Chapter 32: The flow
Raijah arrived outside the martial arts dojo. He stopped flying and landed on his feet, taking in his surroundings.
"It's been so long since I've been here," Raijah said to himself.
The exterior of the dojo was almost completely white, the only color being the black lettering above the doorless entrance, which read "Rumble Dojo."
It was one of the most prestigious martial arts dojos in the world. Known for its immensely talented teachers and students.
"I remember how I got into the Rumble Dojo," Raijah thought, "Sean saw talent in me and enlisted me for the exams. That summer camp and the entrance tournament were no joke. I was the only one that made it in from our camp."
He walked through the doorless entrance thinking, "I wonder if any of my old friends are here."
Inside the dojo was a large blue hall. All around, there were people of different ages sparring. They each wore different colored gi, representing their ranks in the dojo.
As Raijah walked in, the room fell silent, all of the spars stopped, and everyone turned their attention to him.
"Is that Raijah?" someone blurted out, breaking the silence.
They all crowded around Raijah, bombarding him with questions about where he had been for the past two years.
Raijah attempted to calm them down by answering some questions, but they all kept asking more.
Raijah saw three familiar girls push through the crowd that surrounded him.
One wore a blue gi, another wore a green gi, and the last one wore a yellow gi.
After pushing through the crowd, they all ran towards Raijah.
Each shouting, "I missed you!"
"That's enough!" a familiar voice shouted, causing the girls to stop before they could reach Raijah.
The voice came from a man who had just walked out of another room.
The crowd parted and, Raijah could see the man who had shouted.
He wore a black gi and, beside him stood Sean. He was the head instructor of Rumble Dojo.
"Raijah," the man said, "Sean told me all about what's been going on. I know you're busy but one day, come back to Rumble Dojo. Not only do I miss you but, the girls in our dojo do as well."
Raijah turned his head towards the crowd, and sure enough, he caught all of his old female friends winking at him. While the males stared at him with eyes filled with jealously.
Sean walked through the space in the crowd.
"Alright," Raijah said, "I have a lot going on right now but, trust me, I'll be back to tell you guys all about what happened."
Raijah and Sean walked out of the dojo and, before departing, Raijah turned around and smiled at his friends through the doorless entrance.
They waved at him with comforting smiles on each of their faces.
"I'll come back," Raijah said before turning around and leading Sean to Aziel's house.
Raijah and Sean walked into Aziel's house.
They arrived at the living room, where Cora, Val, Teo, Hashira, and Aziel sat.
"Did you feel that?" Cora asked Raijah as he walked into the room, "earlier, there was a loud explosion and, the ground was rumbling."
"Oh," Raijah said, "I caused that."
All around the room, everyone's mouth gaped open.
"Why?" Teo asked, "did you get into a fight?"
Raijah and Sean sat down and, Raijah explained what had led him to cause that huge explosion.
"That serves them right," Hashira and Aziel said in sync, "the government has been after you ever since we left for training."
"But," Aziel added, "since Sean's location has been compromised, he can stay here for the time being."
A white key appeared in Aziel's hands and, he tossed it to Sean.
"That's the house key," Aziel explained, "we'll be heading out soon so, don't lose it. There are cooks, maids, and butlers that work at the house daily. Make yourself at home."
A maid walked into the room. She had her blonde hair tied in a bun and, she wore a black maid dress.
"Can you please escort him to his room?" Aziel said, "any empty room will be fine."
"Thank you so much," Sean said as he stood up and followed the maid who led him upstairs.
Once they left the room, Aziel and Hashira turned towards the others.
"Alright," Hashira said, "Aziel has some explaining to do."
"Well," Aziel began, "I'll get straight to the point."
"My brother is after Raijah."
Excluding Aziel and Hashira, unsure looks formed all around the room, followed by a series of questions coming from the students.
"Wait, wait," Aziel said, "I'll explain everything, starting from the very beginning."
"But before that, you need to understand our world."
A brown book appeared in Aziel's hand.
"This is another enchanted book that my parents wrote. It shows a model of how our world works."
Aziel opened the book and, it began to float in the middle of the living room.
A small black spiral emerged from the book.
"This is a model of what our universe looks like," Aziel explained.
The model turned into layers, which began to scroll upward with seemingly no end.
Aziel continued his explanation.
"Each universe has an infinitely layered dimensional hierarchy. Each dimension in this hierarchy of layers completely transcends and overlaps the infinite amount dimensions below it. There is no beginning nor end to this hierarchy."
The layers turned back into a spiral and, more spirals emerged from the floating book.
The students watched in awe, trying to understand everything that they were learning.
"There are an infinite amount of universes, each containing the dimensional hierarchy that I explained earlier."
"We call this the multiverse."
"Now," Aziel said as the spirals all clumped together.
A circle formed around the model of the multiverse and, outside of the circle, darkness formed.
The darkness was flowing around in a circular motion.
"This," Aziel continued, "is the emptiness that surrounds the multiverse. This, along with the multiverse, is what we call the flow."
In the model, outside of the darkness and the multiverse, another dark swirl formed.
"Beyond the flow exists constructs which we call the transcendental realms."
"The only transcendental realm we know of is hell. Although heaven is likely another transcendental realm, it has never been explored."
"These transcendental realms completely transcend and exist beyond the very concept of the flow."
"Now," Aziel said as the model flew back into the book, "I explained that because most of this story will take place in hell."
"I will show you my past and what drove David to come after Raijah."
The book closed and landed in Aziel's hand.
He teleported it back to his storage mirror and, his scythe reappeared in his hands.
"What do you mean you'll show us?" Raijah asked, "aren't you just going to tell us what happened?"
"No," Aziel replied as he stood up with his scythe in his hand.
"I'll show you guys by using an ability I got from Meng's communication prana."
"Not only does his prana allow him to communicate mentally but, the ability I copied allows you to communicate your memories to others."
"Are you all ready?" Aziel asked.
All of the students nodded, ready to see Aziel's past.
Aziel spun his scythe.
"Mirror Prana: Flashback!"
Aziel's one open eye turned completely white and, his right eye which, had the vertical scar going through it, was still closed.
All of the students' eyes turned white, leaving Hashira. The only person who wasn't seeing the flashback.
"I already know what Aziel has gone through," Hashira said, "and Val knows to some extent. But I wonder how the other students will react."
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