Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sky was pinkish-blue as the sun settled.
All the flocks of birds were flying back to their nest. The cicadas always stayed chirping also.
A long black-haired woman wearing a sand-colored gown was sobbing softly, holding a gray-haired infant in her arms saying, "Promise me you will please come back! Please! I can't take care of him alone!"
A white-haired man, covered in a black hooded robe responded, "You know I don't make promises, as for I would not lie to a woman like you." The woman then said, "Well please, just promise me this time that you will be back! For the sake of our son." The blank silence appears until the man says, "Only this one time. Unless you quit your sobbing. You will practically be sick." The man responded.
The woman nods her head, as the man smiles at her and the child.

He then walks onto the path of leaves as they rustle, and crumble.

"Yaaaah!"
Men are screaming.
Weapons are clashing.
Mist is replaced by blood.
All while the ground rumbles.
The said man was barely harmed, killing many people. His brute force is slicing through the armor of the enemies, and even the legs of their horses. Enemies catch onto him and try to attack him all at once. But this was a mistake, for both sides.

The man defeats the group of enemies until he realizes what he has done. The enemies now know he isn't like the other troops that are fighting along him...

Then Boom!

The sound of flesh being crushed appears. Except, it's the man who is pierced. With not a hand, but like a force of some sort, had ended his journey.

For Good.

But that was 14 years ago. Something a mere infant wouldn't remember.

Present day...

"Saito you better be back before noon! Or else."
A woman said. Saito then gets a frightened look and responds, "Okay I promise!"
Saito leaves, as he goes off to the lake
A man then says, "Iris the boy is 15, you shouldn't be boss babying him are-."
"YOU WANT ME TO DO THE SAME TO YOU SAIKI?!" Iris quickly responded.
Saiki rapidly shook his head no and continued back to his work.

Iris appeared as a brownish tan Hispanic female, standing around 10'8 with dark brown hair. She wears lots of t-shirts, crop tops, and baggy sweatpants. She also has an E-cup breast size.
Saiki appeared as a Hispanic male with a few Asian features, standing around 10'11 with white hair on one side, and black on the other.
He wears lots of turtle necks with regular pants and is very buff.
These people appear very tall, due to them belonging to another planet which has the races earth has, just different features.

Splash, Sploosh.

"I think that's enough for the day," Saito says jumping out of the lake. "Cya Riko!" He says to a turtle. The wet footsteps of Saito continue, until.
"NO NO NO NO, NO!" He says as he sprints home. The sun was almost fully settled.

Bash!

Saito bursts open the front door right as the clock strikes noon.
"You got lucky this time son. Lucky."
Iris says as she glares at Saito.
The shower sprinkles until the creak of the knob turns off. Saito steps out of the shower and gets ready for the next day.

Saito appears Blasian, standing around 5'8 with gray hair. He wears a wide variety of clothes and isn't very muscular. On the other hand, he is very fast on his feet.

"Thx fur the brekfust!"
Saito says with his mouth full walking towards the door.
"You're done that fast? Where are you going?!"
Iris said. Gulp "To West Lake." Saito responded, running out the door.
"Be careful on that side of the lake!"
Iris yelled. Saito gives a thumbs up as he is running.

The rustling of the leaves expands through the forest as Saito is running with the wind.
"Woo hoo!" Saito says, long jumping over a decayed log. He grabs onto a tree branch and starts jumping through the trees until.

Splash!

He leaps into the water of west lake.
"The water is so clear here! And the fish are so calm and friendly, that they don't even flee when you pet them!" Saito says.
Saito swims through the water, with the fish swimming by his side. He goes a little deeper... and then leaps out like a dolphin!

Sunset

When the sun is setting, Saito likes to get onto a rock, and watch the sunset.
"Man, does the West Lake have the best sunset view..."

Rustle

Saito becomes aware of his surroundings.

Rustle

"What the hell..." Saito says under his breath.

Rugharow!

A tiger-shaped beast jumps out of the bushes toward Saito! Whoosh! Saito wastes no time and leaps off the rock into the air.

Pound, Rustle

Saito lands on the ground, and instantly starts sprinting through the forest. Except...
The beast chases Saito into the forest, until it doesn't. The beast can't see Saito, but it sure can smell.

