The night is cold. Fire is burning everywhere , as if everything in its path will soon be set ablaze. Mitsuya is still at the tree. His eyes have not returned to normal. At this moment , it is as if all the information of the world , past and present , is going through his brain. He is completely overwhelmed by it. Besides the deafening ringing in his ears , the only thing he can hear is his own scream. To the point where his throat begins to hurt. He has to do something. The pain in his head , the bleeding from his arm , the sheer shock in his heart. In an instant he lets go of the root and falls down the slope. He falls through numerous bushes until he's finally at the lake. He falls in , deep into the cold water. At this moment , it began to rain outside. The fires quelled. But Mitsuya is now unconscious.
Suddenly he awakens , but his eyes are still closed. He's standing on his feet. Mitsuya rubs the back of his head , and says to himself - " What the hell happened ? Where did everybody go ?" When his hand touches his head , he opens his eyes frantically. He quickly removes it , and stares at his hand - " WHAT THE HECK ? IT WASN'T LIKE THAT BEFORE !" His hand is completely normal , aside from the clinodactyly possessed by all mages. No scraps , no scars , no blood , no bruises. He stands in that exact position for a few moments, staring at his hand. Something paranormal must be happening. His magic couldn't have done this. He says to himself - " What kind of person can just instantly repair their limbs. This is impossible. Is this God or something? It wasn't like this a few moments ago. Am I dead or -" After frantically pacing the place , he is stopped in the middle of his sentence. Mitsuya looks around. " Wait a minute , this isn't Japan." He looks at the sky above him , mixed with several colors , purple , blue , green , red. " Is this the Northern Lights ?" Behind him there are several tall mountains , all too shadowy for him to clearly see. The floor below him - rocks everywhere. " Just where the he-" He is cut off when he suddenly dropped to his knees. The thing is , he didn't do it willingly. He raises his head , only to see something , no , someone standing before him. There is silence as he observes the figure standing before him. " WHO ARE YOU ?" Mitsuya shouts at it. The figure turns around , seemingly staring at Mitsuya. Mitsuya can't make out any features of it. The figure walks closer to him. Mitsuya looks at the figure standing in front of him. He is horrified. It's his father. He stands there , his blondish - brown hair slick back , with a single strand hanging down from his face. Mitsuya struggles to stand up. He lunges at the figure , but as soon as his fist is about to meet his face , he goes back to his knees. Mitsuya yells from his kneeling position - " YOU BASTARD !!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU ! YOU ABANDONED ME AND KAORU. AND YOU WEREN'T THERE FOR MOM. I HATE YOU !" The figure waits for him to stop talking before responding in a calm voice - " Young mage , I am not your father. I have no idea who you are." Mitsuya struggles for words amid his anger - " THEN JUST WHO THE HELL ARE YOU ?" The figure walks to Mitsuya and brings him to his feet by waving his finger in the air. Mitsuya instantly stands up. He thinks to himself - " What the hell ? Does he have the ability to control my actions?" The figure walks next to him and says " Yes , I do." Mitsuya becomes frantic and begins his normal hysterical yelling. " YOU HEARD THAT ? YOU HAVE TELEPATHY ?" The man smiles sorrowfully and nods his head to indicate yes. " You asked me who I was. I cannot say for certain as of right now , but I can tell you this. I am known to some people as the world. Known to some as the universe , perhaps known as a prophet. I am not God , nor am I Satan. Those are two different things. I was the originator of magic. I am you , I am your sister , I may even be within your father. I am everywhere." Mitsuya doesn't understand - " What do you mean by ' originator of magic'? Are you telling me that you're the first mage ? And where are we ?" The man sighs and puts a hand on Mitsuya's hair. " Too many questions at once , young child. First off , I am what you and other mages might refer to as the Founder. The first person to ever wield magic. I answer by command and I see the lives of every mage and human. This is the Akashic Records. I see the past , and have almost unlimited knowledge , except for the future. I am all , and I am one. I come into contact with every mage at least once in their life , whether it be through birth or death , or through some series of unfortunate events. I appear as the one who you fear most , or perhaps the one who you love or hate the most. But I'm afraid that I don't know much about who I am except for that. As for where we are , I can only tell you this. We lie at the point between Heaven and Hell , if there is one. At this point is where magic originated , and where it will meet its end. By some defining factor the entire mage race will become extinct one day. And when they do , their souls will all come back here. This place is the source of all magic , maybe even the source of evolution that led to the production of humans. And if God didn't exist , then I'd expect that this would be called Heaven. To me , it's nothing but a simple abyss. A world where I must scour every generation as the lives of people go by , and their energy is recycled into the next world. That is how I see it." The man takes a seat on the rocky surface. " Any questions ?" Mitsuya is still confused. He shakes his head and walks in a hurry to the man , but he can't touch him. It's as if a force field has been put up" You can answer from back there." Mitsuya employs his ' are you serious' face , and continues on - " Okay , so all magic originates here ? But how did it come about? Who created this place." The man is in deep thought for a few seconds - " It might have just been a natural reaction of the universe. Or maybe it was produced during the war between heaven and hell. Maybe it was a failed creation of a universe by God , or maybe a simple trick from Satan and the rest of the fallen angels. I can't tell you that." Mitsuya thinks about it for a few seconds , and his expression becomes even more serious. " You said that by