[ENG]Shoto Todoroki : Modern-day Terrorist

Chapter 1 - Immutable

All he had to do was blink and the whole world disappeared.

He found himself facing a carved obsidian door so high that it was lost in the clouds, so wide that one would have thought the horizon only made of it.

He brushed it with the fat of his thumb and found himself on the other side.

The other side was a dark place, a place of infinite space where everything was black. There was no sky, no earth, nothing in between : everything was black, black, black.

He thought he was alone until one of the things moved.

They were creatures as dark as the scenery, so dark that the stillness made them invisible. They moved along the ground like shadows, their steps as light as the caress of the wind in the night. They had neither eyes nor ears: it was as if a black sheet had been placed on their foreheads and covered each of their excavations, giving them the silhouettes of men even though they were not.

But he couldn't bring himself to be afraid, because he knew he was one of them.

Murmurs grew from the crowd of mouthless creatures.

He entered a circle of the closest shadows. They made room for him without paying him the slightest attention.

"... the choice of the world is paramount", breathed the shadow facing him.

To his left the shadow made a sharp noise, the same noise that a tongue slammed against a palate would make.

"You think we didn't get it ? But you saw the size of that damn wheel, it's bigger than the Eiffel Tower. No matter how many hours of talking and planning we do, it's more likely that we'll fall somewhere we never heard of"

The shadow on the right clasped his fingerless hands together, quivering.

" Do you think they can be bribed ? With enough money..."

The shadow on the left laughed, and it was a laugh as dry as it was contemptuous. Since the shadow had no mouth, it looked strange : it was as if the shadow was wracked with spasms.

"You're one of those, huh? You must have been pretty loaded in the Before to think you could buy those demons"

The shadow on the right looked nervously around him.

"Don't call them that-"

"Why ? They do nothing but call us, anyway"

The third shadow, the one next to both, silenced them with a word :

"They can be bribed. I've seen it"

His voice must have carried in a moment of collective silence because everyone in their direct proximity fell silent.

Even shadows from other groups had turned their heads toward them. Some of them swelled the ranks of their little circle, gathering feverishly to hear what would happen next.

The first shadow - the one who had the attention of all the others - cleared his throat.

"You can bribe them, yes, but not with money"

There were murmurs.

"I saw a shadow ask them what he would have to pay to be able to choose his After"

The speaker was silent for a few seconds: the newcomer interpreted this as a pause to find his words.

"He told them he would give them anything they wanted. He told them they had only to name it : diamond mines or a mountain of gold... their price was his"