Shadows and Shades, Memories and Mistakes [Job:Matter of the Soul] (Akeya Kuusai, Akryn)

The member 'Akeya' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Akryn heard Akeya out and watched her disappear into the darkness before letting his head drop. It had been quite some time since he had thought about his family in anyway, and the resurgence of old memories pained him greatly. He had kept things from Akeya in his little rant, things he had seen and done himself. He could not bring himself to tell her his true nature or past. She was a killer, cold blooded and efficient, which was part of why he liked her so much. But she was efficient and killed because of necessity, not because of rage or aggression or simple bloodlust. Even she would have a hard time understanding what he had been before being given a different path.

He smirked a bit, sadly of course, as he considered things. In truth he had not been given a different path. He had been torn from his path and thrown into a new one, at the steady hands of a dragon. He couldn't bear to tell Akeya, or Zack, or any of his guildmates the truth, that he had been well on his way to becoming the good little soldier and weapon his father had wanted him to be. He couldn't tell them of his past, of his behavior, even of his true name. He would be torn from the guild then, rightly imprisoned by the council for his past actions. He was terrified of his father, yes, but far more was he frightened by the memories of what he had once been. He hugged his knees up to his chest as bloody memories flooded his mind, and he rested his forehead on his knees, trusting in his senses to alert him to danger, but allowing himself to fall back into the past.

It looked like the shadow creatures of this strange and shady realm were more scared of Akryn with his sword than Akeya and her ability to eat them. That was somewhat strange in Akeya's opinion, since even if Akryn's weapon made him very good at destroying them she was the one that made it so that they couldn't recover afterwards. However since right now she was trying to capture and subdue one of those shadow beasts so she could force Akryn to face his problems she wasn't as bothered by this as she might have been otherwise. If it wasn't for Akryn she would be insulted that they weren't as afraid of the shadow dragonness as they were of the half-djinn.

However it wasn't a good idea to try and subdue a shadow beast when there were others around. She could sense multiple in the area right now, along with some weaker ones. Of the shadow beasts which were strong enough to actually change their appearance into something you should fear there was only one which was actually heading for her right now. Beyond that there was lots of weaker ones, who honestly just felt like free food to her. In fact she was pretty sure that she could eat them without worries.

To test this out she suddenly jumped towards the nearest, smashing it with one fist without any ceremony or hesitation. As she expected the creature just fell apart, the shadows it was made out of turning into an inert puddle. A puddle which after several seconds hesitantly began to pull itself together once again. Not if Akeya had any say in it. Grabbing the shadows she quickly devoured them all, leaving not a single dark spot on the ground. This kind of stuff wasn't going to fully nourish her, but it was refreshing to be able to expend her energy knowing that it'll be regained afterwards.

Eager to get all the little ones out of the way so she could focus on subduing her actual target Akeya dashed towards the next, using her tail to rip it into two pieces before grabbing them both and swallowing them. The creatures tried to fight back, but they were too fragile and not fast enough, so it quickly turned into a game of Akeya trying to kill them all as fast as possible before eating them. The Shadow Dragon Slayer felt rather satisfied after this hunt, not because the creatures themselves were challenging but because she rarely got to fill her stomach so easily. This place might be a threat to others due to the lack of light, the shadow creatures and the attempts to scare them, but to her everything was actually rather comfortable. The lack of light was something she actually preferred over the outside world, the small creatures were free food, and for some reason the larger creatures couldn't actually frighten her.

Speaking of which, she was done eating the small ones, so she should go and subdue the big one. It had been moving rather slowly, giving her enough time to finish off the smaller creatures before having to face it. And once again it had turned itself into a copy of Akryn, looking at her with clear disgust as he looked ready to tear her into pieces. Akeya folded her arms and regarded him at first, trying to figure out why such a thing should scare her. She didn't really like the look on Akryn's face, but it wasn't like it was actually scary. And it wasn't the first time she had seen it either, although it was the first time it was directed at her. But she didn't find Akryn scary. He was a competent fighter, and could be quite dangerous if need be, but he didn't really have the right qualities to genuinely scare her, no matter how dirty a look he might try to give her. So why this appearance?

She was still thinking about this when the creature charged at her, swinging one of Akryn's many weapons. A copy of course, but Akeya wasn't planning to get hit by it anyway. Turning into a shadow she flowed around the creature, appearing behind it as she quickly kicked it squarely in the back, sending it flying. The fake Akryn smashed against the ground, quickly standing up before turning around and facing her once again. The half dragon frowned as she unfolded her arms and took a more wary stance. She couldn't afford to kill this one, since she needed it to help Akryn get over this fear of his. She couldn't deny that what he feared was something that deserved to be feared, but he had to be able to act even when afraid. To be afraid was to be expected, but to be crippled by it was unacceptable. If he ever faced his father as he currently was he would die because he recklessly charged in, too afraid to think straight. Or even worse, his father would take him and forcibly turn him back into a senseless murderer.

In that case Akeya would have to kill him, if only because he had disappointed her.

So she couldn't kill this shadow beast. However that didn't mean she couldn't knock it around a bit until it stopped resisting. Dashing forward she ducked underneath another swing, lashing out with one leg to sweep the fake Akryn's legs out from underneath him. Before he could finish hitting the ground she grabbed him by his hair and turned around, smashing him head first against the black sand. Her tail then wrapped around his waist and threw him into the air before she jumped up herself and spun, using her heel to kick him back into the ground, after which she landed right on top of the shadow creature. Sitting down on top of it she began to punch it, aiming for the joints and the vulnerable spots. At first it tried to struggle, but as she kept punching the body it had taken became unable to fight back, the half dragon continuing to punch until the shadow beast lay there. Akeya ripped off a piece of it and ate it, then glared down at it.

"Do as I say or I'll eat the rest of you."

That appeared to be enough for the shadow beast to quiet down, after which Akeya lifted it and carried it back to Akryn. Once close enough she called out, holding the shadow beast up for him to see.

"I caught one. Are you prepared?"

The shadow beast, still a formless clump of shadows, struggled lightly in her grip, but Akeya's hold only tightened. It felt strange to hold such a strange creature, whose physical form felt like it wasn't even fully tangible. She could grab it, but at the same time she had the impression that if she applied to much pressure her hand would go straight through it.

However that was not the most important thing right now, as the shadow beast had spotted Akryn. Seeing how Akeya's only response to it attempt at scaring her had been to beat it up relentlessly it decided to try and do something with the new target. The shadow beast, though intelligent enough to not try and fight any further against this half dragon who was willing to eat it, was not intelligent enough not to realize that Akeya might also take offence to it trying to scare the other person present in the realm. It was only its good fortune that Akeya did in fact want it to do that, and she dropped it to the ground as she saw it begin to take on a by now somewhat familiar shape, turning towards Akryn to see how he would react...

Akryn had remained seated for quite some time before Akeya returned, stewing in his own misery and shame. He almost did not notice her when she approached, but as she drew near a sixth sense kicked in, causing him to look up at her and take note of her approach, and prisoner. "Akeya.....I am unsure of this." He said as he began to rise from his seat, taking hold of his large sword. "It might be easy for you, to over come a life time of fear so easily, but I am not you. We have already proven I hold much more connection to my emotions than you do. No offense." He said to her. Despite his obvious trepidation however he would still raise his sword and widen his stance, preparing for combat.

Despite his concerns and his fear Akryn knew that Akeya was right. The odds were that his father was still out there, perhaps weakened and healing, perhaps even now plotting his vengeance, who could know? But the inevitable truth was that Marcus Motomiji would indeed return. Last time Akryns brother, Magnus, had only barely managed to bring Marcus down. The effort had nearly killed him and destroyed a city. When Marcus returned he would likely come to Fiore, not to Akryns homeland, and they couldn't afford the casualties a long, drawn out battle would cause. When he came back he needed to be taken down as hard and fast as possible. If that was to happen, then Akryn needed to be able to fight. He needed this, and he knew it.

