A New Beginning Requires You

The sun rays bleed through the dark and gloomy clouds that scatter across the sky to create world of darkness. Where he stands is not in Eyon or any place he finds familiar, but rather a burnt field of grass that was probably once a jade green color that was blessed with many bright, colorful flowers. No trees in sight, no buildings in sight, no people in sight, and no animals in sight... He's never seen or been to a place like this. Just where exactly is he?

Taking a few steps forward in this unknown place, he hopes that maybe this place is not real but, uhm, spoiler alert, it is real. The ground below him felt real, the sky looked real, and he was able to breathe normally… So this all leads to one obvious answer.

He surveys the area around whilst shouting, "Hello!? Anyone!?"

No response. He already deduced that there were no people in this place, but he couldn't help to try and see if he could get a respons whether it is from an animal or another Human. In addition to that, the burnt field suggests that this place was apart of a fight between two civilizations or a wildfire caused by a Human.

After walking north for what seemed like an hour, he came across a destroyed city with barely any standing buildings, completely demolished roads and sidewalks, and totaled vehicles. The ravaged city belonged to more modern time architecture, there were vehicles that he recognized and some he didn't, the street lights were stuck on green or red, road signs that were bent or facing the total opposite side, and cross walks that are basically nonexistent. Just what exactly happened here?

"Hello!?" He shouted for the decimated city to hear.

No response like usual. As he walks on the sidewalk, he has to take big steps as chunks of the ground are missing and pieces of buildings, vehicles, and road signs litter the sidewalk. Nothing of this city was left. It was like it got pillaged. Then he had to think about it… Would this mean that the people who were responsible for pillaging the city are still here?

He couldn't take a chance with finding out so he ran into a convenience store that barely stood to seek shelter. Within the building was trash, open food products, spoiled drinks, and many other miscellaneous items. From what he can tell, it's been a while since anything here has been fresh and not to mention the electricity doesn't even work. After what seemed like ten minutes, he notices there are no voices or people coming forward. Perhaps they're gone? Hiding for another five minutes, he finally came out of the convenience store with a surprised look on his face.

"At this point, this must be a dream, right?" He thought to himself. However, there might be an explanation that can be made. The most well known phenomenon named 'lucid dreams'. But even after pinching himself, it seems dear Katsuki is still stuck in this place… Reality finally set in. Whatever and whererever this place is, he's here. Anxiety and fear began to creep in the back of my mind as he tried to keep himself composed… But how would anyone be calm in this situation!?

Walking through the decimated city, Katsuki stayed on the sidewalk to clear his head and think rationally again.

WOOOSH!!

Feeling a strong wind blow past, his immediate instinct is to look up to see an object flying in the sky that made a few circles around the skyline of the city. Taking no second to hesitate, he immediately hid inside a phone booth when seeing the object. A very bad hiding spot in this kind of situation, but that was about the nearest thing that could hide someone. While on the topic about the flying object, there are a few things that can only make something like that sonic boom noise when the sound barrier is broken and that is jets, Slayers, and of course, Wardens.

But fighter jets is out of the question. Why? Because the size of this object is significantly smaller than any fighter jet. Could it be a Slayer? Katsuki could call out for help but… What if it is a Warden? While he stood in the phone booth stuck debating whether the object in the sky was friend or foe, the object seemingly vanished from the sky.

"Where'd it go!?" He immediately thought to himself and soon got an answer that was quite blunt. The object finally revealing itself as a silhouette, flew to the phone booth to grab Katsuki out from the phone booth and toss him into a brick wall of a bar. He let out a yell of pain as his body experienced unimaginable pain from being slammed into a brick wall at well over 120mph (~190kmh).

But despite all that, he's still conscious and the brick wall didn't break. The only thing affecting him is dizziness, blurry vision, and a hint of what felt like broken ribs and left arm. The silhouette towers over Katsuki as he writhes on the floor in pain.

"How did you get here?" The silhouette asked, his voice deep and menacing.

"I… I don't know…" Katsuki answered in between labored breaths.

Hearing an answer that wasn't satisfactory, the silhouette kicks Katsuki through brick wall that makes him roll multiple times before crashing into a table in the rundown bar. The bar gives a quite a retro vibe that has wooden furniture, pillars to hold the barely standing building erect, and multiple broken television screens scattered around the bar. Katsuki groans as he groggily stands back up to see the silhouette approaching him through the hole he made from when he got kicked by the silhouette. He wears a worried face as he tries to gain distance from the silhouette until he bumps into the pillar.

"H-Hey… L-Let's-" Katsuki tried to plead with the silhouette but he was met with fists that punched him in the face two times and the chest one time, knocking the air out of his body.

"You are not allowed here. Return to your-" The silhouette got cut off from speaking when static played on the speakers in the bar. Both of them were surprised by this sudden appearance of static.

In that sudden turn of events, the silhouette seems to be distracted by the static that turns into classical music which is surprising that the speakers are able to play with lack of electricity. Without hesitation, Katsuki runs out the exit door in the bar and into the street where he enters a full sprint. Now as for the question where he is gonna hide, he doesn't know. He didn't have a particular place in mind, just run. All he knows is that he had to sprint like his life depended on it, and it did.

