“Are you sure it will be alright?”

“Do not worry. I have made sure they will be in no danger.”

“But should they really be here for this?”

“They have seen much worse. I believe that this is something that will be good for them to observe. If we are right, this is a perfect opportunity to see.”

“Well, I suppose so...

“...”

“Are you troubled?”

“I usually am.”

“Is it memories?”

“...It usually is.”

“Some things will never fade. But they become easier to handle in time. The truth is, the world is not fair. Karma is not real. Many are lost who deserve life. And they probably always will. You may carry this guilt, but it is important to separate your feelings from the belief that they convey culpability.”

“I know, there isn't necessarily anything I could have done. Not at the time. But it is hard to go on, knowing there are those who are left behind. Those who were like me. You can feel guilty knowing that you have what they could not. And that there is no meaning behind it. It is just the roll of the dice. I feel... guilty enjoying things, knowing that I feel joy deprived of another. How can I be happy knowing that someone I cared about never got this chance?”

“It is natural to feel that way, to wonder if you must carry the weight of their lost chances. But you living on is not something that takes away from them. Those who care about you would want you to live for yourself as well. Not just to exist. Our trials never end. It is your burden that you must carry their memories forth with you. But it lets you carry a piece of them, sharing with it what you find beautiful.

“And those trials lead us to right now. To this moment. It is our past that shapes our present. And it is our future that pulls us forth. Time will tell whether our past has led us to true liberation. But in truth, it matters not. For if we were to fall on this very day, we will still have done enough.”

“I suppose you are right. Being miserable does not help the fallen.”

“One cannot replace another. But there are more who need help. And if you work to this, no soul of the lost can hold it against you.

“But know this. Beyond this point, there may be no turning back. And you will become the enemy of both heaven and earth. Are you truly willing to risk everything for this?”

“I must.”

“Do not make this choice out of guilt. There is no compulsion to do this. If you do it, you must do it freely.”

“I...”

----------------------------------------

Mei and Isaac sat listlessly on the swing set of an abandoned grade school as the golden glare of the fading sunset cast long shadows through the heavy trees onto them. They had been asked to come out here for a relatively small mission, since despite the emergence of the Vimerkanah, for the time being they were not busy with anything else. And with the limited numbers of people that were available, they couldn't always afford to hold people back for only larger missions. There were some who argued that Mei shouldn't be on the front lines for less significant things, out of risk she could be hurt or discovered. But she didn't feel okay staying back, knowing it could mean others got hurt in her place. So while such a concern may have made sense pragmatically, she felt it wouldn't work psychologically.

People often feel like a sudden revelation will change everything. But the truth is, people are good at adapting. Many thought the emergence of the Vimerkanah would lead to apocalyptic riots and scrutiny over what was coming next. But in the end, after a few weeks, it was treated as fairly normal. Routine. Day to day, nothing changed. People simply accepted its presence. And it was put out of mind, though it still remained within eye. Some scrutinized what was coming next. Though if you didn't look in its direction, you could be forgiven for thinking it wasn't there at all.

Isaac glanced up at it. Though it quickly became a mere part of the environment for some, there were others who knew what it implied. And though it was not yet relevant to them, they felt like it made them often uneasy. Like it were the watchful eye of Sakras bearing down on them from a triangular prism.

He looked over at Mei, speaking softly.

“I get that we didn't have anything else to do for the moment, but it seems odd that they asked us out here for this.”

She responded in an even keel.

“This is a rather odd case. A lot of children went missing at once. And the local exorcists don't seem to have any means to deal with it. So they asked around higher up the food chain until getting to us.”

Isaac thought about this. While he had years of experience dealing with ether and the noosphere, including at the theoretical level before getting to the practical, he was still a little newer to this world than Mei. Because on account of his physical development, even after Mei had rescued him, it had been many years before the techno-gnostics had been willing to let him join, despite technically being much older than he looked.

He looked up, thinking about the local exorcists.

“It's funny, I guess. What they do isn't much different than what we do. But they are allowed to practice legally, whereas we have to operate in secret. At least in most places.”

Mei smiled.

“It's different, I suppose. Exorcists clear out local demons. Some of them even work for or with the temple. But this is allowed because they aren't a threat to it. The light clears out the dark. The night returns. The system repeats in a cycle. They wouldn't risk working with us at all if they could help it. Because there could be severe consequences for doing so. But one of them must have had a contact. And this situation was beyond their own means.”

Isaac thought about this.

“That's not all though, is it? There's something special about this case.”

She closed her eyes.

“Very perceptive. But there is another reason we are here. After the children went missing, they discovered a message. This note is part of what led them to contacting the techno-gnostics. But it does seem to be more than that. It seems like it is a message addressed at us specifically. Or close to it.”

She took out a file and handed to Isaac something that was inside. He looked at it a bit, and then after this, he handed it back to her. She spoke again.

“The one who left this may also be the one who summoned the demons. So it is hard to tell what exactly is going to happen here.”

“You think the black knight might be involved?”

“It's a possibility.”

“Is it safe to come here with just the two of us, if that is the case?”

“The black knight didn't want me dead. I don't know why. I think... they wanted me to see something.”

She sighed.

“The truth is, if they wanted me dead, I would have been dead already. They have no need to lure me here, just for a rematch. Whatever they are planning, it won't be for awhile.”

“So you don't think this is a trap?”

