Shattered Planes Archives (Seasons 4 & 5)
Beyond => New Dementia => Dementia => Topic started by: Admiral Regis Hermitage on October 20, 2012, 09:07:12 AM
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With a swift clap of the hands, the scenery began to melt around her. She would now find herself alone in a forest. It had alot of odd looking trees, much like the ones she saw upon her arrival to Insanus. Something was different this time though... The voice had briefly gone away from her mind. This place gave off an odd feeling of home.
Then, the voice came back. She could now feel a strong magic signature.... one of an Embodiment. Emerging from the forest was what looked like Antonio, Koty, and K2. They were chatting, laughing, and looked like they were having a great time. They stop upon seeing her and stare.
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"Oh now that is definitely fake."
"Do not be so sure..." Hikaru glanced around before growling at the sight of the trees which seemed the same to her. "It seems we are completely back where we had started! HONESTLY, I cannot tell what is real or fake right now. Obviously we were tri- I was tricked."
"Well this is definitely fake. Koty is dead."
"And it is because you were not here that he is."
"That does not rule out the fact that our bro- MY brother could have switched sides. That part could very well be real, K2323 has double-crossed several times in the past." Hikaru sighed, her hand on her head before mumbling in an irritated tone, "I really wish I had my magic about now..."
"Tell me about it. Then we could get rid of... Who ARE you anyways? A possession?
"I am the voice of your conscience speaking!"
"...Right"
"...Right"
"Whatever..." Hikaru growled before turning to the 'group' and pointing, "ALRIGHT DEMON! I do not know if you are real, fake, another damned illusion, or what at this point. But if you are real, I DEMAND my soul back. And if you are fake... I DEMAND THE GAMES TO END, EITHER WAY I DEMAND THIS TO BE OVER WITH!"
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"You two may go..." 'Antonio' said. K2 and Koty simply disappeared back into the forest. 'Antonio' approached her, and stopped short a a few feet. Quickly examining her, and nodded. "What is your name again?" he asked her.
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Hikaru could only blink before growling, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"
"Illusion. Definitely. Best to play along...."
"Grrr.. FINE!" Hikaru glared at him, her eyes further narrowed, "Hikaru Tyris! Eldest of the Sage Three! The three most powerful magic users in existence! Descended airs to both the Phoenix and Genesis kingdoms! Current final queen of the Phoenix kingdom! NOW enough of this! RETURN MY SOUL!" With every statement she said, Hikaru's yelling grew louder, snapping each item she named off the list pertaining to her title.
"You could say please."
"You could shut up.
"You could shut up."
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"You seem to have a cause that is worth your loyalty. I was also not aware of this presence of royalty." 'Antonio' said. With a nod, the illusion melted away revealing Insana, the Embodiment of Insanity. He took a few more steps forwards. "Allow me to introduce myself, i am the creator of calamity." he quickly melts into the ground, and immediately reappears behind her. "I am Insana Primoris. The Embodiment of Insanity." he says to her.
"You know I, and I know you. The only question now is, what should we do?" he asks.
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"Great. More rhyming..."
"As long as it is not riddles, it is fine..." Hikaru sighed. Insanity no wonder. That would explain the scenery and illusions. But did she end up with an embodiment when she was supposedly supposed to be sent to the location of that demon? Was this in of itself an illusion as well?"
"Wait... That illusion of Koty back when we first teleported here. It mentioned something about the Embodiment Insanity, did it not? Something about him knowing where we were..."
"But that an illusion.. a lie. Or was it completely...." Hikaru fell silent a moment before scowling at Insana, "You could start with explaining things first. Like why after I cast a spell to bring me to the location of my soul, I find myself somewhere I have never seen before with an illusion that mentions you yet seems to be working for that damn Demon. Then when I finally get somewhere after stupidly playing along and accepting their bogus ritual, I end up before you, instead. Are you perhaps working with him? Or are you the one that glitched my spell in the first place?!"
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"I am a force unaligned. I hold no side. I encompass all powers. I can only change the tide." he said. He now reappeared above Hikaru, like he was laying of a sofa in mid-air. "A glitch, a kink. A curious wink. What has brought you here? I'll allow you to think."
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Hikaru was unamused. "Fine.. If you are going to give no straight answers... Then I will just proceed to not talk to you." With that, she started to walk away.
"I see what you are doing. If he truly is Insanity, then he should not be able to take being ignored."
"Correct.. I give it a few minutes at most."
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Insana looks at her as she walked over away from him. He simply shrugged and drew his sword. "She isnt very nice is she?" he says.
"South will do that to you." A demonic voice came in reply.
"Oh well. I suppose i'll just have to send her back to the plane." he says.
"Seems like it. Speaking of which, i recognized that one fellow from before. Whats his name... Randy? No. Andy? No... so close.... ANTONIO! Thats it." the voice said.
"Oh yes. He is quite the entertainer. You must have known him from south... correct?" Insana asks.
"Yes. Yes. I remember. He was a foreman in the 2." the voice came in reply.
"Ah, yes. Good stories." Insana began laughing. It seemed like he could do this forever.
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One thing many did not know about Phoenixes is that they had very good hearing. Even without magic. To this, Hikaru simply ignored and continued to walk further away.
"Well, looks like he found someone else to talk to. So much for that plan."
Hikaru simply scoffed, "Who cares..." That's when she stopped suddenly, catching the middle part of the conversation. "Hold on... That other one just mentioned... Grrrr, Dammit! He DOES know that damn demon!" Abruptly turning around, Hikaru swiftly walked back, her anger now increasingly apparent.
When she got there, Hikaru looked around for the source of the other voice, but when finding none, she just smacked her forehead with her palm and groaned. He was talking to himself? She was really starting to hate Insanity now. "Okay look! Forget what I said before! Just tell me where the damn demon Antonio is! "
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"Seems like she's in a talking mood again." The sword said. Insana turned to look at her.
"I guess so." he said. "Until next time, Rtas." he sheaths his sword, and faces her. "Please answer my question, child of sage. These questions have purpose, not randomly laid."
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Hikaru crossed her arms and glared. Hadn't she already answered that? Sighing, she decided to go along with it anyways, anything to get somewhere. "I am here to find that damn demon Antonio! He stole my soul and then stranded me ...somewhere... So I used spirit energy to cast a spell to take me to the location of the my soul! ONLY! I end up somewhere with obviously no soul in sight! I do not know what happened exactly, if the spell failed, was stopped, or where it even took me. But after playing game after game and getting quite fed up with it all, I accepted some stupid blessing that was not explained and ended up here... Wherever 'here' is. Now..."
Hikaru pointed at him once more, "I DEMAND ANSWERS!"
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"You want and you plead. Who cares? Not me. You dont ask, you demand. I follow no one's command." Insana replied. "Im here to help you see. It you was you who came to me. In the maze, and the hall. Around large arena walls. I found you. I saved you. This you cannot dispute. All logic is lost... you cannot compute."
With a snap of his fingers, her clothes were burnt off, and replaced with a blue robe. "You need to walk the walk." he said. and appeared beside her. "And talk the talk. If you want to fix this mess, you first need to know how to dress," he said.
"The demon can wait. Your meeting is fate. For now you're with me. And i am the key." he puts his hand of her right shoulder.
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Hikaru sighed. Well there went what was it? Her fourth, or was it fifth outfit? He could have at least left her, her signature cloak. With it she at least looked like sage royalty. Without it, she may as well have been nothing but a follower, especially the way she looked now. Which did not please Hikaru in the least.
"I think it is time for a new approach..." Hikaru muttered through grit teeth before moving away from him rather roughly, her glare more darker than before as she stared him down. "Let us get one thing straight Insanity! I do not serve embodiments. I do not follow them. And I most certainly in that regard, DO NOT respect them. I may not exactly know what is going on, or why I ended up before you instead of that god forsaken cretin, but I assure you, it was not my intention."
Arms crossed, Hikaru continued. "Now judging by that talk you just had with yourself or whatever the hell it was. I know you know that demon! If he is here, then I am only here to retrieve my soul, nothing more! I am sure you are aware of who the Embodiment of Chaos is, correct? Well if I do not obtain my soul soon, according to my brother and my fath-" she paused, her eyes glancing to the side in unease before returning to stare at him, once more. "The no longer living leader of the Anrufe, the Embodiment of Chaos will be returning as Revelation is the only key to stopping it which besides Kurai and my sons, only I have!
"So tell me his damn location already!"
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"Chaos is coming? Oh what glee! An event such as this deserves a party!" Insana exclaimed. "As for the demon, i can tell you this. One has already come to to settle this miss." he informs her.
"As for your demands, ive told you before. You're destined to meet him, on the royal floor."
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Well that approach seemed to have gotten her nowhere. "Grrrr, it is no one else business to settle but mine as it is my soul, dammit! If anyone else obtains it it will be the same damn situation I am already in! A sages soul is a way to control them!!!" Hikaru went on bitching for a few more minutes about how it was a very bad idea if anyone else obtained her soul before her until she finally gave up.
Sighing, Hikaru simply shook her head and muttered in defeat, "Fine...." She glared, "Where to...?"
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"We're already here....." he says. The scenery melted around them, into a large cityscape. It was all just an illusion. "Welcome to the city of Insania!" Insana announced. All around them, people were rushing by, and going with the movements of this busy city. Behind them was a very large cathedral of sorts. One side made of a dark colored stone, and the other colored with a lighter colored stone. A thin green line ran down between the two, and literally separated the city, and the realm for that matter, in half.
A large archway stood before them with the words "St. Insana Square" inscribed upon it. A large statue stood atop it holding perfectly balanced scales, but one could notice its subtle insanity. One side had absolutely nothing upon it, while the other had stacks, and stacks of golden bars.
"Welcome home!" He said to Hikaru.
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As Hikaru took in the sights, she looked from one person to another focusing on the magic signature of each. Many different kinds of all varieties, but not the one she was searching for. "Figures," Hikaru muttered to herself while barely paying attention to Insana, "He is probably it or masking it..." Her attention immediately went back to the embodiment as he introduced the place. Well that sure explained a lot. Ending up before the Embodiment of Insanity, and now a city that seemed to be nothing but complete insanity.. Just what had she gotten herself into? Better yet...
Hikaru abruptly stopped as he 'welcomed' her, her thoughts flashing back to everything that had transpired thus far and focusing on everything that had been said. Home... Forced change of clothes without explanation... and then talks of being saved? Suddenly it all added up... No, She had been wrong... It was not what had she gotten herself into, but more of, what exactly had she agreed to? "Damn cults..."
Hikaru quickly interjected as she spoke up, "I think you are misunderstanding something..Insanity, I am here by mistake in what was complete accident. Nothing more. So I do not know what you are going on about, or what I may have agreed to and gotten mixed up in.. But I assure you it is a mistake... I am not part of this, I am NOT insane! " Hikaru looked skeptic, "DO I LOOK insane to you?!"
