A Requiem of a Human Soul

Burst/Meeting

When Shu was a child, he got home from school one day to see a box sitting on top of his bed. He didn't know where it came from. Even ten years later, he still didn't know.

But it was burnt amber and gold and covered in twisting emblems of flames and fire. Without even realizing he was doing it, he crossed over to the other side of the room. The pillows deflated as he sat down on his bed, reaching out a hand to open the box. It smelled like wood and the same acidic type of metal as when you put jewelry in your mouth.

Inside, was a bey, sitting atop a black velvet cushion. Red, so very red, with emblems of black and all framed in silver. The singular yellow eye seemed to glow at him. Beckoning him forward as it sparkled in the light.

Without questioning why it was here, how it got here, or if he should try and find who it might belong with, Shu gripped the bey in his hand.

There was no vertigo. There was no flash of fire or heat. No sudden voice calling out to him. Just the feeling of something settling in his chest. Digging into his heart like a jagged arrowhead made to go in and not come out. It didn't hurt. Not in the slightest. There was just a shifting feeling as his soul made room for this link to something else.

It felt warm, even as spikes seemed to dig in his veins. Maybe the warmth was something unique to the bey he somehow knew was named Storm Spryzen. But, if he was being sentimental, Shu would tell you it came from the presence suddenly twisted around, outside, and through him. He wasn't alone. Not in his room, not in his mind, and not evermore.

Twenty minutes later, he met Valt at the park. And he found another side to himself. Something intense, and so passionate it was almost angry. But, also, he felt more alive than he ever had before. It was like he could suddenly breathe, suddenly see color. All his senses linked to someone else.

When he got into the District Tournament, he told himself not to get his hopes up. But he'd practiced and practiced until his hands were red and raw. Until he found himself falling asleep just to the side of the bey stadium. And it was hard not to feel excited. To feel like it had to be him that would succeed, even against all of these other bladers, so much more practiced.

The thing that had settled in his heart didn't feel foreign anymore. It never had, really. But he'd gotten used to the weight of it. Gotten used to how, when he was lying half-asleep in bed, something else seemed to watch his dreams.

Spryzen was asleep. Tired. Restoring itself. And slowly waking up.

When he knelt down across from some blader, the name and face didn't matter. He couldn't even remember anything about them other than their bey anymore, Shu saw energy. Glowing orange and brown around his opponent. It was small, barely taller than the hairs on their arms, but it was there.

The ref counted them off. They launched. Spryzen blew right through Otius like it was a sheet of paper. Shu had won before he even had a moment to wonder about strategy. He remembered breathing heavily, chalking it up to stress at the time.

Later that night, when his heart had stopped pumping blood at three times the normal speed, and after he and Valt had celebrated with ice cream, Shu found himself in front of the mirror. It was mostly dark in the bathroom, and the house was quiet. His family didn't talk to each other much, look at each other much. Not since Ren had disappeared.

So here he was. Alone. And when he crossed his eyes just the right way, tilted his head to the side, he caught a glimpse. Of himself, eyes glowing even redder than normal and surrounded by his own energy, flowing around him. It was beautiful, and addicting.