some defining factor the mage's race would go extinct. What do you mean by that?" The man sighs and stands to his feet. " I have seen the future and can see that it is the same as our history. At the moment that the greater evil comes, all of mankind will be in danger. The end of days will come , and all of humanity shall wait to receive its own holy judgement by some sort of transcendental entity or law. It can't be avoided. History has shown many times that man has no control over causality , even over his own destiny." Mitsuya begins to pace around the room. " So there's no way to avoid that ? We can't stop it ?" He shouts at the man through the field. The man stands on his feet , and the field goes away. He points behind Mitsuya. There is silence for several moments. " I cannot say for certain. But if you were able to , then I suppose that you would be able to change fate , and history along with it. But I warn you , if you were to try to break barriers and defeat the evil forces that threaten the Earth , then your entire life will be full of misery and sorrow. Mitsuya wipes his nose and looks at him wide-eyed with a grin - " I think I can suffice. I've already been through enough pain." The man walks towards him - " Why did you come here ?" Mitsuya is apprehensive - " I didn't choose to come here. I don't know. I was just sent here." The man chuckles a little bit and puts his hand on Mitsuya's head. " All people who have come to the Abyss without dying first have come here for some reason. They just may not know. This realm is wish granting , meaning it can suffice any desire or end goal that one may possess. What is your goal in life ?" Mitsuya is quick with his answer. " My goal… My goal is to defeat those who abandoned me and avenge my mother. And provide a kind and peaceful world for my sister to live in." The man stares at him before saying - " That's very self righteous of you to say. But , are you really prepared to carry all of the pain and suffering that will come to you as a result of this ? Are you prepared to risk anything and everything." Mitsuya is quick with his answer - " Any thing." The man points behind Mitsuya. Mitsuya suddenly turns around , only to see a large golden door behind him. " Where did that come from ?" The man walks away from him - " This is the realm of imagination. Once you step through that door you will get a glimpse of what it will take to achieve your goals. I warn you , you might be overwhelmed by it." Mitsuya walks to the door and stands in front of it. He observes the golden doorknob , looking shiny. He touches the doorknob , but waits a few moments before opening the door. What he sees is nothing. Just a black abyss. Suddenly he is pulled by something. A shadow. The shadows pull him into the door , while he screams for his life. When it closes behind him , the room is filled with darkness. A transmutation circle appears on the ground , and a green light fills the room. Suddenly everything becomes white. The entire landscape is blank , besides Mitsuya's figure. He stands still , but soon begins to walk around. It's like he's walking in the same places all over again. Suddenly he sees another door. He runs to it and opens it. But what he sees is horror. Before him is the landscape of the regular world. But the setting isn't at all regular. Children crying , people running in the streets , planes flying everywhere. Suddenly , a group of armed soldiers ran through the streets. One of them stops by him and tells him to get away. He just stands there , so the soldier pushes him into the alleyway. He doesn't know what to do. He goes to hide behind the garbage bin , only to see a rotten corpse being consumed by flies. He shields his eyes in horror. But he can't drone out the plane sounds above him. He looks up to see something falling from the sky. At this point he lets out a scream. The area is engulfed in flames as a result of the explosion , wind tears buildings from their foundation people are instantly cremated. Mitsuya closes his eyes , and suddenly he is awake again. He scrambles to his feet and tries to figure out where he is. He sees a door. He runs out of it into brightness. He stops in his tracks - " What is this ?" Before Mitsuya there were two small children sitting at a table with a dozen books on it. The boy is sitting in a chair scouring through the books , while the girl tries to straighten the hair on her doll. " Hey Kaoru , why do you think that you can beat me in chess ?" Kaoru gives him a faint expression , and then says " Because dad says I can. And that's enough proof. Face it Mitsuya , you're bad." Mitsuya grabs her and ruffles her hair. She laughs. " Hey , what are you reading ?" The boy smiles at her and shows her the book - " I found this in Dad's study. I thought it would help me to practice my reversal magic. Or maybe even give me a time-stop." Kaoru shakes her head - " One of these days you're gonna end up meddling with the dark arts and something bad is gonna happen". They both laugh. Mitsuya points to an open page in the book. " I'm gonna become a great mage and end conflict with the human world in a peaceful way. I'm not going back on that. But I guess that if I got lazy I could just have these people help me. Look , apparently some time ago way back , some mages abandoned the Organization. They were said to have possessed great magic , even perhaps more powerful than the elders. But no one knows where they went or what happened to them. But it's said that they left some items behind that hint to their development in magecraft. Many of them have been lost to the mage world. If I can find one of them , I might be able to achieve my goal - being the best mage of all time." Kaoru paces around the room - " Good luck with that. I don't really see how you're gonna beat me though. You have a special seat reserved as the number 2 mage." They both laugh. Suddenly a voice calls out - " KIDS , DINNER IS READY !" They both respond - "OKAY MOM." Suddenly a vase drops off of the shelf. Mitsuya accidentally dropped it. The kids each look frantically at it. Kaoru moves closer to it. " If it cracked , I'm telling mom that you did it." The door reappears behind the older Mitsuya. He tries to run away from it , but the shadow pulls him back in. " MOM." They can't hear him , nor can they see the door.
