Chapter 1

A World in Ruin

Darkness…all around me is darkness. What's going on? Where am I? Why am I so…cold? Derek? Jade? Yusuke? Kurama? Liz? Anyone! What the hell is this?? Someone help me! Get me out of here! Help!! God help me!

******

Corey Kartana opened his eyes slowly, feeling the cold ground beneath him. He slowly picked himself up, first into a kneeling position, and then standing full up. His panic from before seemed to slowly subside.

"I'm…alive?" He examined himself for any injuries, but all he saw were a few scrapes he still had from his battle with Yusuke Urameshi. He was still wearing his clothing from before: a t-shirt, a pair of jeans and tennis shoes, and a pair of leather gloves with no fingers. He rubbed his eyes carefully.

"That's…weird. Wait a minute…" He looked down at the ground, which was covered in dirt, not an arena floor like where he thought he had passed out, "What's…?" He stopped talking and looked around himself, and his eyes widened.

The area around him was not that of the Demon World Arena. It was a barren heath. A deserted wasteland, which showed no sign of life at all. The dirt ground, which was more like dried up clay, was cracked beneath him. The sky was crimson red, and any clouds were black, but showed no sign of rain in them.

"Am I still in Demon World? What happened to me?" he paused and thought about what had happened, and then it hit him. The confrontation with the man in black, the strange energy from him, and the orb that surrounded him.

That's when I passed out before…did he transport me to some weird area in Demon World? Dammit… He looked up into the red sky and screamed,

"Where the hell am I?!!"

Corey just walked. It's all he could do in this strange place. He didn't know to where, he just walked. The landscaping never changed dramatically. Every so often, he'd spot a dying tree, or a few pieces of shrubbery. Unfortunately, he saw no sign of food, water, or civilization.

Was this his plan? To leave me out here to starve or dehydrate? I've been at this for hours, and still no sign of- His thought was cut off as he sensed a trace amount of demonic energy behind him. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed it before. It might have been a deadly mistake, if the energy source wasn't so weak.

Only C-Class? That's lame…maybe they can give me directions…He stopped walking and turned around. Three large beasts that had the look of a cat to them towered over Corey. Each was at least fifteen feet tall, and had razor sharp claws and teeth. Corey merely scuffed,

"What? The welcoming committee?"

The first laughed. "Well, well, well. Look at this one! He's a human! Haven't seen one of them in awhile." He looked at his companions and they all laughed. Corey grit his teeth lightly and clenched his fists,

No humans in awhile? That has to mean I'm still in Demon World… He took a step towards them. "Okay…now that you've found a human, what're you planning on doing?"

"Isn't that obvious, boy?" Asked the second, "We're going to eat your flesh! I haven't tasted human flesh in so long!" He actually started drooling.

"Well…that's just about disgusting…" Corey commented. It was only now that he realized that his trusty sword, Tetsaru, was not with him. Not that it mattered against weaklings like these, but who knew what kind of other monsters he'd find here.

"Let's fillet him!" Yelled the third as they all ran towards Corey, who only shrugged, and then he unleashed his spiritual energy. It only started with a spark, but soon blasted around the entire area, stopping the cat monsters in their tracks. They quickly gained a look of panic on their faces, which made Corey grin.

"Who's filleting who, now?" He asked, jumping towards the closest of the three. He jumped right up to his face, and the creature was in such shock all it could do was take the mighty kick to the forehead. Corey landed a few seconds before the creature did; lying on it's back dead. The other two backed off, then turned tail and ran.

"Hey! I was just getting started!" Corey called out, laughing and rubbing his shoulder. He looked at the fallen beast and sighed gently, "Damn…I shouldn't have killed him. Now how the hell else am I going to get info on this place? Oh well…" He shrugged and turned away from the beast and continued his walk towards nowhere.

******

"Huh? What's that?" he asked aloud, looking forward. It had been another few hours of non-interruption. Corey had found a small river, which he happily drank out of, and soon began following it, hoping to find some kind of civilization. His idea paid off, because in front of him was some kind of village. He had seen the smoke coming from it, and after closer examination he found that it was a small colony. It had a gate around it, made of wood. There were a few trees around this part, so that did make sense, and the water from the river would help for survival.

