F.E IIII (Elsewhere P.1)

Rakuyō: F.E 4 𓇢

California IIII

Elsewhere P.1

June 14th, 1883.

Cadaqués, Catalonia, Spain

A young Soluna wears a black gown, walking through the stone streets, hugging a bible. She looks down at the ground, her eyes blank, as if her mind is on a different planet.

She walks towards the Church of Santa Maria, people passing her with worried expressions on their faces. "SOLUNA!" a voice, a little girl's, calls out.

She looks up slowly, seeing a girl with bright blonde hair and ocean-blue eyes, wearing a similar black gown, running towards her. "Adora…" Soluna mutters.

Adora stops in front of her, instantly putting her hand on Soluna's forehead. "What are you…" Soluna whispers. "You're burning up! What did you do? I knew something was off watching you walk."

"I'm fine, please… just let me get to church…" Soluna stumbles back, dropping her bible. "Soluna!" Adora panics, grabbing her. Soluna's head lays on Adora's chest, she huffs as her eyes shut closed. "Someone help, please!"

People surround the two. Adora starts to shake Soluna, trying to wake her up. "Wake up! Wake up!" Adora's voice starts to muffle for Soluna as the surrounding voices start to disappear. She feels her consciousness slip as her body grows cold.

She takes one last breath as all feeling disappears.

The sound of water splashing hits Soluna's ear, soft winds blowing against her. "Mmmm," she grumbles, opening her eyes. She's met with the sight of endless grey clouds swirling in the sky.

"What?" she says under her breath to herself. She sits up, looking around, a deep blue ocean stretching across infinity surrounding her. Only in the distance can she see other enormous pillars of water fire into the air.

"Where am I?" she says, standing. "I was just on the street? Did something happen?!"

She shakes her head. "Am I trapped alone!?" She frantically runs to the edge of the landmass. "Oh my God… HELLO!" she screams.

"Why are you screaming? I'm right here, you know, be patient," a man's voice calls out, footsteps crunching on the surrounding sand. Soluna whirls around to the footsteps.

The man's shadow looms over her. Soluna's pupils tremble. "W-who are you?" she stutters, shaking. "Hm?" the man hums, yawning. His two white locs flow, framing his face, blowing from the light breeze, as the others are tied back in a ponytail.

He has two amethyst pupils with almond-shaped eyes, his white lashes long and thick, deepening the shape of his eyes. He looks down at Soluna standing on a hill, his gaze locking onto Soluna's honey-brown eyes.

He wears a black cloak adjacent to a hakama, the insides pure white, matching his hair. The cloak flutters in the wind, his golden-brown skin glistening from the sunlight above.

"Gorgeous…" Soluna whispers to herself, her gaze unable to leave the man. Purple mist surrounds him as a black notebook appears in front of him.

"Soluna Moreno?" he says, reading it from the page. "Odd… it doesn't have any sins of yours."

The man sighs. "Oh great… turns out you're not meant to be dead right now."

"Well, have fun here until you wake up. Whenever that is," he says, turning his back.

Soluna reaches her arm out. "Wait! Can you tell me where I am, and who you are, before you go?!"

The man hums, turning his head back to Soluna. "Me? Oh, just call me Death or something, it doesn't really matter."

"As for this place, it goes by many names, I just call it Shinden." He shrugs. "Not much you can do here if you aren't truly dead, so it'll be pretty boring for you, I can't send you to Heaven or Hell."

Soluna runs up the hill, grabbing Death by the hand. "Huh?" he grunts, looking back at Soluna. "What are you doing? Why are you touching me?"

"Please don't leave me here alone… or at least wait for me to wake up, as you say… I know it's asking for a lot, but I'm genuinely confused and frightened…"

Death raises an eyebrow, staring at her holding onto him. "You know, most people run when someone claims to be Death?"

"Are you sure you're right up there?" Death says with a calm voice.

Soluna tightens her grip, squeezing her eyes shut. Akuji sighs. "Fine… I'm only doing this because something about you reminds me of someone."

Akuji yanks his hand from Soluna as he walks back to a grass field. He plops down, sitting cross-legged. "Alright, come on. Hope you don't plan on being silent the whole time."

Soluna exhales while walking towards Akuji, sitting down across from him. "Um…"

She rubs her finger on the side of her head. "Sorry, I'm kinda nervous… speaking to, uh… Death and all."

"But I- I'm not really scared of you, in all honesty…"

Death raises an eyebrow. "Not scared of me? Ha, who do you think you are? You some powerful spirit I don't know about?"

"No, no, I'm saying that I find you quite beautiful… I think the idea of Death was much more terrifying than what you actually are."

"If this is all real, of course…" she adds on.

