ENTER THE SPIRIT WORLD

(A/N: Please take note that Morgan and David's stories are happening at different times. Not a difference in years, just the span of weeks and days may be different).

*

New Scott.

Pristone High School.

I was staring at the lovely girl with straight red hair and apple green eyes sitting on the bench with her friends. This was the first time in a week that I was seeing her since we broke up.

In the school yard, with the well maintained green lawn, many kids my age or younger were chatting, the nerds debating, classic hotties gossiping while walking like runway models in their rompers, mini skirts, off shoulder tops, crop tops and sweater dresses revealing the youthful skin of their thighs and chests.

I was envious of such a lifestyle. I envied every guy who had the privilege of living in such an environment, socialising with kids their age and feeding their eyes with such a beautiful picture.

There were beauties of all kinds, football team hunks (no homo) and the occasional curvy teacher in a pencil skirt that caused a ruckus among the huddled jocks when they passed naturally swaying their hips.

This was the life I never got to live. My uncle always told me that I had to stay hidden.

Living 16 years without having much interaction with the outside world is by no means an enjoyable experience, especially when you add to the mix an old man who trains you day and night like Armageddon is just around the corner.

I appreciated the sights all round, but my eyes just couldn't help but stare at the girl who earned the position of first love in my life. Asides from the red hair and green eyes, her freckles made her more familiar to me. I had always told her that I loved her the way she was. That her freckles were an aesthetic designed to provide a natural burst of individuality within her that was indisputably original and exclusive to her. To Jessica.

I had said that exact line, with little to no understanding of what it meant myself but it sounded cool, so ...yeah.

She appreciated it, though she caught on pretty fast that her dense as hell boyfriend was trying to impress.

She sat with three of her friends, two girls and one dude, having pizza as they chatted away happily.

I hate to admit it, but I was really jealous. Jealous of her friends that get to hang out with her. Jealous of her who seems to be enjoying her life even without me in it. It's selfish I know, but that's an emotion every damn girl or guy who's ever been in a relationship before has.

It takes becoming the bigger man to resist the urge to just barge into the life of your ex and mess it up so that she can be as sad as you are.

The problem is, I am not the bigger man. I am the smaller man with a sword in his hands using every inch of his being to not walk over there and behead that dude who is reaching over and pushing away gently her red hair behind her ear while she blushes, her friends giving her the secret 'You go girl' look.

I took a deep breath and watched. She's happy. I may be miserable, but perhaps it's fate. She doesn't deserve some demon killing psycho flaking on her constantly while she has to seek comfort in someone else. This is probably for the best.

After all, I am cursed.

"You're so beautiful," I said while staring at her through the windscreen.

"You do realise that I'm sitting right here, right?" asked Cassandra in the passenger seat.

"Absolutely! But I just don't give a shit," I replied nonchalantly without even looking at her.

"Am I here to spectate your pathetic and dead love life or are we finally getting on with this assignment you so desperately need?" she asked.

"Both," I said, "I just wanted to see the last remnants of the beautiful things in life before I go on a long ass mission into hell with the subpar reminder of Eriss beauty that is you."

That's a terrible lie.

Even Jessica doesn't hold a candle to Cassandra in terms of beauty, but I have to fight my long postponed hormonal impulses somehow.

"Sure. Let's go. I don't enjoy your company either, but this mission needs to happen one way or the other."

"Cool. Say? I've been meaning to ask. Why the hell are we going just the two of us? There's no shortage of powerful monsters in a Pseudo hell. Only you as my backup falls short... a great deal," I said, emphasising that last part.

Cassandra looked at me, with a calm gaze and then leaned over to me in the driver's seat.

Her clear satin grey eyes giving me a calm look made my heart beat, and with her untied brown hair lazily flowing down her shoulder to make for a ridiculously sext image, I was at a loss.

"Listen, kid. First of all we aren't going to be engaging in combat unless absolutely necessary because of the essence of phantasm which is highly valuable.

Second, I'm not your side kick. If worst comes to worst I won't hesitate to leave your ass. Besides, 10 of you can't even handle a singer finger of mine, whichever way you wanna interpret that. Step on the gas and let's get going," she said.

Well damn.

I couldn't retort with her languid gaze still on me. I couldn't assemble my ammo with her too close.

I just sighed and drove to the place we were supposed to go.

It had taken a some time to find a sorcerer that would help us with the travel issue. Unauthorised rift opening with sorcery into the spirit world was dealt with severely by the Mobius, but right now,  they had bigger fish to fry.

The Hidden Hands also had Sorcerers, but you'd have to pay a great deal of money to get them involved, not to mention it was common courtesy for the contractor to provide the needed means for the mission to be completed.

Thus, we had searched for a sorcerer in the underground, to open for us a rift into the Spirit world so that we could reach the Pseudo hell.

He had asked for a week's worth of preparation. Not for the spell, but for warding off the place we were going to use for the rift opening. He was that cautious.

This New Scott, a country within the Northland continent. This is what I have decided to be my home for a long time.

We travelled through the day and reached a distant abandoned warehouse.

(A/N: Its always a warehouse right?😄)

We exited the slick black Chevrolet, that I had insisted on driving ever since Cassandra brought it.

I was wearing my customised wind breaker and black jeans, all courtesy of the Hidden Hands, to match my black hair.

As Cassandra exited the car, it what came to view was the stellar look that her dark blue leather jacket and black pants with high boots brought to light accentuating her stunning figure.

Who would have thought that tall girls would look so hot? I sure didn't.

She caught me staring and pretended to have not seen anything.

We entered the warehouse that seemed to be centuries old, with its odd plain look.

Many symbols were glowing on every side of the warehouse, no doubt them being the wardings. In the middle of the warehouse, was a man in a formal shirt and tie, kneeling on one knee as he lay his hands on a small ring made of indecipherable text that interchangeably glowed with different colours.

The man suddenly turned and walked towards us, revealing his sickly looking face, and sunken eyes that made him look like he never tasted the joys of food or sleep his entire life.

He had short black hair and a stubble, his overall physique looking very thin.

His name was Dominic Ruze. An Intermediate Sorcerer.

"Are you ready?" he said in a gruff tone.

"Sure," replied Cassandra.

"Please do remember that finding a guide is not simple. You have to offer something amusing or interesting for any being in the Spirit World to even consider conversing with you. Also, you'll need these," he said handing us necklaces with small silver circular plates on them.

"What are these?" asked Cassandra.

"The spirit world is extremely vast and volatile. Sorcerers at the Novice rank and above can protect themselves from the perverse energies, but you guys don't seem too good at that. Gifted of similar power can also do that too but since you guys are neither, you can only use these.

Please be sure to find a guide for your journey before these necklaces break. They can only withstand so much. I trust you know where your target is?"

"For the most part, yes," I answered.

"Are you sure you don't want a third one for whoever you are going to retrieve?"

"No, were good. He went to a Pseudo hell on his own. He should be fine. Besides, word on the street is he's pretty strong."

"Fair enough."

Dominic went back to his ring and extended his hand.

I could see a wave of energy flow from his palm to the ring. He did it while his dead eyes told the story of how he was struggling to open the rift.

After some time, the ring of texts vanished, only to be replaced by a shifting and unstable dancing black oval shaped mist smoky whatever the heck that was.

I looked at Cassandra who bore the same look as me. For the first time we actually agreed. I wasn't well versed in sorcery and neither was she. But in our minds, one word registered.

'Pathetic.'

We could only go through it, as a Sorcerer was a Sorcerer in the end, nomatter how flimsy and we didn't want waste time.

I was the first to walk on over to the rift. Cassandra was behind me. I sighed and pushed my hand through...