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

Job Description:

Akeya sat with crossed legs on a rock as she waited for her partner, Akryn, to arrive. She had already been sitting there for half an hour, but since she had arrived a fair bit earlier than she had agreed with Akryn to meet up she wasn't really annoyed about that. Instead she was rather annoyed about what they were about to do, and glaring at the portal which would lead them to a place she had never been to before. She reckoned Akryn hadn't ever been through that portal either. It was in a place where not many people went, and it definitely wasn't a portal one would carelessly wander through. It was a portal which led to the place where the darker Celestial Spirits lived, and a place where one was supposed to meet their own fears and weaknesses.

The half dragon wasn't completely sure why she had decided upon this, even now as she looked at the portal. She and Akryn would go through the portal together, see what was inside, and then leave again. And in the process deal with whatever shades or images they came across. It was a simple plan, with simple reasons. If this portal allowed Akeya to confront her own fears and weaknesses directly then entering and coming back out would serve to make her more resilient towards those fears and weaknesses, and find weapons to deal with them. A weakness which one had no weapon against was a weakness that could get one killed in short order.

The question was why she had convinced Akryn to go with her. Even if she wanted to do this so she could confront the more vulnerable parts of her own self, having somebody there with her would make it less effective. Even worse, he would see those weaknesses and fears as well. So why did she think of taking him with her? The best answer she could think of was that he was the only one of her team remaining. The others had all left, either alive or dead. Maybe she didn't trust him to not also turn out too weak if he didn't confront his own fears and weaknesses as well. And she would be there to make sure that he did confront them. He might see her bad side, but she would see his bad side as well.

But even if she had that explanation for why she was here waiting for him she still didn't like it. Even as a trade, revealing your weakness to anybody was never a good idea. You could show somebody your weakness to incite a feeling of trust, making it more likely that they would help you when required. But if you did that you had to make sure that they couldn't actually use that weakness against you later on. Maybe by showing them a weakness that would no longer be there if they betrayed you in the future. Or by showing them a weakness that had been fabricated with as sole purpose fooling them. In this place she couldn't fake a weakness, and she doubted that the spirits behind that portal would choose a weakness that she could immediately get rid of afterwards, or one that Akryn couldn't use against her if he so chose. So the question remained whether she was really certain that this was a good idea, and she couldn't with full conviction say yes.

However, she had already told Akryn to be here, and if she now left or entered the portal without him that would undoubtedly hinder their interactions later on. He would not be happy with either choice. Akeya's tail lashed out in anger behind her as she still glared at the portal, her fin-ears twitching as she tried to catch the sounds of Akryn's approach. It shouldn't take much longer before he would arrive, and the sooner he did the sooner Akeya could stop second guessing her choice and just get on with it.

Akryn did indeed show up in a very short amount of time, wearing his usual attire. Today he was heavily armed though, his black sword on his left hip and his golden sword on his right, the seven daggers peeking over his shoulders, red glove strapped on, and his massive, ten foot sword of absolute beauty resting on his shoulder as he walked. He had come prepared to face his dark side, same as Akeya, but much like the dragoness he was also holding many reservations about this whole affair. He trusted Akeya, sure, as far as he trusted anyone outside of his immediate five legal siblings. But this would likely reveal some of his biggest and most closely guarded secrets, secrets he was uncertain of wether he was ready to share or not. But most important perhaps was the question, was he ready to share them with Akeya and deal with the possible backlash.

Over the course of the past year or so that Akeya and himself had been teamed up Akryn had noticed himself watching her more and more, had noticed the feelings he was developing within himself. When he had asked his sister Leone about it she had laughed and teased him, giving an explanation that had caused the young assassin to blush. If Akeya saw the secrets he held, if she learned of his dark side, would she remain with him? Would those secrets ruin any chance he had of courting her?

"Hey Akeya." Akryn said as he approached, looking unusually nervous. Usually loud, boisterous, and rowdy, the first to step up for any job that involved a good row, Akryns nerves were clearly showing here. He did not for a moment consider what Akeyas dark side could be, but that might not come across well to her now. With a clearing of his throat Akryn looked towards the odd portal. "Allright Scales. Ya ready to do this?"

Akeya looked towards the direction from which Akryn was approaching when her ears twitched again, signalling her that he was indeed getting close. She had heard his footsteps quite often by now, so unless she had managed to find somebody whose build and method of movements was surprisingly similar that was Akryn. At least now she could stop the second guessing, mostly because she could now focus on her team mate now that he was here.

It still took a bit longer before he arrived, however: Akeya's ears were rather sharp even if they looked odd at the same time, so if she could hear him coming then he was still several minutes away. When he did arrive she quickly looked him over, noting that he was still completely covering himself with all the weapons that he possessed. She knew that he just felt better when he was armed, but the half dragon also had the suspicion that like herself he was expecting something more intimidating to appear once they stepped through that portal. Something that they would need to face with all their focus and intent, and not just wave away. Both of them were powerful mages and fighters, even when compared to those mages who were in roughly the same category of magic power. While Akeya focused on stealth, mobility and one hit kills more than outright combat she was still fully capable of keeping her own, and Akryn was a pure fighter through and through. He had the temper, the training, the experience, and the skill. Most mages who were B-Ranked like themselves would still have trouble dealing with either of them, simply because Akryn and Akeya, besides developing their magic abilities, also had put a lot of effort into their physical prowess.

At least Akryn would be a valuable ally to have against whatever they might be facing. Akeya still hadn't convinced herself that taking him with her was really that good an idea when looking at it from a purely logical and reasoning point of view, but he was here now, and he was one of the few whom she actually respected as a fighter and a warrior. The fact that he was the only other survivor of their team also spoke of this: they'd worked together for quite a while now, and while Akryn was showing the scars he was still there, and even those scars did not hinder him or impede him in any way. If anything they just fuelled his dedication. From the point of view of how useful Akryn would be in the here and now he got about full marks. Especially since Akeya was pretty sure that if one of the H-Ranked mages in the guild entered that portal whatever monster showed up in response would be one that she could do very little against.

Although for once Akryn didn't look as unflappable and unshakeable as he normally did. They knew each other too well for either of them to hide such matters: Akryn was nervous. While he had agreed to this it looked like he wasn't too confident. That in itself made Akeya take pause. Was he not confident about their ability to deal with their own fears? Or was he sharing the same hesitation as she did, the hesitation of showing somebody else your biggest fears? It was a rather momentous action to take. Somebody who knew your biggest weakness, something which you were truly unable to deal with as well as you dealt with anything else, would from that point on have a significant hold over you. You having the same hold over them would only marginally improve that situation.

Akeya herself wasn't showing her nervousness quite as vehemently as Akryn, but he should also realize that she wasn't as eager to do this as she normally would be during a mission. Well, she was rarely eager: she just became extremely focused. However from the way that she looked at Akryn, then to the portal and back, it should be clear to him that the half dragon felt some kind of hesitation as well. However when he called her Scales she grumbled, moving to stand in front of the portal.

"Don't call me that. Let's just go."

Akryn nodded before turning and stepping through the gate. The other side of the gate was dark, wickedly dark. Not dark in the usual sense of lack of light, Akryn could see just fine, even with his normal vision. Shaded, cloudy, sure. But the darkness came from the heavy, vile sense within the area. His left eye, the one under the patch, burned furiously. Even his massive sword, the starry end, seemed to burn just with being here. He wanted to go back immediately and every instinct he had commanded he turn right around.

