The Seeker | Volume 2

Shinso was suddenly jolted awake by the sound of heavy knocking on his door. When he rubbed his eyes and opened it he saw two figures standing there. They both looked like they were among the nobles and rich of this Katsin cruise ship.

"Good evening." The baron said as he leaned forward and shook Shinso's hand. The indigo haired boy appeared confused by their sudden appearance, so he decided to ask a question.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be scoffing at the poor or wine sampling?" He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm and bluntent annoyance from being awoken from his nap.

The woman, who was wearing an exquisite silk dress and large sun hat, huffed as she pulled out the photo of Aaron and showed it to Shinso.

"Do you know who this young man is? He murdered my cousin and I want his head." Her voice was filled with disdain.

Shinso knew that Madame Fitzgerold was killed by me and Aaron, and if they wanted Aaron, they'd want me too. Shinso shook his head slowly and pretended to act oblivious to the man's identity and whereabouts.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who he is." Shinso said as he tried to close the door, only to be stopped by the baron's boot.

"Are you sure, lad?" He asked. Shinso suddenly caught sight of the brass knuckles that he was wearing, and he gulped heavily.

"I don't know who you're talking about, I assure you." Without saying anything else, Shinso slammed the door and put his back against it.

"Damn it…" Shinso mumbled breathlessly.

After a few moments he managed to collect himself. He had to find Aizawa, Cattleya and Carter and warn them about their old friend resurfacing. He waited about 20 minutes until he heard the sound of boots and high heels recede down the hallway and back into the lounge room.

Shinso slowly opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, carefully scanning back and forth to verify that no one was watching. Upon seeing the emptiness of the corridor, he took a few steps forward and approached Aizawa's room before knocking on the door.

Inside, Aizawa was half naked when he groaned quietly, put his shirt back on and opened the door. When he saw Shinso's worried expression, Aizawa immediately let him in. Olive, who was lying down on the bed, immediately pulled the covers over herself, concealing her bare chest from Shinso's gaze.

"Did those rich guys interrogate you too?" Aizawa asked.

Shinso nodded his head, then he spoke. "Yes, they did. How would we tell them that Aaron's dead? Should we even do such a thing?"

Aizawa grumbled to himself. "No, it's best we don't. We're risking Isaac's life if we do. We don't know anything about what those two are capable of, they could possibly be Seekers."

"They would have used their abilities to pry into our true intentions." Olive, who had put on a silk nightshirt, spoke up. 

"That's a logical deduction, yes. But what if they have other methods of extracting information besides unsolicited intrusion? Aizawa asked himself.

"Then I'd probably say torture or something like that. After all, the rich always think they're above the law…"

…

Everyone on the dock suddenly fled the scene upon seeing the frantic and flailing tentacles in the water. Admiral Kaelin's eyes widened as he grabbed Jake, who's shoulder was still leaking copious amounts of blood, and dragged him into a nearby alleyway to assess the damage.

Inside the water, Usagiyama's limp and unconscious body finally began to react slightly, her eyes opening slightly and seeing the large blue creature in front of her now. She quickly burst upwards, landing into the shore with much effort before collapsing onto the dock. 

I watched the chaos as I habitually reached for my handgun, only to realize I had left it on the ship. Instead, I observed the Kraken's movements and noticed it was acting more erratically and dangerously then the one I had previously thought. Then I had an idea.

I instantly summoned myself into my Divine Protection and reached my hand out. Since Raymond's Order 3 ability of Historical Summoning was a Depravity Characteristic and ability, and since Order 3 was the level almost on par with angel, perhaps I could summon the weapon utilized by The Umbridge when "They" descended and eradicated the Ebon Veil Syndicate members with a single strike.

I began to focus and envision the weapon in perfect detail, but suddenly I felt a rush of powerful, terrifying and dominating aura consuming my body. I opened my eyes and stumbled back, the room now spinning as my head pounded.

Suddenly, I saw a bright red light appear in the Divine Protection. The lights collapsed and converged before colliding and forming an illusory figure completely composed of the red, ethereal light. They had no hair, no facial features, a tall figure clad in fiery black and red armor carrying a spear twice their height. It was the future I had previously seen on the moon after the Half-Mad Almighty One attempted to seize control over my body!

I felt the warm smell of my own black blood trickle down my nose as the figure landed. It stood about 10 feet tall and was bulky and muscular. 