"I do not think you should have accepted that blessing or allowed that ritual..."
"Oh sure, now you say it! What happened to playing along?! If I had not accepted, we would not have gotten anywhere. Obviously that moron is here. We just need to find him!"
"If this truly is Insanity, then the guy is insane and we are never going to get anywhere at this rate anyways. We NEED to ditch him! So that we may look for that moron ourselves without these stupid games.. But how..."
"Hmm, perhaps some kind of tr-" Hikaru stopped as she realized everything she said to the other Hikaru was aloud, and quickly shut up. Maybe she was going insane. Or at least appeared it.
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"Hmm?" Insana looked over to her, noticing that she was talking to herself. "Oh yes. Oh yes. I forgot to mention the sides. You are a Demented, right? So your side is the blue one." He points over to the blue side.
"The other side is Mania. They're red." he said and pointed to the red side. "Well, thats it for the tour. Follow me please." he said and walked towards the cathedral. "We have a few more things to do Ms. Tyris."
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"Grrr.. That does it...." Hikaru increased her pace and walked briskly ahead, cutting in to block his path with a glare at him, "I SAID! Do I look insane to you? Because I most certainly am not! Now tell me what the hell is going and what the fuck is a demented! NOW! What did I agree to?!!"
"Just ditch him already!"
"In a minute!"
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"Why, you agreed to become part of this wondrous society of beings! The demented are those whom have been given my blessing, of course." Insana said as if he thought that everyone knew this. He kept walking towards the church, and stopped at the door.
"If you want to come above, you must first go below. After you go down, you shall finally meet your foe." Insana said to her.
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"Had I known I was joining a cult of insane FREAKS, I would not have agreed to it!" Hikaru continued to follow him as she shouted, "I came here to retrieve my soul and NOTHING more. Those morons never explained anything of what I was agreeing to or clarified anything at all! So this was all a mistake and you can just take your damn blessing back!"
Hikaru simply scoffed at his last statement, "And how do I know that this is not just another trick?" At this point Hikaru felt highly suspicious of everything and looked like she could kill the next thing that crossed her.
"I guess that ritual was not so bogus after all..."
"SHUT UP!"
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"You must be deaf, I've said before. You want your soul? Walk through this door." Insana instructed. "You have a lock, but not the key. Your soul is the prize, so follow me."
He opened the doors and waved her inside. "After you miss tyris."
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"First he says to follow, then he has us go in first. The moron highly needs to make up his mind..."
"What else can we expect? Insane, remember?" Hikaru sounded somewhat annoyed as she sighed and walked through and awaited him to do the same. "Though I do wish he would actually listen. I am the deaf one? He has not paid attention to a damn thing I have said unless it benefited what he was already going to say! And then there is that incessant rhyming..." She growled. "WHAT did I ever do to deserve this?!"
"Made a deal with Lucifer years ago?"
"Do not remind me..."
"Had we been whole, that mistake would not have happened, as we would not have died to begin with."
"Whatever... I will follow for now. If this also turns out to be a dead lead, then yet, we will be ditching him just as soon as possible."
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Insana promptly walked in behind her, and closed the doors. The room immediately lit up in a combination of blue, red, and purple revealing a large sanctuary. A few people were sitting at the pews, reading Insanity's Bible, and praying silently. A lone priest was present at the altar, more specifically it was Father Resalka, the priests Hikaru had met earlier.
"Ah, Lord Primoris! Very nice to see you again." he greets Insana. Hikaru immediately caught his attention. "And I see you found the gift i sent you. How wonderful." he said.
"Yes, Resalka. She is definitely entertaining... and her defiance is as cute as a pit of dead clowns." Insana yelled back, and wore a wide grin.
"Yes, yes... So, how are you enjoying Insania so far Ms. Tyris?" Resalka asked.
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Hikaru only glared at him, "You had not informed me I was joining a damn cult!" Her expression was one of pure anger as she pointed at him and expressed, "You tricked me! And I will have no further part of it! And this seems to be only a trick as well!" She turned back to glaring at Insana, "Soul huh? Where?! That imaginary corner over there? Given how this has gone so far, I would not doubt it. " Hikaru scoffed in sarcasm.
"Either start giving straight answers and stop your incessant rhyming while you are at it or stop wasting my time and I will look for the damn fool myself!"
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"By the look upon your frown, you assume the soul would come now. Im sorry to say, you were mistaken. We've one last thing to awaken." Insana said.
"Im afraid he's right, Miss Tyris. He never explicitly said your soul was in here... he simply asked that you comply for a short while longer before he offers you the reward you seek." Resalka said. "So, the faster we get this ceremony over with, the faster you can go with Lord Primoris and retrieve your soul from the Demonic General."
Insana simply walked ahead of her towards the altar and motioned for her to follow.
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However Hikaru was having no more part of any of it. Arms crossed, she remained standing where she was and only glared, "I fail to see why you could not have informed me of that to begin with. But whatever, I will follow no further till I know in clear detail what exactly it is I am complying to. You have so far tricked me thus far, and I absolutely refuse to belittle myself and resort to following like that of a sheep with no clear direction."
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"In order to proceed any further on your own path to your own objectives, you must complete this, Ms. Tyris. There is no other , or easier way" Resalka said.
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"And this would be a prime example as to why you do not agree to join cults."
Hikaru sighed, "At least it got us here, and we know the moron is here as well."
"Yes, but now we are expected to follow further and unable to back out."
"At least that is what is expected. But I have a much better idea... NOW we ditch him." With that, Hikaru smirked at the both of them, "And still you refuse to inform me what exactly it is that I am supposed to comply to. Oh well, I figured you would say that. Which is why I am through playing games..." Then with a flick of her right hand, a wall of god fire flared into life in front of Hikaru, blocking the path between her and the two of them.
The godfire was of course, created through spirit energy as she had no magic and thus should have been impossible as Hikaru had used up most of her spirit energy. However due to the nature of the spell that had split her and her counterpart, which had split the spirit completely, it left her with the same amount of spirit energy to draw from as her own, just from her counterparts half of the spirit instead.
With the godfire as a distraction, Hikaru took the chance to slip back out the chuch doors and back into the city crowds.
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Insana chuckled... "How cute..." he commented. He melted into the floor to intercept her.
As Hikaru went into the crowds, people parted as if she were infected with a disease... as she did not bear the mark of the demented and was unescorted, people knew to stay far away. "Now thats not nice..." A voice blared near her as Insana reformed directly infront of her. "You are in the wrong place to try to play a game of hide and seek.... I am the gamemaster of this realm." he stated. "I see, hear all, and know all." he added.
"Are we going to take her life?" a wispy demonic voice asked in excitement.
"That is entirely up to her, Rtas." Insana replied.
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Hikaru paid no attention to the reactions she was receiving, though she did notice them. "Yes, well I never said I was nice," she muttered in response when stopped. "Nor did I ever say I was hiding. Quite the opposite, really." She stared him straight on and glared directly at him. "I only came here to find my soul, and have no interest in wasting time joining cults. I only agreed to follow you in order to get here and retrieve my soul from that bastard! I have repeated this time and time again, and still it seems you do not understand!"
With a growl to accompany it, Hikaru's glare intensified, "THEREFORE! With knowledge enough that he is here. I have decided, I WILL FIND HIM MYSELF!"
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"You will not find him here..." Insana said. "You are impatient, as i would have expected of some one like you. Entitled, and proud, you think that everyone is accountable to you." he melts down and appears right behind her.
"That you are better than everyone...." he continued, his voice growing slightly more angry each time. "You are no different than the others." he shouted at her.
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"Well excuse me for being a little more than irritated at being forced to join something I have no interest in and tricked into doing so, just to retrieve something that is already rightfully mine!" Hikaru crossed her arms and turned around to face him, noting his tone of voice. At this point, she could not afford to pick a fight with him, but that may have been easier said than done as she was already tired of this nonsense and by now getting angrier herself.
"But with what I have been through in the last year... Or was it eight? Due to events surrounding such, I am not entirely sure." Hikaru shook her head, " Either way... I have more than enough right to be impatient! You people reveal nothing, exchanging explanation for stupid rhyming and pathetic riddles and give no straight answers resorting to trickery or what appears to be trickery, just to get people to join your damn cult. And then you expect me to be patient? Hah! That is a laugh if I ever heard one!"
Curiosity then got the better of her as Hikaru muttered, "...What others?"
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"The other embodiments, of course." Insana said. "The ones who cast me away." he continued. He was becoming even angrier just by the talk of them. His sword drawn, he approached Hikaru. "The ones whom you are acting like." he narrowed his eyes.
"Yes! Yes! Spill her blood upon the ground!" Rtas, his sword began to tempt him.
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"Yes well... How about you punish me for that after I have my magic back?" Hikaru suggested, sounding unimpressed, though she did keep her eyes trained to the sword, watching for any slight change of movement to avoid. Insolent fool, if she had her magic he would have been dead ages ago.
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He slowly brought his sword up to neck level. "Do not test me girl.... you are but a child in my eyes, lacking the experience to know better.Do not make the false assumption that i am good, and merciful. I will not hesitate to take your life for myself if need be." Insana remarked.
"Blood! Blood!" Rtas started to get excited, hoping that Insana would indeed kill her.
"CHILDREN know not what they do, Rtas. This is your final warning Ms. Tyris. Do not call my bluff." Insana said.
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"Just who the hell does he think he is calling a child?!"
Hikaru chose not to answer the other Hikaru, but instead sighed aloud. "And here I thought all gods were supposed to b merciful... Though I guess that does not count when you have a mental disorder for a god, does it?" She gave a short laugh at her own joke, followed by a smirk. Though her tone was all sarcasm and humor, something Hikaru was known to do when she felt fear before an enemy; her gaze never left the sword the entire time.
Though proud, Hikaru was no fool. She was barely hanging on as it was, what with having used nearly all of her own and her other halves spirit energy in the last 'attacks'. In fact, if not for that damn technological energy, that 'Elite Energy' as they had called it, she would not be standing as by all rights she should have fallen unconscious long ago when she had first exhausted herself. But somehow it kept the exhaustion from lack of energy at bay. And though she knew it would heal any physical damage she received, much like her own Phoenix capabilities from when she had her magic. She did not know its capability in handling magical damage, which she could almost bet would be the end result. Sadly for him, she did not have the death wish to test it, either.
Finally, Hikaru closed her eyes and sighed once again, bowing her head in recognition of defeat. "But fine, you have won. I will continue playing your damn games... for now."
"WHAT?!!"
"However, once I have my magic back, you will no longer have the upperhand..." Hikaru quickly muttered the last statement to herself in whispered annoyance.
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Insana rested his blade on the back of her neck, but made sure to to make a wound. "You need to realize that that life you hold so dearly, can so easily be taken from you..." Insana said to her. "And were it not for the Countess, i would have listened to Rtas, and taken it."