"Hm? The idea of death?" Death repeats. "Explain, what do you mean by that? What was the idea of death to you?"

"My idea was brought upon from my faith. Working in a dark valley until I met God."

"But not once in the Bible did it talk about this place, or death looking like you," Soluna says.

"God? Valley? You know, I've heard others talk about this same concept when they get here, I've never understood it, honestly," Death says, leaning forward.

"Well, mind if I explain it? If you're down with listening, of course, I don't want to force it on you."

Death sighs. "Fine, fine, I'll listen. Go on." Soluna smiles a bit. "Grazie, for choosing to listen."

She claps her hands together. "So God, in religion, is the creator of all things, he goes by many names, the Father, Yahweh, or the Holy Spirit."

"Mhm, mhm, keep going," Death says, leaning back. Soluna nods. "Right, so God has a son named Jesus, and it's said he died for humanity's sins, saving us all."

"The Bible is filled with stories from over a thousand years ago."

"So this God of yours only existed for a thousand years?" Death asks.

Soluna shakes her head, waving her hands. "No, no, no, that's only when it was documented in human history, you see, it all started with two people named Adam and Eve. They were the first humans to walk the Earth."

Death snorts. "Really? Well, I wouldn't know about that then, I'm only just over two millennia old, my predecessor may know, though."

"But I highly doubt that's true, but I'm not in the mood to break a worldview right now."

Soluna giggles. "Well, you don't have to believe, I do though, I think you're just an undocumented being from the Bible, or…"

"This is just some dream I'm having, but I'm not complaining either way, I feel a sense of peace being around you."

Death snorts. "You're really a strange girl, you know that, right? You find peace being around me? I hope you know, the day you actually die, I'm the one who decides if you go to Heaven or Hell."

Soluna smiles softly. "Well, when the day comes, I look forward to seeing you again, maybe we can sit and talk about our lives in the end."

"Eh?" Death grunts, blinking twice. "You want to hear about my life?"

"Of course I do! I don't just want to talk about myself, you surely have way more interesting stories than I will ever have," Soluna says with a soft grin.

Death puts his palm to his face, chuckling. "Haha! Fine, you got me, it's a deal then. At the end of your life, we'll catch up on everything."

"But until then…" he stands up as Soluna's gaze follows him. Akuji sticks his palm out. Soluna looks at him. "What are you-" she stutters.

"It's not your time yet." Soluna falls backwards, reaching her arms out toward Akuji. "No, wait, I still want to talk-" before she could finish her words, everything fades to black for her.

Instantly she wakes up in a recovery room, white blankets covering her. She turns her head to the window, seeing the view of the seashores and coasts. "Ugh…" she groans.

The sound of metal sliding across hinges shrieks. Soluna turns her head to the opposite side. Adora rushes to her. "Soluna! Oh, thank the Lord you're alright!"

"W-what happened?..." Soluna musters. Adora grabs Soluna's hand. "You fainted in the middle of the street! We had to rush you here, we thought you'd died for a second, you weren't breathing."

"Died… yes, I may have…" Soluna says under her breath. "What was that?" Adora asks. "I didn't hear you, you mumbled."

"Nothing… I was just thinking out loud," Soluna says, forcing a smile.

Adora lets go of Soluna's hand. "I'm going to let you rest some more, your father and mother should be here soon."

"I'll tell everyone at the church to pray for your recovery. Hope to see you there soon."

Adora closes the curtain, leaving Soluna alone. She turns to look out the window, back at the shore.

I don't think I could ever forget that day, the day I made a promise to Death himself. I always tried to convince myself it was just a dream. I started to go to church more after that, but even still, I could never get him out of my head. I never asked for his name, so I just started calling him La Morte.

I read the Bible front to back multiple times, trying to find anything that relates to him or anything he told me. Nothing.

For years I've brushed it off as a fever dream. I started to write poems about him, he's all I could think about. My guardian angel.

When my father and I moved to America two years ago, that's when I bought the book about Yesha. Ironically, we came here to spread the word about Christ. The whole time I preached, my faith was shaking, I started to lose it, every night my mind raced, guilt overwhelmed me. Was I abandoning the Lord?

Even when I started killing people I deemed as scum, something in me enjoyed it, but guilt still overrode me. My mind always wondered about the thought of him judging me.

The day I found Smokey alone on the road, he was only 6 and had lost his parents to lynching. That was the first time I truly saw the evil this country holds. It drove me deeper into wanting to slaughter everyone involved with hating others.

I kept going, I kept killing, I kept evolving my skills using a gun, I didn't want to stop, I wanted to rid the world of those who take. If La Morte was never a dream, I was sending all the souls I've judged as tainted to him.

