-Prologue: Matthew Brown-
{??? POV}
Darkness is all I can see.
I'm floating in the black void for God knows how long since it feels endless.
Then I heard a strange sound that I can't describe at all as the darkness was broken by two bright orbs of light that tower over me. It seems that it's looking at me.
Its gaze sent chills over my body as that same light got brighter and brighter until suddenly I got whited out...
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GASP!
I shot myself out of bed, sweating from whatever the fuck that shit show of a dream was.
It's the same dream I've been having constantly since a few days ago. I don't know if it's a coincidence or if it's trying to tell me something...
After thinking about the potential implications, I just sighed loudly.
I don't even care enough to think about it any longer as I got out of bed to do my morning routine, which consists of showering, cooking breakfast, and checking over my shit before leaving. The way I do it though, it feels robotic since I've been doing the same shit for a few years now since my so-called "parents" disappeared from the face of the earth.
It's a miracle that the system didn't notice this at all. Either they're bad at doing their jobs, or they just don't care. Either way, it's good for me.
I walked out the door and felt the pleasant cool air blowing on the side of my face. The sun had barely risen as everything was coated in a golden light while there were some dark shadows that contrasted that light. There was already a good amount of people out there doing their thing. I walked to school since it was only five minutes away from my house.
After an uneventful walk, my sight set on the aged brick building that had not been renovated in a long time. That was my school, and I was in eleventh grade. As I entered the building and paced through the halls, I saw people giving me different kinds of looks — frightful, resentful, pity, and even admiration, mainly from past victims as well, all of which I ignored as I got into the classroom. I sat in my seat, looking out the window to see the forest still covered in golden light.
I heard the doorknob turning and looked over to see a tall man that looked to be a stereotypical jock from every high school TV show ever, covered in casts and using crutches to get to his seat.
This was my former bully, Marcus Wilber. He was a basketball player for the school, and along with that, he was charismatic. Because of that, he was one of the popular students among the crowds.
However, he was also the source of one of my biggest torments of my life since childhood. He always tormented me, physically abused me, and mentally abused me as well.
I tried to tell the teachers and the higher-ups about it a couple of times, but those useless assholes hadn't done a damn thing about it.
"What about the people?" you may ask. They were no better because they didn't do a damn thing about it either. They didn't stop it, none of it. Some even joined in on the laughing.
But ever since last week, he had stopped bullying me for good . He looked at me for a second with a terrorized look in his eyes before facing the whiteboard. I saw a few people walk up to him and sign his cast, expressing their support.
Pieces of shit.
I turned back to the board as the teacher came in and started the class. It would be a few long hours before lunch break. I went to my spot where I usually hung out during this time. It was a lone picnic table with a huge oak tree towering over me. It didn't provide much shade. Since it was currently spring season, the tree was decorated with white flowers on the branches.
I looked over into the distance to see two people that made my neutral face scowl at the sight. These were my former friends from childhood.
Their eyes locked with mine, then immediately turning to face the other direction, pretending I wasn't there.
Cowards. Just like the rest of them.
"Sup, Little M!" A loud voice suddenly distracted me as I turned to see our local eccentric janitor.
"Chris," I called out.
"What you scowlin' for?" He then looked to the same two people that I just saw. "It's yo fake-ass friends." I just nodded. "Now, I heard about what happen'd last week. You finally kicked his ass. Now, despite the bullshit from the top, it's been a long time comin'." I nodded in agreement as we sat in silence, just enjoying the warm breeze.
"Ya know, you should be findin' yo real homeboy and maybe get some bitches on yo dick instead of lookin' miserable like one of those dramatic shows." I turned with my eyebrow raised. "Just sayin'." He ended as the warning bell rang, signaling for students to return to their classrooms.
"It was good to see ya, Little M." He patted me on my back as he left.
As weird as he was, he was one of the few people whom I tolerated.
I spent the rest of my day droning on through classes until school ended. I immediately returned home to cook my dinner, keep up with my homework on my school laptop, and game on my home computer until it was time for me to sleep. Upon lying on my bed, my eyes became heavy, and I fell asleep in an instant.
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Looks like I'm back here.
Inside this void of darkness.
Again.
For God knows how long now.
Getting real tired of being stuck in a void.
As if it heard my complaint, I saw a sparkle of light that grew in size until it became so bright that I got flashbanged.
It blinded me for what felt like forever before I regained my vision to find myself in this weird place.
I was floating around in space, but instead of pitch black, it was filled with multitudes of colors — so much that I can't describe it all. It was filled with stars, cosmic dust, and a mixture of different-sized planets with miniature versions of various galaxies.
