HEADLINES

[Torn]

It was just another day, much like any other. The sky was clear, the air fresh. A soft breeze rolled gently through the trees, and the scent of freshly fallen rain still clung to the grass with the ever so gentle scent of Spring.

Calm. That would probably be the best word to explain most events as of late. After Shana's mental breakdown (and the breakdown of her sword, no less), things seemed oddly quiet around the castle of mirrors. People didn't do much, nor did they say much. The battles that charred the landscape were becoming a slow, distant memory.

It was just another day. The summer was oddly hot this year, and it was quite the relaxing event. No demons marched armies over the land, and the grounds themselves seemed to finally be healing. The trees were growing so thick in a certain forest where a rust-covered statue laid, that it was almost shocking. A castle, full of mirrors, was bustling with activity and joy, while certain people laid out on the grass, enjoying the sunlight.

Though Shana seemed to have given up her lease on this world, it didn't give up on her. The seasons continued to move on, and the world was unchanged. The angels that flew and the demons that marched did not stop this - they were merely just acts that followed.

It was just another day. Winter had come a little early this year, with a heavy snowfall just a week after all hallows eve. It wasn't the usual bitter winter, but a calm one. There was only a blizzard or two, and outside of that, some regular snowfall. It was a calm ending to a calm year, following many years of toil, torment, and war. There were no mad warriors vying to control this land, and no abyss attempting to engulf it.

It was just another day.

In the last month of winter, things seemed just a little bit off. Deja-vu would be a mild explanation for many day-to-day events for many people, but it wasn't quite right. Things were strange - felt strange. There was this constant underlying feeling that something was different, or something had been changed. It was hard to pin-point what exactly, but it was definitely strange. All these odd feelings and emotions would be brought to full the day after the last full moon for winter.

The sky was burning red as a comet soared through - coming down and piercing the clouds like some great hammer on an anvil. The Castle of Mirrors would get quite the view of the ball of fire as it streaked across the sky, but not nearly as good of a view as Shana would be receiving. The Comet came crashing onto a lake, not one hundred feet from Shana, instantly shattering the ice that shielded the water from the winds of winter. However, like some massive flat stone, the fiery ball bounced across the surface of the water once, twice then three times, before it landed with a mighty thud on the snow-covered ground. Or, at least, it was snow-covered. Within a few moments, the snow would have melted in a neat circle.

The fiery sky faded as soon as the massive chunk of whatever-the-hell-it-was cooled enough, and once the steam and smoke had cleared, it would be very clear what exactly was laying so close to Shana. A suit of Golden Armor. At first glance, she might mistake it for one worn by a certain angel some years ago, though it would only be for the quickest of moments.

The shoulders were more slender and curved, and the overall appearance was much more streamlined. And, on closer inspection, it would be very clear that there was what appeared to be gears in between the various joints that connected this suit together. In fact, this was far from just a suit of armor, this was what appeared to be a machine!

And, even more curious was the blade Apocratis - silent for over a year since it was broken, the sword seemed to draw Shana toward the armor, as if driving her toward some greater purpose. Whats more, this strange energy that radiated from the armor would act like a beacon to any who looked - which might just sum up the total inhabitants of the Castle of Mirrors.

Though Shana had turned her back toward the world due to her past, it seemed as though the world refused to let her face away. Too bad, just a few hours ago it was just another day.

[Shana Rider]

[OOC: Not my best work, but I felt that I had a lot to accomplish in a small amount.]

IC:

The sound of chimes echoing against the blanket of snow entered Shana's mind and pulled her out of her meditative state. The swelling of the wind brought a chill to her face, and she thought that it was soon to snow again. Sitting up with the hesitation that only stiff muscles and fresh injuries could provide, she noticed the crimson sky.

"A storm?"

--

She had no idea how long exactly she had been trained at this place. There, in the shadows of the mountains, she rarely saw full and complete daylight, which allowed the days to blur together. She was farther from the Castle of Mirrors than she had ever been since its creation, farther from any place that she had ever called home, in fact. That ebony tower was many long miles to the southwest, and it was hard to guess how many small villages and larger cities lay between the two points. Her senses were somewhat skewed lately. Mostly, she sensed occasional movements of the mass that was Abyss, some strange, extremely distant darkness to the south, and the unease of the world around her.