But he wouldn't. This entire job had been a personal request from Akeya herself, and she rarely asked for anything. She didn't need to! She was easily one of the strongest women he knew and she could take any thing she wanted. She did not need him for this job. He was hear for a whole different reason, and if Leone was correct, if Tia was correct, then he knew what it was. She was attempting to bring them closer, perhaps not even consciously. Akryn would not shy away from that, he would not upset her in that manner. Akryn brought his starry end from his shoulder as the shadows around him began to move, and he closed his normal eye, allowing the senses of the motomiji star in his left socket take control and do that guiding.

Akeya would be right at home in this environment, and she would likely have zero difficulty with any of these opponents. Still, it would likely not help if she was being assaulted the moment she came through. With a smirk Akryn threw his massive blade out to the side, magic channeling through its blade. "All of you should get out of our way. I have no patience for you weaklings." He said before swinging the sword across, sending a blast of starry energy out to drive back the initial hordes, which would soon be replaced with more. But at least not Akeya would have a moment to survey the field before having to fight.

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

#1 'Monster Dice' :


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#2 'Monster Dice' :


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#3 'Monster Dice' :

Akeya watched silently as Akryn was the first to go through the gate that would lead them from this world into a realm which most likely was entirely different from this one. She could not anticipate what it would look like: she only knew that it was supposed to be dark, and that there they would be able to find their own fears personified and manifested, allowing them to face that which they truly feared head on and overcome it. Or at least learn to not allow it to control them to the extent that it would hinder them during such important matters as a fight. Akeya was somebody who believed in self-control as strong as steel. An assassin could not allow themselves to be emotional, and due to her talents and her outlook on life the half dragon could most easily classify herself as an assassin. While she possessed the ability to fight full out in plain sight that was not what she preferred doing. She found it more satisfying and efficient to stay hidden, to approach the target without them ever realizing that they are in danger, only to kill them before they even knew that they should have reacted to something. Silent, unseen, deadly: no fuss, no problems, and finishing the job as efficiently as possible. That was what Akeya preferred to do, and what she was also good at. She knew that other Dragon Slayers tended to be more flashy and boisterous. It seemed being granted the strength of dragons made most humans somewhat eager to have clashes of strength. She was happy that she had gained the powers of the Shadow Dragon instead, who acted like a hunter should.

She still wondered why she would have asked Akryn to accompany her. She had already thought of everything that she could think of, the advantages and the disadvantages, but it still stayed something of a puzzle for her. Maybe it was not something she could really answer with reasoning and logic. Maybe it was just something done by instinct. Maybe she just had become used to working together with him. If that was the case that could be problematic, but now was not the time to think about it. Right now Akeya just stepped through the portal after Akryn, tensing herself in preparation for what was to come.

The first thing she noticed on the other side of the portal was that it was indeed dark. For her that was not a problem, but somehow this darkness was not the kind that hindered sight as much as just made it very clear that the area was dark. A darkness which was more of the emotional and psychological level than actual darkness. Which in some way was fitting, seeing how in this place one was supposed to find the darkness of their heart, not just plain darkness. Either way, Akeya already felt better here, even if this darkness was not normal it still greeted her and allowed her to merge with it, becoming nigh unseen for those without enhanced or magical sight.

Feeling secure in her arrival Akeya quickly surveyed her surroundings. Akryn had announced his arrival by immediately letting loose a powerful and large attack, clearing a path for the both of them to prepare themselves for the challenges that lay ahead. That was useful, so Akeya mentally thanked him for that. He at least knew that the best way for them to work was for him to provide some free space for her to think of her next move and then act without whatever enemies that were present in the vicinity hindering her. Another advantage to having worked together for so long. The half dragon glared at the opponents that were still present: she saw a strange small figure which didn't appear to either be strong or have any evil intent, so she dismissed it. She wouldn't trust it or let it approach her, but for now she would leave it alone. The other two shapes were...strange. They didn't look complete. It was only when Akeya was actually looking at them that they began to take a solid form. The half dragon's eyebrows nearly rose up into her hairline behind her mask and blindfold when she saw their shape. They looked almost exactly like Akryn, except that they had expressions of clear disgust. That was...odd. She wasn't exactly sure what that was about. Maybe they just had seen Akryn first and took that shape because they're mimics? This was a realm where one was supposed to face their darkness. They didn't give the feeling of being that powerful, but maybe they showed more unsavoury parts of Akryn. Nevertheless, Akeya was just going to cut them down.

She didn't feel like taking it easy, so the moment that she was done trying to figure out what the deal was with those appearances she immediately dashed forward, using her shadow dash to get close in so little time that it was nearly an instant. However it appeared that these creatures had at least to some extent imitated Akryn's skills as well, because instead of being surprised they both just slashed at her with their swords. Knowing that she would not like touching those things at all (Akryn didn't exactly tend to use normal, easily blocked swords) Akeya shadow dashed again, appearing right between the two and hitting the both of them with a dozen Shadow Dragon's Scales. While she managed to concentrate the small dark spheres enough that she inflicted rather deep wounds on both of them they once again reacted rather quickly, forcing Akeya the shadow dash back to next to Akryn as their mimicked blades hit each other, missing Akeya by a hair and instead sending sparks from metal meeting metal.

"This is going to be difficult."

Akryn nodded in approval of Akeyas actions against the fake hims and raised his massive sword, preparing to rush in and aid her before something suddenly latched onto his left leg. Akryn looked down, confused, at the small thing hanging on his leg. "Please, please Mister Swords Man, please protect me from the monsters!" The little round ball of fluff screamed.

Normally Akryn would have reached down and killed something like this in an obviously hostile enviroment, but as he looked down at it, pleading for its life, he felt a twinge of an extremely unusual emotion. Pity.

Akryn stared for a bit longer before reaching down, grabbing it by the head, and placing it on his shoulder. "Stay there out of my way then. I am watching you though, and any funny business will result in retaliation." He warned before turning to eye the beasties Akeya was facing once more. They looked like him, but wearing a very odd expression. One of disgust perhaps? Something Akryn would never have when looking at Akeya certainly, so why on earth would they look at her that way. A question for another time, he thought to himself, before suddenly rushing in at one of the beasts. It turned to look at him and began melting away, lkely to take a new shape. Before it could finish however Akryn smashed it with his Starry End, the swords natural starry magics shattering the beast into pieces, like glass, which fell to the ground. "They seem to be little more than shades Akeya. Chow down before I unmake them with this bad boy!" Akryn cheered, hoisting his massive sword high with one hand. "How about a bet? Who ever takes out the most opponents gets a prize?"

Akeya raised her eyebrows as the little weak thing that she had seen before suddenly began to cling to Akryn's leg, and even more so when it began to talk, begging and pleading for the one-eyed man to protect...whatever it was...from the shapeshifting creatures in front of them. She couldn't begin to figure out what the small creature was supposed to be, but it still lacked any hostile intent, and even if it did it did not seem to contain any real power worth mentioning. The more curious part was how it would ask a complete stranger, a kind of being completely foreign to this place which quite clearly was the little creature's habitat, to protect it from those monsters. Neither Akryn nor Akeya gave the impression of being people who you could be assured of that they would defend the meek. Akeya was still a bit worse than Akryn, being a half dragon, but even Akryn was a bit too much of a raw fighter and brawler, both in intent and appearance, for anybody to just see him as a gentle and protective person at a first encounter. Actually, even now Akeya didn't really see Akryn as gentle or caring about the weak. He did have a tendency to protect him, but she had the feeling that was mostly because he wanted to beat up the bullies than that he really wanted to protect the weak. One could say the offensive part was what lured him into doing it and the protective part was just a side effect.