He lifted his blade off of her neck and sheathed it. "However, this will not go unpunished. You've set yourself back a great deal." he said. He laid his hand on her shoulder and the city landscape melted away into the dismal, barren landscape of the far dark side. A place that looked almost like hell to most people, Before them stood a large tower guarded by several of Insana's honor guard.
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"And now he treats us like some common servant! Punished? Where does he even get the right?! Last I checked we did not sell our soul to him! Even if we had it to sell..."
"Grrr.. save it." Hikaru muttered through grit teeth as she raised her head back up in glare. Choosing to then ignore Insana, Hikaru stayed mostly silent, only replying to her counterpart, "In all technicalities it is your fault we are even in this mess... Had you not gone all battle happy and killed my fath- ...the leader of the Anrufe, or even made that deal.. Hell would not have been destroyed and we could have simply killed the demon at a later time or let K2323 do it for us...But noooo. Instead you responded to impulse, something I started to refrain from long ago and look where it has ended us up! Taking orders from a damn nutjob being forced to endure his ramblings! Perfect. Just how I wanted to spend my next few years." The sarcasm practically dripped from Hikaru's every word as she mumbled in rant.
"Though I do wonder...." Hikaru let the thought trail off before she quickly shook her head, dismissing the thought before glancing to the surrounding area. "And just what the hell are you planning now...?" The sage sounded uninterested.
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"A wise man once told me.... 'Living in the past is a luxury none can afford. You must learn from it but you cannot live there. The future is where you must be... The future is what you must prepare yourself for.' This seems to be quite fitting in your situation here, Ms. Tyris." Insana said. "But please follow me... We are seeing now if you have a future."
Insana strolled towards the tower, motioning her to come along. There wasnt much else out here.
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"For some of us, the past is the only happiness left..." Hikaru quickly mumbled before reluctantly following. It was obvious that he had been paying attention to what she had said to her counterpart. Or had he been listening the entire time and just pretending he wasn't? Hikaru quickly shook her head, Either way, it looked like she would have to ignore the other Hikaru for the time being. At least until he stopped paying attention to what was said.
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"If your happiness is in the past, then the further you will go into the dark side of insanity." Insana says. "This is why you are here.... To focus not on the past, but to find your future."
They arrived at the large doorway to the tower. "Take my hand, accept my plea." he outstretches his hand for her to take. "For your future is what we shall see."
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Oh great, now he was treating her like a child alongside calling her one?! Would there be no end to the humiliation?!! Of course she could always refuse but... Hikaru glanced around her for a moment. It did not appear as if it would get her anywhere but stranded.... "Grrr... I will not be making a habit of this," Hikaru finally spoke up, taking his hand. "So do not expect it!"
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As she grabs his hand, he gave the door a hard knock that resonated through the building. The large doors slowly opened into a large room with nothing in it other than torches that lit up the place. Then...
Kaaaaakreeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
A large creature appeared before them ready to attack them. The creature ran to approach them, and stopped before Insana.
Kaaaaaakreeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!
It reared up, with its claws ready. "Down boy." Insana said calmly. The creature lowered its large head down to Insana and threw its but up in the air like a dog. "Hikaru, this is Mr. Pinch." he introduces his pet. "Mr. Pinch, this is Hikaru....."
Pinch looked at Hikaru, and sniffed her. Insana nodded, and the creature licked her in the face with its long tongue. "He likes you."
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Stay calm... Stay calm... All she had to do was stay calm until she could retrieve her soul... Even if that was becoming ever difficult to do with every passing minute. With a growl, Hikaru mentally forced herself to refrain from yelling, instead, she only glared as she mumbled, "Whatever..." without fear and wiped the slobber from her face with her sleeve.
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"Run along to maim some people, Mr. Pinch." Insana said, and pet is creature on its head.
Kaaaaakreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!
It ran off over the a wall. With little effort, its climbed up the wall, and laid down on the ceiling above them. Curling up, it decided to sleep. "He's cute, isnt he?" Insana asks.
"Anyways, moving along here." he leads her down a hallway to a winding set of staircases. "Not very many people come here you know... and the ones that do rarely ever leave alive. Of course, they also dont have me with them." he starts to ramble about some of the grotesque events that happened.
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"I would not know. I do not do cute..." Hikaru's expression made her look uninterested and practically bored. Was he actively trying to annoy her now? It was starting to look that way. Maybe that was the 'punishment,' days of everything that could possibly annoy and piss her off. Hikaru could only hope not... "Why are we even here? I understand you are holding some kind of grudge against me for making you mad back there. But where does that give you the right to drag me off to god only knows where? It is not as if I am your prisoner or under your control or anything.. I had full rights to leave your building... In fact! If not for my soul being here, I would have left this entire place long ago!"
Hikaru sighed, "And is the hand-holding really necessary?!"
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"Yes, unless you want Mr. Pinch and the rest of my pets to feast upon your body." Insana says casually. "I believe you saw my dragon, Ender back on Insanus at the maze." he continued on rambling about Ender, and the rest of his pets, and back about the people who died quite horribly in the tower.
"Oh yes, then there was this one fellow.... Narikian i think. He met Mr. Pinch, and well, he isnt with us anymore. Of course i try not to let people die randomly, since Skye doesnt approve of it... have you met Skye? She's a lovely girl." he gets a smile on his face as they ascend the staircase.
-
After the last question, Hikaru could finally take no more and growled, shouting, "DO YOU EVER SHUT UP?!!"
-
"Nope." He says joyfully. "So anyways, i was actually pretty happy you came, because i've heard stories about you, but im not sure that i had met you before. Antonio had alot of things to say about you." he continued on despite her outburst.
-
Hikaru groaned. What did she do to ever deserve this? "You know... I bet your pets you have gone on so much about would look better burned alive..."
-
"Yes, and you would look good dead, stuffed, and hanging above my throne, but we can touch base on that at a later date." He says. They continue t0 ascend the stairs, and Insana looked out some of the windows every so often. "You im not sure if you ever did tell em how you met General Stradivari. Please do tell me."
-
"Oh the bastard just tried to rape me, is all." Hikaru had no hint of any humor in her voice when she had said this. "Of course, there were other things. Mainly, I owed some unpaid deals to Lucifer and the pricks decided to collect when I and apparently the rest of the Dimensional Plane was already without magic. Just when I had returned to existence too..."
-
"Oh delightful!" Insana said joyfully. Either he approved of it, or just didnt give a fuck. "Hell is quite the dreary place, isnt it? A little hot in the winter as well. Thats why i like it here. Just right.... Which reminds me."
He snapped his fingers and it started to rain frogs. "Yes, thats much better. So, he never did mention that you 2 were friends."
-
"Grrr..." Though very difficult to do at this point, Hikaru forced herself to keep her composure and refused to answer. If she answered or yelled, she would only give him the satisfaction of knowing he had got to her. And that, Hikaru would not allow. Instead she clenched her fist that was free and attempted to change the subject...
"You know.. I am starting to wonder, was I supposed to test you back there instead? I mean if people here are supposed to be insane... then to 'test you' as you so put it would have been seen logically by most as the more insane option to do. As one would have to be insane to go against an opponent when they are clearly defeated already... But coming to that conclusion could also be seen as too logical. So which is it?"
-
"The one thing that is always inherent in this lovely domain of mine is that things dont need to make sense, or follow the natural order of thing. Logic is just a word... and reason is a relic." Insana said. "Now i will not deny that you are quite a special one. I would not normally take the time out of my busy schedule to personally escort a newcommer through the hoops, but what can i say? You are about as famous as some can get,or you were at some point. I cant remember how many years its been."
"ANYWAY, tests here need not make sense, nor serve any purpose. Nor will they always be readily announced. This is up to you to decide what is a test, and what is not. But do be warned... sometimes the wrong choice may cost you your life."
-
"If things do not always have to make sense... Then how can I trust that you are not just planning to lead me around in circles for an eternity?" Hikaru glared in response before sighing and ignoring what else he had said. "Can we just get on with it...? Or will asking that just cause you to make it take even longer?"
-
"We shall see child... we shall see." Insana says. Once they reached the last flight of stairs Insana stopped them. "Oh yeah... i forgot i could've just teleported us here." he says and looks up at the doorway 10 feat up, and then at the ground, thousands of feet below. He decided to walk the last 10 feet, dragging Hikaru along with him. Once at the door he knocked on the door, and a slide came open.
"Whats the password?" A voice asked from behind it.
"Password? There is not password." Insana stated.
"Good enough." the voice said and the door slowly slid open.
"So, now you get to meet my friend. He is really cool, and has really cool things. I remember one time he, Agwu and I tried to prank Tera, but it didnt work, so... wait what were we talking about? Oh, well. Whats your name again?" he rambled.
-
"You have got to be kidding me..."
"You have got to be kidding me..." Both Hikaru and the other Hikaru groaned and mentally groaned at the same time. "I do not know if you are serious, crazy, or just trying to annoy me. But at this point, I do not really care either!" With that, Hikaru yanked her hand free, attempting to throw him over the side of the stairs at the same time. "I DO NOT FIND IT AMUSING!"
-
Insana didnt fall. He simply floated there with his sword pointed at Hikaru's throat. "Play nice now.... You havent been the most polite of guests..." He said.
"BLOOD!" Rtas shouted. "RAIN UPON THE FLOOR!"
"Now, i have 2 options here... Listen to Rtas, or listen to you." Insana said. "Pick Ms... Whatever your name is." Insana said in a more serious tone.
-
Hikaru glared at him. "I never said I was polite, either." Despite saying this, she sighed once more and bowed her head in recognition of defeat yet again. "It is Hikaru Tyris, must you have memory problems right at this time?! I have waited long enough for my soul!"
-
"BLOOD INASANA! BLOOD!" Rtas shouted even louder. As he did, the sword was pressed a little harder to her neck, but Insana made sure not to wound her. He simply glared into her eyes, and it only made him press the sword a little harder, but still making sure not to wound her. He was looking into her as a person. Being the Embodiment of Insanity gave him control over a force that governed people's personalities, and behaviors. The more and more he looked into her eyes, he became more angry with her. He saw a person filled with hate, self-pity, arrogance, narcissism, self-interest, deception, and the lack of willingness to change anything about any of it. He was not pleased one bit.
His eyes narrowed. He withdrew his blade, only replacing it with his hand around her neck. He now held her suspended above the floor a long ways below, and the high ceiling above. "Give me one reason not to end you right here."
-
Hikaru simply avoided his gaze, choosing to look off to the side instead. Thinking on her choice of decisions, Hikaru sighed. What type of answer was there, that she could give to someone clearly insane where the right thing could very well end up being the wrong thing? It was clear she would not get anywhere unless she played on his level.
"Oh I do not know.." Hikaru gave a slight shrug as best she could. "Who knows? Maybe you should. Or... maybe you should not. How do you expect me to give you a reason you should not, without you first telling me the answer as to why you should?"