The current state of tension and almost-familiarity was not lost on Shana. In fact, she was probably more aware of it than most, but much like the Abyss, she considered it to be someone else's problem. For the time being, all she was concerned with was herself and her wildly fluctuating powers.

She had made little progress.

After months with nothing to show of her potential power, she had finally been able to muster up small amounts of her ability to touch reality. There was no consistency, however. At best, she could produce extremely brief changes in scenery. At other times, her energies would flare out of control. Many deep gashes in the earth were buried beneath the snow to attest to such. Avoiding others had seemed to be the right choice.

When her power cooperated and her body could handle the strain, she used her powers on the single bit of real scenery near the mountains where she was camped. A lone willow tree stood near the tiny cave that sheltered her from the elements. There, her power had transformed some of the leaves in tiny, metal versions of themselves that gently touched one another in the wind. It was hardly anything of real note, but the sound, to her, meant something. And it was better than nothing.

--

Her hand had absently fallen to the hilt of Apocratis while she had allowed her mind to drift. The fire that streaked from the heavens and the subsequent display of brilliance that followed cause her to grip the weapon tight out of sheer instinct, and when the steam cleared the weapon showed its first signs of life since it had broken. As it had once done in combat, it compelled her to lift her arm in the direction of the suit of armor that fell from the sky.

She stood quickly and regretted it immediately. She nearly fell forward, her battered and exhausted body crying out in protest. Apocratis broke her fall, but just barely. Both of her arms were bandaged from the elbow down; various other areas about her were also in the process of healing. Most notably was a fresh, barely closed gash above her left hip that had been caused when one of her power-surges had gone so awry that all she could do was violently wrench her body and direct the attack upward, falling hard and at a bad angle.

Though she knew better, she had watched that stray energy tear its way through the sky and hoped that perhaps it would cut through the mortal world, blast into the realm between Heaven and mortal Terra, and go even further. Maybe it would reach the Creator and alert that being to her frustration. But of course, it did not.

The armor startled her badly. "Is that..." She shook her head. Don't be that way, she told herself.

With the largest part of Apocratis still in hand, she approached the strange machine with a much more relaxed air than she might have before the blade had broken. She wanted not to be involved as much as possible. That made her wary, but it was hard to work around her worn state.

These days she was wearing tight white covered in various leather straps and belts and matching boots. It was hardly a subtle representation of her mental state, but it was all her power had been able to produce once the dress she had left the Castle of Mirrors with had been torn to shreds.

--

Meanwhile, at the Castle...

The mighty Dragon of God, Braeden Yuki, lifted his draconian head from the snowdrifts. He too, was hypersensitive of the world around him and sensed the same things as Shana and noticed the armor's fall. He, however, found it much easier to ignore the state of things. With a slight growl of a sigh, he lowered himself back into the drifts and closed his eyes.

[Torn]

The storm had already begun to clear, just as oddly as it had shown up. The area around the armor had cooled rather quick, due to the sheer nature of this cold winter gripping the ground so hard. As Shana approached closer, Apocratis seemed to pull just a little harder.

This next part happened a little fast, so it was no surprise to Shana that she'd be finding it rather hard to move.

The suit of armor, giving off no ill-intent, moved so fast and with such strange unnatural poise, that within a moment, it would be standing on the edge of one foot with another arm stretched outright, extended like some great cobra like no living being could be.

And he was holding Apocratis by the blade between two fingers. At that exact moment, Shana would feel a wave of energy move outward from Apocratis - just enough to freeze her in place.

"... Well no wonder your powers are out of control." The mechanical body moved forward, rolling various body parts around in such ways that it was clear there was no possible way he could have a body inside the armor.

He'd be standing in front of Shana, crouched down a little from his imposing height of near seven feet. Green glass eyes, from behind the oddest of masks, peered straight into her own. His ivory face - one half the mask of Comedy, the other the mask of Tragedy - an amalgamation of the very sign of the theater.

But most shocking of all, during this moment of helplessness for Shana, she'd see the remaining three pieces of the mighty sword floating toward this machine's other outstretched hand, where - in mid air - they began to dissolve into a bright powder - only shining like little shards of light. He then outstretched his hand and, at an alarming rate, the shards struck into the broken edge of the blade.

Like a door slamming shut, Shana's powers were, once more, contained. All the stress, horror, and lack of control - gone.

"What's wrong with you mortals anyway?" The Machine flicked his hand to the side, tossing the tip of the blade into the snow - and freeing the freeze it held on Shana. He took a few steps away, arms folding behind his back.

