Sitting on top of the cleaved rock, the rather short male stared up at the moon, wondering what he was supposed to do now that he was all alone.. He had been listening to the birds singing, but he wasn't sure that he enjoyed them as much as he used to. He missed his old friend, Giyuu.. Where was he now? He survived the final selection, didn't he? He wondered if he was doing okay.. If he maybe had found somebody to love, maybe he even had kids now..

Sabito's heart started to hurt just thinking the thought of Giyuu having found somebody other than him. He wanted him all to himself.. But he knew that he couldn't have that, he was dead. He had accepted that, the fact that he would never go back to his life before. He was dead, and that was that, end of story.

At least so he thought. His life as a spirit would prove to be quite interesting, in fact, it came sooner than he had expected.

❝ There you are, Sabito. ❞

An unfamiliar voice rang out from behind the ghost. Sabito shot up at the sound of the voice, he stood up on the rock and quickly turned around, staring at the person that the voice belonged to.

There, right in front of him, stood a tall male, freakishly tall, almost taller than the boulder he was standing on. He swallowed nervously, the male in front of him wore a mask that represented a demon, three eyes, and four horns on the gray mask. Two of the horns stuck out from the mouth of the mask, the other ones were right beside the third eye that sat on the forehead of the mask. He looked terrified behind his own mask as he stared down at the other.

❝ W - Who are you..?! What do you want from me?! How do you know who I am..??! ❞

The panic in Sabito's voice was shining through, and it showed on the unknown male's body language. He opened his arms for him, the red haori spreading open slightly to show that he bore no weapons. Which was true, all he had was a locket hanging from around his neck, it was made of silver and was in the shape of a heart.

❝ I will answer all your questions soon enough. I am a friend of your Urokodaki, you can trust me. ❞

❝ Y-You're lying! He never told me about anybody like you! You aren't real! You're a ghost too, aren't you..?! ❞

Sabito screamed at him, which got the other male agitated.

❝ SABITO! ❞

His voice boomed out across the forest, making the ghost fall over on the rock and slide down the back until he hit the cold ground. The male walked around the rock and stared down at him, taking off the locket and holding it over his face, forcing the mask off of the ghosts face.

❝ It is dangerous for you to stay here. A rift is about to open and swallow the spirit world in darkness, you need to get out of here as soon as possible, or else you may never find your way to the afterlife, or even back to your friend. Giyuu, was his name, no? Giyuu Tomioka? ❞

Sabito's eyes widened as he stared up at the muscular male, he didn't even know of this man, yet he knew almost everything about him. It was safe to say that he was terrified of what was to come.

❝ Good, now that I have your attention, I'm going to transport you somewhere safe where I can start working on remaking your body to suit the current situation. ❞

❝ So.. I won't be able to pass on..? I'll stay here in this world until you're done with me? ❞

The man paused at Sabito's question, he seemed to be thinking as he kept the locket over the younger males face.

❝ See it as a second chance at life. You'll be able to experience everything a normal human experiences, with a few exceptions. ❞

❝ Which are..? ❞

❝ To stay alive, you will have to slay the creatures coming out of the rifts opening around the land. You will need to close them and absorb them into your body to keep it going. I have the energy you will need to develop the strength you need to survive and find your way around on your own, but after then, you will have to find the rifts on your own... ❞

The man's words faded after that. Sabito couldn't hear what he was saying, he was scared, was it really a second chance at life? Would he be able to see Giyuu again? Embrace him in a warm hug after all these years apart from each other? It didn't matter anymore.. He wanted to see Giyuu.. No, he needed to see Giyuu.

❝ Sabito? Sabito?? SABITO! Are you listening to me? ❞

The man yelled at him after he had stopped talking. It made him snap out of his little internal fit and let his eyes meet the eyes of the mask he was wearing.

❝ I'll do it. ❞

Sabito stated, coldly, standing up and brushing himself off from having been laying in the dirt. He didn't need to know the rest of the exceptions, he was going to get a second chance a life if he went through with this. A chance at meeting Giyuu again. He wasn't going to pass up on this opportunity, even if it cost him his freedom, he was going to see his friend again.

❝ Really? That was quick. I didn't think that you would jump on su- ❞

He was cut off by Sabito's suddenly harsh voice as he snatched the fox mask back.

❝ How will you transport me away from this place? ❞

Sabito asked, looking at the masked man wearing the red haori over his shoulders.

The man chuckled at his sudden eagerness at getting out of this place. He held out the locket to him again, pointing at the silver heart that held it together, it opened and inside was a heart shaped crystal that was attached to the silver.

❝ I will carry you inside this until we get there. It will have everything that you need to keep the spiritual energy up until we arrive at the sanctuary. ❞

Sabito raised an eyebrow and scratched the large scar on his cheek. He stared at the locket with confusion painted over his face.

❝ The.. The locket? I will be inside that small thing? How do you expect my entire body to fit in there?? ❞

Sabito looked baffled at even the suggestion of being carried in such a tiny space for an extended period of time. Would he even be let out?? He had no clue.

❝ It's called Spiritual Altering. My family has practiced it for generations, protecting spirits from harm by compressing their bodies and placing them inside these stones that protect anything that goes inside of them. They hold entire worlds inside them, I have several of spirits that I have saved using this method. Some of them are at the sanctuary at this very moment, so you will not be alone during the process of getting yourself a new body. ❞

The man said, pushing the locket closer to Sabito's face as he stood in front of him.

❝ Touch the locket, Sabito. ❞

He practically commanded. Sabito flinched at the man's loud voice, but he stretched out his hand and wrapped his fingers around the silver locket. As he did so, a bright light started to come from the stone inside the silver necklace. Sabito's body started to twist and turn as it adjusted to the locket's wishes. It hurt, but Sabito tried his best not to scream out from the feeling of his own bones snapping and shifting, he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for everything to be over.

The process had taken around 5 minutes, but after it was over, when the pain was gone, Sabito's eyes flickered open. Instead of seeing the trees around him, he stood in a room decorated mostly in red. It was a large room, a huge window that was covered by red drapes made out of an expensive silk sat right in front of a king sized bed with maroon coloured sheets with golden flowers sewn into them.

Sabito walked towards the window, he had to walk around a larger table with a bowl filled with fruit in the middle of it to get up to the window. He pushed the drapes away so he could see out of the window. He expected to see something mundane like a field of flowers or even an ocean, but instead he saw.. The void. Quite literally, it was pitch black outside, flakes of.. Something he couldn't identify floating down from the endless sky. He felt a pit in his stomach as he quickly stepped away from the window, dragging the drapes over the window again.

The ginger male spun around and walked straight to the bed and laid down on it, staring up at the ceiling. He saw a constellation painted across the wooden ceiling, letting out a sigh as he felt the entire room start to move and the mans voice say,

❝ Buckle up, Sabito. You're in for a wild ride. ❞