“...

“Well...

“At any rate, whatever it is, we need to see it through to the end.”

“And that's because?”

“The temple doesn't know who I am. My identity is supposed to be a secret. Our entire plan is predicated on them not being aware of me ahead of time. I won't be able to use the white lotus otherwise.”

Isaac looked down as Mei continued speaking.

“This is the second time in as many weeks that someone seems to have known me. It's dangerous for this to be something that could get back to them. So it may be bait. But it is something we need to follow up on.”

Isaac looked nervous. She looked over at him.

“Don't worry. I planned ahead. I have things under control.”

“Okay, I trust you.”

Isaac sighed again. He was good at tactics, but even he didn't fully understand Mei's intuition for these kinds of cases. Her heightened ability to sense the intentions of others could be used even in practical combat-related situations. And so he would defer to her judgment in them. This is not to say she did not make poor decisions at times. Especially where certain topics were involved. But these kinds of situations weren't those times. Because it is one thing to understand others. It is another to understand yourself.

Isaac sat still for awhile feeling somber from the sunset. It fading from over the horizon conveyed a sense of something ending. He turned back to her to speak.

“The truth is though, Mei, I'm glad we got to do stuff like this again together before the end. I missed when we just went out and got to do smaller missions by ourselves, and didn't have to be as guarded. But we haven't gotten to do that in awhile. And who knows what will happen once all this is over.”

Mei smiled and put her hand on his head.

“Of course, little bro. I feel the same. And I wouldn't miss it for anything. But we can do things our way today. Perhaps for the last time.”

Isaac got a little embarrassed.

“Mei, you know I'm older than you.”

“Not in my eyes. And you are quite a bit smaller, so the word little still applies.”

“Heh. Maybe it does.”

He smiled softly.

“But really. I just want you to know that whatever happens, I valued the time we spent together. And I'm grateful to you for saving me.”

Mei smiled back.

“I'm grateful to you as well. The truth is, I am too weak to share my feelings with anyone else. But I wouldn't have been able to come this far alone. If I had just tried to keep everything inside, I likely wouldn't have been able to handle what's coming.”

She looked back forward, putting together her thoughts.

“I feel like there is a dark red cloud always following me. Inside of which lies a lack of purpose. With drive, you can outrun it. But it is always behind you, dripping in blood and death. And it represents what you will fall into if you can't hold onto the construct of your life's meaning.”

Isaac leaned back.

“You know, even after all this time, it's still a little funny to hear you talk this way. You don't talk this way to anyone else. Its like you become a totally different person when there is someone else around.”

She looked in his direction with a soft expression, thinking.

“No. I want to inspire confidence in others in the way I don't have in myself. The truth is, in part, I am really just trying to convince myself when I speak. Sometimes it works. But either way, I am happy when I can see that it works on others. Even if I don't feel it inside.”

He leaned forward again.

“I think you do. More than you realize. You came this far after all.”

She looked over, smiling.

“Maybe so. Thank you.”

He sat there idly for awhile. But then sat up straight, holding onto the swing chains.

“But even so. It is sad to feel like a chapter of your life is coming to a close. I spent so much of my life wondering why I wasn't moving forward fast enough because of my parents de-aging me. But now that time is moving again, it is hard to keep up with the changes.

He looked around.

“I spent most of my life in different schools like this. Longer than I was supposed to be in them. It's odd that now they are just a faint memory. But it feels very nostalgic to be back at one again.”

Mei made a somber expression.

“I can't say I relate. Things weren't quite as bad when I was very young. But for most of my childhood, I took no joy out of the process of life. Childhood nostalgia is a hard-to-understand feeling for me because I didn't really begin to become happier until later on, when I learned to separate myself from how my family saw me. And when I began to get friends of my own.”

Isaac looked over.

“Well, don't blame me. I wanted to be friends with you. But my parents had other ideas.”

She looked back.

“And yet here you are. After all these years, they couldn't keep up apart.”

“I suppose so.”

They sat for a long moment in silence, thinking about the past and future. Time erodes all things. But in a sense, they never really disappear. And though it might pass, right here, right now, this moment would be etched onto all of time forever.

Eventually, Mei stood up from the swing.

“Lets go. They are coming.”

Isaac quickly stood up as well. He could not sense any demons nearby. But he knew better than to question Mei.

“How can you tell? I can't sense anything. There's nothing on the scanners either.”

She closed her black eyes and smiled slightly, blocking out her bloodstained vision.

“Darkness is drawn to a tortured will, it seems. I knew that they would not hide for long once I got here. They are here for me.”

She started walking into the school with her saber ignited, and Isaac trailed behind her, guns drawn. As they got inside the building, which was now without power, it became darker now that the sun was beneath the horizon, with little visible but the cold light of the blue hours and the glowing blue of Mei's saber. Though they were equipped to deal with dim lighting of this nature.

They walked through several empty hallways to get deeper into the school. But at first did not see anything. But true to her words, it did not take long for demons to make themselves visible. Several of them began to appear in front of them, eyes glowing red in gluttony for the life energy they saw before them. They wasted no time. One dove at Mei, and she dodged out of the way, cutting it in half, its red trail passing through her blue blade like an antipodal glare.

The other demons at a glance were clearly surprised by this, not expecting the intruders to be this well prepared to deal with them. After a moment of hesitation, they started all rushing forward at once. Isaac spun his guns and then aimed forward, shooting bullets alongside next to Mei, and dropping two more of them before they ever reached her.

