Zacotine Void Chapter One

Zacotine Void-First Appearance in Delzira
“What a strange realm,” I say gazing across the rift facing some bright and colorful world, “so much different from my own.” Looking back towards the darkness around me and the rift, I feel as if it is my essence is aflame just by having knowledge of a different world. I start willing my being to the rift; I am merely a body-less entity, an enigma of its own to this new realm. I pass through as the rift closes and instantly pain of some sort engulfs my entire essence. I yell out in distress upon the initial feeling, and some solid being approaches.
“Where are you, are you human?” The being calls out, and I think ‘quite strange, they can speak how I can.’ I instantly go over to the small being and engulf him learning all his knowledge and recreating his body as my own; and with this body the pain diminishes. I learned of the world and of this being. ‘I am currently an 11 year old male human child with short blonde hair, blue eyes or they were until I noticed my reflection with red eyes. I was wearing a black, white and gold noble chausses; the upper half was white and the lower half was black with a gold outline on both halves where intricate details are laid with a griffin insignia of the town of Amai at my collar. His name was apparently Hikaru though it matters not anymore. I guess I should come up with a name for myself later on.’
“Hikaru, did you find the person yelling in distress over here?” Some being from atop a branch asks the former form of Hikaru. I just gaze up towards the being; he had jet black hair, light brown eyes and was wearing a white suit, from the kid’s memory that is Arashi Tsubasa.
“Yes, I have, and I aided him out of his misery.” I reply but with my own voice instead of Hikaru’s.  Arashi moves back quickly upon hearing me. I just gaze at him not moving an inch from my location.
“What kind of spirit are you, remove yourself from Hikaru’s body.” ‘Like I would do that’
“Sorry but Hikaru is no longer with us, I created an exact replica of his body for my own.” I say with a broadening smile, ‘from the looks of him, I would say he is sick, considering how pale his face went.
“You mean you killed him. You lower the way people see youkai with your sick actions. How could you do that, I have been working day and night trying to get a bond between humans and youkai, then your type comes around and ruins it.” ‘hmm… youkai, beings of magical properties of the land and its seven realms. I am not one of these.’
“I am not a youkai.”
“What? You are a spirit type of youkai are you not?”
“No, youkai are from Delzira and its seven realms, I am from none of them. I came from a rift outside of your realms if what this Hikaru kid read about the seven realms is true.”
“Then what in Delzira are you?”
“I am not from Delzira, let me think of a name for myself… … …” ‘hmm… tough…’ I cross my arms, ‘maybe void.’ “Void, yes, that shall be my name.”
“How about giving yourself a first and last name?” He asks.
‘hmm… a first name before void or a last name after it…’ “Call me Zacotine Void.” ‘What is this feeling, a tingling pain in my essence again, as if it is fading.’
“Zacotine Void… That is a weird name… Although the last part does has a sinister feeling to it. What kind of powers do you have other than materialization?” Arashi asks me.
‘Maybe this tingling pain is what these beings call hunger.’ I look back up at Arashi, ‘he could be a meal.’ I instantly raise my hand toward him and darkness leaps from it with the form of a maw. He dodged jumping to another tree, as my darkness consumed half the one he was previously on. ‘Hmm… The tree seemed to have quelled the feeling for now, no point in consuming him now.’
“What was that? Is that another power or what you really are?” He asks me. ‘He is quite agile; the kid’s memory had nothing on that. Most humans judging by the kid’s memory don’t have half his speed.’
“Why are you so quick, this kid’s memory has nothing on it?” I waited for him to reply, he seems preoccupied pointing a crystal towards the darkness I left at the half consumed tree. I sigh, ‘I guess this Arashi person won’t be much help.’ I turned and started walking to a town near Amai.
I was watching my surroundings and taking in all the sights and smells of this world, ‘Delzira, a land without war but also without true peace, interesting.’ A being approaches me from behind and attacks me.
“I caught my first meal.” The being says as it stabs its talon’s through the former form of Hikaru. I gaze at the being, ‘Clearly not human itself and it seems it can’t tell what I am. Well I am starting to feel that tingling of my essence, so maybe it can serve as food.’ The being catches my eyes and notices something judging by its face.