-
He wasnt too amused. With his other hand he grabbed her face and turned it towards him -- forcing her to look into his eyes. With his own rage building up inside, the sheer essence of insanity began to spill into her from Insana, as per his own ability. Voices now began to fill her head arguing with her, with the other Hikaru with each other. It was like being in a large crowded room with only yelling. Next would come the visual hallucinations. People whom looked like they were there, but were not.
"Do you feel it Ms. Tyris? DO YOU FEEL IT!?!?" Insana yelled to her. "Let it take hold of your mind, body, and spirit. Forget the past, and let it forget you." He said as the Insanity began to go after her memory. "Submit...." he finally said.
-
Once he tried to force her to look at him, Hikaru merely responded by closing her eyes and keeping them closed. She wasn't sure what he was trying to do, but it was obviously it required eye contact or so it seemed. When the voices came up she tried her best with the support of the other Hikaru to block them out, focusing all of her will on resting the overwhelming force of insanity, and only resisting it. "I-I.. think not." Hikaru stuttered in in reply.
Too bad for Insanity, memories, being part of the spirit, were not something that could simply be forever erased. They could be suppressed, 'forgotten' temporarily, or even sealed. But NEVER erased, unless one wiped the spirit itself. And something like that would require magic equal to that of existence itself.
-
The affect grew stronger the more Insana became enraged. "SUBMIT!" he shouted once more. Insanity was still attacking her memories, suppressing the bad and good alike. All of her happy moments, and moments of despair started to fade away. "You are Hikaru Tyris no longer...." he said. "Repeat after me... I am Helena Mikami. Repeat...." he demanded.
-
"N-Never..." Hikaru brought her hands up and grabbed onto his wrist in an attempt to pull away from him. At least if she fell, she would have a chance to get away from this madness. Eyes still shut tightly, shes struggled to mentally hold onto what memories were left before they could fade away as well. "I am He-..no..! I am Hi-... He- no, no, no!"
Several seconds later, Hikaru finally uttered in a dulled tone, her voice low"....I am Helena Mikami..."
-
When she uttered the name he hovered the both of them to a platform. "You are Princess Helena Mikami, Demented Princess of County Ember." Insana tells her. "You are royalty of this realm, and will be treated as such by your subordinates. You will lead them in the most fitting of ways. I give to you the knowledge of how to, and the knowledge of what you may now believe your life is..." Insana continued.
He put his hand on her forehead and new memories of a fake past were implanted. A fake past now defined her new personality. She was no longer Hikaru Tyris... No longer the hateful, arrogant fallen Queen. She was now a respectable royal. "Princess Helena, you know me. You always have." he said to her.
-
(OOC: Damn you, damn you, damn you!)
Hikaru!Helena blinked once before shaking her head as the last memories of her life faded away into her subconscious, leavingit all but a dream. When at last she had finally raised her head after the fake memories had taken hold, it was to smile with a kind of dazed look that could be seen in her eyes. "Oh Insana, fancy meeting you he-"
The words were barely said before Hikaru!Helena fell unconsciousness and collapsed to the floor, mental as well as physical exhaustion having finally overtaken her. What with everything that had happened recently from Hell to where she currently was at; Losing her magic, re-merging partly with her counterpart, using nearly all of her and her counterparts spirit energy up down to the last bits needed to live, and now finally losing her entire lifes worth of memories only to be instantly force-fed an entire lifes worth of new ones. At this point it was a wonder her spirit didn't just explode.
-
Insana knelled down and looked at her. He put one hand beneath her head, and ran his other through her hair, changing it to the colors of the side of Dementia. Blue, and purple was a nice touch actually... Along with the change in color , the hair became longer, and straightened, tied back into a long pony tail. He then turned his attention to her wrist. He pulled up her sleeve to make sure her mark was now there. Now he hovered his hands over her, and her body started to change. Her eyes were now as blue as the pacific ocean, her breasts grew to a C cup (Yes i took his idea.), her features more defined, she grew a little taller, making her only a few inches shorter than Insana who stood at 6'1. Everything was complete. "Goodnight sweet princess.... your castle awaits your return." Insana said and picked her up.Not even her own family, or kin would be able to recognize this new person who was in his arms.
Using his common method of travel, the scene melted into a castle bedroom. Pictures and portraits of 'Helena' were everywhere. Showing her with her fake former family, her as a child, other life memories were shown throughout the castle as well. Insana gently laid her down on her bed, and took his leave. "Alert High Priest Nocturne when she awakens..." he told the Colonel. "We still wish to speak with her royal highness."
"Yes, Lord Primoris." The Colonel bowed.
-
WoahwoahwoahwoahWOAH.
In the darkness of Hikaru's dreams, a figure would appear -- K2323 -- quite confused, looking around at the contents of her dream as he dusted his robes off. "Well that's quite nauseating. I never expected that spell to actually work." Glaring down at his stomach, he could feel it pulsing. He hadn't been able to find Hikaru in days, and had no idea where she was. So, what had he done? He'd used some of her Spirit Energy to make a direct connection to her -- Spirit Energy he'd scavenged from the Outerverse eight years ago to try to track her then. Of course, it'd failed, but he held onto her Spirit Energy in a small vial in case he ever needed it -- and now he had.
"Hey, Hikaru, are you hearing me!?"
Yes, the defenses of New Dementia kept intruders out. But K2323 had a connection to Hikaru's Spirit, and while it would only last for a short amount of time, he'd made that connection.
-
"I SSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU." a roaring voice came and hit K2 like it was a strong gust of wind. The defenses of New Dementia not only kept intruders out, but also maintained law within, and allowed Insana the control he needed. Dreams are a natural domain for the insane, and Insana was definitely a master at the method of "Dreamwalking".
"We meet once more, Mr. Tyris...." Insana greets him as the scenery of the dream melted into that of Mark Tepper's mansion. "I actually find this to be odd... Even though she was imprisoned on a planet at the time of this memory, it still seemed like a happy one. Now, what is it that you really gain by getting Ms. Tyris out of New Dementia?" Insana asked.
-
Slamming into a couch in the luxurious mansion, K2323 felt disoriented for a bit as he tried to figure out where he was, exactly. While he had never actually been in Mark Tepper's mansion, he could see pictures of the man hanging on the wall, small details that seemed almost too real for a dream, even though he knew it WAS a dream. Glaring at Insana, he tried to make sense of the insanity. This hadn't been what he was expecting at all.
"You," he replied, "My sister's in New Dementia!? You never said that she was in your realm!"
-
"I never said she wasnt... Mr. Tyris, we can talk about this without intruding on the dreams of others." Insana said as he gave a flick of his hand. The room began to burn down around them, leaving only darkness. The only light left was that of the glow coming from Insana's blade. "What say you, Mr. Tyris?"
-
"I need to discuss something with my sister," K2323 replied, staring at the blade.
-
"That will not be possible. She isnt feeling like herself..." Insana said. "We should really take this out of someone's dreams... very intrusive if i do say so myself."
-
K2323 glared at Insana, shaking his head. "I think it's quite important that I talk to her. Are you going to prevent me from speaking with my sister, embodiment? Do you really want to go down this road?"
-
Insana never broke his glare at K2. "Only if you feel the need to...." Insana replied.
-
"Fine," K2323 replied, glaring at Insana, "But you realize this means war, right?"
He sighed, sitting back on the suddenly re-emerging couch and reaching down to untie his shoe laces. Yes, at last! His feet had been killing him all day long! Of course, he was a projection so his feet really couldn't hurt all that much as his physical body was not actually present. Come to think of it, he wanted some candy. And weed. Materializing a projected table before them he picked up a joint on the table and some chocolate and started eating.
-
Fake memories or not, Hikaru was still Hikaru in spirit. She still had the same spirit signature, as well as the exact spiritual makeup that made her her. This could not be changed even if one was spiritually killed and their spirit was wiped clean through re-incarnation. It would still be the same astral recycled. And any other astral they may or may not have possessed through their life in addition to their own? That would also be recycled.
It was this fact that gave Hikaru one small hope, even if she wasn't conscious to know it. Anyone who knew of the Sage Three and their background would know that the three were the ones to inherit something of immense power. It was this inheritance that was the catalyst to leading them on the path that now brought them to the present. Without it, things may or may not have been different for the three sage siblings. But it was something only the three of them had, and not something easily lost as it was a part of them, a part of their spirits.
The Soul and Spirit of the Genesis King. And though Hikaru did not inherit it to the extent of her brothers and for a while was thought to have been completely skipped in the inheritance, a factor that had led her to trying to destroy them as children in the first place. It had been proven, when she was able to release Zere in the past, that she had indeed inherited at least a part of it. And it was that part that gave her a spiritual connection to both K2323 and Kai (if he had been living.)
From the corner of the room in the ever-changing dreamscape, which now rapidly changed scenes due to Hikaru!Helena being in the REM stage of sleep, there would appear to be a sort of grey energy taking form. The strange thing? The energy would only appear to K2323.
-
"Its not war that i want, but if it is what you so choose, i will kindly oblige." Insana said. "You do not need to fight me though... You need to understand that i am helping her, not harming her. Her life was filled with bad luck, hatred, torture, imprisonment, resentment, sorrow, guilt, shall i go on? Now with me, she has a life. She is now a beloved person, no longer a prisoner to her enemies, or her mind. She has no more sorrow, no more guilt, no more anger, no more envy, no more shall she suffer the indignities of this plane..." Insana explained. "You must understand, Mr. Tyris." he took a step towards him, also taking note of the energy forming.
-
"Not one more step closer!" K2323 barked, also taking note of the energy. Well, this is a surprise. I wonder what you would say about this if you were still around, Kai. "Don't be selfish!" K2323 yelled, standing up. "This is all about you, and we both know it. My sister is still a prisoner. You're not helping her at all. Besides... Only she can stop that thing... After all," he spoke a little louder this time, hoping to get through to her, "Those Aralangs have returned!"
-
The energy which had shaped itself considerably into somewhat of a familiar form slowly began to tint red at the exact time the term "Aralang" was mentioned. Almost as if it was in sync to Hikaru herself, the dreamscape started to change the moment the energy did as well, as fake memories mixed with the repressed memories and things that weren't memories all at the same time were pieced together around the 'viewers'; creating a very mixed up world within consciousness.
-
Insana stopped in his tracks. With a smirk on his face, his form multiplied, surrounding K2323. "And if they truly have returned, the safest place for her is with me... They cannot touch me here. What they have in technology, they lack in magic, and knowledge." Insana tried to explain. "You must understand Mr. Tyris. I am not harming her. I am SAVING her. She is not a prisoner of mine, but she is one of her own mind, as we all are prisoners of ourselves."
The original Insana paced behind the circle of his forms, dragging the edge of his sword on the ground. It let out a horrid sound, and left a trail of glowing red. Insana's close proximity to Hikaru allowed him to take extra precautions and efforts to subdue the memories even further. Reassuring the sleeping Hikaru that she was simply having a bad dream, and that this was not real.
