*Dan*

[Meanwhile, in the depths of the abyss- Monkey King's Castle]

I tried to get some sleep. My entire body started to ache. A few... days? Weeks? It was getting hard to tell how much time had passed in this world, if it even did. Anyway, I had asked Mai to train me. She decided to do so, but limited to physical training. Likely as physical strength presented less of a threat to these creatures with the ability to regenerate even lost limbs and turn their bodies into goo.

Yet, despite my fatigue, I couldn't fall asleep. I could help but feel worry swell up in my chest. The abyssmals were still waging their war against my homeland and perhaps others. My big bro... he could very well be dead for all I knew. He had yet to come save us... the same went for my parents.

Or maybe... maybe they abandoned us...

Kiara meanwhile hadn't woken up yet.

I had begun to lose hope once more. Hope of us getting out of here alive. I needed to become strong, to not be a burden to Hideo, Kiara, Papa, Mama, and the others.

Then, as if a sign, I heard taps on the wall behind me. After awhile, I began to recognize the pattern they made. The one tapping, they were using tap code. My pa had once taught it to me as part of a game we used play...

Pa... he had blamed himself for my kidnapping at the hands of his long lost sister. Then on my attempted suicide a few days later... He probably blamed himself about this too...

I took a deep breath and focused all of my attention on the taps.

'I... came... here... at... the... orders... of... Master... Kuroshi... to... save... you... Don't... be... afraid.'

I gasped. Kuroshi? He's the guy who helped Papa save me.

I jumped out of the bed and tapped on the wall. 'I... got... the... message... But... my... sister... is... still... unconscious...'

'Do... not... worry... Omatsu... will... help... her... For... now... put... your... hand... on... the... wall.'

I did as the tapper asked even though I had no idea how this would help me escape. I mean, I doubted that they would've put me in a room with a secret exit. Unless if they hoped I would escape...

Suddenly, a hand reached out and wrapped itself around my arm. "Huh?" I exclaimed, shocked. The person though didn't hesitate to pull me out of the room.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," responded a boy. He had medium length golden hair with brown near the roots as if he had dyed his hair. He looked to be my age. "I mean it. Anyway, let's get going. Your scream just now likely alerted the enemy."

"Dan, are you alright?" a voice called out from within the castle. It was Suzuki!

"See," he whispered as he pulled my arm again and made a run for it.

"W-what about Kiara?" I asked as we ran toward the edge of the island. I gasped as I recalled Mai's warning not to fall off or else I'll end up being lost in the abyss forever. Was I being lead astray?

The boy sighed. "I already said that Omatsu will take care of her. Now, hold on tight." He suddenly transformed into a horse sized calico cat!

"Wah!" I yelled as I hugged him around the neck. He was very soft, which sorta calmed down some of my fears.

The boy sighed. "And I was told you were the quiet one of the two." He snickered as he began to speed up across the darkness. In no time, we arrived at what appeared to be the entrance of a cavern.

That was when I suddenly came face to face with a familiar face. Standing by the entrance of the cavern was the guy who had nearly killed my older siblings and me in the garden of the palace.

"Sa...Sat...Satoru!" I yelled.

My cat ally came to a stop and bared his teeth at Satoru. He ran at the fox, not stopping at all, phasing through the fox as soon as they made contact.

"Interesting ability you got there. Similar to Mai's. Though I feel that yours is lacking. You're one of Kuroshi's slaves, aren't you?"

The boy swung his tail against the ground, creating a cloud of dust in front of him. Thankfully I could still see thanks to my Kuroriku genes. I gasped as we went deeper into the cavern. I came to the realization that my ability to see in the dark had gotten better. Though this setting... It brought back bad memories.

"You think that you'll get away?" a voice yelled out. Suddenly we found ourselves face to face with an ice wall. I turned around and saw yet another one. "Let's see how far your phasing goes, shall we?"

"Grrr!" the cat yelled as he swung his tail against the ice. "I don't need to phase through this weak level of magic! Master Kuroshi isn't even a Xelerian and he has far more skill than you!"

Suddenly Satoru's emerged from one of the ice shards on the ground.

"Isemori, did you really think that you would be able to escape?" the fox asked as he rose completely from the ice like a man emerging from the other side of a mirror. "I have grown stronger during these past few weeks. And while I did get to test some of my new abilities, none of them have been able to stand much. I would love it if you could change that and shatter my boredom!"

Isemori blocked one of Satoru tails with one of his front paws and swung his own at him, but Satoru coiled another tail around it and yanked him in like an octopus about to devour its prey.

Satoru took a deep breath. "Right, how could I forget that your area of expertise is stealth and such." He grinned as he wrapped one of his gray tails around my ally's neck. "A spy such as yourself deserves to meet a death worthy of such."

"L-let him go!" I yelled as my body let out a reddish glow.