Mei darted forward, her blade meeting a demon's massive claws in a clash of light and darkness that illuminated the room in a violent, otherworldly glow. She spun it around back in an x shape, the ones that demons were known to hate. And it fell into four pieces.

These demons in front of them were not the most large or dangerous. But there was no guarantee that there would not be worse ones inside. They had already cut down half the ones in front of them. But it was not clear how many there were in the larger area.

Mei turned her head slightly.

“Look behind you.”

She spoke loudly but flatly, without even turning around. Isaac turned around quickly to see that there were also two demons coming from the rear. And he was still amazed at how it was that Mei had noticed these before him. He aimed and shot at them, but these ones were too quick, getting out of the way, and shooting back at him a beam of ether that he had to quickly dodge himself.

He shot back, but they were now fairly guarded behind the walls. And so he entered into a cat and mouse game, shooting back and forth for awhile without much progress. He looked back, but Mei seemed to be doing fine behind him, and so he focused on his own fight.

One of the demons seemed to vanish, and so he focused on the other one, pulling back a bit to draw it out. Eventually it lurched forward, giving him a chance to shoot it. But right as he did this, he saw the other one smash through the wall next to him, hoping to take him by surprise. But he was not so easily fooled. Having expected this, he was already facing and aiming at it, with its face ending up right next to the barrel of his gun.

“Checkmate.”

He shot through it, causing its body to collapse to the ground. Checking quickly to make sure it was really dead, he turned back towards Mei, quickly moving back over to her side. Her side was also reduced down to two. But as she jabbed her sword through one of them, it held for a moment too long. The other one jumped up from behind her, and so Isaac pulled his gun and shot at it, causing it to fall before it could slash her.

She looked up, with a face of blank and subtle gratitude. He nodded. But inside he was wondering. He felt like she had visibly left herself open on purpose. This wasn't the first time he had suspected this. That she had set things up at the end of a fight to make him feel like his presence was indispensable when he came to help. But he did not bring this up, feeling like it would be awkward. If that is what she was doing, was it for his sake or hers? Him coming to the rescue early on did fill him with confidence. And it's true that how useful he felt continued to do so.

Now that the battle was over, he closed his eyes and put a sucker in his mouth. Was it a lie? It is hard to say. But perhaps some lies can be good lies. Even though he suspected it was intentional, it still worked on him. It's funny how that works.

Mei looked up.

“Be careful. There will likely be stronger ones deeper inside.”

Isaac took out and looked at his tablet over his jacket's collar that covered his mouth. There didn't seem to be any more enemies nearby in the building. But appearances could be deceiving. He scanned for the ether flow to see what could be picked up from it. And though it did not reveal any further enemies, it showed that there was a nexus point deeper in the building.

“From this map, it looks like a nexus might be present in the building's gym. If they went through a portal, that is the most likely location.”

Mei didn't bother checking the results.

“Well then, lead the way.”

They started walking down the school, checking various corridors along the way. The school had not been abandoned for very long, but it was without power. The disappearances had only happened around a week ago. And local cyber-exorcists were contacted to handle it. It was only when they realized that it was likely too big a task for them did they call in someone with more expertise.

But even so. A week was a lot of time. And it was possible that those who were captured were already dead. Events like this with such a large amount disappearing at once were relatively uncommon. But perhaps the demons were reacting to the Vimerkanah. Acting up in an agitated way to the overarching holy wave that was being threatened.

Isaac looked up from his tablet.

“Mei, you're bleeding.”

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“Am I?”

Mei looked at her arm to see that there was a gash in it from the earlier attack, with single drips of blood coming off of it. She hadn't noticed. She often tuned out pains like these. But it wouldn't do to lose more blood when they hadn't even gotten further in yet. Mei pulled her arm out of her jacket and washed it off at a water fountain, which, unlike the power, did still work. She took a healing pack out, and they stood to quickly bandage it before they moved on.

Before moving on, Mei stopped to look at her arm. And Isaac could tell that she was thinking about something.

“What's wrong?”

“Not even I can avoid getting hit. And fights are only going to get more difficult from here on out.”

She looked up, trying to think of how to put her thoughts together.

“You know how in fiction, the enemies will often just let the heroes waltz into their headquarters and then face off with them. But why? You wonder why the villain willingly walks out to face them in single combat instead of just rigging the whole entrance area with bombs or so many turrets that there's no easy way to get around. Unless they do it for the sake of pride, there's no reason to even allow such a fight as possible if you can design your own choke point.”

“I'm not sure what you are getting at.”

“Being good at fighting isn't enough, even for me. I wouldn't be able to do much if the temple just blew up the whole area. And our enemies are cunning. We don't know what they have prepared. And we will be entering into their own territory."

Isaac blew a bubble from the bubble gum he was chewing. It was one of those kinds of suckers with gum in the middle.

“If a place was laced with explosives, you would probably know ahead of time if you were careful. You can do a scan for that.”

Mei wagged her finger.

“The explosives don't necessarily have to be in the same room. They could have turrets placed a ways away to make an ability to nuke a pathway at a moment's notice while having it look inconspicuous.”

Isaac thought about this for a moment.

“Well, you can make a shield.”

