The Other Realm

“SHE WENT WHERE?!” Ryuji shouted upon hearing Yoruhi’s explanation.

“Please don’t make me explain again,” Yoruhi said, out of breath from running.

“Sorry, but how do you know she went inside the portal?” Altair asked.

“Where else could she be?” Yoruhi said.

“Crap…” Ryuji muttered, “he’s right.”

“But she can’t go in there without alerting all the guards,” Altair pointed out.

“Unless there’s no guards in the first place,” Yoruhi said.

“What?” Altair and Ryuji asked in unison.

“Today’s the night of the Hollow Festival. The guards are more worried about people causing trouble at the event than people entering the portal because no one’s dumb enough to do it. That is… unless you’re Tatsuko of course.”

“Or her friends,” Ryuji added.

The three of them looked at each other in understanding.

“But… it’s the Nightmare Realm isn’t it?” Altair asked, “Isn't the whole point of it being dangerous why we don’t want to go in there in the first place?”

“Yes, but we can’t just let Tatsuko wander off alone in there. Unlike Fukuro, we’re more sure that she’s alive.”

“Yoruhi’s right,” Ryuji said. “But so are you Altair. We may think we’re pretty strong, but we'll definitely need some help if we want to make it back out alive. We don’t know what’s in that thing.”

“But we don’t have much time,” Yoruhi said. “We need to go in as soon as possible. The longer she stays in there, the higher the chance she has of dying. I tried to find my parents first, but they’re not at the estate because they’re at a meeting with the other heads of the family.”

“So what do you suppose we do?” Altair asked.

“We need to go in there ourselves,” Ryuji said, ready to protect his friend.

“But not without a plan,” Yoruhi said. “Which is why I want you to stay behind Altair; you go look for help. They’ll be doubtful if you say one kid is missing in the portal, but if there’s three they’ll definitely check, especially if two of them are the children of a family head.”

Altair nodded her head but her face was filled with worry.

“What if I don’t make it on time?” she asked.

“Then you better try your best to hurry,” Yoruhi said, “because we’re going in.”

⋆✦-∞-⟡-∞-✦⋆

Tatsuko warily scouted around the tree that Fukuro went into, using the assassin techniques that Vivian taught her to sneak around.

Perfect, she thought, once she saw no guards. Altair may think I’m an idiot, but an idiot wouldn’t know that there’s no guards around today.

She tightly hugged the cloak that her brother gave her on the Day of Gifts 4 years ago, before rummaging through the pockets for her daggers.

Two of each dagger and a hundred throwing daggers should be enough, she thought, if I don’t find Fukuro by the time I’m out of supplies, I’ll just run back out. With my speed, I’ll be sure to outrun everything.

She clenched her fist to get rid of her nerves before leaping onto the tree and climbing up into an open window at the top. She carefully clung onto the bark, using her climbing daggers to scale down the walls on the inside, and drop below to the first floor where the giant vortex ominously hummed.

Upon seeing it, she began to feel nervous again, but remembering her dear friend, she forcefully calmed herself down to the best of her ability.

Fukuro, I’m coming for you, she thought.

She attached a pair of push daggers between her fingers before taking a deep breath and running through the swirling mass of black and gray energy.

The world on the other side was bleak and barren.

Tatsuko gasped upon making it through, staring around at the desolate wasteland around her,

The sky was gray, and the ground was made out of what looked to be darkened ash. Dark gusts of black powder blew into the air, and the pale horizon in the distance could be seen endlessly stretching on. There were a few broken trees that jutted out of the ground like black skeleton bones clawing for the sky. It was cold here, not in the wintry kind of way, but in a way that resembled the ominous chill down the spine when something felt off.

For the third time since she started this expedition, Tatsuko was afraid again. Everything about this place felt wrong, but she knew she had to press forward.

For Fukuro, she told herself.

She quickly ran through the ashen wasteland looking for the signs of anything. The place was quiet minus the sound of the whistling wind, and the groans of an unknown creature. She didn’t know where it was coming from, but her ears remained vigilant, making sure that she avoided the direction she estimated it was in.

Using the survival instincts bestowed upon her by Vivian, she kept track of where she was going, always making sure she knew the direction of where the portal back home was in case she needed to make a break for it.

As she travelled, the sound of wings flapping in the sky suddenly caught her attention. She looked up to see a flock of birds circling in the sky; strange raptors and other birds of prey she couldn’t identify from her distance.

Could Fukuro be a part of them? She wondered. Some of them do look like owls…

She bent down and picked up the ash from the floor, smothering it all over her cloak in an attempt to blend herself in with her surroundings. She then covered the cloak over her head and crouched down, slowly moving towards the flock until she was right beneath them.

She looked up and carefully gazed at the strange encirclement ritual they were doing.

Raptors, falcons, vultures… she silently made each grotesque animal out, aha! Owls too. But how do I catch their attention? Are they dangerous? What if they are? If they attack me, then I can’t fight them off altogether.

She bit her lip.

I’m not sure if Fukuro is even part of them. Maybe she’s somewhere else.

She slowly moved past them, but as she walked, her legs began to tremble from the immense amount of fear in her chest. She had stupidly put herself in this vulnerable position, and even though the cloak hid her pretty well, she was beginning to waver.

Suddenly, one of the throwing daggers slipped out from beneath her, and when she looked up, she saw all the birds turn their attention towards her.

Crap! She thought, unsheathing her daggers, preparing to toss them into the sky.

One by one the birds began to divebomb towards her, and Tatsuko began unloading her throwing daggers onto them. As the daggers flew into the flock, some of the birds tumbled down, while the rest ignored the pain and continued charging.

These aren’t normal birds, she thought, unsheathing the daggers between her fingers and preparing to strike them if they got too close.

Just as a falcon was about to reach her with its claws outstretched, a female voice screamed out, “STOP!!!”

The falcon stopped its descent and hovered back out of reach just as Tatsuko swiped her dagger at it.

Who just said that? Tatsuko wondered, looking around the place.

Suddenly, a large owl flew down from the sky and appeared in front of her. Its size was much bigger than her and she pointed her dagger at it out of fear. It wasn’t until a smaller, familiar, owl landed on its shoulder that Tatsuko began to calm down.

“Fukuro…?” she breathed out.