Running into an abandoned warehouse, the machinery begins functioning and the lights flicker.

"INTRUDER, CEASE!!" The silhouette shouted loudly as it's menacing voice echoed throughout the warehouse. Suddenly a crane carrying a giant wooden crate crashed into the silhouette and went flying into a stack of wooden crates, angering it even more.

An alarm for the warehouse blares throughout the building and all machinery comes to a complete halt. Katsuki sees an exit door and runs out the door to see the street lights lighting up the gloomy, destroyed road. The silhouette tears through the steel wall, reaching out to grab Katsuki, but missed when Katsuki rolled out of the way last second. He didn't know how it happened but something just told him the attack was coming. Perhaps he just has good instinct..?

"You think I wanna be here!?" Katsuki shouted to the silhouette as he sprinted.

The silhouette is flying toward Katsuki and catches up to him within mere seconds. Grabbing Katsuki's hair, the silhouette slams his head into a car window then he throws Katsuki into a destroyed fashion store that has "DO NOT CROSS" tape at the front entrance and windows. Luckily for Katsuki, he crashed through the window and landed on three mannequins. So, not exactly through the front door which is Mahogany.

"Why… Why aren't you dead yet..?" The silhouette asked a groaning Katsuki.

Katsuki coughs up blood whilst he crawls away from the silhouette as his last resort to run away. The silhouette tosses any table, mannequin, chair, lamp, and any furniture in his way that is in his to prevent him from reaching the crawling Katsuki. The silhouette picks up scissors from a table and Katsuki knows that the silhouette is going to use it as a way to kill him.

"I'll use this. Stay still." The silhouette inches closer to Katsuki and then…

The silhouette comes to a complete stop. The silhouette is paralyzed… But by what? Katsuki is confused why the silhouette stopped and he looks around until he notices something. The silhouette saw something that made it this way… It wasn't a Slayer or Warden… Rather something much more scarier. Katsuki looks behind himself to see a mirror and the silhouette was fading away… But not in the sense of disappearing out of existence, in the sense that the silhouette's true identity was being revealed.

"Katsuki…" A strange, but yet familiar voice said. What was once the silhouette, is now Katsuki.

"What the hell…?" Katsuki said as he turned around to face the Katsuki before him.

"I can see myself…" The copy of Katsuki said.

The lights turned on in the fashion store and music plays as the copy of Katsuki spoke.

"Uh… Yeah." Katsuki nervously said as he didn't know how to react to the situation. There was just so much going on he didn't know what to do or say… Which is understandable when taking in the factor that the copy of him just tried to kill him!!

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was you." The copy of Katsuki tries to explain himself as he lends a hand out to Katsuki.

Taking his hand, Katsuki is lifted up from the ground and he is set down in a chair that his copy found laying on the floor.

"What are you doing here? How did you get here?" The copy of Katsuki asked.

"I don't know… I just remember being here. I don't remember anything before that though."

They're both caught by surprise when car alarms go off, street lights start working regularly, more street lights turn on, and buildings that had no electricity before begin having lighting.

"Your presence here is making everything come back," the copy of Katsuki softly said, "I can't remember the last time I've seen this much liveliness in this place."

"H-How does that work?" Katsuki asked, his head tilted.

"This place is… How can I explain…" the copy of Katsuki tapped his chin, thinking deeply of how to simplify his explanation. "Think of this place as you. Except it's not you because you're you and you're the only you so-"

"What?"

"It's you but on the inside."

Then it clicks in Katsuki's mind, "Oh, like my inner self!"

"If that's how you can understand it, then yes."

"But why am I… here?"

"I'm guessing something happened to you that caused you to be here. Either somebody used some sort of technique or spell of some sorts or…" The copy's voice grew somewhat grim.

"Or what?" Katsuki asked, worry clearly visible on his face.

"You're dead."

Katsuki's heart sunk down the depths of this unknown world. Could it be true? Has he died and come to meet his inner self one last time?

"But there might be good news." The copy of Katsuki said whilst rubbing his chin.

"Hm?"

"This place has electricity. Throughout our… encounter, if you will. Which ultimately is the reason why all electronics slowly started to come back to life in this place."

And what the copy said is true. While Katsuki was running for his life, he did notice that electricity slowly came back to the city, however, he was too busy worrying about his life being taken. Understandable, no?

"But that means it's good news," the copy of Katsuki stared deeply into Katsuki's eyes with hope, "We're alive."

A thunder clap roars and echoes throughout the city.

BOOM!!!

"A storm?" Katsuki raised a brow.

They both walk out of the fashion store to see a spider crack in the sky that is emitting a white hue.

"What the hell is that?" Katsuki asked the copy of himself.

"I don't know." He shrugged.

The noises of beeping, indistinct voices, buzzing, and loud thunder like booms echoed throughout the entire city. As the noises continued and grew louder, the white light eventually blinded Katsuki and his copy to the point where all they could see is just white.

