Prologue

            During the numerous years of the universe’s countless realities, every single reality was divided into sections, or dimensions. Elaborating on this point, imagine that these “dimensions” were linked to each other as if it were a web. These “dimensions” cannot rely on themselves for the sake of existing, and thus, are connected to a powerful source to survive. Without that source, everything will not exist. What that source is? No one knows, but the ones that do know also don’t know it’s origin. All that is known, is that it harbors endless nurturement for all reality. The reality that humans reside within, which they call “Earth”, is actually named the reality “Living World”. All that resides in the “Living World”, which are humans, are considered “Livings”. Loosely associated together, the Living World is a reality close to the “Spiritual World”, a more upper-class reality above the “Living World”. Only for the reason of being upper-ranked, the Spiritual World reality can observe the Living World reality, but the Living World reality cannot observe the Spiritual World in return. As the reality name suggests, the Spiritual World incorporates Spirits, or Spirituals. The majority of the Spiritual World is common Spirits who are from Livings that have died, and then there are Elder Spirits. Elder Spirits are ancient in knowledge, strength, and age. These Spirits are ones that harbor a special affinity and abilities to their advantage, and manipulate the Living World’s affinity that is the same as theirs.

            The Elder Spirits are all a part of the Spiritual World Council, and there are all unique and one-of-a-kind affinities of all. Sound, maintain the preciousness of shared knowledge and speech. Stars, foresee positive and negative omens from astronomy. Forest, nourish the naturality of the Living and the nature of this reality. Electricity, embed the future of machinery with spirituality. Life Energy, employ sensitivity of any Energy and obtain relations to the Source. Without these affinities, if not the rest of minor affinities, nothing will be here. It is crucial for the endless fate of survival to loop.

            Livings also dubbed the Spiritual World and another reality as an “afterlife”, simply a place of life after death. There is no afterlife. The Spiritual World and the other reality is just the equivalent of this afterlife. The “After World” is this other mentioned reality, and is co-existent to the Spiritual World. Just like the Spiritual World, the After World is also an upper-class reality above the Living World. The only difference between these two realities is that the Spiritual World harbors Spirits, and the After World harbors corpses. When a dead body receives a proper ritual, which is either burial, mummification, cremation, etc, the corpse is transmuted into the After World for eternal rest.

            As centuries pass, this cycle of Living and Dead kept on, and then was abruptly stopped by an uproar from the After World. Spirits that are classified with the After World envied the conditions in the Spiritual World, and demanded a reality merge between the After World and the Spiritual World. However, the Elder Spirits refused to affirm the debate, as it would bring chaos to all realities if all common Spirits decided to reincarnate from their corpses and transmute back into the Living World. A scenario such as that would entirely corrupt the cycle all realities go through. The Spirits of the After World then were enraged by the decision, disbanding from the Spiritual World altogether, and transitioning into Demons. Following the disbandment, a major war set aflame between the two realities. It was a gruesome and even match between those realities, but the corruption grew more within the After World. One of the Elder Spirits, the Spirit of Shadows, Yasu, disbanded connections to the Spiritual World, and sided with the Demons. The After World then became something different, and was renamed the “Alternate Side”. Corpses from the Living World were still being transmuted there, but were used to create a former shell of what it was once before. With the addition of the negative emotions of the corpse’s former self, it forms into a shadowy figure, called a Shadow Replica. In comparison of Demons, Shadow Replicas were much more forceful, having the Spiritual World’s forces to waver weakly.

            It was then that the Elder Spirits learned that they have to combine their affinities with the determination, will, and mentality of the Living. So, they made a spiritual link with specific Livings that could handle the affinity’s power, and these links were then dubbed “Spiritual Pacts”. the Living Pact Bearers immediately took action within the war, and achieved in protecting the Spiritual World and the Living World from the Alternate Side’s forces. However, Yasu is yet to redeem himself into the Council, if not the Spiritual World, and the restoration of the After World was nowhere near to completion or it’s beginning of restoration. Since the war was now concluded, so were the Spiritual Pacts that were made with the Living, and peace spread about for a time. Centuries later, another uprising from the Alternate Side came up, but it wasn’t as serious as the last one prior to this. It ended the same way, the defeat of the Shadow Replicas and Demons, but yet, Yasu did not make a single appearance in this other war.

            I am Miki, Spirit of Life Energy and member of the Spiritual World Council. My legacy is known as a wise Elder Spirit and holder of one of the most influential affinities, so I am to know more than other Elder Spirits. My worries increase regarding around Yasu, if he were to return, if he were to hid to become more capable of his own prowess than before. The other Elder Spirits doubt it now, thinking that Yasu had submitted and succumbed to the Alternate Side, but I think not. Being a Spirit of Shadows, I am sure enough that he will survive in the Alternate Side, and then control it for his own. My worries worsen when a realization comes to mind. Yasu is still classified as an Elder Spirit even when disbanded, his abilities to make a Spiritual Pact is lingering into actual reality. If that pact is complete, then the next possible and inevitable war will go to the favor of the Alternate Side, which would mean the fall of the Spiritual World as it becomes it’s territory, and inevitable death in the Living World. I cannot deny my duties, so I began a search for a Living that had a very specific trait: high amounts of Soul Energy.

            I knew that the other Elder Spirits had Pact Bearers already, but it wasn’t enough, I had no other options but to go with drastic measures upon creating a Spiritual Pact. The search prolongs with no progress, I felt idiotic to be rushing to find one specific Living. Even if I found someone, would there be enough time to prevent another dreadful war with the addition of the Alternate Side taking over? There was only one option to find out, continue on with my search. Then, it was all over, I found a Living with the highest amounts of Soul Energy one can even maintain, but I wasn’t the only one who took my notice to this Living. Shadow Replicas from the Alternate Side were substantially ordered to go and kill the Living before I could even get there myself, but I wouldn’t stop there. So, I flew from the Spiritual World and into the Living World, my sights set on this Living, and her name is Kaika Cho.