Orochalcus looked up at where he was, had he fallen asleep? Was this a dream? Yes, it undoubtedly was, it was far from his first time experiencing such a dream, but even so, it was something greater than that. Throughout many cultures in the world, stories are told of those who can communicate through dreams, sometimes with the living, sometimes with the dead, and sometimes with those between, for Monzetsu however, this was reality.

The room he found himself in was as equally vast as it was dark, extending as far as one could see in practically every direction, including downwards. He stood on a platform, it’s form smooth and unclear, in a colour that could only be described as dark, which stood in what was likely the centre of the room, but given how vast and unseeable it was, that much could not be told for sure. Not that it mattered, of course.

Before him were the only things visible to him, aside from the platform and himself. Five vast pillars, barely visible against the darkness of all else, but present nonetheless. There were no details to them, not even their materials were discernible, they could merely be described as black, a black blacker than night, yet considerable less black than all else that surrounded him.

Atop each pillar was a figure, their presence made somewhat menacing by their elevation about Orochalcus. They were all indifferentiable from eachother, shrouded in thick, black robes that covered every part of their body, Orochalcus would’ve likened their appearance to some cult, were it not for him dressing in an effectively identical manner. They stared down, at what could only be assumed to be him, though due to their distance and obscuration, it was not possible to tell.

Any normal man would’ve feared for his life in such a situation, and reasonably so, fear was the appropriate response to such a sight, it is human nature to fear the unknown, a nature driven by evolution, and when that unknown was several dozen feet above you, a lack of fear would be more surprising than it’s presence, yet that was precisely what Orochalcus possessed. He stared back up at them, his heart rate completely stable, slow and calm, at rest, as it rarely was. Yes, he was used to this, it had happened before, that he had been in such a position, but that was not the reason. No, these figures were not his foes, they had no intention of killing him, they were his allies. They were the only people who knew the truth, the truth about all that had happened, indeed, the only thing that differed between him and they was that he was still alive.

“Monzetsu.”

Spoke the figure in the centre, that was all it could be called, it’s name was lost to time, as were the names of the four other figures.

“Report.”

Its tone was cold and calculating. It had no emotions, none of them did, the dead have no feelings, after all, but that did not mean they were without purpose, were they without reason, without a justification for their existence, they simply would not be. Their goal, their motivation, was the same as that of Orochalcus, revenge, revenge against him, against the man who had killed them in the past, that was why their existence persisted in this strange corner of Orochalcus’s mind.

“Him, he’s near, I will soon be able to face him again.”

Orochalcus replied, in his usual, blunt voice, one not dissimilar to the figures which he was speaking to.

”The reagent?”

Spoke the one on the far left, in a near identical, utterly indifferent, yet infinitely curious tone. The reagent, that was what they called him now, the personal elements of hatred they would’ve held towards him were they living having dissipated on their death, though they still were opposed to him. It was a thought Orochalcus struggled to understand, how was it that they had an enemy, yet no hate for them? It mattered not, though, they were not him, so they did not matter.

”And you believe you would defeat him?”

Orochalcus had anticipated such a question to be asked, but he spoke still with no emotion, as he always did, cold and decisively.

”I’m stronger now, I will not fail like I did during the Eden incident.”

The figures made no noise in response, nor did they make any movement, remaining completely stationary and silent for some minutes, it was reasonable to assume they were speaking with eachother, the dead did not speak to communicate, there was no need for them too, they were mere figures of the mind, after all, they were not restrained by the physicality of the world like the living were. They remained silent for several minutes, before speaking yet again.

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”Do you not fear hell?”

Orochalcus looked up at them, as if requesting elaboration, the being’s question clearly one he had not anticipated, but when none came, he decided to just assume as to what he had meant, and answer to that.

“There wouldn’t be anything there unfamiliar to me, I might as well already be there.”

The figures continued their eerie silence, before it was abruptly broken by speech from the one on the far left.

”Your Karmic debt is far in the positive, you will go to hell when you die, should you not seek to prolong your life, to try and lower your debt to causality?”