I could feel my flesh charring and my skin peeling away as I observed the figure, "Their" burning eyes fixated on my decaying form. I looked down at my hands and saw my skin peeling away like layers of a vegetable, revealing viscous layers of flesh, tendons and bones underneath. These are the same symptoms of looking at Kaden's Spirit Creature form!

My breath grew heavier as my eyes faded close, and everything grew louder and more painful. My body suddenly began to transform following this. My skin turned iron black and illusory, almost semi transparent. My eyes turned blood red and my mouth had disappeared! Even while I was unconscious, I was confused by my sudden changes. And when I opened my eyes I was taken aback by my sudden form.

My legs had completely disappeared, only a gaping void sat where they once were. I had turned into a wraith, just like the Order 8 honorific name!

I was completely unable to decide if I could change back, and if my physical body was inside of me or descended back in the physical plane. But I had bigger and more trivial matters to deal with. 

I descended from the Divine Protection and saw the chaos. By then, everyone had left the dock, leaving only Admiral Kaelin's crew to assess the Krakens' sudden transformation. I reached my hand out towards the Kraken, closing my eyes as I felt a gush of hot air leave my illusory palm.

A small wraith was sent from my palm and towards the Kraken. The shadowy entity diffused into its skin, causing the surrounding area to turn a burned blue color. The Kraken let out a shriek upon this change, its one eye closing as it began swatting at the wound with fury and fear. 

Before I could send another wraith I noticed something…why didn't any of them turn to me? Instead, they all appeared confused by the sudden burn on the creature's body, their eyes all wide with shock and confusion. I flew over to Admiral Kaelin who was assessing Jake's wounds, but he continued to patch up his bloodied shoulder without paying me any attention.

I finally came to the conclusion that in my wraith I was unable to be seen by anyone except other wraiths or possibly other Spiritual entities. The Kraken suddenly turned its eye towards me, as if gazing into me! It suddenly unleashed a fury of tentacles in my diffraction before I had ample time to react, but I flinched when they passed through my body.

Are Kraken's classified as Spiritual creatures, is that why the one I defeated on Admiral Kaelin's ship dropped a characteristic? I had no time to decide as I flew quickly at the creature, plunging my shadowy right hand into its eye socket. 

The Kraken let out a muffled yell, but due to my distance with the creature I noticed something off, almost terrifying. I heard a human-like yell from within the creature. I habitually dove my entire body into its eye socket, this time being able to phase through the pupils without causing any damage. 

When I habitually surveyed the area I saw the blue-scaled man who had previously transformed into the Kraken. He was curled up into a ball, whimpering quietly as if terrified. When I looked down upon my body I realized I had quickly changed into my human form. I suddenly felt a draining feeling across my entire body as I saw the man's despair, almost like he was draining the power out of my body with his recurring sobs. 

I took two steps forward towards him. When he heard the sound of my boots stepping into the large water going up to our calves, he turned his head and looked at me, fear evident in his pale expression.

"Get out…" he whispered as his hands transformed into large tentacles that he swung at me. I ducked, dodging the attack and meeting his terrified gaze. He wasn't attacking me out of anger, but rather a primal, instinctual pang of fear. He transformed into the kraken because he was afraid!

"Get out!" He yelled this time, diving into the water with superhuman agility, swimming quickly at me before leaping up and clawing at my neck. I felt like throwing up upon realizing that the attack landed, and I felt dizzy then I saw the copious amount of blood leave my physical form around my neck. 

The blue -scaled man smirked triumphantly upon seeing his attack had succeeded, but he suddenly stumbled backwards, his expression changing quickly upon seeing that I was gravely injured. I coughed up blood, a lot of blood as I fell to my knees, grasping my neck as more blood trickled forth, causing the clear water around us to begin to turn a dark red color.

"¡No…no…no!" The man approached me quickly before plunging his tentacle appendage into my neck, barricading the hole in my neck to prevent any other blood from leaving my body. I fell into the water weakly, my eyes barely able to maintain a state of clear vision, which began to blur quickly as I fell unconscious due to the blood loss.

…

I awoke to a dimly lit white light hanging overhead, and I rubbed my eyes to adjust to the strange and sterile surroundings. When I managed to garner the strength to lean up in my bed I noticed I was inside a wooden room with a homey feel, behind a curtain made of wool. I quickly surmised I was inside of a hospital wing.

The curtain suddenly opened, and the blue-skinned man walked in, his clothing sopping wet and his feet dragging along a trail of semi-transparent green liquid. He sat down on the chair across from my bed and sighed.

"I was scared, ok?"