“I can make one. But if they just continually drop bombs, it's not like it would last more than a few seconds. All the combat skill in the world isn't going to help you if they plan well enough to make it impossible to use it.”

Isaac thought about this. Mei kept speaking.

“What I mean is that this plan ultimately seems optimistic. Or rather, suicidal. There's limits to what I can do. But this plan seems to rely on the assumption that the temple will never be desperate enough to just straight up salt the earth. We are going to need to think through some better defenses.”

He made a note on the topic.

“Well, we can see what we can do.”

“And well... its not just the temple now. We are dealing with other enemies. Ones we don't understand. And these ones are very cunning. So we have to account for everything.”

Isaac knew who she was referring to. But he considered that it might be a sore subject and opted not to bring it up.

It was true, though. This is something that he had been thinking about as well. They could make ether shields, but how much utility these had was fairly limited. It could take a few hits, but it wouldn't make them invincible. Their plans for their final assault looked somewhat like a suicide mission. So what if Mei could take down a ton of people or even demons along the way? Their enemy would just send more. It would prioritize its own survival above all else. And if it came down to it, it would throw everything it had at them. At which point even supernatural skill would not be enough.

They still had time to try to come up with solutions to this. But if time ran out, they would have to just wing it. And with the odds already against them, this wouldn't be an ideal plan. Especially when they would finally have to deal with the divine armors.

Isaac started to get lost in thought. He was the ether expert here. So he felt like it was on him to come up with a solution. But even he wasn't that great at making shields. But before he could think for much longer, Mei started walking again, and waved to him.

“We shouldn't stand for too long. Lets continue on.”

He nodded

“Alright.”

They got back up to continue looking for the Nexus. Mei took a long drink at the water fountain. This reminded Isaac that he too was thirsty, so he did the same before continuing on. As they moved on little more that was eventful happened for the moment. Isaac kept a gun drawn in case he were to need it, but they didn't get attacked by anything else along the way. Eventually, he read that the nexus was close, and they looked over to its pinpointed destination.

As they entered into the gym, they realized they had come to the center of the ether flow. To a normal person, it would not be visible. But the sensors were off the charts. Isaac looked up.

“This area appears to have a flow that carries over to an esoteric space. It is possible that if people were vanished from here that they were carried through it.”

Mei looked back listlessly over her jacket, her cold black eyes conveying dispassion.

“Can you open it?”

“Yes, but...”

“But what?”

“We can't be sure what is in there. It might be dangerous to go in haphazardly.”

Mei looked back.

“Danger?”

She closed her eyes and smirked.

“That's okay. Open it anyhow.”

Isaac looked at her for a moment, thinking about how they had just been talking about danger. But then did as he was told. He stood back from the nexus and raised his hands. Opening this would likely take a lot of ether. But he would still be able to conserve some, in case it was needed later. Mei walked to the other side of the room and sat down with her hand on her face, watching, in case it was going to take a long time.

Light shone around the room as Isaac searched for the nexus point to make contact with and interact with it. This is something that would be difficult for most exorcists to do. But that is, after all, why they were here. Beams of light shot past Mei as she sat there waiting.

Eventually, a hole began to tear in space. First small, and then getting larger. Until it became self-sustaining. Mei got up from the bleachers and walked over to it. She grabbed onto the sides and stuck her head in, much to Isaac's dismay, and he held up his arm to protest but did not finish doing so, and then set them back down.

She pulled her head back out and looked over to him.

“It looks fine. We can go in.”

“Both of us?”

“We don't need you to stay on the outside. It will be more important to have you there to open it from the inside if necessary.”

Isaac shuffled his feet.

“You know I have to at least pretend to protest. Are you sure this is safe?”

“Nothing is ever safe. But in the immediate sense, it should be fine.”

He looked down.

“And why is that?”

“Because remember we were called here. Whoever called us is in there. And I don't think they are here for a murder-suicide.”

“They may have brought the demons here.”

“It's nothing we can't handle.”

“You say that so confidently.”

“There are no consequences for us, because if we fail, we will be dead. So there's nothing to worry about.”

“That's... okay. There's a lot going on there.”

“I'm joking.”

“Are you though?”

She waved her hand.

“That will be left as an exercise for the reader. Come on.”

Mei climbed up into the edge of the portal and hopped in casually. Isaac hesitated. But he trusted her to keep them safe. It had worked this far, at least. Though he knew that thinking this way violated the problem of induction.

But it's not like they had never been in danger before. It was better to get it over with. Like diving into cold water. He liked swimming. He used to have pools wherever he lived as a child and had birthdays at them when he could. He ran up and dove through the portal, his white coat waving on his back behind him.

----------------------------------------

Isaac fell headfirst through the portal, with a feeling of an empty wind waving its way around him. Bright blue lights streak past him in endless ribbons, illuminating his face with an eerie, otherworldly glow. He had seen things like this before, of course. But it is always a breathtaking vision. A small piece of reality that reminds you that the world is beyond your comprehension.

Falling out of the portal, however, Isaac could immediately tell that something was off. His movement was strange, causing him to stumble and fall over, missing his landing. As he stumbled to sit up, and looking at his hands, he could tell his movement was strange and heavy, like he was looking at himself move with some frames missing. He tried to speak, only to find out that sound did not carry in the place they found themselves.

He felt suddenly nervous and panicky, looking around for Mei. But on seeing her standing there calm, he felt comforted. She had been in more cyber-esoteric spaces than him. So she was probably used to things like this and understood what to expect.

