"What are you telling me?" Zanetor took a few steps back. "Does this mean that in addition to those Opaques or whatever, I'll have to consider the entire Spirit realm as an enemy?"

"Well, technically," Edem shrugged. "But, that all depends on what you decide. To the Spirit realm, all they are doing is protecting themselves."

"...," a look of disdain revealed itself on the young boy's face. "Tch!"

There was a brief silence as Zanetor tried his very best to calm down. He realised his current position, and he wasn't ready to become a mindless mass of negativity. He was going to find his mother, and that was the only thing that kept him going.

"Zozo… sir," Zanetor spoke in a low voice. "Please, please help with my awakening."

If awakening was going to help him obtain the power to defend himself, he wasn't going to miss it at all. In addition to that, he felt that every second that passed was being wasted.

"How ready are you?" Zozo deeply uttered. "To awaken isn't something that can be done easily. It involves serious mental control, and for a shadow soul, that's extremely dangerous."

"I don't mind," Zanetor immediately replied with ferocity in his eyes. "I'm not even thinking about looking behind my shoulders at this point."

Edem felt great satisfaction upon hearing the young boy's words. He had made the right choice this time.

"Very well," Zozo cut eye contact with Zanetor. "Prepare the ritual, Leticia."

"Aye Aye!" the little girl sprung to her feet and moved to the back of the room.

She placed her palm on the big round metal plate, and soon after, a portion of the wooden floor between her and the others began to glow. Strange runic patterns then revealed themselves, moving strangely until they formed a circle.

"Shadow soul, you should get into the centre of that pattern now," Leticia stared weirdly into Zanetor's eyes.

The young soul made his way to the centre of the circle and stood there. He didn't really feel anything in particular, except the fact that the air around him was getting cold.

Edem made his way to the outer circumference of the runic circle and placed his palm on the floor before it.

"I'll keep you in check," he said as a small golden circle surrounded his wrist. "If anything goes wrong even in the slightest, I'll pull you out."

Zanetor nodded and then took in a deep breath as he slowly closed his eyes.

The world around him seemed to melt away as he felt a creepy sensation. It was as if someone folded him up and placed him into a tight container.

That container… being himself.

A sudden jolt forced the young boy's eyes open, and what he was met with was… Nothing.

Edem and the others were nowhere to be found. The only thing around him was darkness and darkness alone. The dark was so thick that he could almost physically feel it.

Was this the inside of his heart?

Just then, a spotlight flared quite far from him. Underneath the light stood a familiar object.

"Is that…" Zanetor muttered. "A piano?"

"Precisely."

A light gasp escaped the young boy's mouth as the piano suddenly appeared just inches before him. He found himself right under the light.

Also, he had sworn he heard a voice from somewhere.

Zanetor looked down and then immediately stepped back.

Sitting before the piano was a boy, somewhere around the same age as he. However, there was something wrong.

A sharp sound echoed in the darkness as the ominous boy played a few notes. He was donned in a pure black coat as well as a black pair of trousers.

The figure slowly turned its head to face Zanetor, causing his heart to skip a beat the instant they came face to face with each other.

He had no face.

There were no facial features present on the boy's face at all!

"Tell me," the boy suddenly uttered in exactly the same voice as Zanetor's. "What is it that I like?"

He played a few notes while waiting for an answer.

"Who are you?" Zanetor discarded his fears and spoke coldly.

The stranger behind the piano stopped playing and stood on its feet with swaying motions.

He moved in closer until his face was mere inches away from Zanetor's.

"What is it that I cherish?" the faceless person blatantly asked. "Tell me…"

Zanetor took a leap back this time. He felt as if there were a thousand insects crawling on his skin. Everything about the situation simply felt too wrong.

'That thing's not going to answer any of my questions, huh?' he thought. 'How am I supposed to answer questions he only has the answers to?'

The faceless boy's head slowly began to tilt to the side until-

*snap!*

His neck broke all of a sudden.

Zanetor's eyes widened, and his face displayed a mixture of disgust and confusion. Did the person before him just snap his own neck!?

"Allow me to make it simple for me," the faceless boy spoke as the skin on the part of his neck that snapped began to tear open.

A substance that greatly looked like water gushed out from the wound and hovered in the air in almost a flame-like shape.

Following that was an ice-like substance that took the same shape as the water.

Saliva slowly ran down Zanetor's throat as he thought, 'Water and ice? What is all this!?'

The faceless figure's head returned to normal, and even though it had no facial features, one couldn't help but have a feeling that it was grinning deeply.

"What is it that comforts me?" the humanoid figure asked again. "Love?"

The small volume of water lit dimly in response to the question he asked.

"Or…" the figure continued. "Is it solitude?"

This time the ice was the one to glow in response.

