-Kuro-

[A word from an ancient language,

meaning “to overcome”]

I opened my eyes, quickly shutting them again after being met with harsh sunlight filtering through a nearby window. I slowly forced them open again and struggled to sit up in my bed, the blanket falling from my torso into my lap. My head felt hazy as I looked at my hand, which was wrapped up in white bandages. Upon further inspection, most of my body was similarly wrapped.

As I tried to recall what had happened, I found I could not even remember my own name. In a panic, I looked around the room frantically, trying to find anything familiar to spark my memory. The room was a square with a light colored hardwood floor and similarly colored light beige walls. Along one wall there was a closet with sliding doors, and next to the closet, the wall opened up to what I assumed was the entrance to the room. The walls were bare, aside from the window next to my bed.

Alas, I couldn’t find anything before I heard a door open. From where the wall opened up a large man in a white cloak walked in, carrying a bouquet of flowers. “K-Kuro,” he stammered, the bouquet falling from his arms onto the floor, some of the flowers scattering, “You’re awake…”

“Kuro…” I repeated, “Is that my name?”

The man just stared in silence for a minute, before kneeling down and picking up the flowers. “I was hoping he’d be wrong…” he said, breaking the silence. He stood back up and put the flowers inside a vase on a bedside table. “Yes, your name is Kuro,” he continued, “the chief warned me you might have lost your memories, but I didn’t imagine it would be to this extent.”

“What happened to me?”

“You died,” he said flatly as though it was the most normal thing in the world, “Let me start from the beginning.” He pulled a chair out of the closet and sat down next to the bed.

He told me my full name was Kuro Tsumi, which comes from an ancient language no longer spoken. “Kuro” was a word that meant to overcome, and “Tsumi” meant death, to die, or the state of being dead. His name was Oroske, a combination of words that roughly translated to ocean water. His last name was also Tsumi, which he explained is because we both are part of the Tsumi Clan, and are therefore more or less family.

The Tsumi Clan was composed entirely of half-demons, and was one of three such clans, the other two being the Ishen, and the Incol. Many of the Tsumi Clan members were part of a group called the Hunters, who were swords-for-hire for various types of work, and were officially recognized by the governments of both the human and demon realms.

Each of the Clans also presided and protected over one of the Realms of Providence, the Ishen over the demon realm, the Incol over the human realm, and the Tsumi over the ethereal realm, commonly referred to as the spirit realm, or even the afterlife. By presiding over the ethereal realm, the Tsumi Clan are able to perform the miracle of resurrection, as long as the proper conditions are met.

People brought back through resurrection are granted the title of Kuro, to show that they were able to overcome death. This apparently makes me unique, as it’s usually not a person’s name, but an additional title. Typically the only people who are allowed to be revived are Hunters and major political figures, or just people deemed important enough for the service. Though really, for the right price, anyone can have it done.

Finally, he reached the event of my actual death. “During your first official Hunt, mere weeks after being granted your cloak that marks you as a novice,” he began, “You ended up killing our target, but at the same time, he killed you. Luckily, the damage he inflicted on you was reversible with magic and a blood transfusion. He wasn’t so lucky, seeing as you split him in half.

“This was about two months ago,” he continued, “we believe he used Holy magic, a special type of magic created in ancient times to combat Demons. It specifically targets Demon blood, setting the blood ablaze, burning it from within. It’s extremely painful from what I’ve heard. The revival specialists said your soul was also particularly difficult to find and bring back. Pair these circumstances together, and it took longer than normal to bring you back to life.”

I listened to his explanation silently. Nothing he said triggered my memory to come back, not even a little. After another silent moment, I finally asked, “Will you tell me about myself?” He gave me a small smile and patted my head and said “Of course.”

He told me that even amongst my fellow Hunters, I was particularly talented with Energy Manipulation and swordplay. This caused him to go on a short rant, explaining that there are two primary types of magic, Energy Manipulation, and Ether Magic. Energy Manipulation uses a special type of energy found all around us. He told me to focus my vision a bit more than normal. When I did, I saw small specks of what looked like red dust, floating in the air and sticking to the walls and ceiling. He must’ve been able to tell I could see it, as he did something to bring that energy towards his hands. It flew into his right hand, his palm open, forming a ball in the air. He then brought his hand near his head, and swung it down to his side, the energy forming a line in the air. The energy suddenly snapped downwards, the line now going straight outwards from his hand. He closed his palm into not quite a fist, and the length of energy sparked brightly. In the place of the energy was a sword, summoned from seemingly nowhere.