She turned to him and used sign language to signal that they would likely be unable to communicate with speech here and needed to use signs. Seeing that he looked nervous, she went on to sign that it was okay and was nothing they couldn't handle. But that they should get a moment to get used to how their bodies would move here.

Isaac stood up slowly and looked around the room. He had been so preoccupied so much by his own odd movement that he had not yet checked around the surroundings. On standing up, he saw that they were still in a place that resembled a school. But now it was different. Outside there was no light, with the sky trailing off into empty darkness. As if the school was a self-existent structure in a world where nothing else existed. The only light came from lamps within the school. But these had an eerie glow, glowing in a dim blue.

Isaac felt somewhat disturbed by the area and its inexplicable nature. Was this a construct made by an entity of some kind as a copy of the school? Or was it just a natural outcropping of reality within the unseen areas, tied to it as a reflection of the world of light up above? One you could walk over countless times as you visited the school building without ever knowing what lurked down below.

He looked back over at Mei. She generally didn't show any signs of nervousness in situations like this. He couldn't be quite as fearless as her. Though he was good enough at hiding it that usually no one but her could tell. Even when she was in danger, she never feared for her own life, only showed concern about being a letdown to others. While he used to admire her fearlessness, he learned over time that there was a darker side to it. And that sometimes even seemingly good qualities were a reflection of a troubled mind within.

He remembered to check his device, but for some reason its screen could not be made visible here. The light would come on, but it was not decipherable. He wondered whether that was just on account of the atmosphere and it would go back to normal later, or whether it was permanently damaged. He hoped it wasn't the latter, because he hated being wasteful. Mei signed for him to follow, so he put it away and followed on. It might be harder to navigate without the device, but the area did not seem to be overly large. And they were good at keeping their relative bearings.

They began to walk down the long hallways. The ambiance in them made it hard to get your bearings and felt almost like moving through water. Something about the air made the place have an atmosphere like it was hard to conceive of anything outside of it. It made it feel like if you stayed there too long, you would begin to feel like it was the only place you had ever been. Moving idly between the dim blue lights with no other purpose than to traverse between them across the empty darkness.

Isaac started to feel hazy. He tried to shake it off to focus on the mission. But... what mission? Why had they come here again? Come here? Where were they before? Was there anywhere before, or had they always been here? They? Who were they? What were they? What?

The empty sound of footsteps began to carry on without a center. This is where the footsteps were. It is where they had always been. There was no before or after. Only the empty feeling of footsteps traversing the endless halls. There were two pairs of footsteps. But this had no significance. There had always been. There would always be. They would carry on endlessly. A hollow ringing out against the halls of eternity forever.

The area began to shake. Isaac snapped back to attention in a panic, looking around confused at what had happened. Mei was looking at him with worried eyes. He was dazed and confused and couldn't remember the last several minutes. Was it minutes? He couldn't say how long it had been. Or even whether time had meaning here. He wondered how Mei had noticed what had happened to him. He was sure he was still following her. But perhaps she had noticed him have a dorceless expression.

She signed to him to be careful, or he would become part of the night watch. He nodded back. He still didn't feel entirely lucid. But he wondered how it was that Mei was unaffected. Or whether she even was. Even if she hadn't been affected yet, there's a chance she could be. He realized it was likely important to keep himself aware if needs be to do the same thing in return.

After a moment to regain more self-awareness, they kept on moving, looking in various rooms to see if there was anyone inside. But as they did not see anything, they were beginning to wonder if there was even anyone here. They did not even see any signs of demons. But this did not inspire confidence. Because it was not a great situation to be where even demons feared to tread.

Going around the next corner, however, they stopped suddenly, and Mei put her arm out. Because ahead of them were several shapes. And once they got a better look, they could see that it was more demons. And these ones looked stronger than the ones before. Ones that could potentially be a larger issue.

But they realized at a glance that this case was different. The demons were acting abnormally. Staying fairly motionless. The demons showed no awareness of their presence. And this was abnormal behavior for a demon. Much to Isaac's dismay, Mei walked up and put her face close to them. But they showed no awareness of her presence. And they did not seem to be lucid.

Isaac was afraid, but seeing Mei do so, he slowly walked up to look at the demons closely himself. He had never seen one up so close before. Not one he was free to look at, at least. Because if one was nearby, you could normally count on it attacking you. There was still a lot about the demons they didn't know. A lot about reality in general, that is. For there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in human philosophies.

Isaac signed to Mei that it seemed like even the demons were affected by the nature of this space. For the space was fairly inexplicable even by the standards of esoteric spaces. And from what they could see, it was likely something the demons weren't themselves prepared to deal with upon entering. Instead of their ends glowing red, the demons had a faint blue glow, in keeping with the light color of this space. For this space looked like it wasn't physically capable of having colors within it that were not themselves shades of cold luminescent blue.

This was concerning to Isaac. If even the demons couldn't resist the nature of this place, it was likely prone to being very overpowering. And the nature of the place was itself still fairly mysterious. Many esoteric spaces had a nature confusing to humans but seemed to have some practical purpose for existing. But this space seemed to have no purpose at all. It almost seemed like its nature siphoned out the concept of purpose from the air. Revealing the empty structure underneath phenomenal reality that rests only on the void.

