Prologue I

Prologue
Date : 06 After Dawn
There was a light breeze that crept through the buildings, as if a snake moving quietly through individual blades of grass. I could hear it, even though it wasn’t a strong wind. Ornaments were hung off building windows for good luck, and they would spin rapidly as the wind passed. It was quite a beautiful day after all. I would exit our training facility, where we learned how to do the support position that would entitle us to give our all to the future of our society. The school itself was a pain, but the lessons learned were quite valuable. I was currently in the top five percent, allowing me to take time to study on my own in the afternoon time. It was through this type of studying that I discovered more and more of the outskirts. Exploring and mapping wasn’t really my professional outlook, it was just something that I really enjoyed.
I would depart the academy area at about the same time as I did each day. There was nothing different from this one, save for the fact that the skies were darker than normal. The departure was sift and easy, and before I knew it my legs were taking me towards the outskirts. I would stop by a small shop that held an enjoyable snack that I rather liked. I would work there for a bit on my days off to get a tab, and then spend my tab there during the week. It was a solid trade off and I rather enjoyed the extra bit of sweet stuff in my normal diet. After getting that taken care of, I would pop one of the four pieces into my mouth and continue walking. It wouldn’t be long before reaching my destination.

317

The outskirts were a half barren space. While it was still decorated beautifully, the ruins that buildings were not built on were a constant reminder that our civilization was founded on the destruction of a past life. It was thoughts like these that kept my curiosity moving forward. I was still young, and that was one of my best qualities. I questioned everything, for better or worse, and never accepted an answer without a proper explanation. There were times that I had focused on wanting to leave and go on a grand adventure, but had never taken the first steps for fear of the unknown. It was this same fear that pressed my mentality for exploration forward every day. Every day I would venture a little bit further than the last one.
Reaching my next section of the outskirts, I would come across a few ruined buildings with little to hide. It would take a bit of climbing across rubble to enter it, but it would not take long to do so. Even at this pace I was making a good time. Taking a bit of my time to look around, I would find pretty much nothing saves for old relics from a past time. It wasn’t anything that really interested me, but someone might enjoy it. I’d make a note of it in my book as a place to return to later. Leaning over, I would lift a picture of several people up before blowing dust off of it. The spirits that were in it were beautiful, and I almost felt like I had seen one of them before.
Crack.
The sound caused me to stand straight up. The picture would drop from my fingers, shattering as it hit the ground. Slowly turning, I would see them. All of them.

321

My body shifted rapidly, startled by what had transpired. There were eight of them. Their sizes ranged from my size and height all the way to much, much larger than me. A single step was taken backwards, then another before I landed against a solid surface, unable to make another retreating step. Their eyes burned with a feeling I had never felt. Who were they? What were they? I could feel their gaze, and the hate that came with it. Within a blink, the smaller one disappeared. “you’re on our turf kid.”
That was when I felt it. The feeling of pain across my entire midsection spread rapidly around towards my back. All of my muscles contracted tightly while my legs were lifted from the ground. My arms flew forward, my body being pressed straight through the wall. The wall formed around me, folding and breaking before my body shattered the remains of a glass window and rolled into the street. It was empty, everything was empty. The outskirts were dangerous for that, and well known for people getting lost and never showing up again. Could this be the reason why that continued to happen? I was unsure of it, but what I was sure of was that I was in trouble. Muscles would twist and spasm as I rolled over, attempting to climb to my feet. I made it onto my knees, only to look up and see one of the other ones in front of me. His face was pure, relentless evil, as if he were enjoying the masochistic actions he was partaking in. “you don’t already kid? How sad…” My right arm would lift me upwards, pressing me to a higher level when the next attack hit.

314 exp

The edge of his foot came underneath my arm with more force than I thought existed in this world. I could not control the spin that my body took as I was flipped over again, only to be planted onto my back. My book had gone flying to the side, with pages ruffled out to the wind. The work I had done these last few weeks had now been scattered out of my control. I laid there in pain, unable to feel anything below my waist. My mid section was throbbing, and there was already a purple streak across my stomach from the first punch. How did such strength exist that no one would know about it?
“what a waste..”
I laid there, unable to move as the beings foot raised up, lingering above my head. I could only stare at it, wondering if this was the absolute end of my short life. I had done nothing to these people that would warrant such a barbaric assault. Nothing at all. I had never crossed anyone in my life in a way that would bring me such misfortune. I could only lay there, with my eyes closing to the world.
“hey kids.. that’s enough.”
My eyes opened to see what I would only declare as a miracle. The foot was gone, and the guy above me was face down a few yards away. I had not heard anything happen or anyone enter the area. I would look up to see the blonde hair of another spirit standing by my side. He wore white pants, and a blue shirt that had the arms ripped off. His hands were curled into fists, and glowed a light shade of blue. I didn’t understand what was going on, only that I may have just been saved.