Mitsuya is back with the person. He scrambles to his feet. " TAKE ME BACK. I NEED TO STAY. PLEASE." The person shakes its head. " I can't do that. You were only allowed to view one memory from the past and one future event. I have no control over that. It's the unnatural law of magecraft in this dimension." Mitsuya looks at him sorrowfully - " What happened there ? The place was in chaos. People were dying. You're telling me that the future is that grim ?" The person takes a seat on the floor again. " In some way , that future can be avoided. If you think that it is safe for you to take responsibility for it , then so be it." Mitsuya thinks about it for a moment. If he can't end conflict , then Kaoru and many others like her , such as the baby from the lab , will grow up in a world that is destined to burn. No one wants this. The person speaks to him. " Do you want me to grant you the power to change the world ? You appear to have a reason for living. Let's make a deal. In exchange for this power , you must not fail in your goal. I warn you , you will not be the strongest. But it'll be ample amount to give a head start. The power of the mage will isolate you. But there will be those along the way who will help you. Are you prepared for this ?" Suddenly Mitsuya sees a vision of his father - " A convergence at the point of time end. The final betrayal is upon us. The promised day is arriving. Can it be stopped ? Is this really how the world will end ?" Mitsuya looks at him , then snaps back. " I submit." There is silence. Suddenly his mind goes blank. Everything is either white or red. It's as if there is a path going straight to his mind. He can only see black and white. The setting of his mind becomes blue , green , purple. Mitsuya wakes up in a room . He's laying on the ground. A blanket is over him. He jumps to his feet , sweating. This place isn't familiar at all. He looks at the window outside : It's dark , but the moon is shining brightly onto the building. The setting looks somewhat familiar .The skyscrapers and the people and the temples. He recognizes it from the family vacations when he was younger. " Why am I in Kyoto ? Wasn't I just unconscious." He touches his head , then looks down at his arms. " They healed ? What did he do ? He must have taken something from me. What power…" He stares off into the distance for several long moments. " Himura , Casanova , Mayomi , Avery and her brother. That baby. Where are they ?" Suddenly the door slams open. Casanova stands there. " I see you're finally up. You were out for a while." He walks to him and gives him a glass of water. Mitsuya looks at him, then takes it. " Casanova , where was I ? And what happened to my hand ?" Casanova sits on the window - " After everyone escaped , Himura and I went back to find you. You were nowhere to be found , until I saw a bloody trail in the grass leading to the river. So I went there , and what do you know, you were lying there face up , as if you were staring at the moon. But your eyes were closed. As for you , I didn't see any injuries when I rescued you. SO I saw no need to heal you." Mitsuya thinks for a second before blurting out - " What happened to Avery and her brother ? And where is the baby ?" Casanova suddenly falls out of the window. Mitsuya frantically looks down , expecting to see him on the ground. Instead he's brought back up by his broom. " We got in contact with some friends. Avery and Alexander aren't here anymore. They made fake identities for them , and I saw them off to London on a plane. I put out a search for their parents. I'll check on them in about a year. As for the baby , it's sleeping in the room next to us." Mitsuya is relieved , but there's still something on his mind. " Casanova, did you see the thing ? Did you see that place , and that person ? I can't describe it , but he claimed to represent some sort of Principle" Casanova jumps off of the broom pats him on his back - " You must have been dreaming. There's no man. No thing. You've been here this entire time." Mitsuya just stands there , while Casanova walks to the door. " We saved you dinner. Now that you're awake , I'm sure that Himura and Mayomi want to talk to you. Hurry up." He runs out of the room. Mitsuya soon follows after him , but he first goes to the bathroom. He finds a towel and washes his face. But he sees something surprising when he looks in the mirror. His eyes. Only one is blue. The other one has been replaced with another color. Without thinking , he yells to himself - "WHY THE HECK IS MY EYE GOLDEN??!!" After moments of thinking , he realizes that it must be a side effect of going to the Abyss. He gets over it , and goes across the hall. He's now in the room of the tiny little creature that he rescued at the lab. It lays carefully tucked under a blanket , silently cooking itself on into a deep slumber. Its blond hair dangles from its head , and its