Revelations

Of all the things Kurai thought could be waiting for him when he finally blacked out from the pain that the king's corrupted energy had caused, he truly didn't expect to find himself standing in front of the same wall as the one he had seen within the Heart-weighing chamber.

However, he could immediately tell that something was different about it as he noticed how much older the buildings seemed to look.

A noise drew his attention away from the wall, and as it repeated it led him straight to the largest building where he froze as he saw his younger self sitting to one side and obviously trying to hide the fact that he was crying.

For some reason, the boy's eyes had turned golden and his hair now seemed to be as white as freshly fallen snow.

Kurai hesitantly walked closer and frowned as he noticed a bandage on his younger self's arm.

The boy must have noticed his shadow because his gaze shot up and he hurriedly backed away in fear, "No! Don't make me go back there! It hurts!"

Kurai held out his hands as he frowned at the strange behavior before he slowly moved to kneel in front of the boy while being careful to not get too close, "Hey…are you ok? Did something happen?"

The boy's eyes widened in recognition as he seemed to forget whatever bothered him for a moment, "It's you! You came back!"

Kurai hesitantly nodded, but the next moment he had his arms full as his younger self threw his arms around him, "Please don't let them take me there again! I'm not sick, I promise! I don't need the medicine, I'm not sick!"

He moved to say something to try and calm his younger self down, but two people in lab coats appeared and Kurai had to swallow past the sickening sense of how familiar they looked.

Their faces held no traces of emotion as they tried to drag the young boy out of his arms without even really noticing him, which caused Kurai to instinctively blast the two with an attack before he looked down to check on the boy.

The duo moved into a battle stance dragging his attention toward them again and Kurai placed the boy behind him as he angrily readied himself to beat the living out of the duo that seemed to think that harming and traumatising a child was alright.

A shout made him and the two scientists pause and they turned to see the boy's parents running to them, but instead of being happy to see them, his younger self continued to hide behind him and Kurai's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

His mother looked slightly awkward as she leaned down and rested her hands on her knees in an effort to seem friendlier, something he'd never seen her do before, "Come Kura, you cannot keep doing this. Let's get back inside and we'll–"

The boy anxiously shook his head, "They'll hurt me again…you said you would make it stop but you made me sleep and they hurt me again…"

Kurai didn't know why the words felt like daggers being thrust into his mind over and over again as they seemingly echoed without end for a moment.

His father stepped forward, the expression on his face was as stern as ever, "You have no choice in the matter. We aren't just doing this for you, but for many, and a little pain is sacrifice enough for the end results. One day you will thank us."

One of the scientists moved to grab the boy and Kurai swiftly grabbed his dagger and placed it to his neck in warning, "He says he isn't sick so why are you insisting that he is…answer me!"

The other scientist glared at him, "He was sick and we healed him. Once we ran further tests we found that his DNA has a rare mutation that will allow us to strengthen the world's population once we've successfully managed to clone and apply it. In the grand scheme of things, it means nothing for one boy to sacrifice a little blood and skin and to suffer a little discomfort. The world's population will prosper and we will ensure that he forgets once his part is done."

The words caused the daggers in his mind to become swords and he clutched at his head with one hand in an effort to ease the pain.

One thing he knew was that he had to remove the threats to the boy's being and his body tensed as a familiar reddish-black energy with burning embers started to envelope his form.

It made him feel dark and powerful, a sensation he found he didn't really hate as he saw fear blooming in the scientists' eyes.

The sensation of having control over a life as he debated on whether or not he should slit the male scientist's throat, was addictive, and for a moment he allowed himself to press the blade into the scientist's skin, causing a thin rivulet of blood to trail down and mark the stark-white coat that he wore.

He had no idea that his eyes had already changed completely black and that his hair had grown black with red tips at the end, much to his younger self's panic.

He almost wanted to see it again, to widen the miniature river of blood on the pale skin, but a tug on his leg stopped him and he turned to look back at his younger self, who had tears in his eyes as he insistently tugged on Kurai's pants, "Mister! Stop! Hurting is bad!"

