Aww," I cooed, my voice dripping with mock pity, "what's wrong? Weren't you all excited to tear me apart just a second ago?"

The creature let out a guttural hiss and lunged forward again, its claws aimed straight for my throat.

But this time, I was faster.

My body felt lighter, like I was moving through water while everything else was frozen in place. I sidestepped effortlessly, my elongated scythe carving through the air with a whistle before slicing clean through the creature's arm.

Black ichor sprayed, sizzling the moment it hit the flickering flames around the blade. The monster screeched, stumbling back and clutching its stump, its body twitching violently.

I didn't stop. I couldn't stop.

I surged forward, bringing the scythe down in a wicked arc. It buried itself deep into the monster's torso, the flames flaring brightly as they consumed it from the inside out.

The creature's screeches became distorted, choked, and then—silence. Its body crumbled into ash and smoke, scattering into the wind as if it had never been there.

And then it hit me.

The energy, the raw life force, surged up through the scythe, into my arms, and into my chest. It was intoxicating—warm and electric, like molten sunlight pouring through every nerve in my body. My breath hitched, my vision blurred, and for a moment, I felt… invincible.

But then, it faded.

The scythe in my hand shrank back into my usual blade-arm, and Vinny suddenly reappeared, floating beside me with an expression I'd never seen on her before—shock.

"Uh… Vince?" she said softly, her grin nowhere to be seen. "Are… are you okay?"

I staggered back, clutching my chest as I tried to regulate my breathing. The hunger, the gnawing void—it had been fed, but it wasn't gone. It was just… quiet. For now.

"That was… what was that?" I asked, my voice raw and unsteady.

Vinny floated closer, her black eyes scanning me carefully. "Well it's normal for reapers and their Scythes to fuse…but the strange thing is that green and red fire, usually when you absorb life force, a bit of it goes to me and strengthens me doing a 50:50 exchange, but when you absorbed life force now it was 40:40:20"

"Wait… 40:40:20?" I repeated, trying to process her words through the fading adrenaline. "That's… not how math works in a two-way split, Vinny."

Vinny floated closer, her sharp grin absent, her expression unusually serious. "Exactly. That extra twenty percent? It went somewhere else. And trust me, Vince, that's not supposed to happen."

"Somewhere else…" I muttered, clutching my chest as the faint ember of that other presence smoldered inside me. It felt ancient, heavy, and still… hungry.

"We should get moving" Vinny urgently told me, i didn't need her to tell me twice.

I ran. "How do i sense life force?"

"Simply think of a human, what is a human and after you got the image in your mind, give all the rest random colors."

I focused on Vinny's words, letting my feet carry me forward as I tried to follow her instructions. Think of a human. What is a human?

The image came easily—flesh, bone, warmth, a pulse. A bright spark of life buried in fragile skin.

"Now," Vinny said, her voice sharp and guiding, "imagine everything else fading into random colors, like splashes of paint over a black canvas."

I closed my eyes for half a second, trusting my feet to keep moving, and did as she said. The world around me shifted in my mind. The cracked streets, the rubble, the distant shapes of monsters—all turned into abstract smears of dull blues, faded greens, and muddy grays.

But there—there it was. A flicker. A bright golden spark in the distance, barely visible through the chaos of smears. It pulsed faintly, like a weak candlelight fighting against the wind.

"There!" I gasped, pointing ahead.

Vinny grinned, her usual spark returning to her black eyes. "That's what I'm talking about! Now move!"

I didn't need any more encouragement. I bolted toward the light, weaving through broken debris and leaping over cracks in the road. The faint golden glow grew brighter with every step, and now I could feel it—a warmth in the pit of my chest, a pull guiding me forward.

But the hunger stirred again.

That ember deep inside me flared slightly, and I could feel that other presence stir. My mouth felt dry, and my fingers twitched as if the scythe-arm wanted to materialize again.

"Don't focus on it!" Vinny snapped, hovering beside me. "That thing inside you—whatever it is—it's going to latch onto anything nearby. Keep your head straight, Vince!"

I clenched my jaw and forced myself to focus on the light ahead.

The glow led me to a small alleyway, partially barricaded with makeshift barriers of metal scraps and wooden planks. Behind the crude walls, I could hear faint breathing—ragged, panicked.

A survivor.

"Hey!" I called out, trying not to sound as crazed as I felt. "Is someone there?