The spotlight slowly began to fade away as the surrounding darkness began to engulf everything.

"I'll have me decide for me."

At that point, the only thing Zanetor could perceive was utter darkness, back to square one.

However, it didn't last.

Before Zanetor even realised it, he found himself in a small bedroom.

He froze for a moment. "Is this-"

*Crash!*

A vase fell to the ground and broke into pieces as a little boy thrashed about in the room. Tears and snot made his face very messy, but that seemed to be the least of his worries.

"Why? Why!?" the boy whimpered. "I thought you said you'd be with me always… I thought you were my friend. Daddy is gone, Mommy is in the hospital, and the others don't want to talk to me. I- I'm lonely…"

Zanetor's right arm instinctively stretched forward, but the scene before him dissipated and showed something completely different.

This time, he found himself standing on the shore of a familiar beach. The ocean before him seemed to melt in an orangish-red color as the sun slowly set in the distance.

There was something about this place that seemed to urge a certain emotion within him.

Why did he feel so tied to such a place?

He felt an odd nostalgia but could barely recall anything about the setting.

"This place," he muttered as his eyes trailed off into the sky. "Wait, what's that?"

A point of light seemed to be headed for the ocean, and what was strange about it was the fact that it got bigger and bigger as it got closer to the water.

Vibrations rang throughout the beach as the object approached.

"I- I have to get out of here!" Zanetor turned to run, but he was stopped dead in his tracks. "The hell!?"

Behind him was simply darkness, and no matter how hard he tried to push himself to move further, he just couldn't.

The only thing he could do was watch as the burning ball of light fell into the water with a mighty splash.

An enormous wave rose high up into the air, and before Zanetor knew it, his entire body was crushed beneath the powerful torrent of water.

His eyes jolted open as he breathed heavily. Sweat covered his face, and complete surprise and confusion filled his expression as he looked both left and right.

He then noticed that he was sitting at a desk. It wasn't just him; other people were seated as well, and they all seemed to be giving their attention to the man at the front of the room.

There was a sleek screen behind him, and it seemed to contain lesson notes.

"Isn't this Holy Oaks?" he muttered to himself, quite shocked. "I'm back at school??"

As Zanetor seemed to figure things out in the back of the class, an awkward figure was equally confused in the front row.

A hauntingly beautiful lady with short black hair constantly looked around her as if she had been teleported to a completely foreign land.

"School?" she uttered. "What am I doing here? I thought-"

"ANSWER MY QUESTION!!" a harsh voice interrupted the girl.

Flinching, she turned to the source of the voice and noticed that the 'teacher' was looming over a particular student at the back of the class.

"H- Hey," she touched the shoulder of the person next to her. "What's going… on?"

Her voice immediately slowed to a stop as the person whose attention she called turned to her with a completely empty face.

There were no facial features. No eyes, nose, ears, or mouth.

Frightened, the girl stood up and took several steps back. Her eyes slowly turned to the entire class, and at that moment… it felt as if her heart was going to stop.

Everyone… Everyone was exactly the same! No face… nothing!

"WHAT IS IT THAT I CHERISH!? WHAT IS IT THAT I WANT!? IS IT LOVE OR SOLITUDE!?"

The man's angry voice stole the girl's attention yet again. This time she decided to approach the two and was shocked when she saw the expression on the young boy's face.

He… He wasn't hearing a single thing the man was saying. No, it was as if he was trapped under some sort of mind spell!

Wait

There was something… awfully familiar about the boy.

The girl covered her mouth the instant she realised who it was, "Zanetor?? But, how-"

"AHA! AAHHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!"

Dark tendrils sprouted from the man's back and began to penetrate the young boy's body.

"W- What do you think you're doing!?" the girl grabbed hold of the man and tried to push him away, but he wouldn't budge. "Stop it! Let him go!"

Meanwhile, back in the spirit realm, a sudden feeling zapped Edem's mind as the runic circle began to shift and distort.

Something… Something was wrong.

"This," Edem muttered. "Why am I sensing the spiritual energies of three entities?"

Just then, a faint feeling caused his eyes to widen upon realising a strange presence.

"No," he slowly uttered with a slight smirk. "I see. So that's what this is all about!"

"U- Uhmmm, uncle Edem??" Leticia appeared beside the cloaked man.

She slammed her palms onto the area just outside the distorting circle's outer circumference, causing it to glow a harsh light.

"Something's really off about this!" she looked into Edem's eyes. "H- Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Zanetor, who had no change in expression, stood within the circle, and surges of energy were beginning to erupt from within his chest. A murky black coating slowly rose from his feet in an attempt to engulf him.

"Let's see what you'll do now," Edem took his hands off the floor as he continued his wry smile. "Zanetor."