Beginnings to Ends [Private - Zenshin]

"I'm more than ready Iana, I'm prepared. I'm excited. This issue is finally going to be resolved and both of my futures are intact. I actually couldn't be more happy right now" he told her, taking her by the hands as he finished his thoughts.

What he said was true, Meoru would still be alive, albeit it dormant, inside of their child, who had yet to be named. Iana and the baby inside would also both be fine, well, they should be anyways. From the same scripture Egia referenced this ritual from, the writings stated how the child would inherit the power of the beast in one way or another, but that coupled with the strange kind of magical situation Zen was in, she'd be lucky to even be able to cast magic. Hopefully she would, I really hope they can...

Zenshin led her to the sigils outside, making sure she was covered by all the blankets her body could support. Do not worry, she will, and it will be quite amusing to see how her powers develop. Wait, it's a she? Yes. I'm sorry, did I ruin the surprise? No, it's fine he thought, back and forth between himself and the greatest asset to him right now. Zen didn't even bother asking how it was that Egia knew the gender of his unborn baby, he just came to accept it for what it was. He gestured over to the largest sigil in the center, it was a circle, about 10 meters in diameter in the snow, the centerpiece of the grand design. "Just stand there and I'll take care of the rest"

"Trust me Adele, there is no possible way for you to screw up. Only me. And we both know how many times I screw up" he said with a smirk, trying to reassure her for the events that were about to transpire. Worry not, apprentice. I know precisely what needs to be done for the survival of the child and the host Egia's voice echoed, trying to calm him down. So long as you've followed all of my directions exactly as I told them. By the looks of it though, you have. There's only one more thing you must do. A blood seal she continued, informing him of the final step required for the sealing of Meoru into his unborn child. First, you need to lightly cut your index finger, followed by drawing the following sigil on the host's stomach. You know she has a name, right? Irrelevant, now hurry. We don't have much time before she freezes to death. Although he kinda enjoyed the back and forth in his head, Zenshin had to focus on the matter at hand.

Egia didn't have to describe the sigil to him. The image just kinda... appeared in his head. He found it rather cool, but she thought it was silly for him to even think about such trivial things at this crucial step in the sealing. Focusing back on what was important after a second of drifting into the different uses he could make for Egia's power to transmit images directly to his brain, he slit a small bit of his finger. I'm sure you know what you're doing, but I'm also sure you can understand why I'm worried. No, I truly cannot fathom it. Following the mental sigh directed at the dragon's response to his feelings, he drew the sigil carefully, using her bellybutton as a center point. As soon as he finished the last shape, the outermost circle, his body collapsed into the snow and he blacked out.

Following the episode, he immediately regained consciousness in what seemed to be a black meadow. Upon looking up, he saw a red sky with shiny silver clouds every where that glistened upon passing by. Where the hell am I Egia? You're in a representation of Iana's spirit, subconscious, soul, whatever you beings are calling it now. The name doesn't matter. What does, is the idea he said as he took a better look around. What a dark place... no wonder- and that's when he noticed the giant fox with nine tails staring down at him with its piercing red eyes. "So we finally meet face to face. Zenshin. The human who can tamper with dimensions. I applaud you for making it this far, but I know you had assistance from... 'her'" he said, revealing his razor sharp teeth as he did so. "Good to meet you in person too, Meoru"

Oh wow, Meoru is a lot bigger and more intimidating than I thought... he thought, staring down the behemoth. Locked in a confrontation of man versus nature, and they were at a stalemate. "Well I mean, plan A was to just kill you. But Iana didn't like that idea too much, so we settled on plan D. Seal you inside our soon-to-be-born daughter with the help of my ridiculous magic, and that giant cage that has literally appeared to represent where you'll be staying for the rest of time. Until we think she's ready for you of course, then you can come out" he said with a smile, pointing at the inexplicably massive cage that hadn't been apparent to anyone until the moment he pointed it out.

"And to answer your question, no, she hasn't told me the story of the ancients. You'd think the dragon god of creation would be more talkative and boastful about her creations, but no. She just keeps to herself and answers whatever I ask to the best of her knowledge, which is pretty good let me tell you. That name she has isn't just for show" he said, thinking to ask Egia about whatever Meoru was talking about as soon as he stuck the fox in its cage. The echo he had in this realm was a bit off putting though, it was something that nothing else in this place made. That, and the crude and fearful red aura wasn't doing anything to reassure him that getting him into the cage would be easy. This is going to be a little harder than I thought...