small nose twitches. Mitsuya cannot help but think that it's adorable. He moves closer to it , and it moves out of its blanket. As he tries to put it back on , the baby opens its eyes , letting out a quiet yawn. Mitsuya doesn't know what to do. He picks it up , and it stares at him wide-eyed. Suddenly , it bursts out with a crying rage. " Ah , shoot. This is why I told Mom not to have another baby. Ok , everything is okay , go back to sleep." He cradles the baby in his arms , trying to calm it down. Soon , it falls back asleep. " Well , that was simple." He holds it for a little while before putting it back on the blanket. As he stands up , he can not help but ask " Wait , are you a boy or a girl ? Because if you're a boy , you'll be Chase , and if you're a girl , you'll be Arisu." He looks at it for a second then turns around - " I'll wait until you get your diaper changed."
When Mitsuya runs downstairs , he sees Himura and Mayomi at a table in the dining room , with about a dozen books on it. Mitsuya instantly recognizes them as manga. He notices that they are conversing , and hides behind the door. Mayomi sits upright in her chair. " So you're telling me that this Demon Slayer thing is the new up and coming anime. And Heaven's Feel finally got an adaptation. Took them long enough." Himura chuckles a little bit - " You were all over those magic visual novels when we were younger. I could hardly get them away from you. I guess it's good to know that you still have that same spirit after all of those months at that place. Mayomi smiles - " Yeah , it is. After months of torture and living around death and misery , it feels good to be back here , with you. But I still feel sorry for all of those people. We could have saved them if we made it up there in time." Himura stands up and goes to her - " It's okay. Sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to achieve a greater goal. We can't save everyone. You and Mitsuya must understand that. At least you managed to get one innocent life out of there , and let two others repent."
Mitsuya enters the room. Mayomi looks straight at him. " You've finally awoken. We've been waiting for you." Mitsuya smiles and rubs the back of his head. " Yeah , I had some trouble back at the lab. I got trapped underneath those rocks and my arm got crushed. I fell into the river." Himura talks now - " We spent hours searching for you. It was chaotic with all of the people around. Fire Trucks ,civilians , newspapers , everyone was there. You had me anxious." Mayomi looks at him suspiciously - " You said your arm was crushed , right ? And what happened to your eye ?" Mitsuya frantically covers his eye. " Nothing, it must have changed from the shock. And I think Casanova healed me." Mayomi walks up to him , looking at him seriously. She whispers into his ear - " You saw it , didn't you. The Mage's Realm. The Principle granted you power." The hairs on Mitsuya's neck stand up - " I don't know how I got there. I asked it questions , but I got little answers." He turns to Himura - " We need to put this plan into motion quickly. I saw the future Himura. The existence of the mage race is threatened to go extinct. The world will go into chaos. The apocalypse is coming." Himura doesn't respond in the way that he expects him to. " Well , if the situation is that urgent , then we have to do much more work that I anticipated. If you can trust this God thing that you saw , then I can too. If he claims to be the first mage , then he might have some insight on what started the conflict between mage and human. I think that it's time for you to have your powers amplified. SInce you may be the one who can save the world , and all. From tyranny , from suffering , avenge your mother , my teacher , and give your sister a better future." Mitsuya has a serious expression , and nods his head. " I think that it's time too." Mayomi stands up and stands between the two of them. " Hang on just a minute. We still don't know the nature of Mitsuya's new ' contract'. If we try to amplify his powers , then it might cause something bad to happen to him , or even worse , he might lose them all as a whole. We should test him first." Mitsuya is stunned - " What do you mean by test ? As in survival training to test my progress and current power level." Mayomi looks at Himura and laughs. " No kid , by test I mean conducting one on one battles. You're gonna fight Himura , then Casanova , and then finally you're going to fight me. If we judge that you have enough potential , then we won't perform the incantation. But if you still have room for growth , then we'll do it. Are you up to the challenge ?" Mitsuya smiles a wide grin and nods his head - " You bet your life I'm ready." Himura chuckles. Mayomi turns around and goes to the window. She calls out " CASANOVA. GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW." Suddenly Casanova's broom flies