Mei looked down as if thinking. But she looked over to Isaac and shook her head. Isaac thought about it for a moment. But he understood. Demons were the enemy. But even for demons, it wouldn't feel right to attack them preemptively when they were not self aware. Isaac knew that Mei had guilt as it was, being forced to fight when she could feel the feelings of others so clearly. And knowing that many of them were not individually bad people, just ones who got sucked into a struggle they did not understand.

Mei was a pacifist at heart. She tried to solve issues non-lethally when possible. Even nonviolently. But this was not always possible. And it is a cruel fate to be the one better at fighting than everyone else who then felt like you had no choice, and so for whom death always followed.

They started walking on. But as they did, they heard a sound behind them. Turning to look, they saw that the demons had slowly begun to follow them. But it was not intentionally. The demons still did not show any awareness of where they were or what was around them. They simply followed quietly. As if they had no sense of self. Their bodies playing a game of follow the leader due to a lack of any other instruction.

This unsettled Isaac. For he did not know what to expect next at this point. But Mei had no reaction. And continued forward to look for the lost children. Isaac followed dutifully. But he would keep turning around from moment to moment to make sure nothing changed about the chaotic trail that was behind them.

They continued on like this for some ways, going into different rooms and hallways. But they did not find anything. There were no people here. And no signs of a struggle either. Nor were there any dead bodies. Isaac began to wonder if they had come to the wrong place. For it was always possible that the ebb and flow of esoteric spaces had shifted since the children had disappeared from the school. And to be concerned about staying there too long. If they did not find anything, eventually they should get back before fully succumbing to this place themselves. Isaac felt like this could happen to him again at any time. Though even Mei likely could not hold it off forever.

Eventually, however, at the end of a hall, they came to a dead end. And though the demons behind them were idle, they realized they would have to walk past them to go in reverse. They did so initially without much trouble. But as they did, the demons began to move towards them. But even now they showed no awareness in their eyes. Their stance became combative. But it was like a reflex. They had fully lost themselves to the dark school. But their bodies still knew the reflex of aggression. And so he took on a fighting stance.

Mei looked at them, pained. But in the end, she drew her blade. And upon this, Isaac did the same with his guns. A demon lurched at her, and she jumped back. This happened a second and a third time. But nothing changed about their demeanor. And so on the fourth time, she slashed back, cutting it in half. The other demons quickly followed, starting an all-out fight. But despite this, the school remained quiet. Like the empty reflection of a time long since gone by, but which would remain forever.

They quickly dispatched the demons. But not without effort. For even in the demons' non-lucid state, on account of their size and number, they were still a danger. As the demons lie dead at their feet, Isaac could see that Mei had gained a pained expression. And she looked over at him, with her black eyes conveying all the feelings she was holding inside. These demons had likely killed many people before. And ultimately worked for a force that, in the end, was the true evil. But even so, they were not aware in that moment. And it made Mei reflect harder for the first time on the nature of the demons themselves. Even the demons may have had lives of their own. And may have at one point been benevolent. As they died, they had expressions like they were finally at peace. Dissolving into the nirvana that had sapped them of their hatred.

Mei did something that shocked Isaac. And stopped to say a prayer for the demons. He was stunned at first. But then smiled slightly to himself. Because of course, of all people, she would do this. So in a show of solidarity he made a motion of doing the same.

They turned to continue on. But as they did so, they stopped suddenly. For they began to hear footsteps other than their own. And these ones did not sound like demons. Mei and Isaac looked back into the dark corridor behind them from whence the footsteps came, waiting to see what would emerge from it. But in the end, nothing did. The footsteps passed them by. And though there was a resounding sound as if someone was coming right between them, in the end they could see nothing. And nothing more could be discerned from this noise.

Unsettled, they kept moving. Finally, they ran into something that looked more promising. At the end of the hall, they came to what looked like a floating blue sheet. They could not tell what it was, but they could see that on the other side, the atmosphere looked different. As if it was from a different place entirely. They looked at eachother. But the shimmering barrier did not seem to be dangerous. So they stepped through.

All at once they could tell the atmosphere was different, and closer to regular space. On the other side, it was no longer dark, being once again bright and colorful. And they noticed that once again their movement and speech had returned to normal. But despite this, there was still a sense of unease. Because getting lost in a series of esoteric spaces would not be an ideal outcome either. And at this point they could no longer predict what the meaning of these spaces might be. And though the dark school was now behind them, its nature felt no less mysterious than before.

They found themselves walking out of a door and into an open meadow covered in flowers and ringed around by cherry blossom trees. Around them, it looked similar to normal space and could almost be confused for it at a glance. But there were details in the sky that made it clear that they were not. For the sky above looked similar to as if it had the northern lights in it. Which is something that would not be expected in the atmosphere of the place that they had found themselves if it were in normal space.

In the center of the field, they saw a figure wearing dark robes. They looked at each other, nodded, and began walking towards it. Mei noticed something out of the corner of her eye and leaned in to Isaac to tell him to be careful. They got within a stone's throw of the figure and stopped. The figure was merely standing, not showing any reaction to them. From up close, they could see that it was an older monk in dark robes and holding a walking staff. To the relief of both of them, it did not appear to be the black knight. Though they were still cautious about what it was they were seeing.

They stood there for a long while. The monk was looking up at the sky. And because of this they did so as well. Eventually the monk began to speak.

