Chapter 2 Into The Unknown

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt so hopeless in a moment that one wrong move you make, it's all over… I certainly have. one mistake and it is done, no second chances. Well kurai was given a second chance. In the real world you only have one, so take advantage of that chance and use it. Use it for yourself, use it for others, do whatever you want. But no matter what, never let that chance go, because you will NEVER get a second one… let's continue.

Kurai looks around confused. He sees all the other specialists alive standing frozen in fear. But he notices it's taking longer for the demon to attack than last time. Then he gets an idea. "EVERYBODY DON'T MOVE! He attacks when you move an inch so stand still." kurai says

He thinks about what happened last time and tries to remember its pattern. The way it moved, how fast it was, its eyes,what stance it took before it attacked. All these factors are in one mind space. Then the kurai created a strategy to defeat it. "Everyone i have an idea, don't move, leave it all to me! If I do not succeed, lead it away from the city"! Kurai pulls out his sword and ducks simultaneously, barely dodges the first strike and imbues his second sword with black flames, points the hot blade towards the sky and swings and jumps back. He managed to get one blow on it. Then the demon lets out a loud cry and grabs its arm and rips it off. Then a black shadow as dark as night forms under the demon and it gets pulled into it. Like it's retreating. Kurai takes a deep breath in relief. "Wha- what just happened"? Kurai thinks to himself. Then a woman approaches kurai saying, "great work, by the way I'm your partner, my name is Rosa Jane Jamison but you can call me Jane". "Well it's nice to finally meet you, a friend of mine, he goes by Tyler basin, he mentioned you". Kurai says. "Oh, Tyler". She says Rolling her eyes. "Ya I know him. He is uh… a bit pushy when push comes to shove no pun intended". Jane says. "Really? I haven't noticed". Kurai says. "Well enough about him we need to get the area secure and find any wounded". Jane says. "Right, I'm gonna go check on Carter at the hospital". "Wait, I think u need to help here". "I really need to check on him to see if he is ok, then I'll be straight back, I promise". "Alright fine, but make it quick". Kurai then rushes out of the area towards the hospital. "Kurai seems a bit different after he hit his head. And what's with the white hair"? Jane says. September 1st 2022. It's the afternoon, the sky is clear and the streets are busy. Carter just got out of the hospital and is now at his home recovering more before he goes back to college. Kurai pays him a visit to see how he was holding up.

"Hey Carter how are you"? Kurai says.

"Eh I could be doing better, I'm still sore but I'll manage". Carter says. "Well I'm glad you are doing better. But are you still able to be a specialist"? Kurai says. "Actually ya, there is a little trick that most specialists can't do. You need a lot of mana for it, I'm just lucky to get the right amount". Carter explains. "A trick? Can you show me"? Kurai says.

"Ya of course, check it out". Carter looks to his right side where his arm got cut off, and he says... light the fire, make it still, connect it to my soul, that is my will, and a flame shaped as an arm ignited on his right shoulder.

" Wow! That's crazy cool, where did you learn to do that"? Kurai says. "Well the more mana you have the higher the class you will receive when you go to a specialist school". Carter says.

"Oh I see, well I'm glad you're doing better, you need anything"? Kurai says. "No, but thank you though". Carter says.

"Well I'm gonna go I hope you have a good day". Kurai says. "Ya you too".

Kurai walks out of the house and goes back home. He has dinner, and chats with Ella for a bit then heads to bed.

Kurai wakes up to a sound from the kitchen. He got up to check it out but nothing was there. He checks the living room to see if anyone broke in. He sees nothing and goes back to the kitchen.