Satoru scoffed. "So, the little brat finally decides to fight. I don't expect you to hold up much better than you did at the palace." One of his tails lurched at me but I managed to sidestep it. "Woah! Not bad! Did Mai train you?" He snickered. "I am getting the sense that she might follow the steps of her big brother, who appears to be following the path of this guy's 'Master'. Now, stand still while I kill this guy. You'll be soon to follow."

I grumbled. I wanted to charge at him, but I knew I was no match for him. He wasn't even using his complete fox form.

Isemori phased through him and struck Satoru's back with his cat-like tail. "I was given a mission, and I plan to fulfill it!"

The fox grinned as he turned around. "A mission, eh? By that traitor?"

The boy let out a roar, causing the cavern to tremble. "Master is no traitor, for he was never truly on your side!" Isemori yelled as he charged at Satoru.

Satoru scoffed and whipped his tails around, producing a chilly gale. "I guess that's true. Same can be said of Etsuo... That weakling is buying his time to cross us... And I wouldn't be surprised if this war is nothing more than a ruse by his grandfather."

"Huh?" I asked, thinking about the mysterious man with the eye patch. He did seem to give out a kind glow, sorta like that of his grandson.

"Reginald, that man acts as if he owns the place, simply because he's the chosen one," Satoru said as he took a step forward. "Yet, he was a man who was close to his twin brother, the Chosen of Light. Those who befriend those of light aren't to be trusted with the matters of darkness. Only one who pushes aside the light can change this realm!"

Isemori chuckled. "So, you see yourself as that person? As the one who deserves the title of 'Dark Chosen'?"

Satoru grinned and nodded. "Yes. But I can't allow either of you two to utter a word of this. That man might be a bad bearer of the title, but he is still a man of power. I can't have him knowing my true intentions."

Isemori chuckled as he phased through the wall and ran up to me. "I get the sense that he already knows. You aren't exactly transparent, despite your powers!"

I jumped on top of him and held on tight as he phased through the wall that was to the left of me.

"Let's get out of here!" Isemori said, grinning as we found ourselves in an alternate path.

"S-say, that guy just now, he called you a s-slave. A-are you?" I asked as he ran.

He didn't respond for awhile. "It's true. But Master Kuroshi saved me."

"S-saved you?"

He nodded. "I was born weak. Honestly, I shouldn't have developed this form. One day, I had decided to wander off the village in search of my sister who had gone missing."

"Your sister went missing?"

He nodded solemnly. "Yeah. She was friends with the boy who brought you here, Etsuo."

"F-friends with Etsuo?" I thought back to Etsuo's time in the dungeon. The crystal that my sister had rushed after to prevent him from escaping belonged to a friend of his...

"Yeah, it's said that Roa and he were the ones at fault for her disappearance. I was too young to understand the specifics. But I doubted that part of the story as the one making those claims was that fox, Satoru."

I nodded. "Y-yeah. T-that guy gives off a bad vibe."

"Honestly, I suspect it might've been him who hurt her. Oh right, as I was saying about Master Kuroshi saving me; I had wondered off deep into the forest at the outskirts of town. And not only that, I had gone well beyond the part protected by the barrier. I began to cry but that ended up attracting predators. You see, shadow blobs, which my siblings and I were born as, are plentiful but also weak, putting us in the bottom of the food chain."

"So... you're like deer to a lion."

"Not sure what a deer is, but if it involves a top predator like lions, then I think you got my point. And not only are we food to most of this world's creatures, but we're commonly used as cannon fodder even by those who don't eat us. But, Master Kuroshi didn't see us as cannon fodder. Sure he saw use in me like others before have with my kind, but it wasn't as a dispensable pawn. No, rather as an essential one.

"I had asked him why he had saved me, an insignificant blob from being devoured by a stronger creature. He told me that even a tiny flap or drop can change the course of destiny."

"R-really?" Hmm, Kuroshi's words, they remind me of what Skah said about his big brother, Tekeshi. How his brother was once like me. A shy and timid kid who wasn't much of a fighter, but in the end turned into one of the greatest heroes in not only Kuroriku, nor only our planet, and not even limited to only Zionia. No, his story went far and wide and inspired many.

He smiled. "Yeah. That's why I wish to fulfill this mission. I plan to play a part in changing the dark destiny Master saw for not only your world, but also mine. To be honest, I had begun to worry that I had no role to play and thus little meaning to my existence. That was because Master Kuroshi had yet to use me in anything. That was, until I, along with Obatsu, was given the task of locating and saving your sister and you."

"Me?"

He chuckled. "I bet you're wondering 'why me? I'm only a kid without anything special about him'. But you know, that may be true right now, but who knows what you could become. After all, you managed to dodge one of Satoru's tails earlier! You trained for such moments like that, didn't you?"

My face reddened. "Y-yeah. But... I surprised myself with that too."