Either way, Akryn decided to do as the little creature asked him to, putting it on his shoulder and telling it to stay there. Not the best place for a creature looking for protection to be, but at least as long as it kept clinging to that spot Akryn shouldn't have much trouble keeping an eye on it. Of course, Akryn being Akryn that was immediately followed up by him charging into one of those shape changing creatures, using one of his many weapons to immediately smash it to pieces before it was finished changing into whatever shape it deemed to be suitable for dealing with Akryn. They really were annoying monsters, and Akeya would take some measure of pleasure in obliterating them. At Akryn's comment that they actually were some kind of shadow creature the Shadow Dragon Slayer quickly dashed forwards, heading for the remains of the first monster. Even now the shadows appeared to be gathering, trying to reform and recover from the devastating damage Akryn had managed to inflict using only one hit. Annoying, and quite difficult to deal with to boot. If it wasn't for Akeya being the Shadow Dragon Slayer this fight could have lasted quite long, if these monsters could truly keep regenerating endlessly. Luckily they also turned out to be edible, the half dragon quickly devouring the first monster, feeling the shadows that it was made out of become lifeless as they were turned into more magic power for her to use. When Akryn challenged her to a competition of who could kill the most monsters she simple sighed.

"There is only two, and you already destroyed one. I'm eating right now, so the other one is also yours. I'll make sure that once you've taken it down it won't rise up again. And what kind of prize were you thinking of anyway?"

While she was making it sound offhanded Akeya also just felt that it was easier to let Akryn do the killing for now. The reason that he had managed to disable the first monster so quickly was that when he faced it the thing had tried to alter its shape, only to be interrupted mid-transformation. The other one still looked like a disgusted Akryn, so making use of that they could make quick work of these things a lot easier if they just constantly switched who was on the offensive, thus forcing the monsters to continuously change their shape anew to fit their new opponent, creating more opportunities to use for attacks. The half dragon finished her meal, never having pulled down her mask as the shadows just flowed underneath the cloth into her mouth, where rather than actually eating it she felt more as if she was drinking the shadows. Shadows were of a rather non-solid substance anyway, so honestly for a Shadow Slayer drinking was a better word than eating. Although in both cases she guessed that consumption still counted.

Walking forward she hissed at the remaining monster, keeping its attention so it would only begin switching to a shape for Akryn once her team mate began his actual attack. The longer it would take the more likely he could take it down before it could finish changing its shape.

Akryn grinned at Akeya and turned, twisting around and swinging his massive sword again at the rushing opponent. As he swung the sword, its edge would begin to glow with a brilliant, starry energy, and as it struck the final shadowy beast it would freeze as the sword passed effortlessly through its body. Akryn easily halted the swords momentum and brought it up to rest it on his free shoulder, as the shadowy beast began to disintegrate where it stood as the starry energy ate it away. "Oh I don't know. Winner gets a free meal, paid for by the loser? Ya know they recently opened a brand new steak shop in town, and the smell coming out of that place is absolutely wonderful. I would love to find out their seasonings, and what better way to do that then stealing the recipe, right?" He asked, reaching up to yank the little bugger from his shoulder and give it a gentle shake. "What do you make of this one? I think the display of my starry end may have sent him into a bit of shock. He strikes me as a shadow type creature of some sort, maybe related to the beasties we were fighting. Honestly, I think between you eating them and me disintegrating them, we may have scared off the entire damn plane of existence." He said with a chuckle, placing the tiny, catatonic creature on his shoulder again. "So I never did ask. What is the point of this job anyway? I mean why are we really looking for some sort of mirror that lets us see our fears or some nonsense? My fears aren't exactly concrete, unless you count my fear of my father, and lets be honest, no one wants to see him appear in any mirror ever. But what about you? I have never seen you show any sort of fear ever, towards anything. Why would you be interested in some sort of mirror that might not have anything to tell you?" Akryn asked, looking around for any new opponents. Akeya would likely notice that Akryn was unusually talkative today. Akryn had been very surly and quiet lately, far more so than usual. It was a sign of his nerves likely.

Akeya continued to devour the remains of the first shadow beast as Akryn made quick work of the one that was still staring with her as if she was a pile of rotting waste that had stood up and began walking around. It was curious that it had chosen that shape, although it looked like once Akryn had split it in two it could no longer retain that shape and fell apart into more shadows for her to feast on. The shadows she got from these monsters weren't the beast she had ever eaten, but they gave a good amount of magic and weren't that bad either. She certainly wasn't going to complain about them.

The reward Akryn had in mind for the one who had less monsters on their list of defeated enemies was one that Akeya could have seen coming, if she had been really thinking about it. Of course he was thinking of a free meal. She had also passed by that new restaurant, and her enhanced draconic nose couldn't really disagree with what her companion was saying. Ever since she had left her home she had realized that she liked meat a lot more than somebody whose race is supposed to be omnivorous. She still ate plants if that was what she was given, but if given the choice she always chose meat and rarely bothered to think about adding some green side dish. Although the idea of stealing the recipes of that place was a bit out of the blue.

"It would be smarter if you first asked whether you could get them to give you the recipe, either for free or in return for something else. If this was a random food shop from a location we were just passing through I would not object to your plan, but our Master would not approve of it if he found out, and the rewards are not worth the risk, even if the risk isn't that high."

Finishing the first shadow beast Akeya moved onto the next, the lower half of her face exposed as she began to swallow up the shadows that had first made up the body of their adversaries. If all their enemies were like this she would at least be able to keep going without worry. Of course the same didn't go for Akryn: he couldn't endlessly keep going on shadows, so they would still not be able to stay here for longer than a couple of days, maybe weeks depending on how good Akryn was at fighting off hunger and thirst. When Akryn plucked his passenger off his shoulder and showed it to Akeya the half dragon gave the small creature a frown, looking it over again before shrugging.

"It looks and feels too weak to be a threat. Even if it turned against us I would be able to swallow it in one bite, so you're free to do with it what you want. As long as it doesn't attack us at least. Although if we have truly scared off everything in this plane I would be somewhat concerned about the claim that we could face our fears in this place. It would hardly do for us to be more fearsome than that which we ourselves fear."

Her companion then came to a more serious point, the reason why the both of them were here. Akeya was somewhat surprised that he hadn't figured it out yet, but then again she hadn't really explained anything to him. Maybe her line of reasoning wasn't as normal as she had thought it to be, although if she had expected anybody to get it Akryn would have been that anybody. He was the one who like her put a lot of effort into training and becoming strong, although in Akeya's case it was more about deepening her understanding and gaining full control over her heritage than just raw combat ability. Nevertheless, it might help calm Akryn down if he at least knew why they were there besides of Akeya asking him to accompany her. For reasons she herself was still not entirely sure of.

"Just because I do not show my fear does not mean I am fearless. We are both already strong in both magic and body. Any mage who would be considered of the same rank as us we could without much issue defeat, because whereas they just enjoy their power we both know that skill is just as important. By entering this place where we can face our fears without any kind of barriers to protect ourselves, we are forced to confront them and conquer them. This will make our minds stronger, strong enough that we no longer have to worry that at some point we would be slowed down or crippled by fear. So the answer to your question is, we are here to strengthen our minds, so they match the strength of our bodies."

That was a lot of talking at once, and Akeya immediately returned to eating afterwards. Whether she was also talking to steady her nerves, or she just felt like saying that much was necessary to get the message across, would be up to Akryn to figure out.

Akryn thought on Akeyas answer for a moment before nodding in agreement. Both of them were very strong, both in magic and physical prowess. Even Zack, who sparred with Akryn often, acknowledged the growth the two of them had shown lately, as well as the power they already had and the power they would some day gain. Thinking on it now, it only made sense that they should learn to master their minds and possible fears as early as possible. Akryn did grin however at Akeyas admonishment for wanting to steal the restaurants recipe.

