"Glad to see everyone here is still doing fine, I hope." The young founder walked down the same path he took from Hayori Town. Apparently, the surroundings were quieter than ever not a single person in sight. This raised some concern but Douma tried not to think too much about it, he'll find out in the morning, it was late after all.
Humming a tune, Douma continued down the path keeping an eye out for any movements in the corner of his vision. That alien swarm could be hiding just about anywhere.
"I'm starting to think the human world has way more problems than any other dimension. Everyday humans have to brace themselves for any chaotic event that might change their lives forever, it must be hard not having any powers." Douma looked up at the night sky, frowning when he saw fewer stars compared to before. Now that's worrying it's just pass midnight. Why are the stars hiding? Douma thought and then he remembered; they were hiding from him! The shrine leader loved collecting stars but not just any random ones of course. The stars he collected were usually 'sickly' but he still had to be careful when catching them.
"Shinobu... how long are you going to be mad at me?" Douma wondered if he was ever a good friend or if Shinobu's life had been turned upside down because of him. The violette's furious expression and hurtful words were hard to forget. It was almost as if the shrine leader was affected by them, normally he wouldn't be too bothered by the actions of any creature.
Admittedly, when it came to emotions especially if it involved Shinobu, the shrine leader felt different. He still couldn't figure out why he was reacting strangely this time around. Shinobu's smile always caught his attention.
"I hope Shinobu is alright, it's really cold tonight." A few snowflakes landed on his palms. Douma really wanted to check on Shinobu but maybe leaving her alone was a better option for now.
The further he walked, howls of wind echoed from every direction. The Winter Storm was yearning to be put off from this never-ending torment, but Douma couldn't do anything about it this was the consequence of using too much power at once. Sometimes he didn't understand why humans, not all but enough of them, were so obsessed with greed hadn't he as the shrine leader helped them enough? Spoon-feeding them wasn't going to solve any of their problems if they didn't learn.
A few months ago there was a man who always got hurt in the strangest ways. Nobody could fathom how one was so clumsy. Every week he'd visit the shrine and request for herbs since Paradise Shrine had a stock load of them. When he found out Douma could heal others, he decided to test the water, from then on both he and his children would visit the shrine for healing. Poor kids they had to follow their father's selfish ways.
Douma knew that he was just taking advantage of the healing abilities just so he didn't need to put on a bandage. Cruel as he was, the man would instruct his children to handle the most dangerous tools resulting in them getting cuts and bruises.
The reason why Douma didn't say or do anything about it during the first weeks is because the man would suspect that he's watching him. All the young founder had to do was see right through his mind, every intention and thought would come to light. Moreover, Douma felt kind of bad reading people's thought process it sort of invaded their privacy even though he was already granted that power.
At the end of the day, he still caught that man he had to put a stop to it anyway with the reason that he had sent someone to check on him. Everyone trusted him so much that even the man didn't question him further, instead he apologized and never set foot in the shrine again, he sure was arrogant.
Soon Douma reached the familiar row of houses that lit up the path to his shrine. The same lights he once passed made him smile. This meant everyone in the village was still OK. Nothing serious happened during his time in Tokyo. If the alien creature showed up here it better start running.
The Winter Storm was distracting though. Getting colder by the minute. At this rate, the storm would surpass its previous lethality. People might as well start wearing ten layers after dawn, the storm wanted its revenge after the nullification that interrupted it before. This was useful to slow down the alien creature but it seems the monster was also getting more aggressive even when it was just a few bugs.
Since the alien creatures were desperately trying to fight their starvation during the previous storm by resorting to attacking people, this new creature would be harder to take down since it's now one mass of ruthless calamities. To humans it would be unstoppable, nothing was working against it and this storm is only going to make things worse.
Douma looked up at the sky again, a few minutes ago he could still see the fragment of the galaxy and stars besides the spirals of cold air, now the storm has completely overlapped the view. Perhaps the stars weren't running away from him after all.
"Guess I won't be making another Snow Globe tonight." In dismay, the young founder continued walking down the path getting his keys ready, the sound of them clashing against each other rang like a bell when he got them out of his pocket.
"Whoever is hiding in my shrine better come out now, I can see you from here." Douma sneered there were a few cases of people trying to sneak in even though they saw a glimpse of him sitting on his bean bag watching them from outside. What made it funnier was seeing some individuals rummage through the shelves and drawers looking for some valuable items unaware that he was right beside them just invisible. Did they not read the tales of the Shrine Leader? Talk about naive.
The gate was in front of him now, slowly he unlocked it and walked up the flight of stairs averting his gaze to the Cherry Blossom tree that was still standing tall. Light pink leaves landed on the ground piling up.
