Soul Hunter/ソウルハンター
Prologue 1 part 3:Resonating souls. A Resonance that should not be there?
Previously on Soul Hunter:
Mıkenna Saholanai and Soul Eater Challenged Jigoku Shinigami to a battle to see if he will allow Mıkenna to wield him as a weapon.
The battle was messy and Shinigami was stabbed through the chest by Soul, killing him.
What Soul and Mıkenna did not know was that he was capable to use magic to restore his body and the battle was suddenly impossible.
Shinigami used a spell called Sylviya and needles of light pirced Mıkenna through the heart.
She blacked out.
"Mıkenna," was all Mıkenna could hear as she floated in depthless darkness. She could hear a familiar voice call her name many times, yet could not place who it was or why she was being called.
Am I dead? She asked herself. The only response she got was her voice echoing through the shadows of her mind.
The more time seemed to pass, she noticed the darkness clearing and light and shapes forming. Simple shapes at first; circles, triangles and squares, to more complicated shapes like pentagons and right triangles. Eventually, colors began to form, simple primary colors and began to blend to make more.
Her imagination began to roam creating more familiar places at first, then unknown reaches of the earth.
Her mind painted an imaginary vision of her and her family at the park on a sunny day, both her mother and father pushing her on a swing with her laughing childishly. Then her parents laughing stopped and they stopped pushing her. Mıkenna got off and turned around. She saw her parent's mangled bodies covered in blood with Shinigami behind them, turned in his weapon form with blades revealed and ready to strike. He was laughing devilishly and struck at Mıkenna. The pain was so real, she thought it was happening, until she remembered she was only dreaming and screamed "You're not real!" and the vision stopped.
This process would repeat with many other memories with Shinigami haunting her and her cutting off the visions, only letting the tormented nightmares return.
One vision was of her in a wedding gown and Shinigami standing next to her in a tuxedo. They stood overlooking the sunset watching it slowly sink into the horizon. They stood in silence. When the sun finally set, the moon appeared, but it was colored blood red. When she stared at the moon, she felt excruciating pain in her side. She looked only to find Shinigami's arm blade dug into her side piercing her liver and stomach, blood leaching out of the wound. She looked at Shinigami in the eyes only to find pleasure in his actions. In retaliation, she removed the blade and dug it into Shinigami's chest. The only sound he made was laughter as he lost his balance and fell down the cliff landing in a bloody mess.
She again repeated "You're not real!" and her only response was an untraceable voice saying Are you sure?
The question lingered in her mind as the vision faded.
More of these visions continued with more terrifying results, one with Aryas and Shinigami ripping off her flesh and eating her alive, one of her and Soul working together to defeat a Kishin when the Kishin was Shinigami and killed both Soul and Mıkenna, and one of her own father ripping her to shreds.
The pain she felt was so real, she could not believe it was not real, even the souls she felt were real.
She tried to fight it when she realized that Shinigami was trying to torture her somehow. She continued to fight against him though.
When she thought she had enough, a voice resonated through her mind calling her name and she knew instantly that it was Soul. She followed the voice until it led her to a bright light that she knew was real and walked through it.
Mıkenna opened her eyes slowly to spare them the bright glaring light. When she opened them enough to see an outline of Soul, she heard him call for someone, but her hearing was stunned.
After a minute, her eyesight and hearing returned eventually. She saw Soul and could see she was in the infirmary of the KHDA. She could sense Aryas in the room, but from the change in light due to his monstrous size and not his soul. Somehow, his soul always evades her.
She heard Soul say something, but all she heard was mumbled noises. She felt impact tremors come from, what she thought, Aryas walking closer. Even though her hearing was stunned, she could make out Aryas saying something in another language because the language seemed to reverberate through her. When he finished speaking, Mıkenna's hearing returned so fast, she covered them from the sudden pressure and noise.
Soul slowly removed her hands and began speaking to her. "Mıkenna?" Soul said. "Are you alright?"
Mıkenna's response was slow. "I'm fine." She finally said. "What happened?"
Aryas was the one who answered. "Shinigami is harder than I thought." He said in an undertone.
