Colt and Yuri stood in front of a colossal building. There was a large staircase leading to the entrance. There was surprisingly no one outside either, just like the city that the apartment complex was in.

"Do you feel nervous?" she asked.

Colt scoffed at the question, "Nah, it's just weird...On our way here, I didn't see a single person."

"Oh. I forgot, you're still new here. Don't think about it too much, I'll just explain it after the meeting."

"Okay."

About time someone explained that to me...That's the biggest mystery of all out here.

They walked up the stairs and stepped inside of the building. The halls were crowded with tons of businessmen. The sounds of shoes clicking on the marble floor echoed throughout the facility. Nothing but the boring scent of coffee wafted through the stagnant air.

The few faces Colt managed to look at as he passed by looked lifeless. With hundreds of doors and pathways at each step, he had Yuri to thank for not being lost by now.

As they ventured through more halls, more and more people crowded them. Yuri was nearly knocked over by the crowd, but Colt caught her.

"You good?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah. Try to stay close." She grabbed onto his hand and continued to push forward. It was a simple act that ensured that they wouldn't get separated, but it felt like something more.

Her hands were velvety smooth, soothing his anxious soul. With the space to move freely decreasing by the second, her gentle touch eased him.

Damn...How did we go from empty streets to this?

Eventually, they made their way towards an elevator. Yuri pushed the button to call it down, and they stepped onto the cart.

"Thank God..." She leaned against the wall and let out an exasperated sigh, "Press the B1 button..."

He did as she commanded and leaned on the opposite side of the elevator, "Do you work here?"

"No. The Core Foundation is an informational branch of the CCU. It handles investigations, combat development, and searches...pretty much all of the minor stuff."

"What's the CCU?"

"It's the military in the Seishin Realm. It stands for Core Combat Unit."

"I see...Do you guys have a government here?"

"God...you ask a lot of questions."

"I'm sorry. I'm just really passionate when it comes to learning this stuff. It's all so interesting..."

"It's not a bad thing. You should want to know more about the world around you." She tilted her head, "I wouldn't call it a traditional government. It's far more akin to a monarchy. There's a ruler of the Seishin Realm, and she oversees the four main sectors of our realm."

"I get it. That sounds dope!"

"I bet it does..."

Watching the light indicate their descent into the sublevels of the building, he casted forth another question. "Do you work in the CCU?"

"Yup."

His face lit up as she confirmed his suspicions, "Bro! I bet you have a badass core power! What is it?"

The elevator came to a stop as it reached the basement of the large building.

"Time to go. Get ready."

"Come on..."

They stepped off of the elevator and made their way down the hall, which was considerably less crowded than the other halls.

Colt scanned the near hollow space, "Yuri. If this building is so important, why is there no security?"

She glanced his way, "Oh. Is that what it looks like?"

"Huh?"

"We already passed through like a hundred different forms of security. It's just not in your face. The elevator has facial recognition software, and if your face isn't in the system registered for a meeting, the elevator literally won't take you to the basement floors."

"Damn...What about the stairs?" he asked.

"There aren't any. The only way to get to the basement is through the elevators."

He paused, letting her words sink in. From her machines outside with the car, to the advanced technology of the main building, it was all too much to hold in. "The Seishin Realm is amazing!"

Yuri knocked on a large golden door and rubbed his shoulder, "Here we are...And remember to relax."

"Got it."

The large doors swung open, blasting them both with a powerful wave of chilling air. The light from the hallway shone into the dark room, like a few stray drops of rain sliding down a car.

Colt cautiously stepped into the room as Yuri served as his only guide through the darkness. Their footsteps echoed throughout the hollow interior, ringing through his ears. A myriad of questions began to circle through his mind, but there was some force keeping him quiet.

The primal fear of darkness was something that no one could avoid. It didn't refer to the childish fear of turning the lights off in your bedroom at night, it referred to the uneasiness that sets in when you gaze into the dark abyss. The infinite possibilities of what could be inside, your brain begins to play tricks on you.

Once the light is gone, you will force something to take its place, no matter what it is.

He came to an abrupt stop as Yuri did, and a bright light lit up on the ceiling. This light casted dark shadows over the rows of seats that were high up on the walls. They were suspended at least thirty feet into the air.

The stern faces were barely visible, but they certainly existed now.

With the spotlight on him and Yuri, the pressure was soul crushing.

"Are you Colt West?" The voice was as deep as the black abyss he was once staring into.

Colt rushed to clear his throat, speaking out into the abyss with no real target. "Y-Yes!"