“Oh sorry, you’re also a youkai, funny though, you smell entirely human right now, but only youkai possess bright red eyes. Here let me heal your wound. Wait where is it?” During the youkai talking I materialized my vassal’s skin back and internal organs.
“I am not a youkai.” It was taken aback by this.
“Then what are you, clearly human is out of the question.” It comes closer and examines me. “Mother can you come and tell me what kind of being this person is?” Another youkai comes out of the woods and stares at me. I am not even looking closely at their features because they are soon only going to be energy for my essence.
“It is a youkai is it not.” The mother says.
“No, he says he is not and his regeneration points to him not being human.” The young youkai says.
“Then maybe he could… oh no… move away from him. He may be another product based from that project a thousand years ago, Project Sureiya.” The mother of the youkai says as she grabs her child.
“I am not. I never even heard of it and I just got to this land about a half an hour ago.” I reply trying to get them closer so they would be easier prey.
“Then there is only one more type of being you could be, a god.” The mother youkai says.
“What exactly is a god?” I ask, ‘this title or species is not in the kid’s memory.’
“A god is a being of potent power and ability, they are the ones who can create and destroy lift on a whim.” The mother youkai answers. ‘Quite interesting to hear that, I guess I should call myself a god.’
“Then I am a god.” I say to them.
“Prove it, create life.” The young youkai says.
‘Easy enough, although what I create will not be entirely alive but only a shadow of myself in this realm.’ “I will create a doppelganger of myself, considering I just got to this land and know little of it.”
“You’re not from Delzira, impossible. All beings are in Delzira.” The mother youkai says.
“Then where is the Delziran god?”
“Umm… She is… I… Ok… He is… Um… There are two of them. From them came all others by the whim of the seneschal. I don’t know… Maybe you’re right… Maybe the gods came from outside of Delzira. I mean we know where the seneschal is; right now he is visiting the Celestial Palace. He usually only visits the Celestial King and his Celestial Knights to test them against his own three Knights of Legend. He proclaimed the Celestial King as Demi-god.” The mother youkai says.
“Demi-god, you mean a half god. Quite interesting, does he possess the power to create life?”I say, ‘Maybe I should add an extra little thing to my doppelganger.
“No, but he can reincarnate others and give them powers similar to his own and equal to his level, a feat that is impossible to nearly every being.”She says. ‘Quite interesting, maybe I should look for a heat source and give my doppelganger the appearance of having fire abilities, just to give the impression of being better than him.’
“Well here I go; I am going to create a being that creates and uses fire.” ‘I have finally found a source nearby, a small lava pit, just have to take a bit and there, my shadows have it.’ I lift my hand, ‘just to add some motion’, and my shadows form a doppelganger of myself.
“Hello there, my lord.” I have it say.
“Awesome, it really is alive.” The young youkai says.
“Yes it seems that way, but does it have the ability to create fire like you said?” The mother youkai questions me.
“My lord, you don’t have to say a word, let me show them my power.” ‘I found natural gas nearby as well. Lava plus the natural gas equals a pretty good show to get them to approach, but I am only interested in consuming the mother of the two. I need the child to go spread word about another god entering Delzira. I plan on becoming famous’ I have natural gas escape through the hand of my doppelganger before having a drop of lava appear to ignite it. ‘Quite an impressive effect’ I think staring at the plume of fire above my doppelganger’s hand.
“Ok, I think you do classify as a god to some small degree, but to have that title the seneschal has to proclaim it, just like he did with Mitsuyami and Genjiyama. Fate/time and ability/space are their main powers they use. We have more on only Mitsuyami because she writes books that appear in the Celestial Palace Library.” She says.
“Why are you giving me all this information, I mean I am grateful for it, but I never thought anyone would give me so much information before getting to know me better.” I say. She starts approaching my doppelganger, ‘good, very good. She needn’t waste her breathe anymore once she is within range of no escape.’
“It is only kind to offer information to a being that just got here of high potential in order to get their kindness returned back.” She says as she reaches out towards my doppelganger, ‘Yes what she said is true but…’
“True but, what if that being sees all others as potential energy?” I glare at her with a sinister smile as her hand is engulfed by shadows as my doppelganger’s form reverts back to a blob with a connecting shadow to my own.