Mıkenna strained to see him. He was standing at the end of her bed, hunched over to avoid getting hit by the ceiling due to his size. "I thought after eight hundred years of solitary confinement, he forgot how to do that." Aryas said shaking his large head.
"Forgot how to do what?" Mıkenna asked
"Magic," Aryas responded. "He used magic in retaliation. Shinigami's natural instincts kicked in and he had a strong desire to protect himself. He was not afraid, his body was."
"What do you mean?" Mıkenna asked.
"How was I able to kill him yet he remained alive?" Soul asked.
"It is a dark magic called 'post-mortem molecular regeneration' or 'Regeneration' for short." Aryas answered. "Regeneration works by means of restoring lost cells faster than the laws of Mitosis allow. Even after death, this technique still works. Mainly, users have to prepare for the process when they feel that they will die. Shinigami is different; his body is prepared, involuntarily, all the time, in fact, he always has extra energy and cells to spare so he can regenerate wounds without dying. I think that his body did not regenerate for eight hundred years so his body was not used to the complicated process of Regeneration, so his instincts took effect and controlled his body, giving him the energy he needed to use magic."
"What did he do to me?" Mıkenna asked.
"He used the Sylviya spell." Aryas replied. "Sylviya casts the user's soul wavelengths into their opponents by converting their soul's energy into its full form; light. The word Sylviya actually means Light or Silver. I take it that while you were sleeping, he haunted your mind. Am I wrong?"
"No," Mıkenna responded. She told Aryas of the the visions she had, leaving out the part of her and Shinigami in marriage attire watching the sunset.
Aryas appeared troubled. "This is worse than I thought," he said lowering his head. "He is trying to tell you something, but I cannot figure it out. Least I can tell you; he will continue doing this until you resolve the problem he is telling you or you put him under control, but not now. You need to rest. He almost stabbed you through the heart. He hit everything else but only a scratch on your heart."
"Will that keep me from wielding a scythe?" Mıkenna asked.
"For now, yes," Aryas responded. He lifted a clawed finger and pointed at her. "If this gives you any idea to go back there alone, you are wrong and you will pay. I will not be there to save you or carry out your fate, it will be Shinigami." He then turned his back to Mıkenna, shaking the ground. "Rest now," was all he said as he walked through the door and vanished from sight.
"He's right," Soul said as he stood up. "You need to rest if you plan on getting back at Shinigami." He left, but Mıkenna noticed he left a small gold key with a dragon wrapped around its handle left in the chair.
Mıkenna instantly grabbed the key and twirled it around in her fingers. She knew it was the key to the locked window to her left and she knew Soul's plan for her, and she would act on it at sunset.
The sun finally set and everything was quiet. Mıkenna told herself to act quickly for Aryas patrols the area at night at if he found her…she did not want to think of her fate.
She began to stand on her feet, slowly at first, and then she eventually got her balance. She found her clothes folded on a rack. She grabbed them and changed out of the hospital garment she was wearing. Once she had control of her body, she ran to the window and placed the key into a small hole in the window and turned. When the key resisted, the window harmlessly flew open. That was way too easy, Mıkenna thought, and she was right. When she removed the key from the window, the dragon on its end uncurled and flew off, screeching. She knew it was a trap Aryas placed, and it worked.
She jumped out of the window grabbing onto the shingles and slowly making her way down, when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked and saw Shinigami, standing at the edge of the roof with all of his blades revealed looking as threatening as ever.
Mıkenna's first instinct was to let go, and somehow, Shinigami knew that. He jumped for Mıkenna, slashing her across the face forcing her to fall. She fell on something soft, yet firm and she heard a voice say "I've got you, Mıkenna," and she felt her feet on the ground. Her eyesight was blurry at first, when it returned; she saw she was being held by Soul.
She remembered Shinigami attacking her and remembered that he had control of her mind. Was Shinigami an illusion, or is Soul actually Shinigami in disguise? She asked herself. She knew Shinigami would be smarter than to make it seem she was attacked on the roof, what better than to hide as a friend she trusts.
She began lashing out, trying to get away from Soul, or Shinigami, she was not sure which. As she lashed out, screaming, Soul did not resist, but simply held her and said; "Sa uğa Mıkenna desu ve ëh uğa kenoresar desu."