As I was mesmerized by the fantastic display, I noticed something that stood out from the rest. It was a giant shadowy figure that towered over me. If I were to compare it to something, this figure would be the size of Mount Everest, but way bigger. It had those glowing blue eyes, the same ones I saw in my last session of this shit. It was looking down at me.
I tried to speak, but words weren't coming out of my mouth.
What the fuck is going on?
Why can't I speak?
"Matthew Brown." It said in a powerful echoed voice that trembled through the space and through myself as well.
I had so many questions that I wanted to ask.
"I know you have a lot of questions, Matthew Brown," it said as it read my mind, "but unfortunately, we don't have much time for pleasantries. The reason I have summoned you to my dimension is to give you a dire warning. Soon, you will face a threat that your mind can't even comprehend. It has the capability of destroying multiverses." The figure stated.
What!?
My mind began to race through different questions and thoughts that were overwhelming to me. But one question that was currently prominent at this moment was...
What does this have to do with me exactly!?
"Right now, you are too weak to stand up against this threat." It said.
No shit.
"But worry not, I shall grant you a device that can help you travel through different realities, not only to form bonds with new people but also to make you strong enough to fight this entity."
Okay, that's good to hear about getting stronger and all, but forming bonds... 'right'...
"Looks like our time is up. Until then, farewell, and survive this treacherous journey ahead." He sent me off as he raised his translucent hand, which glowed into a bright flash of light that blinded me once more...
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I shot myself out of bed.
Again.
For the last time.
Hopefully.
Seriously though, what was that just now?
Was I talking to some godly being from God knows where?
Trying not to think about that, I jumped out of bed to do my usual routine before my eyes spotted something unusual. It was a black cell phone on my computer desk. I never owned a cell phone in my entire life. So where the hell did it come from?
Wait a minute.
Is this the device that the being mentioned during his speech?
If that's the case, then my dream was, in fact, real after all this time. Add on the fact that the multiverse theory is true.
Fuck me...
With my curiosity getting the better of me, I picked it up and turned on the device. When the screen came on, it sent this message:
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Welcome,
Matthew Brown
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Okay.
I would be weirded out that it knew my name, but considering that it's a device made by a god itself, I made no reaction as I put it into sleep mode, placing it back where it was just moments ago.
I'm going to deal with this thing later , so I moved to do my usual shit, then endured hours of hellish monotony.
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{4 Hours Later}
Here I was, sitting in my spot with the device in my hand since apparently it could teleport to me anytime I moved away from it , so I had no choice but to take it to school with me. Since it was lunchtime then, I had several minutes to get the basic idea about this thing.
I hit the power button, which displayed a blue-colored background with the clock in bold font. I swiped the screen to unlock it, which took me to the menu. It consisted of...
Nothing.
I mean, literally nothing.
What the hell kind of phone is this!?
It can't even call or text people! Are you shitting me out the ass!?
It only had one app called Dimensional Travel. It had a simple icon : an image of a blue vortex. I guess that was the only purpose for this thing, unless it could get upgrades later like an RPG progression.
I took a good look around my surroundings to make sure nobody was seeing me. Once the coast was clear, I pressed the icon , and the screen went to black.
Then it played an animation of the name sliding across the screen before a high-quality image of our galaxy flashed in the background as three different icon tabs appeared: Travel, Destination, and Options.
I stared in awe before a textbox popped up.
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Welcome to Dimensional Travel.
In this app, you'll be able to travel to different universes with the press of a button.
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I figured that.
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Here's a quick tutorial to get you started.
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The screen dimmed as it highlighted the Options button.
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Options is where you can change the background or put on music while you're using this app.
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Obviously.
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Destination is where all the information about the universe you visit will be registered to travel to at any time.
This option will be locked until you have traveled to more universes.
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I guess it makes sense.
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Travel is self-explanatory.
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The tutorial left as it had appeared. Deciding to explore the app, I opened the Options tab. It was nothing special, so I closed out of that and looked at the Travel button.
Not gonna lie, it was very tempting to press it to see what would happen, but I was not gonna do that at the moment since there were a lot of people around. I didn't want to potentially cause unnecessary panic and chaos. I slid it back into my pocket and headed back to my class.
Then after sitting through three hours of bullshit, I waltzed into my house, shutting the door behind me. I threw my school stuff on the couch before entering my room and placing the device on my desk.
I opened the app once more and stared at the Travel button.