He prepared himself, mentally and emotionally, for what he knew was to come. Still, when the beast morphed its form, shifted its body to take the form of Akryns father, the young mage felt more than a twinge of panic. His heart began racing, his hands tightened on the sword, sweat formed on his brow. This was his nightmare in real life, this was a waking terror. He stared at his father starting to rise before him, he stared as his father began to approach him, one hand slowly rising. He stared as the hand began extending towards Akryn....

In a moment of panic Akryn closed his eyes and the world around him seemed to freeze. He wasn't in the darkness. He wasn't faced by his father. He didn't grip his sword. The world was white and empty, a clear void with no one around. There was no danger. There was no fear. There was only the void. There was only the eternal emptiness. In this void Akryn opened his eye, taking in the eternal white emptiness before taking a step forward, sensing the peace and loneliness that this place granted. He knew this place, all to well, if he were to be honest. This was him, his inner most sanctum, the emptiness of his own soul. He had come here often as a child, a safe place in his mind from which he could do anything. It was where he had sent his mind whenever he felt afraid, whenever he had to do something that he just could not bring himself to do on his own. For a moment he felt a surge of joy and comfort, reveling in his old mental peace.

That revelry would end abruptly as a dawning realization washed over the young fighter. He had not been to this mental state in over a decade. In over a decade he had seen no need to enter the empty void. In a decade he had not known fear so crippling, he had not known such weakness, such cowardice! In an instant his father, no, not his father, the memory of the monster, had driven him into this void, had driven him to throwing out everything that he really was. That is what the void was to him, a place where he deposited his heart and soul, a safety box for his humanity. It hit him then just how damaged he really was, how weak against his father he was. Akryn fell to his knees inside the void, hanging his head in despair. If he could be so easily broken by his fathers memory, as if he had no will of his own at all, then how could he ever hope to overcome the real thing?

Even as Akryn sat there, wallowing in his self pity, a sound came to him through the void. There had never been sound in the void before, so for a moment Akryn did not recognize it for what it was, but as the humming grew louder and louder Akryn could no longer deny it. He lifted his head, looking around the void curiously, wondering what on earth could be making noise inside his own head, and he was positively stunned at what he saw.

A man was inside the void! A tall man, with pale blue skin and white hair that stood up to a ridiculous height. He wore magenta colored robes of a decorative nature, and carried an odd staff. And he was floating through the void, staff in one hand, a book in the other, passing through Akryns mind as if it was a stroll in the park! No, not passing through Akryn realized, quickly forcing himself to his feet and taking a step or two back, heading towards him. Akryn watched the man, no, not a man, a djinn, float towards him, confusion overtaking his guilt and fear, as he watched the person float to within just a few feet of Akryn before looking up from his book and smiling at the young mage. "Oh why hello there! My name is Whis! I am your uncle, on your mothers side of course." the djinn said before snapping his book shut.

Akryn stared at the man before him, dumbfounded for a moment. He knew that one of his mothers brothers had escaped when his father had come to take her as his wife, but as far as he knew that djinn was still in hiding somewhere in desierto. How could he possibly be here, in his head? Before he could ask that however his uncle, Whis he had called himself, spoke up.

"You are likely wondering how I am here yes? How could anyone ever have entered my inner mind, my private thoughts, oh no oh no!" The djinn said, laughing a little at the end. "The answer is that this is not your inner mind. This giant, empty void that you see before you is actually a meeting ground for djinn. Or at least it once was. A place where we could come together and speak in total privacy and safety, all within the blink of an eye. In a way this is your mind, but not with you any more. Your mind has gone beyond your body to this meting ground, likely to seek help, yes?" Whis said softly, slowly floating around Akryn, looking him over curiously.

Akryn, for his part, had never heard of such a thing. A meeting ground of the djinn? A giant void where minds went to converse? That couldn't be a real thing, surely, and yet here he was, speaking to what could only be described as a djinn, offering him help. "Yes....I did come here for help." Akryn said, watching the man from the corner of his eye, but deciding that there was no harm in finding out what the fellow djinn had to say. "I have to overcome my fear. A fear of my father, a crippling one. But I cant even overcome a shadow of him, a memory. It drove me to falling back and exposed my comrade to danger."Akryn admitted, still watching the djinn cautiously.

The djinn seemed to ponder things for a moment, even tilting his head a bit and placing a finger against his chin. "Your father is Marcus if memory serves. A very nasty man indeed, and someone you are right to fear. He has defeated, and captured, many djinn, demons, men, even a dragon I heard, and trapped them all within his sword. Strong in magic, strong in arm, strong in sword, even strong in speech, for he did lure my sister to his side and convince her to betray her own family for him. A man you should rightly fear. But you said that a memory of him, a shadow, forced you back. That is very unfortunate indeed, and a flaw that needs overcoming. Shall we have a look at this shadow together?" Whis said, smiling and extending his hand towards Akryn with a smile. "If you take my hand I can initiate a contact. It will allow me to see things through you, and perhaps grant you the support you need. I promise, I will only look. You are my nephew after all, and it would be quite rude of me to do more." The djinn said to Akryn.

Akryn for his part was understandably skeptical. He had never seen anyone here before, had never been contacted before, and certainly did not like the idea of someone else getting into his head, a peek through his eyes, and who knew what else, without him knowing any way to stop them if they were to try and take over. On the other hand though, here was someone offering him help, offering to help him overcome his fears. Even Akeya, who Akryn trusted about as far as he could trust someone, could only do so much. Would the benefits if this work outweigh the risks, he asked himself. Slowly and with great reservations, Akryn reached out and took the djinns hand.

Akryn was back in his own head. In the blink of an eye this entire exchange had happened, and now Akryn was back in his own body. The spectre of his father was still approaching, Akeya was still standing by, his sword was still raised. But something else was there as well. Akryn saw Whis, standing to the side, watching it all, observing it all in a moment, frozen in time. He slowly floated forward next to Akryn, placing a hand on Akryns arm gently. "Your fear is a good thing Akryn, don't forget that. Fear is a natural instinct, a tool for self preservation. Your father drove hard at you and your siblings and did his best to remove fear from your bodies. He viewed it as nothing more than a weakness. The fact that you feel fear means that you have already scored some victory over your father. Despite all of his attempts all of his years of abuse and torture you were able to come out the other side of it as something that he did not desire. Look there, at your friend. She stands by, ready to save you if needed, ready to stand by you as long as it takes to over come this. You are of a guild are you not? You have friends, a new family, those you love. You do not raise your sword against your father for you alone Akryn." Said Whis as he began to slowly float around behind Akryn, his hand going to Akryns shoulder. "Your father does not hold sway over you." Whis said, squeezing Akryns shoulder. "You alone hold sway over yourself. Lift your sword. If you fail then those behind you will as well. If you fail your friend there will fall beside you, your guild will fall behind you. Do not fight for you. Do not overcome your fear. Simply fear for something else." Whis said, still squeezing Akryns shoulder.

Akryn listened to the djinn as he stood there, watching the world around him starting to go back to real time. Fear for something else.....fear for something else.....fear for something else. Akryn thought for a moment, the memories of his life rushing to him. He saw Magnus, standing in the fire before Marcus. He saw his sisters and brothers leaving him with smiles. He saw Thorsfell. He saw Marduk. He saw Kyll, Zeno, Xierak. He saw Zack, Shuhei, Natalia....Akeya. Akryn saw them flash before his eyes even as the shadow of his father reached in towards him, and in an instant Akryns instinct kicked in. In a flash his fear was smashed down, replaced by a burning determination, and in one swift motion his gigantic sword was whipped across, severing the shadows hand. The shade froze for a moment, seemingly surprised before Akryn brought his sword back across the other way, the tip slamming into the ground in a gonging sense of finality, before the shadow would shatter into pieces, leaving Akryn standing there alone. In that instant Whis had left his mind, and Akryn stood there, panting and confused, as if he had just gone through a great, physical ordeal. He turned and looked at Akeya, seemingly confused before speaking. "Akeya.......something strange just happened...."