“You’re… you’re not… a god… let… go… monster!” She yells as she struggles to escape.
“Mother… let go of my mother!” The young youkai attacks me but I passively put up a wall of darkness and form red eyes all over it.
“Begone, child, you have no hope of beating me yet alone saving your mother. I will let you live and tell every being you come across about me.” My darkness around the mother youkai forms a maw with fangs before chomping down on the her head, severing it, then proceeding to consume the rest, not letting a single drop of blood fall into sight.
‘Finished’ I think as I start looking through her memories, ‘a two tailed Inari… from the celestial palace… not that highly ranked… quite strong physically, just add the muscle formation to this body and now my form’s physical strength matches hers… not much is that interesting besides the Tower of Boundaries, but I really don’t like the disabling of magic part, that would be the death of me as I am the essence of magic.’
“Your mother is no more, everything she had belongs to me now; her memories, power, strength, knowledge, and genetic composition are all mine.” I say as I lower my wall and have the darkness retract back into myself. The young youkai charges at me and attacks, I just catch its hands and throw it aside. “I have your mother’s strength; you know you can’t defeat me now.”
The youkai drops to the ground and starts crying in defeat, I just walk past it to continue on my way to the village. “I am heading to a village if you want to know, the one just ahead.” ‘I want to see if you will call for help and ambush me at the village; it would be quite a feast although I am going to store all of the youkai away within me to convert them into energy whenever needed.’
I reach the village gate when two guards signal me to stop. They come dashing towards me with their weapons drawn.
“Halt youkai, you can’t enter this village.” ‘How annoying guards can be’
“I am not a youkai.” I say rather bluntly.
“Only youkai have red eyes like yours. Most youkai would at least try to hide them by changing their color.” ‘The red eyes belonging to only youkai detail, again?’
“I am a god, not a youkai.” ‘How are they going to react?’
“Wait… a god… there are only two… Which one are you?”
“I am the new third god, Zacotine Void.”
“I don’t believe you. Prove it or we will attack you.” ‘I have a plan for that.’
“I will create an Inari slave for your village and a guardian if you would allow it.” ‘The Inari is courtesy of the one I had for a meal earlier. Guess I have to look at her details now.’ I lift my hand and point to the ground to my left and shadows form, quickly creating the Inari. ‘Let’s see blonde hair, slim body, blonde tails with white fur to the tip of them, white kimono, gold eyes, petite nose, slim face, the twinkle in the eyes for added effect, and she’s finished.’ “Well, what do you think of the Inari?”
“Yes, please tell my creator what you think of me.” I have her say while having her lean against one of the guards. ‘The guards seem interested now.’
“Quite impressive, I want to see the guardian now.”
“Very well, he is a copy of my form, but he will use fire as his power. I am still quite new to this land and am still learning so I can’t do much more.” I raise my hand and my shadows do my bidding forming a darker colored version of myself, without the added Inari strength, just the original.
“Hello there, I shall be this village’s new guardian. What shall I start with?” I have the guardian say. ‘This is becoming quite fun as these beings would say. Having three separate physical bodies is great. Wait, no it is eating up my energy even faster. When is that youkai coming with my meal? I would hate to devour this village at the moment.’
“Does the guardian have basic training?” One of the guards asks breaking me from line of thought.
“… Basic training? … What kind of training?” I ask confused yet intrigued by this concept of basic training.
“You really are new to this land. Basic combat training is what we are referring to.” They are staring intently at me now.
“I am still new to this land and have no idea what kind of combat you are referring to, he will just fry anything that is a threat.” They laugh at me. ‘Maybe I will devour everyone in this village.’
“Some youkai, that attack humans, are immune to fire based attacks.” One of them say; ‘Interesting, maybe I need more info on how to better this guardian I created.’ I have the Inari walk off to the village to aid the human who is moving bags of some sort.
“Tell me what kind of training are you going to give this guardian then, considering he doesn’t have much?” I ask and make the guardian bow down to them like they are its masters.