Saito is leaping through the trees and leaps into a bush. The beast smells that Saito is nearby, and sneaks behind the bush. Saito feels the breath of the beast on his neck, and back kicks it in the face! Saito leaps back into the trees, leaping into a semi-shallow pool of muddy water. This water isn't that clear, and you can't really see inside of it.
The beast cannot sense Saito. It then gives up, and does some sort of morphing into a human.
"Damn kid." The human says. They then disappear, in a flash.

Splash!

"Huugh Haaa, Huugh Haaa, Huugh Haaa."
Saito catches his breath and wipes off the slimy brown muddy water.

Creeaak

Saito opens the front door to his house, just to see his mother, Iris, standing there, glaring at her son, while a wooden spoon is in her hand.
"Ma! Wait I swear I can explain!" Saito said with a scared look.
"Oh, I'm sure you can..." Iris says, raising the spoon. "Dad! Da-!"

Shower sprinkles

Saito has a look of despair on his face while taking a shower. And not only that, but a red mark on his face, and a knot on his head.

In bed

What was that thing out there...
Saito thought to himself. He could barely sleep without thinking of what had happened. He eventually drifts off from exhaustion.
End of Chapter One

Chapter Text

It was late evening. All the birds were returning to their nest, and all the bugs started to scatter.

"Eeyah!"

(Flashback of the previous battle with the beast.)

Saito was repeatedly striking a tree with an old sword. He wanted to find that beast again but also wanted to be prepared.
"Sai, make sure to come in, in about 30 minutes. I gotta show you the new thing I bought."
Saiki said. "Alright dad, I'll be there in a minute!" Saito responded.

"Hey hon, do you really think that those goggles can make you see ghosts?" Iris asked Saiki.
"Of course! They were bought from the one and only Babazon!"
Saiki responded with a bright smile and his chest puffed.
"Whatever you say..." Iris says, practically rolling her eyes, returning to her book.
"YAAAH!"
Saito strikes the tree with the final cut. Except the tree isn't the thing that broke. It was the sword. "Ahhh forget it, I'll just ditch west lake-"

Rustle

Saito looks around, trying to find where that rustle came from. He grabbed the broken sword and put his guard up.

Rustle

He quickly turns behind him and stares at the spot the sound came from, until...

"Riko?! Man don't scare me like that." Saito says to the turtle. Saito likes Riko the most out of all the turtles because he apparently is the fastest one. "I'll sneak you in just for this one night, and then tomorrow you gotta go."

Creeaak

Saito enters the house, hiding Riko in the back of his shirt.
"Hey, lock the door behind you please." Iris said to Saito.

"Pops... what do you have on your face?" Saito asked his father.
"They're called... Spirit See-ers!" Saiki says with a big smile, and his chest puffed. "Well can you even see any "Spirits" out of them?" Saito responds.

"Uhhh, well-"

"My point exactly." Iris says, cutting Saiki off from his sentence.

Saito walks down the hallway to his room, ignoring the indistinct chatter of his parents.

Saiki: Well at least we know that we aren't being haunted!
Iris: How would you know if you don't even know if they work?
Saiki: Because they test their products before they are sold!
Iris: You really believe that crap!?

Before Midnight

Saito turns off his tv, and sits down on his bed, placing Riko down on his desk.
"There ya go Riko, nice and comfy." He said to the turtle.
"Good night, and I will see you in the morning." Saito said.

2 Hours Later
(2 AM)

Saito wakes up, extremely thirsty for water. He gets up halfway awake, to go get water from the fridge. Since he doesn't wanna get yelled at, he also starts tip-toeing.

Gulp

"Ahhh."

Saito then gets back to his room and goes to pet Riko.

"Owwww!"

Saito says, covering his mouth with his other hand. He wasn't petting a turtle though... He was petting a porcupine! Saito becomes fully awake, looking at his hand, and then the porcupine. Until...

The porcupine morphs into a person about 5 feet tall!
"What the hell..." Saito says under his breath.
The person jumps at Saito, tackling him onto the ground! Saito, reacting in a smart response, punctures the person with the quills in their face, also making them go deeper into Saito's hand.
"Agh!"
They both scream with their teeth closed, not trying to wake up his parents.
Saito rolls over, throwing a punch at the person. The person moves his head out the way, dodging the punch, and pushes Saito with brute force so hard, that he pushes him out his window.

Shatter!
Ugh!