"Restaurants do not share recipes. Most chefs are rather protective of their personal recipes, like a dragon guarding its treasure. A good recipe is found only through a chefs own personal hard work, long hours, and sometimes self sacrifice. If you have something that works and is all your creation, or a secret family treasure, you protect it. Other wise it gets snatched up by greedy business men, and the love of cooking is lost. You have heard of Suzakus Noodles right? There are like six of them in Clover town. No self respecting chef will ever be caught there. Their recipe was actually stolen from a private cook. The recipe for the sauce and noodles was made by his grand mother and passed down to him. He got a little to cocky and shared the recipe, which then got shared to someone else, and then became Suzakus noodles. Now the businessman who stole the recipe has millions, and the chef who leaked the recipe has a court order preventing him from publicly serving the recipe. Big blow to that guy, and an insult to his family who worked so hard to make the recipe. Same thing with the steaks. If the chef there made the recipe himself he will guard it jealously, for fear of it being stolen and he put out of business. I have no interest in selling his recipe, only using it, but he wont know that. If I can get past him though, show the real effort to get to the recipe, it would show my interest in cooking. No it doesn't make sense, I know, but chefs have their own set of codes and expected behaviors as well, and to ask a chef for his recipe will almost always be met with a no." Akryn said, before turning to look at the distance, where more shadows had begin to amass. "Now its time for you to finish your meal, we have more enemies approaching."

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

'Monster Dice' :

Fortunately it looked like Akryn quickly understood why they were there after Akeya had gone through the trouble of explaining it to him, saying more in one go than she had remembered doing in quite a while. He of all people should understand how important it was to train, and this was just another form of training. Their physical prowess was already good, their magical talent was developed, now they just had to make sure that their mind would not end up being their weak spot. They were the only two survivors of their team, and they worked quite well together. Akeya saw no reason not to keep working together with Akryn, but she had to make sure that neither she nor he would become a weakness due to an unexplored weakness in the mind that would then be exploited at the worst timing.

With that issue of explaining why they were here out of the way Akeya relaxed somewhat, the half dragon not wanting to deal with having to continue trying to convince Akryn of the importance of visiting this place. He most likely would still accompany her even if he hadn't been convinced, but it could have let to complications later on. This was a lot easier, although now Akryn was going on a tangent about how apparently for cooks their recipes were as important to safeguard as for mages their biggest discoveries had to be closely guarded. Admittedly, this made about as much sense as anything done by humans. If such knowledge of a secret was required for one to make enough money to live they would indeed try to make sure they would keep the monopoly of that knowledge so nobody could take the money gained from it from them. Although the story of the businessman who stole the recipe and then even went so far as to make sure that the original owner was no longer allowed to use it himself made her rather disgruntled. Of course that man could have seen it coming that if he leaked that information it might end up being used against him, but it still annoyed her to see humans acting like that.

"Sounds like typical behaviour of those disgusting humans. I might just visit that businessman and discuss the matter with him sometime." From Akeya that choice of words could be almost directly translated into 'I might slit that guy's throat in the middle of the night.' Dragons weren't exactly the most morally aligned of creatures, but they weren't sneaky bastards like the humans. If they wanted something they would just take it by force and keep it by force. Akeya might be a hunter whose focus was on efficiency, but that was still something completely different from how some humans would do the most sneaky and underhanded of things simply to satisfy their greed. Not that Akeya really cared about the unlucky chef: she was solely disgruntled by that display of the typical human greed.

"Fine, steal the recipe if you must, but I'm not helping. Now let's return to the task at hand."

Finishing the process of devouring those shadow beasts that had come to greet them as they stepped through the portal Akeya straightened up, watching three new shadow beasts begin to approach them. Once again they looked to have some difficulty taking on the right shape, as there were two people for them to focus on, and it was quite clear that Akeya and Akryn had different things that would affect them on a psychological level.

"Let's keep up the pattern of you destroying them with that sword while I eat them."

With that Akeya began to disappear from sight as she melded with the darkness that made up most of this realm, slowly sneaking closer to the shadow beasts as she waited for Akryn to begin the assault. She would back him up, but his weapon was a lot better for dealing with these creatures than her set of abilities.

Akryn smirked a bit as Akeya disappeared from sight. That was her usual tactic, their usual tactic. Akryn drew the attention of the target. It hadn't failed them yet, and to be honest, Akryn could take most punishment. Still, he wished for a moment that she understood his view on chefs and recipes better. He had heard of some particularly skilled chefs known as Gourmet Hunters who spent their entire lives looking for the ultimate meal, and it was the dream of many chefs to be the one that Gourmet Hunters said made that ultimate meal. But Akryn shook those thoughts away as he raised his sword and rushed the three large darkness monsters that were heading towards him, preparing to do battle with them.

The first two shifted quickly, changing into the form of Akeya. They looked to Akryn with absolute disgust, as if he was something far beneath them. Akryn was used to such looks really, he had a habit of really pissing Akeya off at times. She had never looked disgusted, but she had certainly given him some very harsh looks, and he was used to them mostly, so he rushed in without much heasitation. It was the third beast in the back that drew Akryn to a skidding halt, as blood drained from his face and the blade of his sword hit the ground. The shadow beast in the back morphed, grew, and transformed, the skin lightening, the head sprouting long white hair, the arms becoming thick and muscular. Its eyes became silver, like Akryns, and a large, circular, scorpion tattoo was emblazoned on his shoulder.

Akryn eyed this form with what could only be described as terror and he quickly took a few steps back. By the forms that had been taken it showed that Akryn feared Akeya in some form, which might actually surprise the dragoness a bit. But whoever this new form was was a whole different ball park, something that drove the usually unstoppable Akryn to an absolute stop. No, not a stop, back pedaling. Akryn was reeling from the shock of that face before him, and a reeling Akryn was never a good thing, for anyone.

She didn't really understand why people would be that focused on food as to try and steal recipes and then make it so that the one who possessed the recipe in the first place would no longer be allowed to use it. Well, of course the latter act was just an attempt to make more money by removing any rival businesses, but still. Akeya could certainly appreciate a good meal, but she wouldn't ever be that absorbed in a specific recipe, or go on a rampage just because of it. As long as she could eat meat, and everything else needed to feed her body all the nutrients it needed, she was already satisfied. Meat was tasty under almost any circumstances, even raw. That of course was a side effect of her being a half dragon: when she was a human she had no real preference for meat over other types of food, and she would have turned raw meat aside as being too likely to make her fall ill. However her increased constitution had removed that weakness, and her teeth had become more like those of a predator, aimed to tear through flesh easily and rip off chunks. She could still chew like a human, but it was quite clear what her diet now mainly consisted of.

This was, besides of course the wings, tail and the scales, one of the biggest observable changes Akeya had been through ever since she had left the road of being a full-blood human and had entered the path of being dragonkin instead. It was a sign that not only her body, but even her mind was being affected: meat wasn't just preferable food so far as her body was concerned, even her mind found meat a more pleasing prospect than any kind of vegetable. She knew that such a thing would happen, and she had accepted it. It was kind of funny that one of the first changes in her personality would be her preferred food though. Might be because she had already been quite similar to dragons in her mind and soul, so some of the more obvious stuff like a disregard for humans was already present. If it was already there it didn't need to be added, so instead she got a hunger for meat, both fresh and cooked.

