Intruder

Tian-Han couldn't do anything but lower Kazuki's pain. He wrapped some ice in a paper and put it on the young boy's forehead. He brews some tea to help him relax. 

The old man knows that Art can have consequences on the body and the mind if it's not manipulated with caution. While he stays next to Kazuki, he reads some books about Art. He remembers that there are things to help with those cases, but it's been a while since he had to employ one of them.

Kazuki starts shaking again. Tian-Han puts a hand on his shoulder to reassure him, with the hope to maybe calm his crisis down. In tears, the young boy clenches his hand on his own. But the strength is lacking and it only feels like he is holding it to not lose Tian-Han in a crowd. The old man can't stand looking at his kid like that. He blames himself for not being more cautious.

"Everything will be okay, Kazuki."

He keeps exploring his books, until he finds what he is searching for. Various medicines are listed on some notes he left in an old book when he was younger. He takes the notes and stands up, releasing the young boy's hand. 

As Kazuki turns to him besides the pain of the movement, Tian-Han puts his gaze on him. He doesn't want to leave him alone in this state. He doesn't know what could happen during his absence. But he has to give more confidence to his student, so at least one of them won't sink in doubt and despair. He approach the kid and put his forhead on Kazuki's. A golden light appears and Kazuki's pain lower for a short time.

"I'm going to search for something to heal you. I'll be quick. Sleep, It might help you numb the pain."

And the old man leaves the room and suddenly the . Kazuki is alone in the room. Everything is silent. It's like time was suspend. How many minutes or even hours have passed? He doesn't know. Everything is quiet. He does hear one time a sounds outside the door. He thought it might be some birds. Despite that, not a single thing outside of himself seems to makes noises. Only his difficult breathing or his moan of pain fill the room.

"Master.. Please.. Come back quickly.." 

The pain becomes unbearable. He starts to scream in his bed. Fighting whatever causes this pain gets the kid exhausted. His body feels nothing else but pain, everywhere. His mind has difficulty processing anything else. But now the pain is too much for him to handle, like it's surcharging his body and mind with it. His mind slowly start to fade. Everything around him becomes black.

"Master…"

But as his surprise, he wakes up lying on water. Above him is a clear sky.

"My… Inner world? Tian-Han told me that my capacity are unstable.. I might have come here by accident.. Damn it.."

He gets up and looks around him. There seems to be nothing but himself. However, his eyes catches a glimpse of something in the distance. There is something. And it wasn't there before. Kazuki start to walk towards it. He is being cautious in case there is something else. Nothing much seems to appear to his sight. 

He approach the structure. It looks like what he saw when Tian-Han was with him when he expanded his inner world. An upside down pyramid is attached to a pillar, both made out of stone. But instead of dripping into another rock, this time the droplet fall in a little pond. It's similar to the one in the yard of the domain. Kazuki climbs in the pillar. The pyramid is empty on the inside. Water fall from the infinite sky into the pyramid. The whole structure seems like a weird mix of an hourglass and a fountain.

Kazuki get down from the rock. His eyes is attracted by something else. A glowing red light, under the water. Kazuki approach the part where the scar is, standing on top of it at the surface. It is the scar left by the masked man and the red hooded man. It glows more than before. The light is more intense and the scar seems either bigger or closer. And then, something sends a shiver through Kazuki's spine. A voice. 

"Don't you know that after opening a door you should close it behind you or else people with bad intentions might get in?" 

The water under his foot starts to become dark. Kazuki steps back from it. The darkness starts to spread on the water. Kazuki keep getting away from it. In the middle of the dark water, movement are visibles. The water there starts to take a form. A form of a man, with a red skull-like mask. Glowing red pupils pierce though the black eyes of the mask. A man with a black kimono stands there. His hairs are long and tied in a long tail. It's the masked man. 

"- No.. You.. You were there that night.. 

-So you remember me? I thought you I erased a part of you with my bare presence."

The darkness keep spreading. Fear start to take over Kazuki. The young boy feels something cold on his hands. He looks at them. They are turning black. If the darkness spread on his inner world, it mean it spread to him as they are one and the same. Kazuki has no other options than trying to fight the masked man. He runs to the direction of the intruder, ready to throw hands.

"Puny kid."

The masked man stands there, unphazed by the young boy rushing at him. As Kazuki tries to hit the man with some punches, the intruder avoid it just by stepping on the side.

"You think you could touch and even scratch me with such weak punches? I'll teach you how you could possibly fight me."

And as said, he proceeds to give a punch in Kazuki's stomach. The kid bends in two under the impact of the blow. Blood spills out of his mouth. He is thrown on the water by the masked man.