❖ HIFUMI'S JOURNEY ❖ (Ahote/Hifumi)

"So you went off and joined a guild, have you? Dies Irae, was it?" A man's voice spoke somberly in a room sealed off from the rest of the world through its thick stone walls. It was Ahote sitting there at his desk, studying books and scriptures that many like him wouldn't be able to understand. "They must be a jolly lot—being legal and all. But since when have you been interested in guilds, Hifumi?" Ahote asked without looking at him.

The room was cluttered with appliances, bookshelves, and was brightly illuminated only by a fluorescent blue light of mysterious liquids in large tanks—yet, it all seemed strangely empty and dangerous. Despite the two people inside of Boomslang's basement, they hardly seemed alive, one seems to have no interest in the concept and the other apparently inquisitive.

So there Ahote was, as he usually had been, in his study studying something, but no one quite knew what. He was wearing his usual articles—a traditionally colored vest-suit and pants and loafers to match, giving him a very regal and unfriendly appearance. His complexion was sickly pale and there were bags underneath his golden eyes, as such was the consequence of his dark arts. Not only had his body become fragile, but so did his spirit, and everything that projected from him seemed lacking the vigor of his true self. And so he spent lots of his time shrinking away in his basement, regaining the strength to be who he really was. But Hifumi would never know it until it happened.

Despite having escaped from his titles and position as Guildmaster, he remained distinctly closeted from the world sometimes, as such was his introverted nature. But this was never the case with his liches, or in this case—Hifumi.

Ahote smiled when Hifumi answered him the way he did. There was no resolve in his voice—it was devoid of decisiveness. If Ahote had even wished for his departure from Dies Irae, there wasn't a doubt in his head that made him think that he wouldn't do it. And while he thought of this, he only felt guilty. He saw a bit of himself in Hifumi—the way he obeyed him mindlessly and how quickly he could Ahote's future for him as the only future for him. It was a bitter reminder of his former self.

"No, no, no, no. I don't disapprove of your choice, Hifumi—it's your choice, after all." Ahote laughed in his sighing, finally twisting around on his chair to see the kneeling Lich. His smile only grew warmer when he looked at him. He was gorgeous for something lacking humanity is what he had thought when he first beheld him. "It'd be a waste to chain a lich of your intelligence to a basement like this for both of our eternities, don't you think? I think this'll be fun. Make friends, find love, become the best of the best. The possibilities are quite boundless and yet so very limited for you. Just know that there's only sorrow awaiting you and that you'll always find solace here with me." he whispered icily. He stepped over to the kneeling Lich and knelt down with him, gingerly caressing the soft flesh of his cheeks in his palms.

"Do you understand, Hifumi? You'll gain power and knowledge, but you will inevitably find sorrow in being there."