A woman with long, curly sunset orange hair rushed to the outside of a hospital where most residents of Eyon have been admitted to after the catastrophe that had just taken place. Her eyes tell a story that she is searching for someone, a loved one. As she pushed her way through the ginormous crowd, she was stopped by two police officers and a Slayer who claimed that she must not cross the wooden barricade or it will be seen as a violation of the law. Did that matter to her? No, not one bit. The woman jumped over the wooden barricade and just by her fierce eyes anyone can tell that she meant business.

But also it must be from her aggressive features that she naturally has. She was known for always looking "angry" or "upset" all the time, yet that is just her resting face. However, her fierce personality matched her looks and she is proud of that fact.

With her face being ever so fierce and her stride strong, no one dared to stop her, not even the Slayer. But there was one who dared to…

"Marya." A man stood in the way of Marya's stomping towards the front doors of the hospital and she came to a complete halt. She recognizes this man… It's Lyon.

"Lyon, get out the way." Marya scowled at Lyon.

"I will not. Get back behind the barricade." Lyon's voice is strong and affirming along with his eyes that hold strong contact with Marya's eyes.

"Don't you know who's in there, huh? Let me see him. I need to know if he's okay." Marya's voice changed to a more concerned tone. Those who are around seemed to notice that perhaps the two knew each other due to the way neither of them have made an advance or made any moves yet. The Slayer that had tried to stop Marya earlier gasped in excitement. Or rather more like, awe.

"G-Grandmaster… Lyon." The Slayer said in disbelief. He couldn't believe that the Grandmaster Lyon himself is here in Eyon. Even as a low ranking Slayer, he knows that the schedule of a Grandmaster is taken up 24/7 and leaves no room for free time. It's a commitment to being a Grandmaster, a commitment the Slayer won't do himself.

After citizens and officers of the law heard that a Grandmaster is present, the entire crowd grew silent and stopped trying to push through the wooden barricade.

"Grandmaster Lyon! I-I tried-" The Slayer tried to argue as to the reason why the woman, Marya, had crossed through but it was worthless to even try to speak. Lyon waved his hand and silenced the Slayer with just a motion of his hand.

"Do not speak. I would rather you leave her to do what she wants than try to stop her. Don't you know who this is?" Lyon said, a bit of excitement in his voice to be able to inform the public of this fact, "She is apart of the team that help saved the world 19 years ago. Ex-Slayer known as the Untamable Lion, Marya Evertree."

The Slayer gasped loudly, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping.

"M-Marya Evertree!? Y-You mean the one who was able to burn down the Tree of Eternity that sprouted over Mount Rainier!?" The Slayer screamed.

"Yes. That one. Fun fact, that is how she got her last name. After not having one for so long." Lyon said with a smirk.

"Lyon, enough. Let me through." Marya's tone rose and got more stern.

"As much as I would like, Marya, that cannot happen. Katsuki is apart of an ongoing investigation and 18 years ago you gave up your status of being a Slayer. Which means you're just… A civilian. A Human."

"Damn you…" Marya clicks her tongue then grinds her teeth.

Marya took a step forward and her natural instinct tells her to get ready for battle, however, Lyon seems to be calm and unaffected by her new apparent behavior and stance.

"Marya, last time I remember you cannot expel any flames. I have the extinguisher." Lyon reached into his long brown, leather coat to grab a hold of an item as a tactic of him letting know where Marya stands. She can't hope to win against something like the trump card Lyon has.

Marya's anger reached its peak but she couldn't do anything. No matter what, she can't win a fight against him, at least without him using the trump card. Her heart strained and yearned for her son, but pumped hard. She couldn't stand the thought of not seeing her son, being near him, or even know his well-being.

Lyon stared her down and she broke out of her stance. For the first time, the Untamable Lion has been subdued.

"Marya, go home." Lyon ordered and Marya had no choice but to listen his orders. She knows even if he didn't have his trump card, she would've been recognized as a Rogue and become an enemy of the Guild, something no sane person would want…

"Oi…"

A voice spoke, but a familiar one.

"Wake up!" The voice thundered and several snaps are heard from their fingers.

Opening his eyes, Katsuki sees he is in a hospital bed with no equipment around him, which he thought was unusual as he is under the assumption that equipment was always used for patients. Then his eyes drift to the bedside to see a familiar woman, the Slayer that saved him.

"Grandmaster Lyon told me your name is Katsuki. That right?"

"Y-Yeah…" Katsuki hesitated to answer.

Emilia inspected him from a bit of a distance. She couldn't believe he's still alive and not even a scratch on him. She couldn't believe what Grandmaster Lyon had reported when he found him laying unconscious on the road. She swore she remembered him being almost beyond saving and on a single thread of life.

Perhaps that is why Grandmaster Lyon brought him here to this "hospital." And that is perhaps why Emilia is the one in his room to tell him the news and not him.

Suddenly, all of Katsuki's five senses are overloaded and he groans in pain. His head throbs, his eyes straining, and his mouth feels hot, super hot.

Emilia watches, not quite sure what is happening, but she can only guess. But just like how sudden the pain appeared, it was gone instantly. She couldn't help but think… What the hell is happening??