Chapter Text
He could feel…
He could feel his eyes. They were closed.
He could feel his mouth. It was dry.
He could feel his nose. It wasn’t smelling anything of note.
He could feel his entire face. It’s wrinkle shifting as he strained to make an expression.
He could feel a light breeze against him. His short hair was moved.
He could feel his arms. They were stuck behind his back.
He could feel his hands. They clenched in response to his will.
He could feel his legs. They were kneeling on the ground.
He could feel the ground beneath him. It was dirtying the clothes he wore.
He could feel… again?
Yes… again.
Wasn’t he…? Hadn’t...?
Hadn’t he died?
Ah, yes, he had. Smashed in half by a pillar, wielded by the strongest of Saints.
That was the last memory he had.
His lips cracked as he smiled.
“So then, I must be in heaven.”
His eyes remained closed, leaving him oblivious to the origin of a new voice.
“Nope.”
And with that denial of paradise, his eyes shot open, light filling them.
Not heavenly light, simple light.
He looked at his surroundings.
The place he awoke wasn’t some grand cathedral or any other monument in the name of his lord.It was an overgrown shack in the woods, with no proper floor. The wooden walls had holes in them, the windows, which didn’t even have glass plains in them revealed the outside to be a snow covered forest. The ground was simply covered in dirt.
None of it was grand, it was all quite plain actually.
He looked down, upon himelf.
His clothes were not the religious garments he had grown used to, but a simple pair of sweatpants, a T-shirt and some cheap sneakers.
He raised his head again, to see if there was anything worth his time.
The only thing to truly catch his eye was the other person in the shack.
He was a young tan man, likely not even in his 20s. He had shoulder length gray hair, with the roots showing a more natural brown. His face was soft and somewhat round, the only hardened feature being a scar that ran from above his left eye to below his lip.
The clothes he wore were rather plain, a beige pair of sweatpants, a white top, mostly obscured by the red jacket he wore over it, and a sensible pair of winter shoes. The only accessory worn by the young man was a necklace with a wooden cross attached at the end.
‘A man of god I see, commendable.’
Looking into the young man’s eyes, the only thing to be seen behind their brown exterior was a mixture of excitement and boredom.
‘Odd.’
The young man spoke, his voice fittingly filled with anticipation.
“Good morning… you must be the person formerly known as ‘Terra of the Left’, am I not right? You’re a lot uglier than I thought.”
Yes, terra was his name. Before his death he had been a member of god’s right seat, the highest position within the catholic church and therefore the holiest group of people in the world. Known or not.
The young man smiled.
“Good, you actually remember properly”, he stretched out his hand, it was dry and cracked, “I’m Abayomi Nijima, a jobless loser living in germany and born somewhere outside of europe, no real clue where”, his smile widened, “And I am the person, who you will be helping find the Imagine Breaker.”
Terra was… perplexed.
Yes, perplexed, that word would suffice in summing up his current state of mind.
He had been brought back to life. By what method? He knew not.
But he could make some assumptions based on how it works.
He was being led along by “Abayomi” -the boy was undeniably suspect- and couldn’t make his body move in a different direction.
The indication being that he didn’t have full control of his motor functions.
They arrived at a train station, it was early and only a few people were even present, none of them paid the two newcomers any mind.
Terra could also notice something else as Abayomi led him into a train;
He couldn’t feel his own mana.
Which made sense when he thought about it longer. Since he was most likely only inhabiting a puppet, likely grafted out of flesh, so it was only logical that he wouldn’t be able to have any mana, in the typical sense at least.
He was technically a walking corpse, akin to a golem in its function.
But he could still think, that was odd, though likely intentional. Getting information was likely the main reason he was brought back,
Abayomi continued to essentially drag him along, after getting some train tickets.
Giving terra a quick glance, he spoke:
“You’ll get to talk in a sec.”
He made the off handed comment, before continuing on, opening one of the private compartments of the train, and entering it.
Terra was forced to follow along.
After sitting down, the boy spoke again.
“So you got any questions? We’ll take about 3-4 hours to get to the Munich airport, so we got time.”
Terra looked at him incredulously, before replying.
“First of all; why do you even want the Imagine Breaker?”
Wanting such a powerful artifact was not unthinkable, but the boy sitting across of him did not seem like the type of person to be doing this for sheer power or for the theoretical use cases the ability presents.
Abayomi smiled.
“I just want it. What more is there to say? I’m just that selfish.”
Terra looked at the young man, squinting his eyes in suspicion.
Seeing this Abayomi continued to speak.
“I mean… I get your suspicion, but there really is nothing besides my own greed. And it’s not like you have any reason to care, seeing as you have no real say in the matter as is.”
His eyes betrayed him, they were desperate, to what end, Terra knew not.
He decided to not linger on this question, clearing his throat.
“Secondly, where are we heading?”
It was obvious that resistance was futile, so he might as well be informed about where he was being forced to head.
“Well… given that we are going after Imagine Breaker, and that thing is, as far as I am aware, the natural enemy of the supernatural. We’ll be heading to the world where the supernatural is at its most plentiful.”
Terra raised an eye-brow.
“And that would be?”
There are several places that label could apply to, from the Vatican all the way to the holy land of the indigenous people in Australia.
Abayomi smirked.
“I think it’s pretty obvious actually“, the train started to move, „we’re going to Academy City.”
It had been two years since Kamijou Touma, the former wielder of Imagine breaker, was reported dead in Academy City, dying from internal damage of some sort, at the age of 16. It was the last day of Winter Break for him.
There has been no sign of the Imagine Breaker since then.
Over the past two years, the existence of Magic has become more widespread due to revelations from the leaders of Academy City, who pressured other leaders into revealing the truth as well.
This upheaval of a secret kept for centuries, has led to increased tensions between the two sides.
On one hand, the magic side has had to pull back in terms of its reach and step forward in terms of politics, causing several Cabals to become further radicalized.
And on the other hand, the radicalization of certain cabals has proven an increased security risk for the science side, and Academy city in particular, with a handful of attacks occurring in the two years since the unveiling of the magic side.
This has caused a degree of hatred for magic to be born within the esper population of Academy city.
What an odd time to be alive.