The Ember That Was Stolen

Where did it all go wrong?

why did life start and end at the same time?

when the difference of fate running its course and the cruel mocking of the gods is just one long blurred line.

High above the ground on the 84th floor of Kuroyume City’s A-3 sector in a mega skyscraper an imposing structure that looms over the world below. The blinds are shut, keeping the artificial glow of the city outside, making the space feel cozy and safe. Inside lived a family of two unaware of their short sighted bliss, At the center of it all, Yumi, a warrior and healer, is simply a mother in this moment, playing blocks with her only son Yachiru, enjoying the simple joys of raising her child.

“Look, Mama! It’s a castle!” Yachiru exclaims, stacking one block over another with meticulous care. His golden eyes shine with pride as he presents his creation. Yumi lets out a soft laugh, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear as she watches him.

“A castle fit for a little prince-” Yumi starts

“No, no!” Yachiru shakes his head vigorously as he cuts her off. “I’m a knight! And I’ll protect you!”

Her smile falters, but only for a second. The thought of her little boy growing up strong, carrying the burdens of a protector, weighs on her heart. She strokes his head gently.

“Then I’ll be your queen... and you, my bravest knight." Yumi said softly to the young boy

 “Yeah! I’ll fight all the bad guys and keep you safe forever!” Yachiru exclaimed with all the innocence a child should have. Yumi’s heart aches with love.

"Forever, huh?" she whispers, leaning in and kissing his forehead

A few beats of soft silence goes by, only the sounds of bricks falling and stacking could be heard, but without warning, the air distorts. The lights flicker. The atmosphere turns heavy, suffocating. A massive, spiraling portal erupts in the middle of their living room. The temperature drops, Yumi’s breath turns to mist. Before she can react, a figure steps through, a towering, monstrous being wreathed in shadow and ember.

Azraelis Nocthir

A fallen angel of Hell. His presence alone makes the apartment feel like it’s been swallowed by the abyss. Yumi’s body reacts before her mind does. She rises to her feet, her hands glowing faintly with the first traces of magic.

"Who—" she starts, but the words die in her throat. She recognizes what stands before her. A being beyond demons. Beyond nightmares. Azraelis moved faster than perception allows. Before Yumi can summon a single spark of light, his massive clawed hand clamps around Yachiru, lifting the child effortlessly. Yachiru’s blocks scatter across the floor.

“Mama!” Yachiru cries, squirming against the iron grip. The white glow of Yumi’s magic surges,

"Grandmaster-"

but–

CRACK

Azraelis’s foot collides with her chest, launching her across the room. She crashes into a wooden cabinet, splinters digging into her back as pain erupts through her ribs. Yumi coughs, gasping for air. while Yachiru screams, thrashing, kicking—his tiny fists pounding against Azraelis’s arm.

"LET HIM GO!" Yumi roars, her voice raw with fury. She struggles to stand, her fingers shaking as she tries to summon her magic again. Azraelis tilts his head, looking at her with something between curiosity and disdain.

"Pathetic, weakness breeds tragedy" Azraelis muses

Yumi grits her teeth, golden light finally bursting from her palm, But Azraelis is already stepping backward.

She dives-

Too late.

The portal collapses.

Silence.

The humming of the city returns. The blinds remain shut. Yumi is left kneeling, breath ragged.

Her hands grope at the empty space where her son had been.

"Yachiru..." Yumi murmurs her voice breaking slight

And for the first time in years, Yumi Miyasaki weeps.

---

The first thing Yachiru feels is pain.

His tiny body is on fire-not literal flames, but an unbearable, searing sensation coursing through his skin, his bones, his very soul.

He gasps, choking, the air thick with sulfur and something indescribable-like decay and burning metal mixed together.

He tries to scream, but his lungs refuse to work.

His small hands grasp at nothing as he plummets, his vision a blur of red, black, and molten orange.

A city of horrors sprawls below him: jagged, spiraling spires of black stone, rivers of magma cutting through a land twisted and malformed, resembling something once human but now utterly defiled.

This is Gōkurin, the Fifth Province out of twelve of the Hell dimension.

A place built not for punishment, but for creation.

It is here that mortals are reforged into something new.

And Yachiru is its newest victim.

---

Darkness.

Then, embers breathe to life.

The flames of Hell flicker and rise around a young boy, no more than six.

Yachiru is pinned down by bands of gray light, lightless eyes staring up at the hooded figures encircling him.

The Cindervore Covenant chants in low, guttural tones, their off- cloaks catching the firelight like bloodied silk.

A blade is drawn: jagged, obsidian-black, and alive with whispering veins of cursed light.

"This soul must be severed..." The great demon lord of the 5th province Azraelis stated as he stood off to the side watching with two dark gray holes that make up his eyes

The blade plunges into Yachiru’s chest. No blood, just light. A ripple through space.

A sound like silence being torn apart.

