Hey guys! I'm back. I just want to thank you all again for your continued support! I do this for you guys. I love to write, don't get me wrong, but it's mainly for you guys!

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Messages from Beyond

Black.

At first that was all Aki could see. She tried bringing her hands up and waving them in front of her face, but it was no use.

She couldn't see anything.

Then a brightness hit her. She still couldn't see anything, since she was blinded by the bright light that seemed to melt her eyes with its intensity.

'Aki…'

"Who's there?" she called, holding a hand up to try and block some of the light.

'Who I am is of no importance at this moment in time. You will come to know me soon enough. I have more pressing matters to discuss…'

"What are you here for?" she questioned the anonymous voice, looking around to see if maybe the voice had a physical form that she hadn't spotted yet, but she found nothing. Nothing but white.

'I need to caution you. You have collected all 9 Sages, but in the process you have collected their greatest enemies, in Spirit and in Soul…'

"What? What are you talking about?" Aki asked in confusion. She had gathered the 9 Sages to protect the city. How could she have gathered the 'bad guys' that would try to destroy it at the same time?

'In Spirit and in Soul, they will wreck your home and each other. Despair will become a great companion of yours. You have been warned...'

"WAIT! What do you mean, 'Despair will become my companion,'? What do you mean?!" She cried out, still confused about the matter.

'You will learn in time, the consequences of rushing fate. The only solace you may find is in the Shrine of the Soul. Farewell, gatherer…'

"Shrine of the Soul? Wait! Where is that? Please! Answer me! Whoever you are! PLEASE!"

The whiteness became more intense, growing in brightness until Aki's form was obliterated with light.

Aki awoke from her unconscious state. Her head had been resting on her desk, but luckily she hadn't drooled all over her folders and files that laid on her desk's surface.

A headache overcame her and she clutched her forehead. The pain went as quickly as it came, which resulted her in becoming extremely nauseous.

Aki wobbly stood up and made her way carefully to the nearest washroom. After she finished up there, she slowly made her way back to her office where she sat down and tried to calm herself.

"Shrine of the Soul..?" she pondered as she sat back in her office chair. "Where could that be..?"

Takeshi pulled into the parking lot of a bowling alley. The building was a bright blue and had blue and gold light up words all over it.

Alexianna scrunched her nose at it a little before smirking a little at the teen next to her.

"Of course you would choose this place to spend the day." She teased.

He tilted his head at her. "What's wrong with this place?" he asked her.

She looked toward the building and pursed her lips. "It's the cheesiest bowling alley I've ever seen."

Takeshi looked to the building. He scanned it's twinkling signs with neon lettering. "So? What's wrong with being a little cheesy sometimes?"

Alexianna sighed. "Nothing… I guess. I'm not much of a bowler though," she warned him, a comical smile playing on her lips, "You might walk out of here with a broken toe or two."

Takeshi softly laughed at her. "If I get a broken toe, I won't be walking out of there, now will I?"

Alexianna rolled her eyes and scoffed as she exited the car. Takeshi smiled at her reaction before getting out himself. Alexianna had already started to make her way to the building. Seeing an opportunity, Takeshi swiftly caught up to her, sneaking his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers. They walked side by side, holding hands as they entered the building.

Alexianna thanked whoever managed the building for making it dark in the building and lighting everything with UV and neon lights, so that Takeshi couldn't see the furious blush on her face.

They approached the front desk and Takeshi ordered a lane, not letting go of her hand as he did. Once they received their lane number and rental shoes, they made their way over the assigned lane and started to put their shoes on.

Their lane, monitor and sitting area were all decorated with lime and fuchsia neon lights and flashing gutters coloured a questionable pink that looked to be a faded red.

"This is ridiculously cheesy!" Alexianna exclaimed as Takeshi put their names into the monitor.

"Why don't you request a song while I finish setting up the first game?" Takeshi suggested as he pushed a few colourful buttons.

Alexianna heeded the advice and requested a song at the front desk. On her way back to the lane she picked up an 8 pound bowling ball, coloured a bright orange in a marble design. She placed it on the machine at their lane and turned to Takeshi.

"What ball weight do you use?" she asked.

Takeshi's eyes widened and he choked on his own spit before he realized what she meant.

"Are you okay?" Alexianna asked, confused and a little worried. She patted his back a few times as he coughed a little and settled himself.

"Yeah. I'm fine. 14 pounder." He replied.

Alexianna nodded and went off to find him a ball. He finished setting up the game and stretched his arms out a little while he waited for her. She brought him back a blue, sparkly ball with a big '14' painted on it with orange neon paint.

He eyed the ball, letting a smile creep on his face. "Too much cheese?" he asked her.

"You think?" She replied, but put the ball down on the machine and got ready to play anyways. "Who goes first?"

"That would be you." He informed.

She smiled at him and picked up her orange ball and walked up to the high lighter yellow arrows in front of the lane. She took a deep breathe, swung low, took a few steps and released, all in one swift motion. She held the last position of her swing and watched the ball role down the lane. The ball curved a bit at the end of the lane and hooked between pins 1 and 3, knocking down 9 out of 10 pins.

Alexianna smiled before hopping up out of her position and slightly skipping back to the machine to wait for her ball to come up. Takeshi's jaw hung loose as he watched her wait. She caught his stare and did a double take before scrunching her eyebrows at him and mouthing a 'What?' at him.

"Not much of a bowler?" he gave in utter disbelief.

She didn't say anything in reply, she just winked and grabbed her ball before walking back to the bright arrows and knocking down the last pin.

Xerxes took the opportunity of Alexianna being out to take a shower. The bluenette despised showers, but they were a necessity.