Akeya folded her arms as she watched Akryn and the shadow beast, waiting to see what the result would be of the first encounter. Well, the first encounter of Akryn being exposed to his greatest fear in a controlled situation where Akeya would be there to take down the shadow beast if it proved to be too much for him. Honestly she expected the first time to go fairly awfully. She knew that she had told him that he had to learn how to live with his fear and fight on regardless, and that so far she hadn't really been afraid of anything this realm had thrown at her, but the fear that Akryn had been exposed to was a serious fear, not something like what a child might develop for the large closet placed in their bedroom. He feared his father, who according to his descriptions was a true monster. A man who had wreaked havoc and who had been defeated several times yet kept coming back. A man who had tried to turn his very own children into soulless war machines and assassins who he could use as his own pawns. That kind of heartlessness combined with that kind of power was enough to make many a men quake in their boots, and Akryn had grown up as the child of that man. It was no surprise that he was terrified, and she quite honestly she expected him to take at least five tries, or more, before he could be said to have become at least somewhat resilient towards that fear for his father.

However no matter how difficult it might be she couldn't allow him to stay so helpless in front of his father. If he was lucky he might never have to face him, but if the situation arose he had to at least be able to stand and fight, or retreat with intelligence rather than sheer panic. As he was now Akryn was a liability when it came to his father. If Blue Pegasus ever had to deal with that man Akryn would not be able to be of any help because they couldn't risk letting him do anything. That fear could be the end of both himself and all his allies if he didn't manage to get it under control. As painful and difficult as it might be, Akeya wouldn't allow him to stay weak. They had the perfect opportunity to get him to get accustomed to the fear, to become used to it, to learn not to succumb to it. The shadow beast was actually quite stupid: it wasn't an intelligent creature, it was more like an animal which had learned a special trick. It could turn into something you feared, but it couldn't think about what would be the best approach. It wouldn't change what form it used unless you didn't show any fear at all, and even then it would most likely be confused more than anything else. As long as Akeya kept it from escaping and prevented it dying she could keep steering it towards Akryn until he became accustomed to the fear completely. Of course after that she would kill and eat the shadow beast, but it didn't need to know that. She'd have to find a way to subdue it if Akryn needed a break though.

Thinking about herself Akeya figured that the shadow beast had further limitations beyond that lack of real intelligence. The fact that it wasn't able to turn into anything which actually shocked, frightened, or even made her slightly uncomfortable wasn't something that she attributed to her being fearless. She wasn't slowed down by even the slightest margin by these shadow beasts, but that was because of their limitation. They could take on a shape, but they couldn't let their actual power go up just from imitating somebody. Akeya couldn't be afraid of somebody or something, no matter how dangerous they looked, if she could just use her enhanced sight and senses to figure out that it was actually notably weaker than her. Beyond that there was the issue that Akeya wasn't the type to get frightened of creatures. Her fears were more conceptual and about grander things. And the shadow beasts had a limit of what they could turn into. If her theory was correct they could turn into pretty much any creature no problem. However they most likely had a limit to how big they could become. And beyond that, anything which wasn't a creature or a singular object was a problem for them. Being able to turn into a large and angry ogre was all well and good, but how was something as simple as a shadow beast supposed to turn into a representation of death, when the target was one who wouldn't be impressed by corpses? A corpse of an ally wouldn't faze her, seeing one of her blood dead would not inflict fear, her own body lifeless would maybe make her feel morbid, but nothing more. The half dragon was too focused, too austere, too perceptive, to be caught with something like that. Her fear of death could only be captured if she was actually faced with the very real possibility of her own demise. And the shadow beasts couldn't do that. They couldn't turn into a literal representation of death, because death was a concept. It wasn't an object, a creature, or anything material. The reason why Akeya was unaffected was because her fears were of the wrong kind for this test.

Akryn on the other hand... Akeya stayed silent. On his first attempt he would most likely show very obvious signs of his fear. Shaking limbs, cold sweat, hesitant body language, a fearful expression. He would either be unable to do anything and fall down, at which point she'd have to restrain the shadow beast and wait for him to calm down, or he'd once again attack using fear as a motivation, at which point she'd either stop him before he could kill the shadow beast or go to find another one. After the first try they'd do it again, and again, and hopefully the repeated exposure would help him adapt and learn how to make the fear not take control. It looked like it was going to be the first one though: the shadow beast was nearly touching Akryn and he still hadn't moved. Frozen in fear? Maybe she should take this as the first reaction and pull the shadow beast back.

And then Akryn suddenly and smoothly sliced the shadow beast's hand off and then finished it off, leaving the half dragon staring with actual surprise. She hadn't expected that at all. Was that an attack fuelled by panic? In that case it couldn't really be considered an improvement, since he had done that before and fighting in a panic still meant you weren't using your head properly. However he didn't look like he was in a panic. He looked confused and tired, true, but both when he had struck and afterwards he looked like he was still in control of himself. He actually looked surprised at himself, in Akeya's opinion. She herself was also surprised, since she had no idea how he suddenly went from panicky and fearful to smashing the source of his fear into pieces without a single sign of that same fear driving his actions. She had told him that the fear was natural and that he didn't have to get rid of it, only needing to learn how to stay in control, but that didn't mean he was supposed to be able to do that in one go. That wasn't normal.

When Akryn himself stated that something strange happened Akeya's eyebrows went up and she walked towards him. What could have happened? Something obviously did, but she had no idea what. The shadow beast had been approaching Akryn slowly, Akryn had stayed in place, and then he suddenly took the shadow beast apart without any hesitation or panic in his movements. The fact that Akryn himself said that something strange had happened was actually something of a relief, since that at least meant that it wasn't Akryn who was being strange.

"I figured. What happened?"

Akryn lowered his sword and stepped back to sit back down where he had been before, staring at the shattered remains of the shadow beast in front of him, somewhat in awe. "I....I think I just met my uncle, on the djinn side." he said softly, a bit dumbfounded. "I slipped back into an old trick of mine from when I was a child. Whenever I had to do something particularly horrid or In had to face my father in some way I would shut out my mind, shunting my primary consciousness into a small bubble world to protect myself. I did it again, but this time someone else was there. He said he was my uncle, Whis he called himself, and that the void I had placed my mind into was not a bubble world or some conscious shield like I had thought. He said I had somehow tuned in to an old form of djinn communication, which they would use to communicate telepathically. Apparently all djinn used to be able to do it, but there was only me now. Me and him." He said, leaning his sword against his seat and placing his chin in his hands, staring ahead. It was obvious to see that he was bothered by this all.

"I......he spoke to me. He said that he knew my father and understood my fear of him. He helped me Akeya. As odd as all of this sounds he helped me. He somehow managed to pull me back to this world and I saw him around the scene. Everything was still as he floated around, he talked to me, helped guide my hand, helped me see something worse than my father I suppose. He helped me Akeya but for some reason I am still sitting here wondering what just happened." he said, looking up at Akeya, confused. "I had never heard of djinn communicating like that. I have never heard of this Whis guy before. I knew one of my mothers brothers managed to escape when my father attacked her family, but still. He shows up now? He just happens to be telepathically capable of meeting me? This doesn't feel right Akeya, despite as good a thing it was, it still feels wrong. I don't mind admitting either that....it scares me."

Akeya had to agree that the story that Akryn was describing to her was a very strange one, even if it did not quite fall outside of the realm of possibilities. The half dragon carefully sat down on the ground as she listened to her teammate explaining what had just transpired without her even being able to notice. Her body language and expression said that she was attentive, as usual her gaze like a physical weight on the half-djinn as he gave her all the details and then followed them up by describing his doubts and suspicions. She was glad that he wasn't taking everything at face value, noticing that something was off and instead of shying away from it or trying to explain it away accepting that there was something weird and trying to figure it out. A lot of people when placed in his situation would ignore it, dismiss it as unimportant, try to just accept the help that was given without considering the source, the motive, the opportunity, and the possible cost. Those people, so sheltered and unwilling to deal with the uncomfortable side of life, deserved little respect. It was good that Akryn at least was showing himself strong enough of mind that he could see those problems and ponder about them, considering whether was had just occurred was actually a good thing or whether he was dealing with something more sinister and possible dangerous than a shadow beast which only looked like his murderous and genocidal father.

