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| [Graded][Arc] Cave of Wonders; 2 of 4 | |
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| Topic Started: May 30 2016, 02:02 PM (1,463 Views) | |
| heiner777 | Jun 9 2016, 02:22 AM Post #31 |
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"Sapientia Sola Libertas Est"
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There was never really a firm explanation inside Vento’s mind concerning humans and their need to make friends, and as such, when Tsuna told him that she considered the scholar a ‘friend’ – for a lack of a better word – he was confused, even more so than with her actions before. That statement disproved his conclusion that she did things for herself, but in doing so, it plunged the young man deeper into the ocean of chaos since he simply could not comprehend the concept of ‘friendship’; it simply did not register as something worth knowing beyond its universally understood lexical definition. Vento’s befuddlement was understandable; for his whole childhood right up to his eighteenth birthday, he had never made a friend in his life – human or otherwise. Zephyrus taught him that he was better off without any; that they were a nuisance that only existed to hold him back from his true potential, and should he make the mistake of making one, it would make the moment of betrayal all the more crushing. Every living creature, especially human beings, were all beasts of unalloyed selfishness; no matter how much they hide or delude themselves into thinking otherwise, in the end, the interest they would serve would be their own. Having disposable and unimportant companions and acquaintances were fine since it was an inevitable fact of life to have one or two, but having a friend was never a good thing – it never was. If anyone would hear this line of reasoning by Zephyrus outright, it would be expected for them to deny it in favor of their own misguided interpretation of what friendship was. In truth, however, Zephyrus’ own conclusion about such a relationship stemmed from his own experiences during his time as a wizard-scholar, of how he and his friends devoted their time and efforts into researching and developing new forms of magic for the betterment of all. Once they had become successful in their respective fields of research, all of them continued to develop and grow as people, yet it was always Zephyrus who stood out from the rest as he grew more famous, the man’s natural brilliance and achievements outshining even his friends’. Eventually, jealousy sprouted from those supposedly unbreakable bonds of friendship, and through deceit and conspiracy, the wizard-scholar was stripped of his title, disgraced by his peers, and betrayed by his friends who took his research for themselves. It was a crippling blow for the wizard-scholar who considered his friends as ones whom he could trust, but in the end, even friendship can be corrupted by simple human frailty. It was a story Veto’s master told him time and time again in an attempt to save his student from suffering the same fate. ‘Make a friend, make a mistake’ was the mantra he would always burn into Vento’s mind right down to the last day of their formal master-student relationship. Hence, the young man cannot help but be wary in replying to the blonde’s sentiments since he was walking on uncharted territory. Despite the troubling implications of her revelation being as clear as crystal to Vento, the latter chose his words extremely carefully. “Of course we are equal; after all, I cannot do everything alone, because if I can, I would have never had needed to hire you in the first place,” he explained with a sigh. “We each have our own roles – it is my duty to see to it that things go smoothly and it is your duty to ensure it will go smoothly. That is what I do best; that is the only thing I can do at this point since I have nothing else to contribute. You have your magic, but I only have my mind – thinking is the only thing I can do right now; and by how you act, someone like that is something that you need right now.” With his wound already starting to close up, Vento began to whirl his hand around in the water while he continued speaking. “You bottle your emotions up too much and because of that, you are dangerous when you snap. Moreover, you are reckless, impulsive, and you have absolutely no ability to read the atmosphere. If I let you do things by yourself, we would get into trouble without a way out; and because of that, I had to put you on a tight leash because I want to be sure that nothing happens to you. Your magic is important to my success; if anything happens to you, that is it – I lose. In that sense, by any way you look at it, I need you far more than you need me, despite what you think.” Another veil of awkward silence descended between the two and Vento spent the time simply waiting for the stab wound to finally close up. He did not bother answering the more emotional questions such as him not being appreciative or how he felt when she said that she just wanted to comfort him because she knew that— —that man. Once more Vento was perplexed by his inability to think of him when he was absolutely sure who he was. In fact, Tsuna just said so herself; he was… You left me to die... In the moment he tried to think of that man with more depth than before, a sharp pain shot through his brain, the sensation great enough to make him scream. “AAAAAHHHHHH!!!” he shouted out loud and held his head. It was like being pricked with a red-hot pin repeatedly. The agony was so strong that Vento even rolled into the stream and thrashed about in the water, but not even the healing stream could ease the scholar’s suffering. In that instance, the bracelet on Vento’s right wrist cracked; and in that same moment, a humanoid silhouette appeared near Vento’s position and seemed to be floating on the water’s surface. It just stood there, motionless, but it looked like it was enjoying the young man’s misfortune. Edited by heiner777, Jun 9 2016, 02:23 AM.
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| Mariko | Jun 10 2016, 12:01 AM Post #32 |
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Phck.
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One fact of life that remains constant for centuries, and will remain constant beyond, is that people do change as they continue to gain life experiences such as a sweet success, a tragic death or a traumatizing experience. It does not happen overnight but through a process that purges --- or worsens --- a person's existence. Tsuna herself is a work-in-progress, how she interacts with the people around her is brought about by the death of her family and the events that took place thereafter such as those stormy nights she had no roof above her head, the humid days she has to tread roads while chilling due to fever, the times strangers lend a hand hoping they can somehow lessen the load she is carrying even for a short period of time. The 'princess' who callously interacts with people 'not in her level' becomes compassionate and understanding as she has seen and experienced how difficult the lives of those people who are not born with silver spoons in their mouths. The girl who gets whatever she wants learns how to be content of what she has and values the worth of every material blessing that comes to her hands. She who once lets every single thread of emotion seep through her skin without regard to whatever another person will feel learns to suppress them. She realizes that the world does not revolve around her, and she has to be considerate, and bottling up what she feels is, to her, one form of being considerate. There are people who do not have someone like her brother who pushes her not to give up, and these people fall miserably... sometimes to their deaths... and thus she needs not to give up, and make these people feel that someone is treading the same path as they do --- they are not alone. However, as mentioned earlier she is a work-in-progress. She is prone to relapses. Her outbursts are at times uncontrollable. There is nothing she can do with her stellar mental faculties. She still has problem areas, and she knows that she needs to refine certain aspects of her personality. An input from another person usually helps a lot, even if the truth hurts more than any other physical pain. The heiress might be dull-minded and impulsive, but she knew --- and learned --- that she needed to listen to the people around her. Thus, when the scholar pointed out her flaws the young lady quietly submitted herself and tried not to justify her actions any further. Besides, she had already aired her sentiments, there was no need to put up a contest as to who could point out the most number of flaws. However, her head was filled with thoughts on what exactly should she do to improve herself as her chest had gotten heavier upon hearing more from the young man --- and shed a cloud of doubt on her resolve... a cloud that made rose a question: could really fix herself? Not only that the raven-haired crimson-eyed researcher exposed her issues, he also managed to explain to the teen heiress the reasoning behind his actions. It might not sound complete, as there were still things she raised that he failed to address --- or deliberately withheld himself from addressing ---- such as his inability to express appreciation, but for the mean time that gave Tsuna a little... comfort? ... confusion? .... especially when he said he did not want anything wrong happen to her, totally missing out that it was just to ensure the success of his assignment. As soon as Vento paused