That wasn't the main focus right now though. Akryn would raw the attention of those shadow beasts and finish them off, and Akeya would take care of any stragglers and then devour the shadows for the extra energy they provided. Besides, creatures made out of shadows tended to be slippery buggers, so eating the shadows was another precaution. However she then noticed that two of the monsters had turned into...herself. And apparently without her blindfold and mask, because they were quite visibly glaring at Akryn with an expression as if they were staring at a mere cockroach, daring to enter her house and defile it without any respect for the half dragon in the room. That was certainly odd. When she had been facing the beasts they had turned into disgusted Akryns, when Akryn was facing them they turned into her, with an expression as if they despised Akryn's entire existence and would really like to just squash him underneath their clawed feet. Maybe these creatures weren't only about fear, but also trying to create paranoia by having her and Akryn start to think badly of each other? Possibly a side effect of entering the shadow realm with two people. The creatures within wouldn't like people working together seamlessly when the whole place was supposed to be a source of fear, so they tried to drive them apart like this.

This seemed like a likely explanation for Akeya regarding the appearance of the shadow beasts, however it didn't explain the third. The third one turned into something different entirely, somebody who more looked like they were related to Akryn, going by the colour of their hair and their eyes. And their general build, which was muscular and trained, something which Akeya always approved of. She was a hunter and a predator, so she should be powerful and quick enough for that task. However as a female she also needed to be able to find a male willing to mate with her once it was her time to carry a child, so instead of being a hulking brute her strength was still hidden beneath womanly curves and soft skin. Males on the other hand didn't need that, so instead they could look as muscular and manly as possible, although of course there was a limit after which more muscle instead made the male look ridiculous. Luckily enough most males couldn't even reach that ridiculous amount of muscle even if they tried. Akryn's musculature was very well defined, but as somebody who practised plenty in martial arts and who had speed on his mind as much as strength he at least had a good balance.

This imitated person was similar, but more importantly, it looked like this one was having a much greater effect on Akryn than the copies of herself. That probably had to do with the fact that the mark of the scorpion was visible on this man, something which Akeya quickly recognized and which made her grow quite wary. She knew what that mark meant, and while she didn't know who exactly the man was she did realize that there was a good reason for Akryn to be afraid. However that was not what they should be doing right now. Even if the creature looked like something Akryn feared to this extent, it hadn't become more powerful. Akeya wasn't about to watch Akryn flee in blind panic, so while still hidden in the shadows she suddenly flashed forward, appearing right behind the third shadow beast without making a sound. Moving swiftly and with efficiency shadows warped around her hands and turned them into large curved claws, which she used to rip open its back so she could use the second to drive it directly into the exposed ribcage and pulverize the heart and lungs.

Akryn recovered fairly well as soon as Akeya hit the big one in the back, and he responded with anger. He could not believe that he had let the sudden appearance of his father, especially a fake one, one he knew was fake, affect him so much. He had thought that the next time he met his father, he would be strong enough to fight back. Instead, he had fallen back and had reverted back to being the scared little boy, standing before his almighty father. Akryn despised that feeling, he despised being made to feel weak, and he snarled in anger. He swung his massive sword across, sending out a blast of silvery energy which smashed into the two fake Akeyas, obliterating them in a flash of light. As soon as they were gone however, Akryn would fall to his knees, sweat leaking from his head and memories of his child hood flooding in. Mixed with the horrid memories of the old however came the horrific realization of the now, realizing now that he had let himself look the fool, look the coward and the weakling in front of Akeya. Akryn could not figure out why he was so angry at himself for that, but he was indeed angry with himself. He couldn't even bring himself to look up at the dragoness who had come to rescue him.

Akryn remained there for a moment, staring at the ground in shame and anger, before finally working to push himself up to his feet, still unable to look at Akeya. "I am sorry Akeya. I hesitated when I should not have, please forgive me. I humbly ask that you take point from here, I fear I will be unable to properly fulfill the necessary role of point man."

As Akeya had suspected raw intimidation value in no way affected the strength of the shadow beasts. The form it had taken to frighten Akryn was one which spoke of strength, of a powerful entity which all should be wary of, but it didn't have the power to back up that appearance, leaving Akeya almost disappointed at how easy it was to crush its insides, created in simulation of the man it had tried to imitate. As soon as that was done the shadow beast began to collapse, reverting to a mess of shadows that would reform itself unless the half dragon devoured them before that could happen.

It was very fortunate that she was here to help Akryn. These creatures appeared to only be capable of staying down if the shadows that made up their form were made inaccessible, either by completely destroying them or by eating them if you were a Shadow based Slayer, like Akeya herself. Akryn had his sword which most certainly was strong against these kind of things (Akeya didn't even want to touch the damn thing or come close), but she wasn't sure if it was also capable of actually completely destroying the shadows. Either way, eating them was easier and tastier, as well as more beneficial since Akeya could digest them into more energy for her to utilize.

However that still left the question of how the last one had managed to affect Akryn as much as it had. Akeya knelt and began to scoop up the shadows that had formed the source of her teammate's extraordinary fear, quickly drawing them inside her mouth and gulping them down as she thought of the possibilities. From the way it had looked it was definitely a relative of Akryn's. That colour of eyes and that type of hair couldn't be found everywhere, especially if you then added in the similar body type and build. So if that wasn't somebody Akryn was related to this half dragon would cut off her tail. And that tattoo indicated that it either was a family member who had joined that dark guild they had fought against before, or Akryn was afraid of one of his family members joining that guild. Although even then she didn't know he actually had people in his family that frightened him this much. Her family had never given her reason to fear her, because even though several of the older ones were extremely strong they weren't likely to actually do anything. This place could maybe create replicas which did act hostile, like they had done with those Akryn's who had looked disgusted, but since Akeya had never really felt like they would ever truly harm her it wouldn't be effective. It would be mildly disturbing and uncomfortable, but it wouldn't make her afraid.

So for Akryn to actually be turned into a coward who would try to distance himself from that man as quickly as possible meant that he had somebody in his family who not only would be dangerous as an opponent, but who Akryn actually could see as becoming an enemy, and one who wouldn't show him any mercy either. Something she would have to talk to him about at a later point. She couldn't exactly let him continue being afraid of his own family. They were here to conquer their fears, and this was definitely going to be on the list. Right at the top, even, because all the other things they had encountered so far had been more confusing than truly frightening. Why would disgusted Akryns scare her?

Well, at least Akryn had realized his mistake, because the moment that she had managed to destroy the third shadow beast he quickly finished off the other two, which were mere imitations of Akeya herself. She actually felt somewhat offended at the idea of those things trying to imitate her, even though she wouldn't turn aside the idea that she could be very frightening. Although that was more when she was angry than when she was disgusted, in her own opinion. Either way Akryn fell down after that, leaving Akeya time to quickly eat up all the shadows and feel the energy flow through her before walking up to him and staring down at him, waiting for him to get up. Like usual her mask and blindfold hid her facial features, leaving Akryn only to guess at what expression she had. Well, besides the fact that he would once again feel that familiar weight of her gaze seizing him up. The same gaze she almost always used when she looked at him.

When he finally stood up Akeya at first nodded, but once she saw that he was still shaken and frightened she frowned. That was not good. However first she would have to take care of another thing. Looking to the side she raised one hand, a soft squeak being heard in the distance before a tendril of shadow pulled back the little critter Akryn had picked up. It looked like it had bolted at the same point as Akryn began to let his fear overwhelm him, which kinda made sense. If they guy who was supposed to protect you became unable to fight and you were a coward to begin with your first reaction would be running away at high speed. Akeya stared at the little thing, curious as it was, before grabbing it and putting it back on Akryn's shoulder without much ceremony.

After which point she grabbed him by the colour and pulled him close, staring him straight into the eyes right through her blindfold, her gaze intense enough that the blindfold might as well not exist.

