The Living Flame

Chapter 24: Into The Neather

White-Clad Hideout

No POV:

In the secret base hidden away a few members of the White-Clad have a meeting with Giovanni. Giovanni had just managed to recover from his encounter with Y/N. "I have a feeling that the 8th are going to be arriving soon" Giovanni tells the White-Clad. "That works in our favor" Sho said "how  so?" Giovanni asked. "The demon will be with them along with the one who has the adolla burst" Sho answered. Hearing about Y/N caused Giovanni to put his hand on his face, it was the same spot Y/N's fire burned. "I'll kill that demon and his sister" Giovanni whispers to himself

Y/N POV:

Growing up with the old man in the church, I was always told that it I misbehaved I would be sent to the Neather. I wasn't afraid of the threat as I didn't believe in something as dumb as the Neather. But once I gained access to the flame's library, I learned that the neather was a real place. But it wasn't all fire and brimstone that the church makes sound like. Remembering about the neather got me thinking about something that might help us with the search for the White-Clad.

Time Skip

Fire Force Company 8: Fire Cathedral

All of us had gathered together in the meeting room for something important. Last night I had a dream that I couldn't explain, I've had this dream before but now since the arrival of the White-Clad its happened more frequently. A woman whith pale skin kept appearing to me. I couldn't understand what she was trying to tell me. The only thing I could make out was "the flames will guide you" and "beware that which mortal eyes can not see". I didn't know what they meant and right now with my plate being full, I didn't have the time to worry about it.

"Alright everyone, thanks to the clues left behind at Vulcan's workshop, Victor was able to find the location of the White-Clad's base" chief said to us all. "Where are they hiding?" I asked "they are hiding in the Neather" chief answered. "I had a feeling that's where they were hiding there, it's the one place no one would look" I say. "What's the neather?" Shinra asked "the Neatherworld is a place that is unclean and where Sol's light can not touch" Iris answers.

Shinra gets a little bit worried hearing Iris's answer, I could see it. "Don't worry Shinra, it's not as bad as it sounds, there's no hellfire, brimstone and internal suffering" I explained to him. "Y/N is right Shinra, the Neather is actually a network of subway tunnels that were mostly buried during the Great Disaster" Victor said. "So what is the plan exactly?" I asked "tomorrow we go to the Neather and stop the White-Clad once and for all" chief answered. "Sounds like a great plan" I said sarcastically "I know it isn't the best plan but it's all that we've got so far" chief said.

Time Skip

Dream

In the middle of the night, I awoke to a bright light shining in my eyes. I opened my eyes to see a woman with the same colored hair as me. She was standing in front of me as a light shining behind her. The woman had a calming presence to her, I wasn't afraid and I didn't feel any malicious intent coming from her. "You" I said "the flames will guide you" she said. "I know you've told me that before" I replied getting up. "The flames will protect for they are my gift" the woman said.

"What do you mean, your gift to me?" I asked "they were my gift so that you could survive in this world and defeat the one who wishes to end the world" the woman answered. "You mean the Evangelist" I said the woman nodded her head. "You will assist the boy and your destiny will be complete" the woman said before vanishing.

Time Skip

Outside The Gates To The Neather

The next day all of company 8 went to the location where the Neather was. We walked down what looked like old and abandoned train tracks. We walked down these tracks until we stopped at this large black iron gate that had been chained up and had multiple warnings signs and wards to keep people out and away. "The eye of hell" Lucifer whispered "alright, we've made it everyone" chief said.

I could feel a strange heat coming from the gate, it felt kind of ominous to be honest. "Normally, people aren't allowed to go down there but in this case we have been given special permission to do so" chief said to us. "Remember this is an unclean place where in-human creatures live" Iris says. "Y/N can you please open the gate" chief said to me "sure thing" I replied. I walked over to the gate and put my hands on the chains. I then heated up the chains causing them to melt. As the chains fell to the ground I kicked the door open.

The Neather

We walked through the gate to the Neather, the first thing we noticed was that it was incredibly dark. Before we got very far I stopped everyone. "Wait, there's something that I need to do" I said. "What is it?" Shinra asked "I have a bad feeling the White-Clad are going to try and split us up, if they do we have this" I answered. My eyes turned silver as smoke came out of the my hand and spread to everyone but Shinra. "What was that?" sarge asked "yeah Y/N, what was that?" Tamaki asked.

"Its my smoke marker, wherever you are as long as you call my name I will come where ever you are" I answered. "That's how you appeared at my workshop" Vulcan said. "Back during the games, I gave Shinra a marker and surprisingly it lasted" I replied. "Alright thanks to Y/N, we'll get help encase we get separated" chief said. With thag we continued our treck through the tunnels of the Neather. Maki and I used our flames to the light the way.

The deeper we went the more tunnels that appeared, eventually we came to a fork in the path. We stopped and decided to figure out which path we were going to take. As we talked I could feel two strange presences listening in on us. "Guys quiet down" I said as a cloud of  fog rolled through the tunnels around us. The fog began to blur my vision and the vision of everyone else.

Everyone was getting split up, they all began to panick. This is what the White-Clad wanted, I knew this was going to happen. So to catch the White-Clad off guard, I turned my body into a cloud of smoke. This was where I was going to go hunting.

A/N: Alright Y/N and the rest of company 8 has just enter the Neather and the battle with White-Clads is about to begin. I am sure you know what this means, I'm almost done with season 1 of Fire Force. I've decided to continue season 2 in another book. I'm also going to wait for season 2 to be finished before I start writing it. Now I am always answering any questions that you might have about the story or anything else in general. If there is a question that you want answered either message me or comment on a chapter with your question. I will do my best to answer your question to the best of my ability. As usual the feedback helps me make sure that the next chapter is going to be better than the last one. As always thank you for reading and I will see you all later