Then he sees a woman standing there facing the sink looking through a window. "Can I help you"? Kurai says as he slowly walks up to her. Then the woman turns her head looking at kurai. Her body was still facing the sink. With three words and a voice so subtle, she reaches her hand out and says "son... Help me". Then a demon with white pale skin and red finger tips with long pointy nails with no eyes and a huge grin with yellow teeth and red purple flames for hair came from the shadows, and grabbed her by the mouth and stomach, kurai yelled "watch out!" As he charges to them... But it's too late. it pulls her into the dark. Disappearing. Like as if they were never there. Kurai wakes up on his bed yelling, reaching his hand out In Front of him. Kurai gets the sudden urge to go to the cemetery. So he goes to Ella who is asleep in her room. "Ella, wake up". Kurai says. Ella opens her eyes looking tired and says, "what is it"? "We need to go to the cemetery, now". Kurai says. "Why do you want to go there"? "Idk I just have a feeling". "Ok fine, which one are we going to"? "Forest cemetery down in government way". They both get in a car and head over to the cemetery Kurai walking through the cemetery swiftly looking at the grave stones. He stops looking at two gravestones. One says, Hal fenikkusu, born in 1981 April 27th died in 2002 September 23, "my only regret is not seeing my son grow up". And the other one says, ai fenikkusu, Born in 1875 January 17th, died in 2018 September 21st, "my son, you are special and I will always love you". Kurai looks at Ella and says, "are these my parents"? "Yes, your father died of cancer, and your mother was murdered by a demon". Ella says. Kurai is standing there looking confused and sad. His hair is turning white and black over and over again. He keeps getting flashbacks of his mom who he doesn't remember. Kurai puts his hands on his head and starts screaming, falling to his knees. It Finally stops. His hair is back to white and kurai is calm. "Let's go back home, sorry for dragging you out here". Kurai says. "You're fine, but next time ask me when I'm not asleep". Ella says.

It's the afternoon of that morning, and kurai is in the swordsmanship club classroom, since kurai already graduated he is now helping with teaching the student.he may have lost his memory but muscle memory stayed intact therefore he can still fight but not as good as he was when he was kurai. "When you swing your katana here you have to align the edge of the blade with the surface you're cutting. This is what I've noticed when I'm fighting. This probably applies to all swords too". Kurai says as he teaches the classroom how to handle a katana. "Alright, that's my lesson for today. Make sure to practice these drills''. Kurai says.

Kurai and Jane walk into the break room, to take a seat on a round coffee table. (sighs deeply) "idk why i have to tutor when i don't even remember my basic training, i just tell them what i've noticed when i fight". Kurai says. "Well your muscle memory is still there, and so far you are about 46% of your skill before you lost your memory". Jane says. "But I barely even know what I say sometimes''. Kurai says. "Well, maybe you should start trying to look into your own past for a bit"? Jane suggested. "Maybe… I don't actually remember what I do sometimes. When i went to shinrais funeral, the moment after i saw her body i was on my knees crying". Kurai explains.