At the end of the explanation Akeya folded her arms, going through everything once again. As she did so she closed her eyes for a moment as she had the scenario play in her head, projected onto the insides of her eyelids. So Akryn retreated to this safe place he had created for himself. A place where he always went to when he was enduring psychological stress and pressure, to preserve the more easily injured parts of his psyche while letting the rest of him deal with the threat on autopilot. However then suddenly somebody else appeared, claiming to be somebody Akryn had never met before while still being closely related to him. And then he said that Akryn's safe place had actually become a part of the system the djinns had created to be able to communicate with each other without outsiders being able to listen in or even realizing that the djinns were talking to each other. And then he had helped Akryn with overcoming his fear, or at the very least making it so that he could fight the source of his fear without shooting into a panic, or being controlled by his emotions. It was a dangerous and strange thing to be part of, even if it appeared to actually have helped accomplish their objective for the moment. The half dragon frowned, then looked back up at Akryn, her eyes still carrying that intense focus.

"I agree with your assessment that this is more suspicious than it would seem to most. That Whis, who claims to be your uncle, might be speaking the truth, and it looked like he did in fact help you. But we shouldn't let our guard down. I think it would be best if you tried your absolute best to avoid that bubble world of yours. I would suggest that anyway, since shutting away an important part of your consciousness to avoid it being harmed can backfire quite easily on you. However if that Whis is also possibly waiting for you there that just makes it more urgent that you learn to no longer have to rely on that bubble world no matter how much pressure you receive mentally. However beyond that I'm afraid that there's not a lot that we can do. To confirm whether he is speaking naught but the truth, leaving nothing important out, we would have to both track him down in the physical world, and find other djinns who can confirm that this special method of communication is real. Neither of those are easily done, especially not while we are busy with this job. So for now let's just be cautious, as we already were. A suspicious as Whis might be he did help you learn how to strike at your father's image without being controlled by your emotions, so that part of our objective in this realm has already been achieved. Now we should focus on achieving the other objectives."

With that Akeya stood up, idly wiping some dust from her legs before turning around as she looked deeper into the shadow realm. So now Akryn's greatest fear was no longer something which would cripple him on sight. He wasn't completely immune to it yet, but people rarely could become utterly immune to something like that. The fact that he would be able to fight, and fight well, was enough, at least for now. The next objective so far as Akeya was concerned was to find the mirror that was supposedly somewhere in this realm, which would show them the last part of their inner self which they would have to overcome. Akeya was pretty sure that this part of the test would be a lot more difficult for her: the fact that she was immune to the shadow beasts was honestly a stroke of luck. A stroke of luck that the things she feared were not things that such a simple creature could embody. While she was quite obviously a lot better than any of those humanoids, she was not a perfect being. If that mirror would reveal something a lot more intimate than just something which scared her... It would definitely be more of a trial for her. But she welcomed that, since beating that trial would be a sign that she had become yet stronger, her mind solidified and having lost at least once flaw that could possibly be exploited.

Before that, though...

"Do you have any idea where that little creature went that you were trying to protect?"

"If I had to guess? Leading trouble right towards us." He said with a smirk as he rose. "It is unimportant though. We didn't come here to save some unimportant little fuzz ball that was trying to choke me out. We came for a mirror. Typical of a woman." Akryn would say, smirking a bit and winking at Akeya. "I joke of course. It would be nothing but an insult to say you were a normal woman." Akryn would say before grabbing his sword and lifting it onto his shoulder. As he turned away though a bit of red would creep into his face as he walked. He couldn't believe he had actually said that to her! He felt more than a twinge of embarrassment at the moment, and his only thought right then and there was to get as far away from that area, and that awkward statement, as he could.

Beyond his embarrassment also came the lingering fear. Yes he had managed to overcome his fear of his father there, when faced with an illusion. But no shadow could hope to compare to the real thing, a truth he knew all to well. Some day he would need to face that fear. But not today. Today he had to focus on a much more current problem. Akeya.

Before finding the form of his father the shadow beasts had been turning into her. This had been surprising indeed, Akryn had to admit, but after that moment of vulnerability, after having someone else inside his head, and even more after that comment which had slipped out so easily, Akryn had to wonder if those shadows had not chosen her form for a reason. He could not deny that he felt an attraction to her of sorts, but he had to wonder if it was a real feeling, or just his djinn blood driving him to find a mate. Djinn were known as lecherous beings. Was his djinn blood that strong in him, or did he truly find himself attracted to her?

The member 'Akryn' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

Akeya found it slightly strange for Akryn to act so indifferent about the little strange creature. From the beginning she had no interest in the small nuisane, but Akryn had been the one to pick it up and decided to protect him. For him to no longer care either meant he had more done it on a whim, or maybe having to face his greatest fear like that had caused him to change his mind. Although she wondered how facing a cheap imitation of his father could change his mind in such a way as to have him decide to abandon some small nuisance which he had picked up earlier on and which did nothing but be scared and annoying. Then again, it didn't really take much to lose interest in such a creature. Spending five minutes with it should already be enough for most people to reconsider.

Well, it wasn't exactly her problem. She had no reason to care or look after the small creature, so if it ran off and got itself killed that was its own fault and no skin off her back, so as Akryn mentioned how it was unimportant she just nodded, observing him carefully as he spoke. He had shown the ability to face that mockery of his father, but she still had to keep an eye on him. Humans and creatures who showed heavy similarities to humans tended to suffer from building stress. Even if he was all right in the beginning being thrown in such a location, meant to instill a feeling of emptiness, desolation and discomfort, could slowly bother him more and more, until eventually he would either become depressed by the desolation or shoot into a panic. In fact he had already been panicking when those shadow beasts realized they could just turn into his father. Now that he had faced that mockery and struck it down he should fare a bit better, but on the other hand he was most likely still easier to throw off balance than he usually would be.

Or just more easily emotionally affected than usual. When Akryn suddenly made that comment about women and mirrors, followed by telling her that calling her a normal woman was an insult, Akeya raised one eyebrow, staring at him with an expression of mild surprise. On the inside she was quite a lot more surprised. Not that Akryn didn't sometimes use friendly jabs like those, but that sounded less like a jab used for friends and more like something he might use to flirt. That wasn't part of his usual repertoir. The half dragon just watched Akryn with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to either say something else or explain that sudden comment, but the half djinn was already walking away at that point, leaving the half dragon little choice but to follow him, frowning slightly as she thought about what just happened. The most obvious conclusion was, of course, that Akryn was dealing with a lot of stress thanks to the circumstances, and combined with his lust for her (Akeya didn't doubt for a moment that Akryn desired her, at least on the physical level. With her beauty only those without eyes or without any taste at all could not desire her.) he had seen an opportunity to lighten the mood and make himself feel more comfortable. In which case she would just leave it alone. Also, there wasn't any reason to get upset at him stating an observable fact. Anybody who tried to treat Akeya like a normal woman would indeed be insulting her.

As she walked behind Akryn Akeya got rid of all those stray thoughts and returned her focus to the actual mission. Akryn was right that they were here for that mirror. They had already travelled quite far into this shadow spirit realm, so it shouldn't take much longer before they would reach that mirror, use it to strengthen their spirits and minds even further, and leave this place. Akeya personally wouldn't mind staying here for a while, since a land of shadows and darkness was comfortable to her, and the creatures living here were incapable of dealing with her as she only feared things which couldn't be expressed by a single creature of limited power. However she wasn't one to be distracted by the possibility of indulging herself when there was still more work to be done. Yes, she could theoretically stay here for a while, since she felt comfortable here. However Akryn didn't like it here, as almost nobody would, and besides of that she still had to train and become stronger, and explore more of the world. This place, as interesting as it might be, couldn't ever be as vast and interesting as the entire world outside. She might return here sometime if she felt like being alone, but right now she would do her best to locate that mirror, use it to become stronger, and would then leave together with Akryn.

The half dragon's spiny ears twitched as she noticed a bunch of highly condensed shadows approaching their location with quite some speed. From what she could sense there were two rather large ones, in following with the shadow beasts that they had encountered so far, and over a dozen of the weaker kind which couldn't even try to imitate anything. That kind of thing shouldn't be difficult to deal with. Akryn could use that sword of his to scatter them all and Akeya could then devour the remnants to ensure they wouldn't come back to bother them later on. However in front of the horde she also sensed another shadow, another very dense one but quite a lot smaller.

