Don't you feel it?
Don't you feel me?
Ayeseru, did you really forget about me?
You couldn't of forgotten about me...
It is literally impossible for you to forget me, after all.
For you see...
I am you.
Don't you feel me?
Ayeseru, did you really forget about me?
You couldn't of forgotten about me...
It is literally impossible for you to forget me, after all.
For you see...
I am you.
Ayeseru woke up drenched in sweat once more. As nights went by, she would be awakened by the sound of a voice. It was always the same voice, the same words; she could be having the most pleasant dream in the world, only to have it ruined by her vision going dark, the same, red eyes staring right into her, repeating the same words.
Over, and over again
However, that was not the only thing that was strange. It has been made very well known to certain people, that Ayeseru had two sides to her; one of pure evil, whilst the other one is her "normal" one. As of late, Ayeseru had found herself to give in to her... "Other" side's urges. She finds herself being more aggressive at times, desiring the destruction of everything, mass genocide, and death. Even now, as she shivers in her bed, covered in sweat, the feelings of wanting to strangle someone were strong.
She rose from her bed, in the darkness, naked, fortunately alone, so no one could view her delicate, feminine, bare figure. She stumbled over to her bathroom, and almost fell on her sink, barely able to extend her arms out in time to catch herself; she was quite shaken up, as she normally was when she experienced the strange vision. She splashed some water on her face and quickly glanced over to the window. "So, the sun is rising, huh...?" she mumbled to herself. It was still pitch black, though Ayeseru was more than capable of telling when sunrise was coming, due to her magical prowess.
She sighed deeply, and looked back at the mirror, gazing upon the body she never wanted others to see, and has been quite successful on that regard. She smiled. It wasn't anything special; very small, quite slender, and her bust wasn't anything special, either, though it was her preference in woman, as strange as that might be, and now that she had it herself, well... It had begun to grow on her. Admiring her own figure for several minutes, something strange had happened. The vision she had on her mirror suddenly became twisted; it was as though her face itself had suddenly rebelled against her, and now, what she was staring at was herself once more... Only this time, her eyes were blood red, and her hair was as white as snow.
Ayeseru's eyes widened with fear. W-what?! The opposing image of her smiled eerily at her, tilting her head sideways. "Don't you... Want to find out the truth?" Ayeseru took a step back out of fear; what was happening? She was actually feeling... Fear? Not only that, but what was this image that had suddenly popped up out of nowhere? The voice was dark and twisted, which didn't help matters, either. "Go to... The origin of your lessons... That's where... Yo-" before it could say another word, Ayeseru clenched her fist and smashed the window to pieces; it had sounded like a gun shot, it was so loud. Fortunately, she was staying at her own house, rather than her dorm in Blue Pegasus, so no one came around to check on her.
Her fist was bleeding, though she quickly washed it up, and swept the mirror shards from the floor. It was the first time that she had experienced such a sight, though she knew exactly what it was, so there was no way she could ignore it. She quickly combed and braided her hair; girl habits were also rubbing off on her, and quickly dressed herself up - no need to go into details, boys~
It was time to go to the Silent Cemetery, and so with being prepared and all, Ayeseru set out.
Several hours later...~
The eerie mist that always filled the Silent Cemetery never sat well with Ayeseru. Despite this area being where she grew up with her parent dragon, there were just some things that never did change, and that was one of them. She walked by the cemetery silently, unsure where to travel or what she sound be pursuing. In fact, why was she even there? How did she not know that she was going insane? Ayeseru curled up on the floor and clenched the sides of her head with her hands, looking down with wide eyes; demonic instincts overtaking her. Shit...! Her eyes forcefully became blood red, and it was so painful that she yelled out. She was gasping and panting as she felt the roots of her hair change; they were becoming white. She let out an extended cry of pain as she clenched her head so hard it looked as though she could smash her own head at any time.
However, just as suddenly as the feeling came, it vanished. Everything returned back to normal. Ayeseru got on all fours, and began panting heavily, even spitting out some blood. She remained on the ground for several more seconds as she mustered what was currently pathetic strength; barely enough to get up and continue walking, though it had to be done. She knew that if she didn't solve the problem as it was now, it would only get worse and worse, till the point that her other side would take control. She stumbled through the forest, on occasion stopping by some of the gravestones, only to find them nameless. There was one grave, however, that did have a name, and when she read it, she gasped, her eyes widening once more, taking a few steps back, actually tripping.
Ayeseru Suzumoto
It was... Her name...! She quickly got up, and looked at the gravestone which happened to be next to it, and on it, happened to be written... His name...