“It has many other uses, which I’ll tell you all about during your training, but this is an ability called Demon Sheath,” he explained, “It allows you to store weapons within your soul, and withdraw them at any point. Very few, you and yours truly included, are born with a natural aptitude for this ability.”

After he said that, he handed me the sword. When he held it, it seemed like it was a normal size, but was huge compared to my small frame. I had to carry it with both hands for it not to fall and hit the ground. He chuckled at the sight of me struggling to carry it. “Now, you at least were a natural at this before,” he started again, “so just use the energy in the air and store the sword within your soul.”

I stared blankly at him for a short moment. I woke up like thirty minutes ago with no memory and he’s asking me to perform some crazy magic trick? I shook my head, focusing on the task he’s given me. With a bit of focus, and a little time, I figured out how to gather the energy to my hands, now I just had to figure out how to actually use it.

“If you can’t do it now, that’s fi-” he started to say before the energy sparked bright red once again. Suddenly, I wasn’t carrying anything. I had unconsciously closed my eyes to focus better. Thinking he had just taken the sword, I opened my eyes, ready to ask why he stopped me, only to be met with his shocked face.

“Well I’ll be damned, good job kid!” he exclaimed proudly.

“I… I did it?”

“Yeah, you did! I’m impressed,” he said, pausing briefly and scratching the back of his neck, “I do need that sword back though, mind summoning it for me real quick?”

I took a deep breath before calling the energy back to my hand. I recalled how he had drawn a line with the energy from above the opposite shoulder from the hand he held it in, and copied the motion. I brought my left hand above my right shoulder, and brought it down in a straight line across my chest, down to my hand’s normal position. All the while, I kept the image of the sword clear in my mind, only thinking about wanting to summon it back.

After a distance I felt was adequate, I “grabbed” onto the energy. I commanded the energy to bring the sword back. Sure enough, I felt the energy pulse, and suddenly all the weight for the sword was returned. It almost fell to the ground because I wasn’t quite prepared for it, but I caught the blade with my other hand quickly.

Oroske took the blade from my hands in a careful and gentle manner. “Excellent work Kuro!” he exclaimed, before returning it to his own Demon Sheath.

“Th-thanks…” I stammered, in a much smaller voice than I had intended. I hadn’t even realized how exhausted I felt.

Oroske scratched the back of his head, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have had you do so much so soon after waking up,” he apologized, “You must be tired, I’ll let you get some rest.” He bowed his head and turned towards the entrance he had come in through.

After he opened the door, he peeked his head out from behind the corner and gave a cheesy grin, “I’ll be back tomorrow to help with your rehab!”

And with that, he was gone.

The sun had nearly set completely, the room was rather dark from the shadows of the neighboring buildings. I reached up and pulled one of the strings that controlled the blinds on the window, but pulled too far, simply closing them on the opposite side. I reached for the other string again, this time pulling it just far enough that I could comfortably look outside.

In the glow of twilight, I could see the street down below, separating the building I was in from the ones across the street. The street was made from plain, grey cobblestone, and was lined with luscious grass between it and the buildings. The buildings themselves varied in style and size, some had nothing but wood panelling, some had cobblestone trim that matched the street. A couple of the buildings I could see had a brick trim instead, and one of them was even made entirely of bricks. At the edge of my view I could even see a tudor-style house.

I wonder what other kinds there are, I thought as the last bit of sun fully sank behind the buildings across the street, enveloping the room and neighborhood in further darkness.

I involuntarily yawned, reminding myself how tired I was. I closed the blinds and layed back in the bed, pulling the blanket close to my chin.

After a small bit of tossing and turning, I finally got into a comfortable position and fell asleep.

---

Oroske awoke me the next morning, after a dreamless night. He had abruptly walked into the room, carrying a bag and a small, sheathed sword. I blearily opened my eyes and saw him standing there. “Oh good, that was enough to wake you up,” he began the conversation, “You always were a light sleeper.”

He walked over to the table at the foot of the bed, putting the bag down on top of it. Pulling a bottle full of water out, he continued speaking. “Here’s some water, figure you’re probably pretty thirsty. Your old uniform is in the bag as well,” he held up the sword, to draw my attention to it, “Get dressed, you can either keep the sword in its sheath, or put it in your Demon Sheath, up to you. I’ll be waiting for you out in the hall, let me know if you need anything,” he said with a small smile before walking out of the room once again.

I sat up in the bed, stretching my arms and legs. A small hop off the bed and I was standing. My light gray pajamas shifted slightly upon landing, they were a bit big on me. Inside the bag was a navy-blue cloak, a plain, black shirt, dark brown cargo pants, and similarly colored combat boots.

