Atsu

Atsu slammed another pulsating shard onto the counter, the impact echoing dully in the ash-choked air of The Underworld. The last time they had seen Tsunatarou this close, they were trading blows, not goods. But that was before the surge of energy—the ascension—that had erupted between them, leaving Atsu’s face frozen in a mask of perpetual shock. Now, Tsunatarou was their only customer. They were the only other soul who knew what these crystalline fragments of solidified shadow really were, having witnessed their violent birth. These days, their rivalry was replaced by this grim commerce. Tsunatarou slid a single, petrified tear across the counter as payment, a currency only the two of them understood. It was a transaction born not of forgiveness, but of a shared, terrible secret.