Sapphiron
Ayeseru took a few steps backwards; what was happening? Ayeseru never died... Did she? No... That was impossible! She knew she was alive... She could breathe, she was conscious... Even seeing Sapphiron's name surprised her; that one day, he disappeared, and Ayeseru had no recollection from that day. Could it be that... He died..? Tears welled up in her eyes... She had no idea what was happening. It felt like a bad dream. It had be be a dream, right? That's right! Soon, she would hear the same voice, saying the same words!
Don't you feel it?
Here it was! The words that would awaken Ayeseru from the nightmare! Never before had she greeted them with such open arms!
Don't you feel me?
She was still terrified of the words, especially after the strange nightmare she had, however, she decided that she'd finally approach someone about the... Problem, once she woke up!
Ayeseru, did you really forget about me?
She also decided that she was going to find out the meaning behind the words, too.
You couldn't have forgotten me...
Of course she couldn't! You were always there to remind her!
It is literally impossible for you to forget me, after all.
And if Ayeseru could must up the courage to do so, she'd bring along a few friends and actually go to the Silent Cemetery, to see what really was there now.
For you see...
It was very near. Every time that Ayeseru heard these words, she would begin to walk backwards; at first it was out of fear, now it was mere instinct. She was ready to wake up!
I am you.
But she never woke up, for she was always awake.
But she never woke up, for she was always awake.
Ayeseru had her eyes closed throughout the speech, and once it was done, she opened her eyes, expecting to wake up in her warm, comfortable bed.
But she didn't.
When she opened her eyes, all she could see was a shadow darker than the pure darkness itself surrounding her; it was as though she was in a room with nothing but that. It was too powerful for her; she couldn't even see through it. She screamed in terror, a rare feat on its own, yet, she couldn't even hear the sound of her own voice. She was drowning. The shadows, which normally embraced her, were now poisonous to her. They had rebelled against her. They were... Fighting her. Or could it be, that... There was always a different power that she was unaware of?
Ayeseru didn't know, nor would she have the opportunity to know, because she was falling. Screaming was useless, so she simply shut her lips; she couldn't even hear her voice to keep herself sane! She didn't know where she was going, but she was scared. Very scared. It felt like the sensation she had when she met- Wait! She was going to meet with... Her other side! The sensation was too similar, though, Ayeseru couldn't realize that in her terror-struck state, and thus, simply allowed herself to fall.
But there was only one destination, and she knew it all too well.
The Silent World
Ayeseru woke up in an all too familiar territory. She would've liked to claim that she had no idea where she was, but that would be a lie on her part. The dark soil that she would lay, mist barely hovering over it. As Ayeseru looked up to gaze upon the sky, all that could be seen were her shadows, but... Darker? She would lay next to a tombstone, barely any colour to it. She got on her knees, and then on her feet. She looked around, only to see that she was in a graveyard, similar to the Silent Cemetery, however, this graveyard was floating in the middle of darkness, far, far away from any form of civilization... Or other universe, for that matter. When Ayeseru turned around, that's when she saw it - herself.
However, this was her darker half, very evident from the blood red eyes, and wild, white hair, though unlike the past, it was now a mirror image of herself, with those exceptions. It stared at Ayeseru, with a twisted smile plastered across its fact, head tilted to the side. "So... You... Came, huh...?" Ayeseru simply remained silent as she stared at her other half, "Good, good... As you can see, I've become more like you... Wanna know why???" Not responding verbally, Ayeseru simply nodded, slowly, "It's... Quite simple, really... We're FINALLY becoming one again!" Not a second of hesitation, Ayeseru's other half, which she always called "Shadow" was up in her face, a fist full of the strange new, darker shadow. Instinctively, Ayeseru had thrown her face forward to the fist, to consume the shadows, however, unlike the other times she had encountered Shadow, she was unable to consume its shadow powers.
When Ayeseru tried to consume it, it tasted like moldy spicy food, and ended up choking on it, which meant that Ayeseru took the full blow to her face while still unable to properly move and being sent back a few ways back, hitting a tombstone or two along her way. After she literally vomited the shadows out, she coughed, and got back on her feet, shaken up. So that's where the strange shadows are coming from, huh...? Ayeseru looked at Shadow, only to see it laughing in a maniac-like fashion. "NOW YOU GET TO SEE MY TRUE POWER!" Ayeseru grit her teeth, and decided to retaliate with the same force; investing a heavy amount of shadows to her right hand, she charged over to Shadow with Shadow Step, instantly appearing in front of Shadow, and was able to sock its face quite well, but... What was this?
