Threads of Infinity chapter 13: Hollow Curiosity
Tsukasa wandered through a deserted alley, the faint scent of decay lingering in the air. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his long, dark coat, his eyes scanning the surroundings with an almost detached curiosity. In the distance, a low growl echoed off the walls, followed by a hiss, then silence.
A curse.
It was one of the stronger, more monstrous types, hunched over, with twisted limbs and a sickly green aura swirling around it. It had been preying on the weak, picking off lone individuals who dared to venture too close to its lair. But now it had caught the attention of something much more dangerous: Tsukasa.
The curse sensed him long before Tsukasa saw it, but it didn't move immediately. It was cautious, sensing the power in Tsukasa's cursed energy, something that even it couldn't ignore. A low, rasping voice issued from the creature's mouth as it straightened, towering over Tsukasa with a hunched, grotesque body.
"You... weak human... You die."
Tsukasa smirked, an almost imperceptible twitch of amusement at the creature's words. He studied it for a moment, feeling its cursed energy pulse in the air. It was reckless, hungry, and full of emotion. But there was something that caught his attention—its power was raw, untapped, and unlike the predictable, human emotions he had grown to find useless.
Without warning, the curse lunged at him, its claws reaching for his throat. Tsukasa's expression remained unchanged as he raised his hand in a simple, deliberate motion.
Blue.
A burst of energy shot forward, a pulse that collided with the curse's outstretched claws. The force was immense, but not explosive—no, this was calculated. The curse was blasted backward, its body ripped apart as the energy pressed against it, leaving only a smoking heap of matter in the alleyway.
The force of the blast sent debris flying, but Tsukasa didn't flinch. The debris came too close to him for comfort, but before anything could hit him, the Infinity activated, creating a barrier that stopped every shard and scrap in mid-air. They hovered inches from his skin, suspended in time and space, before dropping harmlessly to the ground.
Tsukasa looked down at the destroyed remains of the curse, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Interesting..." he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. The curse had been powerful—more so than any human could ever hope to be—but it had been nothing more than a fleeting challenge.
As Tsukasa turned to leave, his hand brushing away some of the debris still hovering in the air, his thoughts lingered on the curse. He'd never felt this level of detached curiosity about a living being before. It wasn't that he cared about the creature—it was just that, for once, it had provided something worth his time.
The city loomed before Tsukasa like an uncaring monolith. The streets were crowded, people moving about with their usual, ignorant haste. His gaze swept over them, and a strange, hollow feeling gnawed at him. He had walked away from everything—his clan, his bloodline, his past. The very foundation of his existence had crumbled in a single day.
A day.
That's all it took to sever the ties that once bound him to the world he had known. And yet, here he was, walking through a city full of people who were completely unaware of his existence. He was an afterthought, a shadow among the living, invisible to the masses, but above them in ways they couldn't comprehend.
They're nothing, Tsukasa thought bitterly as his eyes traced the faces of those around him. Just tools. Weak. Pathetic. His heart, once full of the desire to be acknowledged, now only pulsed with contempt. Humanity was no more than a collection of fragile creatures, stumbling through life with no purpose, no power.
A sharp laugh escaped him, the sound a bitter twist of irony. The world had left him behind, but now, it was him who would leave them all. He would be the one to rise above, leaving behind these useless, pointless lives.
His footsteps echoed louder in the streets as the weight of his thoughts grew heavier. He was alone now, truly alone.
But then—there was a figure ahead, a familiar presence cutting through his haze of rage. A member of the Gojo clan. Tsukasa didn't need to look closely to know who it was. The aura, even if faint, carried the weight of years spent in the clan's shadow. The elder was a figure he had seen many times during his youth, a reminder of the world he had just walked away from.
The elder, seeing Tsukasa, hesitated for a moment, before stepping forward. Their eyes, once full of admiration, now bore something else—concern, pity, maybe even regret. "Tsukasa..." The elder's voice faltered. "What are you doing out here? You—"
"Don't." Tsukasa cut them off sharply, his voice cold, devoid of any warmth. The world had stripped him of whatever he had once been, and the remnants of those feelings were as alien to him now as the humans passing by.
The elder's hand reached out, almost as if to comfort him, but Tsukasa's sharp gaze stopped them in their tracks. His aura flared, thick and suffocating, radiating outward like a black storm.
"You don't get it, do you?" Tsukasa muttered, barely louder than a whisper. "I don't need your pity. I don't need any of you."
The elder flinched, the sudden coldness in Tsukasa's voice striking them harder than any physical blow could. "You've changed," the elder whispered. "This isn't who you were. You were supposed to be the future of the Gojo clan. You were supposed to be the hope."
Tsukasa's eyes gleamed, cold and unwavering. "Hope?" He laughed again, but this time it was darker, tinged with disgust. "Hope is for the weak. For people who still believe in others. I don't believe in anyone. Not anymore."
His words were a slap in the face, a rejection of everything they had tried to instill in him. Tsukasa wasn't the boy they once knew—he was something else now. Something detached from humanity, from the clan, from everything.
Without another word, he turned and walked past the elder, his steps purposeful.
"Tsukasa…" The elder's voice trembled in the air, but Tsukasa didn't turn back. He didn't need to. He was no longer part of their world. The Gojo clan, his bloodline, his past—all of it was irrelevant now.
Tsukasa stepped into the night, his aura a swirling force around him. The city, the people, the sorcerers—they were nothing to him. He had no purpose among them. He was beyond them.
And so, with nothing but the empty void of his thoughts, Tsukasa left it all behind.