“Sword based combat training. We are going to teach him the way of the sword.” They say as they go into a crude looking building labeled armory. They return holding a crude looking black double-edged sword. “This sword shall belong to the new guardian of the village. Rise up and accept this offering.”
“By the way you wouldn’t have anything to eat would you?” ‘I let my hunger get the better of me, what can I say, I am three bodies now so I need to eat for three.’ I stare at them with growing interest as to what they will say.
“Please let’s go and train now.” I have the guardian say to one of the remaining three guards. The guard walks off with my guardian body.
‘Thanks.’ The villager says to my Inari body after helping him move those bags. The remaining guards are still staring questionably at me.
“Very well, you are still new as you said so you don’t have a way to escape hunger or whatever yet. This way, bring the Inari too.” ‘So much effort to make friends, but maybe this will be good in time. Being good to humans may earn me view as and respect as a god.’ I have the Inari follow me and the two guards.
“Where are we going creator?” I have it ask. Back with the other guard I am having my guardian train with basic sword techniques and I am really getting them down, ‘I am awesome at learning these humans’ sword combat style, I am also taking quite a liking to it. Maybe I should create a sword for myself, but first I must consume one to learn its composition.’
“Here we are at the gathering hall of this village. Here we serve food two times a day, but we are making an exception for you. By the way does the Inari know how to dance?” He asks.
“No, but she is willing to learn to suit your needs.” I reply. ‘I might want a skill like that for later use, maybe I want all skills?’ “Hmm…”
“Please teach me sir?” I have the Inari say leaning against him. I myself head for a bowl that is being brought out for me. Hmm… seems like my guardian has mastered all the basics of sword combat, the guard seems quite impressed. ‘You did well, nothing less than a direct creation of a god.’ He says to the guardian body of mine.
“Here you go Zacotine Void sir. We are humble of your arrival. Accept this full three course meal, it has been doubled in size for you.” ‘They are being quite nice; I do hope human food will quell my intensifying hunger. If not then… well that youkai better hurry up.’
“Why thank you for the meal.” I say as I watch as the bowl is removed from atop the food items. ‘Let’s see, there is turkey, some kind of stew, bread, eating utensils, and a drink of some red liquid; maybe wine?’ I grab the spoon and start with the stew using the habits of the noble child I first consumed. “Quite good,” ‘In fact I can’t believe this, I never tried eating anything yet normally for humans, the sense called taste is great, such flavor. Hmm, it seems this body is starting to require less energy from my essence to work. That is an upside.’
“By the way, what made you guys so willing to accept me as a god? I mean I thought it would take longer to win you over?” I ask after taking a bite of the bread.
“Well, this village has been under threat of a giant youkai, with your abilities to create we are sure to defeat him, I mean if that is ok with you?” The guard says as he teaches the Inari body of mine how to dance.
“How about I deal with him personally? Could you point out this youkai’s location?” ‘It is going to be snack time once I get his location.’
“He is near a cave north of this village. Are you going now or later? Plus will you like some of our soldiers?” He seems pretty confident in my ability.
“No I am going alone. I will leave those two creations of mine here.” ‘Geez he is getting frisky with the Inari body now. Do humans really do that in every kind of Waltz? Oh well, my meal is waiting for me.’ I walk out of the hall passing the guard that stayed outside.
“Where are you going?” He asks.
“To rid of a giant.” I reply. ‘Hmm… My guardian body is being led to the gathering hall, most likely to get its own meal, less energy usage for that body then.’ I continue walking north until I reach the cave, I could not have missed it; the thing was at least fifty feet wide.
“Who dares approach my home?” a booming voice says from the cave, ‘He really has no idea what he’s in for.’ I grin with my teeth showing. “Oh a little youkai, great I was going to look for a snack.” ‘You’re the snack; you can’t match me in power. I already can tell you are not even a fourth of my power.’ He comes out and I get a clear view of him; he was a big red skin looking thing with one eye and a brown loincloth with skeletal belt going across his chest and arm. He also has a giant club with swords stabbed through it acting as barbs.
“Well, you’re quite… Umm… I have nothing to say.” ‘Really, his size should at least give him quite some strength, although I don’t think I can copy anything about him into my main body.’ He just raises his club. I just go back to my sinister smile.