To begin with, Shadow didn't even flinch, and, her shadows... They're being consumed?! When Shadow had finished her meal, she took a hold of Ayeseru's extended hand, and moved it from her face; not even a scratch! Shadow smiled, and giggled, "Sapphiron always did have delicious tasting shadows... I'm grateful for him to have done this!" Shadow proceeded to create strange pillars of the new, darker shadow around Ayeseru, having them collapse upon the two, the pillars then shattering to pieces, cutting Ayeseru all over, while it didn't harm Shadow. The shards had done something to her body, judging from the fact she could no longer move after that spell was cast, and now, she was grabbed by the neck by an extended shadow claw spell that Shadow had produced.
She was dying.
Ayeseru was gasping for air to no avail, eyes closed as she attempted to focus on releasing the grip, but it was no use, she couldn't release herself from its grasp. Air was escaping her lungs whilst her life was being drained; visible through her eyes. At this point, her body had gone limp, so even her eyes were now opened, and she was facing Shadow. It was almost a beautiful scenery - Shadow had sprouted beautiful wings, similar to an angel, though, black, so, as Ayeseru died slowly, she was bathed in black feathers falling around her. She couldn't even try to look or focus at anything with her eyes at this point, and she began to see the light. It was coming.
Death.
All of the sudden, however, as she was dying, she saw a vision. It was while Ayeseru was a young, and male at the time. She saw herself with Sapphiron, her parent dragon. They were laughing when, what...? Suddenly, Ayeseru was spazzing out in her vision; she never remembered that happening. "Ayeseru?", questioned Sapphiron, but when Ayeseru had come to a stand still, the eyes of the young boy were red, and his hair a snow white. A wide, eerie smile appeared on his face, as he attacked Sapphiron with a fist full of the darker shadows, just like Shadow had done to Ayeseru. Like Ayeseru, Sapphiron had made an attempt to consume the shadows, only to have the exact same result that Ayeseru got; poisoned and struck.
Young Ayeseru didn't even give Sapphiron time to recover as he went in a tunnel of dark shadows and rushed himself to appear behind Sapphiron's gigantic head, coming from what appeared to be somewhat of a portal. Forming multiple dark shadow blades above Sapphiron's head, Ayeseru drove them into his skull, determined to pierce through his head and brain. At first, all the blades could do was harm Sapphiron, even if severely, he would survive it with relative ease, but as Ayeseru continued to create blades constantly, and sent them to his head, his tough, dragon hide began to crack and bleed, and that's when Sapphiron let out a terrifying draconic roar of pain, shifting his head quickly in order to slam the young Ayeseru to the ground very harshly, creating a crater so large that it looked like a bomb had struck the area, and the sound itself went off for miles.
Yet, the young boy did not die, though was extremely close to. Sapphiron brought up its talon, in an effort to finish off the young male, but, he couldn't. Looking into the boy's delicate, young face, Sapphiron was unable to take his life away. Why? In Ayeseru's vision, he didn't even talk, nor explain why he didn't obliterate Ayeseru. In fact, he had sighed... Just like Ayeseru always had. "My young son... You still have your entire life ahead of you, while I... I will no longer live." Sapphiron had approached Ayeseru, and took a deep, dragon-like breath. He was prepared to risk it all; his expression said so, but... For what?
Sapphiron rose his claw and drove it to Ayeseru's shadow, ripping it from him, causing him to yell out in agony as the light began to... Burn him alive? Because he had no shadow, he shouldn't of technically existed at that moment and time, so to preserve reality, the universe was erasing Ayeseru from existence... Slowly. Sapphiron acted quickly, and with some sort of powerful shadow spell, was able to somehow take a... Sort of... Phantom from Ayeseru's body? But it was no ordinary phantom, its behavior was very similar to how the young Ayeseru behaved not long ago, and somehow was able to stick it into Ayeseru's shadow, which was still in his grasp. After doing so, Sapphiron then placed the shadow deep into Ayeseru, so it had technically returned to him, and not, at the same time.
While Ayeseru's shadow was inside of him, he himself, still had no shadow, and the universe was still erasing him, slowly... At this point, half of his body had already disintegrated. Sapphiron frowned; it had obviously not gone according to plan, so instead... Sapphiron had dug deep into his own shadow, and ripped it out entirely from where it was supposed to be. Once more, he let out a draconic roar of terrifying pain, however, very quickly adjusted to the pain; not to mention he also had to go through the pain of slowly disappearing from reality, too. Despite all of this, Sapphiron did not stop. He modified his own shadow, using his powerful shadow magic, specifically to fit Ayeseru, and this time, when he granted Ayeseru the shadow, it became his new one, transforming his dark shadows...