Saito falls to the ground, back first, from his second-story room. The person jumps out the window, aiming to pounce on Saito. Saito rolls over out of the way fast and catches the breath that was knocked out of him.
"Who... Are you... and what... do you want..." Saito says breathing heavily. The person ignores Saito and rushes towards him with a speared hand. Saito puts his guard up, and ducks the attack, but gets kneed right in the chin, and is knocked right back down onto the ground. The person aims their hand at Saito and cocks their hand back until...

Fwoosh!

A purple fire blast hits the person. Not hesitating at all, the person flees into the woods. Saito looks in the direction that the blast came from, and sees a shadowy figure with a hooded robe. They then disappeared into the shadows, leaving Saito laying on the ground out of breath, and beat up.

Rustle, pit-pat

A turtle appears behind Saito, scaring Saito.
"Ahhh, get away you creepy reptile!" Saito says to the turtle. The turtle tilts its head, confused. "Don't give me that look, you can't fool me!" Saito then calms down, noticing it's the real Riko, due to it having a scar on the back of its shell. "Oh never mind, it's actually you Riko." Saito says. He picks up the turtle, takes it to his room, and goes to sleep.

Morning

Faded talking

"Hey... Hey, wake up... Get up, you've been asleep for 10 hours!"
Iris says. "And why do you look all beat up? You have blood around your chin, blood on your hands, and you're all dusty. Not to mention the blood on the floor also."
"Huh?" Saito says, half awake, and confused. "You heard what I said! Get up!"

Pat, pat, pat, pat, pat.

Iris taps Saito on the face. "I'm up, I'm up..." Saito says.
"So are you gonna answer me?" Iris said.
"I fell down the stairs, trying to get water." Saito responds, still half awake.
"Oh sure, when you fell, you must have come back up as a porcupine." Iris said.

There were a small number of quills around his window.

"And the window is broken." She says with a glare.
Saito looks at his mother, droopy and dumbfounded, until...

"AAAHHH, I'M UP, I SAID I'M UP!" Saito says, running from his mother with a wooden spoon in her hand.
"OH, YOU SURE WILL WHEN I KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO YOU!" She yells.

"So you snuck out, to find a porcupine for something you saw on tv." Iris says, looking at her son dumbfounded, with two knots on his head, and a swollen eye. "Sweetie, can you stop lying to me, I know this is a lie. You don't get it from me, because I know how to." She says. "Probably your father..." She says under her breath.

"Okay, okay, you really should've said so, Ima go talk to your father about this." Iris says. She walks off, leaving Saito on the couch, exhausted.

"You have to teach him, we can't keep giving him this "normal" human life. He is not even from this planet. Nor is he like humankind." Iris says to Saiki.

"I'll see what I can do..." Saiki says.
End of Chapter Two

Chapter Text

Fwunch!

"No son! You dodge those, not walk into them."
Saiki says to Saito.
"Well, I can't dodge them, if I can barely see them! And aren't these balls used for baseball?"
Saito said. Saiki nodded yes to Saito, and threw another ball, except it was a curveball.

Fwunch!

"Ow!" Saito exclaimed. He got mad and when his father threw the next ball... Saito caught it...

And threw the ball back to his father at a blazing speed!
Saiki caught the ball easily, and said, "Oh so now you wanna catch the ball instead of dodge? Make up your mind son!"
Saito laughs it off and they continue training.

Fwunch!
Fwooch!
Fweech!

It was about late noon.
Saito was all beat up, and his dad was tired. "Hey, why don't we call it a day, we can continue tomorrow." Saiki says. "Great idea pops, see ya tomorrow!"

(Saito sleeping.)
(Saito opens his eyes, fully awakened)

Saito sits up, thinking, Where am I?...
Grab!
"What! Huh?! Who are you? Let me go!"
(Armor clanking)
Two, buff, black steel knights picked up Saito by his arms and took him over beside a large hole in the ground.
What?!!? Saito thinks as they arrive at the hole. "Don't even think about throwing me down there! Do you know my- Daaaahhhh!"

(Before Saito and Saiki were training.)

Iris was in anger, as she heard the plan Saiki had to do.

"Are you serious?! He could die, and if he does what will you do?!" Iris asks Saiki.
"This was my only choice, all the other choices were either far too dangerous for him, or the others... this one is 50/50 and is our safest bet." Saiki says.
"Why can't you just train him!-"

"Because I am not his father!" Saiki yells, cutting off Iris.
A tear drops from her face, from anger.