"It looks like you were right. The small creature is running straight towards us, with two of those imitators and fifteen of the smaller wraiths following it. I'll leave it to you to neutralize them."

With that Akeya stepped inside Akryn's shadow and disappeared, watching his back to ensure he wouldn't be ambushed by anything while letting him deal with the advancng horde.

Akryn opened up his senses a bit so as to find the little blighter himself, and sure enough he was headed right towards them, with plenty of foes hot on his heels. The wind mage sighed to himself as Akeya disappeared into his shadow and then drew his golden sword, flinging it into the air. Once in the air it would begin to spin wildly before seeming to shatter into three hundred pieces, each piece in the shape of a deadly sharp kunai, which would hurl forward, smashing into, and shredding, the initial ranks of the oncoming horde of enemies with ease. After the initial fling one would think the attack was over, and if Akryn had not been so prepared it likely would have been. However, as the enemies ran over his field of kunai Akryn would smirk, flicking his wrist a bit and using telekinesis to yank his weapons from the ground and have them hover in the air, surrounding the shocked shadow monsters, the ones not currently reforming themselves, in a dazzling array. Before the kunai would begin to spin, flick, twist, and thrust wildly however, the hundreds of knives turning the shadow beasts into oh so many pieces of minced shadow beast, an easy meal for the shadow dragon hidden near by.

Akryn would then reach down, catching the little running thing that had asked for help earlier with one hand, holding it up then in front of him to give it a nasty glare. "Look here fuzzy, I said stick around. The next time you try some sort of shenanigan like that, I will feed you to the beasts in this area myself. Got it?" He asked before dropping the thing onto his shadow. "Akeya, do me a favor and hang on to this thing please. It is a pain in the ass, and we have more enemies incoming. I need my hands free." Akryn said as he turned a bit, looking around at the encroaching darkness. It seemed that the shadow beasts had begun amassing, planning to rush him and Akeya as one massive group and overwhelm the two of them it seemed. A smart tactic usually, one effective against foes of such obviously higher power. But Akryn and Akeya were not just beings of power, but also of skill. They would not go down to just any horde.

The member 'Akryn' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

Once again Akeya just watched as Akryn began to wipe out all their opposition, or at least the shadow creatures that tried to assault them. She had the suspicion that this place was usually a lot more difficult for those who entered it. The main reason that the two of them were breezing through it was that Akryn was a walking arsenal who specialized in wholesale slaughter, and Akeya could make sure that the shadow creatures couldn't reform after being scattered by eating them all. Which was another important thing. They had already seen that these things tried to reform. There were most likely ways to stop them aside from eating them, but the half dragon was pretty sure that for most people one of the biggest problems would be that they would encounter more and more of these shadow creatures, and because they kept coming back they would have to deal with an continually increasing horde of them. Eventually even the strongest of mages could succumb if they were constantly besieged by so many of them.

She waited until her partner was done slicing apart all the shadow monsters and shades then moved forwards, staying in shadow form herself as she went around the battlefield and swallowed them all. Her shadow form constantly swelled up and shrunk down as the remains of the shadow creatures were turned into shadows that became part of her body, only to be converted into magic power. It was most likely a strange sight, seeing a shadow moving across the place where so many of the shadow creatures had died, constantly changing size as it absorbed the remnants of shadow essence that were lying around. Then again there was nobody to watch except for Akryn, and he probably didn't care. That and he was busy with the little shadow creature that seemed to want protection instead of attacking them, which still puzzled the half dragon. This place didn't give the impression of being new. In fact it felt very, very old. The little thing didn't appear to be that young either, especially since Akeya didn't even know if things got born around here or if sometimes this shadow realm formed new shadow beasts. Why would such a small and weak thing be here, running around and fleeing from everything, asking for help from the first outsiders that happen to enter the place? It didn't make sense. Akeya had a tendency to suspect things which didn't make sense. She realized that a lot of strange things happened all the time, but she was of the firm belief that everything at the core made sense. If something didn't make sense it meant that you didn't know all the important details, and details you didn't know could be the details that got you killed.

The half dragon nodded when Akryn told her to hold onto the little creature. He was right that it was a very annoying little thing, and even more so because she was suspecting it of holding a secret which was of importance to them. Little scared creatures didn't run towards the first people they saw which weren't like themselves and asked to be protected. The half dragon glared at the little creature, then picked it up.

"Stay close to me."

She settled in to watch as Akryn went to meet the next horde. Apparently the shadow beasts and shades had decided that attacking them one by one no longer was a viable option, and were now really trying to just bring them down with sheer numbers, especially since it was clear that these two intruders actually had a way of dealing with their tendency to reform and continue the attack. With that kind of advantage negated they most likely would try anything to compensate for it, even a suicide rush with the lot of them. Actually, she wasn't even sure if these things were that intelligent. She had managed to subdue that one shadow beast into helping her get rid of Akryn's crippling fear (although it was clear that he still didn't like the idea of meeting his father), but beyond that they might as well be animals. Granted, some animals could be pretty smart.

While Akryn was still facing the shadow creatures the half dragon looked in another direction as she saw a glint, light being reflected off of something. Which didn't make sense, since this place didn't have light. This was a realm of shadows, where everything was dark yet you could still see (some people might be confused by this). How could anything in this place reflect light unless the light source was from outside?

"I saw light in that direction. I'll take a look and then come back to eat these things once you're done with them."

With that the half dragon dashed towards the reflected light, her tail wrapped around the small shadow creature so it couldn't run away, even though it squeaked and squirmed. A light in a shadow realm was a strange thing, even though usually shadows were created by light. The half dragon moved fast, especially because she was enhanced by her surroundings, and soon she was standing in front of what turned out to be an oversized mirror, which seemed to be reflecting a light that didn't exist. The half dragon studied the surface, which was completely smooth and clear. Honestly it felt more like she was staring into another dimension than that she was seeing her own reflection. Which was kind of creepy. Not enough to really unnerve her, but she was getting the idea that her own reflection was going to reach out and-

Akeya turned into a shadow and reappeared a dozen yards away, pulling the black little thing with her. Just in time to evade the scaled hand that reached out of the mirror, where it would have grabbed her throat had she given it the chance. The half dragon's eyebrows climbed higher and higher as she saw that the scaled hand was followed by an arm, and then the rest of a very familiar body. She was starting to think that heading over to inspect the light hadn't been a very good idea. She really hoped that this wasn't one of those strange mirrors which reflected your thoughts, because with Akeya's pride and arrogance she really didn't want to fight her own opinion of herself. Well, she'd probably win, but it'd be one of the most annoying fights she'll ever be in.

Her...doppelganger? looked at its hands, then at the rest of its body, then looked at Akeya...and smiled. The half dragon didn't like that smile. It was filled with her self-confidence. And it was a smirk as well. This reflection of hers was looking down on the original. For some reason the idea of being looked down at by herself was pissing her off really quickly, even as she realized that this thing was just as strong as she was, and thus was nothing like those shadow beasts from before.

"Greetings. You've got a rather peculiar mind, don't you? Most people when looking into this mirror would get some kind of twisted version of themselves, but I think the only difference between you and me is that I'm aware of what I feel. And at the same time you don't hate yourself. Truly curious."

Akeya frowned at that. What the hell did that mean?

"I suppose I should thank you for being the kind of person who would seek out their darkest fears on purpose to subdue them. The confidence that you can do something like that without any help means that instead of dealing with an actual threat I merely have to dispose of you before I can leave this place and have fun in the outside world."

Akeya narrowed her eyes at that. She was pretty sure that her other self had just on purpose insinuated that she on her own wouldn't be any real threat. Which annoyed her even though she knew that it was nonsense. Unless...this thing looked exactly like her, and Akeya also noticed that its behaviour was very similar to her own. This had led her to believe that she was actually dealing with a mirror image, albeit one who, as always with these kind of mirrors, for some reason wanted her dead. From what she could sense from her opponent she also had roughly the same amount of magic power and the same nature to her abilities. However who was to say that they actually were of equal strength? She really was regretting stepping in front of the mirror that recklessly. She should have helped Akryn get rid of all those shadow creatures beforehand. That way if either one of them looked inside the mirror the both of them could gang up on the twisted reflection. Granted Akeya wasn't sure how much use Akryn would be against her reflection, but at least her companion knew a bit about how she fought so he couldn't be completely useless.

