As Fate Would Have It REDUX

[BlackWingAngel]

Kyre Crosswind​

The sounds of Rynstholl's local inn, filled with the voices of drunken patrons and the screams and moans of the whores being ravaged, echoed behind Kyre as he followed the pulse that nagged at him since the day of it's inception several five centuries ago.

His every step was heavy with time, but his face and body showed no signs of his age. Only his eyes, the brown eyes of a warrior who has seen too much, could give Kyre away. The pulse throbbed again. He was getting closer and closer to his objective, and glad that he took so long. In the five hundred years that passed, kingdom after kingdom had protected the pulse's origin for reasons that were slowly becoming forgotten. Now, all that remained was ruin, with nothing but the wind to guard it.

However, this did not cause him to relax. Kyre's hand had already fallen to his sword, a blessed artifact forged from a shard of the mighty Zerus' thunderbolts. He was an Immortal of Storms, charged with the might of lightning and striking fast and deadly. He was a killer, but a guardian at the same time. He would need all of his skills for this.

At last, he reached the temple, it's hallowed steps devoured by moss and age. Kyre quickly ran up, three steps at once, before any eyes could notice. The doors opened with ease, creaking as he pushed. With a sigh of calm and the joy of his task about to be fufilled, Kyre took his first step inside. It was cold, save for the warmth that oddly rippled out to meet him as he journeyed deeper, deeper and deeper still.

Finally, he stood before the door. The last gateway to Tous'Drezzar, The Land of Eternal Dreams. There was no stopping, no running. The world needed balance to return. Kyre approached the golden door, gripped the handle, and opened it.

 

[Karameida]

Tsukiko Kimiko​

Tsukiko didn't know how long they had been there, she wasn't quite sure where she was but she felt like it wasn't anywhere pleasant. She felt like she had thought, felt, sensed the same things several other times over the course of well only the gods knew how long. She tried to move to open her eyes but neither action was accomplished, she felt heavy almost bound in a manner of speaking. Her eyes felt like they had been sewn shut as did her mouth, her mind felt heavy and clouded like it was thick with smoke and fog. Memories of her past resurfaced from time to time showing her images of bloody battles and scattered remains of humans but all too soon the images disappeared into the darkest depths of her mind.

She tried to think to form words in her mind but the act just proved to exhaust her more and she felt herself sinking farther back into the depths of darkness that seemed to try and consume her every time she gained some sense of "herself". Where was she? is all she could remember thinking once more as darkness stole over her.

It was some time before she "woke" again or at least it felt like some time had passed though she couldn't be quite sure. She felt more alert than last time, the fog in her mind not so thick anymore but still quite apparent in her mind. Furrowing her brows she tried to concentrate on where she was and what had happened. The last thing she fully remembered was...and then it hit her and she felt rage and betrayal fill her body and then panic as she tried to search around for her twin Hikaru. She could faintly sense her twin and a sense of loss stole over her feeling like her twin was too far away from her. Anger mixed in with her feeling of emptiness as she tried to fight against the torrent of things fighting against her trying to force her back into that ever-lasting darkness.

Tsukiko the battle demon, the warrior goddess felt inexplicably weak as she fought against the tidal wave of power crashing into her. She knew at least...what had happened to her and her beloved twin. They had been sealed, trapped in this god forsaken place sentenced to spend all of time in this realm where beings do not wake. Another surge of anger and rage pulsed through her and under-lying it was a panic a need to find Hikaru find and hold her. How many years had it been since she'd seen her smile? Held her closely? She couldn't recall her twins face though ironic as it was that her face was the same as Tsukiko's but even still she couldn't call forth an image which only furthered to en-rage her. She knew in the back of her mind that if she dwelt on the anger it would soon turn to resentment and in time out-right hatred.

She tried to search around for her twin but it was the same as before only a slight pulsing of her sisters presence. It wasn't like she actually felt her sisters form it was more like a faint glowing light that pulsed somewhere near her. All over anger coursed through her, she could see why they sealed herself but why her gentle sister? All Hikaru had done was heal and mend why would they seal her away like this?

She felt a pulsing, from inside herself this time not from hikaru though she herself was pulsing as well. The weight that had been holding her still seemed to shrivel away as did the smoke from her mind and the darkness from her body. Groaning she suddenly felt very light headed and dizzy and she opened her eyes testingly, though it was pointless since she could see nothing. Opening her mouth she rubbed her jaw at the soreness of having had it shut so long with no use. She would imagine that if her jaw was in this condition her voice must be raw and hoarse from lack of use. "Hika..." she started to say but coughed slightly a little surprised at the soreness and hoarseness of her own voice. Now her voice had never been truly melodic like Hikaru's had, her voice had resembled more of a blade with it's sharpness but held undertones of a lilting softness. Now the lilting softness was gone even the sharpness in her voice had worn away, if anything she had to say her voice sounded like a dull blade scraping over a stone.

Clearing her throat she swallowed trying to relieve some of the dryness in her mouth "Hi...karu?" she said again the sore hoarseness still blatantly apparent. She knew it would be awhile before her voice regained even a semblance of it's former sound. She felt a bit more alert and awake though, there was a slow thudding in her head and she felt the heaviness of sleep still upon her. She cleared her throat once more "Hikaru?...Are you there?" she called out. Her voice still rough sounding but not hurting quite so much anymore.

 

[Serenity]

Hikaru was aware of nothing for a long time. She could feel nothing, could hear nothing, could neither see nor touch. Even her connection to her twin was broken somehow. She was lost in a deep and dreamless slumber. Trapped in a world where time had no meaning. For centuries it remained the same. But now, almost five hundred years later, something began to pull her out of that deep sleep.

She awoke with a sense of fear and panic. Where was she? And where was her beloved Tsukiko? She reached out frantically with her mind and felt nothing but the faintest echo of her sister. Fear ate at her, threatening to consume her. Try as she might she couldn't move, her arms too heavy to lift, her legs feeling weighed down, as if someone had poured lead in her boots. She was weak, a hollow shell compared to what she had been.

An uncharacteristic anger swept over her. She hadn't felt such rage in centuries, not since they first roamed this earth, and she hadn't yet known what she was. She wanted to find the persons responsible for locking her away and rend them limb from limb. Without her twins balancing effect she felt no urge to fight the rage that grew with in her. Nor the urge to cleanse the world of the evil that would lock its protectors away. It had nearly taken over her, and she had nearly let it. The faintest sound grabbed her attention. And she forgot her brief fit of rage. Her name echoed around the empty plain. The voice that called her was raw and hoarse. But she knew it well.

Her eyes snapped open, nothing but darkness. But she was close, so close! Hikaru could hear her sisters voice as if she were only feet away. With great effort she forced herself to move. Something seemed to snap, as if invisible bonds had been broken, and she fell to her knees, landing on solid ground. She could move easier now, though her legs were weak and shaking from disuse. Hope began do fill her as she heard the call again. Opening her own mouth she tried to speak, her voice came out as nothing but a cracked whisper. She swallowed, trying to ease her dry throat.

“Tsukiko! Tsu-” Her words were punctuated by a round of coughing. “Tsukiko....I am here! Where are you?” She tried again, her voice little more then a hoarse whisper. Though panic and fear could be plainly heard to anyone near enough.

Frantically she searched for her twin, not noticing at first the light that had begun to grow. Its brightness growing by the second. The gateway was being opened, a way out of this dark place, but she couldn't leave without her twin.