Mıkenna stopped. She knew the words. She knew them from when Mıkenna tried taking Kaiyumian language classes. Kaiyumian, commonly mistaken as "Atlanitan", was probably what Shinigami knew as well. What Soul said was an old phrase that only they used when in times of danger and Shinigami might have no way of replicating it. He said "You are Mıkenna, the Butterfly, and I am your shield."
She knew her name was Kaiyumian for "Butterfly" and if Shinigami knew that as well, he might have used it against her. But she felt calm. She knew that it was Soul.
She pushed herself away and simply asked; "Then, what is the illusion? Shinigami attacked me on the-"
"That was the illusion," Soul interrupted. "Where did he hit you then?"
"My face," Mıkenna answered. "Right here," she touched the area of her forehead where she felt a cut run really close to her eye. She pulled her hand away when she felt pain and saw blood on her hands.
Soul touched the same area, this time, no pain, and no blood. "Shinigami cannot trick the trust of others." Soul said. "He can make it seem as though you are missing a leg, but the friend who you trust cannot be tricked and if you trust them, therefore the illusion fails. I spent some time studying on how to counter Shinigami's magic."
"Good thing to do." Mıkenna said. She fell silent when she heard a small screeching above them. Soul's face told her that he heard it too. They both looked up and saw the small golden dragon fluttering in the air screeching. Soul and Mıkenna did not feel threatened by the small metal dragon, until it screeched "Uğaidra!" Both Soul and Mıkenna knew it meant "Fate".
Right then, an even larger screech, no, a roar that echoed and shook the buildings around them sounded and a large section of the stars vanished leaving a shadow of a large dragon.
Soul and Mıkenna wasted neither waist time nor breath, they just ran, ran from Aryas, the Dimensional God, known from the older legends as the Black Dragon, the Kishin Hunter, and the Shadow Slayer. Mıkenna and Soul remembered the legends that if Aryas was locked on a hunt, he would never stop until his prey was dead.
Running from a god, they knew, would do no good. They heard Aryas roar again and they felt the air spin as he lowered in altitude. Soul and Mıkenna ran faster only for Aryas to release a spray of burning red-white fire hot enough too melt even the strongest of metals.
Mıkenna and Soul were unaware of Aryas's anger until they noticed it was a full moon night, a time when Aryas's powers naturally rose to their full extent, leaving him tortured in the amount of power he held.
Soul and Mıkenna doubled in speed only for Aryas to release another wave of fire.
The two kept running until they found themselves trapped in a dead end of buildings. They turned to see Aryas close his wings and land, putting his full weight down shaking the area. He let out another roar, which was more of a mixture of a roar and a high pitched screech.
Soul and Mıkenna closed their eyes as Aryas opened his massive jaws revealing a bluish light inside his mouth. When Soul and Mıkenna were sure he was going to kill them, they heard another roar, quieter, but the same as Aryas's.
They opened their eyes to see Aryas looking towards the sky. The roar sounded again and Aryas, with a deep snarl, took flight again.
Neither Soul nor Mıkenna knew what happened, but decided to not waste time and run. They ran as fast as they could towards the Kouri Mountains.
When the two felt safe, they stopped to catch their breath and looked back towards Soul City and saw Aryas bathing the sky in flames, leaving the city untouched.
"What do you think caught his attention?" Mıkenna asked Soul.
"I don't know," Soul replied. "Aryas has many enemies."
After a few minutes, they decided to continue moving. They followed the same path as they did last time leading towards the cave with the Kishin Eyes carved above the entrance.
They progressed slowly to make sure not to spring the traps. They made it to the end of the cave without any problems, which made them curious, but not enough to stay around. They moved quickly to the steel doors they met on their last voyage and Soul was once again aware that the sky was lit like daytime. He looked at his watch and it said Eleven at night, so he was, once again, curious on how that is possible. He looked at Mıkenna and saw her reaction that she noticed it as well.
They came to the doors, knowing of what lay inside for them and got prepared mentally. When they both felt ready, Mıkenna used the Executioner's Knock again and the door opened slowly.
