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Kashima Naoki ([personal profile] withfocus) wrote in [community profile] countryclub 2022-08-26 05:51 am (UTC)

The Demifiend | SMT III: Nocturne | Darkblood

Arrival

There's a pale, slightly glowing squid lying on the sand. There are faint blue spots that move along its skin in chaotic patterns. They slowly converge into lines and then the squid dissolves into a young man. There are black markings outline in glowing blue all over his body and a dark horn poking out from the back of his neck.

His arms flop a few times before he lifts his head up to look around and catch sight of the unfamiliar shoreline. There's something wrong. This isn't the world where he was supposed to wake up. There's a sky above him to his great relief, but he doesn't quite know why at first.

Then Naoki remembers. The Vortex World. The Reasons. The Earth that should have come back.

He makes a noise that's a mix between anger and grief and looks like he'd like to cry but there are no tears. The blue glow he casts on the sand is enough to tell him he's not back in his human body.

This time he's woken up in even less clothing than when he woke up in the vortex world. There's nothing, but Naoki is too distraught to notice.

Shore

Naoki arrived with nothing, but he now has a pair of pants and his cloak and a bag. His glowing markings draw the attention of a large predatory crab and Naoki spends a few moments in a drawn out stare down with it.

"Hello."

Except there's no answer, not even the roaring or gibberish of more bestial demons. Instead all he gets in response is a swipe of its claws and Naoki avoids it efficiently but not gracefully. In response he brings his fist down on the hard body of the crab with a bit too much force.

He doesn't so much cave in the crab's body as obliterate it.

Lost Between Steps

There are so many people. Humans. Time was strange in the Vortex World but it feels like forever since he's been around humans. There's an itch in that unnamed sense of his that he gained when he awoke as a demon. It makes Naoki a little cautious and nervous. He's too busy trying to pay attention to everything and nearly walks into someone.

At the last moment he takes a step back and he's falling. And then he lands on carpeted floor, and he hears someone land nearby.

Absolute Immersion

Naoki has always been a good student with a fond for fiction and especially strange or occult stories. That interest hasn't dimmed at all even after his own encounter with demons.

It's a nice break from constantly fighting for his life and for the fate of his entire world.

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