"This place is for us to defeat that which we fear. To remove the weakness of our own minds. And the moment you encounter something which you actually fear, instead of those copies of us which take on that shape for who knows why, you would flee and hide behind me? That is weakness."

She let go and pushed him back, pointing towards the direction where the frightening man had stood while still facing Akryn.

"It looks like you need this more than I do, so you will stay on point. Fear itself is good. It warns us and keeps us careful. Without fear you would recklessly run to your own death. But how you treat your fear is important. If you let your fear overwhelm and consume you, making you naught but a coward who can't stand up to real danger, I will abandon you right here. I will not tolerate my mate to be that weak. So, next time you see that figure, you will fight. I accept no other outcome."

Akeya glared at Akryn as she said all this, then suddenly blinked. She had the feeling that something she said just now was incorrect... Something which quickly slipped her mind.

Akryn almost couldn't look at Akeya for a moment, instead finding it easier to look down at her feet. Before something caught his ear and he looked up at her, confused a bit. "Wait. What do you mean your mate? You said you will not tolerate that kind of weakness in your mate. What do you mean mate?" Akryn asked, confused by what she had said. Confused, and yet excited at the same time, for reasons he could not understand. He liked Akeya, he admitted, and found her to be a good team mate. But she had not said team mate, just mate, and Akryns heart skipped a beat at the idea for reasons he did not understand.

Akryn stood up slowly, taking his sword back into his hand and gritted his teeth. At Akeyas words, Akryn forced himself to have courage, to steel himself for the fight. He cursed himself under his breath for showing such weakness in front of his team mate. He was the leader here, he was supposed to be the one that Akeya could rely on to be strong. He was supposed to be an ace of the guild one day! He was supposed to defeat the entire dark guild scorpion tail some day! How dare he show such pathetic weakness against someone who was dead! With a snarl, Akryn resumed his feet and shoved off from the ground, marching off into the darkness. It was obvious that something in his head had clicked, and clicked hard, and he was now ready for the coming battles.

Akryn refused to let fear control him. He refused to let himself be weak. He refused to let his inadequacy put Akeya in danger. Akryn snarled again, his right hand bursting into flames and the wind around him kicking up. Akryn was once more ready for battle, even more so than he had been at the start.

Akeya was rather disappointed in Akryn right now, especially since when she reprimanded him he didn't even show any sign of being willing to do as she said and walk forward to fight that foe that terrified him so much. He just looked ashamed and afraid, not even daring to stare her in the face as he instead chose to study her scales feet. If he continued to act like this she would seriously consider just leaving him here and finding that mirror herself. She would really prefer it if he could prove himself strong enough mentally to stand up and face that man who had managed to shake him to his core the first time around, but if he turned out to be incapable of such a thing she wouldn't bother dragging him around. The shadow beasts would continue to take on that shape, which meant that if Akryn couldn't resist it he would turn from a companion into nothing more than a burden. Just like the little creature he had picked up and which Akeya had stuck back on his shoulder. Both of them just looked weak and cowardly right now.

Then Akryn suddenly looked back up and remarked upon something that Akeya said. The half dragon looked as confused as the djinn as he pointed out that she had used the word mate. Akeya couldn't remember saying that. Or more like, now that it was pointed out to her she realized that she had said that, but she couldn't imagine why or how that had slipped past her lips. It wasn't even like she had been thinking it: it just seemed like a random thing to her, something which she said without any real explanation or motivation. Which left her staring at Akryn through her blindfold in silence for several seconds before she shook her head.

"A curious slip of the tongue. Nothing more."

She watched him with some curiosity as it appeared that her calling him out on his weakness and how he was willing to give up after the very first real obstacle had woken him up. In fact he now looked positively furious and disgusted with himself as he firmed his stance and began to walk again. Looked like he only needed to be reminded of why they were there and he would already recover. Good. Akeya had been hoping that he wouldn't need to much help returning to his usual self. If it had taken much more she would have been forced to conclude that for all his talk and liking for fighting he was actually not that impressive when it came to mental fortitude. That would have been even more of a disappointment than seeing him react so weakly to being frightened for the first time in who knows how long. She watched him walk for a moment before speaking up again, not really trying to let him hear her but not exactly bothering to whisper either.

"A mate would have to do a lot better than that. First of all they would have to attract my attention."

With that she walked after Akryn, quickening her step to catch up to him, although since he was now recklessly releasing his magic in the form of both fire and wind she kept a bit of a distance. Like this he should be able to meet whatever attempt at scaring him without issue. He might even just charge straight through and chop it in two without halting his step. If he could manage that Akeya would have to admit that he had recovered quite nicely. Although honestly to be able to face that man and defeat him would already be enough for him to stop wondering about whether her teammate was actually as strong in mind as she had believed him to be.

In almost every encounter they had been through together Akryn had rarely really been shaken or thrown off balance. He wasn't exactly the cold and calculating type, being a bit too fond of combat and bloodshed for that. But there is a very large difference between not being calculating because you're finding too much joy in fighting until you drop and not being calculating because you're only thinking of getting away as fast as you can. Akeya herself wasn't one to get consumed by bloodthirst, but she could tolerate her allies making use of it. It did grant one great strength through the simple fact that they had more motivation to give it their all. Akeya didn't really have much use for it because she tended to go all out anyway, having an abnormal amount of focus and concentration, but she wasn't exactly normal, physically or normally.

But now he had shown her a level of fear that she thought he might by simply incapable of. She was sorely mistaken, and she had to make sure that it wouldn't be the end of him someday. Fear itself was not something to feel ashamed itself. As Akeya had already said, fear existed to make living beings more aware of the fact that if something is dangerous they can't just do whatever and expect it to be all right. Fear was one of the most useful instincts one had, since it kept them from recklessness that could only lead to death. Or worse, depending on the circumstances. The trick was to use that fear properly. If you felt fear you should treat it as a sign you couldn't ignore, that you were in a truly dangerous situation, and proceed carefully. However you should keep your mind and keep thinking, stay in control. Those who allowed fear to turn into panic were the ones that the half dragon looked down on in disgust. They let a part of themselves, a single emotion that only existed as a warning, become too strong and overwhelm them. Their chances of survival actually went down when that happened. Akeya watched Akryn from the corner of her eye, the gaze hidden by her blindfold as she studied him. She'd have to make sure Akryn wouldn't make that mistake twice.

Meanwhile the shadow realm was only getting darker and stranger as they proceeded deeper. Before it just looked like a place where the earth was black but still quite clearly earth, and everything had been shady but still somewhat visible. And there had still been things like rocks and rubble. Trees, some alive and some dead and withered, had been visible in the distance to Akeya's eyes which did not care about whether there was light or not.
Now the landscape was...less solid. There were spots which looked like the entrance, but there were also spots where there was just no light at all, meaning that if it wasn't for Akeya's enhanced sight she would have ended up blind if she entered one of those spots. And what she saw in those spots was that they were largely just empty. The ground looked like the most boring and nondescript ground she could imagine. It wasn't so much ground as that it was surface. She wondered what was up with that.
Other places there was some more light, although it was all the same shifty twilight that not so much illuminated as allowed one to see more than just pure nothingness. Grey and all shades of grey were dominant around here. In those somewhat brighter places (relatively, at least) the ground was divided into black and white squares, and it looked like they were made out of marble. There was some rubble there as well, but instead of the natural rubble it was mostly remnants of broken pillars and statues. Some of those statues must have been quite big.