and allowed silence to take over, Tsuna pulled her head further down and sobbed softly. Guilt festered her chest once again. Further, finally her senses could recognize the pain of the stab wound on her palm, prompting her to wince as it throbbed. "I..." she was to apologize. She had to. "I'm s----" “AAAAAHHHHHH!!!” It was of agonizing pain. The maiden lifted her head to find Vento holding his head, sufferring from what seemed to be the worst migrane in the world that he rolled into the waters. "What's wro---- Vento!" Tsuna rose from being slumped on the ground and rushed to aid the young man, but stopped halfway. Her mouth fell ajar as she could not believe what she had just seen --- a dark silhouette resembling to a human floating beside the suffering scholar. In an instant, chill ran down the girl's spine. For a few seconds fear had taken over Tsuna. Was it a ghost? An elemental? A person who was under out-of-body experience? Vento's evil faceless twin? Whatever it was, its existence beside the man was not... right. The sound of the waters being beaten by arms snapped Tsuna out of her fear. Vento needed to get out of that water. Extreme physical torment and waters usually do not mix. How many plays and movies had she seen where deaths involved blood, pain and water? Vento needed to get out of that water. She needed to take him away from that scary ... thing before... before... it eats him perhaps. Didn't ghosts and phantoms eat living souls? The lady pushed forward even if her legs felt quite stiff due to fear. "Vento!" Totally disregarding the humanoid spectre, the girl jumped to the stream and tried to reach the man. The water that splashed around her in her every movement was tainted with streaks of crimson, the blood on her arm defiling the pristine condition of the glowing green stream. The urgency of helping a friend had pushed back once more the sting from her hand. Tsuna's weird ability to unconsciously push physical pain out of her senses in place of a more intense sensation could sometimes be blessing --- but of course, it could also be a curse. Bleeding too much could cause her to faint such as what happened earlier, it didn't help that her current endurance and toughness were low. If nothing would interfere, she would have an arm over his back, hand clutching his shoulder as the free one held on an arm and attempt to pull him to the shore. Edited by Mariko, Jun 10 2016, 12:19 AM.
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| heiner777 | Jun 10 2016, 03:33 AM Post #33 |
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"Sapientia Sola Libertas Est"
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The moon glittered like a silver coin in the sky amidst its cosmic brethren, but not even the glow of heaven’s light spurned the advance of the tendrils of ashen darkness that shredded past it like a solidified foggy mass. With dreadful and patient menace, the figure that towered over Tsuna and Vento bent over like a hook and slowly closed the minuscule gap between itself and the two living beings, inhuman will allowing its form to inch closer to touch them. Its movement was accompanied by the hiss of the faceless damned that moved about its humanoid form like bubbles from the sea, countless souls screaming in perpetual torture that seemed to fuel the specter with their suffering. In the moment that Vento was able to catch a glimpse of the forming figure, his crimson eyes reflected an expression of utter terror as soon as he recognized whom such sorcery belonged to. Ghost Magic—?! His thoughts screamed to himself in realization, and upon such instance, more cracks appeared upon the bracelet given to him. His breath hastened as he exhaled white mist, the running water growing chilled like a winter spring from the presence of something that should not exist, yet did so, forming from the abyss that heralded a grim curse upon whomsoever gazed at its tortured form after it had fully emerged from the shadows. Urgency beat in his chest and Vento, despite the pain in his head, rolled over and blocked Tsuna’s view of the spirit with his own face, an expression of genuine dread filling his once angelic visage as if he had realized the undoubtedly dire situation they were in. There was no time to lose; he needed to act fast if they did want to become part of the legion souls that inhabited ‘that man’ and his twisted magecraft. “Whatever you do, do not open your eyes; whatever you hear, do not listen to its words. If you do so much as look into its true form, you die, so just focus on me and only me. I apologize in advance for what I have to do, but I have to protect my precious tools,” he spoke in hushed haste, and in that instance, closed his eyes and planted a kiss – a deep one – onto Tsuna’s lips while the two of them waded in the water. He promptly closed his eyes and concentrated on the motions of his tongue while it entwined with the blonde’s, desperate to do whatever it took not to be lured by the phantom’s crude machinations. He had seen it before and he knew what to do, because Fre— AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! The pain bit into him as soon as he thought of the man whom the diabolical magecraft belonged to, and with that, it allowed him to recall the truly horrible acts such magic was capable of. People were driven mad by the sheer sight of terror before their eyes and killed themselves, friends slaughtered each other out of insane fear, mothers smothered their infants out of fear that its gaze would be cast upon them; and with every death, new souls were forfeit to the demon’s, each only serving to increase the monster’s unfathomable terror. Such was the magecraft that his former partner possessed, and one which he could never observe since he had no intention to be a part of the screaming masses of the damned which composed the ghostly entity. My, my, what is this, boss? Your new squeeze, is she? I had no idea you were into teenie-boppers; but with guns like those, who is complaining~?, a disembodied voice like a hundred people speaking as one goaded inside his head. How did it feel this morning, huh? The confusion, the mistakes, the unbridled lust masked as ‘necessity’ – that was me. I was the one who let slip your ‘secret’ conversation. I was the one who let slip the fact of my ‘death’. I played you like you played me, boss, all this time~ Ignoring the specter’s attempts to rile him up, Vento continued with his necessarily passionate kiss with Tsuna, steadily amplifying up the acts to a point where the raven-haired scholar was now caressing and fondling her supple body in strokes that were as careful and feathery as the cold water’s caress on her milky skin. His hands explored freely and teased Tsuna’s lissome frame, eventually coming to the repressed mounds of flesh that signified her development as a woman. Without hesitation Vento’s hands were upon them, the stinging in his left complimenting the amorous play born of desperation and fear. He needed to distract Tsuna and himself more, with further displays of lascivious affection – desire to such an extent that it would outweigh the crippling fear of having a ghost hanging over their heads. Vento’s lips soon fell down and traversed the blonde’s neck, playfully biting it before letting out a small cautionary word. “Please bear with me here, Tsuna; feel free to beat me up after this.” Without as much as a warning, both of Vento’s hands pulled up Tsuna’s shirt and binder to reveal the secret only Vento knew. Tsuna bore the pristine geometry of her natural form in its glorious honesty, with Vento’s deft maneuvering boldly traveling the expanse from curving plains to rolling hills and valleys like a cartographer marking his map. He did not need his eyes to paint a picture of the land he was traversing, with actions that paid deference to neither logic nor libido. True his actions were arguably necessary, but he would be lying if he did not admit that he was curious as to how a real woman actually felt when held in such a prurient manner. I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry, Vento mouthed while he continued his acts much to the frustrated displeasure of the ghost. It did not like being ignored and this was the first time someone was actually using lust to counteract him. What a boring guy~, it mocked then turned its attention this time to Tsuna herself. It smiled to its shadowy self when it began to speak. How is it, being serviced by the guy you like, little princess~? Was it everything you imagined~? Come now honey, I am sure you are not satisfied with just that, right~? You want to open up those eyes of yours and see for yourself how lustfully adorable the ‘high and mighty’ Vento is when he is servicing you, am I right~? It spoke and extended an arctic finger to trace the blonde teen’s back from neck to spine. It feels good, right~? Why not enjoy this once in a life-time moment and open your eyes, just a little bit~? In the instant the entity finished its sentence innumerable ghost-hands came from nowhere and began to play with both Tsuna and Vento’s bodies. Those that were upon Vento in particular invaded him, their icy touch holding his entire body hostage in carnal pleasure and frigid pain. It was a paradox of sensations that were as delightful as they were unpleasant, only increasing in magnitude with each passing second as if trying to force him to open his eyes by flooding the young man’s entire being with conflicting feelings. |
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| Mariko | Jun 10 2016, 06:03 AM Post #34 |
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Phck.