-
"Well then, you won't mind if I... Free her," he replied as a projection of his Genesis Staff appeared in his projected hand. Tapping the staff on the "ground" in the dreamscape, a white aura of magic started to spread out through her mind. Genesis Magic. What was it doing? Searching. It was searching her mind for something. Some key piece of information among the repressed memories.
-
The moment the Genesis magic of K2323 started to spread, so too did the grey energy that had now completed its form which was that of a dragon. The moment Genesis magic met Genesis magic, a connection would be made giving K2323 direct access to Hikaru's spirit and thus access to her memories, all of them. The repressed. The fake. And the events which had transpired thus far.
Just in time too as the loudening sound of the sword coupled with the nightmare this was quickly becoming, caused Hikaru!Helena to awaken 'outside' and thus bring the dreamscape world to an end.
-
"Princess?" A voice called through her door. "Are you okay?"
-
K2323 had not yet realized what was going on. However; the sage's new-found access to his sister's spirit was causing an unusual co-occurrence. Their spirits were connected right now. As a result, Hikaru!Helena would begin to have sudden flashes of memories that weren't hers -- just as K2323 was having in K City. However; these flashes were of K2323's life. Hikaru!Helena would likely find the man in the memories familiar, but not recognise him exactly.
Kiss her. Kiss her. Kiss her.
"Well... Here we are,” a much younger K2323 said nervously as he arrived at Julia's front step, dropping her off after a romantic date night. They were still not officially “together” but had gone out a few times now. They'd just gotten back from a romantic ride through the valley on a broomstick, followed by a picnic, completed with Grandpa Whiteday's White Wine. Family recipe.
“Here we are,” Julia echoed.
“Yep,” K2323 nervously stated, “Well... Good night.”
“Good night.”
K2323 turned and started to walk down the steps of her front porch. Wait. Wait. Wait. Kiss her.
“Forgot something,” he said softly, as his face leaned in towards Julia. Their lips crashed, and he felt an incredible sensation as her lips puckered up and met his.
Suction.
A smile on her face, she waved at him. “Good night.”
“Good night,” K2323 replied, smiling.
-
A dream...?
Hikaru!Helena sat upright in the bed, one hand holding up her head as the other hand gripped the blanket. The scenes from the 'dream' fading from her mind as she attempted to recall them. There had been Lord Primoris, and someone else... Someone, who, while she didn't recognize him outright, seemed vaguely familiar as if she had seen or heard him once before. But from where? And what had been said? And why did she care? Why did it seem so important that she recall the events of the dream that had just taken place? Wasn't it just a dream?
It was no use. Try as she might, Hikaru!Helena was unable to remember what the conversation had been in regards to say for one word, "Aralang." A word she had never heard in her 'life' and yet just the mere utterance or thought of it brought on a strange feeling. Shaking her head, Hikaru!Helena merely dismissed it. It was probably just a hallucination. She was in the realm of Insanity after all.
After pushing the events of the dream to the back of her mind, Hikaru!Helena pulled herself out of the bed and went to stand up when all of a sudden...
FLASH!
Suddenly she wasn't herself. She was someone else. A male. Wait, a male that seemed familiar. ...The man from her dream?
Standing in front of her!him, there was a woman. She was speaking, and then.. a kiss. Some kind of a date?
...And suddenly the vision was gone as fast as it had came on.,
Hikaru!Helena now pulled herself up from the floor where she had fallen when the vision had began. Why was she seeing this? Normally hallucinations at least came with a reason. But this... She had never seen the man before in her 'life' and yet he had been in both her dreams and now hallucinations. Was she positive she didn't know him?
As she let this thought pass, Hikaru!Helena fell once more as more visions came up into her mind. Visions that were not her own but from the point of view of the same man. Some good, some bad. All of them only adding more and more to the confusion at hand. With this happening, Hikaru!Helena was unable to hear or respond to the voice outside the door.
-
"EMILY! NO!"
This memory would be different than the others -- it was small, just the man's voice, and a short vision of him running towards a woman in a hospital room. The woman had long, blonde hair and was holding a wand, pointing it at a nurse on the floor. She was casting a spell, and just as she finished casting it, the vision faded. This one was different than the others. Stronger. It was fresh. It was less of a memory and more of a live-time link, Hikaru!Helena seeing what K2323 was seeing for just a bit.
And then it happened.
On the wall opposite of Hikaru!Helena's bedroom door, a second door appeared. Whereas the normal door to her room was black, this new door was white, with golden trim on its edges. It radiated with a strange magic that would probably seem familiar to Hikaru!Helena. This was her first step in awakening herself. Perhaps that was what Insana wanted, even. For Hikaru to overcome this herself. For her to face her greatest enemy -- herself.
Hikaru had a choice to make. Which door would she chose? The life which was "hers", which she thought she belonged in, where her fake memories were, where she was "supposed" to be? Or the new door before her?
-
"Emi...ly..."
The name had been uttered before Hikaru!Helena even knew what she had said. Emily? Who was Emily? Why did she seem familiar and what connection did she have to this man who also seemed familiar? So many questions filled her mind as the vision finally subsided and she picked herself up off the floor for the final time. Just what was going on? Why did everything suddenly seem so unreal to her...? So mixed u-
Having caught sight of the door as she had turned around, Hikaru!Helena now stood in shock of it. That had definitely not been there before... But where had it come from? Was it even real? With one hand out stretched, Hikaru!Helena walked towards the door, and as she did, she could feel a light pull as if the door itself was beckoning her to come closer. To open it...
Hikaru!Helena ran her hand down one side of the door until her palm came to rest on the doorknob. It was real alright. But real in the sense that this was actually happening? Or real in the sense that she was still dreaming? Whichever the case. ...Did she dare open it...? With no understanding of why but the sense that it was the right thing to do, Hikaru!Helena surrendered herself to her curiosity and attempted to open the door...
-
The moment her hand pulled on the door knob, a voice would echo out.
"HIKARU TYRIS, WILL YOU ACCEPT MY CHALLENGE?"
The door would slowly open to reveal a bright light behind it... Should she chose to accept, she needed only to walk into the light.
-
Hikaru!Helena jumped back in fright, using her other hand to shield her eyes from the light as she tried to make out what was behind the door in an attempt to see who was speaking. Hikaru Tyris? Hikaru!Helena paused as she pondered the name, a feeling of familiarity striking her once more. Where had she heard that name before? She knew she somehow knew it. But from where? Was it perhaps someone she once met? A childhood friend perhaps?
After her eyes had adjusted to the bright light, Hikaru!Helena lowered her hand and walked forward once more to the door. She felt drawn to it, curious as to what was behind it and who had spoken. Why the had said what they said... As far as she knew she was the only one here... So then, to whom were they calling out to?
"I-I think you may have the wrong location. ..Whoever you are.. There is no one by the name of Hikaru Tyris within this room. Only myself.."
-
The light grew a bit brighter. The voice spoke again. It was a deep voice, one which Hikaru might recognize. Whatever was behind it, evidently, was alive. Another memory would flash through Hikaru's head.
"I just need a bit more time so we can perform the ritual... There..."
Hikaru and Kai would step forward towards an alter.
"From the ground, I take this Earth," she spoke, "From the sky, I take this air. From the sea, I take water. From life, I take fire."
Suddenly, the ground began to shake as she and Kai stepped back. Something strange was happening. There was a bright explosion, and then, a huge dragon appeared before them, growling down upon them.
"KAI! WHY HAVE YOU SUMMONED ME!?" the beast roared.
"Yo, Supreme Dragon! What's happening? Why are you here? Long time no see," Kai replied.
"Who has summoned me!? You have combined the four elements! Why have I been summoned!?"[/shadow[/b] the dragon replied.
"Uh... Sorry. I didn't mean to summon you," Hikaru explained.
This voice from behind the door would have the same voice as that of the Supreme Dragon. It spoke once more.
"DO YOU DARE CHANGE THE COURSE OF YOUR DESTINY? IT IS TIME TO AWAKEN YOUR TRUE POWER. ENTER OR BE FOREVER ECLIPSED OF THE TRUTH."
-
"Its time to choose your fate, m'lady..." a voice called to her. "Take a step forward, and reveal the truth of your life. The question remains; will you overcome its pain and strife? One step back, will leave you here. In a life without worry... a life without fear."
"Choose quickly, yes quickly. The funeral bells ring. For the death of yourself, is a very close thing." the voice said. Stepping out a the shadow, revealed the speaker to be Insana, who was on the opposite side of the room from her. "My dear, dear girl. It is time to choose. Which ever one you take, there is something you'll lose."
-
"My... Destiny...? True power?" Hikaru!Helena merely shook her head, pushing her confusion aside. He was speaking nonsense and giving no straight answers. Was it Insana? Maybe some test? "Who are you?!" She demanded to the voice. "How did you get here and what is that you want with me?"
As she asked these questions, Hikaru!Helena received her answers by way of the memory. Supreme Dragon? But who was that? How did it know her? And where were these visions coming from. Where they all just Hallucinations? Was she correct and it was all just some test by...
"Insana!" Startled by the embodiment of Insanity's sudden appearance, Hikaru!Helena quickly spun around to face him. "What do you mean fate? A-are you behind all of this?" She stepped towards him, turning her attention away from the open door of light. "Why? What is going on...?"
-
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The floor, the walls -- it began to shake. It all began to shake as the door opened just a bit more wider, the light shining into the room. Stemming forth from the light of the door came five grape-vines, coated with golden grapes. The grape vines began to extend, growing wildly as the voice of the Supreme Dragon roared once more.
"TIME GROWS SHORT, HIKARU TYRIS. THE TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO CHOSE YOUR FATE. SHALL YOU EAT UPON THE GOLDEN FRUIT, AND AWAKEN YOURSELF? OR. SHALL. YOU. REMAIN!?"
-
"A test of one's self, Princess." Insana said. When the doors flew open, Insana stood his ground, unfazed by it. "The creature is right, time is short. Shall you go into battle or stay in the fort? One step to me, and safe you will be. Should you eat from the vine, you'll be all but fine. But the choice is yours, and yous alone. Would you abandon this life that you've come to know? Or will you stay with me, and live in glee as your rule will last for an eternity."
Insana took several steps closer, and held out his hand. "Helena, my Princess, take my hand. Dont leave our people. Dont leave our land."
-
So it was a test! Hikaru!Helena was about to walk towards Insana before she abruptly stopped herself. If it was a test by him, then the other side was in deed a hallucination and the obvious answer would be to choose him, right? But because it was a test by him, the obvious answer would probably most certainly not be the correct one, and he probably wanted her to choose the other side. But even then.. What if he knew she would know he wanted her to choose the side not him and plan ahead and make his side the correct one?
Hikaru!Helna shook her head once more. With Insanity being the one giving this test. There was just no way to figure out the correct answer... She would just have to follow her better judgement and feeling on this one. It was a test so the consequences if she lost could not be that disastrous, right? But if it was a test. Why did the hallucinations seem so familiar...? She had never seen anything they had shown her before in her life and yet... Supreme Dragon... Where had she heard that before?