“Why are you smiling… What are those?” ‘I am taking a liking to the moment they realize I am no ordinary being.’ Shadows are gathering around me and him.
“What you see, is just me.” With that I have eyes form all over the shadow I created around us, all gazing at him. He starts shaking now and swings his club at me smashing my main body.
“Get away!” He smiles looking at my smashed body but then stops noticing the shadows have yet to vanish, “What are you?”
“I am a god,” I say as I reform my main body, “and you…”
“And I am… what?” He asks taking a step back but notices I have surrounded him with a wall of shadows.
“are nothing but a snack to me.” My shadows impale him in his arms and legs as I broaden my smile even more. ‘Just look at the terror on his face, he knew what was going to happen. Well time to finish him.’ I create a giant shadow maw and consume him completely. “I have to say, you have a lot of essence.” ‘I am basically fully energized again, thanks to his contribution.’
I start heading back to the village but it seems as if something beat me there. ‘Guess I am going to have to use my guardian body to deal with this.’
Guardian Body Point of View:
“You killed my mother!” The young youkai says jumping from a rooftop with five others, all two tailed Inari. I jump and dodge their attack and draw my sword. “How dare a youkai charge into this village. If you’re looking for Zacotine Void, he is north right now. I am nothing but one of his creations.” ‘This is not going to be easy sticking to fire and sword techniques with this body to not be suspicious to the villagers.’
“You’re just lying again. Now die.” She charges at me but jumps to the side to avoid the sword I cleaved toward her, but another circles around and attacks from behind. ‘I hope you like fire; I have made the air behind me highly explosive.’ I smile.
“Lookout, he cheats.” ‘Too late,’ an explosion occurs behind me engulfing the Inari who tried to attack me from the rear. ‘Aw he didn’t die.’ I think as I see him get flung backwards against a house.
“How about we fight in a more open or less populated space?” I say as I notice the villagers are in danger, ‘I really don’t want there to be casualties here when I am trying to impress them.’ I start running and they chase me into the wide opened center of the village. “Here we can fight without dealing as much damage to our surroundings.”
The Inari all circle around me and start attacking in groups of two and three.
“Melee isn’t working, use magic.” One of them says and I get hit by a beam of light, which just so happens to knock me down. They take the opportunity by dashing straight towards me to finish this body of mine, but I had other ideas. They stop dead when they see another Inari in the village dash towards them and grab one of their throats.
“Our creator isn’t here yet.” I have the Inari body say before slamming the stunned Inari opponent into the ground.
I raise myself back up and ready myself for another round but now two against six.
“Mother… No just an imitation. How dare you do this, making me fight against an exact copy of my mother!” The young Inari says. ‘Okay, you need to stop yelling this information out otherwise I am going to have to explain myself when my main body gets back.’ I think glaring at her before charging her down first with my Inari body serving as defense and cover.
The other Inari try stopping me but they don’t have enough time to defeat my Inari body or get past it before I am cleaving at the young Inari girl. Downward slash, she dodges to the side. Spin and thrust, she deflects it with her hand, getting a nasty cut in the process. Roundhouse kick followed by low side sweep with my sword and there, she falls down heavily wounded with her legs out of commission.
“Next.” I say turning my attention away from her and towards the others who just now manage to sweep my Inari body to the ground. ‘Those are priceless faces.’ I think as I see how pure anger they have across their faces, ‘good thing I had a large meal before this and human food for this physical body or I would be really struggling right now.’
They start firing magic at me. At first I was having trouble dodging them; they actually hurt compare to physical attacks, but I started to get the hang of it, ‘Too bad this is not going to last for five more minutes, my main body is about to arrive.’ I think as my main body sprints down the road leading to the village.
“I am having real fun here. You are teaching me quite a lot about that particular magic you’re using against me.” I say as two of them give up using magic against me seeing its small impact on the situation and charge me down again. I have the Inari body charge for one but that was blindsided by a burst of magic and knocked to the ground.
“Just die.” They say as they slash at me with their hands. I dodge and block using my sword, as I gaze past them towards the road where a silhouette has stopped.
“Oh look it is our creator, Zacotine Void.” I say with a big broad smile staring at my main body.
