Back In Town

The forest hermit dressed in white flowing garbs and large monk beads about his body is the first to look up as he watching the new comers enter into the area via a warp portal. He was familiar with Izuya since he hung out with me from time to time, but the other one seemed to be foreign to the monk. Noticing the pause in the monk’s speaking, I stop hitting the post before me for a moment as I turn around while standing up straight. I recognize Izuya approaching along with someone else. Minimizing the fact that he teleported them somewhere, Izuya answers, “To the forest, silly; where do you think you are.” Seeing me turn around, he lifts a hand and waves, explaining, “This is our guide Seiki.” Looking to Seiki, he smiles impishly knowing that Valkrist would recognize the human. He counter introduces, “Seiki, this is Krist. He’s a friend of mine.” I regarded a friend of Izuya’s as a friend of my own. Up to this point, I had never seen Valkrist in this form and I knew of him as Nova. Izuya clarifies, “Seiki-kun has been there and back, so it would be easier if he led us there.” I would be left out of the loop as to where I was leading who. I shrug, “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do, but I’m happy to help.” I chuckle, “I generally end up learning new stuff every time I do something weird to help you anyways.” The back of my fist wipes my forehead as I lift a hand and greet, “hey how’s it going, Krist?”

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“Pretty good,” I flash a casual grin as I motion to the strike posts, “just getting some practice in here.” My gaze shifts to Izuya as I ask, “So what am I supposed to be leading you to?” Perking up with an “ah” he clarifies, “remember that time you were telling me about when you went to the Succubae lair.” I shake my head, “no…” I didn’t remember talking to him about that, but I had a good idea of how he knew. He continues, “great, I need you to take us to that place.” With a grin, I fold my arms at my chest and raise an eyebrow as Izuya as I confirm, “I’m very glad to hear that. For a minute, I thought you were gay.” Izuya chuckles lightly and waves his hand dismissively as he asks, “so you’ll take us there, correct?” With a grin, I say, “sure, but… I’m not sure if I’ll be able to open the entrance… we might have to retrace my steps.” With a shrug, I confirm, “but we’re half way there!” I motion towards the monk who pulls on his pipe before looking towards me and raising an eyebrow, blowing out the smoke. “Oh,” he comments, “he needs a scroll. It’s going to cost you $1000 or 1000 Shinny.” Izuya looks to Valkrist and simplifies, “a small fee to pay for a great reward. There are more rewards than simply succubae in this pit of lust!”

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The monk looks up, but as if no consequence to him, he returns to smoking his pipe and observing the back and forth. Izuya shrugs and gives a grin as he comments, “hey hey now, I didn’t know about the money part until now. Honest.” I didn’t know about that word when it came to Izuya, but I did know from experience that the situation seemed fishy. Speaking up, I mention modestly, “Yeah, I had my reservations about having to pay at first, but in this quest you’re actually going to need to use the powers of this monk here to convert the scroll to a map that will give us the location of both the lair as well as an ancient treasure. It’s not a bad deal for about a week’s worth of pay. At least I thought it was worth it. Thanks to it, I now have infinite storage for my weapons and more stamina than I ever had before.” Izuya chirps up, “up to now I’ve helped you without asking for anything in return. You shouldn’t be so stingy. But… in the end, this is for you. It’s up to you to decide if you want to spend this small amount of money or not. The best prizes in life are the ones that you have to pay for!” I scratch my head not really sure if that was the right saying. I murmur, “I thought the best things in life were free…”

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Izuya is blushing as he is glared at. The money seems to come my way and I catch the pouch that had been tossed to me. I felt there might have been a misunderstanding as I seemed to have become a middle man all of a sudden. I look at the money that was tossed to me and look to the monk as I walk it over to him and hand over the money to him. I came to understand that I must have become associated with the monk, as if business partners or something. I joke, “I’m going to have to get a commission if I bring you customers.” The monk gives a fake laugh while taking the money and placing it within his white garbs. After securing the payment, he looks to me and informs, “you got the order wrong, haven’t you young man?” I look at the male blankly for a moment before I realized that I did not get the scroll from him, I got it from the Sage by the cove. “Oh!” I remember as the light comes back on upstairs, “we get the scroll first -then- pay!” I wondered why he asked for the money upfront, though. I figured it was because Krist looked shady and shifty. Turning back to Krist and Izuya, I perform a swift set of hand seals with no chant. A portal is generated on the ground before us and I explain, “We have to go near the sea. This way!” Izuya skips, moving past Krist to the portal and enters into it. I motion for Krist to go in, and I would follow. We would come out on the North Western Archipelago at 3S on any contemporary map. There would be sandy beaches and the sea to welcome us.

