The sun pierced through the thin curtains of Kamui's bedroom, casting golden rays across his face. He groaned softly, stirring beneath the weight of his sheets. The warmth felt oddly comforting, though it was something unfamiliar to him in this form.
Kamui, the god of spiritual energy, had lived eons beyond the mortal lifespan, a warrior who had vanquished the Ainu gods in a celestial war that spanned millennia. Yet, for all his victories, the weight of those battles seemed distant, forgotten, as if locked away in a place even he couldn't access. Now, in this small, human body, he was simply Kamui Shirogane, an ordinary boy living with his parents, attending school, and blending in with the fabric of modern society.
But there was always a lingering feeling in his heart, a sense that he was meant for something more.
"Kamui!" A voice snapped him from his thoughts. It was his mother, calling from downstairs. "You're going to be late for school! Hurry up!"
He blinked, sitting up slowly, the remnants of strange dreams slipping from his mind like mist. The dreams, always the same, giant figures, battles in the sky, gods falling to his hand. They felt so vivid, yet so out of place. He rubbed his eyes and pushed himself out of bed. "Coming, Mom!" he called back, his voice sounding a little groggy.
As he dressed in his school uniform, Kamui couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. It was the same every morning. His life felt... too small. The world around him, too mundane. And yet, every time he tried to explore these thoughts, they faded away like a forgotten melody.
He descended the stairs to find his mother placing a bento box on the counter. "You slept in again, didn't you?" she teased, her warm smile softening any scolding in her tone.
"Yeah, I guess," Kamui muttered, running a hand through his messy black hair. His father was already at the door, shoes on, briefcase in hand.
"Make sure you walk home with Kaito," his father called over his shoulder. "And stay out of trouble."
Kamui nodded absently, though he knew there wouldn't be any trouble. His life was too ordinary for that.
As he walked to school, the city bustled around him. Cars honked, pedestrians hurried past, and the distant sound of construction hummed in the air. It was a world alive with motion, yet somehow, Kamui felt detached from it all. He was surrounded by people, but none of them seemed real. None of them mattered.
Then, something changed.
At the corner of the street, Kamui paused. His heart raced for no apparent reason, and his skin tingled with an unfamiliar sensation. Across the road, a figure stood watching him, an old man with piercing eyes, dressed in what looked like traditional robes, completely out of place in the modern city.
The old man's gaze bore into Kamui, and for a moment, the world seemed to slow. Everything around him blurred, and all that remained clear was the figure across the street. Kamui's mind buzzed with confusion and fear. He took a step back.
And then, as suddenly as he had appeared, the old man was gone. Vanished into thin air.
Kamui blinked rapidly, his breath coming in short, panicked bursts. What just happened? He looked around frantically, but no one else seemed to notice. The people around him carried on as if nothing had changed.
"What... what was that?" he whispered to himself, shaking his head.
When he finally reached school, he was greeted by the familiar chatter of his classmates, the mundane buzz of lessons, and the drone of teachers' voices. Yet his mind was elsewhere, haunted by the memory of that old man.
During lunch, Kamui sat alone on the rooftop, staring out over the city skyline. The wind ruffled his hair as he absentmindedly picked at his food. His best friend, Kaito, approached, sitting down next to him with a grin. "Spacing out again?" he asked, giving Kamui a nudge.
"Yeah," Kamui replied distantly, his mind still on the figure from earlier.
"You've been acting weird lately. Is something bothering you?" Kaito asked, his voice laced with concern.
Kamui shook his head, though he wasn't sure if he believed himself. "No, it's nothing. Just a weird dream."
Kaito shrugged, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Well, don't let it get to you. We've got that math test next week. You don't want to bomb that, do you?"
Kamui forced a chuckle. "Yeah, you're right."
But as the day dragged on, he couldn't shake the feeling that the old man wasn't just a hallucination. Something was waking up inside him, something ancient and powerful. His hand twitched, and for a split second, he thought he saw a faint glow beneath his skin, like energy simmering just beneath the surface.
That night, as Kamui lay in bed, sleep eluded him. His mind raced with questions. Who was the old man? Why did his presence feel so... familiar?
In the quiet darkness of his room, Kamui's eyes widened as a sudden realization struck him. The dreams, the strange occurrences, they weren't just random. They were memories.
He wasn't just Kamui Shirogane, a normal high school student.
He was Kamui, the god of spiritual energy. And the gods of another realm had come for him.
As if on cue, a whisper echoed in the back of his mind, dark and foreboding.
"You may have defeated the Ainu gods... but we are not so easily conquered."
Kamui sat up in bed, his heart pounding in his chest. He had thought his war was over. He had thought peace had finally come.
But the battle had just begun.