At some point I've grown numb to it all, killing was just second nature, I've built a name for myself in these parts, the Demon of the West. It's never bothered me, how is it fair that I'm called a demon when the ones I've killed have taken more from the innocent than I ever have.

Now, with this "game." Who knows what else is bound to happen. Smokey's now some ghost, and I've met another death spirit named Nya, who knows La Morte, his name is Akuji, I believe.

But right now, neither of the Shinigami are my concern, I'm only in this to bring Smokey back to normal. That's my only wish.

Whatever it takes to win, I'll do it.

—

October 14th, 1889, 4:13 AM (Present Day)

California, San Diego.

Red light flashes across the area. "AUGH!" a man screams in agony, as the sound of electricity crackles through the air. Blood sprays across yellow lilies, staining them.

A man leans forward onto another man's shoulder, his head seeming to rest on it. The leaning man's body is wide, his hair a bright orange, wearing black tape around his body.

He falls over to the side as blood gushes from him, thudding on the ground. Red streaks of electricity radiate from his corpse.

"This game… it has to be one of my greatest trials yet," a calm voice says, footsteps approaching the corpse. A man with long, spiky yellow hair looks down at him, his skin bronze, glistening in the red light, a yellow mark of the letter S sitting under his right eye like a teardrop. His pupils are a crimson red, his lashes matching his hair color.

He wears a compression suit hugging his body, with a disconnected yellow and black robe on his right side, at the bottom another disconnected piece of robe, all of it black, white fur surrounding his waist like a belt. On his feet he wears two sandals.

The man sighs. "Since I'm a Host, I'm sure to be hunted down." He looks down at his palms, counting on his fingers. "Let's see how many I've killed this night alone." He puts all five fingers down, raising his other hand, then putting up 2. "Seven… I could always go for more."

Purple mist appears next to him. Akuji forms out of it, whistling, looking down at the contestant's corpse. He summons his notebook as it flips open. "Dick Hayden, his soul is now mine."

He nudges the man. "Keep it coming, mi amigo! Passing up an opportunity like this would be a waste. Events like this don't happen often! Kill as much as you need!" He laughs.

The man looks over at Akuji. "Shinigami, how do you predict the next batch of contestants? Do you believe they'll be able to overpower me?"

Akuji closes his notebook, shrugging. "I don't know, maybe, I don't think you'll have to worry about anyone beating you anytime soon. Other than the host running around."

"Santana, you're probably the strongest in this land as we speak, and that's saying a lot. This place is nothing like a land called Nihon in the East. The spiritual energy over there is ridiculous."

"Nihon? I don't recall ever hearing of such a place," Santana says.

Akuji turns his back to the contestant's corpse. "It's a place you Core Users here wouldn't survive a day in, I think they call it Japan in your language."

"Core Users? So that's the name of these magical abilities?" Santana mutters, looking down at his palm as it sparks red lightning.

Akuji nods and hums. "Exactly, Core Essence is what we call it. Every soul has a Core, but not every soul has the strength of Essence to control the power."

Santana narrows his eyes, lifting his gaze to Akuji. "That- that didn't really explain much."

Akuji shakes his head. "Madre mía, just figure it out as you go."

Santana grunts. "Very helpful, you are." He walks beside Akuji through the field.

"Why, hello, gentlemen," a raspy voice, a woman's, calls out. Akuji and Santana both tilt their heads upward. A lady wearing just a short red skirt and a red bra floats down as red particles float around her, her hair a bright blue bob with silver highlights. Tribal markings etch into her skin like tattoos, matching the color of her outfit.

Akuji grins, staring at her. "Well, Santana, looks like another came straight to you. She looks pretty weird."

"I do like them a bit off. Say, what do you think of her, Santana?" Akuji asks, nudging Santana.

Santana blinks, staring at the woman as she lands slowly. "I have no words, nor do I care." Akuji scoffs. "Look, this is the third time you've done this. Do you just not like women? It's fine if you don't, but come on, be you!"

Santana sighs. "I never said I didn't like women, I just do not care about women right now." Akuji sighs in relief. "Whew, I was worried for a bit there, wasn't judging you or anything, but I draw a strict line when it comes to dudes trying to hit on me."

"AHEM!" The woman clears her throat, getting their attention. They both focus their gaze upon her. She giggles. "Oh my, don't look at me like that! Seeing two strong men with their sights on me!" She puts both hands on her face, swaying her hips. "I knew I made the right choice being the one to confront you two."

Santana steps forward. "Shut up, explain what you're here for, or I'll assume you're another contestant. You'll be number 8 tonight."

"Uhhh." Akuji hums, rubbing the back of his head. "You really need to work on talking to women, sheesh… you're never getting laid like that."