When the doors opened fully, Soul and Mıkenna walked in, then the doors slammed shut behind them. They noticed Shinigami in the same spot where he was last time, in the far back of the room, hunched over and oblivious to the world. Soul and Mıkenna walked closer and they saw the red eyes appear again.
"So, you're back." They heard Shinigami say. He stood slowly and walked towards Soul and Mıkenna. "I figured with the visions I gave you, you would not return here. You are a strange soul." Shinigami said to Mıkenna.
Mıkenna was able to get a closer look at Shinigami's soul. It was a lot like Aryas's; powerful, changing, not perfect, but one thing that stood out was that his soul was stronger. It occurred to her that if his soul is similar to that of Aryas's, then the same might be true. That explains why it is never night in these parts, Mıkenna thought to herself.
"Soul," she said calling him over. "He gets stronger at the full moon as well; maybe night is all he needs." She explained. "That is why it is always day time here; to keep him weak and from escaping. This place is a prison."
Soul understood that they might have a chance. They turned to Shinigami only to see him laughing. "You are all smart," Shinigami said. "The monks here wanted to stop me so they placed a spell on the area so it is always daylight. I can go into sunlight, but with this place being one-way only, I was trapped in here for eight hundred years and eight hundred years of no moonlight takes a toll. I cannot enter into the sunlight without dying unless I was carried out by my successor in battle and I was carried out in weapon form. Those damn monks deserved their one-way ticket to the dark reaches of the void."
"You killed them?" Mıkenna shouted.
"Why not?" Shinigami said. "They violated our terms and must therefore be eliminated." Shinigami crouched down. "Enough talk, more blood!" He launched himself at Soul and Mıkenna. The two dodged his strike and landed behind Shinigami. Shinigami turned to Mıkenna swinging Soul, in weapon form, at him. Shinigami parried each strike and kicked Mıkenna in the ribs.
Mıkenna flew back several feet. She landed on her back and heard that nasty crack again. She stood slowly trying to gain her breath and ease the pain in her back, neck and chest.
"Mıkenna," Soul said. "You can't stand long in a battle like this. Your body can't take it. Let me fight in your place."
"No," she said. "I want to be a great meister like my mother and I will do so, no matter how much it hurts!" She shouted and ran for Shinigami again. Shinigami parried her rage strike, put his hand on her face and said "Kyare!" His hand grew hot-iron red and exploded. Mıkenna was thrown back with burns all over her body.
She stood and charged again. Mıkenna and Shinigami parried strikes, locked in a dance of rage, fear, battle, and, for some reason, and amount of ecstasy. Shinigami felt strong and felt somehow unnatural for himself. He thought he felt something in his heart for this girl, but judged it as the love he felt in every battle; the love of battles and of death.
This feeling pushed him on and he began striking harder and harder and stopped when he felt something in his chest. Soul's blade pierced his heart. He let out a comedic sigh and pulled the blade from his body and the wound repaired itself.
"So tell me," Shinigami said to Mıkenna. "After killing me, what is it you plan on doing next?" He pushed Soul and Mıkenna away in one mighty kick and continued attacking.
They kept striking each other until they felt depleted of life, well, Mıkenna was, Shinigami felt as young as ever. More time passed and Mıkenna's strikes became more worn and random. It was easy for Shinigami to block her attacks.
As Mıkenna tried an overhand strike, something occurred to Shinigami; why is she still alive?
Instead of blocking, he moved back, faster than normal, he wondered if he actually teleported. But that was the least of his concerns. Why is she not dead yet? Why is he keeping her alive?
Mıkenna continued to attack and Shinigami continued to move backwards. He still questioned his motives on letting her live. She was near death anyway, one blow is all he needs, but why can't he do it? Why does his soul tell him not to? Why does his arm not obey his commands?
He felt something hard against his back and knew it was the one-way door. Mıkenna made another strike, this one to cut off his head. Shinigami just watched the blade come closer to his neck and whispered "Shina sete," and his head came off and his body fell to the floor. "Let me die," were his last words.
Mıkenna and Soul felt relieved when they saw Shinigami's limp body fall to the ground. They lowered their guard for a moment, and then Shinigami's body began to stir once more.