FLASH!
Suddenly she was at a tournament of sorts. Near the stands. Someone was near her. He was male. Wait.. The same male from her previous visions? She handed something to him. What looked like a letter... As the two of them leaned over to read it, the words flashed themselves in her mind.
Dear The Sage Three,
You lost the game.
Love,
Grandpa.
Find the Supreme Genesis Dragon on the island which had once ownership by Konjan and tell him 293903809.
Regards,
Mokai.
The male didn't seem too interested. But she felt curious as to what it meant. A feeling that even the present day Hikaru!Helena felt now even though she had clue as to why.
Another Flash and the scene of the memory vision changed,
This time she was in a kitchen. Beside her were two new looking people. And the same letter was before her on the table as she reread the contents of it to the two beside her.
"Yes, it has numbers. It says to find the Genesis Supreme Dragon on some island of earth, and to give the string of numbers to him.." Peering closer to the note, in the darkened kitchen, she read the string of numbers off. "293903809. So far it means nothing. I have never seen the string in my life. And the other two did not seem to be interested in the least. So it is safe to assume they have not either. If by chance it is a code, they do not seem interested enough to do what it said. Which.....now that I think about it, is rather odd. Kai always seemed to want to know more about our family. And if it concerned Genesis, K2323, is usually always there. They are not acting their usual selves..."
"Supreme Gensis Dragon.." The memory had faded and Hikaru!Helena was now even more confused than ever. From what she could gather, This Supreme Dragon was actually the Supreme Genesis Dragon and a note was left to a 'Sage Three,' from a 'Mokai' with a message to find the Dragon... But how did this affect her? And why was she and the male from her other visions reading the note left to this Sage Three? Was the male one of the members of this Sage Three? If so, how did she know him, and how was she involved? How did ANY of these hallucinations tie into Insana's test?
..."I..I..will choose neither until I know what is going on.... "Hikaru!Helena shook her head once more. "I apologize Lord Primoris, but I am unsure what it is you wish for me to choose.. These visions... These hallucinations... They seem familiar... But if they are only hallucinations, how does the content tie in with any of this?"
-
A beat, and then, the vine, as if growing impatient, seemed to glow just a bit brighter as another memory flashed through Hikaru's mind, one all too recent...
Two different versions of Hikaru stood before another man, one less familiar. He was standing near the two Hikarus, declaring, "I'm not afraid of you."
At that Ingrounded!Hikaru glared, "Really? Do you want to test that." She closed her eyes and sighed, weighing every option. Finally after seconds, her mind made up, she opened her eyes and walked over to her counterpart and stood just inches in front of her, causing Subgrounded!Hikaru to look at her in question. Ingrounded!Hikaru however just ignored her and continued to glare at Chaos. "I have had just about enough of you." She gestured, holding up a hand with her palm up.
"People always come to wonder. Why exactly would a gifted young magic user such as myself with every good intention in the world EVER try to destroy my family? Was I insane? Was I mistreated? Abused? Not right in the head? Or was it simply..." She stared right at him, catching his look, "because of you? YES! That's right! You! And her!" Ingrounded!Hikaru gestured to Gloria, "Always getting in my way." With a roll of her eyes Ingrounded!Hikaru continued, "Oh no these spells are much too powerful! Oh no! You should not do that, you could get hurt."
With a short laugh, Ingrounded!Hikaru ended her mocking, "Always putting all kinds of rules on using magic, and the types of magic. Almost as if you were afraid that I or someone else of the family was gonna become like your dear old father. Was that it? Limitation for fear? That is how it seemed. I had to turn to Salus just for a source to practice magic with. And yet! when the brats were born. Oh no! These were the heirs of Genesis! These were the gifted, the ones to hold great magical power! Even more powerful than their sister. Not that she even had a chance...." Ingrounded!Hikaru pointed at Chaos while Subgrounded!Hikaru could only nod. "THEN when something is actually done about it, we split up for years, and you return actually tolerable at a point that I actually care for my family again. What do you do? Try to kill the three of us. Join a group, and go after us one by one, as if family means nothing.
"Well in all honesty, I have had enough. You treat family in the beginning like everything only to turn around and counter our every attack even going so far as to kill us or stand by and watch your boss imprison and trade us to hell.. THEN you want to come here and try to put family over all again? I believe that is what you call hypocrisy. And I will take no more." With that, Ingrounded!Hikaru ended her small rant and snapped her fingers. A sphere of Deicide fire forming above Chaos.
"Wait you can-" Subgrounded!Hikaru started to exclaim before she was cut off by the actions of Ingrounded!Hikaru. The sphere of Deicide fire had at that moment faded from sight, and sense, having slipped into an alternate plane and fallen on Chaos.
"Any last words father?" Ingrounded!Hikaru spat the question out before again snapping her fingers, allowing the sphere of Deicide Fire to rejoin the Physical and Spiritual plane, right in the area that Chaos occupied.
"Last words?" he replied. "Your brothers were my favorite."
And with that, the fire shifted into the Physical Plane, occupying the same space that he was. Seeing as this could not happen, the fire literally ripped him to shreds. But that wasn't all. The fire had gone through the Astral Planes as well. He was literally being killed, both physically and spiritually. His body exploded near instantly, his blood and guts splattering the room as his spirit also burned.
The moment it happened, Gloria rushed to his side. Screaming, she casted a spell at Ingrounded!Hikaru.
"Yeitos!" she yelled out, zapping streaks of purple energy at her daughter... But the rebound caused her to fall backwards into her deceased husband's arms... And into the Decide Fire. Screaming, her entire body caught as she, too, died in the arms of her husband, her body and her husband's burned to a crisp.
...Silence.
-
"You must choose your own path, Princess." Insana said, seemingly unfazed by the beast. "You must choose, or seal your fate. Choose one now, before its too late."
He turned to the beastly formation of vine, and only narrowed his eyes. "You have one chance, one chance alone. Should she not choose, i'll send you home. This place is mine, then and now. You break my rules, i'll kick you out." he told it.
-
When the last memory had finished, Hikaru!Helena stood dead still. There was no sound heard from her and the only movement came from the rise and fall of her breathing. And yet, if one were to look closer, they could see the hint of the slightest movement from around her eyes. The form barely visible within the lighting of the room until it caught the right angle and glinted, revealing it to be none other than tears. Hikaru!Helena was crying, though she did not know why. It had just happened. Without apparent cause, and involuntarily.
"I-... I will choose neither." Hikaru!Helena stated once more, her mind made up and set on her former answer. This was the right answer, wasn't it? If she gave no answer, there was no possible way for her to fail the so-called test. Unless, the test was to choose something, whether it be wrong or right. But it was too late now. She had already made her decision, and from almost nowhere, there was a growing confidence in her for that decision. As if to assure this, Hikaru!Helena's eyes tinted gold for a split second as she looked to both Insana and the vines, before reverting back to their previous color as she declared, "That is my final decision."
-
Finally, the vines began to revert back into the door as the light began to fade. The choice had been made. Neither. To chose neither conforming to the safety and comfort of her memories and the life she thought was hers, nor to bravely venture into the unknown. Hikaru!Helena was at a crossroads, somewhere between. And until she chose one or the other, this is how things would remain. A half-closed door in a dying palace. A sign of slow awakening from a dream which you aren't yet ready to leave.
The light of the door faded, but it remained there, just slightly cracked, should she ever make that choice. A note fell softly from the ceiling to the floor, to rest by her feet. It read:
"THE CLOCK REMAINS ONE MINUTE BEFORE MIDNIGHT."
-
"Neither A nor B, she has picked C. Going to neither you nor me." Insana said in response. Around him appeared a sizable military force who stood in battle ready stance against the door, while remaining behind Insana himself. "Something to lend, I bring the end. Not one more word..."
"Thus saith the Lord!" the soldiers shouted like a barbaric choir as Insana drew his sword.
"When the clock strikes, you will remain no more in my domain. A being as yourself belongs not with the Insane." he gestures towards the door. "Your choice will be valid for a moment, Princess. You will choose A or B none the less." he informs Hikaru|Helena. "Free yourself or be forever in chains...."
-
Hikaru!Helena gave no reply as she had silently collapsed several seconds before.
-
Several minutes later, there was a gentle knocking on the bedroom door -- the normal door, that is, not the strange, Genesis door.
-
Insana looked over to the door and it flung open. "Who goes there!" He shouted. Meanwhile, the soldiers remained at the ready, facing the genesis door.
-
On the other side, Dimakreet (http://www.shatteredplanes.com/forum/index.php?topic=6242.msg54912#msg54912), a Paxan, one of Insana's many forgotten followers, stood, bowing, flustered, obviously not expecting to see Insana himself. "M-m-my lord," he managed, fumbling as he knelt down onto one knee, "Forgive me. I did not mean to i-i-intrude on the work of the d-d-demented. I meant only t-t-to see if the rumours of the lord's new maiden were true."
-
Almost immediately, seconds later, Hikaru!Helena was standing once more. Only this time, she didn't look too happy and all confusion was now gone from her expression as she glared at Insana. "Alright you bastard. I have no idea where we are, but it is obvious you knocked me out after our last skirmish and brought me here. For what I am not quite sure. Now enough games! I want my soul back, and I want it now!"
-
"Feels good to want." Insana commented, not at all surprised by Hikaru's return. "Now, what have we learned from this, Ms. Tyris?" he asked.
Meanwhile the soldiers file out, leaving Insana and Hikaru alone with the door. Then, Insana threw his glare over to the door itself, forcing it shut, and then melting it into the ground, banishing it.
-
At his question, Hikaru looked confused for a moment before questioning, "Learned from what exactly? For attempting to throw you over the side of that staircase? Maybe if you had not played games the entire time, I would not have lost my temper and did so." After glancing over when the door had disappeared, Hikaru growled, "Now where have you brought me and why are we here?"
-
"I see that you are far too ignorant for my usual methods, Miss Tyris." Insana said harshly. "As for where you are, you are still in my realm. What will follow this moment is all by your own choosing."
-
Hikaru raised an eyebrow as she gave him a skeptic look, "Usual methods for what exactly?"
"Careful... " The former Ingrounded!Hikaru told the current Hikaru inside her head to where only she could 'hear.' "He is up to something.."
Hikaru scoffed before muttering to 'herself.' "Of course he is.. But what? And just where have you been anyways? It took you long enough to say something."
"That is my point..." Ingrounded!Hikaru sounded somewhat puzzled as she 'replied. "We are split by spirit. Two halves of a whole residing in the same body. As far as we can perceive, we were knocked out. But by all rights... That should not have affected my half of the spirit as it was your half that was dominant and in control of the body. Yet.. I can remember nothing of what has passed. Almost as if I blacked out as well. That is not something that should be able to happen unless the effect was directed at the both of us."
"Some kind of spell?"