The navy-blue cloak was made of a thick fabric, and was very soft on the outside. It had a simple white trim, accenting the blue. Between the outside and inside layers was a layer of chainmail, so the cloak wasn’t just for looks but also offered protection from both the cold and physical harm. It was very heavy on my shoulders, not helped by the fact the cloak went down to just below my knees. It also featured a hood, with the same chainmail inside.

On the shoulder of the cloak was a circle with a line going straight through the center, in the same white as the trim. I’ll have to ask Oroske about that, I thought as I put on my boots. After getting both feet in, I wound up tying them without thinking, as though my body moved on its own. I had to take a couple steps to reach the sword, and noticed that the boots were very heavy, due to the steel reinforcements on the toes.

I took the sword out of its sheath right after picking it up, it’s steel blade glistening in the light. I closed my eyes and recalled my instructions from the night before. I wasn’t entirely sure what exactly I had done the previous night to make it disappear, so I was determined to go slower. I focused my eyes so I could see the energy once again, and called that energy to the palm of my left hand where I held the hilt of the blade. The command flashed in my mind, just long enough for me to catch it, before the blade vanished in a flash of red energy. So I commanded the energy to envelope the sword, then I gave the energy access to my soul, and commanded it to store the weapon there? I reflected upon the action, hoping to understand how it works at least a bit better.

Ah, it’s fine, I’m sure Oroske can explain it to me if I ask him, I told myself as I turned to a small mirror on the bedside table, examining my appearance for a brief moment. I had somewhat long, brown hair, covering up my forehead. It had a slight curl to it that kept it out of my eyes. Which were a similar brown, with vertical, slitted pupils. My left ear had a very slight point to it, but the right was completely round. I gave my appearance a shrug, not really caring how I look, and turned to leave the room.

Sure enough, Oroske was waiting for me right outside the door like he said he would. “Took you long enough,” he sarcastically chuckled, “You ready for your first day of rehab?”

“Rehab?” I questioned as he started walking down the hall.

“Yeah, we gotta get you trained back up so you can go back out in the field,” he said waving his hand as though it was obvious, when he stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to me in an over-dramatic fashion, “You… do want to go back out in the field right?”

I looked at him blankly for a minute, before finally responding with “I don’t really even know what ‘out in the field’ means.” He stared at me, more blankly than I stared at him, with an exaggerated silence. After a moment, he finally collected himself. “Of course,” he broke the silence, turning around, voice filled with confidence, “how would you know, as you no longer have your memories.”

“Y-yeah…” I said in a small voice, that contrasted his very large one.

“Follow me, and I’ll answer just about any questions you have, that one included,” he stated as he continued down the hall, turning right and going down a flight of stairs. After shaking my head, I ran after him, seeing him go out through a door immediately to the left of the stairs.

Outside it was very warm, and the sun shined bright. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light. Once they did, I saw Oroske sitting down at a table, with enough food for two. He beckoned me over, “Come, let us discuss over breakfast. It’s never a good idea to exercise or train on an empty stomach.”

After I sat at the table, Oroske took his cloak off, and fanned himself, “Hoo boy, it’s hot out today, huh?” he said, as he leaned into the table, “So, you had questions, right? Well fire away, if I can answer them, I’d be happy to.”

As he finished speaking he took one of the biscuits off the tray and split it in two, spreading butter on the insides of both halves. I examined the spread in front of me, it was a small, but respectable selection, with biscuits, bacon, sausage, and some scrambled eggs. I took a little bit of everything for the time being, as I thought about the order of my questions.

“So are you my dad, or who is?” I asked the first question, one that had been on my mind since the night before. He shook his head before speaking, “I’m not,” he began, with a solemn pause before continuing, “your dad, as well as your mom, were killed in action when you were only a few years old. Your mom was my sister, and I’m the only other surviving family you had, so she left you in my care.” He paused once more as he took another bite of his food, a little bit of egg he had grabbed during his explanation. “So while I did raise you more or less, I’m not your dad. I am however, your mentor as a Hunter.”

“I see…” I said, a bit of sadness hanging on the words. I can’t say I remember my parents, but it’s sad to hear I’ll never get to know them. I shook my head and moved on to my next question, “What did you mean by going back in the field? Like, what do we do?”

Oroske pondered his wording for a moment, “Well I told you we’re called Hunters, right?” I replied with a nod, and he continued, “Well, in the traditional sense, that’d mean we go out and hunt animals for food, right?” I nodded once again, “For us however, animals are not our game. We hunt ghosts, Necromancers, criminals, and anyone we’ve been paid to hunt.

