Chapter 1: A rough Tumble into the Past
Closing the door with a sigh, Sora closes the door behind him. This is the end of what once had been a small sanctuary. The apartment no longer carrying the warmth and familiarity it once had. Much of his belongings sold leaving only what is left in the small backpack hanging over his shoulder. His eyes cast into the horizon of the slowly setting sun. The street lights flickering on. He turns from the now silent apartment holding back tears but shoving those feelings deep down. There is no changing the circumstances.
Between having lost his mother in a tragic accident years before and his father's increasingly erratic behavior that last six months had been hard enough. To wake up a week ago to a note that his father is long gone and that he lost possession of the apartment because he lost all his money betting to those damn machines didn't solidify his future. Sure he had some pocket money from selling off all the possessions but it had not been much. Certainly not enough to sustain him for long.
As he silently descends the stairs of the apartment complex, he silently says his farewells to the neighbors he had not found the courage to say good bye to in person.
Then he turns to walk down the block as he heads toward a hotel he'd decided to spend a few nights in until he could get provisions for a student apartment that would be provided for him by the government. As he walks the nearly empty streets the last thing he expects to hear is the mewling of a cat.
He turns toward the cat with curiosity. The cat appears to be looking dead at him as it mewls.
"Are you okay?" He asks quietly inching forward toward the poor things. He bends over and holds out his hand gently approaching the cat. The cat starts to move backward up a set of stairs as Sora approaches. The continuous mewling makes it seem as if he should follow the poor creature.
Looking around there seems to be nothing out of place. Yet he can't help the uneasy feeling pooling in his body. The cat sound so desperate that. Shaking his head, he follows after the cat.
The dark night creeping on him as the sun finally sets. Sora is solely focused on trying to figure out what this cat feels is so urgent that they would call out for just any random stranger.
As they continue Sora is sole focus on the cat distracts him as they entire a shrine. Entirely unaware, Sora's being led to a shed in the corner of the shrine. The cat paws a door which Sora pushes open. At first all he sees an entirely empty space beyond a well in the corner of the room. He takes notice of the cat seemingly crawling toward the well. Maybe the cat had kittens and they are in the well?
The hair stands on the back of his neck as he gets closer and closer to the well. "….I don't think I like this." He mumbles mere seconds before a strange pressure builds around him. Then he's dragged face first into the well. The space around him changing as if stars were floating by him as he falls deeper into the well being dragged inside.
He screams as he feels the pressure of multiple hands on his body and turns just in time to see. There are multiple hands on him and the thing looking at him is some monster from his nightmares. The thing is talking to him but he can barely make out the words as the creepy monster turns from bone to a super long centipede. The yanking on the back of his hair, has him wincing but paying vivid attention to the creature that is speaking to him as they fall into the void of the well.
"You have it don't you?" It whispers to him. "Give it to me." It demands a tongue sliding across his face.
"Gross." He growls pushing the creature away from his face. For a moment a strange purple glow comes from his hand as the creature whatever it is, separates from him. Seconds later he's at what appears to be the bottom of the well.
"… What the hell." Voice shaking, body trembling, Sora looks toward the top of the well. Vines have grown up ward. Seeing it as a means of escape he starts to climb them being careful as to not fall back into the bottom of the well.
"Helloooo anyone out there?" He shouts but it doesn't appear as if help is coming as he climbs. The moment he sees what is outside the well, he nearly loses his grip on the vines. "… This isn't Tokyo anymore…" He gasps as he scrambles out of the well.
"Where am I?" Sora asks looking around in confusion. Everything is trees and nature. The shed long gone, no cat, no city. Just nature in it's magnificent beauty.