"Honestly, if you put your powers into a blade then of course they'll go haywire after the blade shatters. Especially if the blade was not made for you." He pressed the heel of one foot into the snow, spinning around and facing her yet again. He held out a metal hand, pointing a finger square toward her face. That glance he held - a face that never moved, but eyes that saw everything - was a little relentless.

"He sent me here to make you a proper blade, Destiny Breaker. So stop swinging that awful toothpick around."

[Versailles]

He sat in the frame of the window, one leg perched, the other dangling.

An occasional inhabitant of the Castle of Mirrors from since before Zeroken's reign, the man held an air of familiarity about him. Both boon and burden, the sightly man pondered what another day might bring.


The skies were largely clear, the grounds free of strife and calamity, winds passed, birds nestled,

A sigh escaped his lips as he looked directly at the opposite side of the window's frame.

No rest for the wicked...


It was then, that he felt a sudden shift...

Though he mainly kept silent in recent times, Shana had been warned a few times in the past, in regards to the sword she carried. It's destruction may have only worsened things, but these were but flakes of ice in the parched winter desert.

Oh well...

~ * ~


Tony had been feeling uneasy the past few days. Uneasier than most, anyway. He had slept in past daylight. Was this to become a regular occurrence? For someone who's wings had been clipped, figuratively speaking, he was taking it rather well.

The skies opened up before him, the wind beneath his heels. The area lit up as he left the castle gates. Brushing back his hair and clasping it behind him, he surveyed what lay before him.

The harsh winter wasn't ideal for growing plants, but he managed.

Dressed in white garb and sandals, Tony walked down an ill-used path. And that was when the sky lit up... brighter than he had seen in a long while. A bright glowing red, almost as if a comet were to fall.


Tony turned his head and smelled the air.

And in that moment, he broke into an exceedingly fast-paced run.

...towards the landing site.

[Shana Rider]

Shana was a little slow on the uptake, but when she finally reacted the result was fairly typical.

Her eyes briefly searing gold, a pulse of clear energy burst out of her and whipped up the snow nearby. Her grip tightened around the now heavier hilt of Apocratis. Flipping the blade upward in her hand, she took a step backward into a slightly less exposed stance.

"This awful toothpick if worth far more than you will ever be. What does a pile of metal like you know anyway? Who exactly sent you here and what the Hell are you going on about?"

Touchy, as usual, and as reliably oblivious to that fact that stronger emotions made her more and more powerful. She was mostly dormant at the moment, however. Her block was almost entirely mental, as it always had been.

What did this thing call me? Destiny Breaker. He may know plenty, but it's hard to be sure. Damnit, Shana, relax. Just stay focused. Be careful. She centered her thoughts on the sounds of the metal charms as they moved in the tree's branches.

She released a slow breath. This suit of armor's stare was familiarly unnerving. Why are they always like that?

How long had it been since she had communicated with another being? Perhaps those days were now behind her.

[Torn]

The Metal Man never once blinked as his cerulean glass eyes stared straight through Shana. He took a few steps forward when she had spoke, and he lifted a finger up, pointed at her face in quite the obnoxious 'hush, you' manner.

"Bite your tongue, child. You no not whom you speak to." He set his arm back down - a few squeaks heard here and there from the metal - letting his hand rest squarely on his hip. Apparently, she struck a chord with him.

"I am God's right hand. I was created alongside this world, and I have watched over it with him. I have watched your young race grow from infancy and I have seen others disappear." Once again, he folded his arms across his chest and stepped back, while those unblinking eyes never once shifted from hers.

"The angels wield the weapons I created, and hide themselves in the armor I forge. That very blade you wield is one of my creations." He took another step forward, seeming to pause for a moment in his very words, looking toward the blade she held in her hand.

"I have not a name nor a designation, though if you must name me as you humans name all things, then call me Mavius." For the first time, he broke eye contact with her, staring off toward the distance, as if those glass eyes saw much further than hers might ever imagine. "... That, after all, was my greatest suit."

Mavius shook his head and looked back toward her, unfolding his arms and rubbing his chin slowly with one hand. He rested his elbow in the palm of his other hand, the arm of which was rested across his abdomen. "God sent me here for you, Destiny Breaker. He sent me here to forge you a sword, and to teach you how to use those powers of yours. Though I fear we don't have enough time. You're a horribly slow learner."