Into the shadows of the Shadow Dragon.
And with that, Sapphiron slowly decayed in the sunlight, as Ayeseru slowly regained his body, the mighty Shadow Dragon waving with what appeared to be a... Smile on his face? "May you live a wonderful life, my dear child. I am forever with you~" And with those final words, he vanished, young Ayeseru not even awake to say his final goodbyes. Sapphiron had protected Ayeseru... From himself. [Stop song here]
The Shadow Dragon lives!
Even while she was so close to death, Ayeseru couldn't help but let out tears. "So, you finally saw it, huh? Well then... Time to DIE!" It was at this moment where suddenly, Ayeseru's shadow had separated from herself once more, and instead, half of another shadow had replaced it. Where her shadow jumped to, however, came a massive explosion of darkness, as the walls of this universe's reality had been drawn into that single point; the shadows were collecting themselves for something very big. The attention this phenomimom drew was easily enough to distract Shadow from strangling Ayeseru to death, which caused it to drop her. She took multiple deep gasps of air as she curled on the ground in a small ball, regaining her breath and strength just to stand up.
Play "I Will Not Bow" in my themes, under the siggies
"W-what is happening?!" Shadow could not comprehend what was going on, but the fact that Ayeseru's previous shadow was acting like a black hole, obtaining energy for something, was quite terrifying, and while Shadow couldn't figure it out, Ayeseru already had. Still, it was regaining strength, and Ayeseru had to buy some time, because Shadow could simply consume the shadows to stop the process. She stood up on shaky legs, and faced Shadow. "Do you..." Ayeseru grit her teeth, her hand clenched tightly. She tried to summon the shadows to assist her, however, it was unresponsive. She walked slowly with her head bobbed down, her fist clenched so tightly that her own strength could break her knuckles, "...REALLY think that..." Shadow looked at Ayeseru in amusement, simply standing still as the young woman approached it.
"I WOULD LET YOU DEFEAT ME?!" Ayeseru shot her hand towards Shadow's face while she was in range, and connected with the dark shadows on her hand...! Shadow was sent flying back several hundred feet, slamming against multiple tombstones, and hitting the ground at the very end, bouncing several more feet. It got up, shocked that Ayeseru was able to muster such a blow, especially with its magic! "H-how dare you?!" Enraged, Shadow enveloped itself in in this dark shadows, and sent itself flying towards Ayeseru. She simply stood there, undisturbed by the fact that Shadow was rapidly approaching her. Instead, she simply rose a hand where she predicted Shadow would attempt to strike, and completely blocked it off with her own dark shadows. Ayeseru stared at it dully, "Want to try that again?"
Shadow grit its teeth, and looked at Ayeseru with an enraged glare, "WHY YOU..." Shadow had then disappeared in the black shadows, attempting to hit Ayeseru from multiple directions to no avail; each time, Ayeseru would counter with her own dark shadows. "I... Remember now... What the name of this magic was called..." Ayeseru continued parrying Shadow's attacks as she smiled; she was fully aware. "It was... The Fallen God Slayer..." Quite suitable for her, too, considering the fact that she was born due to two demonic creatures coming together to produce such a specimen, especially when taken into consideration that one of them was the most powerful ruler of Hell in history.
Shadow had suddenly vanished entirely, but Ayeseru knew exactly where he was coming from, because it was her technique; it was quickly approaching her from behind. "Fallen God's..." Ayeseru focused the new dark shadows around her; they were completely at her control. "VOID DRIVE!" A sudden explosion of the dark shadows had been sent out in all directions, stopping Shadow in its tracks, and actually, the force being so strong that it was sent crashing to the ground, a large crater in its landing location, even coughing up blood. Less than a second later, Ayeseru was already on Shadow, staring at it dully. "G-get off of me!", yelled out Shadow, but it was no use; Ayeseru would not budge, and Shadow wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to force her off of it.