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Ooc: You could have told me my word count was off.

My body comes out of the portal and my sneaker covered feet comes out into the sandy beaches of the north western archipelago. I look around for a moment before my gaze shifts to the point, out in the distance, where the sage would be staring off into the endless see. This would be the one that we would receive the scroll from. With a nod of affirmation, I look back to the smiling Izuya as I comment, “Well, we’re here.” I begin to explain what would have to happen, but reading my mind ahead of time, Izuya picks up on what needs t go down and he opts to answer for me as he looks to Valkrist and speaks, “all you have to do is go over there to that old man staring out into the sea in the distance on the strait of land leading out into the sea. Tell him that you’ve come for the scroll and we can move on from here!” I give Izuya an odd look; he had the gist of it right, but he left out a kind of crucial point there.

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I watch as Krist makes his way from us to head to the sage. I still felt I probably should have warned him, but Izuya spoke into my mind and advised me that everything was going to be alright. Looking between this Krist guy and Izuya, it was a little hard for me to believe that they were actually friends. From the way he was acting, I wondered if he was a demon. I would have to sense him to see what his aura looked like; the way he was acting, he acted a lot like the demons I had come into contact with in the past, notably Mukesh and Nova. Before I sense out to feel his aura, Izuya comments, “how do you think this is going to go?” I shrug and ask, “Is he strong?” Izuya shrugs as well and comments, “I hope he is, for his sake.”

The old man in loose brown sleeveless garments continues to gaze out into the sea, standing stoically still with an impressive amount of concentration and patience as he gazes out into the wafting seas. He does not turn or show any response to Valkrist’s presence until the Oni speaks. When he moves, it is almost as if a statue reacted. He turns around, allowing his face to be visible; it looked as if his face was consistent of sandstone with a bald head and a long twisted and braided white beard beneath his lips. His attention seemed to be piqued at the mention of the scroll. He answers very firmly and calmly, “then you must defeat me.” With those words, the sage’s body begins to transform into a large sea goliath coming to tower several stories over Valkrist. He punches his fist into the mixture of sand beneath him that instantly begins to fill with waters from the surrounding seas. He pulls his arm out of the sand, pulling with it, a large 2 story stone sword and warns, “prepare yourself.” As he rips the sword up from the ground, he sends a one story wave of sand and water towards Valkrist.

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The large stone humanoid goliath’s eyes follow Valkrist as he lifts above the initial attack and evades it. He notes the weapon that comes into his hand and sees that his opponent would not be fighting unarmed. As the dark wave comes crashing towards the goliath, he swings his blade against it. The clash occurs for a moment before the large stone sword slashes through it, dispersing the attack. The blade swings back the other way, sending a crescent wave of earth in an attack that seemed to mimic Valkrist’s. The sharp wave of earth would span about the length of fifteen feet and be razor thin.

From the peanut gallery, I would be watching with Izuya as I comment, “will he be mad with you for not telling him he had to battle?” Izuya shakes his head and comments, “no, he’s not that type of person, but he does have a medical condition that leaves him in pain all of the time; that’s why he seems upset most of the time.” I nod, “ah, that explains it then…” He explains, “it’s called sticknbutz. I hear it’s very painful.” I rub my chin, “sounds painful.” I look back up and root on Krist from my position calling out, “do your best!” From our spot, we would be a safe distance from the battle, at least for now we would be.

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The crescent earth wing flies through Valkrist’s position and continues onward through the clear skies. The goliath seems to react to Valkrist coming behind him, as if sensing his movements. “You have some skill,” he would admit to the Oni with whom he was currently fighting. He quickly stomps down, sending up a column of earth to block the attack from his side while murmuring a spell that causes the ground to become liquid and travel up quickly. The sand would attempt to latch onto Valkrist and pull him down into quicksand that would be waiting on the ground below.

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The howl catches the large goliath off guard as the sound causes some type of paralyzing bind over its form. The attack to the binding sand is enough to break it and the slashing blades attack meet their mark. The sands are dispersed and Valkrist would find himself free. As for the goliath, he would forcefully be in the process of breaking free from the binding properties of the howl, seemingly to epic to be held in place by it. By the time Valkrist would find himself free, the Goliath would be just breaking free from the properties of the howl.

