"AAHH!"
In the middle of noon, a young teen screamed as he jolted awake from his sleep. His eyes contracted wildly, sweat drenching his face. Nearby passengers on the train glanced at him briefly then just as quickly looked away, pretending nothing had happened.
He slowly regained his breath, unaware of what had just occurred. His head throbbed with the worst migraine he had ever felt.
I… I died.
The migraine slowly weakened. His rapid breathing began to stabilize as he looked around, his vision still slightly blurred.
Where… am I?
"Young man, are you okay?"
The teenage boy flinched at the sudden voice. It felt as if all five of his senses were being overloaded at once. Sitting opposite him was an old lady, leaning slightly on her cane.
Clack.
A name tag slipped from his jacket and fell to the ground. The old lady bent down and picked it up.
"Kurotsuki Shion… is this your name?" she asked, squinting slightly.
"A-ah… m-my… y-yeah, that's it."
In a hurry, Shion snatched the name tag from her hand and rushed out of the train. The old lady simply watched him leave before scoffing under her breath.
"Tch. Kids these days…"
---
"Haa… haa…"
Shion stumbled into a public restroom, locking himself inside a stall before dropping onto the closed toilet lid. His breathing was uneven, his hands trembling slightly.
His mind raced.
Fragments of something, something that didn't belong forced their way into his thoughts.
A memory.
No… not just any memory.
The memory of his own death.
Death… was it a dream? A vision? What does it mean?
He pressed his fingers against his temple, wincing. It felt too real. Far too real. The sensations, the fear, the final moment, it lingered like it had already happened.
"Haa… Is it even real…? If so… how?"
Perhaps fate. Or perhaps something else entirely.
A thin, black book slipped out of his jacket and landed softly on the floor.
The moment his eyes landed on it, an ominous feeling crept up his spine. Just looking at it sent a chill through his body yet, almost instinctively, he leaned down and picked it up.
The cover was blank. On the back, however, there was a faint outline of an eye and beneath it.
"Scripture of the end."
"…I don't remember bringing this…"
It felt unnaturally light. Too light. As if it wasn't really there.
Hesitating, Shion opened the book to the first page.
"you're reading the wrong way!"
"…huh?"
He blinked, then slowly turned the book around, flipping it from left to right.
"Hello Shion. If you're reading this, then you should've seen the vision I sent you… or more precisely, the one you sent. It seems every piece of information I've tried to give you leads us to our death. So this time, I won't bother telling you anything. Instead, remember this, everything you can do with the Scripture of the end."
"…hah?" what kind of nonsense was this?future him?
That was the only conclusion he could come to.
Not only that but from what he picked up, his death was seemingly inevitable. No matter what information was passed down, it always led to the same end.
Which meant one of two things, Either the situation was truly impossible to overcome, or something like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
His grip on the book tightened slightly.
"By now, you should be done hypothesizing. Turn the page. Read every rule I've written, We're smart. I trust that you can figure things out just as well as I did. Even without his help."
"…his?"
Shion's eyes narrowed slightly, he didn't understood but most of the thing he read is at this point, gibberish.
With a slow breath, Shion turned the page and was met with a list of rules.
«Scripture of the end guide»
Scripture of the end is your innate cursed technique. The technique can only be used if three conditions are met, which requires the activation of [The All-Seeing Eye], [The Severed Records of the Damned], and [The Blade Beyond Creation], which are all parts of your own cursed technique.
1. The All-Seeing Eye represents the future and allows you to properly read the Scar Scripture. Even if the book is copied, others will not be able to use it, as the pages will appear blank without the presence of the All-Seeing Eye. This eye is capable of perceiving cursed energy at a level far beyond that of the naked eye. However, it remains inferior to the Six Eyes operated by Satoru Gojo, though it does not carry the same mental strain or risk of overwhelming the brain.
The All-Seeing Eye also enables the user to observe and predict certain outcomes, but it is limited to what can be considered "predictable." If an outcome falls outside of that threshold something determined entirely by the user's own interpretation of "predictable" then it cannot be perceived. In other words, it does not reveal the absolute future, only the paths that can be logically followed.