He grinned. "See! That's why you shouldn't doubt yourself but instead keep going forward. You're bound to make mistakes along the way and get injured, but those can be fixed along the way too, as long as one has the will."

I chuckled. "Y-you speak rather philosophically for a kid!"

Isemori looked away. "D-do I? M-must've rubbed off on me from Master Kuroshi. Well, enough talk, we have to focus on getting out of here!"

I noticed that he was slowing down his pace.

"A-are you t-tired?" I asked. I put my hands over my mouth. He had just said 'enough talking' and I went ahead and talked!

"A tiny bit, but I should hold up until we get to the portal. If it comes to it, I want you to flee through it alone. I plan to have it send you to the temple on top of Kuroriku. From there use your survival skills to get to town."

"S-survival skills?"

"Yeah. Master said that you hunt."

"Uh... that's my brother. I-I don't hunt. I... just watch."

"What? But you know which plants are edible and which ones aren't, right?"

"Uh..."

"What? So you are really just a sheltered rich kid?"

I averted my eyes upon hearing his words. I had heard them, a lot. Back when I went to school, which was several years ago... I had to quit going due to... reasons. Mama taught me everyone I needed to know. Plus, I rather her company than that of those kids and teachers. None of them liked me... because I was weird...

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that," Isemori said, as if he had read my mind. "Anyway, this just means that I have to do my best to stay by your side! I, Isemori Mike, will be your guide! Even though I don't know my way around Kuroriku..."

I smiled. "That's fine. Having someone with me is good enough."

"What sweet words! But they are empty!" Satoru's voice rang across the cavern. Suddenly, tails came at us from various directions.

"Is this an illusion?" Isemori yelled. He phased through several of the tails and kept on running, but they continued to come after us. He wasn't going to take any chances on them being fake.

"D-didn't we leave him behind? W-what's his range?"

"I'm not sure," Isemori yelled as he panted. He was running out of stamina.

"L-let me go the rest of the way. H-he's after me."

Isemori scoffed. "Didn't I just say that I was going to do my best to stay by your side? I have a mission to fulfill!"

"Uh..."

"Enough!" Satoru yelled as his tails closed in and exploded into blue flames. But these flames weren't hot, rather the exact opposite!

The fox appeared from one of the nine fires and held out his hand. Ice quickly encased Isemori's feet.

"Stop!" I yelled, trying to melt the ice with my heat. Sadly, that didn't work at all. The ice continued to advance up Isemori's feet. "Ise, can't you phase through the ice?"

Isemori tried to free himself from his icy binds but they wouldn't let him go. "I can't!"

"Of course you can't, slave. You're out of steam. You should've listened to the boy and fled while you had the chance. Yet, you decided to instead play the role of hero and faithful servant! Yet, it will be your undoing!" A wicked grin crossed his face. "Bye, Ise!"

"No, stop it!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as the ice advanced up Isemri's body. My screaming caused the cavern to tremble.

"Hmm, seems that anger truly is the key to the power of your clan. However, I learned my lesson from fighting that naive princess."

He warped behind me and grabbed me by the neck, pulling me off Isemori's back.

"Dan!" Isemori yelled as he continued to struggle against the ice.

"Ise!" I yelled, reaching a hand toward him.

Satoru put a hand around my mouth and nose. It might've been my fatigue from earlier kicking back in, but I began to feel sleepy, very sleepy.

I looked up and watched as Isemori transformed himself into a blob of darkness to free himself from the ice and rushed at Satoru in order to free me.

"Enough, nuisance!" Satoru yelled, snapping his fingers. Ice rose out from his body and covered him completely. 

Right in front of me, the one friend I had made in years who didn't turn out to betray me, shattered into particle-sized crystals.

I screamed my friend's name into Satoru's hand. I thrashed around in the demon fox's arms as the dust landed over us. How... how did do that... to my friend! To Isemori! If I had the power, I would burn him at stake right here and now! No, if I had the power, then Isemori wouldn't have sacrificed his life like that...

"Calm down, brat. Remember what I said, you're next," he said as ice began to encase my feet. "But, perhaps you might have a chance to live. It all depends on the decision of your older brother and his companions. They shall give their lives for yours. If they don't then you're as good as dead!"

Fear quickly washed over my anger. Hideo... he wanted Hideo and the others to give up their lives for mine? No, I couldn't allow that... I wasn't worth it... I was only one person... Yet, I knew that my big brother would take the offer. I could only hope that the others wouldn't.

"So, close your eyes, little one," Satoru said in a sing-song voice as he continued to carry me away. "Soon it will all be over! Either for you or for that big brother of yours!"

Brother, sister... I'm sorry... I keep hurting and troubling you... you and the others truly are better off... without me.

*Character Section*

Isemori Mike- Sex: Male Species: Abyssmal-Xelerian

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter, if so then click on that star :3! Theories and/or expectations of what is to come?**