"Perhaps.. However.. there are two more presences here as well. One I sense to be distant and the other very near.. Without magic there is no way to tell what they are. But they were not here before. If it is some kind of spell... Then he is targeting our mind in some way. Keep on guard."
After slightly nodding to herself, Hikaru locked her gaze on Insana. "Just what are you playing at? Of course it is your realm! I already figured that! But this location is obviously different from the last location we were at. Why?"
-
"I am not playing at anything, Miss Tyris. I have seen many a'people head down the path of arrogance, Ignorance of Consequence, and obsession. Your ways have led you here, to me not by chance, but by fate, Hikaru... And i believe i know why. Some force somewhere decided that you were going down the wrong path for too long, and chose me to set you down the right one." Insana explained.
"I've a question... Have you any friends? Anyone you can go to for comfort, brothers excluded, that would help you? Or are you indeed lonelier than I? While you may not be as broken as myself, you are heading towards your own destruction." he started to pace in front of her.
"All of the bad things that have happened have only 1 thing in them... You." he threw up a powder and a cloud appeared showing some of the more recent troubles in her life, such as her imprisonment on Aralia, Stradivari's attempted rape, among others.
"The people you've hurt?" The cloud showed earlier events such as the destruction and murders she caused in her younger years, multiple acts of her anger getting the better of her including many events of her yelling, or attempting to harm people around her.
"The evil you've unleashed upon the world will also be upon your hands...." he added as the cloud began to show Kurai, Hikaru's Negi raping and murdering many people.
"And what to resolve your sins?" he asked. "A few instances of kindness? Or Mercy?" the cloud now showed a few events, but one of the more recent, her sparing of Tepper's life in 2054.
"Of course the above not counted, as you proceeded to use the spared for your own agenda. Your sin far outweighs your redemption. I am giving you the chance to lead yourself to salvation." he finished and stopped as the cloud dispersed.
-
At the sight of the scenes from her past, Hikaru reacted adversely as she stepped away from Insana. Eager to put as much distance between herself and the scenes as possible. "I-I.. " Hikaru stammered, taken aback by the sudden question.
"Oh DO NOT break down now. Can you not see that is what he wants?!"
With the other Hikaru blaring in her mind, Hikaru was able to throw off her hesitance before quickly shaking her head. "And what is any of this to you? You are just an embodiment. One of many false gods who try to play god to the rest of us. What I do.. Who I hurt.. Whether I sin or not. And if I care about it... How is any of this any of your concern? I am simply here due to unforeseen occurrences. NOTHING MORE. And once you show me where the demon I seek is, I will retrieve my soul and be out of here. So do not try to play like some authoritative god over me, Embodiment. You will lose."
-
"Oh, no, no, no.... You misunderstand. I've learned from those who play God." Insana said. "I once knew a man, a very bright man; a scholar! Yes a scholar who wanted to be a god. He meddled with power he did not yet comprehend, and was.... well... i forgot the punishment, but i know it was very bad. I learn for this, Miss Tyris. You are not the average mortal who roams the planes. You are far too influential for that. And the choices you make in your life, can affect the lives of others." he explained.
"As you have been so hesitant to answer my question, i can assume you have none. Indeed a lonely soul, sentenced to roam the rest of her meaningless life. You are ignorant, Hikaru." He shouted at her as the cloud reappeared.
"The all powerful forces that be, brought you here, to me, to be judged. I am not an authoritative god, however i am the holder of what you want most." he said as her soul and katana were shown, being held by Antonio.
"I am the holder of your fate, and therefore your judge." he appeared only inches away from her face. "Choose wisely...."
-
"Well I did have a partner and kids at one point. But the partner was revealed to be nothing more than an illusion created through spell craft to bind another one of you embodiments in mortal form, another false god. And the kids? Well..." Her eyes closed tightly for a moment as if she was throwing off a bad memory. "Who the hell cares what happened to them? Not I."
Hikaru then glared at the image, then back at Insana, unphased. "Or I could simply kill you and take both. In that case.. My soul. And hurry the hell up. I have wasted enough time playing your damn games."
-
Insana simply chuckled. "Well i know if you thought you could kill me, you'd have tried it already. You're as weak as they come now..." he narrowed his eyes, and placed his finger on the top of her sternum, and ran it up her throat, to the bottom of her chin, and withdrew it. "I can be done with you now, and end your life, if you so choose, Miss Tyris."
He finally stepped back, giving Hikaru some space. "Make your choice, before i make it for you...."
-
The moment he touched her, Hikaru reacted in impulse and brought her leg up in an attempt to kick him in the side. "Are you stupid or just hard at hearing?!" Her shout echoed as she jumped back afterwards, her anger apparent. "I told you I choose my damn soul! So how about you just return it to me now and stop playing around?"
-
He simply moved his arm, blocking the kick, but allowing her to retreat back. Seemingly unfazed, and almost like he expected it.
"Like a frightened child..." he commented as he observed the finger he used, and then Hikaru herself. "You are assuming the wrong set of choices. However, should you choose the right choice, your soul will indeed be given back to you."
"However, should you choose wrong, or force me to make the choice..." he drew his sword, and held the point only an inch away from her neck. "You can infer the end result...."
"SPILL HER BLOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the sword shouted in its demonic voice.
-
"Grr.. And what choice is that?! To beg your mercy once more just so you can turn around and stall for hours once again? I think not!" Although reluctant, Hikaru reached up and gently grabbed the blade of the sword with her right hand, wrapping her fingers around it, an expression of determination written on her face. "I utterly refuse to play anymore games or pointlessly try to guess what you mean or want any further... So go ahead. Kill me!"
Hikaru's hand tightened around the blade enough to draw blood as she stared him dead on, "If you dare."
"Are you insane?!!! In case you have not noticed, embodiment powers are affecting us. There is a chance we may not just come back to life!"
"That is what he wants, is it not?" Hikaru muttered back to her counterpart, referring to the first question. In return, she received silence as the other Hikaru said nothing in response.
-
The sword began to literally burn her hand as smoke and the smell of burning flesh rose from it. Its red aura began to seep onto her, letting its own powers of insanity spread. "LET YOUR ANGER FLOW!" it shouted.
Insana began to narrow his eyes once more and moved to sword down, away from her neck. He slowly moved it until it was in the center of her chest. "You want to play that card?" he said, as he started to dig the point of it in slowly, despite her grip.
-
As she gritted her teeth in pain, Hikaru gripped the blade even tighter, resisting the urge to cry out from the burns. For her the sensation of burnng was new, having always had an immunity to fire before, due to her being part Phoenix. With all the strength she had left, Hikaru attempted to push the blade away from her chest, and to the side. As she did this, the wound on her chest started to heal thanks to the Elite Energy that Aralang fool, Gaserlake had forced on her back when she was under planet arrest. It did nothing for the power however, which she just forced herself to ignore.
"Sure, if that is what it takes to get what I want and get out of here. Then let us play!"
"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" The other Hikaru could only be heard by Hikaru inside of her head as she shouted at the actions of Hikaru, to which Hikaru just ignored. "You are going to get us killed!
-
"Do not force my hand, Hikaru.... " Insana reminded her. The red aura started to engulf her in flames, as the sheer essence of insanity began to take her. It wouldn kill her. However, burning sensation would be everywhere. Insana resisted her attempts to move the sword to the side, slowly moving it back to the center of mass.
"A new feeling isnt it?" Insana mockingly asked, referring to the burning, and fire. "We were afraid of what the good General would do to you, or would do with your soul.... Imagine what i can do with you." Immediately, gravity shifted, making the wall Hikaru had her back to the group, and the floor a wall itself. Hikaru would now find that gravity itself was working against her. Insana still stood normally, unaffected by the change.
"How about it, Hikaru?"
-
As soon as she had fallen to what was now the floor, Hikaru threw her other hand upward and grabbed the blade as well to reinforce her grip. As she now had a hold of it with both hands, she was able to exert more strength into pushing it back and away from her. "You can do nothing...," she choked in mid-growl. "I blocked that connection!"
As all this happened, the other Hikaru continued her volley of insults at the current Hikaru from inside her own mind, "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Can my counterpart really be this stup-" Just then the other formerly Ingrounded!Hikaru was cut off in mid thought-speech as the current Hikaru had passed out from the pain of the burning which left the other Hikaru in control. "id" Which she only noticed after she had finished her last sentence.
"I GIVE!" The other but for now current, Hikaru yelled out as she attempted to push the sword enough to try to roll out from underneath it. "What is it you want from us?"
-
"I want you to see the error in your ways! The flaws in your life!" Insana shouted, as he lifted his blade away from her. "For too long you have run around unchecked by the forces that be. And with your potential for destruction, i can no longer allow this to be so. If the higher forces wont do this, i sure as hell will spend the rest of eternity doing so."
"Are you willing to take a step towards a better you? Or should we have to keep playing these games?" he asked. "I told you before. You choose how this all goes down."
-
"Oh? Is that all?" Hikaru rolled her eyes and muttered, "you are a fool," as she scoffed. Now that the threat was gone, she climbed back to her feet all the while glaring at him. "Had you cared to be observant instead of forming your opinions on just what you know. You would have noticed that my counterpart is already in a state of regret and 'change'." Hikaru crossed her arm as she explained.
"Where she has found love, and had even children. I have not. Where she has made amends and apologized to our damned family. I have refused and instead destroyed them. Where she has shown remorse for our past actions.. I have ignored. That is why my spell to re-merge failed, and our spirit remains split. Conflict of personalities. We became simply too different from one another even while being the same. Astral Energy will not merge if it is no longer compatible. But I guess I can not expect even an embodiment to know all that, can I?" Hikaru smirked before changing it to a grimace.
"Now. You got what you want. My counterpart will just not admit it. But you still got it. So return our soul!"
-
"You are her, and she is you.... You are together now. Two corpses in one grave. You are as much a part of this as she is. Therefore, you hold as much of the blame." Insana declared. "You are no different than I. A broken mind, inside a broken shell of who you once were."
Insana glanced up, and back down towards Hikaru. The room began to shake as the environment changed from a large bedroom, to a massive graveyard, entangled in vines. A grandfather clock rose from the ground, to Insana's right, and Hikaru's left. "Zero hour is upon us...." He said. The grandfather clock struck 12 o'clock, and it began a thunderous ring.
"Your soul is safe with me, and shall be until i find it time to give it to you once more." Insana told her. "Have fun my child. I will return when you have found the right grave...." Immediately, it started to pour down rain, and Insana started melting into the ground, leaving only a sign that read.
I search among the fields, awaiting my grave stones. Find the one of he who was alone.
-
"Grrr that BASTARD! I will see to it that he is destroyed SOMEHOW! Existence be damned!" At that Hikaru attempted to kick down the sign in rage before spinning around and glaring at the graveyard. Great. Just what she wanted! More games. What's more. Her counterpart was still passed out which left her the only one to solve the damn things. This just served to infuriate her more.