"I can't... I can't train him. Only his kin have the power to do that. But there are barely any of them left." Saiki says.
"Then who... who could possibly train him if you can't, and he has no one else?!" Iris says in a mild voice.

"I know someone in mind..."
Saiki says.

(Present)

"Ahhhh!"
Umph!

Saito falls face first, flat onto the dirt ground.
"What?... How am I not dead?! And where am-" Saito looks up and sees a hooded figure.

"You are at the Unchallow Pass, and the hole you fell from is called "The Hallaow" The figure says in a doubled voice.

"Okay, and why am I here?" Saito asks.
"You shall find out, follow me." The figure says. The hooded figure starts running down the hallway. "Hold up, wait!" Saito says as he accelerates.

They kinda remind me of someone... Oh yeah!
(Flashback to the hooded figure that saved Saito from the beast.)

"Hey, where did you go-... Woah..." Saito says.
Saito looks around the dark pathway, as a bunch of yellow glowing eyes starts to appear everywhere around him.
"Ahhh!" Saito says runs through swarms of large bats with 2 pairs of wings. He got scratched at least 7 times. He escapes almost safely and keeps running through the pathway. "What is this, a maze?" He says.

Brrraough...

Saito hears a distorted growl
"W-what? Don't tell me..." Saito says.

Brrraough!!!
Chomp!

"AGHH!"
Saito barely dodges the chomp of some sort of mutated beast. Glowing scales begin to fill the dark hallway, as growling kills the silence. The suddenly...

The beasts start charging at Saito!
Fwoosh!
Saito jumps up to grip onto something, like a tree branch,... but remembers he's not in a forest!
Umph!
He falls onto the head of one of the beasts, and recovers on his feet fast!
"Woah!"
The beast starts to run through, and over the other beast, while Saito is standing on it like a surfboard.
"Slow down, slow down,... slow down!"
The beast brakes immediately, flinging Saito across a pit of spikes!
"Ahhhh!"
Umph!
He safely makes it across, onto the ground on the other side. He catches his breath. He analyses the beasts, which appear as a doggish reptilian thing with a crocodile tail.
"I'm getting out of this place..." Saito says.

"I-is this it?! Amazing!" Saito yells.
Saito arrives at the end of a path and looks into a new world. Where the leaves are blue in spring, and purple in winter. It was like a fantasy world with fantasy villages.
"Hey, take this necklace. You might need it." The hooded figure says while tossing the necklace to Saito.
"Where have you been?!- Oh. Thanks, I gue-...ss." Saito says as the figure disappears.

The necklace the figure tossed was a brownish string with an upside-down black triangle on it. It looked like obsidian. Saito puts the necklace in his pocket and continues to gaze at the view.

Saito was standing at the end of the tunnel-ish pathway. It stopped at the edge of the cliff, high above the ground.
"Here goes nothing, Ya-hoooo!" Saito jumps off the cliff and glides in the air.
End of Chapter Three

Chapter Text

Indistinct Chatter

“That'll cost 180 muen please!” The man says.
“Muen!?” Saito exclaims confusingly
“Don't worry about it, I’ll take care of it.” A man says behind him. He stands around 5 foot 10, with brown spikey hair.
“Thanks!” Saito says. The man nods and they walk off.

“Sooo…, I'm York.” The man says.
“Oh, I'm Saito.” Saito says.
“I really appreciate what you did back there.” Saito said.
“Again, no problem. Muen is a currency we use here in Baraboarn. I'm guessing you're new here, so for short you're lucky, but I will explain anyway.

Baraboarn is one of the three Unshallow worlds. What you came from was the Unshallow pass, and before that was The Hallaow. This world is the fantasy world of the Unshallow worlds. It has knights, dragons, and villages. This is the 2nd world. The first one is called null. There is nothing there, and anyone who enters never comes back out. Null is a blank world. The strange thing is that the world is one color, and it switches from black, to white, every 11 hours. A had a friend go in there as a dare… it was a bad mistake.

Anyway, the third world is Xokulo (Shokulo). Many people call it Xoku, so I will too.
Xoku is like the opposite of Baraboarn. It is ruled by demons, monsters, and dragons. It enslaves any human being, or good thing that doesn't belong there. People leave it alone because of how strong the ruler is. Thankfully, Baraboarn has a wonderful leader, and we live in peace and harmony. At least in the inner village.”
“That was a lot!” Saito says.
“Yeah, you will get use-“

Rustle…

!!!