"Good." spoke the voice, "As Yuri has already informed you, we have brought you in to evaluate your worth!"

Worth?

"Alrighty then." he smirked, "I'm all yours, pops!"

Yuri pinched Colt's arm, making him wince in pain.

Too casual I guess...

"Colt West, have you awakened your core power yet?" asked another disembodied voice.

"Not yet sir...However, I am working on it as we speak."

"So..." The voice continued, "You're aware of core energy?"

"Yes!" said Colt, "I am capable of manipulating my own for offensive purposes. Nothing else yet."

"That's surprising. Have any strange memories resurfaced that are somewhat inaccessible at the moment?" spoke the voice.

Is that what-Nevermind. I should say no.

"No sir!"

"Very well." spoke another voice, "Show us a demonstration of your core energy control."

"Got it." He held his right hand into the air and channeled core energy into it.

He heard a few gasps as the dark aura radiated from his hand.

"Very well-harumph! You're done here." said another guttural voice, "Yuri, please escort him to room B100."

"Fine...Let's go." She grabbed Colt's hand, freeing him from the domain of pressure as she pulled him from the foreboding space.

His eyes readjusted to the light in the halls, confirming that he did infact, survive the strange encounter. "That's it? That was pretty anticlimactic..."

"I told you that it wasn't anything to cry about. But we're not done yet. They want you for something else for some reason."

"It sounds you don't even know." muttered Colt.

"Nope." said Yuri, "Room B100 is an interrogation room, so that's something."

They stepped into the room, which was pretty empty. A comforting light illuminated the small space, which consisted of nothing but a square table with a chair on each side.

"What now?" he asked.

"Just sit down."

They both sat down, with Colt picking the seat adjacent to Yuri's.

A few minutes of tense silence passed. It was so quite that Colt believed that he could hear voices in his head. With nothing else to do, he started playing with Yuri's gentle fingers. After tapping her index finger once, he watched a small smile appear on her face. He spent the next few minutes twiddling with her fingers. Right up until the door opened.

A man with a large book stepped into the room. He wore a black tunic, with a white cross on the front, matching the cross on the book. "Hello, I'm David, pleasure to meet you both."

Colt nodded his head, "Yo."

"Hi..." spoke Yuri in a disinterested tone.

David sat down on the opposite side of the table that Colt did, resting the large book on the table. "Okay, Colt West. I'm sure you understand exactly why you're here."

"Yup."

"Good. Let's get right to it..." David rested his right hand on the book and closed his eyes. His cool, collected voice intensified as he began to slosh out a series of foreign words.

Colt glanced over at Yuri as the man spoke in some archaic language, abandoning any sort of normalcy.

A-Am I supposed to say something?

A few moments of silence passed by before David opened his eyes and smiled. "Okay. We're all good on that front. Have a wonderful day, you two."

"You too, man..." muttered Colt.

Yuri leaned back in her seat, "Deuces..."

As David left the room David stood up and left the room, taking his book with him.

Colt turned to Yuri and furrowed his eyebrows, "What the fuck was that?"

She laughed before playfully slapping his shoulder, "He's from a church that specializes in exorcising core beasts with holy speech. The fact that you didn't react to that proves you're a human."

"Oh...that's dope. Is that some sort of core technique?"

"Eh-I wouldn't say that. It's more of a universal technique that people can learn." said Yuri.

"Wait-Why didn't they just give me that test from the start?" cried Colt, "That would've saved a bunch of my time..."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know...I'm not part of this stupid branch."

He started back playing with her fingers, "Speaking of that, what is your core power? You never told me-"

The door opened once again, closing the door on his chances for receiving an answer. He clenched his fists before sitting back in his chair.

A man with a suit came in and sat down where David sat. He had a folder packed with tons of papers in his hands. "Colt West, you have proved your humanity to us; Therefore, you will no longer have to die."

"I guess that's a relief..." he muttered in a sarcastic tone.

"However, we wish for you to assist us in an ongoing investigation. You as well Yuri, since you're his bodyguard."

She smacked her teeth.

"What is it?" Colt leaned forward, now interested in the conversation.

"As we've already gathered from Yuri's questioning, you encountered Fuchsia, yes?" asked the man.

"Correct."

"In the Seishin Realm, core beasts are an endangered species. The CCU has brought them down to numbers under the thousands, and we look to drive them to extinction. However, Fuchsia's core power gets in the way of that, with her constantly creating new beasts."

"I knew that much."

