Familiar Stranger: CH 21

Chapter 21: Black / Grey

 

The next moment he came to, he found himself in a strange place - dimension - void of any effects or materials. A white, empty space. He'd been pulled into the mirror.

 

"You're up?"

 

Alarmed, his attention immediately snapped towards the voice. The person is standing some distance away from him.

"What are you trying to do?"

The man shrugs in response. "I wonder. Just a little bored.-" Head tilting sideways, facing Mikage with a slight deranged look in his eyes. "-Felt like playing around for a bit."

Being this close with the man who is now seemingly as solid and real as any living person makes it all the more distressing. He's no longer facing a stranger in the mirror, and the threat heavily hangs in air.

"Say, what do you think of him?"

"What?"

The man made a derisive sound. "Don't be a fool, you know what I'm talking about."

"What about him?"

A bored look levelled him, then a smirk.

"Just so you know, I can hear all of your thoughts; what you think of him, what you want to do to him." He steps in closer at each word, relishing the way the other man froze in his place, gradually losing his colour.

He stops to loom over the other, looking downward. "Cast your so call morals aside and there won't be any more problems. Or better yet-" Bending down to eye level, voice dropping into a whisper. "-I can do it for you instead."

Mikage's hand shot up to roughly grab the man's collar. "Keep your hands off him." He growled, barely hearing himself over the sounds of blood rushing in his veins.

"Oh, scary." Mikage responds by shoving him away before straightening up. "It's no use denying, we're the same after all."

"No, we are not."

"Really? Then why did he stick around? Surely not because of a familiar face."

All thoughts stopped abruptly at that.

 

Rewind.

 

Ryuga's initial reaction to him came to mind. The strange feeling of familiarity. The odd broken dreams.

 

"Don't you think it's strange why he almost never calls you by name?"

-Eh?

High pitched hissing met his ears.

And before he could formulate any kind of answer, the space behind the man warped and cracks.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

He woke up to empty white space. The sheer impact of breaching into the mirror left ringing in his ears. Shaking it away, he steadies himself.

 

"Zaruba?"

A ring. "I'm fine. Looks like we got pulled into the mirror."

"The Horror?"

"Strange. I'm not sensing one. But the negative aura certainly came from this thing."

It can't be. Then what was that he saw just now?

"Ryuga? Are you okay?"

"..Just now I thought I saw..-"

"Yeah, I saw him too. There's no mistaking it."

Then why didn't he sense anything?

A flash. Looking around urgently.

"Where's Mikage?"

"I don't know. He got pulled in first." A beat pause follows. "-Wait, he could be stuck with him. This is not good, Ryuga!"

"We need to find him fast! Can you do it, Zaruba?"

"The aura is messing my senses up, but that won't deter me."

"Please do."

 

They ran around for an indeterminate period of time, searching for something in a place where there's nothing. The white landscape stretches endlessly in all directions, though oddly he is still somehow standing upright. Naturally logic is never a part of a Horror's game.

But apparently there's wasn't any? Simply a concentrated mass of negative aura?

"Ryuga, I'm sensing something." Zaruba's call pulled him out of his thoughts.

"What is it?"

"There's a strange something around here,-" Gesturing towards a wide space, "-Like a barrier."

Reaching out towards the pointed direction, Ryuga's hand came into contact with something invisible to the eye. The contact sends ripples across the blank space. "There is a barrier here."

"They could be somewhere beyond."

 

If so then the answer is clear. Break it down.

 

Pulling out Garoken, he strikes down as hard as he can. Once. Twice. Not even a nick on the surface. Again. Each time harder than before. Until a faint cracking sound can be heard echoing in the wide expanse, and equally faint lines marred the area in front of him.

Breathing heavily from the effort - just a little more. Breathing in deep, he brought his blade up for the final hit, before striking down with a roar.