[shadowmancer]

Saiyame buried her nose into the snow and wiped at it with her paws to get the blood off. Beside her lay the remains of a large buck, which she had hunted down a few short hours ago and devoured greedily.

“Lady Saiyame, are you quite finished?” Ankoku asked from his perch in a nearby tree. He was dressed in all white; a stark contrast to his hair, which fell like silky night to his shoulders.

Just about, Saiyame responded, giving her muzzle one last swipe for good measure before shifting back into her more humanoid form. It had been far too long since she had hunted, and after taking down this mighty buck she was feeling much calmer than she had in weeks. “Did you feel that energy pass overhead, Anko-kun? Can you place it?”

Ankoku grimaced, and then smiled. “I had hoped you would be too preoccupied with your meal to concern yourself with such matters, Saiyame.”

“Yes, well…” Saiyame trailed off abstractly for a moment before completing her thought. “I am much more…sensitive, I guess, to those matters with which I should or should not concern myself. Even without these new gifts I am certain I would not have missed that particular burst of energy. It is unlike anything I have felt before, kind of.”

“Kind of?” Ankoku inquired.

“It has a sense of familiarity that I cannot place. Somewhat like Shana’s aura, but at the same time completely different.”

“I see.” Ankoku nodded his head toward Saiyame, for once not even thinking of her blindness. It was disconcerting how much she had felt when that meteor had passed overhead, and how much she was able to figure about its energy signature.

“Speaking of Shana, she is not far from here. Perhaps I should pay her a visit?” Saiyame fidgeted nervously as she spoke and kept looking around her as if she hoped her vision would suddenly clear and she would be able to see again.

“I don’t think that would be such a good idea,” Ankoku said, suppressing a sigh with much effort. Gazing down upon Saiyame at that moment, he could only think that she looked lost and scared, perhaps even childlike.

A great deal had changed for the demoness since her soul had returned to her, and not all of it was for the better. Not even she knew much about the changes taking place inside her body and mind, but Ankoku could understand what was going on, especially recently. His thoughts wandered briefly to a few days back, when he had watched over Saiyame as she bathed, and he shuddered at the memory of what he had seen.

“Anko-kun? Are you alright?” Saiyame cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows in a concerned expression.

“I am fine,” Ankoku responded, though he knew that Saiyame could feel the lie pass through his lips.

“If you wish to hide the reasons for your worry from me then that is fine, Anko-kun. But please don’t lie about it, ok? I am trying to get a firm hold on my empathetic abilities, but it is frustrating! I do not like feeling your guilt as you lie to me, or your pity for my suffering.”

Saiyame threw her hands up into the air and then raked one shakily through her hair, and Ankoku found himself surprised at how quickly her mood had shifted. He should have expected it though, because her aura had been fluctuating to all kinds of extremes recently. At the moment it was a beacon that any demon with half a brain could lock on to, or even a relatively gifted human.

She has changed so much in such a short time, Ankoku mused. I wonder how that dragon boy would feel if he could be in her presence now. Perhaps he might snap his teeth at her, or swipe her with his claws.

“I am going to see Shana,” Saiyame announced, turning on her heel and taking her fox form as she did so. She bolted off into the forest, heading for higher ground as Ankoku leapt from his tree and took flight.

“Wait!” He yelled, flapping his wings as fast as he could but failing to catch up to the golden fox. He sighed and slowed his pace knowing, of course, that he would never catch her. No one can…

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

It took Saiyame mere minutes to reach Shana's location, and she burst onto the scene like a golden flame, her fur glowing and shifting with her every movement. Instead of shifting again, she chose to approach Shana and the strange man-armor as she was, sniffing the air hesitantly and keeping her muscles spring-loaded so that she could run away if the energy proved too much for her to handle.

[Versailles]

Tony stepped forward, aware of a strange and conflicting aura that reverberated amongst the gentle rhythm of swaying leaves... a feeling that soared past him in a matter of moments, a fluctuating energy signature that indeed seemed to have left him sooner than it had arrived.

He ran for some distance until the coalescing mass above broke upon him, not a drop from the skies having brushed his skin until this moment's snowy kiss. Icy flakes touched open lips, plumes of cloudy mist steadily rising with the span of each breath, and under the cloudy encampment he gazed forth... and surveyed... what darkness lay before him.


They were fast approaching...