The Covenant chanted for the new age for their weapon in the making, one that will define a new age

"Yachiru..."

"Ya-chi-ru..."

"Yaaaa-chi-"

---

SMACK

A simple slap brought the now seventeen-year-old Yachiru jolts back to consciousness. He’s in a sleek, black two-seater speeding down a shattered highway. Neon signs blur past. Behind them, slender creatures with skin like polished marble, with faces too symmetrical to be anything human, their eyes aglow with a cold, regal fury, like something you'll get from mixing Erinyes and Fairies 

R.E.I., their humanoid assistant, is in the driver’s seat, mechanical hands locked on the wheel, voice modulator humming with strain.

"Welcome back to consciousness, Yachiru. We are currently in pursuit. Correction—being pursued,” R.E.I said as calm and synthetic as they usually did.

Yachiru blinks, his golden colored eyes looked around as he regained a sense of his surroundings.

Seraphine is on his lap, half-turned toward the dashboard, frantically building something out of wires, crystal vials, and old-world circuitry.

"Yachiru, this is no time for sleeping!" Seraphine said as she snapped, her hands blur through a slapdash process, throwing ingredients together in a haphazard manner across the dashboard. she placed the materials together without a plan, though it always seems to work.

She doesn’t wait for a response—She slaps a casing shut, wraps it in a graphene membrane, and seals it with fast-bond resin from a small tube she keeps in her boot.

Then in the same breath she pulls out a stick of matte black lipstick and applies it to her lips with precision honed by war and club bathrooms. Once that's done she leans in and kisses the bomb she rushed to make, marking it with her signature.

She was still sitting on Yachiru's lap in the sleek black compact car, she turns, swipes the lipstick across his lips, and presses them to the bomb too.

"It’s a partnership, after all." Seraphine grinned as she explained, before she threw the bomb out the window.

It disappears in the blur of red and ash and monstrous screams.

Yachiru’s vision stabilizes. His breath catches. The new lipstick on his lips, the chaos, it brings him back.  

And he refocuses. Right. The portal. That was his job as the “convenient" mage

He extends a hand forward.

An orange flicker stutters into view, trying to stabilize in mid-air.

R.E.I. guns the car hard. The world bends at the edges.

“There wasn't any need to slap me, Sera..." Yachiru said dryly as R.E.I was flooring the car down the strip of magnetic lanes. The portal he was trying to make was flickering intensely, making swirling rings of amber sparks.

"If you didn’t get knocked out by a window, I wouldn’t have to." Seraphine snapped, as she was bracing herself on the car’s door handle and on his lap as she looked ahead 

Her voice is fire. Her eyes are locked on the growing light ahead. There’s no room for fear in her tone-just grit and timing.

The portal begins to stabilize.

Their pursuers gain ground.

Time’s out.

---

"Dimensional instability detected. Inorganic matter will not survive transit." R.E.I. announced, their voice unwavering as they continued to navigate the car around the corner 

“I know, I know, I’m working on it, just wait a bit longer,” Yachiru said a bit exasperated as he held his hand forward as the orange light finally stabilizes in a fiery circle at the end of the street. The glowing orange ellipse of energy shudders, threatening collapse. Ahead of them, the fractured windshield reveals the portal's rim looming fast.

“Portal integrity at 62%. Car chassis will not remain intact. Occupants advised to evacuate within three seconds of breach." R.E.I announced to them, their voice ever calm as they gun it towards the portal 

 "You heard the box of circuits, Yach, we need to go!" Seraphine said as she glanced at Yachiru whom she was on top of still due to the compactness of the car

“Yeah, I hear you Sera-" Yachiru said dryly before Seraphine suddenly swings her legs up and kicks out the windshield with fluid precision 

Before grabbing the front of the dashboard and propelling herself forward and flipped through into the air just as the front bumper touches the portal's threshold.

 Then Yachiru grabs R.E.I. by the collar unit prepared to make their escape

"This is highly unorthodox," R.E.I said, their voice a bit more deadpan than calm and unnerved.

“Whole point of the team, love,” Yachiru said as the front of the compact, sleek, black barely past through the threshold of the amber colored portal.

They leap together going through the shattered windshield following Seraphine through the amber stabilized portal 

The moment all three clear the portal, the sleek black car disintegrates mid-transit, twisting in on itself with a burst of metal and fire, a searing bloom of orange and black that briefly lights up the sky behind them.

BOOM

They tumble out of the exit portal

Seraphine landing in a crouch, using her usual flair

Yachiru crashing into a field with R.E.I. in tow.

Dust rises.

Wind howls.

The scent of scorched air lingers.

After a few soft beats of silence 

"Successful extraction. Explosion coefficient: cinematic,” R.E.I said as calmly and as unnerved as ever.

Seraphine stands up fully before stretching her slightly sore back, their old car was compact and Yachiru's lap is not a good seat, "Great, let's go get something to eat," Seraphine said with a small grin growing on her face