"Stupid embodiment and his stupid tricks.." Hikaru could be heard muttering to herself as she walked over to the first head stone. Find the right grave? That's all the hint she was given? What the hell was that even supposed to mean! "YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST TOLD ME WHAT IT IS I AM LOOKING FOR IN THE GRAVES!" Hikaru's shout could be heard echoing through the vast silence as she became even more annoyed by the second. Another difference that was not so obvious between the two, was that the old formerly ingrounded Hikaru was not so patient as her counterpart. Where the modern subgrounded Hikaru could play along for a while to get what she wanted. The old Hikaru could only deal with stupidity for so long before losing her patience.
-
Of in the distance, a shadowy figure started to approach her. The fog surrounding the graveyard, began to lessen, revealing an old man carrying a shovel. He was dressed in rags, which were soiled with dirt. He smelt of death, and looked like he had been at this for a very long time.
"Another, huh?" he asks her. He looks up at her, squinting his wrinkled eyes, and motioned for her to follow him. "Come along, Miss. We've much to do." he said as he started to hobble off into the depths of the graveyard.
-
"And just why should I follow you?" Hikaru's voice was like daggers as it sharply cut through the silence when she snapped back at the man. She had really had it up to here with this entire situation and whether or not this man was there to help her or hinder her, it would not matter. He was going to receive the full extent of her anger as she saw fit. And just what did he mean another?
Taking up a rock in her hand, Hikaru swiftly threw it at the man just as he had walked away, and shouted, "Look here you dog. Either you give me answers about what you mean, and everything you know. Or I will refuse to follow you anywhere and will instead go the opposite direction and find my own way out of here. I am not going to play that embodiments games and let him make the rules. So here are your options. Answers or goodbye.
She crossed her arms, a scowl upon her face, "I am waiting..."
-
With a swift motion of his shovel, he immediately flung the rock back at Hikaru. "You young people can be quite troublesome cant, ye?" he said as he continued to walk away. He stopped and looked back at her. "The way i sees it, you have 2 options. Follow me, and get out of this graveyard, or rot here with the bodies. I dont care neither way."
With that, he continued his hobble down the cobblestone path. "Come if you like, i have plenty of work to do today miss."
-
Having dodged the rock, Hikaru's temper simmered as she glared at the man and followed. She did not like following the lead of someone else. Not one bit. This was the Hikaru from thousands of years back. The Hikaru without any experiences of love, friendship, or caring. The Hikaru who got her way through just demands, manipulation or murder. Being told off by someone who looked like he needed a good bath and was far inferior to her? That was not something that made her happy.
"Oh! And just for the record! I am follow because I decided to! NOT because of anything you said!"
-
"Mhm... Keep tellin' yer self that." he said as he led her down the cobblestone pathway into the vast graveyard. "So Miss. Where you from?"
-
"I decided to follow. I never said I would converse." Hikaru kept her arms crossed as she followed behind him. "Keep your questions to yourself as I do not think they are any of your business."
-
"Not a talker, eh?" he questioned. "No matter. However, i do have a question for ye for we can proceed to our first stop." he said, and made a left turn on one of the intersections, down a flight of stairs. "Who builds stronger than a stonemason, a shipbuilder, or a carpentry man?"
-
Great. More riddles. Just what Hikaru did not want. Of everything it could have been, it had to be riddles! Damn that Embodiment! "And what if I do not know the answer..?" Hikaru frowned as she asked this. Her counterpart was far better at solving these damned things than her. Which was odd considering they were the same person. However it was probably because her counterpart just had to the patience to attempt it. She did not. Unfortunately her counterpart was still passed out.
-
"Then it is all the same... Hopefully you will find it soon." The gavedigger simply said as they came upon a small light, which was revealed to be a torch lighting up a small area where several holes had been dug. He led her over to one of the holes, and offered her the shovel laying next to it.
"It'd usually take em a while to finish this, but since i have a bit of company, can you please lend me a hand in doing this? I'd be much appreciated." he said to her as he examined the half dug hole.
-
"Uh.. no?" Hikaru looked skeptic as she stood back, arms still crossed, a scowl still upon her face. "I do not do labor. That is for people lower than myself. Mortal technology users and the like. Do it your damn self and hurry it up with whatever it is I am here for or I am leaving. " At that, she walked forward and kicked the shovel into the hole before returning to where she was standing.
-
"Suit yer self." he said. "It took me about 1000 years to get ti this far. Hope ye dont mind waiting another millennium."
When she kicked the shovel into the hole, it reappeared in her hand with a text inscribed on it. "Work makes you free". The gravedigger himself was taking the dirt out one little particle at a time, and gently placing it on the pile next to the hole. It looked unnecessarily tedious to do, as he did not make full use of his shovel.
-
"Grr.." Hikaru threw the shovel at the nearest wall the moment she saw what it said, her temper increasing "Not on your life!"
Hikaru then pointed at the hole and glared at the gravedigger in impatience. "Can you not just use magic to dig the damn hole?!"
-
"We cant always rely on magic to do stuff for us, miss." he said. When she threw the shovel, not only did it appear in her hand once more, but she appeared in the hold with him.
"Sometimes you just gotta do things on yer own." he stated as he picked up another speck of dirt.
-
"Well you should! It makes life a lot damn easier!" Hikaru exclaimed before lifting herself out of the hole. Now she had had it. With a swift motion using the shovel that had been forced back into her hand she swept all of the dirt that was in the pile outside of the hole back into it on top of the gravedigger and then threw the shovel at his head.
Eyes narrowed, she continued to glare, "I am not playing around."
-
However, the dirt teleported itself above Hikaru, and came crashing no top of her. Once again, the shovel was back in her hand, and she was now dressed in gravedigger's robes. The gravedigger himself paid no attention to it, and only began to sing a tune.
"A shovel and a hole, a shovel and a hole.
digging till the end of time, till Insana takes my soul.
A shovel and a hole, a shovel and a hole.
diggin, and a'diggin till im 6 feel low."
-
"RRR FUCK YOU EMBODIMENT! JUST FUCK YOU!" Hikaru stood up out of the dirt and threw the shovel on the ground once again before ripping off the clothing and turning back to the stairs. She started to climb them.. "I am out of here!
-
When she climbed the stairs, she only found herself back at the area where the gravedigger was. Suddenly, the shovel was once again back in her hands, as well as a sign around her neck that simply said...
"Arent you going to buy me dinner first?
-Insana "
-
"GRRRR. NO! NO! NO! NO! AND NO!" Hikaru ripped off the sign and threw it and the shovel down before directing her attention back downward. Something was not right... She had baerly given a glance down when she had felt the sign and read before she had ripped it off. But now as she looked down at herself once more...
"..." Suddenly Hikaru's eyes widened as it somewhat dawned on her. Since when were they that big...? And since when was the floor that far down..? ... How did he? When did he? The unkempt rage started to boil inside of Hikaru as she growled in an attempt to suppress a shriek of anger "INSANA! How dare you, you bastard!"
How dare he mess with the body of one of the Sage Three! What else had that moron changed? and when? Hikaru scrambled to grab the shovel in an attempt to see herself through the rust by using it as sort of a mirror.
-
Through the rust and mud, as well as the darkness, she would just barely be able to make out her new hair color... As well as Insana smiling behind her and melting into the ground.
"I think it suits you well!" His voiced echoed throughout the area.
-
"GRRRR" Hikaru spun around and threw the shovel at where he had been standing, "I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!!"
-
"I love you too Ms. Tyris. However, you do have a task to do... I suggest you get working on it." his voice echoed again as the shovel appeared in her hand once more.
-
"Hmph. As if." Hikaru rolled her eyes and simply dropped the shove and then sat down, her arms crossed. "I said I refuse. Now take that and give up."
-
The moment she sat down the entire graveyard began to shake and the air filled with Insana's booming laughter. "I dont know the meaning of the word.... Unlike you though, I have all the time in the world. I am immortal. Forever. You are not. You are pink. And Angry. And I forgot where I was going with this.... Hmm...."
The shaking stopped and Insana materialized in front of her. "Nice shovel." he commented on the shovel that appeared above her.
-
Hikaru grimaced as she stood up and dropped the shovel yet again. She looked unamused as she glared at him. "I have a better idea, you damn trickster. How about you return the soul that demon has in his possession back to my counterpart and I, we leave your little of world games and never look back. How about that?" Hikaru crossed her arms. "Neither of us have any intention of ever becoming part of your insane collective that would better be called a cult, and that is that."
-
Insana simply gave her a warm smile and motioned for her to sit. "I have a story fr you. It is about a man who wanted to be a god. He thirsted for knowledge and committed what is now quite ethical to do, but at the time -- his time, illegal by the greater powers that were."
Insana outstretched his arms and a large statue of a scholar rose from the ground behind him. "He was taken from his life and tried by these powers and accepted the sentence... All of the knowledge that was, and will be only to have his own self killed and taken away. A man who was judged by powers even he himself had declared they had no jurisdiction over him. He had to be reformed to ensure a better existence for the rest of life."
As he explained the "trial" several large, ominous, figure statues rose above and surrounded the scholar who was now looking up at them. Behind Hikaru, a similar scene was being illustrated by a series of statues. Hikaru's statues stood as she looked up with a look of determination at a statue of Insana who was looking down upon her with a stare of conviction. In his right hand he held his sword, and in his left he held a scale.
"I am not trying to get you into my court, I am showing you the error in your ways Ms. Tyris." Insana said and gave her a moment to take in the story and illustrating statues.
-
"Error?" Hikaru scoffed, "I have none." She waved a hand at the statues and simply rolled her eyes before proceeding to ignore them. "But if you are now done with telling meaningless stories. Then return to me that soul or take me to the damn demon that has it! I am sick of playing games!"
-
"My dear... You're on trial." Insana said to her. "You must save you from yourself for the greater good of all. This isnt about me, or you. This is far, far greater than either of us. I said this when we first met -- You decide how this ends."
Insana waved his hand as the statues of the Scholar and Judges crumble leaving only the ones of Insana and Hikaru. "There is a reason why lady justice, my enemy, is blindfolded. She cannot see bias, but also cannot feel for either side. Her lack of empathy was her down fall."
-
"Oh will you just start making actual sense and let me leave already?!" Hikaru picked up the shovel, took one glance at it and then threw it at him, her anger apparent. She was to the point that if she had had her magic, she would have killed him long ago and he was not making it any better.
-
Insana slashed the shovel with a wave of hi hand before it reached him, his manner calm and collected. "I know not whether to decide if you are ignorant, or in denial of your situation. In any case, should you not learn to accept it, your sentence will be far worse than you can imagine." Insana warned. "It is not MY patience you are testing... It is the jury's."
Insana started to pace in circles around her. "Your anger is not towards me though, now is it? Perhaps you are angry at yourself. Seeing as it was your own actions, and no one else's that landed you here. Let it out. Let it all out." He placed his left hand on her shoulder and stood behind her.