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Confusion. This was what the hushed spoken words brought to the maiden's simple mind. Unaware of the imminent danger they were in, she found no sense in whatever Vento was trying to tell her. Why should she need to put him the center of her attention? Why did he apologize? What was he going to d--- Without any warning, soft lips deeply sealed Tsuna's which brought a tinge of red on her cheeks. His tongue slipped past her lips and made a communion with hers. The heat formed on her cheeks that spread to her whole face then down to her body attempted to counter the icy cold waters that surrounded her. Before the phantom could fully assume its true form, Tsuna closed her eyes and did what she was told, initially out of the pleasure it was sending her body. Her tongue twisted and turned around his as breaths were exchanged, and that very moment her ears were filled with hundreds of voices speaking in chorus. Some were weeping. Some were whispering. Some where thunderous. If one would try to decipher what each were saying, it would not be impossible that these would shred the strands of one's sanity. Fear built up the place, or more specifically within the confines of the 'dome' where the duo were trapped. Then, these voices spoke in unison, and its utterances were aimed at Vento. In the middle of the growing horror, questions started to arise in the girl's head. Why was this happening? What --- or who, was this phantom? Why did it seemed to know the scholar? Why did the voice say Vento toyed him? Slowly her mind had gotten cluttered, the urge to pull her lips off his and start throwing inquiries at the scholar festered. She needed answers. She had to look straight to Vento's eyes and search his soul for an--- “Whatever you do, do not open your eyes; whatever you hear, do not listen to its words. If you do so much as look into its true form, you die, so just focus on me and only me. ---" Right. "I have to protect my precious tools,” He would not say those words out of whim. She had to trust him. There were events, things, and implications that were beyond Tsuna's sight, and like what the scholar had mentioned earlier, those were what his abilities fill in. If she wanted to make it up to Vento, if she wanted to stay 'alive' she must follow his lead. The fervid kiss that was once given due to pleasure was hastily tainted with fright and a call for survival. Zoning out any doubt or hesitations, the blonde allowed her hands to wander. The bloodied hand where pain surged clutched the tuft of raven hair on the back of Vento's head before caressing his nape up to the side of his neck, while the other slipped under the fabrics to trace along his spine with her soft touch. As Vento gave his best to keep the heiress from entertaining thoughts from the phantom, which elicited coos of soft yet shaking tone, Tsuna did the same by having the same hand that caressed his back to slide down to his side and clutch it gently, guiding his body to move closer to hers. Fear and ecstasy were tugging Tsuna's consciousness. The internal bout to take over her senses was enough to move the blonde into tears. "I'll g-go insane," Tsuna whispered on his ear once their lips parted, albeit it was spoken not with a hint of lust but one that was about to resign to torment brought about by strong conflicting emotions. It wasn't an easy task to keep your head above every sensation, and it was also arduous to be drowning in two opposite sensations at the same time. Cold hands brushed her skin before wrapping around her body, mimicking the raven-haired researcher's touch on the once bounded parts. A number of them gave feathery stroke along her legs, a couple attempted to invade the gates she had long guarded. While altogether these actions from Vento and the phantom felt pleasant, the supposed invasion alarmed Tsuna to the highest degree, prompting her magical powers to be released in the same time. Tsuna shrieked in panic. A dark sheet formed in between Vento and Tsuna that might cause whatever it was between the two of them to dissipate. In the same time, the girl flailed about in the water, in the first instance her hand hit the stream that caused a huge splash, no one knew it was covered with her newly-formed technique with the same effect as the barrier. "NOOO! NO NO NO NO NO!" Tsuna cried with her eyes tightly shut as she continued to make huge splashes, "I don't want a ghost to hold my body, I only want Vento to do that! I only allow Vento to do that not you! I don't want you! I don't trust you with that! Go away! Go away please just go away! Leave us alone! No no no no no!" ---- Phone edit: I believe I misunderstood one part. Let me know if I have to edit. Edited by Mariko, Jun 10 2016, 07:27 AM.
