Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the canopy, slicing into the greenery below in radiant shafts. It was as if golden spears had been thrust diagonally into the forest.
This wasn't the kind of dense jungle that plunged into instant darkness as soon as you stepped inside.
The trees weren't thick enough to smother the air, and light still danced between the branches.
By the stream, Seff leaned against a tree, taking a break.
His shirt hung from a branch, fluttering gently in the breeze. The same breeze that played through the forest also rustled Seff's silver-white hair.
He was shirtless, his torso bare, revealing a lean, well-built body.
He'd briefly considered washing his pants along with his shirt and drying them together.
After all, nobody else was around.
But he wasn't about to sit around completely naked by the riverbank with his junk swinging in the breeze.
Some lines just couldn't be crossed.
So, he settled for washing the top half of his clothes and letting them dry.
A fruit, something like an apple, rested in his hand as he lazily took slow bites.
The deeper he traveled into the inner districts, the better the environment became.
Ironically, it was often easier to find edible wild fruit than it was to scavenge processed food.
It had been two months now.
Seff's old eating habits warned him that a fruit-only diet wasn't exactly healthy, but his current body, this soul form, told a different story.
As long as he replenished his Reishi (spiritual particles), even eating only fruit didn't cause any issues.
No hunger = no problem.
He chewed on the fruit, still mulling over the strange moment from earlier.
Was that just his imagination?
He'd dreamed of Sephiroth before, random glimpses of the man's figure in scattered dreams.
But he'd always dismissed those as just subconscious spillover.
He had been using Sephiroth's sword style every day, after all. Dreaming about him made perfect sense.
Still… the reflection earlier hadn't felt like a dream.
Even if it was just a trick of the light, or a ripple in the water… it had left a strange shadow in his mind.
His thoughts were broken when he looked down and realized the fruit in his hand was now little more than a core.
He casually tossed it into the stream. It landed with a gentle splash and drifted off with the current.
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Sure, it wasn't exactly "eco-friendly."
But it felt good.
And here in the Soul Society, there were no environmental activists, no public sanitation officers popping up to scold him for littering.
He wasn't the type to hold himself to some sage's standard.
"Do not ignore small kindnesses. Do not commit even the smallest evils."
Yeah… not for him.
If the evil was big, he could resist.
But a little harmless selfishness? He'd allow it.
Of course, the reverse also applied, he might not be able to do great good, but he wasn't above lending a hand if it cost him nothing.
Then again… that's probably why he died to a petty criminal's blade.
With a flick of the wrist, Seff grabbed his sheathed sword and drew it slightly.
In the mirror-like surface of the blade, his own sharp blue eyes stared back.
He had clawed his way out of the lowest pits of Rukongai, into more stable, resource-rich districts.
But he wasn't stopping here.
If Rukongai were a city, he was still stuck in the outskirts.
The real opportunities lay near the center.
It wasn't like he needed a permit to move inward, so why stop now?
The closer he got to the core, the better the resources.
And more importantly, he'd get closer to the Soul Reapers. The truth. The system behind all this.
According to the rumors, Seff had the qualities needed to become a Soul Reaper.
And from what he'd seen, Soul Reapers weren't just public servants.
They were the elite of this world.
The ones who wielded blades and carried authority.
They were government employees… and armed enforcement rolled into one.
If there was even a chance, Seff had to try.
After all, wasn't that the ultimate fate of every man?
To fight through life until he passed the final exam?
As Seff contemplated how long it would take to reach the top ten districts, another two months, maybe?, he suddenly stopped.
He sheathed his blade.
His gaze shifted.
Somewhere to the side, in a patch of forest just ahead.
The trees weren't especially dense, but their irregular placement and uneven growth blocked any clear line of sight.
He hadn't seen anything.
But he felt it.
Two months of survival in a wilderness filled with backstabbing, desperate, human-shaped predators had sharpened his instincts.
He wasn't just some clueless rookie anymore.
This world didn't play fair.
The threats weren't always obvious.
The most dangerous attacks often came from behind.
Even before his conscious mind caught up, a chill had settled in the pit of his stomach.
Then, like fate itself confirming his unease, the sounds began.
Racing footsteps.
Fast. Panicked. All over the place, clearly no longer calm.
And underneath that, a heavy thudding sound.
Something big.
Something that made the ground tremble as it moved.
Trees snapped. Wood cracked, loud, clean breaks.
The rushing footsteps alone wouldn't have worried Seff.
He'd heard them plenty of times before.
Sometimes it was a trick, people pretending to flee when they were actually the predator.
Seff had fallen for that tactic once. Never again.
What did worry him were the thuds.
And the sounds of trees being crushed.
He couldn't tell what it was, just from the noise.
But he wasn't about to stick around and wait for answers.
Quietly, he reached up and took his half-dry shirt off the branch, not to wear it, but to prevent it from flapping in the wind and giving away his position.
A quick glance around.
There,
A thick tree, wide enough to conceal him.
Seff kicked off the ground, launching himself upward like he was pulled by wires.
One foot hit the trunk halfway up, and he pushed again, landing smoothly among the leaves above.
He crouched down, concealed in the foliage.
The noise drew closer.
Maybe this wasn't about him.
Maybe it was just bad luck.
But whatever it was, it was headed his way.
Which was just fine by him.
Carefully, Seff parted the leaves for a better view.
And then… he saw them.
The source of the sounds finally broke into his field of vision.
Running desperately through the woods,
Was a child.
But what was chasing the child...
Made Seff's eyes widen ever so slightly.