Calling the quest he just went on a nightmare would be a grave understatement. With Dakota leaving him minimal instructions on how to get back to the normal world, Colt was forced to traverse the dark streets of the abandoned city for hours. Eventually, he stumbled into an alley that contained some sort of dark portal, which luckily lead him back to his destination.

He ventured back to what remained of his university and collected all of his belongings from his dorm, also making sure to notify his mother of his safety.

Since he made a mental note of the portal's location, getting back to the Seishin Realm was easy. Well, easier than it was leaving.

"What the hell? It's four in the morning!" He dragged his luggage into Dakota's apartment complex and made his way up the stairs. The weight of his bags was nonexistent, leaving most of his exhaustion coming from the endless spree of searching he had to do.

Okay, Dakota said that I could pick my own apartment.

While it'd be wiser to choose a room on the lower levels when it comes to moving luggage, Colt never really minded carrying things upstairs. Furthermore, he liked living off in seclusion from the rest of the world, so the third floor was an optimal choice.

Each floor had at least twenty doors, with a small lounge to accompany them, really nailing home the sense of a dormitory.

This is a unique building...or not. I don't really get out that often...

He had finally reached the third floor. After a quick scan of the floor, he settled for a room at the far end of the hallway. The interior looked nothing like an apartment, in fact, it was a literal dorm. A desk in the two far corners of the room, two beds, two closets, it was almost identical to his old dorm.

Alright...I can work with this!

Due to the lack of any property in the dorm, he assumed that it was vacant.

He quickly unpacked all of his luggage and threw himself down onto the bed. The mattress enveloped him in a profound warmth, soothing his aching muscles from their strenuous work. In a matter of seconds, he found himself falling asleep.

-

Instead of awakening in the comfort of his newfound bed, he was greeted by the cold embrace of his dorm floor.

Did I really fall off of the bed?

He sat up and breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that he was in no pain from his fall.

The bright sun shone in through his windows, completely waking him up. This quick awakening also brought everything to reality. None of this was a dream, everything that had happened yesterday was real. Although, he didn't want any of those events to be a dream anyway.

Oh well...I got a ton of sleep, even if it was on the floor!

As he rose from the ground, his second scare of the day presented itself. Instead of being greeted by an empty with discarded sheets scattered about, a woman was laying in it. This woman was Yuri, invested in a deep sleep of her own.

When did she get in here? Did something happen and I forgot about it?

His attention was brought towards the air conditioner as the silent room was filled with the sounds of its intense blasting. A chill came over him as the cool air dispersed in a matter of seconds.

It's pretty cool in here, I bet she's cold...

Retrieving the cover from the end of the bed, he ventured over to drape it over the sleeping beauty.

I don't know what the hell is going on, but I don't mind sharing the room with a girl...So she can stay.

Yuri's angelic eyes fluttered open as Colt draped the cover over her.

"What are you doing?" She swiftly shot up and drew a pistol from beneath her pillow.

"Chill! I was just covering you up!" He fell to the ground with his hands raised in the air, sliding to the other side of the room in defense.

She continued to glare at him as she lowered her gun. "I guess I'll believe you. Just know that I'll kill you if you ever tried anything dumb like that again."

"Okay...Damn..."

"Fuck! Why did you wake me up?" She rolled out of the bed and stomped her way towards the window. "I won't even be able to fall back asleep!"

"Um...Yuri? Are you okay?" He stood up and walked over to his closet, searching for a change of clothes, "Whenever I see you, you're always pissed."

"Throw yourself off of a cliff..."

"Oh no..." He cried in a mocking tone, "And I don't really care, but is there a reason you're in my room?"

She leaned against the window and crossed her arms, "Let's set things straight. You broke into my room!"

"No shot this place was already yours. When I came, it was completely empty."

"I only stop by when I'm in the area, so I don't decorate it like a crackhead!" She scoffed, "And what does 'no shot' even mean?"

"No chance...and what even keeps you so busy?" he teased.

