Scurrying on the rocky shores of a large lake was a reptile-like creature. Several spikes jutted out of its back and its long tail had two small spheres on its end. Those spheres seemed to be the creature's eyes as they blinked several times in a minute.

The small spirit beast scuttled over to the near-brown body of water and proceeded to open its mouth, only to be stopped by the continuous vibrations that rattled its back. Its spikes seemed to be responding to something.

But, what was it?

*BOOM!*

Just then, an enormous object fell into the lake from above, causing the water to rise high up into the air and slam onto the creature's body. Terrified, the small spirit beast ran in the opposite direction at a speed that was highly abnormal for its kind.

The large object that fell from the sky seemed to be made of some kind of fibre as one could make out strands of the material fraying from the bulk of it.

Slowly, the odd spiral-like object unfolded itself and immediately, a young boy burst out from within and staggered as he fell to his knees on the rocky shore. Any soul or spirit beast capable of detecting spirit energy would be deterred as an ominous aura wafted around the young boy. He was donned in a blue black trench coat and one would easily notice the silver chain that was tightly wound around his left arm.

"W- Why the hell did you do that all of a sudden!?", the young boy shot a glance at two other cloaked figures that emerged from the fibre object.

His face grew pale as he covered his mouth with his palms in an attempt to stop the liquid rising up his throat.

"No need to get angry", a cloaked man grinned as his heterochromatic eyes gleamed. "It was the only way to get to the mainland. I thought I told you this, Zanetor."

"Yeah right!", Zanetor stood on wobbly legs. "You said what we were going to do next would determine the fate of the universe!"

"Uncle Edem's not wrong", a tiny voice interrupted as the fibre object reduced into finely braided hair on the smaller figure's head. "If we had fallen in the void between Papa's plane and this one, the balance could've caused the spirit realm to collapse."

"Now Now Leti", Edem held Leticia's hand as they walked onto the shore. "Let's not forget that Zanetor is new to the Spirit realm."

"Hmph", Leticia avoided eye contact with the shadow soul.

"Are you trying to say that this midget here managed to get us from one plane to the other on her own?", Zanetor raised an eyebrow. "Wait. How far apart are the planes in the first place?"

"W- Wait! Who are you calling a midget!?", Leticia pouted. "I am more than a hundred years older than you!"

Zanetor briefly glanced at Leticia's location and then proceeded to ignore her. Just because she may have been hundreds of years older than him didn't classify her as a grown-up. To him, the ability to understand and accept the logic he followed showed just how 'grown' someone was. The more reasonable and straightforward someone was, the more he respected them.

Edem never ceased to annoy him with his confusing actions and words, but since he seemed to know a lot about the Spirit realm and he wasn't after his head… he only had to follow him for now. In addition to that, he was going to help him find the person who had his mother's soul as well.

"Maybe little Leti was a bit blunt with her explanation", the cloaked man smirked and tossed a piece of cloth in Zanetor's direction. "The imbalance she speaks about is only a long term effect. We're not the only ones to use such a method. Criminals can't use the transitional shrines since they would be detected easily and hence, they resort to launching themselves from one plane to the other."

The Shadow soul relaxed his shoulders after grabbing the cloth and then opened it up. It was the cloak he was wearing before he was hurled onto this plane in that hair ball thing. The look on Zanetor's face contorted as he spotted a certain section of the cloak that was drenched in a slightly putrid substance.

'To think he took off my cloak and handed it over for me to use as a puking bag', he thought.

"Oh yes! About the spaces between each plane…", Edem did a few light stretches. "Even my knowledge of that is limited, but let me just say that a certain force exists in that space. Even though it felt like we were thrown randomly into this plane, we were in fact travelling on this force."

"Huh?", Zanetor raised an eyebrow as he moved closer to the water. "Travelling on a force?"

Edem turned back, "Like I said before; My knowledge on that is limited."

The young shadow soul placed his cloak in the water and began to wash off the vomit stains. His eyes narrowed as many thoughts surfaced in his mind.

It didn't matter if Edem knew about that anyways

He wasn't on a tour or something and it didn't seem too important to know about in the first place.

"The mainland…", Leticia muttered as she looked all around her. "Still feels the same after all these years. The emptiness hiding in these so-called lush lands"

One could make out the chain of mountains that seemed to surround them. It looked like they were in some kind of rocky plain as all she could see were vast lands littered with rocks and gravel. There was an occasional wind that would blow up a few dust particles into the air.

Tiny objects in the ground also reflected the light, giving the area an almost surreal look despite it being nothing but a wasteland.

"Mainland?", Zanetor flapped his cloak a few times as he turned to Leticia. "It doesn't seem lush to me."

"Hmph, idiot", the little girl folded her arms. "This place isn't littered with mere rocks. The crystal shards in each of them contain spirit energy that have been sealed by the Spirit realm's own natural forces. There are many places like this and they help reinforce the strength of any battle-oriented soul."