All of a sudden Carter walks in saying, "kurai you me and Jane were put on a mission. We need to go". "On it, tell us more on the way". Kurai says. They hop inside a jeep speeding on the way to the location as Carter explains what's going on to kurai and jane. "We have one house under attack by 6 demons as we speak,2 demons have been killed. We have counted 2 infants, 3 children and 7 adults. 2 male adults have been killed, 1 child has been injured and all infants and females are safe. Currently we have 2 male adults fighting off the demons with magic and magic weapons, we have a theory that the attack was planned, but no solid evidence. All we know is that 4 specialists were invited to a party then attacked 30 minutes after they showed up". Finally they show up at the house. They rush inside seeing 4 demons being pushed back by 2 specialists and 2 dead specialists are on the ground with a couple limbs scattered. And 2 dead demons. "Stay back we got this". Kurai said as he ran to attack. Carter went to check on the other victims while Jane was helping kurai. The 2 surviving specialists helped evacuate the other victims and kurai and Jane took care of the demons. As kurai and Carter cleaned up the area Jane asked the surviving specialists about what happened and where the invite came from. "Ok I've gotten all the information I needed. Let's finish this up and let the rest take care of this". So they all jumped back into the jeep and headed towards Kurai's home. "Come inside, quickly"! Jane says as she rushes them to get in the house. Jane then closes and locks the door and peeking out the window. "What's going on"? Kurai says. Jane then turns around and says. "Listen closely. I believe there is a traitor working as a specialist". "What makes you so sure"? Carter says. "When I was talking to the surviving specialist they said that they got an invitation from a high rank. And the other specialists are the lowest of the ranks. None of the higher ranks will even speak to the 3 lowest ranks". Jane explained. "Why won't the higher ranks speak with the lower ranks''? Kurai asked. "Well our strengths are ranked and the weaker you are the lower your rank. Most higher look down upon the weak. Which is why they don't speak to them". Jane explained l. "But what does that have to do with a traitor"? Carter asked. "Well when I looked at the letter it wasn't signed. Not written by a human. And one of them said that there were five specialists there and one of them was a higher rank. But couldn't tell who it was because they shortly disappeared after the last specialist arrived". Jane explained. "It's starting to make sense". Kurai says. "For now, keep your guard up and don't mention this to anyone. We should try to find more information". Jane says "right" both kurai and Carter say as they start to get ready to head out. It's September 21st 2022. As far as evidence of a traitor in the specialist organization they haven't found much. And they never told anyone else either. The leads are getting nowhere. Kurai who was at home thinking about asking Carter and Jane for a meeting. "I hope they at least found something. If not it might be a good idea to take a break from investigating. So kurai called them up, And they came to his house. "Coming in'! Jane and Carter say as they take off their shoes. Jane and Carter sit down in the living room and kurai brings snacks to munch on. "Ok so I hope you guys found some leads. Because everytime I thought I got one it went down the drain". Kurai says. "No I have not. I'm in the same situation as you". Carter says as he eats a cracker with cheese. "I have found none either, but I do have a suspicion". Jane says. "What's your suspicion"? Kurai asked. "You know who Amelia Smith is' '? Jane asked. "Ya, she is the lead director and researcher of our research department". Carter says as he keeps eating crackers with cheese. "Well I looked into her record of attendance and she has been listed as I'll or on a business trip for quite a few days through this year. And as the director her being gone that many times is very unusual". Jane explained. "Well I think we should stop investigating for now, but we should keep a close eye on Amelia though". Kurai suggested. "But why? We may have no leads but Amelia is the closest thing we got, if we only keep an eye on her we may never see anything else that's suspicious going on". Carter rants. " Well I'm saying we keep an eye open. We stop investigating but if anything happens we see what's going on while keeping a close eye on Amelia. That's what I mean". Kurai explains. "Well I actually agree with kurai on this one, plus if we take a break for a bit the person where after may be less suspicious if they ever caught on". Jane says. "Well then it's settled, we will go with this plan for now. But the moment you catch anything, get us and we will all start again". Kurai says. "All right then. Tomorrow we go back to work like normal". Jane says. It's September 22nd 2022. Kurai and Jane were sent on a mission like Jane predicted, but this particular mission was one of a kind.

Jane and kurai arrived downtown of Coeur d'Alene at the demon sighting. "Ok this is the area, and the reports seem to say the demon sightings are mostly coming from that alley way so let's check there first. So kurai and Jane walk over and start snooping around for any sign of a demon. As they look around, Kurai spots a demon's bloodstain on the wall and points it out to Jane. "Hey, I think this is demon blood, come check it out". So Jane starts walking towards kurai but before she gets there, a black puddle looking thing appears under the kurai's feet. When Jane noticed it she ran as fast as she could to the kurai saying, "look out"! But the kurai fell in and the black puddle disappeared. Jane sitting on her knees pounding at the ground crying and yelling, "dammit, dammit dammit, I can't lose him again!" Kurai found him lying on the ground, in a place called… The Fallen Realm. A place where all demons alike live. Kurai stands up and looks around. "What is this place"? To what kurai sees, he seems to be in a cave, with a ledge that seems to hover over a lake of some sort of purple fogg lake. He can hear the sounds of crying children and screams of women and the murder of men. Like as if it's a lake of sins. And the area around him seems to have crystals that are purple green color and plants that look like they are withering away. Kurai, looking around to find an exit, finally finds what looks like an exit. He leaves the cave to see that it leads outside, but to Kurai's surprise he finds an entire land filled with demons of all kinds and it all seems to be surrounded by a little purple fog. He notices a demon that looks like half of its body has been torn off. And it seems that the demon is regenerating and eventually it gains its legs. But as kurai is hiding from view, shocked by what he sees… a demon regenerating out of nothing. "I need to find a way out of here. And fast". Kurai thought. And as he started to move to a different spot he felt a sudden burst through his body. He grabs his head and falls on his knees. His eyes for a second turned from black to dark purple. Kurai stands back up noticing that the demons have noticed him.