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Izuya and I continue to watch from a safe distance as the battle continues between the demon and the titan. I remembered going against the large goliath and his stone sword; it was not an easy battle. I had pulled out all kinds of tricks, but in the end, I discovered that the goliath was immortal. I didn’t know if that meant that he couldn’t die at all, but I did know that it was hard and hell to put him down for good. I wondered how much he would put Krist through before judging him to be worthy. Looking to the side, I look to see if Izuya was having similar deep thoughts. To my surprise, he seemed to be paying more attention to his phone than the battle as he was in the middle of sending a text message to someone. After sending the message he looks up to me and asks, “hey, what type of food are you feeling after this? I’m in the mood for something spicy.” A sweat drop falls down the side of my face and I turn my attention back to the battle.

When the attack is hailed from the sky, it rapidly strikes down and cleanly hits the goliath and the surrounding area is torn asunder. With the final bolt, a large explosion occurs on the goliath’s form that rocks the surrounding area. It was an impressive attack from the distance it was viewed by those in the peanut gallery. The goliath would be in a crouching posture, but would not be composing after the attack. He would admit, “Very god. That almost hurt. I suppose you can be judged to pass. What was your name, little one?” The goliath stands up and suddenly appears undamaged by the attack in almost a glossy manner.

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“Valkrist…” the resounding voice speaks with a nod of approval. From there, the goliath’s body begins to morph as it shrinks in side and returns to the size of a normal human. The appearance of the sage who had been staring out into the sea returns and float above the broken grounds caused by the imprints of his previous form. With his eyes on Valkrist, he reaches into his modest garments and pulls out a scroll and then holds it out in front of him with his right hand. Releasing the scroll, it begins to float through the air towards Valkrist where it would be offered to him. The sage would stroke the long braided beard with his head tilted up and giving a lingering gaze to Valkrist before he turns and orders, “go, you have passed my trial.” With that, he would float back to where he had been staring out into the sea.

With a nod and a grin, I comment to Izuya, “that wasn’t too bad, that guy’s not too shabby. I might have to fight him one day.” Izuya murmurs something under his breath like, “you already have.” Looking to him, I inquire, “huh? What was that?” Pretending to clear his throat, Izuya assures, “I said nothing. But this didn’t take as long as I thought it would. That’s a good thing; now we can get onto the next place from here.” I nod, waiting for Krist to make his way back to us, “but it’s still far from over.”

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Wanting to mitigate the negativity of the conversation to come as much as possible, Izuya is proactive in moving right along to the next stage of the plan. Looking to me, he comments, “well then, our guide, what will be next on our list of things to do.” With the mic passed to me, I wait for Izuya to near and offer a “good job” to the battle that I had just witnessed. “You’re pretty skilled,” I admit, “you got some good moves.” Izuya, as impatient as ever, clears his through and cuts me off stating, “where to next, captain.” Looking back to Izuya I decide to continue on with things as I nod and comment, “all right.” Normally, Hembree would probably not be there by the time we would get back and we would have to look for him another day, but I felt with the urgency that I wanted to assist Krist with and I hoped internally that Hembree would be findable when we returned.” I perform a hand seal and create another portal, causing an oscillating column of light to waft before our presence as I comment to Krist so that he would know what to expect, “now we take that scroll back to Hembree and he will unlock it and turn it into a map. From there we can move onto the next area.” With this kind of like a scavenger hunt, I was having a little fun even if I hadn’t gotten to battle any. With that, Izuya skips towards the portal, seemingly attempting to avoid too much contact with Krist. I motion for Krist to enter and I would follow in behind him as we would come out back where we had originally started near Hembree’s rock and my training grounds with the poles.

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Coming out of the portal, I step into the familiar forest settings with Izuya and Valkrist as I answer him from his previous question, “it’s a very long process to learn how to channel via hand seals. There’s something about learning the ancient language of the hand seals and channeling them takes about three months or so of very intensive training... I think.” My memory was a bit foggy on what all I went through since it all seemed to mesh together in the training that I took part in. I continue, “But it’s not the main purpose of the ability; it just helps out with something much larger.” My words end there for now. Looking up, I notice Hembree smoking a pipe on the rock he normally sat at while he spoke with me and I trained. He seemed to be speaking to someone, but that someone was only a shadow for the brief moment that we would be able to see him. From the energy feeling he gave off, I knew it was the bounty hunting shinobi known as Shadye. Approaching Hembree from an initial distance of about 10 or so yards, I reach him and motion to Krist as I comment, “he got the seal.” Hembree seemed a bit impressed as he comments in a bland tone, “that was fast.” Walking up next to me at my shoulder as if placing me between himself and Valkrist, Izuya comments, “it’s to be expected from my bodyguard.” Ignoring him, I look to Krist and the monk, Hembree, speaks to him from his perched position on the rock asking, “can you set the scroll down here in front of me?”