I would very much like to describe how Ayeseru looks right now, but even the world around her did not know. She was just... The darkest shadow imaginable. She gathered an inhumane amount of dark shadows in where one could presume was her mouth; so much, in fact, that the dark shadows were now manifesting themselves near her. She stood up, though made sure to pin Shadow's shoulders to the ground with her feet as she stared down on it. She bobbed her head up quickly, then brought it down, releasing a highly concentrated beam of the dark shadows down on Shadow, as a loud shout of a god played in the background. Ayeseru held the beam for several seconds, however, stopped it then, and deactivated her Void Drive. [End song]
She looked over towards where the shadows were concentrating themselves, and a large smile appeared on her face as the sound of an all too familiar draconic roar came from it.
Sapphiron hard returned.
End of a Dragon's Way
Ayeseru had tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as she saw Sapphiron, and when she did see him, she instantly ran towards him, and jumped on his head, giving him the best hug she could muster for a dragon of his size. "My son, or, err... Daughter, in this case, I am happy to see you too." Ayeseru nodded, still speechless from what had just happened. "I am terribly sorry... For having to have done to you what I did do... Even now I-" Ayeseru cut him off, shaking her head with a smile. "No, no... Don't worry... It's okay... If it wasn't for you, I would probably be dead right now... Maybe not because of you, but because of how.. I would act. I... Understand completely, so, please do not worry."
Sapphiron made a facial expression which could be described closest as a smile, or so Ayeseru had presumed. "My child... It pains to say this, but... We do not have much time at the moment. If you hadn't of understood, the Shadow Dragon Slayer magic was an artificial magic I gave you by replacing your shadow as my own. Your real magic happens to be titled as Fallen God Slayer, which is a more powerful variation of my magic. This realm... Was generated using the Shadow Dragon Slayer magic, and now that the host has reclaimed it back, the universe is collapsing. This is a universe generated inside of you, and because I have no physical body, I must remain within you, which means we can talk later, but now, we must escape this world, child!"
Ayeseru nodded, but quickly looked back to where Shadow was laying. Shadow had been her evil entity; everything she didn't want to be, yet, she was very well aware that she wouldn't be able to live without it, too. Mostly because she had half of her original shadow, and Shadow had the other half, but... Without some sort of evilness to balance out the good, what would become of the person? "Sapphiron, get out of here and go into ym subconscious, or something. There is still order of business I must finish up here." Sapphiron nodded. "I understand. Be careful, child." Ayeseru nodded, and walked over to Shadow's side.
As soon as Sapphiron exited the universe, it began collapsing rapidly. The tombstones were breaking, the mist was fading, and even the ground itself began crumbling. It was at that moment that Ayeseru realzied that Sapphiron had created that universe, and not herself, and that it had a striking resemblance to the Silent Cemetery, where she learned the basics with Sapphiron, causing her to smile. Even then, Sapphiron tried to remember Ayeseru. Either way, that wasn't important, what was important was the fact that Shadow was dying, and if it died, Ayeseru assumed she would, too.
Ayeseru looked at it with a dull expression, and before she could even utter a word, it spoke. "Seems like... You have defeated me... Good, yes... V-very good... This... Is what I've always wanted... Either I destroyed you, or you destroyed me... And since you are victorious..." It pulled out the other half of Ayeseru's shadow from itself and gave it to Ayeseru, who took it hesitantly, still looking at Shadow. "...That is your reward. Please... Make... Excellent use of it..." And with those final words, it disappeared. Ayeseru stuck the second half of her shadow back on her, and finally, she was herself once more, though, a strange change was happening. Her moods were suddenly different, and she felt her physique change, too, but there was no time for that! She had to escape!
There was a small crack in the universe which led to the real universe she existed in, but could she make it in time? Would she survive? The only way to find out is to jump through it! Ayeseru took a running start, and ran off of the crumbling surface, each step bringing the platform to its destruction. When Ayeseru reached the very end of it, she didn't hesitate to jump off of it, and go straight for the crack in reality. A bright light shone as she passed it, and she was blinded till she would reach the other side, or die trying.
Turns out, she reached the other side.
Except... She wasn't so much of a she anymore, but rather... "I'm a man again!" Ayeseru said with delight as he felt for his chest. He had to be honest; he enjoyed his lady parts, while they lasted, but he would've much preferred to be the strong male that he was. Still, he also felt a change of personality, but that could've been because of the fact that Shadow had finally agreed to become one with him; he wasn't too worried, mostly because he didn't have the desire to kill for no reason.
Turns out that he had appeared right before Clover Town, and it was dark, and rainy. "Hmm... How peculiar. I suppose I'll speak to Sapphiron later. I need to figure out a way to convince the guys back at the guild that I'm still me..."
With a serious expression on his face, as he looked at the town, allowing the rain to drip on him, he began walking to his guild, Blue Pegasus, with new found power!