Kurai looked at the boy in confusion, "They hurt you and they are planning on doing it again…"

The boy shook his head, "Hurting others is still bad. Will cause more hurt!"

The world around them seemed to freeze as Kurai's eyes returned to normal once more and he finally focused on what he was doing.

The swords stabbing his mind seemed to disappear and he watched in worry as the same energy that the king had hit him with, slowly disappeared from around him.

He didn't drop his dagger in shock, but it was a close thing as he tried to determine where the sudden personality shift had come from, but he didn't receive an answer.

The two scientists and the twisted copies of his parents suddenly disappeared and he was left staring as his shadow lengthened before rising out of the ground to form another copy of him…one that had black eyes and black hair with red tips.

Strange tattoos started high on the copy's neck before sinking down under the black armor that the copy wore.

The copy seemed amused as Kurai tried to make sense of what was before him, but its expression quickly revealed an evil grin as Kurai pushed the boy behind him to try and protect him.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, but then Kurai caved as he watched the black and red shadows practically ooze from the copy's skin and the added embers made it seem as if the copy was extremely close to catching fire.

A sound suddenly broke the silence and it took Kurai a few moments to realize that the sarcastic laughter came from the being in front of him before it spoke, "And here I was thinking I was being nice by lending you some of my power. All you had to do was to accept it and remove the threats from this plane, but instead, you allowed yourself to become swayed by the worldview of a child."

Kurai gripped his dagger tightly, "Who–what are you?!"

The copy's grin became unusually wide as it showed off its sharp teeth in amusement, "Well isn't that a rude thing to say to yourself?"

Kurai immediately shook his head, "What the hell are you going on about!"

The copy stepped forward leaving a trail of embers and shadows in its wake, "Isn't it obvious?"

The sensation of heat had Kurai taking another step backward, but this time it felt as if his feet were frozen in place as the copy leaned forward, staring straight into his eyes before moving forward to whisper into his ear, "I am Abyss, the one holding the answers that you seek…"

With that, the pain in his heart from where the king had struck him, flared up again and he looked down to find that the being calling itself Abyss had buried its hand in his chest.

Abyss smirked as he removed his hand, causing Kurai's eyes to roll into the back of his head before he fell down unconscious much to the young boy's panic, even though the young man's body held no physical wound despite the attack.

He then leaned down and roughly grabbed the boy's face, "Keep an eye on him and heal him while I sort out this mess. Hopefully, my prey doesn't expire too easily though, it's been a while since I've had a chance to come out and play."

He didn't wait for an answer as he roughly released the boy and turned around before pausing as if he could sense the blue-white energy that pulsed in the boy's hands, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, I am currently the only thing standing in between him and certain death."

The young boy gritted his teeth before allowing the energy to take on a softer blue as he moved to hold it over Kurai's chest.

Abyss simply smirked and disappeared from view.

In the meantime, the king was keeping a close eye on Kurai's body, hoping that the experiment would be a success and he laughed madly as he saw familiar shadows and embers enveloping the young man's body, "Finally! Now wake and stand my new minion! We have an army to buil–"

He didn't even get to finish his sentence before a punch sent him flying into a wall.

As he slid out of the hole, his mind tried to wrap around what just happened as he sluggishly tried to stand, only for another punch to slam him into the ground and he was left looking at a dark version of the young man who he'd tried to corrupt.

The being grinned sharply, showing off way more teeth than necessary, "I'd say thanks for waking me up, but the crappy energy you tried to feed me was terrible…"

The king tried to comprehend what he was being told, but the world suddenly started spinning and he watched incomprehensively as his headless body collapsed, only for the world to go dark soon after.

Abyss sneered down at the man he'd just killed.

If something this weak was able to damage his host then he had his work cut out for him.

He took a step forward, then turned to the side as he noticed a man readying himself for a fight, but before he could sarcastically criticize the guy, the edges of his vision became blurry and he sneered, "That brat better be doing his job properly, or el–"

His words were cut off as he found himself back in the strange village with the large building.

The Seraph brat and their host were there as well, though it seemed like their host currently sported a mix of Abyss and the boy, Kura's, features, "Well…shit."