“GIMME EVERYTHING YA GOT.” A man in a black jumpsuit jumps from the bushes.
“O-Okay!-“
“What if I said no?” York says cutting Saito off.
(“This guy is crazy!”) Saito thinks.
“Well then… I’ll just do this!” The man moves like lightning toward York, and strikes him with a powerful punch!

“UMPH!”

York gets knocked back, and quickly recovers back onto his feet.

“Yaaah!” Saito goes in for a punch and… hits the man!
“That's all ya got kid?” The man says.

“OOMPH!”

The man kicks Saito out the way. The man then puts his fist up into the air, and then retrieves them back down to his waist quickly, making lightning form around his fist!
“You shouldn't have said no…” The man says, charging York.
The man rushes a punch to York's head and… misses! York then puts his hand at his waist, and forms lightning around them, just then to strike a blow at the man!

“GAHH!”

Then the man flies back, just for York to appear behind him, and SLAMS the man's head into the ground! His eyes roll to the back of his head, and becomes unconscious.

“Easygoing dude, you almost died there. Oh wait, you did.
Bahaaaaaa!” York laughs at his own joke, while Saito looks at him with a weirded look.

(“This guy is crazy…”) Saito says in his head.
End of Chapter Four

Chapter Text

“I’ll explain later back at my cabin.” York says.

(At York’s cabin.)

“Why do you live outside the walls?” Saito asks York.
“I like to hunt my own food, it feels like home to me.” York says.
“Anyway, time for another lesson, so lock in!” He says.

“Shift dates back to thousands of years ago. It first started with Fire, Water, and Lightning, and as time went on, more root shiftings were made. Root shiftings are shiftings that were made with bare force, and were not combined with other shifts.

Shifting is using the power of an element, your mind force, and your soul force. Not everyone can use a certain shifting. They need to have a certain amount of SM Force, which stands for Soul Mind Force.

The Shifts that are widely known today are Fire, Water, Lightning, Light, and Dark. Now light and dark shifters can both be good, and can both be bad. They can be good dark shifters, and bad light shifters. The shift doesn't matter, but the person does.”

“So do you have lightning?” Saito asks.

“No, I don't.” York says.
Saito looks at York confusingly.
“I am an Ability Shifter. I am the last of my clan. We were killed off because of how powerful we were. We can swap people's abilities, take them, and even use them. We never really used the powers for bad, and if we did, it would take tons of Special Forces to defeat us. Anyway, we were mostly good people, and the government saw too much power in us, so they killed us off. My mother hid me under a board in our cabin, until I was adopted, and labeled as “Shiftless.”
I'm a good guy, and I hope to bring my clan back one day, for good.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.” Saito says.
“Ahh it's fine, get some rest.” York says, walking to his room.

Midnight

Saito appears to sleep on York’s couch.

“You really are gullible huh?“

Twitching

“Don't trust people so easily!”

Uncomfortable chattering

“Watch your back.”

Sweating occurs

“You shouldve never-“

“Aaghh!” Saito wakes up from his dream, breathing heavily.

Breathes in

“Ahhhhh.” Saito says. “I really need to get back home. This fantasy world does not fit me.” Saito says to himself. “But the only way I can leave is if I can make it.”

“Hmph!”

Crack!

“Hmph!”

Crack!

Saito repeatedly punches a wooden tree. His knuckles are dripping, and bags have forms around his eyes.

“Up, down, up, down.”
Saitp says as he is doing push-ups. Saito has lost track of his count, and repeatedly does push-ups until he fails.

“Umph!”

He falls on the ground from exhaustion.
“Who am I kidding, I don't even have a shift.”

“Yes you do…”

Rustle

“Huh? Who was that?!” A shadowy figure leaps into the forest.
“W-wait up!” Saitp says.
Saito leaps up, and grabs a tree branch, as the blue leaves glide through his vision. He jumps through the trees, then… suddenly stops. He sees a shadowy figure, dancing with the wind, but is it really the wind?

“They’re dancing… with the water!” Saito says. The shadowy figure takes off something on their head, and reveals a set of antlers!

“Woah… amazing.” Saito says.

The water was crystal clear. The blue leaves turned into green flowers as they touched the water. The water that they danced with, shined in the crescent moon.

Crack!

The branch that Saito is on breaks, and he falls onto the ground, startling the dancer!

Umph!

Rustle…

“Hey wait! I'm sorry!” Saito says as they run off.
End of Chapter Five