2. The Blade Beyond Creation represents the present. It is an indestructible blade used to activate the technique. If the user successfully lands a strike with the blade, they gain access to the existence of the target, allowing them to interact with it on a deeper level. The blade can then transform into a pen, which is used to inscribe changes within the Severed Records of the Damned. Despite being indestructible, the blade itself does not possess overwhelming physical power like conventional cursed tools, as its effectiveness depends entirely on the user's ability.
3. The Severed Records of the Damned represents the past. It allows the user to edit and alter events at the cost of cursed energy. Whether rewriting actual occurrences or simply modifying memories, all changes require an appropriate expenditure of cursed energy. The book can also influence the user themselves, though there are critical differences between self-editing and altering others. When a target is affected, the changes will remain even if their physical injuries are healed. However, when the user edits their own existence, the damage used to initiate the change must remain. If the wound is healed prematurely, the alteration may disappear or, in worse cases, disrupt the user's sense of identity.
Lastly, if any of the three components are stopped, destroyed, or sealed, reactivating the technique will require an enormous amount of cursed energy.
…..
What the hell does any of that even mean?
Cursed energy? Cursed technique?
Although some of his questions had been answered, even more surfaced as he read through the instructions, and for some reason his future self had skipped over the most basic explanations entirely, leaving him with terminology that made little to no sense, such as what cursed energy actually was,
Or who the hell is Satorugojo? Was he supposed to know him?
Seeing that he had reached the end of the book, Shion let out a slow breath as he pressed his fingers against his temple, the earlier pain returning. not as sharp as before, but lingering in a way that made it difficult to focus. After a moment, he closed the notebook and slipped it back into his jacket, before stepping out of the stall and turning on the faucet, letting the cold water run over his hands and face as he tried to piece everything together.
If the notebook was telling the truth, then this so-called "Scripture of the end" was his innate cursed technique, something that seemed to interfere directly with existence itself, and if that was the case, then his future self must have gone through a similar process to understand it, which only made the lack of explanation even more frustrating.
Now that he knew what it supposedly did, he found himself stuck on a far more basic question, what exactly was he supposed to do next? Knowing the name and function of something meant nothing if he couldn't even grasp the foundation behind it, and the fact that his future self didn't even leave behind a simple explanation about cursed energy made it feel less like guidance and more like being thrown into something completely blind.
"…It doesn't matter," he muttered under his breath, lifting his head slightly as water dripped from his hair.
If there was one thing he understood clearly, it was that he had seen his own death, and whether it was a dream, a vision, or something far more real, the feeling it left behind was not something he could ignore.
He needed to survive.
And for that to happen, he needed to understand this… whatever it was.
Shutting off the faucet, Shion raised his head and looked straight at the reflection in front of him, his messy black hair clinging slightly to his face, his equally dark eyes staring back with a mixture of confusion.
(A/N: mc looks like Chrollo, there's no deeper connection, he's just really cool)
Without lingering any longer, he exited the restroom and checked the date on his phone, pausing for a moment as the numbers settled in his mind.
February 13th, 2016.
He was nearing the end of middle school, which meant high school would come the following year, and although the vision he experienced felt disjointed, there were certain details that stood out, such as the shift in his height and perspective being taller, along with the distant memory of someone calling him "senpai," all of which suggested that what he saw took place at least a few years into the future.
After that…
He died.
Even if it was nothing more than a rough estimate, the most likely timeframe would be somewhere around 2018 or 2019, which meant he still had time to change whatever outcome awaited him.
"Haa… seriously, you couldn't have left at least a few more hints…" he muttered, slipping his phone back into his pocket as he stepped forward.
Complaining wouldn't change anything, and he knew that.
For now, the only thing he could do was learn, and hopefully in the future, he would never find out why his future self is so reluctant to tell even basic information.
Or perhaps his future self truly believes he can survives just with crumbles of info... Whatever the case, he'll work through it.
---
A/N: forgive me if this feels like shit to read, this is my first fic and I'm relatively new to this, although I'm not new to writing, I'm new to writing fiction novels.
Btw if There's inconsistencies points it out, I edited this chapter at like 1 am so.. especially the name of his CT.