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| heiner777 | Jun 10 2016, 02:15 PM Post #35 |
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"Sapientia Sola Libertas Est"
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Despite his own efforts to retain whatever composure he could in the face of an unspeakable terror in the form of ‘that man’ and his Ghost Magic, Vento could not help but slowly succumb to the inevitable as dictated by human frailty and the inherent mechanism ingrained into the very souls of every human being who had ever existed. The voices that had scoured his thoughts came from nothing living; devoid of hate, of anger, and of anything other than pain and a desire to see that pain shared. Even the practically emotionless scholar felt the cold pangs of fear crawl up his spine as he attempted to slow his breath, worrying of the kind of spectral horror he would breathe in should he allow panic to get the best of him. It was only a matter of time before both of their defenses faltered in the face of the enemy; after all, Ghost Magic was a magecraft that thrived on panic and dread and was tailor-made to induce it as effectively as possible. Vento hoped that their mental fortitude, when buttressed with the fiery passion of their sensual acts, would be enough to stave off the dark terror that engulfed them in its miasma. He was wrong, for not even that was enough against the primal forces of human fear, as Tsuna demonstrated when she had screamed to the top of her lungs in blatant rejection to the phantom limbs that overran her body. He could not blame the woman though; even Vento himself was barely hanging on when the blonde finally gave way. As soon as the young woman’s shriek filled his ears, a cacophonous scream of a thousand souls soon followed suit. Immediately Vento opened his eyes and activated Mens Nexus, unsure of what had transpired yet not taking any chances to take in any detail since it might give him a clue as to what just happened. Data from his surroundings streamed in by the score, from the composition of anti-magic particles of the sheet of dark violet that had formed between them – dispelling the phantom limbs that directly came into contact with it – right to the droplets of water that likewise did the same to all the remaining hands, and was also the cause for dispelling Mens Nexus, but not before he had a good look at the magic that had mixed itself with the enchanted water. Vento did not give himself the luxury of marveling at it though; Tsuna’s act effectively drenched the specter in the young woman’s magecraft-enchanted water and now violently flailed around as its once solid figure became a smoking mess. It was the only chance they had to get far away from the apparently injured spirit with Vento being quick to grab the opportunity and tell Tsuna to do the same by yelling some sense into her panicked self. “Get a hold of yourself, will you?!” he commanded. “Listen here – hold him off for a bit while I run back to the bonfire. Creatures of shadow cannot stand the light, and as we are now, we stand no chance against him in the dark!” he declared feverishly and proceeded to pull himself ashore, powering through the waist-deep waters in a race back to the campfire, and leaving Tsuna to fend for herself for the moment. Despite his initial alarm, the scholar decided that this was the best course of action for Tsuna's sake since he knew that her physical fitness was ill-equipped for such rushed movement. Thus, the plan was for Tsuna to momentarily use her powers to distract the demonic entity while he fetched a torch so he can light the blonde’s way as well as keep the ghost at bay with its brightness. He knew that the stakes were high and he had no illusion that they were safe – not until both of them were back in the safety of their camp. With the inherent swiftness and athleticism of an experienced outdoorsman like Vento, the scholar hastily made his way back to the fire where he quickly constructed a survival torch that was meant to burn extremely bright but consumes fuel faster than normal. He did not need it to last long, however; just enough to get in and out without incurring the ghostly wrath of the entity that haunted them. As soon as he was sure that the tinder and the fuel were packed and full, the raven-haired scholar lit the torch up and dashed back to Tsuna with the flambeau raised high as if he was Prometheus, the bringer of light, himself. “Hold on, Tsuna!” he shouted over until he returned to the teen’s side with his arm outstretched, his eyes gazing squarely upon nothing else but the blonde. “Grab on to me; hurry!” Edited by heiner777, Jun 10 2016, 03:20 PM.
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| Mariko | Jun 10 2016, 05:38 PM Post #36 |
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Phck.
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"HOW DO I EVEN DO THAT?!" Tsuna, who had her eyes opened since the phantom hands that bore the chill of a winter night lost its malicious hold on her body, yelled back at Vento, who was on the other side of the dark violet wall she had unconsciously built between them, when he commanded her to hold the spectre off for a while. How did he think that the idea of him going back to the bonfire on his own, leaving her in the middle of the haunted stream, was far better than having the two of them seize the opportunity to scurry out of the water and back to where the light was. With speed the girl could not match, the raven-haired scholar turned his back on the maiden and rushed to the shore, causing the maiden to panic once more. "VENTO AUREO DON'T YOU DARE!" she called him in an ear-splitting tone, enough to ward off any other creatures of the night that took fortress within the woods nearby. She was about to follow him, but when she was to take a heavy step she found herself running out of luck: for some reason her right foot was stuck in between rocks and underwater plants. "VENTO!" she shrieked once more, trying to pull her leg up on her own but to no avail. "VENTO I'M STUCK!" She was tempted to go under the waters and use her hands to remove whatever it was that hinder her movement but was afraid to do so for a couple of reasons. First, there might be a chance she would lose the thin layer separating herself from the pangs of the phantom once it had reformed. Second, when she manage to pull herself out of the waters after having submerged to help free herself, it was likely that she would be caught off guard and find herself in a position where she was staring straight at the fully-formed ghost that tormented them earlier. "Breathe Tsuna! Breathe!" Beads of tears fall one after the other down her cheek. She slightly pivoted her body to look around her, noticing the smoke that was swirling around, albeit in her eyes it was tinted with purple. It was still there, just taking its time to assume its form once more. Would the young man really come back for her? Based on what the voice said earlier, he had played with him. If that was the case, if he had done it before, it was not impossible that the scholar from Neo Cortex was just toying with her emotions as well, giving her false hopes until she had fully succumbed to the vicious powers of this superhuman foe. "I have to protect my precious tools." No. The heiress reprimanded herself, shaking her head of damp hair in the process. She should not think of such absurdity. He had tried to save her earlier by telling her to close her eyes. He had breached both their personal spaces just for her to fight off the ghost's machinations. He... he also said so... that he had to protect her... even if he referred the blonde as a 'tool'. The smoke around her thickened, a sign that the force they were trying to fight or escape was reforming. The voices that were muted by her capacity to dispel magic had gradually taken over the silence, starting off with incoherent mumbling. Sensing the same, the teen resumed pulling and jerking her leg. Her heart pounded faster. Her breathing was short yet quick. "V-Vento!" An almost blinding light. The raven-haired scholar rushed to the Kushinada princess' aid. He was like knight in shining armor, but of course without any armor, sturdy weaponry or a white horse. He was not even as chivalrous as those men who were romanticized by the plays and movies. Instead he had his incomparable wisdom threatening to beat whatever obstacles in his way while holding onto a makeshift torch that illuminated the area, like how his presence suddenly gave hope to the maiden's darkest hour. Her dichromatic eyes met his crimson orbs. He was everything she could see that moment. “Grab on to me; hurry!” He did not have to say anything anymore. Tsuna hastily grabbed Vento's outstretched arm. With his aid, the woman tugged her leg repeatedly. It only took three tries before her foot was freed, but the force jolted pain on her entire limb. Finally, to the shore. Edited by Mariko, Jun 10 2016, 05:56 PM.