“We in the Tsumi Clan are the ‘protectors’ of the Ethereal Realm. Our job, as assigned by the Guardians, is to send off spirits to their proper rest, and kill anyone who tries to upset that flow, such as the Necromancers I mentioned a moment ago. As long as we do that, we’re allowed to live however we want. As such, we take on requests from various people to kill others. Contract killers, if you will.

“So, I guess I should ask, do you want to work to become a Hunter again?” He asked, taking a bite out of some bacon while waiting for my response.

“Sounds cool, so sure!” I respond enthusiastically. My mouth was full of biscuit though, so it came out more like “Soumz cul, zo shur!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Oroske scolded, but not before swallowing his food in example, “And I’m glad to hear that, once we finish we can begin your retraining. Any other questions?”

“Just one for now,” I started, my gaze locked on the symbol on his shoulder, “What is the symbol on our jackets?”

“Oh this?” He grabbed onto his sleeve to show it to me a little better, instead of black on blue, his was red on white, “It’s the symbol of our Clan. Its true meaning is still being debated by actually smart people, but most agree on the name ‘the Emblem of Balance.’ In our Clan, it’s meant to symbolize the balance between life and death, which we are responsible for upholding. Outside of our Clan, I have no idea.”

“Interesting,” I said before biting into some scrambled eggs. We finished our meal in relative silence after that.

After we finished our meal, Oroske took me to the Hunter’s headquarters to speak with the chief about beginning my re-training. Along the way I saw several different buildings with different styles and sizes, which Oroske explained to me as being a part of our culture, being a clan made up of people with several different ancestries, and to show how architecture has evolved over the past 500 years since the founding the Half-Demon clans. The different sizes more or less just show the different personalities of the clan members that live there.

“I kept my house on the smaller side compared to some other Hunters. Made a couple extra rooms in case I ever got married or had other people staying with me, but aside from that it’s pretty small and cozy. Some Hunters, on the other hand, have grand hobbies and like to show off, but I’ve honestly never understood.” Is what he said when I asked about his place. Which it’s true, compared to most of the houses, especially near the center of the city, were huge in comparison. His house was also modest in its design, some houses had complex stone and brick work, but his house was just simple with wooden slats on the inside and outside.

After a while, we turned to the right, which placed us on another long street with even more complex houses. At the end, we broke out into the central plaza, a large circular clearing with an ornate water fountain in the center. Lining the plaza were several shops, each with its own unique style and architecture. I walked with Oroske straight through, while looking into the shops to see what’s going on in them. One that caught my eye was a large building, with large stone bricks making up the majority of the wall, that had several large forges, with muscular men and women moving stuff in them, and hammering blades and metal on anvils. Another one was a simple, dark wood building that had a few men in cloaks standing in front of a counter with a single lady talking to them.

The headquarters on the other hand, was a very interesting combination of the two design mentalities. It was a large, mostly stone building, with wooden beams for support, evenly spaced with windows inbetween. The building had an alcove underneath the second floor, where the wall of the first floor went diagonally across from the square corner above it and was easily accessible from the central plaza of town.

Where the outside was in the middle of plain and fancy, the inside was very fancy, yet minimalistic. The floor had very fancy and clean tile work, black lines accenting the light, tannish colored tiles leading up to the reception desk that was made of a similarly colored wood and had a very sleek design. Behind the desk was a fancy water feature, where water came down from the ceiling, splashing on some rocks making a waterfall, and forming a pond just above floor level, before going underneath the floor where it’s still visible through glass panels.

The lady sitting behind the desk was dressed in all white, including her shoes. Her hair was long and silver, tied into a neat mid-height ponytail. Her eyes were a mesmerizing silver as well, the darkest part of her appearance was surprisingly her skin, but even then she was pale. On the front left pocket of her button up shirt was a steel pin of the clan emblem, shining in the over-head light as she stood up to welcome us.

“Oroske, good to see you,” She said, her voice was quiet, barely louder than the water feature behind her, “and you as well, Kuro.” She gave a very small, but kind smile. “Good to see you too, Venn,” Oroske responded with a much larger, more stated smile, “Kuro, this is Venn, she’s been handling reception here for… how long is it now?”

“3 years,” she spoke up, “Ever since my mother retired.”

“That’s right! How is she, by the way?”

“She’s been doing well, her health has improved, but not nearly as much as her mood.”

“Glad to hear that. Anyway, we’re here to get Kuro here cleared to begin his re-training.”

“Ah, very good, let me just call down Danfis.” She said as she reached to press a button on her desk.