But why would demons colonize here? Why not go to the Stone Castle or any of the other major demon cities? He shrugged it off. He couldn't complain too much. Maybe if he explained what happened, they'd give him some food and tell him where he was. Or, if he had too, he'd just bust some faces in to get his answers. He walked forward and stood before the front gate.

"Heeeey! Is anybody in there?? Hello??" He waited for a moment, and then to his great surprise, it was a human that came to the gate. He could tell he was human due to the small amount of spiritual energy in him.

What the hell? Corey thought.

"Ah! A human! Hold on, let me get the gate!" Called the guard from his post and vanished. A few seconds later the large wooden gate opened, and Corey entered the colony.

The village was rather un-modern, but it looked flourished enough. The small river actually ran through the center of it, and near one of the walls of the barriers was a turning wheel. The huts were all made out of stick and straw, as if it was back in the 17th Century.

Now I'm really confused… Corey thought to himself. At that moment, a man walked up to him, looking in his late thirties. His clothes seemed modern, though, unlike the rest of this place. He wore a bulletproof vest over what looked like a normal t-shirt. He held out his hand in greeting, which Corey slowly shook.

"Hello, young man. My name is Lieutenant Logan Fox. What's yours?" He asked kindly.

"Corey Kartana…nice to meet you, Logan." Corey said hesitantly, "Logan? Why are you and all these people in Demon World?" Now it was Logan's turn to look surprised.

"Demon World? I haven't heard any of the worlds being called a certain name for a few years. Corey, this place would be technically Human World, not Demon World." Logan stated. Corey's eyes went wide and his body lightly shook.

What?? There's no…way. Did that guy do this? Why are there demons in the Human World of that size and shape? He was referring back to his previous fight. And how the hell did all this happen so quickly? How long was I out?? Corey snapped out of it and looked at Logan.

"Logan…what…what year is this?" he asked.

Logan blinked. "It's 2075, Corey. Have…you lost your memory?"

Corey stopped listening to Logan. His eyes were wider then ever as he stared at the village in disbelief.

2075? It's been… 15 years? That's… impossible. How can that have happened? Did that guy send me through time? But…but why would he do that? It doesn't make sense! His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of screaming.

"What?" Corey asked, looking about to find the cause of the noise. Logan looked up to another guard in the barracks.

"What's going on?" He demanded.

"Sir! Demons are attacking the village!" yelled the soldier.

"Dammit!" Swore Logan as he pulled out what looked to be a supped up Walther, "Battles stations!" From one of the larger huts in the village swarmed out around 15 men, all carrying an assault rifle. Corey looked a little confused, but then looked towards Logan.

"You're planning on fighting?" Corey asked, with a hint of a smile.

"Of course! We're part of the resistance group towards Darkine. General Maison assigned us here." Logan said and ran towards his men, and then the 16 of them ran out of the village ready for battle, leaving Corey standing alone as woman and children all took cover in their homes.

General…Maison? Derek? Are you alive? And who's Darkine? He shook his head. "No time for that now. I gotta go help those guys out. I feel a fairly strong demon energy coming, and I don't think that they can take it on by themselves."

"Attack!!" Shouted Logan as he pointed towards the oncoming demons forces. Gunfire was heard through out the area. There were a total of four demons. It didn't seem like a lot, but when they were C-Class and one A-Class, the humans didn't stand much of a chance. Their gunfire did nothing to the A-Class Demon, but it was holding off the C's decently. Corey ran up to the Lieutenant and looked at him.

"I'm going to help!" he stated. Logan glanced over at him.

"Corey, we don't have any spare ammunition for you."

Corey smirked. "I don't need it. Cease fire."

"What? Are you crazy?? If we do that, they'll attack!" Logan snapped, looking over at Corey.

"Trust me." And for whatever reason, Logan did trust this new comer. He nodded towards him, and looked at his men.

"Cease fire!" He shouted, and they did so. Corey grinned,

"My turn!" And he ran right into the demon hoard, unarmed.

His first attack was made on the closest of the four, a snake like C-Class apparition. It hissed and snapped at Corey, but the young man merely dodged the bite by sliding to the right, and then delivered a powerful kick right under the creatures jaw. It's head cracked back and it slithered into a fetal position, dead.