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| heiner777 | Jun 11 2016, 10:07 PM Post #37 |
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"Sapientia Sola Libertas Est"
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Vento took Tsuna’s hand the moment she stretched out for him and pulled her close so that she would be under the protection of the flame. Immediately the water around them glowed with dull green light to heal the blonde teen’s injuries, but that instantaneous healing provided little comfort with the thought of the phantom in their midst that had almost regained its composure after the young woman managed to do it some damage by unintentionally spraying it with her magic-cancelling water. All the tricks were thus used and there was nothing left to be shown; it was only them and their own efforts now that dictated the events that would transpire next. With lady in hand, Vento powered through the water like a man possessed, his body acting as both a vanguard against the torrent of the stream and Tsuna’s pillar of support while she recuperated from her minor injuries. The scholar allowed himself to smile when he felt the stream give way as the two inched ever closer to the shore line, and with it, the small miracle that was the fire-light which seemed to beckon them into its warmth and protection from the cursed shadows that hounded them. Then the unthinkable happened and that slim hope of salvation was smashed to pieces. After a furious advance, they were but a scant few steps away from the edge of the campfire’s welcome glow when by an inhuman roar of malicious rage sent shivers through every fiber of Vento’s being. The entity was once more whole and with its reformation came an unholy fury that desired nothing more than to exact dark vengeance upon the woman who had thought that she could fight back the inevitability of fate. I WILL NOT BE DENIED MY VENGEANCE! YOUR LIFE IS MINE, WITCH! It only took a moment, but in that short span of time, Vento could see the images past him as a myriad of blurs instead of a coherent line of sight. The last thing he had remembered was feeling a jolt of pain that crept up from his back before being pushed forward with such force that his hand slipped from Tsuna’s as he was thrown a short distance. His body felt like lead, but somehow Vento managed to catch himself before his fall and held on despite being discombobulated. The young woman, however, was not as fortunate. He shot a glance back to see where his companion had gotten herself to, but from the torchlight, Vento only saw a swirling black mass of shadows where the woman was supposed to be. Alarmed at the sight, the scholar rushed to aid Tsuna since they were already in the shallow portion of the stream, only for all advance to come to a halt when the ashen figure of the specter appeared before him at the borders of his torchlight and blocked his path. Immediately Vento closed his eyes to prevent himself from gazing upon the terror that was the ghost’s true form, yet with his own act, he slowly damned Tsuna to a fate worse than death itself with every passing second. There, now that the wretched girl is out of the picture, we can talk more peacefully~ spoke the spirit in a hauntingly smooth tone. I wonder, why do you work so hard for the sake of one insignificant creature~? You were never like that when we were partners, boss. I did everything you asked to the letter, all without complaint, and yet I never once saw you risk your life for my sake~ Vento mustered up all the courage he had to respond to the ghost’s query. “I never had any reason to; you were never put in any danger you could not handle,” he said only for the phantom to instantly rebuke his statement shortly after. The entity shouted in legion voices. LIES!!! I WAS IN DANGER WHEN I CALLED YOU EARLIER YESTERDAY MORNING, YET YOU JUST IGNORED ME! AFTER EVERYTHING I DID FOR YOU, ALL THE TIME I SPENT THINKING YOU WERE MY FRIEND; AND YOU JUST LEFT ME TO DIE!!! The scholar paused. “You were picked to go on that mission as an equal, and you accepted. From that moment on, you were no longer my partner – it is your own fault that you died, you idiot. You were the one who took your own life in Ranunculus.” I HAD NO CHOICE! THEY LEFT ME WITH NO CHOICE!!! I WAS CORNERED AND TRAPPED, WITHOUT A CHANCE TO ESCAPE, AND SO I DID THE RIGHT THING TO PREVENT THEM FROM STEALING MY POWERS!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO GO THROUGH ALL THAT?!? THE PAIN, THE DESPAIR, THE HOPELESSNESS?!? “Of course not; and I knew I taught you better than to give in to your emotions as a field researcher.” THEN WHY ARE THINGS WITH HER LIKE THIS?!? WHY THIS EFFORT OVER SOMEONE WHO HAS NO STANDING WITH YOU IN TERMS OF WORK EXPERIENCE?!? SHE IS NOTHING!!! “Wrong. Right now, she is my tool, and I take good care of my precious tools.” Silence descended upon the two when their exchange stopped. Slowly, the sound of wailing souls paused in their lamentation to all laugh in grating unison as a thousand voices of a thousand damned cackled with dark amusement and murderous resolve. Show me then, boss~ PLEASE SHOW ME~! In the instant the specter finished, the myriad damned wailed higher and louder as if in a frenzy; a choir of agony meant to drive Vento insane. It hammered on his psyche, every note a blow like a cudgel that bludgeoned his faltering resolve bit by bit. Despite this, he slowly inched his way forward, only to be savaged by the incessant voices from beyond the grave that beckoned him to cast aside his sanity and join them in eternal torment, as would be Tsuna’s fate should he fail to reach her in time. That is right, feel the helplessness; give in to despair, boss – let us be damned together; you, me, and the little wench. Let us make a quaint little trio, okay~? So please… JUST DIE ALRE—!!! At the crescendo of its taunt, the entity was forced to stop out of shock at the image that had presented itself before it. Vento’s eyes finally opened, slanted and knife-like, with crimson eyes that was glowing a hellish tinge of red from the flame that reflected off his flambeau. Mens Nexus scanned his surroundings without fail, but all of its power focused only on one thing – Tsuna, and how to get to her in time. He stared into the abyss of insanity and death with the devil’s eyes, unflinching, and unwavering. It was once said that courage is not the absence of fear, but it is the judgment that there is something far more important that fear itself; that could not hold truer than in Vento’s case as of the moment. Inside the storm of shadows that bullied the slowly dying torchlight, Vento’s advance gained speed with titanic determination etched into his every gait. As he did, he saw the faint outlines of the cursed ashen mist that blocked his path and made the raven-haired scholar’s skin crawl just by being near them; the mindless dead, with mouths like black holes and eyes locked in a gaze of pleading torment. Their bodies were like branches of dead trees, suffering from every foul deformity that the human body could muster and could still loosely be called ‘human’; a sorry lot to say the least, but they were beyond his power to save. Tsuna, however, still had a chance. Once his juggernaut-walk through the ghost-squall reached his end, his eyes gazed into the swirling mass of dark where the blonde woman’s body lay trapped by some supernatural force. Mens Nexus told him of the composition of the vortex and told him how to bypass its outer shell to reach the prize inside. It was a simple enough procedure: just get in, grab, and go – that was that. However, since the shadow vortex was designed to keep anything out while its occupant was sucked dry of life force, it meant that whatever was trying to get inside would suffer quite a bit from forcing its way inside something that was never designed to open from the outside-in. That did not stop Vento, though. With gritted teeth and a death-seeker’s iron grit, the scholar’s right hand plunged deep into the soul-storm, his flesh flayed and torn open from the numberless scourging it received from the jealous dead who were not eager to let someone else take their prey away from them. A cry of utter despair escaped Vento’s lips, but his demon-eyes were kept forward despite the hellish pain, until they had finally affirmed that the young man now held none other than a still living Tsuna by the waist. Immediately, with the last vestiges of strength left in him, Vento extracted the shadow-bound teenager out of the darkness and into the fullness of Vento’s torch light. At that same moment, the beads on the scholar’s right arm cracked and broke into a dozen pieces, but with it, the entire area became flooded with light. When the illumination dissipated, no trace of the phantoms could be found, and in their place stood a young man with a long mud-brown coat and a hood so large and deep that it covered his face with an impenetrable shadow. His stance was stern and stiff like one that belonged to a veteran of innumerable battles, yet despite this, there was strange warmth in his cadence as if the terrible figure was only a front of someone who was more than what he presented himself to be. He gazed down at the figure of the two, with Vento using up every ounce of his power to drag himself and his companion back to the warmth of the bonfire before passing out from exhaustion. The man could not help but feel proud and gave a smile beneath his secretive hood when he saw the bloody stump that had become Vento’s right arm, for in losing it by reason of saving someone else, the raven-haired scholar gained something far more valuable in return. After all, humankind could never gain anything without first giving something in return – to obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That was the law of the world, and in extension, the main rule that governed the Genie’s Lamp. “A wish to conquer the unconquerable and do the impossible – the price has been paid. Congratulations, young ones, for being the first to reach the end of the Genie’s Lamp after hundreds of years,” he said, patiently awaiting a response from the two and ready to receive whatever sentiments they had. Edited by heiner777, Jun 11 2016, 10:55 PM.
