In the early hours before dawn at the Black Order's HQ, Kanda lay awake on his bed watching a peculiar object. It is described as a lotus flower suspended in clear amniotic fluid contained within a large hour glass. Inside, two of the flower petals had fallen and rested on the brass base of the hour glass, but apart from that, the lotus was in full bloom.
Kanda was interrupted from his contemplation by River Wenham, with summons from Komui. A mission awaited him in a village named, Dankelm, located in the forests of northern Germany. Lately, people who had gone to the village failed to return, and the place was earning a reputation as the “Forest of No Return”. The Order had suspected that the oddity may be connected with Innocence, so Finders were sent to investigate. That was two days ago. Before the Finders went into the forest, they'd contacted the Order from a small town outside the forest, Mittel Barth. That was the last they heard from the Finders.
Komui showed Kanda a map of the forest and informed him that he would have to cross a valley to get to the village. There was an old stone bridge there. Once he crossed it, he would arrive at Dankelm village. Komui also started talking about an old legend that surrounded the forest, but cut himself off before he said too much, and simply reminded Kanda to be careful. Kanda's mission was to go to Dankelm to locate the missing Finders and if they are still alive, to rescue them.
•
Kanda arrived in Mittel Barth, and stood before the only road that led into the forest and Dankelm village. An old lady who'd guided Kanda in the town asked him if he really wanted to go to the village. There was a horrible rumour about the village which said a witch lived there, and that she would snatch children who got lost in the forest, and eat them. Kanda was surprised to hear there were still things like witches in this time and age, but he dismissed the rumours. Nonetheless, he was reminded of Komui's words. The old lady asked him again not to go to the “Witch's Village.” Kanda ignored the advice and entered the forest.
•
Although it was still daytime, the thick forest obscured much of the light and the forest path remained dark. It felt like the inside of a great living beast. As Kanda walked through the forest, he felt no presence of humans at all, nor sight or shadow of the three Finders. Suddenly, he heard the approach of hidden footsteps and an immediate sense of killing intent. In the instant that Kanda turned around, he saw the person–a young man dressed in a tea-coloured vest over a shirt, wielding an axe.
Kanda drew his katana–Mugen–in a flash, and struck the man in the stomach with the back of the sword. The man crumpled in agony, but got up again quickly. His eyes opened, and his face became distorted, blood vessels swelling. It was an AKUMA! Kanda pressed his fingers to Mugen and swiped down the length of its blade, activating his Innocence. He sliced open the enemy in one stroke, and a spherical AKUMA released from the corpse, canons at the ready. It was only an initial stage AKUMA, and Kanda dispatched it easily.
Danger over, Kanda sheathed his sword and surveyed his surroundings again. If AKUMA had invaded the forest, it's no wonder normal humans were no match for them. Perhaps the truth of this forest of no return was simply–
Kanda caught the sound of someone stepping on the leaves on the forest floor. He whipped Mugen out again and demanded, “Who's there!”
“P-please don't kill me!”
It was a tall and large man, with arms that looked like he could strangle an ox. He had red hair and green eyes. And, Kanda noted, he wore the white uniform and hood of the Order's Finders.
“Are you one of the Finders?” Kanda asked.
“Y-yes. My name is Goz. You use a Japanese sword, and you have long black hair… You're the Exorcist, Kanda, aren't you? Did you come to rescue us? Thank you so much!” Goz reported that his two comrades had already been killed and he'd been escaping from the AKUMA all this time.