Jane gets back up on her feet and steps back a few steps. "I need to get him out of there, but how"? Jane says. Then Jane steps in the same spot and starts looking at the demon bloodstain. Jane, expecting something to happen, but nothing does. So she runs to her jeep to dig through a few things. And finds a vile of demon blood. These are used to increase one's mana capacity. You use it by dropping some of your blood with the demon blood then casting a spell while holding the vile to make it more powerful. She grabs the vial and runs back into the spot kurai was at. But before she could use it she tripped and let go of the vile. It landed and broke in the spot kurai was in. Jane got up on her knees saying, "that was my last vile. And it broke". She breaks into tears and covers her face saying, "I don't know how to bring you back. I've lost you again and now I don't know what to do".

Kurai is running from a horde of demons that's attacking him. And every time he nearly gets hit but manages to dodge. With nowhere else to go he runs back into the cave and with his fingers crossed he leaps into the lake of fogg. This was helpful because the demons didn't jump in after him. But that may have been a sign that he should go back. Kurai gets up on his feet and starts looking around. He still hears the screams of all kinds of people. And sees a purple mist that's the shape of people forming. He sees these people murdering each other. Stabbing people in the back. Rape. Like as if it's filled with many peoples sins.but it all started to dissolve. Turning from a bunch of random people, into kurai himself.

It's June 17th 2010, kurai was 8 years old in 3rd grade. In school during lunch he meets a girl, who is a bit different. Because of this kurai bullied her till she had to move away. Later on he learns what he has done, and has regretted it ever sense, hoping that she is ok. It's August 12th 2015 the end of summer kurai is twelve in 8th grade. He just learned about his magical abilities. It goes to his head and starts using it to get what he wants. He starts abusing other kids, boys to get money from them, or if they ever pissed him off. One day in September 12th 2015 he accidentally killed a boy who stood up to him after kurai was attacking another boy for pissing kurai off. Kurai, not knowing what to do, runs. But the boy who was getting attacked was blamed as the killer and was sent to 20 years in prison. But kurai was torn on the inside. And vowed to never use his powers like that again. It's February 21st 2019. Kurai is 16 years old and he is getting beat relentlessly by 3 other boys. Kurai is not fighting back because he doesn't want the same thing that happened 3 years ago to happen again and takes it, a few months later on July 16th, Kurai decides to move to Japan to start a new life. He puts on a nice happy face and is helping and kind to everyone. But whenever he is alone. He sits and cries for hours. Everyday his depression almost takes over. Every single day. Present day.

Jane then looks up to the spot the vile was dropped and the same black puddle. Jane, who looked very happy, tries to hurry and jump in. Then the kurai climbs out and Jane accidentally runs into him. Jane falls on top of kurai and kurai is looking beat up and mentally exhausted. "Your ok!" Jane screams as she give him a huge hug and cries on his shoulder. "I thought you weren't gonna come back". Jane says. Kurai looks into her eyes, smiles and says "sorry for making you worry". Jane then helps kurai up. "We should report what we found ''. Jane says. "What was that anyway''? Kurai asked. "It's basically a portal to the fallen realm where all demons live''. Jane explained. "Ah ok, well let's get going then,and report what we found ''. Kurai suggested.

"Wait, I think this was placed here deliberately". Jane says. "What do you mean"? Kurai asked.

"Well these kinds of portals are hand made, so something or someone put it here. Usually a demon comes out of a cracked rift between worlds. But these are things that demons or humans can put here by using magic and demon blood to open a portal". Jane explained. "Do you think it's connected to Amelia"? "She did research this a couple years back from the records I saw, so it's possible". "Maybe, but now that I think of it, why not hide it"? Kurai asked. "That's what is even more weird, Amelia was the one that sent out the request for me and you specifically to look into". Jane says. "Then she expected one of us to fall in and die there". "I don't think that was her plan. I think she wanted to cover it up so she sent us, maybe we just got picked just because, or maybe she caught on to us. We should be more discreet about this. Don't even mention it to Carter". "Ok sounds good. Let's report back".