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| Mariko | Jun 12 2016, 01:31 AM Post #38 |
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Phck.
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The faint incomprehensible muttering from the multitude of cursed souls increased in intensity as wails and cries of despair were added to the haunting noise emitted. This was accompanied by the sounds of splashing water and labored breathing from Vento and Tsuna, who with every shred of speed and strength accorded to them by their bodies were rushing to reach the safety of the light from the camp’s bonfire. The blonde clung tightly onto the researcher’s hand, the latter’s own speed drastically increased the pace of former’s own movements. In every breathing moment the anticipation heightened, the want to escape this dreaded nightmare would be within reach in no time. Hearts skipping, they pushed forward realizing that any moment they would be safe. ”Just a little more! We’ll be safe!” However, it was all false hope. The spectre of the scholar’s previous assistant emerged from its smoking mess, and it was after the woman who had ruined its plans to take Vento into the chasm of infinite torment when she dissipated him from existence. With a furious thundering roar what remained of the confidence to finish the lap was all shattered: at the exact moment the young man was pushed forward, a great force did the opposite to the blonde. Tsuna was pulled away, causing her to slip her hand from Vento’s grasp as she fell face first onto the watery ground. Thereafter, she was dragged mercilessly into a vortex of darkness, the force did not care if her head would bump and hit sharp edges of rocks or spin to dizziness when finally elevated. “VENTO!” she cried for the researcher when she found herself sinking down the mass of shadows after regaining her senses due to the fall and soon she was ‘encapsulated’ by it, losing sight of her torch-wielding savior. Numerous obsidian-colored tendrils grabbed parts of her body to put her in a helpless position: arms outstretched as if to be crucified, legs bound together, bosom constricted, neck on what seemed to be a chokehold --- even her long blonde hair was not spared. It was gripped by the phantom appendage so that whenever she attempts to move her head it would be pulled as if it her scalp would be ripped off from her head. These tendrils were meant to hold its hostage, rejecting and invalidating any struggle from within but would be weak to outside forces or those movements not from its captive. Within this ‘enclosure’ nothing echoed the girl’s ears but the high and low caterwauling and cackling from the souls who were held forever slaves of darkness. Fear overcame her existence that she could not help but to howl in unison with them. “Welcome home sweetheart~” the discord of voices greeted the heiress. Tsuna freaked out, letting out a louder wail while every inch of her body shook in fear. “Let me go, please….!” “We will, when you’re already one of us.” From the darkness a faceless humanoid figure way larger than its hostage emerged. It hovered its supposed visage close to Tsuna’s before a nine-inch wide black hole appeared. “Say your final goodnight to your lovely prince~” A powerful siphoning force followed from the hole, stealing the pristine white mist from the woman’s lips, nose and eyes ducts. Tsuna turned her head to the side, but the tendrils on her neck extended to hold her up to her jawline and constrained her to keep on facing the reaper. She fought back by tightly shutting her eyes and mouth, but like what happened earlier the tendrils reached for them to force them open. It slithered past its lips, anchored on her teeth and pulled her lower jaw down, while thinner appendages lined her upper and lower lids before tugging each to drive it open, leaving Tsuna shrieking in indescribable pain. Color started to leave her. ”I should… do something… Vento needs me. We need to finish Genie’s Lamp… I need to get out… Vento needs me…” “I’m sorry dear, that is a farfetched wish,” whoever were those hiding in the shadows seemed to hear her thoughts. Even if her body felt heavier than before… even if she felt dog-tired… even if her body started to numb out the hostage squirmed in an attempt to save herself but obviously it was all in vain. The appendages tightened their hold onto her. Every passing moment Tsuna felt weaker to the point only her mind was the one revolting as her body had already given up. ”I need to get out. I need to make it up to Vento. I promised him Genie’s Lamp… “ A tear rolled down in her eye as the present became blurred and what invaded her vision was flashbacks of what transpired from earlier back to what happened yesterday. The passionate kiss as the phantom lured them into opening their eyes. Their little spat by the bonfire. The time she tied the woven bracelet around his wrist. The butterbeer incident. The odd morning greeting. ”Why am I seeing all of these? Am I really dying… again?” The hug that almost killed her. The time he walked out of the Inn with just an umbrella on his hand. The moment she lent him her jacket. The first time their hands meet when she took the plastic bag of sandwiches and drinks from him in the presence of Blue Pegasus guild members. The friendly ‘hello how are you’ greeting which was the headbutt. ”I don’t mind. As long as you’ll leave Vento alone, you can take me. Spare him. He needed to finish Genie’s Lamp. He needed to live. There are still a lot ahead of him… I am left with nothing. Take me, just spare Vento.” Tsuna was ready to give in when out of the blue there was an arm that wrapped around her waist and jerked her out of the vortex. She felt the tendrils sliding off her body, and then cold fresh air brushed her skin. Yet she could still not see anything but just pitch white. ”What is happening?” The white overcast on her vision faded as she coughed out, her feet moving on their own as she found herself being dragged … somewhere. Turning her head, she was finally reunited with the raven-haired Vento. First thing she noticed was his right arm was missing --- worry dawned on her once terror-filled visage. But there was no time to waste, no time to question how and why. Even if she was weak she managed to lessen Vento’s burden by moving in synch with him and trying her darndest not to cry anymore, even if it was a cry of relief. Unknown to her, it was not only Vento who had undergone changes. The purple color in her dichromatic eyes vanished. The hair that was once blonde turned bright red, and if she stayed longer in that place it would have turned into a deeper shade. “A wish to conquer the unconquerable and do the impossible – the price has been paid. Congratulations, young ones, for being the first to reach the end of the Genie’s Lamp after hundreds of years.” Tsuna looked up fearing it was the phantom again, but to her surprise it was a man in a thick mud-colored hooded jacket. Despite the thickness of his hood that prevented anyone to see the face underneath, the girl through woman’s instinct could feel the warmth he emitted, the truthfulness in his words and a smile perhaps was etched on his face. She could be wrong though. But what caught her was when he said they finished Genie’s Lamp --- when they haven’t even entered the ruins yet. “V-Vento…” Tsuna raised her arm weakly, the bracelet she wore was crimson, the gems full of scratches which would be the evidence of the torment she had experienced within the mass of darkness. “H-he said we finished Genie’s Lamp…” It was unbelievable --- could it be that Genie’s Lamp… was not the ruins itself? However, instead of being happy, Tsuna started weeping out loudly, unable to control her emotions … again. “Sir, my good sir,” she shouted, “Is what you said true? We finished Genie’s Lamp? We haven’t even gotten inside the cave. But if it is true, can we really make a wish? Sir, my good sir, please… I do not intend us to finish Genie’s Lamp this way. My... friend over here lost his arm because of everything that happened. If we really finished Genie’s Lamp, please… I beg you… bring back Vento’s arm. That’s all I wish for. If you need an offering you can take my right arm. Or take both of my arms. Take my legs as well. I do not care. He needs it more than I do. He cannot afford to lose a part of his body as it is all he has. I still have my magic, other than the fact I have lost a lot in my life already I can afford to lose more. I do not need anything else. Please, my good sir, I beseech you… bring back Vento’s arm.” Tsuna parted herself from Vento, and dropped her knees to the ground. She bent down as if kissing the ground as she kept on shedding tears, hoping that the mysterious man had the compassion and power to grant her wish. Edited by Mariko, Jun 12 2016, 07:26 AM.
