From Dusk...To Dawn - Sequel to 'Into the Sweet Darkness'

Chapter 11 - The Soul King's Palace

Sana pov:

It was finally time for yet another war. Quincys against Soul Society.

We hadn't really walked through a portal this time. Our surroundings just disintegrated and we had appeared in Soul Society. But unlike what I had expected, the buildings, the barracks of Soul Society had disappeared completely. Run down building were the only things that I could see here. I could also sense all the captains and vice captains remaining, their reiatsus unsteady because of their obvious shock on the situation.

"Our Quincys, after losing in the war 1000 years ago, without a place to go...escaped from the human world and into Seireitei, the place you shinigami had left most unguarded. And once there....used reishi to create space in the shadows." We were standing on a high building, Juha san talking to himself and indirectly to all the shinigami. "That is what us called the Wandenreich....the Invisible Empire."

Everyone had dispersed, including Haschwalth san and Ishida. I was the only one with Juha san. Everyone else....off to kill every last one of the shinigami. Just thinking about it brought back unpleasant memories making it hard for me to breath along with the glazed over vision. Explosions, screams, falling debris.....that's all I could hear just a few minutes after getting here. The pain in my chest was growing making my hunch over slightly as I clutched my ribs.

I shut my eyes sweating; I couldn't get enough oxygen into my lungs. "Are you alright?" I opened my eyes when Juha san spoke. I just shook my head, moving away from the edge of the building so I could sit on my knees. I closed my eyes for a few minutes until I could breathe properly again. I bent forward, taking the support of my hands on the ground. I finally opened my eyes and sighed.

"How long do we have to be here?" My voice was airy. "Until the path to the Soul King's Palace is opened." Juha san said coolly. I stood up and faced him. "Can I be inside one of the buildings until then? Preferably one that is sound proof...." I mumbled the last bit to myself.

Something like a trap door opened next to where I stood and I jumped startled by it suddenly appearing. "You can stay in this building. When the path has been opened, I will call for you." I just nodded and got down the stairs through the opening. Once I was inside, the opening closed and I realized that Juha san had put me in a place where there were no doors and just ceiling level windows. I felt a little bad that he still didn't trust me. I wouldn't run away, but then again we were in Soul Society. He was probably taking precautions against any other shinigami from finding me.

But with someone as powerful as him 'guarding' me, its not like anyone could actually get me out.

I sat down on the floor and pulled out the papers that I had stuffed into my bag. I couldn't even bring myself to concentrate on anything actually. But I was starting to get phone calls from different people - banks, company managers, CEO's - most of them asking about the company assents and what I was planning to do with them.

As for me, I still had a long way to learn how business actually worked. My father's company was too big, offices scattered in almost every city in the world. There's no way I could take care of something as big as that....especially when I had barely any experience besides basic finance. I could sell the company but I didn't want anyone else to get what my father developed from scratch for free. He had put in so much effort, love, care and had so many dreams about the company reaching international standards.....I couldn't let all of that go to waste.

Maybe I could just close it down saying that I wouldn't be able to handle such a bug responsibility on my own. Yet at the same time, I didn't want the hundreds of thousands of people working there to lose their only source of livelihood.

I sighed as I went through the papers while resting my forehead in one hand. But I paused when I went through one of the papers. I read one particular name and finally figured out what I should do. I picked up mu cell phone and dialed a number.