“Danfis? Who’s that?” I asked Oroske while she seemingly talked to herself. “Danfis is the chief of our clan. My knowledge of the ancient language is rusty, but I believe it translates directly to chief or king. Something like that, anyway,” He answered with a chuckle, “He’s a pretty impressive person, with a lot of accomplishments under his belt.”

“Wow, I’m excited to meet him, also, what is she doing?” I asked, watching her still talk to herself. “Oh, that? She’s using a magic communicator, so the person on the other side can hear her, and she can hear them, but we can only hear her. They were only recently made, maybe a year ago?”

Before I could ask any further questions she pushed the button again and spoke directly to us, “He said he’ll be down in just a moment, has another conversation to finish up first. Feel free to sit down and relax while waiting.” So we went and sat down on some cushioned seats along the wall and waited. I hadn’t realized until that moment how exhausted I felt, so the rest was welcome.

After a few minutes, two people came down the hallway. One was a tall man dressed in a long, crimson red coat that was buttoned up all the way, with intricate black designs. The other one was a shorter man, dressed in a formal-looking black robe, with very simple, dark red accents. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they were definitely still talking about something.

Oroske stood up when they were almost out of the hallway, and I followed him. “Ah, Oroske, it’s good to see you,” The shorter man said before turning to the taller man, “Guardians keep you, Rel, keep in contact on your mission.” From the side, I could see the shorter man’s jet black hair was quite wavy, long, and tied in a low ponytail. “Thank you, Danfis. And I will,” the man called Rel said with a small bow, “Oroske, Kuro, good to see you in good health. See you around.”

Oroske gave a small nod as Rel walked out of the building before turning back to Danfis. “How’s it going, chief?” Oroske asked with a smile on his face, stretching out his hand toward Danfis. Danfis took his hand and shook it, giving a small smile, “Good, good. How about you?”

“Good, now that Kuro’s awake again,” Oroske chuckled, “Which has a lot to do with why we’re here in the first place, and by a lot I mean everything.”

“I thought it might,” Danfis looked down at me, his gaze pierced right through me, I felt mystified by his crimson eyes, and his slitted pupils shrank, almost sharpened when eye contact was made, before softening again when he gave another small smile. “How are you feeling, Kuro?” He asked me. It took me a second to register that he was talking to me, and I snapped out of my slight daze, “Fine,” I stuttered, “I suppose.”

“Glad to hear it, I’m sure your body still has a bit of fatigue and weakness to it,” He continued, examining my small body closer by crouching down, “Would you mind if I felt your arms to examine them?” I looked up to Oroske, who just nodded with a dumb smile on his face, and gave Danfis a small nod.

He started with my left hand, lightly applying pressure on the fingers and palm, and moved up to my upper arm and did the same with my biceps. He did this on both sides, it was a bit uncomfortable, and felt weird, even painful a couple times. He definitely noticed when it hurt as I winced a little each time.

After finishing up on the right side, he straightened his back out and stood straight, still looking at me. “Thankfully, it seems most of the muscle mass is still there, but it’s tender,” he reported, then turned to Oroske, “He should be plenty good to begin retraining, but it’ll still be a while before he can go out into the field.”

“Wonderful!” Oroske exclaimed, “Thank you, Danfis, I’ll get him started on physical training tomorrow, and teach him some of the basic knowledge tonight. How do you want to handle the testing?”

“We’ll do it as normal, and have him spar another Hunter to showcase what he’s learned, and quiz him on his knowledge after that.”

Oroske nodded and voiced his agreement. “Then, is there anything else I can do for you two today?” Danfis asked us. Oroske shook his head, “Nothing for me, how about you, Kuro?”

“Do you know anything about when or how I can get my memories back?” I hesitated to ask.

Danfis gave a small sigh, “I wish I did. This happens occasionally with kuros, such as yourself. Everyone who goes through it gets their memories back in different ways, but so far we’ve only had two cases in my time as danfis of the Tsumi Clan where they never got their memory back.”

“Oh… Okay, thanks anyway,” I said, I was really hoping he’d be able to provide me some direction.

“Don’t give up hope though, it’s more likely than not that you’ll get it back eventually,” he said, “I can’t make any promises, but once you can go back into the field, I’ll see what I can do about sending you to Al’din, the place where you died. One common aspect of what brings back kuros’ memory is going to the place they lost it.”

“Really?” My voice had hope, and optimism again. “Of course, anything I can do to help,” He gave another small smile while saying that.

Oroske cleared his throat, “Well, we should probably get going, and you’re probably busy.”

“Always am, it seems,” Danfis laughed a little, “Guardians keep you both, and Kuro, good luck with your rehabilitation.”