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| heiner777 | Jun 12 2016, 10:53 PM Post #39 |
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"Sapientia Sola Libertas Est"
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Silence reigned for a long while as the hooded figure stared at the two adventurers from beneath his imposing cowl, sympathetic to the young woman’s sentiments and her desire to retrieve that which was lost by reason of a power outside of his dominion. In truth, the phantom that manifested itself was the embodiment of a powerful grudge of a scorned soul and its appearance as part of the ‘test’ of the Genie’s Lamp was unexpected, yet by reason of his status as an adjudicator, the hooded man simply allowed things to play out and intervened only when the condition of ‘equivalent exchange’ was met. Every wish had its price – Vento paid the price for his desire to conquer the ruins in exchange for losing one of the hands that ambition favored. With a heavy heart, the figure shook his head, his sentiments blatantly obvious in his somber demeanor. “That… is something beyond my power to do, I am afraid; for every wish there is a price to be paid… and in wanting to conquer the Genie’s Lamp, your friend willingly sacrificed his arm to rescue someone whom he deemed as invaluable to that endeavor. He weighed the scales and considered you as far more important than his own limb – a most noble act of selflessness if I ever saw one. Even among saints, such an act is rare.” He continued with his explanation without leaving his melancholic tone. “I likewise cannot grant you your ‘wish’ in exchange for anything you currently own. Wishes in the Genie’s Lamp, after all, work on the principle of equivalent exchange – something valuable is lost so that something of equal value is obtained. Your willingness to offer your limbs and throw yourself away as if nothing is an empty sentiment that mocks him greatly; he saved you by giving up one of his arms of incalculable worth to him because he saw you as more important than it, yet you freely discard yourself without consideration for how precious you are to him. As it stands, not even a hundred of you are worth even a single one of your friend’s fingers.” “I… would not say that so casually if I were you… your wish, that is,” a familiar voice said with pain and effort apparent in his tone, and directed at Tsuna. “Besides… I never said that I wanted you to waste your wish over something as trivial as this. I am sure you have your own wish too, right? Then use it… you earned that right… so take back your life… ” Vento had woken up from his blissful rest because of Tsuna’s incessant crying which was loud enough to rouse even an unconscious person back to awareness. Now back among the denizens of reality instead of his dream world, Vento slowly sat himself up with his left hand, careful not to aggravate his wounds, and simply glanced at his missing right arm perfectly at ease with it since he already knew the price he had to pay when he decided to save Tsuna from her fate. With a nod – the only thing he did to acknowledge his loss – Vento gazed up at the hooded man then to the now-red-haired young woman bawling like a newborn baby. A sigh escaped him. “Tsuna,” he started, “you are possibly… the worst field assistant I have ever had and will ever have. You are impulsive and reckless, emotional to a fault, and utterly unreliable and unpredictable when overcome with strong feelings of ‘underappreciation’, among other things. Despite that… you have your uses sometimes; and in those rare instances, your performance where it counts… is enough to redeem yourself and makes you a worthwhile tool.” After clarifying himself with respect to Tsuna’s earlier outburst, Vento’s attention returned to the hooded man; curiosity burning in his chest so much that he consciously forced his speech pattern to normalize despite the pain he was experiencing. “Let me just clarify as I was not awake when everything transpired – who are you and where is this place?” The hooded figure gave out a reply. “The Genie’s Lamp – you two conquered it.” “Is the Genie’s Lamp not the cave?” Vento quickly followed up. “The Genie’s Lamp is only a colloquial term; the original name of the Genie’s Lamp is the Cave of Wonders, although the same has been lost in translation. As a guardian and adjudicator, I tried my best to preserve the history of this place, yet people have always had their own conceptions and thus I simply decided to adopt the name of this place according to your generation’s interpretation of it,” the man quickly answered. “But this is not a cave.” “It is in a metaphorical sense.” “Meaning what?” “Meaning that reality and the human perception of reality is like people who have lived in a cave all their lives, staring at shadows reflected by the sun from the outside world. People have always only believed what they see with their eyes and have labeled things based on their own perception. Hence, when you try to tell them that something is not a ‘cave’ when everyone else believes that it is a ‘cave’, they would not only side with their ignorance, they would also be hostile towards you for telling them otherwise.” At this point, Vento finally understood the true meaning behind the figure’s words and understood why it was called as such. Wonder usually pertained to the phenomenal, yet when used in a different context, it might also mean a perusal of thoughts and ideas; in that sense, the Cave of Wonder literally takes on a whole new meaning in the sense of people exploring a ‘cave’ built of ignorance and trying to find the way out through examination and thought, which in itself is a prerequisite to the goal of ‘equivalent exchange’ necessary for the ruins’ wish-granting powers. More and more Vento was becoming engrossed in the matter and continued his line of questioning with renewed zeal, engaging in the fellow scholar with newfound affinity. By the time Vento and the hooded man finished their philosophical and academic jousting, the line of questioning crossed the realm of the nature of the Cave of Wonders. By that time, the rays of the sun had also begun to penetrate the thick canopies of the deep forest. Nevertheless, the two academics continued their discourse. “What is the purpose of the cave then?” he asked again. “That, too, is part of the Cave; it is where the wish-granting lacrimas are stored,” replied the figure. “So the reason why people cannot get past it is because—?” “—they were never meant to pass it, at least not without adhering to the principle of ‘equivalent exchange’. They can try as much as they like, but in the end, they will always fail. Such is the fate of those who are unwilling to take the proper path to success. Sacrifice will always yield to a proportionate reward, whether you realize it or not.” “What is my reward then?” “That is up to you to decide; only you two have earned the right to make a wish based on the sacrifice both of you have made. You, who sacrificed your arm to take back what is yours; and to your friend, who gave up everything she was – including her much valued pride and sense of self – for your sake.” Vento scratched his head with his left hand, chagrin evident on his face. “She… truly is an idiot. I never asked her to sacrifice anything, yet there she goes, saying it as if it were the easiest thing in the world to say.” The being chuckled before he replied. “In its own way, it is an endearing trait. I remember a time when I had someone like that – overly emotional, irredeemably stupid, and deeply loved hamsters. Despite her flaws, it is those which made her beautiful, and I loved her and still do to this day.” Vento paused at the mention of ‘having someone like that’ and looked upon