His body stood and felt the area of his neck and they heard a voice say "Koko ni," over and over as if talking to the body. They saw the body turn, bend over, and stood again with Shinigami's head in its hands, alive this time.
"That's it?" Shinigami said. "How boring," His body lifted his head and placed it on the stub of his neck. The flesh repaired itself and his body twisted his neck, cracking the bones in place. When Shinigami turned his newly replaced head to face Soul and Mıkenna, he had anger, yet sadness in his eyes.
"Now you will die," Shinigami said raising a bladed hand.
Mıkenna closed her eyes and waited for Shinigami's attack, but nothing. She opened her eyes to see Shinigami in the same position, shaking. Mıkenna could say she saw a tear run down Shinigami's cheek.
Shinigami yelled and ran past Mıkenna. He ran a fair distance then turned abruptly and yelled to Mıkenna "What have you done to me?"
Mıkenna felt sad when Shinigami knelt down and broke into silent tears. No sound, just that of water hitting the ground.
Mıkenna took Soul and laid him against the wall. "What are you doing?" Soul asked her, but she did not reply, she just started walking to Shinigami.
She stopped right next to Shinigami. She could hear him repeat "Ëh uğa ne desu yo ka?" which she knew was Kaiyumian for "What am I?"
She knelt down to Shinigami's level and raised his head to look in his eyes. She felt pained to look into his blood colored eyes when tears were running out of them; she thought that the tears gave his eyes the look that his irises were made of blood.
"You are yourself," she answered.
Shinigami shook his head free of her hands and said "There is a reason why I ran from humanity so long ago, and that is because of being myself." Mıkenna understood; there was something about him in the past that he despised.
Shinigami took his hand and grabbed Mıkenna's. She felt something rub against her mind and pierce it like a needle piercing a vein. A multitude of emotions ran through her from its source, Shinigami. She blacked out for a moment as Shinigami gave her a vision from his past.
His mind retreated shortly afterwards. She understood who he was and why he felt like this. She decided to keep the vision private until its knowledge is needed.
She knew what was wrong with him; he killed for so long, he wanted to stop. He wanted to move on and show mercy to those who challenged him, but he could not stop.
"You can stop now," Mıkenna whispered in his ear. "You do not need to kill anymore. If you come with me, you can show mercy while enjoying the battle."
Shinigami understood what she meant; she wanted him to come to the KHDA and make him her weapon partner so she can kill his opponents, but he would play a major role in that battle, one he would enjoy.
"Alright," Shinigami said. "I come with you. You may wield me, but you will never wield me as a Shadow Scythe, only a regular Scythe."
"Ok," Mıkenna responded. She reached out her hand to Shinigami.
Shinigami lifted his head and stared at her hand, and then fitted his hand in hers. Mıkenna took that moment to really feel his Soul. Her results startled her; He had two souls in his body. Somehow, he was two different people.
She decided to ask about it later. She lifted Shinigami by the hand to get him to stand. Once one his feet, Shinigami said "Karitor," and the one-way doors opened.
Once the doors reached full capacity, the sunlight touched Shinigami's face and he passed out. Mıkenna caught him by the shoulder and was surprised on how lightweight he is. She carried him over her shoulder and carried him out, meeting Soul near the door were she left him, but in human form.
"Well, I guess he is not as tough as I thought," Soul said mockingly. Mıkenna chuckled at the comment and led all three of them out.
Once they came outside, the sun faded and turned into the night it was.
Mıkenna and Soul followed the same way they took to get there back. Mıkenna began to think about Shinigami when something in her chest tightened. She felt like her heart stopped. It did for a moment, then restarted. She began to question it when an idea came to her.
She checked Shinigami's pulse and found that his pulse matched hers.
She knew what it was; they were in Resonance.
End of prologue 1: Mıkenna Saholanai and Jigoku Shinigami.
Prologue 2: Shinogetsu Samau and the Twins.
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Storm Kesocascay,
Kaiyumi word: English translation
Kyare (v. Kyaremek): Explode (v. To explode)
Karitor (v. Karitormak): Open (v. To open)