"We don't fully understand her power, but it's certainly dangerous. From some specimens we've obtained out in the wild, we've determined that beasts created from non-human organisms eventually fall apart. However, human made core beasts last forever."

"So...do all core beasts come from her?" asked Colt.

"No. Some core beasts existed before she started her outburst of mutations. However, she is certainly bringing their numbers up. If she is left unattended, she may be able to restore the species to insurmountable numbers."

"It sounds like you want me to kill her."

"That would be amazing, but it isn't probable." said the man, "She's been able to avoid us for this long, so she isn't an easy target. But, there is a mission I'm sure you'd be interested in."

"What?"

He opened his folder and slid a set of photos across the table. "Does this young lady look familiar?"

Colt's heart stopped as soon as he laid his eyes on the picture. "Wh-Why?" He held onto his head as he instinctively shot back into his seat, struggling to keep himself balanced. The room started spinning as the air around him grew thicker.

"Colt?" Yuri grabbed his arm and shook him, "You okay?"

He lowered his head and took a deep breath.

That box that had formed inside his chest, containing the snapshots of his past, began to tremble. The lock quivered, just begging someone to arrive and unlock it, freeing its contained contents; However, there was no key.

"I'm sorry. I'm good." He grabbed onto one of the photos and winced a bit, "I know her. She's Mitsuba."

"Correct," said the man, "Mitsuba Summers. She was 15 years old when she disappeared."

"You mean died..." Colt swallowed a lump in his throat as cold sweat rolled down his back, "Mistuba died."

"That's how you remember it."

"What?" He choked over his words as his heartrate began to climb to dangerous heights.

"Yes. I'm sure that a traumatized fifteen-year-old would not be able to perfectly describe the scene of their girlfriend's murder from memory."

Colt shook his head, shutting his eyes in an attempt to hide himself from this horrific scenario. "No! I remember...She fell into the water and drowned; I know she did!"

"No Colt." said the man, "That isn't what you told us at first."

"What?"

"When you were interrogated by the detectives from the Normal Realm, we had some of our detectives step in as well. You described some sort of cryptid-like creature that attacked her. I'm sure you did your best to rework the memory to help yourself cope better."

Tears began to swell in his eyes as he grit his teeth. The box thrashed about, trying to unlock itself at this point. There was still no key, leaving it to rock about in isolation.

"I...I..." He lowered his head and let out a shaky gasp. "Shit..."

A brief moment of solace reached him, in the form of Yuri moving her seat closer to his and rested her hand on his back. The gentle motions of her rubbing him helped keep the pain at bay, if only momentarily.

"Hey, Is there a point to this shit?" she asked, "You're literally peeling scabs for the hell of it."

"My apologies, but this correlates to our request." voiced the man.

Yuri leaned into Colt's ear, "I'll speak from now on. You're good." She made him lean into her shoulder as she wrapped her arm around him. "Go on..."

"Well...We've received reports of a woman who looks remarkably similar to Mitsuba walking around the Normal Realm."

"What?" Colt sat up as his eyes widened, "A-Are you serious?"

"Yes. As you know, Mistuba's body was never recovered. This leads our detective team to suspect that Fuchsia is involved."

Images of the young woman began to flash through his mind, albeit a bit hazy. Her charming smile, bubbly voice and demeanor, unmoving conviction.

Colt slammed his hands on the table, "What are you saying? You don't think that-"

"We're not sure, but with Fuchsia spending more time in the Normal Realm, it's certainly a possibility." said the man.

His heart sank even deeper than he knew possible.

No matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find any lingering memories of the horrid situation. One thing that stood true was the fact that Fuchsia was not present in any form. Mistuba drowned-or according to the CCU, she was attacked by a core beast.

In any case, if Fuchsia somehow reached her, and she did the same thing she did to him...

He jumped up, "Yes! I'll go on the mission! Whatever it is! I need to see if it's her!"

"Alright. Your assignment is to confirm if this woman is Mitsuba, and if she is, you need to capture her. Understood?"

"Yes!"

"Good. That will be all. Have a good day. I will send you more information tomorrow, Yuri." The man stood up and left the room, leaving the duo in silence.

Colt sat back down and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I'm sorry Yuri. I kinda lost it there."

"Stop apologizing. That guy was a dick." She rubbed his shoulder, "You okay?"

"Yeah...I'm a little anxious, but I'm okay." He turned to her and smiled, "Thanks Yuri. If you weren't here, I would have lost it..."

She smiled, "Don't worry about it. Do you wanna go home now? We're done with this stupid place."

"Yeah. I'm spent..."