the figure warily. “You mean… you were once human…?” Sorrowfully, the hooded man reluctantly bowed. “Indeed I was. Long ago, when I was alive, I was a warrior – a hero, or so they called me. I took a lot of lives and ruined a whole lot more; eventually, my sins caught up to me and I was mortally wounded. There was no saving me from that so I died as a consequence. My lover journeyed to this place in an attempt to bring me back to life, but in the end, even the Cave of Wonders’ wish-granting powers cannot undo the flow of life.” At that point in time, the figure performed a gesture of his lost humanity and sat on the ground like he used to do back in life as he continued his story. “In the end, she was only able to retrieve my spirit at a dire cost – we were only able to see each other from afar, for as soon as we try to get close to each other, I would disappear. We were like the sun and moon, always within arm’s length, but never being able to touch. So, with the hope of having my own wish granted, I formed a contract with ‘this place’ as a guardian and embodiment of its will hoping that my service would yield a sufficient exchange for my wish to be able to hold her once again.” Upon hearing the closure of the man’s story, Vento closed his eyes and pondered on his options; weighing each one carefully and meticulously, until finally, he came to a decision. It was at that point that he gestured for Tsuna to go first. “Hey, Tsuna, you can go on ahead. I know what I want to wish for, but you should probably go first before me since I doubt you would still be able to make one after mine.” The figure was put aback with Vento’s words, unsure if he had heard the statement correctly as well as what it implied. The raven-haired scholar nodded silently with a smile on his lips – the spirit’s assumption was totally correct. Edited by heiner777, Jun 12 2016, 11:12 PM.
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| Mariko | Jun 13 2016, 01:53 AM Post #40 |
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Phck.
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The woman howled louder realizing her wish could not be granted, just because of this 'equivalent exchange' thing and the fact she could throw herself away despite the young researcher biting the bullet for her. But that was what Tsuna was, or after the tragedy that struck her. She was willing to give up a lot of herself just to make others happy, just for other people not to feel the seemingly never-ending sadness and hopelessness she once had. It wasn't to undermine Vento's sacrifice or how he sees her, it was just... her, plain and simple. Besides, in the short while they had been together Vento earned a special place in her life. It might be some sort of a brother-figure, or maybe because she was drawn to his intelligence and composure, or because of a one-sided attraction, the girl valued him highly that she thought he was of more importance than her. To ask the mysterious man of such a request when she could have asked for riches and the retrieval of everything and everyone she 'owned' could say something of how she regarded him. She was willing to lose her sense of self just for him... which was odd. And like what she said before, she wanted him to be happy. Had the scholar met the heiress prior the clan's fall, she would not regard his sacrifice as something of value, but rather his responsibility... something Tsuna deserved to receive. After all, she was an important figure. For a simple-minded person such as the heiress, everything the hooded spirit said was in a whole different league that there was no possibility she could understand it. In that instance she already knew that Vento and the keeper of Genie's Lamp would gel well together, and it would be for the best of her sanity to steer away from conversing with intelligent men like them. However, it could not be helped. Once Vento spoke --- and from his utterance it could be gleaned that he had been 'asleep' for some time, which didn't make much sense as the two were still treading the waters and the murky path a moment ago --- her child-like wails were pacified... and the deep conversation began with the guardian. In the first few minutes, the red-haired maiden listened quietly, save for a few sobs, to the two regarding the truth behind Genie's Lamp, or rather the Cave of Wonders, but it did not mean that her brain had processed or appreciated what was being discussed. The conversation was siphoning her life source more and faster than the shadowy reaper she encountered inside the vortex. Academic jargons were scarier than the soul of a crazy Ghost magic wielder- slash- ex-assistant. She could feel her brain freezing and melting in the same time, her nose had its major blood vessels ruptured that it felt like blood was freely oozing out of her nostrils. If she continued to be with them attempting to comprehend their alien-like language, she would immediately die due to blood loss and brain trauma. "I... I need space... somewhere away from these two..." Tsuna thought as she trudged the path to a distance where she could not hear them, feeling dizzy because of the scholarly subjects the spirit and the researcher were tackling. She found herself by the shore of the stream, where she sat for the mean time and rest. Good thing there were already strands of light that pass through the thick canopy of the forest, she did not need to worry about surprise attacks. Dipping her injured hand, which at the moment bore a much shallower wound much to her surprise, light of dull green glowed from the waters. In an amazing pace the wound that was missing of several layers of skin healed, and it was only that moment Tsuna realized the stream had healing powers. Yes, she was hours late with her realization. However, the amusement that was etched on her face was comparable to that of a child. Hastily, the teen heiress stripped herself off her shirt and soaked the fabric wet with mystical water. Wearing nothing on top but her chest binder, she rushed to Vento's side, who was still having a scholarly discourse with the nameless spirit, and drenched his injury with the fluid from the stream, hoping that it would stop it from bleeding profusely. Seeing progress, Tsuna ran back to the stream, dipped the cloth and went back to the raven-haired scholar to pour water on his injury. It kept going on for minutes until her ears caught of an interesting truth --- the guardian was once a human. By that time Vento's bleeding had drastically lessened to a point it was not lethal anymore. Listening to the unfortunate story, Tsuna felt her heartstrings tugged prompting her already swelling eyes to shed tears once more. The heiress was always a sucker for love stories, which was typical to ladies her age, even if she herself had not really 'fallen' in love before. Sure, she had prior relationships here and there, but all were because of business ties. She felt envious of the man who had met the person he cherished for his entire life and beyond, yet felt sorry for not being able to touch her and continue to be with her. Just when she was about to wipe her eyes with the wet shirt, Vento turned to her and made her say her wish. She was caught off-guard. Not in her wildest imagination would Vento make her do something before his, or put in regard what she wanted before what he wanted. "Hmmm..." her ocean blue eyes shifted from Vento to the spirit, then back. Thereafter, she clicked her tongue. Thinking was not really her best talent, and it was being obvious because it was taking her time to just come up with a wish. "Uhm. Okay," finally, after fifteen Edited by Mariko, Jun 13 2016, 01:59 AM.
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4:54 PM Jul 13









