Amira Alkitab:

I made my way to my residence at a brisk pace. Tamashi had gone on some expedition to the Narakam mountains and left me in charge temporarily. It was late at night and it was pitch dark outside. It was one of the rare nights where the moon was eclipsed and no light came from the sky at night. I made my way down the lonely corridor. As I was walking down the hall I saw out of the corner of my eye a light emanating from deep in the forest. It was different from the normal spirit lights which often hung around in the forests around the schools.  This light was stranger and much brighter than a spirit light. I decided I needed to investigate. I was in charge after all. I headed down and realized there was no way to actually get there directly. So I walked around the residence building to find a small path that led into the forest. My ice bird summon, Bitrak, led in front of me to scan for danger. He came back and confirmed the path was safe. So I began wandering through the forest. Then after a bit of walking, I got another glimpse of the mysterious brighter light. I locked onto it and began to make my way toward it. As I got closer and closer it became more and more clear the light was emanating from a building of some sort. As I entered a clearing at the base of a hill I saw the building clearly. It was a small house. I found it peculiar that there would be a house here, as the nearest major settlement to the school was around 100 kilometers from here. I started going up to the house to investigate. It seemed to be a very old style house, yet it showed no signs of decay. When I reached the house I stopped just before knocking the door. I moved over and slowly peered through the window to see if anyone was inside. I saw a figure, with long dark red and black hair praying in front of a shrine. Red and black hair… could it be? I looked around the rooms and saw a large Narakam coat of arms on the wall. This was a Narakam shrine. Who else but Asura would come here. I realized that if I burst through the door with no warning, he might unintentionally hurt me and that would go badly. I decided to lay low. I hid in a nearby bush, while Bitrak scouted the forest. Soon enough, a shadowy figure with glowing red eyes stepped out. What was uncharacteristic of him was that he was not carrying his sword. I stepped out from the bush and ran towards him to confront him. “ASURA!” He turned to me and simply stared at me. That stare, it struck fear into my heart. I saw his eyes, they not only stared into my soul, they almost took control of me. He simply walked towards me before saying. “Good Night” and touching my forehead. The moment he did, everything went black. 

Dushtan Khan:

As I looked at the recent report on crime, I was astounded. Organized crime had almost completely disappeared in the empire. I put down the report and pondered whether this could have had relations to the reports of sightings of Asura. I didn't know what he was doing, I was concerned the boy would hurt himself. I wondered what he was doing that would warrant giving up a presidency. That too, that would warrant disappearing for 2 years. I sighed and slumped back on my chair. I remembered back to when Kali first came back from the human realm. She came back pregnant with a human she had fallen in love with. She was my brilliant granddaughter. She had an affinity for translating ancient documents. She was the one who discovered the magical seal that opened the gate to the Human world. She was brilliant but stubborn as a mule. She insisted on being the sole one to go investigate the human world. Despite her being direct in the line of succession to the narakam throne she managed to convince us to let her go. When Kali came back pregnant, we were worried and fascinated at the same time. She had fallen in love with a human and been able to procreate with him. We demons as a species are much stronger and so we worried for the health of the child. But eventually, when Asura was born, we were elated. He was the healthiest and happiest child we ever did see. I reminisce about those days. The future of the empire seemed better than ever. I was even considering abdicating in favour of my son; Crown Prince Tamira. I smiled as I reminisced about the past. I was interrupted when I received a call, it was from Tolui. 

I had a glimmer of hope and picked up the phone. “Dushtan, I just got report from the far west. There is some suspicious activity going on there. There are more and more reports of Kanshai military activity in the region. I think they may be gearing up for and invasion. I can’t be sure. Dushtan, I request a Narakam military presence at the border. I think Tamrkan is less likely to provoke anything if the Narakam military will be involved.” I sighed and thought. Such moves were unprecedented. We knew Tamrkan had great ambitions for his empire, but provoking war with another empire was unheard of. I was no general, I never was. The natural born general was Tamira. I had to oblige. I did not want the world devolve into a state of war. The last war between the empires had lasted close to a decade and happened about 30 years before I was born. Millions had died. The Kanshai Empire grew in size and the Narakam Empire ceded some land in the north and the Undesten empire had lost a lot of its south western lands to the Kanshai empire. The treaty that was signed froze the post war borders. The world had been at peace for well over 150 years since. I wanted to uphold the peace. I replied to Tolui “I agree. I will send a Narakam army division to the southern tundra.” “Thank you so much Dushtan. We both want to preserve the balance of peace. I hope we can arrange to meet. I hope Kibishi is not dealing with a similar issue. If she is then it is certain. That Tamrkan is up to something. I’ll contact her and get back to you.” I agreed, “ That sounds appropriate.” Tolui hung up. I called the defence minister and relayed the order. The 1st and 4th Tundra Divisions of the Narakam Army were to move to the Undesten-Kanshai Border. If it was a showdown that Tamrkan wanted it's a showdown he would get.  