"Hehe." She giggles once more. "Oh, I like that bold approach, rough men like you were always my type." She puts her finger on her lips, leaning forward. "Buttt~, I am a contestant, you guessed right, handsome."

"I'm guessing you're the Host? So all I need to do is kill you and it'll transfer to me?"

Santana clenches his fist as red lightning surrounds it. "Right, so you're officially eighth on my list, others have tried to kill me tonight and failed. What makes you think you're any different?"

The woman chuckles. "What makes me different? Hey, can I guess? Ou, I love playing games like this!" She claps her hands together.

"So I believe most of your victims have been human? But let me ask you something," she says with a wide grin.

"Hm?" Santana hums, raising an eyebrow. "Only been human? What do you mean?"

The woman winks, pointing her finger towards herself. "You've never fought a spirit before, have you?"

Akuji's eyes widen. "Wait, wait, wait! Hold up!"

"So spirits can enter this game? Hell, why wasn't I chosen to play, then!? A wish could go great right now!"

The woman faces Akuji with a smile. "Shinigami! Hopefully you don't interfere with this battle, and as for your question, I don't know."

Akuji scoffs. "I have no business interfering, my only concern is the fact this game chooses favorites!"

Santana turns his head to Akuji. "Shinigami, explain what a spirit is in this context, why is she telling you not to interfere? Didn't you tell me you can't kill unless it's someone's time?"

"Yeah, a mortal's, that is," Akuji says. "I can kill a Spirit whenever I so please, two different rule sets."

"A Spirit is exactly what you're looking at. Her and I are under the same classification of species. But I'm guessing she's a Gen-sei."

"Gen-sei…?" Santana repeats. "Exactly, a Gen-sei, a Spirit of the Visible World," Akuji says.

"BIN-BIN-BINGOOO!" the Gen-sei yells, spreading her arms in the air. "Keep on educating him, Shini-shi!"

"Tch…" Akuji sucks his teeth. "Okay, she's starting to get on my nerves!"

Santana puts his arm in front of Akuji. "Wait! I need to know more, you, are you also a Gen-sei?"

Akuji shakes his head, moving Santana's arm. "No, I'm from Kakuriyo, two different things, I'm from the Spirit World, she's from this realm."

"I'll make it simple for you, I was born in a different world, she was born in this world, but we are both spirits."

The Gen-sei snickers as red particles start to surround her. "You have my gratitude for not interrupting this, Shinigami, I hope you're able to make it out," she says, bowing.

"Huh?" Akuji hums, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean, make it out?" His lips quiver. "PFFFT!" He bursts out laughing. "HAHA! You're threatening me?! A Gen-sei?!"

Santana steps back, covering himself with his arm. "Shinigami… I have a bad feeling about this."

Red particles flow past the two, swirling around them. The Gen-sei stands still and smiles.

Santana grits his teeth, red lightning bursting from his body. He thrusts his palms outward as red bolts fire towards the Gen-sei.

She continues to smile as red particles form into a wall in front of her, blocking the blast. Strands of her hair flutter back from the force of the impact.

The particles dissolve, her blue eyes gleaming. She grins, watching the twister of particles close in on Akuji and Santana.

Akuji wipes a tear from his eye. "Oh my stars… I haven't laughed like that in a while, but let's end this."

"Fall Through a World Elsewhere!" the Gen-sei bellows, lifting her arm. The red particles close around the two. Akuji lifts an eyebrow as a violet flame appears in his palm.

It instantly extinguishes. "What the hell?!" he shouts in panic. "UGH!" Santana grunts as the particles stick to his body, a feeling of weight pulling him down coursing through his body.

The particles start to stick to Akuji as well, weighing his body down. Both he and Santana drop to the ground on one knee.

The Gen-sei cackles, her face growing red. "Oh, to see you both on your knees for me! I'm so flattered!"

She waves her hands. "See you two later, my husbands! Bye-bye!" The red particles close around them. "DAMN!" Akuji shouts. "Erggg!" Santana growls as the particles cover the two. They then scatter, leaving nothing behind in their wake, both Akuji and Santana gone.

The Gen-sei giggles, jumping up. "I'm so excited! Only 3 more I need to trap in Elsewhere, then my games can continue."

"Have them all kill each other, then I kill the last one standing with the power of Host!" She flies up in the air as red particles trail from her.

"Now, if only my other halves can collect the other one who holds the power of Host, and just two other contestants."

She launches through the night sky, leaving behind the flower field, the red particles raining down across the yellow lilies. Another hunt against Soluna begins, this one more dangerous than the last.

Rakuyō: Frontier Escapade 4 END (X)