Chapter 12: The Soul Realm Called (Part 1)

The ground beneath them started rumbling and they stumbled to the ground. The ground shattered and the rumbling got worse.

"W-What in the hell is going on?" yelled Lazarus.

They felt as though they were being lifted up from the ground, and that's because they were. The land below them began to float into the air, leaving the ground below. It was moving at a slow pace and was rumbling all throughout.

"Where is this bringing us?!" screamed Lazarus.

"I don't know we must wait!" said Leon.

It was slowly lifting them up, but the rumbling was still intense. At this point, they were well above the clouds. They both felt weird feelings.

"What is this that I'm feeling?!" screamed Lazarus.

"I don't know! It's intense!" said Leon.

It was a chilling feeling, they felt cold and achy even though the weather was hot and sunny. They were off into the sky with no understanding of what was happening. They were on a big piece of land that was continuously going into the sky, from where they were they can see the whole kingdom of Yanni.

"This is insane!" screamed Lazarus.

"Do you see it up there!?" said Leon.

"Huh?" said Lazarus.

Up in the sky, in the direction they were heading, was purple light. It was blinking and expanding each time it blinked, and purple fragments were falling upon them.

"Ow, it's blinding me! It seems as if we're going right through it!" said Lazarus.

They reached closer to the blinding purple lights and they began to fade out. As the lights faded, a black hole appeared. It spun quickly and they were engulfed in it. They began hearing trumpets being played.

"Agh, what the hell is this?" said Lazarus.

Leon chuckled.

"Why are you chuckling?" said Lazarus.

"Ah, those trumpets, hahaha, this is the Soul Realm." said Leon.

"Huh, what-" said Lazarus, but a voice cut him off.

"Welcome to the Soul Realm." said the voice.

"What happened? Why was I sent here?" said Lazarus.

"We want you to have an important meeting with the association." said the voice.

"Are you serious?" said Lazarus.

"Absolutely, there's no denying that you are the one we are overseeing the most. I am pleased to welcome you." said the voice as it echoed through this black void they were in.

"What now? Where is the association? Where is everyone?" said Lazarus.

"In one minute you will reach the Soul Realm. Enjoy." said the voice.

The black void then opened up and revealed a whole other world. The ground was all bright white sand, with palm trees spread out. There was a giant building with a grand water fountain in the middle of this realm, but no person was in sight. It was quiet, with a faint trumpet playing in the background. Leon was used to this so he sat against a palm tree and relaxed.

"This is gorgeous, the ride up here was worth it!" said Lazarus.

"Welcome, my child." said a man's voice.

"Hello, this is the Soul Realm?" said Lazarus

"Yes, the one true Soul Realm. As the leader of the association, I welcome you." said the voice.

"Thank you, sir, how do I proceed with this meeting?" said Lazarus.

"The meeting will take place right here, I will talk to you. You are not allowed to see our identities just yet." said the voice.

"Okay, what's up? What questions do you have for me?" said Lazarus.

"Do you want to be a hero?" said the voice.

"In my heart, protecting people is my duty. It's up to the people to deem me a hero." said Lazarus.

"What lengths would you go to protect people?" said the voice.

"Well throughout my whole life, and even now, in my new life, I went through pretty harsh conditions." said Lazarus.

"Yes, you are a brave one. There might be things that we do that are questionable, but please know that it is in the best interest of this current world." said the voice.

"What do you mean?" said Lazarus.

"We were the ones who summoned all of the myths, including the demons. Not Alexander." said the voice.

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?" said Lazarus.

"Lazarus, while you were in the Soul Realm the world went into chaos, as you can see. We decided that the best option was for there to be a new balance of power. It wasn't fair to the people who were in a poor status that got overpowered by the government." said the voice.

"And you think it's fair that clueless and powerless people are dying to demon myths!?" said Lazarus.

"That is why we summoned hero myths as well, eventually we believe that you hero myths will flush out the demon myths and there will be a just world with no evil." said the voice.

"Well, that's not the case right now! People are dying out there, and I haven't seen any hero myths yet." said Lazarus.

"There are plenty of hero myths, remember, Yanni is a big place." said the voice.

"Anyway, what did you call me up here for?" said Lazarus, he was getting fed up.

"You possess something that we would want for the good of the world." said the voice.

"And what is that?" said Lazarus.

"Throughout your lineage, we noticed that you all possess something called 'Vanquish'." said the voice.

"What is Vanquish?" said Lazarus.

"It's a power that we've noticed was passed down through your lineage." said the voice.

"Okay? And what does it do?" said Lazarus.

"When your soul decided you're ready, you are able to possess a power of your choice. It doesn't matter how outrageous it is, you can wish for anything you desire." said the voice.

"W-What? How do I go about getting this power?" said Lazarus.

"This is something we wanted to work out with you. We don't know ourselves. We believe it's when you defeat a very powerful enemy." said the voice.

"What about Demon King Pluto? I've been itching to beat his ass." said Lazarus.

"I'm afraid that even he won't do. There are beasts that are twice as worse as Pluto. Compared to them Pluto is fodder. We believe that once you defeat one of those beasts, your ability will awaken." said the voice.

"Okay! Then tell me where I can go find them, I want to fight one right now!" said Lazarus.

"Slow down, if you want to help Yanni, you need to work your way up." said the voice.

"Fine, then let me out of here so I can fight Pluto." said Lazarus.

"I will in just a minute. I want you to one day become one of us Lazarus, I hope that you continue to work with us." said the voice.

"Well you haven't given me a reason not to, after all this is the Soul Realm." said Lazarus.

"Yes, but before you go we want you to train with one of our veteran members." said the voice.

A small black hole appeared right in front of Lazarus, and out popped a woman, she was wearing a white button-up shirt and tight black pants. She had brunette hair and yellow eyes and was muscular.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Luna and we will be defeating one of the scariest creatures that the Soul Realm has to offer." she said, as she reached out her hand for a handshake.

Lazarus shook her hand,

"Wow, nice to meet you, my name is Lazarus and I'm a hero myth from Yanni." said Lazarus.

"Well, Lazarus you will be my battle buddy for a couple of days. You see, the demon myths are actually able to invade the Soul Realm I'm part of a team that defends the Soul Realm against these demons, so we'll be up against some powerful creatures." Luna said.

"I'm down for anything, I've been itching to kick ass." said Lazarus.

"Well tread carefully, these aren't your average demons. To be able to even reach the Soul Realm as a demon meant that they had to go through many obstacles. This will be great training though!" she said with a smile.

She grabbed Lazarus' hand and took him into a small shack just off into the distance. It was made out of wood and was painted red, it was very run down. Within the shack was a bunk bed with hard mattresses and torn blankets.

"Yea, sorry about this shack on this floor of the Soul Realm nothing really happens." said Luna.

"Then why are we here?" said Lazarus.

"This is the floor that the demons attack, it's the 1st floor where only the associates live. But we are here to protect it." said Luna.

"And you'd think they'd give you better shelter." said Lazarus.

"Hahahaha, well to be fair we live very well on the fifth floor. The associates are such nice people, yet I haven't even seen a glimpse of them." said Luna.

Then an ear-piercing noise echoed throughout the realm.

"Here they are! Get ready!" said Luna.