Silence.And then.The coldness of winter frost.

"Are you an enemy?" The voice was that of a male, sound like my age which…what exactly is my age?.

"Your eighteen" As if hearingy my thoughts vinny spoke.

"Nope, not a skinwalker nor a mimic, but i am not going to confirm being human, also i am pretty sure you aren't normal yourself, i felt a strange cold sensation when i spoke, as you would attack me with icicles or something"

The boy behind the barricade stayed silent for a moment, his breathing uneven, frost lightly curling off the edges of the wooden planks. When he finally spoke, his voice was sharp and cautious.

"…Fair enough. Stay where you are. Don't move until I say so."

I froze in place, my body still tense from the lingering hunger clawing at my insides. Vinny hovered beside me, her black eyes narrowing as she observed the faint frost creeping along the edges of the barrier.

"This guy's giving off serious 'don't mess with me' vibes," she muttered.

The barricade creaked as the planks shifted slightly. Slowly, a figure emerged—a boy about my age, pale skin marred with faint cracks of ice-like patterns across his neck and jaw. His silver hair was messy, sticking up in odd angles, and his eyes glowed faintly with an icy blue hue.

He was holding a jagged shard of ice in his right hand, shaped like a crude dagger. His gaze locked onto mine, and I felt the temperature drop another few degrees just from how intensely he was staring at me.

"…You're not normal," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "But you're not one of them."

I raised my hands slightly, showing I wasn't about to attack him. "Yeah, well, I'd say the same about you. What's with the frostbite cosplay?"

The boy's lips twitched, almost forming a smirk before he caught himself. "It's… complicated."

"Aren't we all?" Vinny quipped, floating closer to inspect him. "Frost powers, hmm? Cute. Bet you're fun at summer camp."

The boy flinched slightly at Vinny's movement, his icy shard dagger shifting in his hand. "What… what is that?"

"Hey vinny, did you make yourself visible or something" I didn't know why this girl is bothering me.

"Booo, come on i'm your sis can't i show my cute face to others" She stuck out her tongue.

I looked at the boy and if one her antics. "She is my scythe, don't mind her, by the way my name is Vince and i found out this place is haunted by monsters…today despite living here for some time"

"Kael and this isn't new to me, Marcaves said this town has cheap living expenses so i came here…but as usual, monsters appear" He sighed.

"Huh, sounds rough, so do you want to live this town when the sun rises, cause i ain't staying more than a day here" If i was gonna get jumped, i'll jump the monsters then.

"Yeah i should be receiving a call by now"

Kael glanced around, his icy blue eyes scanning the shadows beyond the alleyway barricade. His grip on the shard of ice in his hand relaxed slightly, but he didn't let his guard down completely.

"A call?" I raised an eyebrow. "From who? Pretty sure cell towers aren't exactly reliable in monster-infested ghost towns."

Kael sighed, the frost around him dissipating slightly as he lowered the ice dagger. "Marcaves. They're an organization… let's just say they specialize in dealing with places like this. They sent me here to scout, said they'd extract me when the sun rises."

"Fancy," Vinny muttered, her black eyes glinting with curiosity. "So, Ice Boy here is part of some shadowy monster-hunting group. Vince, we really do meet the most interesting people."

I crossed my arms, trying to process everything while keeping the gnawing hunger deep inside me at bay. "Alright, Kael, extraction sounds great and all, but I'm not exactly thrilled about sticking around until sunrise. You've got a plan, right?"

Kael hesitated, glancing toward the dark street behind me. "I was supposed to hold out here until they came. This spot was secure… or at least, it was. But something's changed tonight. The monsters are more… aggressive. Unorganized, but more driven." His gaze locked onto me, narrowing slightly. "And then you showed up."

I felt Vinny shift beside me, her mischievous grin returning. "Ohhh, he thinks you're the reason they're going feral, Vince. Honestly, wouldn't surprise me. That green and red fire? Yeah, that's some otherworldly stuff."

"Not helping, Vinny," I muttered, running a hand through my hair. "Look, Kael, I'm not interested in being anyone's scapegoat. I just want to get out of here alive, same as you."

Kael sighed, his breath turning to mist in the frigid air. "Fine. You don't seem like a threat… not directly, anyway. But if we're going to make it through the night, we need to stick together."

"Agreed," I said, nodding. "So what's the plan? Hunker down here or make a break for somewhere safer?"