The entire place was becoming more divided into several completely different sceneries, the only thing shared the fact that they were all dark, they all had at best extremely pale light that cut very sharp shadows with no real indication of what was producing the light, and everything could be described as gloomy. Everything also had something which made you think of loss or emptiness. The completely empty spots would get you depressed because you were just standing in absolute nothingness. Even the floor you were standing on wasn't really anything except that it made sure you didn't fall forever. The marbled spot only ever had broken pillars and statues, nothing whole. It spoke of great and impressive things which were now nothing but waste and remnants. And the parts which looked like the entrance mostly were just empty black earth with trees, most of them dead and withered and the others looking rather sickly.

A strange place indeed, looking like it had been specifically designed to make whoever walked through it feel as troubled and uncomfortable as possible.

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

'Monster Dice' :

Akryn meanwhile was almost charging ahead, his quick pace showing his frustration. As he marched forward new opponents rose up before him, two of them already shape shifting into their attack forms. Apparently they had been watching from the shadows however, as both seemed to start swelling up, aiming to become much bigger than Akeya was. That meant they were going for the forms that had frightened Akryn so much, but neither of the shape shifters got a chance to finish their transformation, as one would receive Akryns fist into the center of its shifting form, throwing the creature back where it would disappear into the darkness. His head drove into the center of the second shape shifter, forcing it to stumble back and away, while at the same time he punted the third, smaller opponent away before continuing on his march, raising his massive sword and bringing it down to cleave the head butted shape shifter in half as he marched through its remains. As he marched, three more shape shifters rose from the darkness, half way through changing into their own forms. Akryn cut them all down in one swing, sending out an arc of silvery, star energy which would cause all three opponents to shatter into pieces.

As Akryn continued to march again, Akeya would likely note the tension in his shoulders, and the down right aggression he had used against the shape shifters. He had apparently buckled down, and seemed likely to plough through any and all obstacles that might get in his way. She would have ever seen him like this once before, way back when they had been tasked with finding an ancient vault and had come across a treasure hunter. At that time Akryn had thought the treasure hunter had held information on the dark guild scorpion tail, and at that time Akryns aggressive behavior had almost caused the mission to fail. One could only hope that he was more in control this time.

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

'Monster Dice' :

Akeya frowned as she followed Akryn, observing him carefully from behind. She had made it very clear that she wouldn't expect him cowering and running away in fear just because the road ahead looked like it was going to be rough. At least, for him. Akeya still had no idea why they tried to turn into Akryn when facing her, but if it was supposed to be scary to look at a disgusted Akryn she wasn't seeing it. She wasn't exactly afraid of her team mate. Not that she didn't recognize his strength and the fact that he was a dangerous fighter, but that wasn't enough to make this half dragon afraid of somebody. If that was the case she would also be afraid of Zack and Shuhei, and while she respected their strength and would not aggravate them carelessly she couldn't be said to be afraid of them. If she was she wouldn't be willing to disobey orders and point out when they're making mistakes.

The thing was that Akeya didn't really feel afraid of this place. It looked like it was supposed to be eerie, creepy, remind people of the fact that everything that lived would eventually die, that everything that flourished would also crumble, that in fact everything had an end they would meet sooner or later. Devoid of life besides these shadow creatures and those withered trees it would feel social creatures like humans feel nervous. Humans required the feeling that they weren't alone to function properly. Real loneliness wasn't something you could expect a human to be able to cope with. Those that could were without exception anomalies, who somehow hadn't gotten a hold of the instinct that told them to work in groups and help each other. Humans were social creatures, which was both their strength and their weakness.

But Akeya didn't have that instinct, because her draconic side was stronger than her human side. Dragons were solitary creatures. For them to be alone was as good as being with others. In fact there were plenty of dragons who vastly preferred it when there was nobody around to bother them while they did their own thing. Akeya was still willing to hang out with other people, but this place didn't have the effect on her that it should have. The fact that there was nothing else here just made her curious about what was up with this realm, and made her keep out a wary eye. The fact that everything looked desolated and forlorn was just registered and taken into account, but it didn't bother Akeya too much. Death was inevitable, and it wasn't like she wasn't afraid to die, since every living creature had a preference of life over death (those that did not usually found themselves in the latter category very quickly), but it didn't have strong enough a hold of her that just seeing these withered trees and those crumbled pillars would throw her off balance. And the fact that this place was filled with shadows and darkness just made her feel more at home. A creature of shadows and night herself, the half dragon wasn't exactly frightened by the prospect of there being no light left. It wasn't even like she needed it to see.

Right now they were crossing one of the completely empty spaces, as new shadow creatures appeared and began to take on their shapes. From the looks of it they were going to take the shape that Akryn was so afraid of. Which meant she would get to see how Akryn fared now that she had metaphorically planted his foot on his behind and kicked him forwards. With some luck he'd be ashamed enough of himself that his shame would overcome his fear and cause him to face that man once again. She wouldn't blame him if he had difficulties with it, but he at least had to show that he was willing to try. It was clear that whoever that man was he had managed to inspire some very deep fear inside Akryn, so it wouldn't be possible to make him immune to the sight with just one pep-talk.

Akeya's eyes narrowed as she saw what Akryn was doing. Before the monsters finished taking on that dreadful shape he was already destroying them, using that sword that made her uncomfortable to cut them into pieces and leave them as inert shadows which tried to slowly reform. Not that the half dragon would give them that chance, as she would quickly eat all those shadows and swallow them down while following after Akryn. She preferred to take her time eating them, but it didn't look like Akryn would be slowing down so she could enjoy her meal. Actually she had to guess that her pep-talk didn't have the desired effect. Yes, Akryn was now facing those things instead of cowering in fear, but he was looking angry more than anything else. More importantly, he looked angry and yet still fearful. He looked too tense, he was just moving on ahead without any regards of whether he might get ambushed or not, he was killing them all before giving them a chance to form. He wasn't facing his fear right now: he was too ashamed of himself to stop moving, but instead he was trying to destroy the shadow beasts before they could show him that fear. That was another way of running away, and the half dragon didn't approve of it.

On another note, she realized that even though she and Akryn were running through this empty space there wasn't any sound made by their movements. She could hear Akryn breathing, but when his feet touched the ground there was no sound, and her own had the same effect. A rather curious effect. Actually she quickly realized what was going on. This place was supposed to be impossible to see anything in. She and Akryn were disregarding that because they both had ways to deal with that, but that didn't take away the fact that this place was supposed to be utter darkness. By also removing the darkness anybody with their sight stolen would be completely disoriented, increasing their fear and possibly causing them to be lost forever as they couldn't find a way out of the darkness. She wondered if sounds from outside the space were also blocked... She gained an answer when Akryn's feet touched black sand and she could hear them. Looked like this place hadn't taken into account having somebody outside the dark empty spot to help you find your way.

However that wasn't important. What was important was that the half dragon dashed forward, ending up running right next to Akryn and placing a hand on his shoulder. The touch was gentle, although it was also firm to make sure he wouldn't just shake it off.

"We're taking a break."

Akeya's voice brooked no arguments.

Akryn would stop when Akeya spoke, turning to look back at her, confused. "Why? Neither of us is tired and we have seen no sign of our target. Stopping now only delays us and keeps us in this wretched place longer. I don't know about you, but these shape shifters have started to annoy me, and I would rather hurry up and leave." Akryn said, though he did stop walking and instead find somewhere to sit. He was riled up still, that was obvious. But he was at least listening still, at least a little bit, and that likely gave some hope for calming him.

