Soul

"Eww! Those shadows didn't look right... Maybe those things were a hallucination... wait...maybe I do need to take it easy like he said-" Brakus' voice begins to trail off as he loses consciousness, the world around him becoming the background noise to his dreams.

He lays there out cold, though the world that he is in isn't his hometown. It is a horrid place covered in black slime with spiky stalagmites and stalactites protruding from the walls of what looked like a cave. There is a small fire burning deeper inside, but is extinguished as Brakus begins to stir.

He hops onto his feet , disgusted by the slime all over his new clothes "What is this stuff? and where am I !?".

A bloodcurdling scream emanates from the back of the cave, Brakus' knees go weak with fear by just the thought of what the source of that sound was. The darkness engulfed everything around him , there wasn't a single shred of light and he didn't want to meet anything that chose to live down here.

"Sssssooo....You're fi-finallyyy awake" a demonic raspy voice chuckles, the voice was close almost like a whisper In his ear. But he can't move, frozen with dread.

"Bring him to me..." the air is still for a second then there is a slight disturbance and movement as the fire from earlier bursts in flames, sending cinders in all directions. In front of the fire are the silhouettes of 3 monks, they looked like undead puppets, but their skill and refined movements were those of an alive man . They sit there unmoved like statues, disciplined enough to wait for their opponent to react. "Braaaaiiinnns! Hahaha look at these guys!" Brakus is pointing at the monks laughing hysterically, they look at eachother with looks of anger, turning to Brakus.

The closest one to to Him charges with a barrage of strikes , Brakus struggles to maintain his balance, tripping backwards as he blocks 4 jabs but the onslaught doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon. He grabs the wrist of the monk's Gi while simultaneously stepping to move out his way, avoiding the rest of his blows.

Moving past him , Brakus spinning back kicks the him from behind sending him crashing into the dark slime "There really should be a wet floor sign around here..."

'That was a close one ,I can't take anymore damage or ill be out for good, I didn't plan on dying today so I need to find my way out of here before that happens'. The next monk approaches with an entirely different style of fighting, similar to wing chun.

Brakus takes an unorthodox stance in an attempt to throw off his attacker. But the monk advances forward as Brakus delivers a flying kick directly to his chest. Unphased the monk grabs his leg and slams him into the ground delivering two punches to his face, contacting with a loud Crack. 'I'm not going to be able to hold out much longer' , the blows from the monk were devastating, causing Brakus' wounds to reopen as he spits up blood all over himself.

He touches his face feeling the warm blood running from his nose and mouth, he scrambles to his feet after kicking the monk off of himself "Now you've pissed me of!" his face contorts with anger and he blacks out, allowing bloodlust to take its hold on his mind.

He slowly approaches the monk menacingly, he is acting entirely different from before, he moves with killer intent similar to a lion stalking it's prey. The monk flees from Brakus running directly into the fire and lighting ablaze, burning until there is nothing left but bones smoldering on the ground. the dimension must have been linked to the monks lifeforce. the cave begins to crumble away, caving in on top of itself. Brakus shakes his head vigorously to regain his senses "What the hell just happened... how did I get back here?" confusion dashes across his face, his hands slide into his pockets to make sure everything is where it should be, but as he does this his stopwatch catches his eye with a glimmer. The time on it was exactly the same as it was before he left, no time passed.

He looks up at the sky and surely enough the sun is in the exact same spot, it is still early morning. But all of the wounds from the battle remained. "I need to... get... to the old man's shop, I need his help."

[Same time:The Old man's store]

The man walks inside of the shop, and moves to the backroom, glass crushes under his feet as he approaches the collapsed door , sadness flashes across his eyes as he observes the shop he put his entire life's work into in a state of disrepair. He sighs and then steps into the backroom, searching for a broom and mop. His eyes come into contact with a small closet in the back of the room, his eyebrows raise in surprise, the closet was somehow untouched from the explosion.

He cautiously makes his way to the door, prepared for an enemy to leap out at him, all of his years of combat have made him a hardened soldier and the old veteran was always ready for things to go south. As he pulls the door open a broom falls, crashing to the ground with a loud wooden smack causing him to recoil backwards, his eyes scan the closet for any threats, after thoroughly examining the closet he turns to scoop the broom off the ground.

"What a pain in the ass, I'll have to replace everything." he has a look of disappointment on his face with a small twinge of anger as he begins sweeping up the glass, his level of irritation increasing as he works. The thought of closing his store until he can fix the place up is disheartening but that isn't his main concern. The old man continues to clean in silence, his mind running rampant with anxiety, 'I need to locate that intel, if it falls into the wrong hands many innocent lives will be lost...but finding the shade group before its deciphered will be no small task'.

"I need to find that kid and ask him what he knows, he may be in danger-' he considers his options carefully for a moment continuing to sweep up the glass 'I can't just let him die...but if he knows what I had in that safe.... No! I have to help him he is just a child'.

A nervous expression takes the place of his calm demeanor causing him to drop the broom, and then he runs out of the shop to his car scrambling for his keys "If I had to guess.. he would live in the residential district, the way he dressed isn't like someone from the red-light town but he definitely isn't rich" he says as he unlocks his car door. He hops in slamming the door behind him and quickly starts the engine, he pulls off making a uturn and takes off towards the residential district.

[Brakus]

Brakus is walking sluggishly towards the shopping district, wincing in pain with each step, blood soaked into his clothing. He continues forward determined to get help "I have no choice, if I go back home like this" he looks at the state he is in with a weak expression on his face he let's out a groan of pain "I will be grounded for lifetime, and I don't want to worry Brock." An image of his little brother smiling crosses his mind causing him to smile "Don't worry ill make it, don't wait up for me.." stumbling onto the ground, Brakus losses consciousness once again.