Main Body Point of View:
With that they face me, while I have my guardian and Inari bodies stand down and move out of the way, with my guardian body grabbing the young Inari girl as all attention is now on my main body.
“Well well welcome. I do hope you had some fun with the guardian and Inari I created,” I say with my broad smile, teeth showing, and eyes glaring at them all, “but as you all know,” I say as I lower my head and stop smiling with darkness swirling around the ground surrounding me, “youkai are not allowed to be here.” I glare at them with an intensified dark aura that overwhelms all five of them.
“What is this feeling?” One of them asks me as they shiver from the aura encompassing them. The other Inari are all experiencing the same sensation as well by the looks of it. ‘Not as good as the sudden realization of seeing you are the prey but this does show a point, I am stronger than all five of them combined using my real abilities. I am still working at near full energy and can show off my power without having to worry about the pain of hunger.’
“It is the feeling you get when angering a god, the moment of sudden terror and fear for your lives. You had no idea how powerful I really was did you?” I raise my head slightly so my eyes can be seen glaring at them. The intensity of red in my eyes staggered them completely. “You can start running now. I will give you a chance to escape.” I lie, ‘Once you run into the forest you will all be consumed by my shadows.’
“R…Run.” One of them says and with that they dashed exactly where I planned. Upon entering the forest and out of sight of the villagers I consumed every last one of them with my shadows. ‘Completely according to plan.’ I think as I stop my dark aura release and head towards the guards who were watching, I made an innocent childish look while doing so.
“How was the performance, did you like the finale?” I ask as they stare at me in disbelief of exactly what happened; they did not feel the aura because I focused it only towards the Inari.
“How… What did you do to make them run like that? Those were five two tailed Inari, they don’t usually run from opponents.” One speaks up.
“I showed them my dominance as a god. I released my aura upon them; the intensity of it is what made them run.” I said, ‘Seems as if they did not notice the swirling darkness on the ground.’
“That is truly amazing; we have never seen such a move before. This deserves a celebration. We are going to fully recognize you as a god.” The guard says.
“Great, but I need to check my creations first to make sure they are not badly damaged.” I say.
“Okay, see you in the great hall at dusk then.” He says before I leave to m-eat some young Inari, I just grin at how she is going to react upon hearing I consumed all the others who were with her. I head straight towards the pond my guardian body has her held.
She was struggling against the ropes cursing at my guardian body when she noticed me approaching. “Wait… where are…” She stops, most likely realizing the answer to what she was about to ask.
“I have to thank you. You and your actions in response to mine are making me a god in the eyes of humans. Now as thanks, you can choose how you die. So, what would it be?” I ask as I have my guardian body cut the ropes and help her up.
“I… I don’t want to die.” She says leaning against my guardian body, ‘She really doesn’t have any strength to stand up. Hmm… I am experiencing a new feeling… pity perhaps.’ She stares at me with the eyes of utter defeat. “I… I failed…”She mumbles ‘Ack! Stop making this harder to do.’
“Fine. For some reason I can’t bring myself to devouring you anymore. I’ll let you live for now. Attack me again when you think yourself ready to do so.” I say as I turn away and have my guardian body drop her. ‘I should stay away from tactics like this for my prey. I do hope she gains enough will back to attack me again though.’ I start heading back to the village.
I enter the gathering hall in time for the feast. The villagers were singing about me and my other bodies, creations in their minds. They were chanting and drinking wine, as I was too, but ‘that feeling… pity… that could be my downfall… I should only use strategies such as the one today when needed, not to just further myself. My opponent did not even stand a chance; she crumbled and broke like wet clay against my ability. I don’t need that to happen again, my opponent should at least get a chance.’
“Hey, Zacotine Void, why aren’t you enjoying your party like the rest of us? Even though you’re a god, you still deserve to have fun.” One of the villagers says.
“Okay, I was just thinking of something.” I respond as I smile back and take a sip of the village wine.
“What’s that?” He asks.
“Something only I could know.” I respond as I move into the group of dancers and join them.
“Well, I guess gods have those times too.” I hear him say but no longer care, I really should be having fun at my own celebration.