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With the seal placed down, Hembree holds the pipe firm in his lips as he utilizes his hands, pulling back his sleeves for a moment as he holds his hands out and over the scroll while chanting something in an ancient and foreign tongue. The paper explodes with a puff of smoke but seems to be okay when the monk finishes this procedure. With a nod to me, he assures that it was done and manipulates the wind beneath the scroll to send it up twisting into the air before Valkrist for him to take it. “The directions are on that map,” the Monk explains to him before being through with the conversation. Looking to Valkrist, I clarify, “it’s somewhere in the forest. When we get near there, the map will start to glow. The faster the glow pulses, the closer we’re getting to the first place that we have to go to! Um… I can’t fly, so do you want to try to find this place yourself, or will you and Izuya be fine?” I look between the both of them, but Izuya, of course, assures they would be just okay together. I wait on what Krist says first.

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With a nod, I agree to the terms and admit, “well, it was really cool meeting with you. I hope we get to spar in the future, you look like you have some good moves.” With that, I would bid him farewell and allow him to leave to pursue the rest of the journey on his own with Izuya. I felt a little bit bad for him, since he seemed like a well composed individual. I wondered how long that would hold up with that Kami in his presence. I was of the opinion that Izuya could drive people insane, or at least that was his major calling in life. Izuya look over towards Valkrist and motions, “I’m ready whenever you are. I’ll allow you to lead the way since I’m more of a bottom.” I cringe lightly; it was comments like those that made me wonder about Izuya’s sexual orientation. Either way, I stay quiet on the issue. I assumed since he was looking for the succubus and not the incubus, that Krist was heterosexual. Little did I know just how heterosexual he was and that he had already been sexual with my childhood friend Akera in another body.

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I watch them go as I think on his words. I wondered if he meant to say that he hadn’t even shown much of his full potential. If that were the case, then I knew I could have a pretty epic battle on my hands. I hadn’t gone all out in a while, though the idea of doing such wasn’t really suited to sparring. I felt that it was too bad that Krist wasn’t some demon who caused me or those I knew misfortune or trauma. But he had mentioned something odd that I didn’t get. He told me to take care of my friend; I wondered if that meant that he was able to easily read the type of person that I was. I would have to think on those words a bit longer before I could actually get anything from them; I figured it was probably said on a whim.

Izuya giggles gleefully to the comment provoked from Valkrist and waits for him to lead the way. With the verbal call to move out, Izuya slowly lifts in the air behind him before turning towards me and waving, “see you, Seiki-kun. Let’s meet up later to go over some stuff.” I give a nod to confirm him on that before his gaze shifts to follow the flying Valkrist. Following the Oni, he ascends into the skies that would take them to the next destination, the location on the map. As he originally assumed, this was turning out to be a fun day.

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I watch as they lift off and continue towards the west; it must be nice to be able to fly. I give a light grin and then turn around, heading back towards the rock and training area where Hembree would be. As I walk that way, Hembree states, “they won’t know where to go next.” I pause as I think about it and realize that Krist’s goal was the succubus, not the little Tomo-chan storage pal. “Ah,” I state, “that’s right. He won’t know to come back to you for some vague reason… but they’ve already gone.” Hembree takes a puff from the pipe held in his right hand before mentioning, “the dig site is only 2 feet away from where you find yours.” I pause and blink, “so I could have just warped us there?” Hembree shrugs, “yup.”

While flying gracefully behind Valkrist, Izuya hears the incoming question and shrugs. “Seiki moves around so much, it’s hard to remember all the details. I haven’t actually been to this place, remember?” He grins, “though, I think Seiki-kun didn’t have to spend as much time with the goliath compared to you.” He didn’t know if that was true or not, but that didn’t matter at all to him. He inquires with a sly smile, “don’t tell me you’re going to tie me up and do this and that to me?...”

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Since there was still I needed to let them know, I decided it would probably be best if I met them there. I didn’t know how long that would take, though. I give a light sigh and scratch the back of my head.

Izuya gives out a deflated, “awww” at the comment of not having any rope. As he continues, Izuya simply listens on with a content grin as he comes to understand a bit more about the horse from the horse’s mouth. “Is that so,” he simply intermits when there is a pause. With Valkrist’s personality, Izuya wondered how he would do versus Shioriko; that would be a good battle of sex to watch. The Kami decide that I would have to set it up for the future. Moving on beyond that, he continues, “I wonder who will win between you and the succubus in that case. From what I understand, they will have sheer numbers over you. I wonder if you’re man enough to satisfy all of those women…?”

