birth. [P]

[Iizuka]

Flashback

The blistering winds beat heavily upon my body and thrust frost into my veins. The cold itself seemed to penetrate into my bones and become my very essence. My hands clutched tight around my torso, retaining heat as I slugged heavy legs through the snow. The frost whipped at my exposed facial features as I shivered intensely. The joints along my body felt rigid and locked in place as they carried me closer to my destination; the structure just half a kilometer away. A light shone from its windows and the air it produced whispered warmth and a place to sleep.

It felt as though my legs fell deeper and deeper into the snow with each passing step. I looked back to see that the snow had already collapsed in on my footprints leaving no trace of my existence there. If I were to collapse, here and now, I would be erased from this world, never again to be found. My sanguine optics focused upon the house before me - it was my only hope. I already couldn't feel most of my body, but I wasn't yet ready to experience death. Especially not since I had just so recently emerged, and especially since it wasn't truly my body.

Finally, after what appeared to be an eternity I pushed through the doors, a wave of heat overcoming my body. My body, being at such low temperatures beforehand, nearly burned upon contact with the dry air of the bar I had entered. There was music playing, haunting the air with a happy tune whilst drunkards danced about and collapsed in their stupors. I still clutched onto myself, not for the cold but now for the exhausting heat that flooded me. A sense of relief swelled within as I took my seat at the bar, knowing that for just one more night I would survive. My still frozen digit tapped upon the wood of the counter to call over the bartender, but I found that the cold had gotten the best of me. It hurt to even move my lips.

A simple movement of the eyes would suffice, it would seem, as the bartender placed a beer before me. His eyes were cast curiously over me for a brief moment. My own eyes pierced his as they scanned my body and eventually made eye contact, and immediately he looked away. He hurriedly positioned himself at the other end of the bar and a devilish grin crawled across my face. My hand, trembling, reached for the beer, sending a refreshing taste down my throat. My hands grasped around the beer and turned it slowly in thought. I was finally experiencing these things that my counterpart had been. I, with no previous physical form, had been unleashed by that man and his seal. I now had a form, a figure to call my own. I could touch what I had only dreamed of before; everything that existed in this reality. I could do wonderful things or terrible things, all of which hadn't been accessible to me before. Even I had to wonder, had that man made the right choice?

I grinned to myself again and drank my beer.

[Iizuka]

The air was buzzing with the sounds of the drunkards that piled up around the room, shooting pool or playing cards at a wide variety of tables. Surrounded by the laughter and cheers of hearty and wholesome men and women alike, well, it made me sick to my stomach. I didn't like people. They were horrid, self-loving, self-advancing creatures, and I was no different. Why should we be out for anyone other than number one? I raised the cold glass to my lips, downing the rest of the amber liquid inside before I stood up.

My gaze carried over the room, taking in the sights of large bearded men or beautiful and homely bar tending maids alike, watching them all in their merriment. At first glance there was something lively and hospitable about what you saw, but upon further inspection one might notice the stains on the floor from alcohol-induced vomiting years before. The man in the corner has a great scar on his face, most likely due to a fight in this very bar. The tables and floors and pool sticks and cards are sticky with beer, and the whole place reeks of body odor. A thick moist haze seems to dangle in the air, poisoning all those who should enter its mist.

I cast a bag of ryo on the counter, gesturing towards the stairs that lead to the upper levels of the tavern. Understanding that I wanted a place to stay, the barkeep smiled brightly as he searched for keys under the counter. Insects escaped from my sleeves as the man bent over, grasping onto the bag that he had left behind him and returning it to myself. I returned his smile as he handed me the key, turning around to return to his duties. Before he even realized the bag was gone, I was already upstairs, safe in the room I had just "bought."

Like I said, I was no different. Every individual sought nothing more than self-improvement, than self-advancement. I was doing the same. This weak body could not accommodate the plans that I had in store. No, it would need something else. More power, more ability, more control over its potential. That fool that had previously occupied this body would no longer hold back my potential. I served no one but myself, and I would reign supreme over my destiny, even if that meant denying him his own destiny.

I fell down onto the bed, falling in between the lumps that comprised it. It wasn't much but for the night it would have to do. My hand reached over and turned off the light, encasing myself in complete darkness. The only light that entered the room came from the window, where snow reflected the light of the full moon and cast a brilliant display of light across the ceiling. The light was not annoying but instead soothing, and soon I found myself drifting into slumber.