I realized that this was a life-changing decision that I was going to make right then. Once I hit that button, nothing would be the same ever again.
If I were any other person in the world, then I would hesitate, maybe even decide against doing it at all, mainly because I had ties to normal life or because the journey would be way too dangerous for a normal man.
But the thing was that I had nothing.
There was nothing to go back to in my normal life. My parents were neglectful bastards, I had cowardly friends, and others just didn't give a shit.
Another thing I had to consider was that while I was excited to meet my favorite characters from the shows I had watched, I also worried about the characters not being exactly like their canon selves — like Izuku becoming something like Thanos, for example.
Even with that thought, my body moved towards the backpack that I had thrown earlier. I returned to where I was, then dumped all of my school supplies out of my backpack since it's not like I would need them anymore. I gathered the best supplies I could, which included snacks, canned foods, a lighter, and a first aid kit. I managed to squeeze them into my backpack.
I took one last good look around my house. Honestly, I wasn't gonna miss it very much. The only thing I would miss was my PC setup ; otherwise, this place was filled with nothing but bad memories.
I held the device, my finger hovering over the button. With anticipation, my heart was pounding out of my chest.
I firmly pressed the button...
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Nothing happened.
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Is this thing fucking up or something?
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As I was about to press it again was when I felt my stomach drop. Feeling weightless, I looked down to see that I was falling through a blue vortex.
Before I could utter a scream, I fell through and looked up to see the vortex closing.
Descending, I looked around to see tons and tons of galaxies with different colors. It was similar to the one from the dream, but it was different. I could even see brief glimpses of different realities. It became so overwhelming that my vision blurred to black.
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{Unknown | 3:00 AM}
My eyes slowly opened.
My vision was blurry.
As I blinked, my vision became clearer and clearer. I was leaning against a wall. I saw another wall in front of me. There was hardly any light aside from the moonlight in the sky and the streetlight at the opening.
It was clear that I was in the alleyway of some town.
I tried to recall what had happened, but my memories were blurry.
As I began to focus, my memories slowly came back to me. I had activated the device, fallen through the portal, and gotten knocked out during the whole trip.
I pulled the device from my pocket. It had a simple textbox saying:
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You have traveled to the universe of "DS02152016"
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Looks like I did travel to another universe after all. I didn't know which universe exactly, but at least I was here in one piece.
The textbox disappeared and sent me back to the app.
I noticed something that stood out : the fact that the "Travel" button was grayed out. I pressed the button, and it sent out this new message:
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The travel function will be locked until the Mission is completed.
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Oh.
There's a mission?
I went back to the home screen to see that a new app had been installed. It was simply known as Missions. It had an image of a red bullseye as the icon.
I went into the app. It had a simple black background with a purple textbox that simply said, "Mission One".
I tapped on it, and it sent out the details.
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Mission: Defeat the Upper Moon.
Details: You must kill an Upper Moon.
Rewards: Inventory App; ???; ???
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It looks like I'm in the Demon Slayer universe from the way this mission reads.
That's one hell of a way to start my journey — sending me to one of the universes that people often get dropped into like flies by man-eating demons.
Also, what's this about killing an Upper Moon? Why is it expecting me to kill one? First of all, locating them is near impossible ; only two Upper Moons stay at the same location. Even if I found one, unless your name is Yoriichi, you're fucked.
Even if you're as strong as a Hashira, fighting one - on - one against an Upper Moon is impossible. Generally , these fights involve group effort to just take one down.
It's a no - brainer that I need to become a Demon Slayer to get myself as strong as possible to complete this nearly impossible mission.
Which leads me to my next problem : where can I even find a Hashira or a retired Hashira like Urokodaki? I know the general location like the Butterfly Mansion, for example, but I don't know the exact location.
With all that in mind, it looks like I'm going to be stuck here for a while.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
There's no use in bitching and moaning , as I stood up. My legs felt wobbly — so bad that I had to support myself by leaning on the wall. I slowly walked to the opening of one of the streets of the town I was in.
I made it to the end . The buildings that surrounded me were old-fashioned Japanese buildings. It looked to be the better part of the town, as the streets were clean and decorated with wooden power lines and classic lampposts that dimly lit the dirt road.
I lifted my hand that held the device to check the date and time at this moment:
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March 19th, 1908
3:00 AM
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It makes sense that the series takes place in the early twentieth century. But there's a slight possibility that I might have arrived earlier than canon since the storyline takes place during the Taisho era.
The Taisho era took place starting four years from 1908, which was 1912, ending in 1926.
