1 Chapter 1 : Shadow Zone

[Shadow Realm]

Duri : (Male. 6 years old. Dark brown wavy/spiky hair, grey eyes, black headband around his forehead, black paw print shaped birthmark on his right cheek.)

Duri was standing along with 50 other kids his age, all of them holding weapons with black flames ascending from the swords and axes and scythes they were gripping in their hands.

The area around them was dark, and there were skulls around the walls that surrounded them.

They all were breathing heavily, with blood all over them. 

Standing in front of them all, was a shadow form man, with his hair in shadow form, flowing upward, and his eyes fully red.

His name was Band.

Band said to Duri and the children, "You've all done well. You all fight like your lives depend on it. Because it does. You all know you have no parents, you were made with shadow energy and human blood, forming you all into hybrids, which makes you even more powerful. Embrace it. The time for war with other realms will be with us. My job is to train all of you up into the best fighters the shadow realm has to offer. Let the next round begin. Drop the weapons."

Duri and the other children gave out a battle cry, and they began to fight with their hands and feet, punching each other, kicking each other, headhunting each other, dodging each other's attacks, and jumping around and doing roundhouse kicks.

Duri was running through the lanes, dodging multiple punches and kicks that were headed his way.

Duri punched a kid in the stomach, flipped on top of his back, jumped off, and super kicked a girl in the side of the head, knocking her back a few feet, and making her crash into the walls of bones.

She yelled, "Ow! Duri!"

Duri looked back and smiled, "Sorry!"

Duri turned around, grabbed the back of a boy's head, spun to the left, twisted downward, and slammed the boy's head into the floor, breaking his nose.

Duri instantly looked up, and someone was coming at him with a flying kick. Duri leaned to the right to dodge it, and he did.

But, the boy who tried to attack turned around in mid air, his arms and legs had a shadowy aura around it like black flames, and he double kicked Duri in the face.

Duri fell back, rolling on the floor past the other children who were beating the hell out of each other with their shadow powers and techniques.

Duri sat up in a spider-like position, looking at the boy who double kicked him. 

It was his friend Jae. Jae had short blonde hair in a small ponytail, light blue eyes, and line marks on his face.

Jae smiled, "Come onnnn, why don't you use your shadow powers?"

Duri replied, "Be-because!"

"Because..?"

"I...don't know how to...yet."

"STILL?! HAHAHA!"

"It's-it's not funny!"

"I mean, come on, Duri. We were made to know how to use them. It's in us. It should come naturally to you. Are you okay, buddy?"

"...I'm fine!"

Duri dashed over to Jae, and Jae grinned, running over to Duri at light speed. 

Duri and Jae jumped at the same time, throwing their legs at each other. Both of their legs connected, and Duri said, "Why are you copying me?!"

Jae responds, "Copy you? I'm not copying, birthmark boy!"

"I saw you kiss Mazei under the bridge, lewd! Lewd! Lewd! Lewd!"

"N-no I didn't-!"

Duri instantly grabbed the back of Jae's head, slammed it downward, and Duri rammed his knee into Jae's face, knocking blood everywhere. 

Jae turned around, and super kicked Duri in the chest, knocking him back against the skull-filled walls.

Duri said, "Owww…"

Jae rammed his fist into Duri's face, then kept punching away at it, and Duri had a smile on his face.

Jae said, "Haha! You love fighting! No regular person smiles while getting a big big beatdown!"

Duri grabbed Jae's fists, and said, "Of course I love fighting, hehe!"

Duri did a backflip, and his foot hit Jae's chin. Jae went flying into the air, with his body spinning around. Duri ran up the wall fast, and jumped off of it to get to where Jae was.

Duri was right above him, and Duri held his fist back. Wind started to circulate around Duri's fist, and he said, "This is so awesome!"

Duri punched Jae down the cheek, and Jae flew down 20 feet, crashing to the ground.

Watching the fight was Band.

Band had his arms folded, and thought, 'Duri...the boy with the birthmark...has improved these past couple of weeks. I'll be sure to let the higher ups know of his progress...and that he is the true shadow that we were searching for.'

Back at the fight, the other children were still fighting with different fighting styles. 

Duri and Jae were still brawling, both trading blows and punches, evading each other's kicks, and jumping around.

Duri jumped on Jae's chest, and kicked off of him, sending them both sliding back.

Jae said, "Not bad! I remember when you couldn't even get a hit on me!"

Duri smiled, "Yeah! I've gotten better!"

Both of them stood there, bloody and bruised like all the other children out there, breathing heavily, and clenching their fists in a fighting stance.

