Chapter 2 — Chapter 2

One of the spiders snapped the lid of the box on the table.

"Oh, it's a bracelet with a watch," she picked up the strange accessory. A large, wide leather bracelet with several screens, or rather, dials, embedded right into it. Above each was a label: day, month, year, the number of something, and another small window...

"And the instructions?" she peered into the box, where a sheet of paper lay. "The fourth dial is the number of the world, planet, asteroid... Um... What? An asteroid? The fifth is the search and return point."

She put the watch back in its place; she wasn't ready to start this job yet. After putting everything back as it was, she left the office and went up to the second floor. There was only one door...

Taking a deep breath, she opened it and stepped inside. The first thing she saw was a large desk. Stacks of magazines lay on it. She approached and opened the top one. So, soul numbering: when it arrived, where from, who it is, and another line, empty. She flipped through a few pages with interest, and on the twentieth, she found an entry in that column – "reincarnation."

If she wasn't mistaken, that meant the soul was moving on to a new cycle of life. So, there was a chance after all... Although she didn't understand, since only on Earth were millions of children born, why couldn't these souls be placed?

Oh yes, about that, she had, of course, read fantasy books and watched movies. An essence – the spirit of a beast, what was the problem with placing it?

She looked at the space behind her: shelves and drawers filled with glass spheres of various colors...

She approached and picked one up. It had a number on it, and inside the glass, something flickered... alive? She carefully put it back...

"Is this a soul, right?" she looked at the spiders on the wall. "Something tells me it's not that simple..."

She walked between the shelves, realizing that the soul spheres were piled up haphazardly. The further she went, the fewer there were on the shelves. Which meant no one had dealt with them in a long time...

And, by the way, everything was covered in a thick layer of dust...

"Okay, helpers, get me an apron, sleeves, and a headscarf. You start collecting dust from the far shelves, and I'll start sorting the souls by race – essence... that way, it'll be easier to place them later!"

The spiders quickly brought what she asked for, she got dressed, and as soon as the first shelf was dusted, she took a box full of souls and carried it to the table. She returned to the magazine and, flipping to the right number, looked at the busy spiders. Since the shelves were arranged in a semicircle, there were no walls, and the space allowed boxes to be placed on both sides, she could see everything. There were only three shelves, for easy viewing. They weren't close to the floor, nor above chest level, which was quite convenient.

"I could use some labels with the essences..." she didn't want to write on the shelves.

One of the spiders sat on a shelf with its front legs raised.

"Lions?" she somehow guessed the spider wanted to help.

It climbed to the very top of the shelf and started weaving a web in the corner. She decided not to linger and handed the spiders the first sphere with the essence of a lion's soul.

"Numbers up, so it's easier to find," she requested.

It was hard to check by the numbers; there were six ledger books... She honestly tried to just see who was in the sphere, but all she saw was a colored blur.

The spiders had already cleaned the right side of dust and dirt, while she had only sorted three shelves. There were many essences... she hadn't even heard of some of these names.

When she was so tired her legs couldn't hold her, she realized – she needed a break. But it was still light outside... How to tell time, she hadn't noticed any simple clocks here, except for the work tool.

She decided to go prepare lunch or dinner... she took off her apron, headscarf, and sleeves, and hung them neatly on the back of the chair.

"Okay, we're taking a break, you can rest and eat! But not in front of me..." she imagined it, and it gave her the creeps. She understood that such big spiders didn't feed on flies...

She looked back at what had already been done: well, not bad! She'd rest and get back to work, and she'd rest with a book, she needed to understand how to "place" souls.

"Where do I find the strength to cook... I'd just like some simple fried meat and a salad... and coffee!" she said dreamily and went to her bedroom to wash up and clean the dust off her hands.

She entered the kitchen and froze in surprise. The spiders were already frying meat and chopping vegetables for the salad.

"Thank you so much!" she approached. She took out bread, found olive oil and spices, and started helping. "Should you eat too?" she offered a piece of bread to the nearest spider.