"If I do not descend into hell to help the suffering beings, who then will go? Until the hells are empty, I can not rest."

He turned his head slightly back.

“You have had this feeling as well, have you not?”

Mei looked down.

“Yeah.”

The monk looked forward again.

“That is good. But you must account for yourself as well. No one can shoulder everything on their own.”

Mei looked forward, taking on a determined tone.

“I will do what I must.”

“That too is good. But do still be careful.”

He rummaged in his sleeve.

“There is one other thing though, however. Please indulge me. For there is something I have to test.”

Mei quickly dove out of the way, because as he finished speaking, he turned and threw an energy blast in her direction. She slowly stood back up and made a hand signal to Isaac.

The monk started walking towards them slowly. Isaac took out his guns and shot in his direction, but a wave of light surrounding him repelled it. He realized that bullets were not going to help here and took a step back.

Mei walked forward, igniting her saber, and slashed at the sphere of light. But it repelled the blade. Mei being stunned for a second at the blade being repelled, the monk took the opportunity to swing his staff back at her. But she was too quick and shifted her blade to block the strike. As she stood there with the blade locked, the monk showed no emotion. So it was difficult to get a read on his intentions.

Or at least would be for some. She took a step back to charge her blade with ether. And ran around to slash at the sphere from another side. This time it predictably shattered. But she was shocked to find another barrier behind it. Before she could do anything about this, the monk swung back at her, and she had to dodge to the side. The monk now took a step forward to make a swing at her, but she parried it back. And this happened a few more times in succession. She took a step back to catch her breath.

She was intrigued by this. She had fought people on her level before. And in rare cases, a few even better. But never anyone like this. The monk was not as fast as her. He would not have been able to keep up in a direct fight. But his ability to create defenses was on a level she had never seen before. And he was able to use these to buy himself time between each attack.

At this point, she figured that he was likely able to make new barriers each time one was broken. And he did it so effortlessly that it likely didn't take much strain on ether either. So it would be difficult to carve through all of them. She wondered how long he could keep these up if they were broken. But it likely could not be forever. So this would likely become a battle of attrition. She wondered, could she get through all of them before making a mistake that opens herself for attack?

Her mind went to the black knight. But this case was different. This was winnable, as long as she stayed focused.

The monk stopped and made a face.

“You shouldn't dwell on the past. Or the future, for that matter.”

She wiped her face and smirked.

“You can do it too, huh? Don't worry, I'll take it under advisement.”

She took a step forward again, cutting through one of the barriers, but this time dodging around his attack to cut the next. And she wondered how Isaac was doing, because this was taking her full attention.

Isaac was behind her, still aiming his guns. But after the initial volley, he did not shoot again. But this was because he had something else to take up his attention. Still not looking directly at the one he was focusing on, he spoke aloud.

“You didn't really think that was going to work, did you?”

He turned around and shot at the shadowed figure in the tree behind him. Out of it, a girl did a backflip, landing on the ground. She squinted at him, annoyed at having been discovered. She was dressed a bit eccentric, like an assassin wearing a skirt and long gloves. Her hair was pink, though Isaac assumed that it was dyed.

She dove towards him and took out three throwing daggers to throw in his direction. But she was unbalanced from having been discovered and clearly didn't intend to be in this position, making it hard to do the recovery. Mei had signed for him not to hurt her earlier, so in place of guns he used an incapacitating ether field, which slowed her down, giving her a shock that made her unable to continue fighting. She initially tried to struggle but realized that it was no use as he had quickly replaced the ether restraint with an actual one, tying her hands behind her back.

She glared at him at first but quickly gave up and made a resigned expression.

“Erk. How did you notice me?”

He smiled softly.

“The truth is, I didn't. Mei pointed you out to me when we were coming in. Nothing can get past her eagle eyes.”

“You must trust her a lot, huh.”

“Well, I owe her a lot for what she did for me. And... the world owes her a lot for what she is doing for them.”

“Gee, don't use up all your positive words at once.”

Isaac got embarrassed slightly, realizing how he had started talking about her again. He knew that Mei would get embarrassed and tell him to stop if he acted too grateful. But in getting to work with her, he could see how much she had shouldered to end up in the position she was in. And it was hard to separate his own feelings from how he saw her larger place in the world.

The girl spoke again.

“But... I can see what you mean. I feel the same way. When I was young, I was... thrown away by my family. I was left at the ends of infinity to waste away doing nothing. There were six of us there. But demons would come and kill us one by one. At the end it was only me left. But the traveling monk Huishen came and rescued me. Originally, he didn't want to let me come because I was young. But eventually, when I was a little older, he let me follow him.”

“Follow him doing what?”

“Descending into hell to rescue the children that are there. This happens in a lot of cases, you know. Where I come from in backwater Ho Ton Tinh, people will take children they want to get rid of and bring them to a cyber-shaman to drop into another reality. Gets rid of them off the record with no chance of discovery. And they can just report them as missing.”

Isaac looked sad.

“And that's what happened to you?”

She looked pained in turn.

“Yeah. Though I did not know about it at the time. At the time, I just woke up one day, and they were just... gone. Never to be seen again.”

“You never went back to confront them?”

She shook her head.

“I have no interest in seeing my family again. They probably assume I am dead. In a way, they are right. The me they know is dead already. The old me has been for a long time.”

She held up her hands and squeezed her fists.