The other three roared at Corey and the other two C-Class demons, a bear and bat like monsters, both attack Corey from two different angles. He went for the bear first. Just as the bear was about to swoop it's claws down on him, he ducked down and then hurled himself right into its stomach, his fist extended and making contact. The bear keeled over in pain. The bat demon stopped, and it looked like it was about to retreat, but Corey laughed,

"It's not that simple!" Corey yelled, and as the demon tried to fly off, Corey jumped up and grabbed it by its wings. It wrestled around with him in the air, but Corey managed to get on top of it, and punching it right in the back of the head. The demon did a nosedive right into the ground, leaving Corey face to face with the A-Class. It was a tiger like monster, but it looked nearly human.

"So…you seem to be the leader of this little group." Corey said, folding his arms over his chest.

"And you are quite the warrior. You should join us, instead of the humans." He said in a growl like voice. Corey chuckled.

"If you hadn't noticed, I am human, but tell me this. Who is your boss??" He demanded, pointing at the creature.

"You're kidding. It's Lord Darkine, of course, supreme ruler of all the worlds." The tiger demon said, and began to laugh. Corey shook lightly,

What the hell has happened since I've been gone? So that guy…the one who transported me here…was he Darkine? The demon was still laughing, but stopped abruptly as he felt the spiritual energy of Corey surging out of him.

"You better shut up…I'm going to kill you after all." He had kept his finger extended, and it began to gather spiritual energy into the tip. It shined magnificently as he shaped his hand into the shape of a gun. The demon felt the power and knew that he couldn't withstand that kind of attack and began to run away.

"To late…Spirit Gun." And Corey pulled the trigger in his mind, sending the spirit energy blasting from his finger and hitting the demon as he ran. It only took a second for him to drop dead. Corey turned to face Logan and the other men, who all seemed in awe.

"What?" Corey asked, blinking.

"You…have spiritual energy, like our elder." Logan stammered, "But you can use it to attack!"

"Yea…so?"

"Corey…will you meet with our elder? I believe he can help you with your…problem." Now this got Corey's attention. He nodded slowly and walked over to Logan, who ordered his men to go back to their posts. Corey followed a few steps behind the man.

Village Elder? Who could this dude be? And does he really possess Spiritual Power?

******

The walk through the village was quick being it was so small. Corey glanced around and watches as the people stared at him, probably out of disbelief on what they had seen or heard.

"Word travels fast…" Corey mumbled as he walked behind Logan.

Logan chuckled. " It's not everyday that we get a powerful warrior who is so strong with spiritual energy around here."

"If you say so." They finally made their way into the center of the village, where a large tent like hut was placed. Logan nodded to Corey,

"Our elder already knows your coming, I had someone run ahead and tell him. Go on in." Corey nodded, and pushed open the carpet like door to the inside. The first thing Corey noticed was the smell of tobacco when he walked in. There was a fire going, and an older man with a long beard sitting by it. He was draped in older robes that had seen better days, but were probably once very nice looking.

"So…you the elder here?" Corey asked, sitting down on the opposite side of the fire. The older man nodded,

"Yes…I am Arthur. Nice to meet you, Corey Kartana."

"What? Did the guy who came and told you about me tell you my name, too? Or are you just creepy?" Corey mused, smirking a bit. Arthur made no reaction to if he was insulted or amused.

"I know who you are by your spiritual energy. You are the boy who defeated Shura, son of Yomi, sixteen years ago."

Corey blinked. "Well…you're definitely well informed…but tell me. What happened these fifteen years? I was, well…" Corey didn't know how to explain it without sounding crazy.

"You were transported fifteen years into the future, correct? By Darkine." Arthur said as casually as if he was telling him a history lesson.

"Y-yea…" Corey stumbled out, not sure how he knew this, "So…what happened? What's this rebel group deal? Is that General Maison guy really the same Derek Maison that I knew from fifteen years ago? And what about Yusuke and the others? There's no way that they'd just let Darkine rule the Human World!" To stop Corey from rambling on, the older man held up a hand.

"First off, Corey Kartana, it's not just the Human World. Darkine has control of all three worlds."

Corey's jaw nearly dropped.

"There's no…way…" he said in disbelief, "H-how?"

"Get comfortable, Corey Kartana…it is a long tale."