Discovery

  Skyler sat on the grass, waiting patiently, unlike Enoch. He was fidgeting with twigs and small foliage. Suddenly, a loud whip-like crack broke the air. Both Enoch and Skyler jumped. They looked all around but it didn't seem to be coming from anywhere specific.

  Then an odd glow formed around the debris of the broken playground. It looked almost black with dark purple or red sparks. Some even white. Enoch and Skyler sat just in the forest, so they could hardly see it.

  They quickly gathered their equipment and snuck out to the very edge of the forest. Skyler put up his camera and filmed. The glow was coming from… A group of people?! A group of around 7-8 hooded figures stood in a circle, chanting something. The hoods were a scarlet red with darker patches. In the middle of the circle seemed to be that glow!

  It was brilliant! It sparked and cracked, like fire… But, different. It formed in a sort of cloudy shape. It was bright too, even if the color was dark shades. Skyler clicked the button to take a photo.

Click!

The chanting stopped. It was dead silent. The great cloud still hovered in the circle of them, but made no noise. Not even the small sparks and cracks could be heard. Suddenly, all the heads turned to look at Skyler. His heart beat rapidly and his breath hitched. He was frozen.

  Then the cloud began to whirl, and bolted right to him. He put his hands up to block it, though the breeze swept him up. In a matter of milliseconds, it was gone. He slowly moved his arms away to reveal he was now standing in the center of the circle. He barely moved, he was sure he was going to die.

  "Skyler?" One of them spoke in a deep voice. Skyler gulped.

  "H-how do you know my n-name?" He asked shakily.

  "We know more about you than you do. Now, what are you doing here?" The voice asked again. It was unclear who spoke. All the hoods were covering everyone's face.

  "W-why don't you t-tell me?" He responded. There was a short pause and a shuffle among the figures.

  "Interesting…" The voice seemed to echo. Then, all the hooded figures removed their hoods, revealing just normal people of all sorts of ethnicities. They stared at him, faces blank. Until one smiled and held out his hand. He had a sculpted face and dark brown hair. His green eyes showed no violence.

  "Welcome, newbie," he said in the same deep tone that was talking all this time. Skyler cocked his head in confusion.

  "New...bie?" He echoed. The faces exchanged glances.

  "Well you found us, that means you're here to join us,"

  Skyler's heart dropped. He couldn't join a… A… A cult! He had a job, friends, and family. Everyone he knew would be at risk. He had done his research, joining a cult never ended well.

  "N-no I can't…" He started. The man grinned and shook his head.

  "Well we can't let you out alive, or we'll have to kill you. But we CAN recruit you,"

  Recruit? It didn't seem like they were even giving him a choice. They either die, or join their cult. "We'll talk more at the next meeting. Tuesday, 10 pm sharp," the man said. "I'm Gonath by the way, leader of the Getsumen Cult. Now that you're here, we'll end this gathering," Gonath turned to the other members and raised his arms in the air.

  "Sairentoendo!" He said. At once, the people began to take off their clokes and began to scatter. Some stayed to talk to others. Skyler wasn't sure what to do, he just stood there.

  "Hello," a silky voice said from behind. Skyler spun around to see a man, slightly taller than him, with long light brown hair and glasses. His hair was up in a ponytail and his clothes were something out of the roman empire. He had a big smile on his face as he stared at Skyler with pastel green eyes.

  "H-hi…" Skyler stuttered.

  "I'm Yoshika. Are you lost?" He asked, the smile still plastered on his smooth, pale face. Skyler gave one small nod.

  Yoshika looked towards the dirt road Skyler and Enough came down. His car wasn't there anymore. Damn it, Enoch!

  "It seems your friend left without you," he said. "Care for a ride home? I'm not sure you would be able to make it without someone to drive you," Skyler stared at him, still in shock by the whole situation. He gave another small nod.

  "Good to see, well then, let's get going before the coyotes begin to wake up," Yoshika began walking towards the dirt road.

  "C-coyotes?!" Skyler ran after him. They got to the car, which turned out to be a black Toyota. Skyler got in and buckled his seatbelt, looking at the long-hair man nervously. Yoshika caught his eye and grinned.

  "Don't look so frightened. I don't bite," he said with a wink. He put the keys into the ignition and pulled off. Not much conversation started at first, just Skyler and his thoughts. Once they left the dirt road and began to see a few cars driving on the opposite lane, Skyler got too curious and began asking questions.

  "How did you know I was watching you?" He asked.

  "We can sense it," Yoshika said.

  "Sense it?"

  "Something in the back of our heads tell us to look,"

  Skyler nodded. "What was that black cloud?"

  "A gateway,"

  Skyler widened his eyes, getting more curious by the second. "A gateway? A gateway to what?"

  "You sure do ask a lot of questions, Skyler," Yoshika giggled. "A gateway to the Kamisama Cult. They are the highest among us. There's the Hì Cult, the fire type. The Mizu Cult, the water type. The Chikyā Cult, the Earth type. The Hikari Cult, the light type. And the Getsumen Cult, the dark type. That's us,"

  Skyler sat there with his mouth hung open in shock. He didn't know there was so much to learn.

  "How long have you been in this… cult?" Skyler hesitated at the word. "Haha, cult is just the abbreviation of 'culture'. Sounds less scary now, doesn't it? I joined 4 years ago," Yoshika talked so casually.

  "4 years?!" He yelped, which made Yoshika chuckle. His laugh sounded like a sweet summer breeze ruffling through a forest. It was somehow… calming.

  "Anyways, you won't tell anyone about us," he continued. Skyler narrowed his eyes. Fat chance.

  Yoshika frowned. "Because we will punish you," he then raised his right hand so his palm faced the sky. He then began whispering something in a different language. Skyler watched, confused. Then, a dark, smokey cloud began to form. It twisted into shapes and spun in circles. It then finally stopped in the shape of a blade. It dropped in Yoshika's hand, suddenly a solid.

  Yoshika waved it at him. "We can do things your world will never be able to do," he said in a very serious, almost scary, tone. Skyler gulped. Suddenly, the blade vanished into thin air. All this happened while still driving.

  "I-I see…" Skyler whimpered. Empathy flashed in Yoshika's eyes.

  "Sorry. It's just we've been working so hard to keep this world intact. If someone were to try and intervene, it would crumble out of existence," he said. Skyler's head swirled with questions and new information. All he wanted to do was wake up. This is just a bad dream. A bad, bad dream.

  "You should probably get some sleep," Yoshika muttered. Sleep was the last thing Skyler wanted to do. He didn't know if Yoshika even knew where he lived, but he wouldn't be surprised if he already knew. Skyler laid his head on the door and closed his eyes.

  My life will never be the same after this.

  Skyler jolted awake. He was in his bed. The sun shone through the window, bright and blinding. Skyler was still in his clothes from the night before. He hoped it was just a dream, until he checked his pocket. He pulled out a small piece of folded paper. Once unraveled, it has a number written on it, underneath it, it read the words 'Yoshika'