“But I have been... reborn. So they mean nothing to me now. I don't need them.”

Isaac looked down sadly.

“I had to leave my family too. But I felt too attached to them to fully cut them off. I went back to try to figure out why they did to me what they did. But... I never really got any answers. I suppose I will have to live without closure like that. And just learn to move on.”

She looked at him.

“What did they do to you?”

He thought about it.

“Well, a lot. But I suppose...”

Gears started turning in his head. And he realized that she shouldn't have been able to put up her arms in front of her. He looked over.

“Wait a minute, how did you...”

But he realized suddenly that the arm restraints were no longer on her. And he looked down, realizing that they were now on him.

“What??”

She stood up and dusted herself off.

“You really need to learn to pay better attention.”

She swept his legs out from under him, causing him to fall onto the ground. For a moment he was afraid, but then he remembered that Mei had implied to him a few minutes back that these people did not seem to mean them any serious harm.

“Now, let's watch the rest of their fight.”

“Hey, wait a minute.”

She sat down on his back to keep him in place.

“My name is Thao Do, by the way. What's yours?”

He sighed, resigned.

“Isaac. Isaac Dorian.”

“Well, I'll try to remember it. We are going to be seeing a lot more of each other in the future, so get used to it.”

“Come again?”

“What?”

“Nevermind.”

At this point the girl was moreso being a nuisance, and Isaac didn't feel like pressing any more under the current circumstances. So giving up resigned, he looked over with her to the other fight that was still going on in the center of the field. They could see Mei slashing at the barriers and cutting through them, and at this point the barriers were looking worse for wear. They quietly watched the rest of the fight, but from what they could see, the outcome was a given. Eventually, Mei broke through, knocked away the monk's staff, and held her blade up to him. They started speaking. Though Isaac and the girl were too far away to tell about what.

Isaac breathed a sign of relief. Eventually he saw Mei start smiling and laughing, so it seemed like whatever they were talking about was going well. Eventually they started walking in a different direction, much to Isaac's confusion.

“Where are they going?”

“Probably to get the children.”

“Wait, you found the children?”

“Did you think we were just hanging out here for fun?”

“You know, I don't know you; how would I know how or why you do anything?”

“I literally just told you we go looking for children to save.”

“I...”

Isaac thought about it.

“Oh, that's right, you did.”

They saw Mei and the monk fade out of the end of the area and then back in with a group of schoolchildren behind them who were jumping around and seemed to be speaking in her direction. As they began walking closer, Isaac realized he was still on the ground.

"Hey, wait a minute, can I get up now?”

The girl tapped her head smugly.

“Hmm. I guess so.”

She stood up from Isaac's back and took the restraints off his arms. He stood up and wiped off his jacket, looking down at it and annoyed that he might have to clean it now. But he didn't express this annoyance. Turning to the approaching figures, he saw that Mei noticed his annoyance anyhow, and he looked away for a moment embarrassed.

When the children got close, they began jumping around again. ,

“Wow, that was amazing! She was amazing! How did you learn to move like that?”

Isaac was excited to speak to them, and so for a moment he crouched over to speak to them about the questions they had for him. But as this began to subside, he stood up again. Mei spoke first to explain to Isaac what happened.

“It looks like they actually found the children several days ago. They had a device for creating an esoteric space, so the reason this field exists is that they made a space within a space, so that there was a more safe place to keep them than the dark school.”

Isaac thought about this for a second.

“But why stay here at all?”

The monk looked caught and rubbed his head a bit.

“See, this is a bit embarrassing, but... we didn't know how to get out. We came in to make sure they were as safe as possible. But, realizing that this particular exit path would be something that was difficult for us, we sent a message for you, hoping to be able to keep them safe until we could be rescued.”

Isaac thought about it.

“I suppose that makes sense.”

He thought about it some more.

“But wait, why did you ambush us?”

Thao spoke up now and raised her hand in a fist.

“We had to see what you were made of before we go with you. And well, the children found it entertaining. Don't worry, they were safe on the other side of the barrier.”

Isaac was confused.

“See what we were made of? Why exactly? Wait, go with us??”

Mei turned to him.

“Isaac. I think we found a solution to one of the issues we just talked about. We had a problem filling out a particular niche. So for once, Providence is on our side.”

“But are we sure the group will even allow...”

Isaac checked himself and smiled.

“Of course they will. They can't say no to you.”

The monk smiled and spoke again, to Isaac.

“Ah, but I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Dizang Huishen. We know of your mission already. And will follow you to the throne of the Mahabrahma itself if you have need of us.”

Isaac smiled back and shook his hand.

“That we do. Thank you, on our behalf. My name is Isaac. Isaac Dorian.”

He paused for a moment, and then turning back to Mei pointed his thumb back at the girl.

“Do we have to take this one though? She is kind of obnoxious.”

“What, how dare you?”

Thao raised her arms up like she was about to hit Isaac, and he held his arm up to keep her arms away.

Huishen turned to Mei.

“We will bring back the children so you don't get discovered. And we can meet with you again in a day or two.”

After this, he shook his head.

“We must still be careful returning. Or we will be pulled in and become part of the night watch.”

Mei put her hand up to her face.

“Meet with us, you say? It just so happens; I know a place.”

Isaac and Thao stopped struggling to look over to her. Isaac responded quizzically.

“Know a place? Wait, you don't mean...”