Duri was in a Gunnun Sogi stance, with one of his legs in front of the other, shoulder length apart.

Jae smirked, "Gunnun Sogi...hoh?"

Duri said, "You like it?"

"Nope!"

"Good!"

Duri and Jae began running towards each other, giving a battle cry.

Jae exclaimed, "Give it your best shot, birthmark boy!"

Duri answered, "Okay!"

Duri and Jae threw a punch at the same time, and their fists collided, making the ground break in multiple pieces, and making the walls tremble in vibration.

(10 minutes later)

Duri and Jae were sitting high in a black tree, eating what looked like white bread in a ball.

Around Duri and Jae, were dozens of other black trees with grey leaves, and the trees were weeping willow trees.

The ground had black grass, and the rivers of water around them were a clear blue color.

Duri exclaimed to Jae, "Really?!"

Jae replied, "Yep! I heard earth had people there with fighting powers! Like-like, they can even summon mythical beasts, or even have fire powers-any kind of powers! And they have power levels! Sucks that us shadows have an unknown power level.."

"That's so cool! Do you know anything else about the other realms other than the one we're in?"

"Sadly, no. It's sad that we can't leave the shadow realm until we're a certain age. Like...dammit!"

"Ooo. You cursed.."

"Give it a try."

"Band will get mad at me. And the other important people in the Temple will get mad at me too."

"Oh please! I curse around them all the time, and they don't do anything. Try it."

"SHIT! DAMMIT! ASS! BI-!"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa, okay okay. That's enough."

"That felt great! Who told you all of this stuff about earth?"

"One of the guardians of the Temple did."

"Oh.."

"It's okay to be jealous.."

"I'm not!"

"Then what's on your mind?"

"...I wanna get strong. So strong, then I can match the guardian's strength! That's all I can think about!"

"As your friend, I'm gonna say good luck to you and that it's gonna be a long journey."

"What do you want?"

"To leave the shadow realm. The guardians and Band mean good and all, but why can't they let us leave now?"

"To be fighters for them..right? Soldiers or something?"

"Yeah, but...there's gotta be something else to it. Soldiers...for what cause?"

"Maybe they want us to get stronger just so we can have enough power to travel realms!"

"...Haha! Your imagination is wild, Duri. You're alright. I see you training all the time, literally battering your body to get yourself to a certain point. Mannnn I wish I had your drive."

"I like beating people up. It's fun. I love the excitement. If I'm weak, I can't have fun. My goal is to be the strongest person ever."

"Oh yeah? Get in line. I'LL be the strongest one ever."

"Well...we'll see about that!"

"Is that a bet?!"

"I don't know what a bet is but I guess!"

"A bet is a deal. A wager."

"Ohhhh, okay!"

"You still don't know what a bet is, do you?"

"No."

"Fine. One of us has to be the strongest one ever first, and whoever does it first, wins!"

"I'll definitely win!"

Duri and Jae stood up in front of each other, and bumped fists with a grin.

[The Temple]

[Palace of the guardians of the shadow realm]

[Meeting room]

[Top floor]

Band, Rook, Set, and Kaiju. The four guardians of the shadow realm.

Rook : [Male, Long green hair, green eyes, white blindfold over both eyes.]

Set : [Female, red braided hair down to her elbows, a red mouth mask, and white eyes.]

Kaiju : [Male, bald head, red eyes, beard.]

Band said, "I think we've gained enough.."

Kaiju replied, "So we're just gonna settle on that Duri kid?"

"He possesses the birthmark, plus, he is getting unnaturally stronger very fast."

"You really believe that birthmark crap? It's a fairy tale!"

Set interrupted, "Duri wasn't made like the other children. He is a true hybrid. His mother was a human, and his father was a shadow man. Something that's never happened before."

Band added, "The paw-print-like  birthmark on his face was one of the symbols of the shadow clans many years ago, a clan in which his father led with great power. Which makes Duri all the more special."

"Precisely. We've been training our children and soldiers for many years now, I think we're ready."

Rook cleared his throat, "The defenses of the Arcane realm are insane. It'll be a bloody fight."

Kaiju exclaimed, "And you know what happens when kids Duri's age transfer realms...they lose their memory."

"ONLY if they are awake. But if they are asleep, it will be fine. Plus...Duri will be the only child going."

"This is insane! He's only like, 6!"

"We've been waiting for too long. The Arcane realm has been doing the same things we have been doing, gathering up soldiers, only to try and fight us."