306 exp

His blonde hair waved carelessly in the wind. I could only see part of his face, but what I did see was a casual smile. It was as if he was just taking a walk through the gardens and enjoying the day. I could hear screams and shouts towards him. With the pain that I was in, I closed my eyes, only to open them and see something absolutely extraordinary. The little fast one was held up in the air, and his body sizzled with what looked like electricity. It was a strange power that I had never thought even remotely possible. The others were frozen in place around him, unable to move. Each of their legs were trapped, wrapped with electricity. The little spirit would be dropped, and as he neared the ground a knee would be planted directly into the side of his face. The impact through a wall across the street was all I could tell was the result. The others slowly attempted to move, but were ultimately unable. With a light smile, he would look at me before lifting his right leg up. Slamming it into the ground, a crackle of lighting erupted a few feet away from me, surrounding him in a circular pattern. “thundering destruction.”
The amount of pure energy, in the form of lightning, erupted from the ground around him. The flash of light carried itself upwards into the sky before subsiding. When I opened my eyes after closing them to the light, there was just him standing there. There were broken fragments of what looked to be bones scattered around, but nothing else. The amount of pure destruction that had just been unleashed was done so in such a controlled manner that it was unbelievable. I had never witnessed anything like that before in my entire life. I had no idea what to even think of it at this point, other than to be completely speechless. The entire thing was such a shock that my eyes closed, for good this time. It had taken all of my energy not to pass out, and this last turn of events had put my willpower over the edge.

391 exp

It would be a long time before I could feel my mid section again. At least a few days had gone by from what I could tell. That was what I assumed anyway after I had woken up. The result, however, was not something I had expected. The room was large and clean, and I was laying inside a warm bed. Most of my upper body was still wrapped in bandages, leaving the thought of what had transpired inside my head. It had all gone way wrong, in a way that I didn’t know what to do or how to even think about any of it. I had lost sight of myself and ended up laying in the street when some god came to save me. Who was that man, and why did he save me? “morning!”
My head would roll across the soft, smooth pillow. There was a young lady who entered the room. She glowed a light yellow shade and was beautiful. Attempting to sit up, she instead put a hand on my head and pressed me back down. “don’t be hasty, you are still recovering..”
“what happened?”
“Well.. you were beaten pretty badly, and san-shoji happened to be out and, well, you got lucky. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?”
“What kind of person is he? I saw him turn all of those guys to ash..”
“really now? He must have been pretty pissed off to do something that hasty.”
“I have never seen anything like that in my life..”
“most haven’t. You were lucky to witness it. Now, let’s check that body of yours.”

I had to admit, it was rather strange having a woman take care of me like this. She would check my entire body and have me do some breathing exercises to get the feel of my energy flow back .After approving that I was okay to get up, she assisted me out of the bed and around the room. Walking out onto a large balcony, I looked out across a part of town I had never been to. It was beautiful, and the buildings were white and clean, and everything was nice.
“It’s about time you woke up.”
Turning, I would finally get to see the full face of the being who saved my life. He was just as I remembered him. Slender, muscular, and wearing white and blue, he stood at the door with his arms crossed. His features were clean and well preserved, unlike most of the everyday spirits who worked around the city.
“Yes, he just got up. I told you it would be four days..”
“I was out for four days?!”
“of course you were silly..”

I would frown, not realizing that I had been here for that long. There were people who probably were worried sick about me. I hadn’t intended to be a pain in that way, or to cause anyone such strife. I would have to apologize as soon as I got back.

508 experience

I would lower my head, kinda disappointed that I had been out that long. I didn’t want to burden anyone, especially not a being who could turn my very body to ash. He had done it so casually too. I was, in a way, terrified of him. Dropping straight to a knee, I would give him a formal apology and extend my gratitude for what he did. As a passerby, he could have completely ignored the entire situation and allowed me to get eliminated. However, he interfered and it saved my life.
“I thank you for saving me, and humbly give you all of my gratitude. I apologize for being a burden for so long, and for staying here. Please forgive me.”

“well now, this just got weird… it’s nothing kid. Next time try swinging back.”
“What?”
“Swing. Punch. Defend yourself. You let them walk all over you and didn’t even have the resolve to fight back.”
“I don’t really know how..”
“that’s unfortunate. Well, maybe one day you will find the guts to do something about it?”
“could you teach me?”
“wha?”
A laugh came from the young lady as she looked at me. It was obvious she was entertained, but I had no idea why she would laugh at such a matter. It wasn’t like me to bother anyone, or to ask something so straight forward. I wasn’t really even thinking about why I had asked it. All I knew was fear, and that I wanted to become stronger. He was the strongest being I had ever came across, and I knew that. I wanted to become as strong as he was so that I could protect myself and those around me.
“well San-ka, whatcha going to do now?”
“that’s absurd.. I can’t teach someone who doesn’t have the resolve to stand up for himself. Maybe if you did, five laps around lucidus to prove your worth I would consider it.. but not now”
“fine then, I’ll do it and then come back when I can.”

Heading across the room for the door he was standing in, I would feel a sharp pain in my side, causing me to drop to a knee. The girl caught me, raising me up and planting me in the bed. I had no idea what just happened, or the actual extent of my injuries.
“not yet you aren’t, I wont let you out of here until you are fully healed. Don’t go giving him ideas San.”
I laid there, closing my eyes to the pain while going off to dream about what it would like to be strong. I would sleep for several hours before waking up. When I did, he was there, waiting on me. He had a smile on his face, something that looked more reckless than enjoyable. It was as if he were about to do something crazy and enjoy it. It slightly bothered me, but I wasn’t about to say anything about it. He would point to the table next to the bed. On it was what looked like a stack of glass with layers of filters in it. At the top was a place to put water in, and at the bottom, for it to come out.
“This is a training method for increasing your inner energy. For six hours a day, I want you to visualize this as your internal energy. If at the end of two months you can generate a little bit of energy, I will teach you.”
I smiled at him, glad that he had given me something to go off of. What I didn’t know was how far down the rabbit hole I would end up going, and what worlds would be opened to me on the outside.

634 / 2791