The growls grew deafening, shaking the very foundation of the Sacred Chamber.
Ran stumbled backward, heart pounding in his chest, vision blurring as the hellish creature emerged fully from the vortex.
Its form was indistinct, a massive amalgamation of shadows and molten fire, eyes glowing with malevolent hunger.
Before he could react, it struck. A massive limb—dark as obsidian—lashed out and knocked him off his feet.
He crashed into the cold stone floor, his head spinning. His vision dimmed, but through the haze, he could just make out Mukoku and Haru springing into action.
'What... is that?' He wondered, disoriented.
He watched through fading consciousness as Haru conjured a shield of energy, while Mukoku moved with unnatural speed, her horns glowing with dark power.
Mukoku shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos. "You dare attack us?! In my own realm?" She yelled, furiously.
The creature roared, its body shifting and warping like living smoke, and lunged toward them.
Mukoku's hand crackled with energy as she fired a bolt of pure demonic power, striking the beast.
It howled in rage, but the attack only slowed it down. Haru darted in, slashing at it with a shimmering blade of spiritual energy.
Ran's last thoughts, before unconsciousness took him, were frantic: 'They're fighting... I can't—'
Darkness swallowed him whole.
He awoke to a suffocating heat. His eyelids fluttered open, and he was immediately struck by the overwhelming stench of sulfur.
Groaning, he pushed himself upright, his body aching from the battle. But the Sacred Chamber was gone—replaced by a landscape unlike anything he's ever seen.
Naraku.
'This... this isn't real,' he thought, overwhelmed.
All around him stretched an endless expanse of darkness. The sky, if it could even be called that, was a swirling mass of shadow and fire, with sulfurous clouds hanging low on the horizon.
The air burned his lungs with each breath, hotter than anything he'd ever felt, yet he remained unharmed.
Haru was kneeling nearby, breathing heavily but unharmed. Mukoku stood with her back to them, horns erect, gazing out toward the distant horizon where an eerie light flickered.
It was the only source of illumination in this sunless world, casting the landscape in sickly hues of orange and red.
"What... happened?" He asked, his voice a bit shaky.
Haru glanced at him, wiping blood from his lip. "You were knocked out. The beast... it's gone. For now," he said, wearily.
Ran's gaze flickered to Mukoku, who hadn't moved from her spot. He got to his feet, legs wobbling slightly, and staggered toward her.
"Mukoku... what was that thing?" He inquired, nervous but curious.
She didn't turn to face him, her voice low, almost contemplative, she solemnly answered. "A gatekeeper... or something worse. Naraku is not as it once was."
Her words sent a chill down his spine despite the oppressive heat.
Uneasy, he inquired further: "Not as it once was? What does that mean?"
Haru rose and joined them, his expression grim. "Naraku has its own dangers. You're not just fighting to get your father out... you're fighting this place itself," the teenage acolyte stated, grimly.
Mukoku finally turned, her fiery eyes locked onto Ran.
"The path to your father is far, and it will only grow more dangerous from here. But I will honor our deal... for now," she warned, coldly.
Ran swallowed hard, his gaze drawn to the horizon. Far off, he saw faint, dancing lights—like fireflies, but they pulsed with strange colors: red, blue, green. They flited and hovered, illuminating nothing yet seemed alive.
"Those lights... they feel... familiar," he asked, mystified.
Mukoku's lips curled into a faint, almost sinister smile. "They are remnants. Pieces of what was once whole—fragments of the souls trapped here. Emotions, desires, left behind after the torment strips everything else away," she responded, cryptically.
His heart clenched at her words.
"And my father... is one of them?" He asked, quietly.
Mukoku's eyes narrowed, becoming unreadable.
Mukoku's reply to that question was just as cryptic as the previous one. "Perhaps. But not yet."
She turned, motioning for them to follow.
"Come. The light you see in the distance is the only guiding flame in this world. We head toward it, or we lose our way," she impatiently urged them.
Haru pulled his cloak tighter around him, stepping in line behind her, his voice filled with caution. "Stay close. Naraku shifts when it wants to. If we get separated... we may never find each other again" he told Ran, quietly.
Ran's heart raced, but he nodded, falling in step.
The ground beneath them was cracked and jagged, like the surface of a long-dead world. Hot winds howled around them, tugging at their clothes but never quite strong enough to throw them off course.
The trio walked in silence, each step taking them closer to the ominous light. The air was thick, suffocating, but something about the journey felt... wrong.
The shadows seemed to move on their own, whispering things just out of earshot, and the faint glow in the distance pulsed faster.
Ran felt it first—a change in the air, a weight pressing down on him. He glanced at Haru, whose expression had darkened, and then at Mukoku, who stopped abruptly.
"What is it?" He demanded, quietly.
Mukoku's voice was sharp, her eyes scanning the darkness ahead, as she announced, warningly. "We are being followed."
Before Ran could respond, a low growl resounded from the shadows, chilling him to the bone. The whispering grew louder, swirling around them.
Something was watching. Something dangerous.
Haru gripped his weapon, his voice low and tense. "This isn't just Naraku's winds... we're being hunted," he revealed his suspicion.
Suddenly, there was a flash of movement in the dark—a pair of glowing eyes, and then another, and another.
Shadows shifted, taking form. The growls grew louder, more predatory.
Ran's thoughts became panicked: 'What are they?!'
Mukoku's lips curled into a feral grin, her power flaring. "Welcome to Naraku, Kaito Ran. It's time you meet its true inhabitants," she announced confidently.
The shadows lunged.