"I see", the shadow soul lightly scratched his chin. "A place this valuable is actually common? Wait, does that mean I can also enhance my-"

"Nope!", Edem suddenly clapped. "For a shadow soul like yourself, you're like an eyesore to the entire realm. These stones will take in any kind of impure energy and purify it. In your case, you're solely filled with negative energy that just hasn't been revived yet and at the same time, that energy takes its source from your soul core."

Leticia nodded, "If you touch any of these stones, you'll be left dry and your heart won't be left out. In other words, it's an instant non-existence for you."

"Y- You're kidding me", Zanetor gulped.

"We actually aren't joking!", the cloaked man laughed. "Now then, let's head to the nearest settlement! Oo and try not to touch the stones."

The Shadow soul stood before the plains littered with these dangerous stones and began to lose motivation. It seemed… Everything was going to work against him no matter where he went.

.

.

.

(Somewhere within the same plane)

Tiny spirit beasts strangely gathered at a large crater. They seemed very curious as a large hair-like ball had fallen into their grove from the sky. One of the spirit beasts, greatly resembling a mouse with crystals protruding from its body, decided to get closer to the edge.

The creature stared at the supposedly big fibre ball and was instantly taken aback the moment it caught ablaze.

What was in it!?

"Ugh", a muffled voice came from within the burning hair. "To think she'd treat me that way after so many years. Sigh, that's quite the behaviour."

Just then, a black cat jumped out from within the smoke and sneezed a few times as it seemed to dislike the scent of burning hair. A strange sun symbol appeared on its forehead and glowed ominously as whoever was within the smoke slowly emerged into the open.

Meow

Jackie happily leapt onto the shoulder of the individual. He seemed to be in a black turtleneck battle uniform that had blood red lines across the front.

"Ah well", Kekeli's scarlet eyes brightened. "It really can't be helped huh."

The Spirit Warrior stared deep into the sky, pondering on as many random things as he could until he spotted something that looked like a spark way up in the air. A sigh of exasperation left his mouth as he closed his eyes and scratched his head.

"They're not gonna give me a break either", he muttered to himself and took a few steps back.

*CRASH!*

A loud bang sped through the surrounding area as dust and debris erupted from the ground right in front of the spirit warrior. The spirit beasts immediately rushed back as the sudden disruption startled them.

Kekeli secretly smirked as he noticed the spirit beats' innocent fear, "Now Now, they didn't have to go through all this trouble."

Meow!

Jackie's fur rose as it hissed at the object that revealed itself from within the dust. It was a large cylindrical object that had a grey colour and a symbol of a red flame in its centre.

"Oi Oi Oi", Kekeli's voice turned stern. "A flame pillar? Why would they send this to me? Unless…"

Just then, the pillar burst into flames and the area around Kekeli was suddenly filled with red chrysanthemums. The flames began to shift and contort until finally, it took the form of a female human. Her characteristics weren't visible in detail except for the number that was oddly visible on her chest.

"Rank 4, Cassandra", the flame spirit warrior sarcastically smiled. "Lovely."

"Save your comments for another time as well as your surveillance report", a confident voice erupted from the flaming figure. "Three unfamiliar entities infiltrated the mainland and are assumed to be headed for the Great Eye city."

"Huh? The Great Eye?", Kekeli raised an eyebrow. "That city is filled with enough first and second rankers to deal with them. Why are you telling me then?"

"Hmph. You seem quite ignorant of the person who stands before you", the flaming figure walked up to Kekeli.

She lightly placed her fist on his forehead and suddenly, a small amount of smoke rose up into the air, coupled with a sizzling sound.

Kekeli didn't budge and his eyes only turned fierce as Cassandra took her fist off, revealing the number '3' on his forehead.

"I command more power than you do and even if It's just a difference of one, you know for a fact that our power levels differ by mountainous heights", She stepped back. "Now then, Of these three infiltrators, one is the Shadow soul you were assigned to hunt. We didn't need your report since we already knew you had failed."

"So?", Kekeli looked away. "What do you want me to do? Try to restrain him again?"

"Obviously. Our division isn't in charge of the mainland and you're the only one who's the closest to our target.", Cassandra calmly spoke. "We need to act fast. We don't want the wind blade's silent whisper to get that soul before we do."

Kekeli's eyes suddenly widened the instant he heard his superior mention the Wind blade's silent whisper. A trembling smirk cracked up on his face and cold sweat began to run down the sides of his cheeks as dark memories began to flood his mind.

"T- The Silent whisper?", he muttered. "You're kidding me. Why did the wind division send that person of all people?"

Cassandra walked towards the spot where the cylindrical object once was and then paused for a bit as the flaming representation of her body began to die out.

"Seems like...", she closed her eyes. "Seems like this particular shadow soul isn't any ordinary entity. Watch your back, Kekeli."

With that, she disappeared along with her presence into the sullen silence of the lonely afternoon.