up in the air with him on it. He jumps into the room - " You called me ?" Mayomi instructs him to stand a reasonable distance apart from Mitsuya. " Activate your mana charge. See what happens." Casanova says " Okay" , and within moments a black and purple aura emerges around him. " Now Mitsuya , try to counter it." Mitsuya closes his eyes for 10 seconds , then opens them. His presence echoes throughout the room. A surge of energy goes through his body. " What's happening ?" Suddenly Casanova's aura is eliminated from the room. A huge gust of wind covers the area. Casanova is frozen. Mitsuya stands there , the wind moving his collar. It's so strong that the door behind him blasts open. Mayomi walks to him " Well , it looks like someone has a wind affinity now. I wonder what else you can do." Mitsuya pants. Suddenly Mayomi tells him to roll up his sleeve. " I need to check something." Mitsuya does as instructed. " Himura , hand me your wand." He hands it to her , and she stabs it partially into Mitsuya's hand. Suddenly a dark seal appears on his hand. Mitsuya struggles , but then calms down. It's hurting , but at the same time it isn't. The seal slowly transforms into a circle , then patterns appear. Writing appears on the inside of the circle. It's some type of language that he can't make out. " What is that ?" Mayomi rolls up her sleeve , and turns up her white palm. The same seal appears. " A Faustian seal. A reminder of the contract with the Principle." Mayomi turns to Casanova and Himura - " Go get the baby. I have to feed it." She grabs Mitsuya by his arm and takes him upstairs into his room. When she closes the door , Mitsuya explodes with words. " Mayomi , how did you know about the Abyss, the Mage's Realm? How did I get there ? Have you been there before ?" Mayomi calms him down. " Easy there , one question at a time. First off , yes , I know about the Mage's Realm. I learned about it during the experiments." Mitsuya is confused. " What happened there ?" Mayomi sits down by the window. " There were these things called contact experiments. Prisoners would make contact with some kind of plant , and then were examined for any changes. When I made contact with it , I went unconscious. The next thing that I knew , I was there. And I had a wish , but instead of having it granted , I was given power. Due to the fact that I was the only one who survived , they tried it again , but this time they used their personal knowledge of forbidden magic. So I went back , and I saw a past event. Himura and I at the Mage's Academy. Our most dangerous mission. And I saw a future event. You came to my rescue. When I managed to communicate with Himura , I told him about it." Mitsuya jumps to his feet. " I think it all makes sense now. You were given the transformation craft. Foxes are said to be holders of great magical power. These powers only came from the experiments. That's why Himura said that you didn't have an affinity at the Academy." Mayomi nods her head. " Wait , so what does the plant and this seal have to do with it ?" Mayomi puts her finger on her chin. " That's a tough one. I'd say that there are physical and spiritual gateways to the Mage Realm , but I may be wrong. As for this seal , this is a physical reminder of what happens after the contract is made. It cannot be erased until your goal has been achieved. But you must know , when you took that power , you also took a risk. There was a consequence." Mitsuya doesn't understand. " What was it ?"
Mayomi stands up and walks to observe Mitsuya's hand. " I don't know. But it's a curse. Himura informed me about the story. It may even have the same , if not similar effects as what happened to your sister." Mitsuya clenches his other fists - " Am I worthy of this ? And what is gonna happen to those around me ?" Mayomi pats his head , smiling - " Only time will tell , child. But for now , we must put our heads back in the game." Mitsuya moves her hand - " I really wish you and Himura would stop calling me a child. You guys are only 12 years older than me. You haven't even hit 30 yet."They both laugh. There is a knock at the door. It slides open , and Himura and Casanova walk holding the wide eyed baby. Mayomi tells them to hand it to her. " You three , stand over there , I have to see something." They all stare at her suspiciously , but she yells at them. She goes to the corner of the other side of the room , while they stand against the wall. " She's checking. She's always wanted to be a mother." Himura says. In a few moments , Mayomi says " Okay, you can look now." They turn around to see her making the baby laugh. " Surprise , surprise , it's a girl." She turns to Mitsuya - " You should have the honors. You saved her." Mitsuya looks at the baby and smiles. She smiles back at him , dimples showing. Mitsuya rubs her head- " I already had something in mind. I'll call her Remy Arisu Koharu Irisuki."