The twisted version of herself was still smirking at her, apparently having no trouble waiting before attacking. In fact she went so far as to stretch and explore her own body, doing stretching exercises as she apparently wanted to reach a full understanding of the body she now possessed, all the way to every nook and cranny. The half dragon narrowed her eyes. On one hand she should be using the opportunity to attack, trying to knock her reflection off balance and kill her before she could get a proper hold of her abilities. On the other hand she was pretty sure that the twisted image knew that it was something Akeya might do, and yet she was being so carefree. One of the most stupid things you could do was jump straight in when your target knew you were coming and, more importantly, knew your angle of approach and your techniques. She should still be looking for openings, but currently her opponent was showing openings on purpose, which meant that she was either trying to provoke and mock her, or she was hoping that maybe Akeya was too eager to finish her off and would jump straight into a trap. Better to wait it out for now. Besides, it looked like her target was willing to talk, and since it was her own reflection Akeya knew that at least this person would be able to hold up the other end of an intelligent conversation, although she still wasn't sure what the reflection meant when she talked about being aware of how she felt.

"You are making yourself sound rather cliché. Also I am pretty sure that you are lying. Unless being aware of what you feel means that you're just another fool who follows their first thoughts rather than any form of logic you would not have the goal to have fun in the outside world."

Akeya was still keeping the small black thing that was honestly more trouble than it was worth wrapped up in the tip of her tail, where it was squirming and trying to escape even though the half dragon had a very firm grip on it. Her reflection raised an eyebrow, still smirking. Akeya was starting to get the feeling that smirk was just plastered on her reflection's face. Didn't she have any other expressions she could use?

"Are you sure you know yourself that well? From the way you are talking you do not know what I am talking about when I mention how I am aware of what I feel while you aren't. Since we almost literally have all the time in the world I suppose I should elaborate. After all, knowledge is the most important thing in the world, is it not?"

Akeya nodded in agreement. At least the two of them agreed on that, although of course the reflection could just be lying to either stroke her ego or make her believe that the two of them were more alike than they actually were. The reflection looked at the small black thing and made a dismissive gesture with one scaled hand.

"You might as well let him go. We both know that you actually do not care about whether it lives or dies, which means I have absolutely no reason to bother with it. And our mate is keeping all the other creatures in this realm busy, so it's not like it has to fear them either. Quite the sturdy mate we got ourselves, although I am afraid that he won't be coming back from this little expedition."

Akeya was the one to raise her eyebrow this time, but did as her reflection suggested and let go of the small black thing. Surprisingly instead of immediately running away it just cowered in place, which suited Akeya just fine since that meant that if for some reason it became important she knew were to find it. Although of more importance was what her reflection had said after that. She was pretty sure that when she talked about their mate the reflection meant Akryn, but that didn't make sense...or did it?

"Care to elaborate?"

The reflection shrugged, sitting down (she really seemed to be dead bend on showing openings as if to test Akeya. Was she showing actual openings and tricking Akeya into not attacking, or was she setting up traps and seeing of the half dragon would fall for them? Probably the latter, if she was like Akeya. She wouldn't ever actual leave herself in a weakened position if she could help it, and it wasn't like the reflection was in a situation where it couldn't afford to have traps ready in case Akeya decided to attack) and stroking her own tail idly.

"Sure. Also for now just call me Naisei. I will of course take your name afterwards but I do not mind that name, especially since it is rather accurate until I've disposed of you. Now, where to begin... Unless I am wrong we have three topics I could talk about: this place, how you truly feel, and what is going to happen to our mate. I believe talking about these three subjects in that order is the best approach."

Akeya nodded. That did make sense. Although she was wondering if maybe this was an attempt at stalling her. One way to interpret what Naisei had said was that Akryn wasn't going to survive the onslaught of shadow creatures, in which case she should head over and help him. However Naisei held up a scaled hand to keep her attention.

"First of all let me say that right now there isn't much you can do other than deal with me. You are unable to leave this place until either you or I are dead, and nothing you might do will help our mate. And even if you could help him, turning around and returning to him would leave you open to an attack from me, and if you were to be so stupid I would have no choice but to use the opportunity to kill you. Now, let's start with the explanation.

As you have already noticed this is a shadow realm. More specifically this place is called the realm of dark spirits. You can imagine why, since you will only encounter sceneries which would count as unnerving for most, little monsters which aren't truly dangerous but which will keep coming in endless amounts and do not appear to ever slow down or falter, and those shadow beasts which will attempt to turn into something which incites fear in you. Obviously this place existed on its own before the people from your world found a way to enter it, but from the perspective of your world this is an excellent place to test your spirit. Faced with nothing but dreary emptiness and desolation, endless waves of assailants which will never falter, and embodiments of your fears, you will learn whether you can keep going and stay strong even when there is nothing to bolster you. Those with strong spirits can last for quite a while, although even the strongest will eventually give in purely because nobody can keep functioning forever without some source of energy. You already know all of this because you chose to come here specifically to test your spirit. Although I guess that is a failure, since of all the people you are somebody who would be unaffected by this place. A very interesting coincidence, that. Because this place is filled with shadows and darkness you can actually recover constantly, which means that the endless waves of weak monsters have no real effect on you, especially since unlike most you can make them stay down permanently.

Beyond that the fact that none of your fears are so easily embodied also means that the primary challenge of this place is lost on you. Honestly you could say that this entire journey has been a waste of time so far as your development is concerned. Well, since I am going to kill you it would be a waste anyway, but now even more so. Of course our mate got something out of it, but since you came here for yourself foremost... Regardless. The small thing you've been protecting so far is called the embodiment of fear, by the way. More specifically the fear of the people who enter this place. Not like the shadow beasts who try to turn into things you fear. This thing quite literally is your fear given shape. I hope this helps you understand how it has managed to survive before you came. Namely, it didn't. It shows up whenever somebody from your world enters this realm and generally just bothers them. I honestly don't know why, although it appears that those who agree to keep it safe gain more out of the journey than those who either drive it off or kill it themselves. I would guess that being willing to actually protect your fear and tolerate its existence rather than refusing to acknowledge your fear, or failing to protect it or outright killing your fear allows you to reach a higher level of maturity. Although in that case failing to protect it shouldn't be detrimental either, so I guess that beyond the symbolic effect of protecting your fear there's also a more literal effect.

Now, disregarding all these minor tests of the spirit which primarily get to you if you stay in this place for an extended period of time there is also the mirror that you decided to stare into."

Naisei patted the mirror behind her with her tail before resuming her explanation.

"As you have already figured out I am quite literally your reflection. Of course, I'm supposed to be the reflection of all your negative emotions, but curiously enough in your case I've become the full package instead. I would guess that it is because most people try to treat their negative emotions as something they must fight and get rid of, whereas you have managed to accept yourself as you are quite solidly, although it helped that you genuinely see everybody else as lesser. I would not be surprised if somebody else who has fully accepted themselves, flaws and all, could look into this mirror and have it act as an actual mirror. A test of spirit is meaningless to someone who has already completed the same test in another way. Which brings us to why I did appear before you."

Naisei grinned, her tail swaying from side to side as she patted her own chest above the heart, although then her grin turned into a frown. Not a negative frown, but a thoughtful one.

"I said that you have fully accepted yourself, but I guess that is not entirely correct even if it isn't wrong either. As I mentioned before you do not hate yourself. That is very interesting, because most people do to a certain extent. They hate their powerlessness, they hate their jealousy, they hate how they aren't as successful as others. Some have it worse than others, but in the end everybody hates themselves in some way. Well, most people. Once again you and some others are the exception to this. You are aware that you are flawed, but instead of beating yourself up over it you simply acknowledge that those flaws exist and try to live with them as well as you are able, improving them or tolerating them. You do not hate yourself because you are proud of yourself. Genuine pride, not like the form of pride that a lot of people develop which could be considered a self-defence mechanism, something which they do so they don't have to face the truth. The closest you come to hating yourself is that you feel that you should become stronger, but rather you simply focus on the process of becoming stronger, not to avoid being weak but because there is no limit. It is a surprisingly positive outlook for somebody such as you or I. Granted, you have never felt real loss before, so that might also contribute.