Haha! Hahahaha! he began to laugh at the false deity who thought he'd won or beaten Zenshin. "Oh Meoru. What a dirty trick. You didn't have to make this harder for me you know" he said, beginning to walk closer and eventually get up right in his face. "It's not that I understand her less than I think I do. It's that you understand me less than you think you do". Zen followed up the line by jumping up and making a one eighty turn in the air, landing on Meoru's furry neck and laying down on it. "I understand that you're probably a lot smarter than me. Probably. But you're also capable of making mistakes. Like telling me to find a cage that 'marks' my daughter. -Because- you said you wondered if I could find it, I think it's a safe assumption to make that neither of them mark my daughter. I think the real question you wonder is that if I find out -what- marks my daughter in time, before the spell wears off"

"That's my question anyways. As there's nothing but red sky and dark grass, and a hell of a lot of cages. What in an empty world could represent her... Hm..." he said, thinking out loud while making himself comfortable in Meoru's fur. "You're a lot less intimidating when we aren't making eye contact". Uh oh. If it's not the cages then what could it be? I've got twelve hours to figure it out, but I doubt I'll get some epiphany in the next eleven if I don't do it in one he thought, a little worried at what exactly it was that represented his daughter. "By the way Meoru... her name isn't your host or the girl. She has one you know. It's Iana" He's used my name more than hers in the time I've been here. I wonder if there's a reason for that...

"Human's -are- very arrogant. I'm one of the best at that. But I also know when other people, or creatures, are doing the same." he said with a smirk while wiggling in the fur. I wish I could make a coat out of this. It's so much fuzzier than it looked. This is like the greatest material to make something like that out of. I wonder if he'd be opposed to ask about his secret... Nah, that would be silly. He'd never tell he thought before a slight frown found its way on his face. "You don't have to show me what you actually look like for me to know. You know? No, probably not. Well. You see. The gauntlets and greaves you see on my arms aren't just for show, and they didn't originally belong to me either. But, they do have a particular power that allows me to see the true of anything behind what I craft from it. If that makes sense to you, I probably worded that poorly. The ritual to get in here as well as staying is a lot more draining that you'd think" he said before being forced to grab onto Meoru's fur to keep from falling off.

"Yeah... I wouldn't call myself a boy. Probably a teen compared to you. Or an equal. Then again, that could be the arrogance like you spoke about earlier. Or it could mean I'm confident. In human world, there's a very fine line between the two. And that's pretty ironic" he began. "You could say I'm lucky to be alive, or at the very least out of my dam mind. But I'm not. And I think it's not because I'm lucky, Meoru. I think it's because I'm just that good. One event after another, I've had a building fall on me, my magic stripped away, by sanity challenged. I think after a while it stops being luck, and at some point becomes either skill, or divine intervention. I like to think it's the prior. Even after all of that though, I still don't know as much as I'd like to about the girl with my child. You can't even begin to understand how frustrating that is"

His long winded speech wasn't over. There were times like this where he would just not stop talking, but everything he said would be important. To him, at least. "And you know as well as I do that you can't destroy the cages. The only one who can do that is Iana herself. At least I assume anyways, because you being able to destroy the cage would really make my whole journey inside her kinda pointless. And I don't know what you mean by watching things prosper, all I see are cages. But sure, I'll humor you. Better than just standing around in one spot anyways" he said, finishing. Before they went on, he used a quick force projection to create a large panel between both of his gauntlets and held it up to this this 'true' form of Meoru before deactivating the spell. It was breathtaking. "Pretty, you look the same, but on fire. Magnificent form, ancient one" he said, teasing the fox before following him through her soul.

"Definitely not. But I mostly everything I want to know. When I don't know something, I can find out very easily at the cost of invading a person's privacy. There are exceptions of course, but that will only fuel my curiosity. And if you live long enough to tell more tales than anyone can hear, then you write a book. That's what I've decided to do." he said while holding onto Meoru as he dashed through the field. "It also seems as though I have to be looking for something. A light switch as you put it. Whatever it is, we need to hurry this up. The longer I have to play your game the more of a risk our child has of dying. That and I have something I need to tell Iana once I've put your in your cage" he said in the hopes that Meoru would get to the dam point already. "I got enough of someone speaking in riddles from Aegis, I don't need someone else to do it. And let me simplify for you what humans are, or want. The purpose of most people is to find love, this is something I know. But every so often someone special comes around with a different, much greater purpose. A hero, I guess. They normally get what they have to done, at the cost of leading a miserable life. Unfortunately, there are still things I can't know, but with my abilities, I am capable of finding out. You brought up an interesting topic to study Meoru, and I think that'll be my hobby when I finally leave the life of adventure and danger I've been leading until now" he said after Meoru proved his point by destroying one of the cages. "I don't know what exactly I should be looking for, but you're not making it much easier"

"Haha. You're as arrogant as I am Meoru. But I'm going out of my way to make her happy by not killing you, which is completely possible. I expected you to return the favor by giving me a bit of a hint as to what the hell Im supposed to do to get YOU to get inside a cage. You may not have a responsibility to me, to Iana, or to my child. But you DO have a responsibility to yourself to self-preserve. You may have been alive so long that you think you can't die or be defeated. But you can, and you will if I run out of time to search for some random ghost that may or may not be in here. My deeds will echo into infinity and I know that. Just because you've observed humanity for longer than most, doesn't mean anomalies don't happen. I am one of those anomalies. You might be one of the most ungrateful beings I've ever met" he said before hopping off of the fox.

