Turn Back the Pendulum: Revelations - Chapter I[]
Separation of the World[]
In the beginning, there was no peace. Chaos and strife plague the world - a world that harbored both humans and spirits. Because of this forced coexistence, demonic spirits known simply by the term "hollow" caused death and destruction wherever they roamed. Although the good-hearted spirits had attempted to quell these dangerous beings, their efforts had been futile.
This had been the doing of the Soul King - the individual who ruled over all spirits. He had been the one to keep them together. Although many believed that the deity had placed the spirits upon the earth to create harmony, but those beings couldn't be far from the truth. The king of souls was just a lynch-pin for the humans and spirits, needed to keep them from going to war with each other. However, as much as he had wished to prevent this friction between the physical and spiritual beings, he was utterly powerless to stop it.
Despite having no power to separate the two worlds, his followers had decided it was time to split. To do this, they would all need to offer their very souls to the Soul King, giving him enough power to physically tear the world into two. Deciding it was the only way to ensure the safety of both worlds, the genocide of the spiritual beings, known as "shinigami" from that point on, had begun. Soon enough, the spirit king possessed the strength to separate the world. Immediately enacting his follower's plan, the king ripped the world in two: one for the physical world, and one for the spiritual realm. He also gave birth to his children, the shinigami, as he felt their sacrifice could not be in vain.
However, the shinigami and their hollow brethren could not coexist either. Using the last of the strength the shinigami had given to him, the deity created two new worlds, one for the hollows to inhabit, and the other separating the three other realms.
At least, the world had been at peace! Life went on throughout the three true worlds, with crime being handled by their governing bodies. But nothing was as it seemed. Hollows had somehow entered the realm of the humans, which in turn caused the shinigami to aid the humans in their times of need. This cycle continued, with endless bloodshed on each side. But this is where the story of the three true realms ends, and our journey into the Dangai begins...
The Bridge[]
Among the four dimensions formed by the Soul Kings hands, the Dangai was by far the most interesting. Unlike, the former three, the Dangai Precipice World, it's official name, was uninhabitable. The reason for this was simple: there was nothing there that could sustain life. No food, no water, no anything. All the Dangai was was the bridge between the three true worlds. Despite being a bridge, the Dangai was un-navigable. Without the use of special items, one would become trapped within the boundless realm for eternity.
The Dangai was also a living dimension - it consumed any and all that traveled within it. This consumption could be stalled by reiryoku, more commonly known as spiritual energy, albeit for the briefest of time-spans. To escape unharmed, the Dangai must have been traveled through within seven days. At least, that is how it is now.
During it's first few centuries, the Dangai wasn't living, only a pathway. Because of this, all types of beings could transverse through the Dangai, polluting it with their reiryoku. To prevent itself from being polluted further, the Dangai gave birth to two beings: the kōryū and the kōtotsu. The kōryū functioned as an immediate threat protection system - anyone that came into contact with it was instantly stopped. Once unmoving, the kōtotsu could finish the intruder off, by swallowing anything that touches it. This thereby erases the threat, keeping the Dangai pure.
After the creation of these two protection systems, the Dangai was no safe from pollution. For years, people attempted to learn the secrets the Dangai held, with the most notable being how it destroyed the beings that traveled through it. This secret, although no longer kept, was very dangerous if in the wrong hands. Because of this, the Soul King made sure anyone the researched the Dangai, minus his royal guardsmen, were eliminated. Soon enough, his guards unlocked this secret, a discovery that only the Soul King, his family and his royal guardsmen would ever come to know about...
Behind the scenes[]
This chapter was meant to explore the history of the Dangai, as well as a few other things the mangaka has yet to reveal to his readers.