An important factor here is the fact that you are actually in control of yourself. Self-discipline is a very important ability for those who want to become true masters in their own right, and you were born particularly gifted in that department and then went on to refine it even further. Why would you hate yourself? There is nothing to be gained from loathing. Instead of wallowing in such negative feelings you are better off focusing on improving and learning. That is how you have managed to completely accept all your negative emotions and thoughts and yet do not hate yourself. Because you have that level of control over yourself that could be considered a form of insanity, although I doubt you'll ever find a more useful insanity.

But there is one flaw here, which is probably why I stepped out of the mirror. But curiously it lies with the positive emotions. Your goal is to learn everything there is to learn about magic, and become the strongest predator. You only aim for perfection even though you are aware that true perfection is false. But you have convinced yourself that a true predator is one of cold logic. The strongest predator is a machine, who only follows ideas which are only formed from logic which can't be disputed. And because of that, even though you fully accept yourself, you have crippled yourself on an emotional level. When you become angry you force that anger to submit to your will so instead of becoming truly angry it would be more accurate to say that you are aware that you should be angry. While you act similarly to how you would act otherwise you are still predominantly concerned with the logic behind your actions. You might punch the one who has angered you, but only if cold logic agrees with that course of action. Another person would lash out regardless of whether it is logical or not.

Although beyond any other emotion you have crippled yourself when it comes to that which is called love. Like you I do not harbour any thoughts like how love is the strongest force in the universe, however it cannot be denied that love exists and that it exerts an influence upon living creatures. Mothers look after their young because of innate love. Without that love mothers might end up eating their young as soon as they are born. Love is an important part of survival because it means that you will actually treat those who will help ensure the survival of your kind as allies instead of enemies or prey. And you are no exception. You do feel love. But you do not even realize it. It isn't that you do not acknowledge love. You decided that something as love might make you too soft to become a proper predator, so you refused to let the love influence your thoughts. And you've become so good at it that you do not even realize that you feel like that about certain people. You realize that you love your parents, but at the same time you only realize that because it makes sense. If it didn't make sense you would probably have begun to feel completely neutral about them.

It is fascinating how you have managed to somehow acknowledge and accept all your emotions, yet with your desire to be a creature of cold logic you have become so good at acknowledging them without letting them influence your actual thoughts and actions that they might as well not exist. At least, so far as love is concerned. With other emotions it's not quite as bad. And in case you have yet to realize where I am going with this: you actually love Akryn, but are unaware of it."

Akeya frowned. That was a rather long explanation, but she thought she understood what Naisei was trying to say. Akeya had learned at a very young age that to think badly of yourself or to deny certain parts of yourself was to hinder yourself. And because of that she had gone through the effort of making sure that she wouldn't make that mistake. Yet at the same time she didn't want to be dominated by her emotions so she had also trained to make sure that if she made a decision, she would make it because it made sense, and not because she felt like it at the time. And by doing both things at the same time, using that mental discipline of hers, she had managed to create a situation where she didn't really have a dark side which she had to acknowledge before she could continue to grow, but at the same time she didn't actually feel all her emotions properly. Although she was still doubtful about the proclamation that she loved Akryn... Akryn was a good fighter and very dedicated to becoming stronger, but he was also rather dumb in some aspects and in all honesty he wasn't the most attractive of people. However at the same time it made sense. Most of the time they were together, either training or working. Akryn might not be the smartest but he was strong in both mind and body, as he had demonstrated plenty of times. Beyond that he was a good fighter, and while she couldn't say that he was particularly handsome he did have the body of a young and healthy male, one who could help her give birth to strong and healthy children.

"So you are saying that the reason that you stepped out of that mirror was not to represent my dark emotions, but because I do not realize that I feel what I feel."

Naisei nodded.

That is basically the gist of it. Of course that leads to an interesting situation where you could be considered the negative version of me, depending on whether you believe that being emotionless is a good or a bad thing. Although either way I'll be killing you and taking your place. Also, as for our mate: you trusted him with too much too early. You might have been able to force him to attack the image of his father once or twice, but as he explained himself he had some help there. Now you put him in a situation where he has to face many of those shadow beasts, and each and every one of those is going to turn into his father. I told you that there is nothing you can do for him because it is already too late. He might have been a good candidate to become our mate, but even though he had plenty of potential even the most talented fighter can meet their end if they encounter something too strong for them too early."

The both of them fell silent after that as Akeya processed that. It was curious how she no longer felt like Naisei was lying, but at the same time she didn't really feel anything at hearing that Akryn had died. Even if she hadn't been able to realize that she loved him there should have been some kind of sadness at his death...right? Just how many of her emotions was she incapable of noticing by now? Her entire life she had been demanding of herself that her motivations would be based on cold logic rather than instinct or emotions, and suddenly she was faced with the realization that there was a downside to this approach. She wasn't even sure whether she was feeling bad about this or not.

After several minutes of silence Naisei stretched again and slowly stood up, appearing to have no trouble with taking her sweet time. After she had stood up she simply grinned at Akeya, looking as confident as ever.

"Now, as refreshing as that conversation was I believe it is time that we wrap this up. Those shadow creatures won't come in this clearing, so we could theoretically wait her for the end of time to arrive, especially since this place does not follow the flow of time like most places. However as patient as we both are I would rather not remain here if there is no good reason to. I would tell you that it would be easier if you didn't resist but we both know that neither of us would listen to that advice."

Akeya looked at Naisei, who now clearly was preparing herself for a fight as she entered a crouch and slowly circled around the original half dragon. She herself also took a more defensive stance, readying herself in case her reflection would decide on a sudden and intense assault. Although honestly she was pretty sure that it shouldn't be too difficult to predict what Naisei would do. After all, even if Naisei could notice the emotions that Akeya didn't that shouldn't alter her behaviour in a fight too much. Akeya had a lot of self-awareness and discipline, which meant that she was acutely aware of how she fought, and what she could and couldn't do. While at first she had been doubtful she was pretty sure that Naisei couldn't do anything that Akeya herself couldn't, which meant that she basically only had to think of what she herself would do in Naisei's situation and then counter it. The only downside to this plan was that it worked both ways: Naisei knew everything Akeya knew, including what tricks and techniques were available to her. Akeya imagined that with most people this mirror fight would be rather hectic, as they would just go at each other with as much ferocity as they could muster and try to outsmart the other. However since both the original and the reflection were by nature very careful and wary instead of suddenly erupting in a fight they simply circled each other slowly, trying to figure out what their first move should be while looking for an opening in the other. A sudden assault was very predictable once you knew what you were dealing with, so instead the both of them would have to think of a strategy that the other didn't think of before they did. While they were the same people they could still have different trains of thoughts. The only problem being that both of them were very good at observation and tactical reasoning so even if they didn't have to think of the same strategy it was unlikely that either of them would easily think of a way to start and finish this fight that the other couldn't quickly react to and counter.

"Out of curiosity, why is it necessary for you to kill me? What prevents us both walking out and going our separate ways in the outside world?"

Naisei acknowledged the question with a nod, her narrowed eyes not relaxing in the slightest. She knew that Akeya wasn't asking that because she was nervous or uncertain abut the outcome of the fight. Of course both of them were certain that they would be the eventual victor. That was the kind of person that Akeya was, and that meant that Naisei was also that kind of person. The reason that Akeya asked was because she didn't really have a reason to kill Naisei. She would kill her if it was necessary for her own survival and to get out, but before that she would rather ask some more questions in case there was a way for them both to get out. Just because Akeya was a cold-blooded predator who had no qualms against killing didn't mean that in this situation she wouldn't consider all the possibilities. Especially since even though she was certain that in the end she would be the victor that didn't mean that the fight itself couldn't turn out rather nasty and dangerous. After all, no matter how confident she was about herself there was the problem that her opponent was herself. Even if she could defeat herself it wouldn't be an easy fight, and it might lead to injuries which could cause trouble in the future. After all, a predator wasn't going to be careful with its prey, and currently two predators were seizing each other up.