Band sighed, "Ever since Duri's father was killed, I've been watching over him. Watching over his progress, day and night. He's injured himself over and over because he is influenced by the power of strength. He acts just like his father. His father...had the same birthmark on the back of his neck. And as powerful as he was, he was a pure shadow. Duri has great potential."

Suddenly, the house started to shake, and there was yelling outside.

Band asked, "What the hell is that?!"

Kaiju replied, "Shit.."

Set ran over to the giant window, and she saw a bunch of shadow men running, with shadows like black fire arousing from their bodies.

In the sky, there was a giant hole opening. And coming from that hole, was a giant hand with red rings on each finger, with it's palm wide open, slowly descending.

Set said, "They got in...they got in!"

Rook asked her, "The Arcane?!"

"Yes! That hand.."

Band replied, "It's the hand of Zabel..we gotta go! Gather everyone!"

Kaiju said, "I'll go get Duri and Jae!'

Band responded, "Go do that then! We have no time to waste!"

Band, Set, and Rook rushed to the wall, and bashed through it, kicking it down all the way. 

They began to run forward on the ground, cutting past all the black trees and bushes, sprinting over to the giant hand.

Rook yelled, "We gotta run faster! Zabel's hand is descending pretty damn fast!"

Band answered, "Then run faster! Those rings on Zabel's hand were from our treasury...hidden well by the old guardians. Those rings drastically weaken its targets. The only way Zabel could've gotten those.."

"A traitor.."

"...Kaiju…"

Band, Rook, and Set leaped 90 feet into the air, ready to attack. 

Band had black shadow wings form in his back, Rook had 11 foot shadow serpents come from his back, and Myung-Hoon was in a fully shadow form with her eyes pitch black.

Coming out of the giant hand, were these grey human figures with red eyes, they had four arms, horns on their heads, and big fists.

Descending from the sky was Zabel. He had on a white suit, white wings on his back, a white and a white halo on the top of his head. His face was non-existent, it was just a red aura with 7 red eyes floating in the middle of it.

Band, Set, and Rook saw him, and said, "Zabel!"

Zabel had his hand opened and facing down in the same position as the giant hand.

Zabel said, "I've only come to kill all of you and take the boy with the birthmark."

Band responds with a question, "What do you want with him?"

"I need the All Seeing Eye weapon which will give me the 'We All Live' ability. With those powers, I'll merge Duri's body with the mythic weapon, and through a ritual, I'll be able to control the minds and emotions of everyone in all the realms including earth. I want to create a new world, a world where everyone is on one accord, a world with no discord, a world where I'll be a god. Overshadowed by many, I'll overcome all the false narratives that were bestowed upon me at a young age."

Set replied, "Rituals are forbidden!"

"Woman...CERTAIN rituals are forbidden. Either way, when I wield those weapons infused with the power inside the boy, all will be changed, and all will be new."

Zabel said to his grey figure soldiers, "Kill them all, brothers! And bring me the boy's body! Leave Band to me, he's mine."

Zabel and his other grey figure soldiers dashed downward to fight, Zabel was about to collide with Band.

Rook thought, 'Zabel is talking about the All Seeing Eye weapon, lost in one of the realms...it is a weapon of control. If he captures Duri, it's over for us.'

Set looked at Rook, and said, "Killing Zabel won't be easy.."

Rook responded, "Especially with those rings on his finger. It's draining our shadow abilities, decreasing our power level by the minute."

"We gotta do this fast.."

"But what about Kaiju?! He's after Duri!"

Back to where Duri and Jae were, they were standing on the tallest branch of the tallest tree, looking at Zabel's hand descend from the black sky.

Duri said to Jae, "That doesn't look good."

Jae responds, "Heck yeah it doesn't. I can hear fighting...can't you?"

"Yeah, I can. A real fight?! I can't wait!"

"Duri..listen, this isn't the time to be excited over a fight."

All over the shadow realm, there were explosions and rumbling everywhere, yelling, screeching, and combat. Shadow men and women used their shadow abilities to fight against Zabel's grey figures who were fighting with their arms and legs in different types of fighting styles. 

There were dead bodies and blood everywhere, the fighting was brutal.

As Duri and Jae were standing on the tallest tree, there were 50+ grey figures running towards them, moving fiercely, and ready to kill them and take Duri's body for Zabel to use in his ritual.

Jae said, "Uhhh, are they coming after us?!"

Duri replied, "I hope so!"

"What?! No! This is serious!"

"Let's go!" Duri smiled while jumping off of the branch, heading towards the enemies.

Jae yelled, "Duri!"

Jae jumped after him.