She inched her way into the curtained of tub and into the searing hot water. Pain struck instantly under the steaming liquid and she quickly began cleansing. The sooner the shower was over, the better.

The wounds on her right shoulder, left thigh, lower back and feet all started to open up, the swirl of water around the drain darkening into a pinkish red. This happened everytime she bathed.

Despite the pain, Xerxes wanted to look presentable for the outing her and Hino were going to share today, and bathing was a necessity if she wished to accomplish that goal. So she whimpered and hissed, letting a few tears leak out of her multi-coloured eyes as the water continue to pour down on her.

Once the agony was finally over, she bandaged the wounds that had re-opened and dressed herself in warm clothing; pants, boots, long sleeved shirt, gloves, scarf and coat. She tied her damp hair back to keep it out of the way and headed over to Hino's dorm room.

Xerxes found the door open a few inches and the lights in the room shut off. Curious, she opened the door further with her two fingers and peered around the room. She thought she saw Hino in the darkness but couldn't be sure and turned on the lights.

There she was, on the floor, curled up in a ball, seemingly in pain. Xerxes rushed over to the pinkette and rolled her over. There were streaks of black make-up flooding down her cheeks, and her lipstick was smeared. She was wearing jeans and a white coloured bra, obviously in the process of getting ready for the outing. Her eyes were slightly open and dazed. She was unconscious, or close to it at least.

Xerxes shook her friend's shoulders slightly, trying to wake her. As she did, she noticed on her friend's arm an odd mark. She moved over to that area of her friend to get a better look at the marking. It was grey and looked like an alien symbol; a triangle with two waves going through it and a dot next to each point of the triangle. The skin around the symbol was extremely warm and throbbing.

"Hino…" Xerxes whispered, tracing the symbol with her finger.

The instant Xerxes touched the marking, Hino woke and screamed. The pink haired girl grabbed her arm and began crying in pain, groaning and hissing madly.

"Hino! Hino- it's okay! It's okay!" Xerxes called to her friend, trying to calm her down.

Hino curled up even tighter and kept groaning, tears flooding her face. Xerxes tried using her powers on Hino, focusing on the girl's pain rather than her stress. Hino calmed a slight bit, breathing heavily and whimpering. She brought her head up to look at Xerxes, her face a complete mess of misery.

"What's happening to me?" Hino whispered to her friend, agony lacing each of her barely audible words.

Xerxes shook her head. "I don't know…"

"What in the-"

Setsuka and Ryuusei were in the doorway of Hino's dorm room, staring at the two students in their predicament.

"What's wrong with her?" Setsuka asked Xerxes calmly as she walked over to her and kneeled to her level. Ryuusei followed suit and kneeled next to Setsuka after closing the dorm door.

"I-I don't know." Xerxes replied in shock.

Setsuka moved a chunk of hair out of Hino's face as the pinkette kept crying and whimpering. Ryuusei slightly winced at the sight, feeling terribly for the girl but tried to maintain his stoic expression.

Setsuka held a calm demeanour and scanned Hino for signs of injury or illness. She noticed the symbol on Hino's arm and let her hand hover over it, feeling the warmth from the girl's skin.

"Ryuusei. Look at this." Setsuka instructed.

Ryuusei looked at the symbol and frowned slightly. "What is this?" he mumbled, reaching to touch the girls arm but thought better of it and stopped his hand.

"Looks like we have our Wind Sage. The colour and design of the symbol are relatable to the element of wind, plus she manipulates wind to use her powers." Setsuka concluded.

Ryuusei looked to Setsuka in confusion. "How do you know that?"

"It's in her file." Setsuka clarified, returning her attention to the girl in pain.

Xerxes was completely lost and a little concerned about the situation. "What are you guys talking about?"

Ryuusei looked to Setsuka, who nodded. He looked back to Xerxes. "Your friend here is one of nine Sages from an old legend. Apparently the Chancellor has been rounding all nine of them up for some unknown reasons." Ryuusei explained.

Xerxes was in disbelief. "Sages? Legends? This makes no sense! What would the Chancellor want with a bunch of Sages?"

"Good question." Setsuka gave exasperated.

Xerxes gave Setsuka a dirty look, to which Setsuka remained unflinching.

"What Setsuka was trying to say is that we're as clueless as you." Ryuusei clarified.

Xerxes stood up and moved away from them. "Clearly not! Clearly you guys know what's going on here! I want some answers! I want to know why Hino is curled up in pain right now from some mark on her arm!"

Setsuka stood and walked over to face Xerxes one on one. "Clam down. We're looking for answers too. We have some, but not all. Flying off the handle isn't going to help matters right now. Okay?"

Xerxes scowled at Setsuka before crossing her arms and nodding.

A moment of stillness passed between them with nothing but Hino's whimpers and crying to be heard.

"You really think she's the Wind Sage?" Ryuusei questioned Setsuka, gesturing to Hino as he did.

Setsuka nodded. "One down, eight to go."

Grace sat in the library alone. Cleotra was on duty as usual, but Grace wanted to be alone. She had snuck past her friend when first entering and sat in a little nook she had found that was meant for reading.

Grace had had a puzzling morning. She had woken up with a sore leg, thinking she had had a charley-horse or something, but had discovered a marking on her left thigh.

She studied the marking now. It was black, and was in the shape of a circle with one dot in the very middle and six dots around the outside of the circle. The skin around it was sore and red, as if something had given her a tattoo in her sleep. Something told her that wasn't the case.

She touched her mark, which glowed a dark purple at the contact. A dark feeling came over her when she did this, making her smirk devilishly.

"This should be fun."

END

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