A Challenger Approaches [Intro for Kai]

The eye- and mind-twisting landscape of the Crossroads held no awe or splendor for the Blood Dragon. The realms of gods were something he had seen hundreds if not thousands of times, and each were as different as the gods that ruled them. This one was admittedly more... different than others, but Kai was not fazed. Chasing rumors, he had found himself in the ramshackle building that proclaimed itself the Drunken Monkey tavern. Upon hearing that he sought the guild known as Plumed Serpent, the bartender had delved his mind and shown him to the enormous Obsidian Mirror. Kai had stepped through without hesitation, finding himself in a place outside reality. Or perhaps within reality, but not the one he knew. Whichever it was held no curiosity for him. He strode confidently towards the city of Toltec, where the dark guild Plumed Serpent lay. And within that guild hopefully resided the guild master, whom Kai intended to challenge for ownership of the guild. For the man who killed a god, nothing less than true dominance could ever truly satisfy.

---

WC: 179

Kai couldn't help but feel... Disappointed as he looked the young male up and down. This was the fabled master of Plumed Serpent? He... was just a boy. A boy who gave off a distinct aura of craziness. He reminded Kai of a trickster god he met... Two hundred years ago? Reckoning such was difficult when most of his time had been spent in a realm where time flowed differently to the real world. At the boy's claim to be a god, the Blood Dragon snorted and crossed his arms, iron rings clinking on his wrists. "You are no god. I spent hundreds of years in the service of one that I eventually killed with my own hands. You are not half as powerful as she was. If you are truly the master of this place, this guild, then I challenge you. For the ownership and mastery of Plumed Serpent. I did not come all this way to serve a... a boy." he said disdainfully, finishing his statement by spitting to one side.

---

WC: 173 || TWC: 352

Kai was irked by this boy so clearly disregarding his claim to have killed a god. Well, he would soon learn. The Blood Dragon rolled up his sleeves, baring the dragon tattoo twining around his left forearm and the large metal rings that dangled on his wrists. There were five on each arm, each bearing the look of ancient, time-worn bronze and intricate scrollwork around the circumference. The warrior snapped his arms to the side, the rings suddenly latching onto his forearms, laddering them from elbow to wrist. Each of the rings glowed a bright blue, traces of blue energy snaking through the skin beneath.

"By these hands was Althys, Goddess of Battle, slain. I guarded her door for untold centuries, until I killed her and took her power for my own. No mortal or his pet spirit will stand in the way of my glory." he declared in a voice that mixed confidence, arrogance and disdain in equal parts. He lunged forward, fist drawn back to strike the skeleton in the face...

It all happened in what seemed to be an instant. As he flew through the air, intent on beating down the suit-clad skeleton and then his master, when a cloud of darkness boiled out of the spirit's body and enveloped Kai entirely. Now he lay flat on his back, staring straight up at the shifting sky of the Crossroads, utterly defeated and wondering what had happened. Weakly, he lifted his arms and looked at the Ten Rings on his wrists. They had gone dormant, falling down his arms like the mundane iron rings he had trained with so long ago. It felt... as if the power had gone out of them. And out of him. And he had no idea why.

---

WC: 294 || TWC: 646