"Mind your business."

"Another thing..." He retrieved his desired clothes and closed the door, "Why didn't you just wake me up? You seem too aggressive to peacefully relocate me."

"I didn't care about you." she spat, "I threw you on the ground, you just didn't wake up."

"I should've known...Is there a reason you couldn't just sleep in the other bed?" he asked.

"The one you stole from me is more comfortable." There was almost a hint of playfulness within her words, delivering the truth with an all knowing punch.

"Wow..." He swiftly threw on his new set of clothes and walked over to the second bed in the room. With a simple nudge, the bed began to creak like a wooden floorboard.

"Another thing...I'm supposed to be monitoring you now..."

"What?"

"The higher ups want me to keep an eye on you..." She huffed and walked back over to her own bed, "24/7."

"Why? What did I-never mind. It has something to do with me being special right?"

"Bingo."

"Who are these higher ups anyways?" He asked as he sat in the inferior bed, "I've been hearing you and Dakota talk about them nonstop!"

"They're the leaders of the Seishin Realm."

"Oh...you guys work for them?"

She paused for a moment, "I wouldn't call it that...But we're involved with them."

"I see."

Silence fell over the two of them once again, reinviting the air conditioner to occupy the void left in their wake. Within this void, a sense of tension pulled at Colt's throat, as if some dreadful ordeal was upon him. Yuri briefly glanced his way, appearing to be gauging something within her own mind. While she was a welcomed sight to behold, the subtle huff brought along some urgent need to worry.

"Hey, Zombie?" she called out.

"Zombie?"

"That's your name now. You're supposed to be dead right?"

"I like it." He smirked at her as she rolled her eyes.

"Anyways...I need to talk to you about something important. Do you remember when I told you about Jax sending me your ID right?"

"Yeah...I'm still bothered by that, but it ultimately helped clear my name in the end...so whatever..."

"Shut up. When he found your ID, he also found a photo of you and this girl." She pulled up an image of Colt and a young woman with lengthy green hair. "How do you know her?"

"Wh-What?" He dug into his wallet and found the same image on a small card. "She's..."

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it right now."

"No..." He lowered his head, understanding just why he felt worried a few moments ago. "She was my girlfriend. Do you know her?"

"Not personally, but I'm aware of her case. Didn't she disappear three years ago?"

"Yeah..."

"You're more important to us than we thought. You're the kid who did the interview for our intelligence unit, aren't you?"

"What?"

"You were asked about the specifics of her 'disappearance', but those officers weren't normal people. They were from the Seishin Realm."

No words came to him. Truly, this topic was burning at his heart and throat, weakening his ability to stay sitting up. Horrible memories of rapid waters filled his mind. Agonizing screams, monstrous growling, the realistic cracking of bones, it all came back to him.

"I'll stop for now." She walked over to him and lightly punched him in the shoulder, "You okay?"

He struggled to even look her way, letting a shaky breath escape his lips, "Y-Yeah. My bad."

"Don't apologize. It was my fault for bringing it up."

"Yuri? What were you going to say?"

She averted her gaze towards a small stuffed bear on his desk.

That bear was one of the final items he shared with his late girlfriend. He had won it for her while they were at a carnival together. He couldn't remember what happened that day to make them go, they just went for the hell of it. Nonetheless, it was fun.

Before he could dwell on the past any longer, he shook his head and walked towards the door, "Forget it, I'm gonna go for a walk."

"See ya."

Her tone was as vague as usual, but he was able to see a slight sense of remorse in her expression.

He made his way through the silent halls of the complex and let out a sigh. A part of him desperately wanted to hear what Yuri had to say, but the floodgates were beginning to open. If those gates were to open, there would be nothing to stop the crashing torrents of sorrow that would rush out. For his safety, he made a quick retreat.

Considering the fact that Yuri stopped herself from carrying on, she most likely sensed this impending flood as well.

Once he reached the courtyard, he noticed that it wasn't as empty as he had hoped.