Orochalcus stared back up at them, his face neutral as ever, showing no sign of offence or any other emotion, strong nor otherwise.

”No, if I’m gonna go to hell anyways, I might as well cause as much carnage to him as I can before I go.”

He stared intently at the figure in the middle, which seemed to be doing the majority of the speaking, it was, in particular, familiar, all of them were, a sense of melancholy remembrance, like meeting an old friend after many years, which was not unsurprising, they were his friends before their untimely death, but still, there was something unnerving about it, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Is this what Sacha would’ve wanted?”

Orochalcus felt rage build up inside of him, what did these beings mean? Why did that even remotely matter? Sacha was a monster, he was the one who had killed him, for Christs sake! Why were they trying to defend his will in their most-mortem existence? He felt the need to shout, to scream, and before long, he did.

”What does it matter what Sacha would’ve wanted!? Are you forgetting he’s the man who killed you all!?”

The figures didn’t respond with any emotion, continuing to just stare down at him, before they eventually explained themselves.

”The man you now know as Sacha, is he not different to the man you knew? Was he not your brother for a time? He goes by Sa’an now, correct? Why do you not see those beings as seperate? One is a monster, yet one was more or less family to you, and to us, too. Why do you hate him in retrospect?”

“How are they different!?” Orocalcus screamed less than seconds after the figure had finished his short speech.”They’re the same damn person! How can I not hate someone who’d go on to become him!?”

The figures stared down, why did they never react? They always remained so cold, like huge, imposing statues made of pure night, their tone was always so cold, even Orochalcus, who had always seen himself as a calm and decisive person, was screaming at that moment, why were they remaining completely stoic in the face of the discussion of such a creature?

“You will understand when you stand knee deep in the dead, now go, does your encounter with him not lie in the near future? Awake, and do not disappoint us.”

Orochalcus awoke before he could even have the chance to respond, he felt his blood still boiling, the audacity of those beings! To criticise him, in his own mind! He was superior to them, he lived through what had killed them, he was the only one who could deliver justice for what had been inflicted upon them, upon the whole of the November army, the real November army, not this thing Sacha was leading now, nothing but something to give himself the illusion of power, was the regency not enough for him? No, of course not, nothing would ever be enough for that scum of a man.

He stood up, utterly furious, staring up at the sky, which was now dark, a deep navy blue so characterised by the time just before the morning came, dawn. This sky was a presence which would’ve been imposing were it not to the darkness he had just been subjected to mere minutes earlier, or was it hours earlier? It was impossible to tell, the human mind was the greatest enigma of the world, after all. He felt the rage boiling inside of him, and he screamed up into the air, blinded by his hatred, yelling at nothing.

“Fuck all of you! Get out of my head!”

He screamed, to no answer, the sky continued to stare down at him just as silently as the figures in his mind had, were they one and the same? Perhaps, perhaps not, it didn’t matter though, infuriating as they were, they were in some regards correct, his encounter with the regent, Sacha, was soon, that was going to be his one chance to take revenge, they’d have no choice but to leave him after he had done that, after all.

He grasped back at his colossal slab of iron, grunting as he threw it’s colossal form back under his crude cloak, carrying it on his back, just as he always did, indeed, this was his weapon now, it had once belonged to Sacha, in some far off time when those figures were still living, when Orochalcus had yet to lose everything. It was the blade he would slay him with, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, it was, in many ways, the little bit of revenge he could have, but soon, that wouldn’t be the case anymore, soon, he could take it back, inflict upon Sacha the pain that he had inflicted upon him, cast him right down to the underworld with his own two hands, and let Lucifer’s realm consume him whole.

He continued walking, back to the town where he was staying, his stomach seemingly just as angry as any other part of him, which added up, given that he hadn’t eaten in nearly a week now, Orochalcus was by this point no stranger to going long times without necessities, but it was far from being a pleasantry, even to him.

He heard the now wet grass squelch under his eight as he walked onwards, a sound which sounded so familiar, yet so odd at the same time. He muttered to himself once again.

“Must’ve rained, I was out for a while, I suppose…”