"Finally some peace." Walking into the main hall of the shrine, Douma sat down on his bean bag and wore his hat. A few books were stacked beside him it reminded the blonde of his time at Mr Oshiro's. Stories were fascinating and he didn't mind reading these books again since nobody was going to visit the shrine anymore. He had all the time to himself.
When he picked up one of the books, something caught his eye, the insect on the cover. Back at Atashi's the four of them were looking at the frames Eiko found in the box.
Atashi was still out there with the artifact. It's been a few days now. Stopping by Reiji's could be the first step to finding Atashi they could ask Eiko what happened after his visit if she has recovered. Moreover, Atashi was all by himself did Eiko know about it? Douma wanted to think he just went out with some friends however that wasn't the case. Turning into a fiery maniac to fight some aliens would be the end of their plans.
Then Douma thought of something that might work. Visions and dreams if Douma couldn't contact Atashi and Eiko communicating with them in their dreams upfront should do it. The sequence would play out in the form of a message. Douma just had to hope they would remember once they wake up. And that was the problem, they might brush it away as some weird vivid dream unless Douma could convince them somehow.
But dreams weren't something to mess with. It could cost the person's life if something major happens reaches their physical body. Lucid dreams are capable of this and who's to say Atashi was going to be lucid dreaming? If he was maybe he'd know it's Douma and be able to listen to what he had to say since the events would be determined by his choices but if that wasn't the case it would be beyond the limit his current dream can hold.
Douma just had to try and make sure nothing serious happens. It's something he's done a few times before. With patience it should work.
Sitting on his bean bag, Douma took a deep breath and closed his eyes focusing on the array of colors and shapes in the dark void that slowly turned into specks of light. In just a few seconds the moving fragments merged with the light specks to form an entire universe, almost matching the color of his orbs. There was a gravitational pull in the center which Douma immediately dived through like a nail to a magnet at full speed.
---
There was a sound of footsteps from all directions. Opening his eyes, Douma turned around and saw the familiar buildings and road of the central part of Tokyo, somewhere in Marunouchi. The entire place was in chaos, people could be heard screaming and there was fire and rubble everywhere. Worse than the actual state of the area after the rampage.
"This is where those alien creatures-
"We have to get out of here!" A familiar voice interrupted him.
Douma looked down and saw Atashi standing beside him watching the crowd of angry people running towards them.
"They sure are mad." Douma casually replied placing his fan below his chin. This sure was an apocalyptic nightmare.
Crowds of people gathered at the barriers in front of the road. Both Douma and Atashi ran away from the area those barriers weren't going to hold them long enough. To make matters worse nobody was patrolling the area.
Douma could hear the crowd yelling and demanding for Atashi to surrender which confused the young founder, his friend in the orange sweater seemed innocent like any other normal civilian.
What did Atashi do to make these people so angry? Douma wondered and upon realization he snapped his fingers.
The streets were on fire, it was impossible for the alien creatures to go to such lengths the flames were huge and the place had become a total trainwreck. It wasn't even recognizable anymore. Only one person was responsible for it.
"You monster!"
"Give us our lives back!"
Their words were harsh. Did Atashi seriously try to burn down the entire district? These people must be so traumatized no wonder they were demanding for their normal lives back. Douma wish he could help but he remembered this was just a dream and right now Atashi's emotions were actively running this disaster, he just had to wait and see where this goes from here.
Just as Douma was about to ask Atashi what was going on, the boy ran off towards a collapsing building and just stood there clenching his fists, back facing him.
A few people were starting to try and break through the barrier however they struggled to. Douma found it strange that they didn't try to climb over it or knock it down since they wanted to get across so badly. It's not like the barrier could hold off such a large amount of people. Was there some sort of invisible forcefield between the two areas? This was a dream after all if Atashi didn't want them on this side he could just do about that.
"Atashi are you alright buddy?" Douma called out but got no response.
The boy in the orange sweater with quite messy dark hair continued standing there not moving an inch despite the ash and flames closing in on him.
"Just stay there and don't move until you burn to the ground. Count the number of lives you've taken! Bet you can't because the fire will consume you by then!" Things were getting really unsettling. Douma wondered if these people were victims of the actual event. With Atashi's current state of emotions it wasn't surprising if he did end up killing people by accident or pure rage.
"Do you know these people? What's going on? Atashi answer me." Douma said sternly if his friend isn't going to cooperate with him in this dream he won't be able to send the message to the actual person.
There was a moment of silence, Douma was in trouble now, he wasn't getting any response from Atashi who was very still for some reason.
It was hard to tell what his expression was because the boy was facing the opposite direction. Douma was starting to get the memo; His friend was hiding something from him and it definitely wasn't good. Besides that, guilt and agony, now that Douma was about to find out he better stay in his own shadow.
"This is such a headache." Douma began walking towards Atashi careful not to surprise him. Even though none of this is real, his emotions were, and the Atashi back at his secret hideout was watching everything.