As Akryn sat there he chewed on his tongue a bit he finally turned to look at Akeya. "The thing back there. You saw what it was transforming into, how it bothered me.... It was changing into my father, from Scorpion Tail. One Marcus Motomiji, more commonly known in the under ground as Killgrave. I have figured these little shape shifters out, they are turning into things we are supposedly fearing. Why one turned into me for you and why one turned into you for me I don't know. But that one I knew. I don't talk much about my family Akeya, and that's for a very good reason. Marcus Motomiji, Killgrave, was the single most successful killer earthland has known since the reign of.....hell, since anyone I guess. I have never heard of any mortal man causing the kind of death and wide spread destruction that he has. On final count his victim numbers were in the tens of thousands, spanning countries I had never heard of. He met my mother in the desert kingdom, killed her father, two of her three brothers, trapped their souls in a sword, and took her for his wife before the two of them worked towards producing me and my thirteen brothers and sisters. Killgrave took and trained each and every one of us in multiple modes of murder, with specializations in varying fields. He trained us physically and mentally, he did his best to erase any sense of real humanity in us, worked to destroy the idea of spirituality and morals. We were meant to be the perfect arsenal of weapons.....his perfect arsenal of weapons. If not for my eldest brother he might have succeeded too. He fought my father and managed to pull me and three others out of that world, set us on the paths we follow today. Its funny really. I have joined up a wizards guild, one of my sisters is a beach waitress on crescent island, another sister is a professional thief. One of my brothers is a monk like being living with the dwarves as I understand it, helping them improve their anti magic armor, and my eldest brother is currently leading his own guild back in Fiore.....the problem is, Akeya, Killgrave is supposed to be dead. Thirteen years ago my brother, Magnus, put a knife in Killgraves black heart. Three years later an army of rune knights, backed by the ten wizard saints, went to apprehend him. Seven of the ten saints, as well as over a hundred knights died in the encounter, but they managed to kill Killgrave. Eight months later a wizard from Joya sacrificed her youth and her entire guild to kill him. Five months ago he battled the king of Iceberg." Akryn said, by this point nervously wringing his hands. "He......Killgrave is the only being I have ever really feared Akeya. I have trained hard for most of my life with the sole purpose of stopping him. I was trained by the dragon Thorsfell, who he murdered. I was then trained by the swordsman Barrachis. Killgrave murdered him and his entire school. I am afraid of him Akeya, and it is a fear I can not over come I fear."

Akeya shook her head as Akryn complained about stopping, pointing out that it was better to hurry up and get this over with so they could leave. She might have been the one who had decided to come here, but so far it looked like the one who really needed this was not her. It was Akryn. Honestly Akeya was somewhat confused at the idea that these shadow beasts couldn't turn into anything which really made her shiver and cower. She wasn't easily scared, but she wouldn't say that she was utterly fearless. An inability to feel fear was as much of a weakness as being unable to handle your fear and flying into a panic every time you were frightened. Most creatures tended to act as if fear was just a weakness, something which you had to banish from your mind. But if you never felt fear you wouldn't be able to react quickly and with enough certainty when you encountered something which you really should be wary for.

Well, at least Akryn was still being reasonable enough that he didn't argue any further and sat down. Akeya followed suit, sitting down on the black sand which covered the landscape around the two of them. That actually reminded Akeya of a story she had once heard. After you died you would end up in a black desert, and you would have to walk through it on your own. What the desert was like would be different from person to person, and depend on details like your religion, personality, and basically everything which defined you as a person. The story didn't say what was at the end of that desert, but since it was a story about what happened to your soul after you died Akeya assumed that the desert was a way to sort the dead souls and get them to reach whatever afterlife, next life, reincarnation, or oblivion they belonged in. Of course this place couldn't be called a black desert: it had the black sand, but it wasn't nearly large enough, it didn't have any real sand dunes, and there were withered trees in the vicinity, though not many.

Shaking her head Akeya focused on Akryn's story, which confirmed her suspicions that he needed this trip a lot more than she did. She also now had an idea why she didn't really have any fears to confront. Like Akryn mentioned the shadow beasts were turning into objects and people they feared, but for some reason the only image they gave Akeya was Akryn being disgusted, which didn't fit that at all. The most simple explanation right now was that she simply didn't have anything she feared so badly that it could hamper her. And Akryn's story showed that this was because she actually had a fairly easy life, especially when combined with her rather cold personality. There were plenty of people in her family who could be really scary if they became hostile and came at Akeya with the intent to kill, but since she didn't believe that would ever happen the fear couldn't be used. If the shadow beasts tried to turn into mad and homicidal family members Akeya would directly realize that they're fake, after which the fear would only be a minor nuisance. She also didn't encounter anything else truly fearful. Well, that wasn't true. She had encountered many things which could be frightening and dangerous, but nothing which inspired pure unadulterated terror in the half dragon. She had no personal fears. All her fears were purely conceptual and couldn't properly be represented by a single creature.

She feared death just like anybody else, but death was too complex and vague a concept for a shadow beast to be able to create a proper image of it which would actually work on somebody as stoic as Akeya. She feared simply being too stupid, slow or dumb, but that was also not something you could just have a single shadow beast embody. How were you supposed to make a person who personifies the idea that you're an idiot? She feared the light because it destroyed the shadows and the darkness, but she faced that fear every single day and this was a shadow realm. She feared Dragon Slayers because she was dragonkin, but she would just treat those like dangerous opponents. They wouldn't make her run away in fear. There were plenty of things Akeya feared, but they either were too conceptual or something she was already used to dealing with, and which couldn't be exaggerated too the point where her conditioning against it wouldn't work any longer. Dragon Slayers were fearsome, but she already knew about those and was one herself. Since her blindfold and sharp magic sense could tell her how strong somebody was the only way for her to become afraid would be to be shown a Dragon Slayer who was chasing her relentlessly and who was genuinely powerful enough that she couldn't fight back. These shadow beasts couldn't fake their power well enough for that. They could try to impersonate Shuhei but that would be as unrealistic as using her family. Shuhei wasn't exactly a saint but he wouldn't just suddenly go mad and attack his own guild members out of nowhere.

Akryn, on the other hand... His past was one which allowed you to take your pick of things that scared you until you could no longer think straight. His father was an obvious candidate, but with the training and life he had gone through there should be plenty of things which just made his hair go white. Akeya was too cold to be bothered by the fact that she was a merciless killer, and too disciplined to be hindered by the idea that she might die. Assassins lived dangerous lives. Akryn on the other hand was a much more passionate person than Akeya, and unfortunately for him he actually had a conscience and a set of morals. Add his past and his father and it was no surprise that the shadow beasts got a much better grip on him. Not that Akeya was going to let them keep that hold. If Akryn was so scared that he couldn't even imagine ever losing that fear she might have to force the issue and make it so that he either at least learned to get used to the fear so it wouldn't make him panic any longer, or he would have to be abandoned as she threatened before. Standing up Akeya looked at Akryn, her emerald eyes hidden behind her blindfold yet still carrying enough force to be felt by her partner.

"I will not say that your fear is unfounded. Your father is one of the most dangerous and powerful of beings I have heard of existing in modern times. If he was truly here we would almost certainly be completely at his mercy, something which according to you he doesn't have. However when you utter the thought that it is impossible for you to overcome that fear you are making a prophecy which fulfils itself. You can never lose the fear, but being able to stand against your father without cowering or running away is not impossible. I know you well enough that you have a strong will. It might not be easy, but a challenge which you can overcome without even trying is not a challenge."

Akeya folded her arms.

"It appears most shadow beasts are by now loathe to approach us. Most likely we have destroyed enough that they no longer see us as easy prey, especially since they can't get a good grip on me and you are destroying every single one you encounter. I will find a lone shadow beast, subdue it, and bring it here so you can face it once it takes on the form of your father. I'll make sure it can't do anything else, so you'll have an easier time facing it."

With that Akeya began to walk away, motioning for Akryn to stay where he was as she searched for a shadow beast to capture.