"I'll be going now. I'll be back for you when I find what I'm looking for, or when I'm running out of time. Either way you'll end up trapped or dead, so you should come to terms with that while I look you damned mongrel" Zen said, wrapping up his conversation with Meoru before parting ways with the beast and going west from there. Some ancient creature. Prides himself in observation and being wise and doesn't even understand his own home. He thinks this is some kind of game and that I pose no threat to him whatsoever, giving me hints like this is some kind of puzzle. Underestimating humans will be your downfall Meoru, but you'll learn that soon enough he thought, resenting the creature who was going to get his child killed. Zen wasn't going to deal with the fallout of that. Before he left this place, he was going to do -something-. It was that rather than dealing with the kind of feeling he would get if he returned to Iana with failure.

I couldn't be able to face her again if I let this child die because I couldn't do something about that parasite... If that happened, Im sure she would gradually resent me more and more until she snapped and did something drastic. Sure she would say she didn't blame me, but I know she would and she'd eventually be incapable of fooling herself any more. And when that illusion would break... she'd leave... or worse he thought, thinking of the possibilities of what would happen if he failed the one and only one he'd ever love. I can't fail her... even if it means making her mad enough to leave, because she'd be back... I would save our child. The only other girl to have my heart...

A loud thump echoed from behind him as Meoru landed. Playing hard to get worked? What a gamble that was... He really is a lot like me he thought before turning around to meet the fox face to face. As he spoke his long winded rant and the silver clouds drizzled, Zenshin took from it what he thought was important. The clouds represent me, the grass represents Meoru, rain represents Iana's happiness, and the rain fertilizes the ground. Grass, plants, and flowers all grow in meadows and I've seen two of three of those things so far... he made no mention of what represents our child... he began to think before it hit him. He smiled as he looked at Meoru and put his hand on the beast's nose. "When I look at you I see what I will become Meoru when I'm as old as you. We're really a lot similar than you might think. Thank you, stubborn bastard" he said, one last act of gratitude before turning around and walking away.

I'm looking for what isn't here already... flowers... a representation of our daughter, innocence. I won't even bother knowing why Meoru didn't tell me this in the first place, he could've saved us both a lot of time if he did. Maybe I'll ask him about it someday... Zen thought one final time before he observed his clouds drizzle on the grass that slowly grew before his eyes. I fertilize the ground as well as Iana. Very clever.... Her soul has a very odd way of logically representing things, but the sense is still there... Also before his eyes grew a single, glowing scarlet rose which grew bigger and bigger which each passing moment.

When it stopped growing, he knelt down to pick it up from out of the ground and stared at it curiously. The petals were a deep scarlet while the step was half black and half white. Must be a representation of both her love and me was his last thought while in this empty world before turning around to see Meoru about to cross the vanishing point on the horizon. "GET BACK HERE FOX! I FOUND IT!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, the sound echoing for miles around as when Meoru snuck up behind him. "Just... get in... and let me paint this world pink"

"Human, lay down your reckless life and be there for the girl from now on. She... truly deserves it." was the last thing Meoru told him. A last request before Zenshin put his hand on the beast's head on last time. With a blink of his eyes, it was gone and his arm fell limp at his side. For all Zen knew, there was a very good chance that Meoru didn't survive the sealing. He was so old and now, some human, just like any other one of his hundreds if not thousands of hosts was able to touch the beasts heart that had turned to stone from years upon years of seeing the same thing. The feeling was also mutual. Zenshin couldn't remember the last time he shed a tear, but when he felt something rolling down his face, he touched it with his index finger on his free hand. It was a tear, as salty as ocean water and as pure at the flower he held in his hand. You may be dead, but you won't be forgotten... he thought before recreating a rusty, broken straight sword in his right hand with the blade facing the dirt before thrusting it in. Following this, he put the rose into a pocket inside his coat and recreated a long, six foot silk banner that was jet black and tied it to the hilt. I'm sorry that I couldn't honor your final request...

Instantly, black of the ground was beginning to get sucked up into the rose inside his coat at an alarm speed, leaving only white. It was blinding, so Zenshin closed his eyes as he staggered from the brightness. When he opened his eyes again, he was lying down in the snow with Iana holding him tightly. She was trembling, obviously cold, and he felt drained of energy. Zenshin looked in his coat and the flower was gone, naturally, how can something from the soul travel to the physical world? Well, he was sure there was some way, but he didn't know it. When he awoke, his vision was blurred, but quickly focused on her. Her nails weren't claws anymore, they were normal nails like anyone else's. Zen also noticed that her eyes were no longer red, but instead they were a deep blue. Her hair was still red though, albeit it a lighter shade.

Zenshin felt a tear roll down the right side of his face, one shed for the the fox who had been the confidence and strength of his love for as long as she could remember. With the strength he had left, he got in closer to Iana so that their foreheads were nearly touching when he recreated a rose that looked exactly like the one he found inside of her very essence. Then he brought it up in between them and whispered... "This is what I was looking for... the representation of our daughter that Meoru went in to, as well as everything he brought with him. And now that she's safe Iana... I have one last thing I need ask tell you before we get off this god forsaken mountain... Will you marry me?" Instead of a ring or some jewelry, he offered her the rose. Something with as much meaning behind it as his question. It was only fair.