Metal charms chimed amidst the tangled canopy as Tony moved apace, silent cleaved steps carrying him between the ancient beings. Though he had been running fast, his breath was now slowly returning.

Over the hill of ice and shadow, he did pass,

...And there stood Shana, like an image from a dream as a creature of untold curiosity raised it's finger, directed against her face.

A creature both starkly defined and remarkably familiar at the same time.


"Ring a ding ding does the tintinnabulation sing. Named himself Mavius, he did, to begin." came a pointed whisper throughout the wandering chimes, as an icy chill running down the length of his spine. Tony flicked his eyes and immediately swung around in a circle, but it was only the cold air that greeted him. Nothing more.


Gritting his teeth, he trudged forth through the snow, his white garb blending in well with the icy white powder of a winter's close.

He headed directly towards golden fox, balanced child... ...and though it's back was turned,..

...the creature that was addressing her.


Mavius?!!

[Shana Rider]

"You're a horribly slow learner."

Shana loosened her hand and slipped Apocratis into a more casual hold. She could almost feel Mavius's eyes upon the blade when he regarded it. Ladarius said the same thing when he tried to train me. Saiyame's golden aura blossomed on her senses. Guard your thoughts, she scolded herself, Ladarius is your secret to protect.

"Mavius, then. I see. Then you made..." Her eyes dropped to the blade, but her gaze was elsewhere. "I see." And I insulted him.

She returned the blade to its place on her back and took a moment. She had no need to turn her head away from Mavius in order to acknowledge Saiyame. Her energy was so brilliantly warm and bright; its familiarity was such a comfort after her long seclusion. And yet, it had clearly changed, though the exact form was hard to pin down. The fact that her soul had been returned to her body was obvious.

Lifting her free hand in a short wave, Shana tried to decide which was stronger: her relief at a familiar energy or her tension. After all, she had sequestered herself for a reason. That was something Saiyame, of all people, would understand. It took her a second longer to recognize Ankoku's approach; she would have to wonder about what had happened with him later.

Tony was the least familiar to her, but she noted his presence at the sound of the chimes she had made. A tingle down her spine warned her that someone else was probably lurking, but it was hard to focus under Mavius's stare.

She centered herself on Mavius. The name itself curled up somewhere between her throat and her stomach and began to seizure. "I hear you. Something has been set in motion, time is short, and I am required."

For a few moments, her shoulders slumped. Her hair framed her face. She stared at the snow around her boots. He may call me Destiny Breaker, but I am still a slave to mine. She only wore a bitter smile for a second or two.

Fine. I can call it my choice if nothing else. She said, "I knew I couldn't hide forever, but that's alright."

She thought for a moment on events now nearly forgotten by most.

"This is fair."

[Torn]

Beyond this grass, and beyond the very sky. In a place somewhere between this world and the next, floating inches between the seconds. In this odd plane, parallel to the one that Mavius and Shana stood on, there was something else.

The chimes that echoed through these places would soon find itself up against a force far greater than anything it would have ever before seen - moments after it had let the name 'Mavius' tingle to Tony. It was as though by passing this name that the chimes released something in this place between places. The sheer force of the power grew so vast and so rapidly that not a single standing power in any world had ever stood up to it.

Within moments, this omnipresent force soon filled the void between worlds, drawing itself up and around the force that created the chimes. It was both awe-inspiring and frightening - a power so fast, that it made Shana seem completely normal. Thousands of voices, like a rushing wind, suddenly pushed themselves past the essence of the chimes, and would even go so far as to bend over toward the 'real', making light chimes ring out in Tony's ears. The vocies centered around the fragment of a being in the 'other' plane, until, as suddenly as they came, they all slowly shifted languages, words and phrases, until in a great unisen, they all spoke the same name, over and over, like the crushing tides of the ocean, beating on a cliff.

"Julius."

And, like the passing of a tropical storm, the voices - and the raw energy - were both gone as quickly as they came. But there was one thing, even if just for a moment, that might scare Julius. In that moment when the voices left and clarity was restored - just for that instantaneous moment - Mavius' eyes were locked on him, staring through the various planes and places. But only just for a moment.