It quickly crumbled it into small pieces, passing them to its siblings... or sisters. It stayed without food itself, she gave another piece, and another... And so – three slices, and she tried to give an apple slice, but the spider refused and ran away.

"Well, fine, bon appétit!" she set a plate of meat for herself and pulled the salad bowl closer.

After cleaning up, she took the coffee, kindly poured by the spiders, and went to the office.

She placed the cup on the table and went through the shelves, looking for a book (or books) on placing souls. She found nothing like that, but she found a hundred others – guides to races.

"So, it's easier to see where certain species live, in which worlds. And even on asteroids – planets?" she sat at the table, taking a book on extraterrestrial beings and another on rare species.

She only came across a few, just three, but she hadn't even sorted half of the attic yet.

"Extraterrestrial being – Styx, lived on planet 20468, the race was destroyed, its descendants spread throughout the galaxy. There are 264 individuals, living on planets H179-3 and ten others. Mostly women, but the essence passes to male individuals. So, I also have to find a guy with this Styx's DNA? Pfft..."

She put the book aside. Nonsense. How could you find someone in the universe?

She took another one on rare races.

"Basilisk – born very rarely, under many coinciding factors. Its mother and father must be powerful magicians, one parent only a dragon," and a bunch of other explanations: the moon in this phase, the stars in that, the time is such... The age of the parents, dark and light magicians...

She stared at the wall. The contract conditions hadn't seemed easy to begin with, but now it was getting worse...

"So. What if I try to set a specific point?" she looked at the watch instructions. "The world number, the date... Where do I get the date?"

Looked at the quiet spiders hanging in the corner.

"Are there any other job instructions? Or user ones?" I was immediately brought a small book, "The Reaper. Use of Attributes, Behavior, Expenditure of Magic and Death Artifacts."

I read it in about thirty minutes, then, finding a piece of paper, made bookmarks on the pages where the information I needed was written.

In the end: I set it up and head exactly where I need to go. The watch - an artifact that runs on my magic, willpower, and desire. When it's time to go for a new soul, another artifact, a sphere, notifies me...

I turned around, not noticing before, in the corner stood a large, glass sphere playing with all the colors of the spectrum. It didn't glow like a light show, but softly illuminated a small space around it. I approached it: so, what am I supposed to see here?

Behind the glass was just floating colored fog, that's all. I stepped away from the sphere, maybe there's some mechanism on the stand? No, nothing...

The stand it was on was also ordinary, without any additional features. Suddenly, something flashed in the artifact, some numbers, disappeared, then again...

"Wait, stop!" I put my hand on the sphere. "Willpower... Please, give me the world number, the race, slowly and in a list!"

In response to my request, a sheet appeared on it... it listed about thirty souls in different worlds. So, there will be restocking at the warehouse... And I haven't dealt with the others yet!

Time to get to work. No need for ghosts to suffer after death!

I took the cloak off the mannequin and threw it over myself. Tied a scarf over my face, covering my nose and mouth. Put on the watch, setting the world number on them... Folded and put the sheet with the record in my pocket, took the staff in my hands.

"Wait, stop! How do I get back?" I looked at the instructions again, flipping to the right place. "Set the watch to 00. I'll take it with me! Do I need a bag?" I looked around for something similar.

The spiders found the needed item somewhere and brought me a leather shoulder bag. After putting the book and list in it, I took the staff again, and, looking at the watch, commanded to depart. But nothing happened...

Sighing, I tried again, and still nothing happened...

I pulled the book out of the bag, starting to read.

"How inattentive I am..." I muttered, "I need to wear the watch on my right hand, the one with the scythe."

Switching the artifact, gripping the staff, I wished to go to the world of the first soul - a dragon. Everything flickered around, and I found myself on a mountain, at the very peak. Barely balancing on the tip of the cliff, I frantically looked for a place to step. Then I simply wished to descend lower, to the platform visible below. As soon as I did, a roar sounded behind me, and a huge, no exaggeration, dragon charged at me. I squealed, trying to jump away, but the spirit passed right through me...

Oh, right, it's dead. I spotted a bare skeleton in the cave...