“There’s not much here tonight, this crummy land really is doomed to die isn’t it?”

A beam of smoke climbed high into the sky beyond the withering weeds of the hill Kiramaru stood in.

‘Is that smoke… Seems close to the-’

Kiramaru ran to the shack, gasping for air as he relentlessly ran ahead closer to the structure of open flames.

“Huff…Huff…I’m here…Umi!! Where are you?!” He called out.

Kiramaru approached the clump of charred wood that stood on its last legs, engulfed in a body of red flames.

The closer he got the more he could feel its intense wrath repelling him.

Koga and his group of men stood a fair distance outside the house, watching Kiramaru stand beside it with confusion.

“He wasn’t in there, damn it!” One of the men raged.

“He’s there right now, why don’t we get him with these?” A man suggested as he held up his sickle.

“He ran in!” Date exclaimed.

Kiramaru burst into the house without restraint and ran straight to Umi’s side. She had been completely burnt up and reduced to a charred body.

Kiramaru’s clothes began to burn and create small holes lit up with red and orange embers, dancing over his skin.

Her red and black skin peeled off as the flames hugged around them.

“Aaaarggh! I can’t let you- AAARGGH!!” He screamed out.

Kiramaru’s screams of anguish struck Date with guilt after realising what they had done.

‘I am responsible for this… he died…’ Date thought.

“We did it!” Koga cheered.

“We saved our land! The witches are dead!” They celebrated.

Kiramaru fell down to his back and watched as the flames filled his vision and rapidly ate away at every fibre of his body. Tearing away the feeling in his body all at once.

‘I hear people.

They sound happy…what could they be happy for?

Why won’t they help us, help her?’

Kiramaru opened his eyes and stared out into the blank abyss around him, like one large blank canvas that he had climbed inside.

“I can’t feel anything…I’m not alive.” He said calmly.

“That’s exactly right.” A voice stated.

The voice sounded like an amalgamation of multiple tones of voices all blended together over each other.

In front of Kiramaru was a figure, it didn’t seem to be solid but rather a haze that looked like a human body. Its outline was constantly shifting and seemed rather vapour-like.

“Hey there!” It greeted gently.

“Who are you, did you bring me here?” Kiramaru asked.

“Well you could say that. You were on your way out so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem to have you stop by on your way.

My name is Ko, I am a being of mana.”

“Where is my sister, you said I was on my way out right? If so then take me back.”

“Whoah, straight to the point huh, are you really able to demand me though? Look kid, I don’t know if you put it together yet but you died, so there is no way to go back to the way it was before.”

“It was all real then, I died? I was-”

“Burnt! Exactly right, not great ways to die but you definitely were gutsy to the end.” Ko snickered.

Kiramaru looked down to examine his hands and noticed that he resembled the same hazy body Ko had, except his was pitch black and still had the same features of when he was alive. His hair, body size, all of it was the same but in a haze.

“Umi is dead…my sister is gone.” Kiramaru buried his face into the palms of his hands..

“I thought you were smarter than that kid; think about why I brought you here! You and I have a mutual interest.” Ko mentioned.

“What would that be then, there’s nothing left for me now.”

“Hihihihi~ What if I told you that I could bring you back to life?”

Kiramaru glared intensely at Ko and shifted to a blank expression.

“What are you Ko?”

“What do you mean; I told you I’m a being of mana.”

“I don’t know what that is, and I also know that I only get bad feelings about you. I can see it in your smile, you aren’t a good guy. You also said that you saw how I died, meaning you have been watching me.” Kiramaru stated.

“Kikikiki~” Ko snickered

“Okay then I’ll tell you everything. Mana is the force of nature that is connected to living creatures; it acts as a measure of unimaginable power.

All humans hold a single percentage of that power that is used to run their bodies and to keep them alive; however there are beings that are able to exceed that limit and summon greater powers.

Splitting oceans, commanding storms, bending mountains to their wills…These are the powers of Deities.

The other creatures able to use higher amounts of mana are demon; they are born from the powerful negative emotions of living things and use mana to bring those emotions to form.

I am made solely of mana and reside in the force of mana itself, meaning I am not able to set foot into the mortal world.”

“Then why did you bring me here; for company?”

“Isn’t it obvious, I want out.”

“So you need me for that, why not anyone else?” Kiramaru asked.

“Well you seem to be quite potent in mana for a human and seeing as you’re already dead I am able to speak to you directly before you passed over completely.”

“I already told you I’m not interested. There isn’t anything you could offer me now that would spark interest, if you were able to see me then you should have saved Umi!”

“What I could offer you...that’s exactly it. All I need from you is to take my hand, and then I shall bring you back.”

Ko had spoken as if it was a task that needed no further thought but Kiramaru wouldn’t move past it.

“You must think I’m really stupid don’t you? You’re not just here, but trapped here. There has to be a reason for that, and as I said already. I’m not interested!”

“Oh so you are a bit smarter than I thought you were, so I’ll reveal something else to you. If you take my hand then I could bring back your precious little sister as well.”

Kiramaru let out a desperate shift in his eyes that he wasn’t able to conceal.

“Don’t you dare lie to me, how is that possible?!” He asked desperately.

Ko’s smile nearly cut all the way around his head,

“I give you my word, all you have to do…is reach out and take my hand. It can all be yours once more~” Ko gleefully stated.

(Gulp)

Kiramaru’s trembling hands made its way over to Ko’s and froze for a moment before linking.

Kiramaru’s view snapped back to the blazing inferno that he had been laid down in the middle of.

The cackles of men flooded his ears along with constant popping from the fire around him, enveloping the room.

“I’m back?”