"You're wrong, it isn't fair. Nothing in life is fair, haven't you realized that yet?" Mavius took a few quick steps toward Shana, catching her rather calmly by the front of her shirt and suddenly picking her off of her feer with a single hand. "There is no higher power constantly balancing the scales here - this is creation. Each and every one of you stand against the darkness, hoping to constantly push it back. Angels and Demons scorched this world to such a point that it lies barren and destroyed - few stand for the right fight, and those who have lie dead!" Mavius then tossed his right arm outward and threw her, literally, like a rag-doll an easy dozen feet.

He casually turned on a metal heel, folding his arms over his chest as he did, apparently not even going so far as to give a nod to the two who had shown up. "... I'm here because, after all this, Heaven finally feels bad. Face it Shana, no matter what happens to this world, people like you will always take up a sword to defend what's right." He paused for but a moment in his conversation to look toward the other two who had shown up, then back again to Shana.

"I'll offer you three this absolution - come with me, and I will teach the three of you power beyond any you've known." Mavius turned his back toward the three of them, taking a few casual steps forward to the edge of the lake nearby - cracked from his less-than-casual arrival. "... As we speak, there are things set in motion that threaten the very essence of our worlds - Heaven, Hell and Earth. All are in Jeopardy." Mavius' metal body made the most gentle of reflections on the calm water, which every now and again lapped forward to splash the most gentle amount of spray on his metal legs.

With a slow, calculated step, he turned around so that he was once again facing the three of them. "... So tell me, would you all stand up against Destiny itself to save this world?"

[Versailles]

The chimes rang in unison as Tony's dexterous frame whipped forth... almost as if his sudden change in speed had disturbed them to the point where they sung...

and he ran with agile stewardship... towards the form of Shana... having little idea what he was getting himself into.


~

Capable and discerning eyes peered forth through the planes... and were met with Hatred. A blackened, burning fire ... a feeling perhaps eternal.

In the blinking moment it had taken Mavius to lock onto Julius, so had his burning eyes turned and focused in return. Though he seemed shocked, almost as if ready to gulp, he forced himself firm, a heavy pressure weighing on his mind.

It wasn't directed at Mavius, no. Despite the references and counter references, no. It was against the world he had been forced to endure.

Amidst the otherworldly chimes that rang his name with glorious wonder, he was seething.


With a snap of his fingers, he took one step in the otherealm and vanished.

~


The white garbed figure of Tony raced gracefully across the snow, a swollen feeling of fear overwhelming him from within.

He hadn't heard the earlier conversation between Shana and the mechanical creature, but after witnessing Shana being tossed across the snow like a doll, he thought it mightn't have been to the creature's liking. He rushed across the snow, listening to the words of Mavius as he did, but it didn't seem like he would make it to Shana's side before the question was proposed.

"... So tell me, would you all stand up against Destiny itself to save this world?"


The mechanical creature's form seemed almost serene. Water lapped across the lake's edge. Tony couldn't answer, he panted white air as he leaped across the snow with each bound, the features of Shana's face now visible in the distance, visible to his human eyes.

Perhaps the answer he was seeking lay within hers...

[shadowmancer]

(OOC: Not my longest or my best, but better than nothing! Ne?)


The sound of chimes was sweet in Saiyame's ears, and simultaneously eerie. She stood motionless for a few minutes, just listening to Mavius speak and trying to sort through the images and emotions hammering at her senses.

"Saya!" Ankoku called, finally breaking through the foliage and making his appearance. He hardly spared Mavius a glance as he swooped down to Saiyame's side and rested a firm hand on the top of her head. "Come on Saya, why don't you greet your friend properly?" he whispered.


Ankoku's presence calmed Saiyame almost immediately and she shifted smoothly into his arms. Her mind couldn't help but try to sift through the many images that had passed through it as various unstable powers swirled around everyone gathered. She had seen a flash of eyes that seriously unnerved her, a key that she didn't recognize, and long silver locks of hair with white wings. Other thoughts and pictures floated around with no substance, and Saiyame couldn't make any sense of them.

Calm down Saiyame, and focus only on me. There is too much mischief here for you to handle right now. And a lot of powerful emotions as well, I am sure.

Saiyame's barely perceptible nod was enough for Ankoku to know that she would be okay. For now, at least.

"If there is such a thing as destiny then of course I would fight it to protect those who are important to me. However, power is not something that interests me, unless you think you can give me some measure of control over what I already have."

A slight tingling feeling made its way lazily down Saiyame's back but was gone before she was sure she had felt anything. She ignored it and stepped away from Ankoku, closer to Shana.