I began to explore the town. The buildings on either side of me stood between two and three stories tall. Due to the late hour, all of the buildings were dark on the inside since people were asleep.
There were signs all over the place. It felt like I was on the main street of this place. The weirdest thing was that I could read the signs perfectly. I never learned Japanese in my entire life. Did the device have anything to do with that?
Oh wait, what am I thinking? Of course it does.
Constantly, I just heard the sounds of my own footsteps with the buzzing noise from the lampposts. It was way different than living in a modern city. I had lived in one my whole life, so I was used to the noises it generated.
Minutes passed — still nothing.
Then before I knew it, an hour passed. I was still in the same goddamn street. Christ, how big is this town exactly?
It didn't help that most of the buildings there looked the same.
At this rate, I would probably have to hunker down somewhere and wait for an hour or two before people woke up. At least then I would have a chance to ask someone directions whe —
*Clank!*
I stopped in my tracks and looked around to see if there was anything nearby, but I didn't see anything. My heart began to race as I focused on my surroundings.
You're wondering why I'm paranoid all of a sudden ? Well, this place was super quiet the whole time, and then I heard a noise out of nowhere. That'll freak anyone out.
I hoped that it was just somebody who had woken up earlier than scheduled , or a random Demon Slayer — the latter being the best - case scenario. However, the worst-case scenario was that there was a demon lurking about.
I wasn't gonna stick around to find out. I picked up my pace, taking a turn onto a random street.
*Clank!*
That noise again. It must have been coming from the rooftops. I looked up briefly to catch a glimpse of my potential stalker.
Still nothing.
I kept my pace as I was about to take another turn when I saw a figure standing in front of me. My heartbeat grew louder as I studied the silhouette.
I was afraid that this was the one thing I did not want to see at that point.
"Demon," I tried to say calmly. When I blinked, it disappeared.
I blinked again to see the creature inches away from my body , and I jumped back in fright. The demon looked at me with a sadistic grin.
"Well, aren't you an unlucky bastard." He said in a mockery tone as it raised its clawed hands to end me in one strike. "That's good for me since I haven't had a meal all night."
Thinking on my feet, I threw my bag of stuff at it. It landed on its face, stunning it just enough for me to take off.
I could barely hear the demon cursing at me before I turned my head slightly to see it start to chase after me.
I took a hard turn into one of the alleyways that took me to the other side of the town, then took another hard turn to the right, running up the street. I glanced again to see that it was still behind me, and it was catching up to me rapidly.
This was not good.
I took another turn at the crossroads onto another street.
My exhaustion was starting to creep up as I was panting for air. I needed to keep going. I had to, or I would certainly die.
I ran as hard as my body could muster as I took another turn through an alleyway.
Then all of a sudden, I felt major pain in my back as I lost my breath and got launched forward. I landed hard on my chest.
Before I could get back up, it grabbed me by the back of my neck , throwing me into the wall. I felt immediate dizziness and had a headache. I didn't know if my skull was fractured or not.
It appeared in front of me, grabbing my neck. Its claws dug into the sides of my neck, drawing blood, the deeper they got. But that was the least of my problems , as I was suffocating to death.
I tried endlessly to get it off of me as I clawed at and punched its arm, but it was way too tough to even make a scratch. Worst of all, the bastard was still smiling at the sight of my suffering.
"I always love a good game of cat and mouse. I could play with you just a little longer, but unfortunately, I am starving, so now you will die, and then I will enjoy feasting on your corpse." It said with glee as it squeezed even harder.
Am I seriously about to die already?
Bullshit.
This is bullshit!
Am I really about to die before I even do anything?
I saw all of my life replay in my mind as my vision started to tunnel. Then , eventually , all of my body gave up and became limp, and my vision was bathed in total darkness.
All of a sudden, I felt the grip release , and I fell to the ground on my knees , gasping, wheezing, and coughing all at the same time. My body began to regain its strength as I slowly reopened my eyes to see , with my limited vision, yellow-and-red hair flowing in the wind.
As I saw better, I saw that the demon had turned to ash as the person sheathed their sword and turned around to face me.
He wore a familiar face with thick eyebrows and yellow - and - red eyes.
That's the Flame Hashira...
Kyojuro Rengoku.
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Hope you enjoyed the new prologue. All I'm gonna say right now is that I have the entirety of the Demon Slayer arc planned out.
I'm planning to release it all once I finish writing the whole arc. I don't have a release date for it yet, but hopefully I can release it by Summer 2026.
I hope you have a great day, and I'll see you next time.