Tamashi Kunshu:

As soon as the carriage touched down and came to a halt on the soil of Kulinan I got out and summoned Inari to my side. Inari, was my summon. The spiritual white wolf with 6 tails each tipped silver. She had many abilities including water walking and size changing. As I called her to my side, she grew substantially in size. I mounted her back as she ran with me on her back. I felt the wind in my face as we rushed toward the hll. Through the deep and dark forest. Weaving through trees and bushes. Inari ran till the top of the hill. Once we reached the top I immediately jumped off and rushed to the tree. My heart dropped when I did not see Asura there. But it began to race when I did see someone under it. Sadly it was not Asura, but rather it was Amira. She had been propped up against the tree with a piece of paper on her lap. She looked dishevelled and was dressed in her nightgown. I rushed over and confirmed, she was indeed breathing. She appeared to be asleep. I looked at the piece of paper on her lap it read as follows:

“ You must forget all you saw tonight. Go back and tell nobody of the events you witnessed. Just take care of Tamashi for me.”

It was clearly Asura’s handwriting so it had to be him. I saw wisps of red smoke emanating off of the little paper. Dark Magic. I picked up Amira and put her on Inari’s back and took her straight to the infirmary. When we reached, doctor Hasdai was unable to get her to wake up on her own. But after conducting a magical test it was found she was placed under a sleep spell which was extremely powerful but only lasted about 6 or so hours. I opted to wait outside the infirmary while she rested. But it did confirm. My ancestor was correct. Asura had been on the hill. I realised that he had to have come back for a reason. He couldn't have known I was coming and so there was no way he was there waiting for me. I told Dr Hasdai that I would have to go for a bit. I took the paper and played one of the songs that my ancestor taught me. As I played I saw the red smoke that emanated off the paper begin to thicken and move. It formed a line, which I followed. I followed it all the way past the residences and into the forest up until I reached the Narakam spirit house. Then I realised why he had come. He came to pay respects to his ancestors. But the question was, why did he come to this spirit house specifically, why not one in the Narakam Empire, why not one in Talastana. What was so special about this one? Then it hit me. Magic was found across the world, however magical energy had hotspots. Magical energy affected how magic could be used. Magical hotspots would make magic much more powerful. The converse issue with magical hotspots is that magical devices can often be overloaded depending on the hotspot’s intensity. The hill was never visited by anyone because spirits used to hang around in the surrounding forests. It was one of the most intense spots of magical energy on the entire planet. This is why Asura came to this spirit house. He would likely be able to gain immense power by meditating on the hill should he become powerful enough to actually harness it. There was another possible reason he came to this spirit house. Recently dark magic detectors had been put up in every city in the Narakam Empire. Talastana was full of them. Meaning it would be known almost immediately if he had visited any shrine or spirit house of his dynasty. He seemed to use extremely potent dark magic so it was hardly possible to mask himself near those detectors. The hill’s magical intensity made it so dark magic detectors anywhere near it would short out. So Asura would be able to come and pray to his house virtually undetected. Because nobody ever came to the hill there would be a low likelihood that he would be seen. It all made sense to me. It was still the dark of night, I heard the crickets in the distance and the silence of the hill. Suddenly my soul bond ring began to glow. It shone a lovely blue. I had a glimmer of hope that Asura was nearby. It began to lead me, so I followed the direction it pulled my hand. It led me to the top of the hill. Once I reached the top the glowing stopped. I was slightly confused. I felt sadness rise. Although it was wishful thinking. He hadn't been there an hour before when I found Amira so why would he be there now? Just then I heard a deep male voice next to me. “ You seem lost, child.” I looked to my side and saw a tall man with long red and black hair and a sword by his side. Dressed in traditional Narakam robes. “Asura?” He looked at me and nodded his head “I am afraid I am not your soulmate my child. I am his predecessor, the great demon emperor. I sense your troubles, child. Listen to me and allow me to alleviate some of them for you.”