Kioku opened his eyes and found himself in a dark empty space. As far as his eyes could see there was only darkness.
"Where am I?"
Kioku took one step and the whole space began to shake. A blinding light flashed and illuminated the darkness, Kioku's eyes widened when he saw the sight before him.
Three enormous black swords stuck in stone floated a few feet ahead. The design of the swords were the same as the mark of the Shadow Realm, Kioku noticed they were cracked at their hilts and a bright glow came from the cracks.
"We're running out of time."
Kioku looked around but he did not see who the voice belonged to. He felt a chill down his spine when the voice spoke, it had sounded eerily like his own.
"Who are you?" Asked Kioku cautiously. "And what is this place?"
"My identity isn't important, we have bigger problems," said the voice.
"Those swords infront of you are your soul shape and this is your soul space."
"My soul shape," said Kioku walking closer to the large blades.
'Is it me or is it getting smaller.'
"It is indeed getting smaller," the voice said, Kioku's eyes widened, the voice could read his thoughts.
"The rip was supposed to weaken your soul over time but something has accelerated the process."
Kioku could feel it, as the sword grew smaller, he felt himself growing weaker, his Arch was weakening.
"What accelerated the process?"
"Can't you feel it? Your Rin has been shut away for too long, it's breaking out," said the voice in grave tone.
"What exactly is Rin?" Asked Kioku in an impatient voice. Everyone kept mentioning this power he had but no one explained what it was.
"That's something I can't tell you right now."
"Of course you can't," said Kioku with a sigh.
'This is getting ridiculous.'
"You can't use Arch otherwise the process will happen even faster. There is only one thing that can save you now."
"What?" Kioku's voice sounded hopeful, he thought that damage to the soul couldn't be cured.
"The very thing that caused this, the one power capable of interacting with the soul, the Soul Rune," the voice said this in an amused tone as if there was a joke behind its words.
"You have to wake now and figure out the rest yourself."
"Who are you?" Asked Kioku. "I'm not sure I like the idea of having someone living inside my head."
Darkness covered the entire space once again and within it, Kioku saw a pair of glowing blue eyes looking directly at him.
"Trust no one and focus on the mission, all else is noise," said the voice, it sounded closer and Kioku was sure it was his voice it spoke in.
"Those are the words we were taught to live by."
"We?" Kioku felt himself waking up and his body began to float upwards.
"I am you."
A face appeared in front of him, his own face smiling at him, except the face in front of him had darker hair and his eyes were glowing a light blue colour and there were strange markings on his right eye.
"And we are the darkness that devours."
"May light fall beneath you."
♤♤♤
Kioku woke with a start, he looked around and saw Mora sleeping on a chair near him, the room was dark and the moon's light shined through the windows. He realised he was back at Iplis' house and laid back, he raised his right palm and looked at the rune marking on it.
'No one else I know was born with a rune so I can't ask for help,' thought Kioku.
'it's not as if I know many people anyway.'
'I've only left home for a day and there's already so much I don't know, so of which I hope to remain not knowing. Now i have to worry about this mission, my rapidly depleting life span, a mysterious power I have and now there's a version of me in my head reminding me of things I already knew. Master what would you do....'
Kioku covered his eyes with the hand he raised and sighed.
"Trust no one and focus on the mission, all else is noise."
Click...
Kioku raised his head at the sound of the door closing. The Arch leaving the house belonged to Iplis but it was strangely feint as if it was being hidden, almost as if.....
Kioku sat bolt upright, realising what Iplis had done, he jumped off the chair and grabbed a nearby pair of sandals and bolted out the door. The streets were deserted except for a few men in green cloaks, Kioku passed Doran who looked at him curiously as he run by.
"Nice clothes brat."
Kioku stopped and looked down at what he was wearing. He wore a ridiculous flower patterned white shirt with matching shorts and socks. He clenched his fists and continued running with a dark look.
"She's going to hell," he said passing a group of Doran's men who laughed at his outfit.
"And these clothes are going with her."
♤♤♤
In a house situated near an enormous glowing tree root...
Soyin faced a cluster of grey flames that burned beautifully on his hand. The flames glowed as an elderly voice was transmitted through them.
"Are the two of them okay?"
"Kioku fainted due to exhaustion and Mora is recovering from poisoning," responded Soyin.
"I see, ensure that their identities are not revealed, if the other Great Realms get wind of this they'll be in great danger."
"I understand Master," Soyin nodded with a frown, he knew that the two of them were important but not to that extent.
"Master, what exactly about those two makes them so important?"
The voice was silent for a moment and when it next spoke, it sounded even older.
"They are descended from an important line of the Human Realm, however, one is royalty of the God Realm and the other is royalty of the Shadow Realm. The other realms can use them as leverage to influence these three realms hence their importance."
"Its that bad huh," said Soyin thoughtfully.
"You must be careful as well Soyin, after his disappearance, the Dragon Realm will surely send people to look for you."
"Tch, as if I'd return to that wretched place."
Soyin looked away from the flames with a pained expression. The flames dimmed and slowly began to diminish.
"I will return soon be on high alert."
The flames disappeared leaving Soyin alone in a dark room, he took a deep breath and pulled out a knife and made a small cut on his forearm. Green blood oozed out and Soyin gave his arm a dark look.
"So I still continue to suffer because of this disgusting blood that runs through my veins."