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Judging from the sheer distance they would have to travel, I figured what their approximate location probably was and thought about calling Izuya on his phone to tell him that I would meet them there. Though speaking on the phone might be hard while flying in mid air, I figured he should at least be able to check a text message when he touches down. That way I would know when he got there and I could just portal in. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my cell phone and turn it sideways, opening up the keyboard feature as I proceed in texting Izuya, ‘Text me when you land.’ It was simple enough; I could talk about why when I got there.

Reading his surface thoughts and listening to his words, Izuya knew that Valkrist seemed like he was the type to respond aggressively to being challenged. Ever the pacifist and coward, Izuya diverts in a teasing tone, “the bodyguard shouldn’t be the lover as well. You have to fulfill one duty before you can be promoted. But still, do you think you have enough time to waste on me? I’m certainly convinced that you could dominate me at anytime.”

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After the text message is sent, I return the phone to my pocket and shift my gaze to Hembree, who was disinterested in whatever I was doing. With no need to really say anything, I turn around and wait for a while. I decide that I should probably get back to training and simply keep the ringer on my phone up so that I would know when he texted me. With that, I turn back to the log pillars that I had set up to train again. I hear a voice before seeing the actual body, “you’ve trained your body enough today. Work on your magic, young one.” Looking up, I see one of my many sensei’s, Shayde-sama, standing with his arms folded on one of the striking posts. He leaps off, flipping once in the air before landing in front of me. He continues, “you were working on your ice element. Show me what you’ve learned thus far…”

Izuya admits honestly, “back then, you gave out vibes that you weren’t into such a thing. Could it be that you’ve started to blur the lines between sexuality? Does it no longer matter what gender, so long as you can dominate them? Or could it be that you were just playing hard to get when we first met? I take it you’re not one to allow yourself to be dominated, are you?”

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“Hai, sensei!” I give an energetic nod with an arm pump before turning and looking to the several poles that were set up for my martial arts practicing. If I messed them up, I could always just put more there and attempt to fix the ground, which made me wonder if I should move into earth magics as well. Either way, with Shayde-sama here, I would attempt to show him some of what I learned, though I was still far from fluent in these techniques. “Use only ice for defense and offense,” he commands from behind his flowing black shinobi cloaks. With a nod, I accept this. He leaps up with an elaborate backflip before landing a few more meters away from me. “Let’s begin!” he comments as he performs a hand seal that lifts bits of earth from the ground to hover around him. “I will not go easy on you!” he exclaims. Yelling back, I agree, “Hai, sensei!”

“I see, I see,” Izuya says, understanding the words from Valkrist. He understood that Valkrist was well within his abilities to dominate his body because he probably wouldn’t see such as thing as rape as attacking or trying to hurt him. It was something different, oddly different, that might provide a loophole to the mental suggestion that was planted deep within Valkrist’s mind. But still, he wondered would Valkrist dominate his own brother or kin that he was sworn to protect. Izuya chose that it would be best not to chance it. He continues, “so when we reach the succubus lair, will you be sharing?”

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Shayde sends the jagged projectiles of earth towards me and standing my ground, I perform a hand seal and a continuation that lifts up two walls of ice, one after another in front of me. I wasn’t going to take any chances in underestimating his powers. Due to the fact that I wasn’t solid in my ice techniques, the ice walls were weak and it took both of them to defend against the earth attack. “Too weak!” Shayde comments as he performs a hand seal and the ground rumbles as his energy channels from him, through the ground and towards me. Looking down, my eyes narrow as I leap into the air as toothed earth projections rise from the ground in a skewering manner. My body flips back once before I land and thrust my hand forwards, “rush of the ice Shiva!” The ice beam fails on initialization and only a weak stream of molten ice spews forth pitifully. Shadye channels his energy through the earth lifting a twenty foot wall of earth over me as he scoffs, “that’s the limitation of your ice powers?”

--

“Oh?” Izuya realizes as he continues to listen to and fly beside Valkrist on their way past the city and to the portion of the forest as indicated on their current ‘treasure map.’ To this point he hadn’t realized or given much thought to the fact that he had only made homosexual comments around Valkrist. Though, now that Valkrist didn’t seem bothered by it, it wasn’t as fun as it used to be. Izuya was the type to get off on reactions and emotions from other people rather than physical contact. He was less interested in doing something than actually talking about it and making others uncomfortable or react in an amusing manner. Still, this was not information that needed to be portrayed in any manner. He simply chuckles, “well I guess we have more in common than initial thought. Though, I’m sure if we were outnumbered, the succubae would simply have their way with my body. Not that I would hate such a thing.”

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