"To put it simply, I might have stepped out of the mirror but I am still just a reflection. The enchantment put on the mirror to create me is powerful, but it is still nowhere as powerful as what would be required to create a literal copy of anybody who might stare in the mirror, especially since there are people much stronger than you who might end up looking in the mirror as well. Since the point of the mirror is to create an exact copy stealing half of your power wouldn't work either: that would just mean that instead of one version of you at your full strength there would suddenly be two of us, both of us only being half as strong as the original. So in the end I am still not quire real. In this realm of dark spirits I can exist and interact with others, but I can not leave this realm. That is, until I kill you and become you fully. Fortunately for me the moment that the mirror's enchantment activates it also becomes impossible for you to leave, because the mirror has another enchantment on it which encloses us in what you could best describe as a space-time bubble. No matter how far you move in any direction you won't get anywhere other than back at this clearing. The bubble also causes any portal which might allow you to escape to look back to this clearing. Theoretically there are ways around these barriers, as you have probably already thought of at least one, but we both know that none of those methods are available to you right now."

Akeya nodded in return, narrowing her eyes some more as she thought of the best way to deal with this situation. The way that Naisei explained it it did seem like the only real way out was to kill the other one. However she had the strong hunch that this wasn't the case. After all, Naisei had explained that the realm of dark spirits was a natural realm, and that it only happened to be a good place for most people to test their strength of spirit. However that might not be the case for the mirror. As Naisei put it, an enchantment was put on the mirror. And mirrors need to be created. No matter how the realm itself came into existence, this specific mirror with its strange rules was created with a clear reason, and that reason appeared to be to force somebody to overcome themselves or be destroyed by the darkness in their own hearts. However that sounded suspiciously much like a real test. A test to help somebody mature. Which meant that the real goal wasn't to kill the reflection. Killing the reflection was just the most obvious way to deal with the problem. The real objective here was for the one who gazed into the mirror to learn how to deal with their own negative emotions, either by overcoming them...or by accepting and dealing with them. And in Akeya's case Naisei wasn't even a representation of her own negative emotions. Instead Naisei was some strange kind of example of what Akeya would be like if she regained the ability to feel her emotions rather than just letting them exist but only partially noticing them.

"I have the feeling that it is not actually necessary for us to kill one another. You explained it as if the only goal here is for one to usurp the other, but the way that this test has been set up it looks like that is only the most obvious solution. From the way that you speak after I am dead you should be able to leave, and the same counts the other way around. However the only real condition might have to be that only one of us exists, not that one kills the other. As you have already noted you are in fact not merely a projection of my dark thoughts. Instead you are a near perfect copy of me, with as only distinction that you are aware of what I should be feeling if I hadn't allowed my desire to be rational close off my ability to perceive my own emotions."

Naisei raised an eyebrow at that, obviously interested. She didn't necessarily want to kill Akeya either. She was just created by the mirror to try and kill Akeya and become the new Akeya. However from a rational point of view killing Akeya in itself wasn't the objective. Her real goal was to reach the other world from which Akeya originated. If there was another way of doing that...

"If the requirement is for only one of us to remain and you do not believe that for one to die is the only option you must be talking about us becoming one. Which is an intriguing thought, although I have to ask how you believe that would happen. It might very well work, but if we can't think of how to do it we can't use that idea."

Akeya nodded again, already having begun to think of a plan. The two of them would somehow have to find a way to become one, which meant that they had to eliminate everything that separated the two of them and merge into one being. The mirror might on itself have a way of accomplishing that but finding the way of doing that might take time. Instead she would have to think of another way. She glanced down at the small black thing, which was still cowering in place, before looking back up at Naisei. She glanced at the mirror, which had not really given any sign of doing anything after Naisei had stepped out. It really just looked like a normal mirror, if rather huge and somewhat ominous.

When she noticed that the mirror was in fact doing something the half dragon almost showed enough of an opening for Naisei to begin an attack. The reflection looked ready to dash forward when Akeya held up her scaled hand, making it clear that she would still be able to retaliate if Naisei tried anything. Akeya then pointed at the mirror.

"I believe I have found the way for us both to leave this place."

Naisei also looked at the mirror, positioning herself so she could keep both Akeya and the mirror in her sight. When she saw what the mirror was doing she also blinked, quite clearly just as surprised as the original half dragon. When Akeya had first looked into the mirror she had noted how it was so clear and sharp that it looked like she was literally staring into another clearing rather than a reflection, even if that clearing was perfectly identical to the one she herself had been in. But right now the mirror wasn't reflecting the clearing. Instead it was reflecting another clearing, the one that Akeya had been waiting in before stepping into the realm of dark spirits together with Akryn.

The two half dragons both approached the mirror, their trains of thoughts basically being identical at this point as they both realized how they could avoid killing on another while still returning to the other world. They looked at each other, in their eyes seeing that they were thinking of the same thing. And since they both knew that they had no real reason to kill each other now that there was a way out neither of them had to distrust the other. Rather than keeping their guard up they both slowly turned into shadows, shadows which intermingled and merged until in the end there was no way to distinguish between the shadow from the original and the shadow from the reflection, one collective shadow form which without hesitation flew straight towards the mirror, upon contact moving through the surface instead of being blocked. After the shadows had disappeared the mirror returned to normal, waiting for the next person to arrive who wanted to test themselves.

In the clearing outside the realm of dark spirits one large rock, flat and somewhat rectangular so it looked more like a monolith which had been weathered and worn throughout the ages, suddenly began to glimmer on one side as the large and flat surface turned completely clear, like a mirror. Except that the clearing on the other side was cast in shadows, and seemed devoid of all the rubble that surrounded the clearing on this side. From this mirror came a large mass of darkness, which after leaving the surface fell upon the ground, the mirror dimming and becoming opaque until eventually it was just another rock.

The darkness swirled and moved about until it slowly turned back into Akeya, who stood up and looked back towards the monolith from which she had left the realm of dark spirits before staring upwards, at the moon. She was a creature of shadows so she hadn't really disliked that place, but still she liked to see the bright moon in the night sky, illuminating everything with its silver light. Spreading her arms Akeya allowed the moonlight to wash over her, in response all of her dark features turning silver, as they always did whenever she was exposed to strong moonlight ever since she had visited the Tears of the Moon. She stayed motionless for several seconds before finally speaking, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Ah... So I did really love him. I do wish I had realized that before it was too late."

She sighed, shaking her head as she once again looked back at the monolith. The mirror was indeed a test, with more than one way of getting through it. She also was pretty sure that the idea that you could only leave after the other version of you was dead was false. The mirror had already shown the way out before either of them had begun to fight. Most likely the reason why normally this way of getting out wasn't accessible was that normally you wouldn't be given the opportunity to step through. Or maybe you needed to step through together with your reflection for it to work. And normally your reflection would be twisted and filled with negative thoughts, so they wouldn't cooperate. And thus you would have no choice to either defeat your reflection before stepping through, or be defeated by your reflection and allow a twisted version of yourself to return to your world. Akeya guessed that she should count herself lucky that her specific personality and traits had allowed her to find the way out, one where she didn't have to risk her life fighting somebody who possessed all her skills and all her abilities, not to mention all her intelligence and knowledge.

She was pretty sure that whoever had made that mirror would also approve of being able to find a way out of the realm of dark spirits without killing your reflection.

Akeya reached out and touched the monolith carefully with one scaled hand. It was very solid rock, and wasn't giving any sign of planning to become anything else any time soon. She looked over towards the portal that she had used together with Akryn to enter the realm of dark spirits before. It was still there, and she considered stepping through it. But after several seconds she shook her head again. Neither Naisei or the original Akeya had disappeared. She now knew what Naisei knew, so she also knew that there was no reason for her to return. In fact she might not be able to return. After all, not everybody was able to step through every portal. She would just have to live with the fact that she both gained and lost something in there.

Spreading her wings the half dragon ascended into the sky before flying away, heading back towards Blue Pegasus. She would either have to get used to going on missions on her own again or find a new partner. Although technically she was no longer alone. After all, there were two of her, even if they were also one

END