Kurai and Jane enter Amelia's lab to report back. And when they got there Amelia was working on a project, a very peculiar one. "Here this is the report about our mission" Jane says as she gives her the file. "You may leave now, I have important work to do ''. Amelia says. "Wait, may I ask what your working on"? Kurai asked. Amelia smiles and turns towards kurai. "I'm glad you asked. It's a magickuel disruptor. It stops demons from using their magic and it also weakens their physical state". Amelia explains. "Will it work on humans to"? Kurai asked. "No, it only disrupts magickuels that's apart of demon blood. It can't affect humans and it will never work like that, although I could make one". Jane explained. "We should get going, we are needed in another mission". Jane says. So kurai and Jane took off to complete another mission. While Amelia keeps working on her project she thinks to herself, "I can't wait to find out what I can get out of you".

Its October 5th 2022. Kurai and Ella are home, Ella is preparing lunch and kurai is watching TV. "Lunch is almost ready". Jane says to kurai. "Alright, the table is ready over here so bring it when it's done. And thank you." Kurai says. "No problem sir, I hope you enjoy your lunch." "Speaking of which what is for lunch today?" "It's sausage and shrimp gumbo, it's a special recipe my grandpa taught me." "Sounds amazing, can't wait to eat it." Kurai and Ella eat a delicious lunch and prepare for mana trading after they got done eating. They both step in the back yard, and Ella starts if with, "ok today we are going to focus on you flames". "Flames again? Why don't we ever work on gravity?" Kurai says with a pout. "We can't yet, gravity is to dangerous for you to use right now, you don't have enough magickuel control." "But can you atleast teach me something simple?" "It's not like I have gravity magic, I don't know enough for me to teach you so you need to learn magickuel control first. "Can't you just look it up online?" "No, gravity magic is very rare, so rare infact there is only 13 people known today who use gravity magic including you. But thing is these people don't have a lot of mana so they can only levitate small to medium size objects." "Well they can levitate stuff right, so then that means you can search up how to levitate objects then."

"Fine,but try to use as little if it as possible". So Ella searches it up and then proceeded to teach kurai how to do it. His first task was to lift up a can. So with a can 20 feet out Infront of him, he reaches his hand out, and imagines wind blowing upwards where the can was standing at. And he was successfully able to lift up the can, then he proceeded to lift up many other objects. Like a lawn mower, his weight set, and garbage from the grass and puts it in the trash. And so after many hours of kurai lifting things using his magic it's finally close to night and Ella starts to prepare dinner. "Come back inside, we're about to eat". Ella says. "Alright I'm coming." Kurai says. Kurai and Ella proceeds to have dinner and they both head to bed. As kurai is laying there on his bed he started to think about what Jane said after he came back from the fallen world. "How important was I to her before the accident?" Kurai wondered to himself. But he was too tired to dwell on it any further so he fell asleep.

Kurai wakes up, sitting and leaning on a tall and fat tree. He looks around Infront of him and sees that it's all white and everything seems a bit fuzzy. He stands up and says. "Where am I?" Then a voice behind him says, "your in our mind." He turns around and sees himself sitting and leaning on the tree. A kurai with black hair, and on that side everything seems black, and sharp and fuzzy. "Are you me?" Kurai white asked. "No, I am not you and you are not me, we are both different,but share the same body." Kurai black says. "Well are you the original of this body?" "No, we both were born at the same time. You were there the entire 20 years of my life." "Then How come I never was conscious up until a few months ago?" "Because during that time I never knew you existed and you never knew yourself existed, and you only came out after I became mentally unconscious." "Then who am I what is my name and where did I come from!" Kurai white screams. "You have no name cause you were never given one, you are nobody cause you never lived. And I don't know where you came from." "Why am I here? Is this a dream?" "No this isn't a dream, but to find out who you are you have to look and what I've been and what I've become. And what happened with our family" "What is that exposed to mean? And if we are different people why do I have to find out who you are?" " You must find out my past and who our family was, go and see for yourself. Then you have to decide who you want to be moving forward." "This doesn't make any sense, it's all moving to fast." "Go into my side, and see". Then kurai black stands up and walks into the dark abyss. "Wait don't go!" Out of frustration kurai yells out loud as loud as he could. Then he falls to his knees and says to himself, "wake up, this is a dream you have to wake up." But no matter what kurai did he proved that he wasn't dreaming. so then kurai looks at the darkness that filed the other half of this mind space. And decides to venture through it, hoping he will return home.