Jax stood in the middle of the courtyard with a pair of smartphones in his hands.

"Jax? What are you doing here?" asked Colt.

"Me?" He turned around, "I live here. You're the abnormal guest."

"I live here too."

"Oh...it makes sense why Dakota told me that then..."

"Told you what?"

"Here." Jax handed him one of the smartphones he was holding, "That's a phone that works in the Seishin Realm. It's from Dakota..."

"Good looks." Colt powered it on and started setting it up.

"Are you in the mood to learn about cores?" asked Jax.

"Hell yeah! Are you gonna teach it to me?"

"Sadly, yes. I would much rather spend my time on other matters, but a certain someone told me to help you."

"I'd much rather learn it from a girl...but okay."

"Hey, this isn't a party for me either! C'mon!" Jax ran off into the city, prompting Colt to follow him.

As they continued to run, the nearly endless streets began to grow livelier. Not in terms of any humans, but pure nature. Lenghty vines reached out from the windows of broken buildings, ponds were formed in the crevices of the cracked ground, with vegetation growing all over.

"Just how vacant is this place?" Colt started taking pictures of the post-apocalyptic city, "I've never seen stuff like this in real life! I feel like the streets could collapse at any moment!"

"It's not that special, now pay attention. We're starting your lessons." Jax readjusted his glasses and pointed directly at Colt's stomach, "Let's start with cores!"

"Right!"

"Every living being has a core. Animals, plants, humans, even algae. Most of the time, they're as intangible as souls are to us humans; However, cores can be awakened under certain circumstances."

"What circumstances?"

"The most common circumstance is when someone is under a great deal of stress. Like, near death situations, or horrible psychotic breakdowns. The second method, and this is quite rare, is through making contact with another awakened core user."

"That makes sense." Colt tilted his head to the side, "Wait-Both of those apply to what happened to me!"

"Can you just pay attention?" muttered Jax, "It's easy to mess up if you aren't."

"Fine..."

"Once your core is awakened, you can control core energy. It is the energy that flows through every living thing on Earth."

"Cool, so how do I do that?"

"You're going to do that on your own. I'm teaching it to you, not telling you."

"Lame..." Colt slapped himself back to attention and stood proud, "No! I want it this way! From now on, I'm gonna stop being lazy!"

"What?"

"Don't worry about it. Coming to the Seishin Realm just shot a burst of inspiration into me."

That was true, but it ran deeper than his simple line. Coming to the Seishin Realm was his step into a second chance at life. In the past, he had to admit that he wasn't as hardworking as he could have been. He grew up believing that he had a free passage through everything.

With no challenges in regard to schoolwork, he had a boatload of free time to live life to the fullest. In this practice, he never developed a good work ethic, leaving him in a horrible situation once he actually faced challenges in college.

It was no wonder he came crashing into that wall that kept him from moving forward, he was ill-prepared.

No matter what it takes...I'm gonna pass that wall if I ever see it again!

"So, what do I have to do? Teach..." asked Colt.

Jax pulled out a small bottle of green smoke and threw it down, shattering the fragile glass. "Get ready. I'm going to have you fight some core beasts. If you're as smart as I think you are, you should figure out the basics with this." He scaled his way up the walls of a house and sat down on the roof.

The smoke quickly dispersed into the air without a trace.

"Oh, so more of those monsters from yesterday? Easy..." Colt cracked his knuckles and stood in the middle of the field. "Does that smoke attract them?"

"Yeah." said Jax, "The special agents at the C.O.R.E Foundation made it."

"Core Foundation? Is that the place where those higher ups come from?"

"Wow, you actually can think."

The all too familiar growls of the core beasts rang out through the city, growing every closer. Not one, not two, not even three. A swarm that rivaled the numbers of the swarms he took on the day before approached. Beasts of all shapes and sizes surrounded Colt. Those same blood lusting expressions were plastered onto their horrid faces.

Colt took a deep breath, basking in the moment.

"Bring it on! You ugly bastards!"