Teen Titans; New Generations- Manifesto Pages; Storyteller Arc - Part Two; Chapter 10: A-Mazing Grace? Now, Enter..The Widow's Void.
Marcus's Backstory will finally (next chapter!) finally, be explained. Well, and Ami is fighting Dami as Amelia (from these new years , part two.)
Kaien had a puppy crush on his old ally Catherine, while Shoji is trying to piece together how the deity once known as Apollon never let his influence over the country deplete. (He is a god of polytheistic pasts, so you be the judge of that!)
Kay is banned from entering the Pope's home- why? We are about to unmask the reason, just as LaoMing is forcing her will power to push back the competition. Charl is possibly already the worst villain next to Lothos or even Regis by his attitude! When will Aggie's big ensemble happen to go off with a bang?
Also , San Remo (typo?) is an indoor event like the grammy's , even more diverse as it hosts more genres than just pop . I mean that as the average festival must be packed with fans , ones who show their appreciatation without being told to clap for the this year's artists. (Real festival already ended few months ago.)
Aggie's dream was just that, she was being controlled by Manifesto's spirit, mixed with the added influence of some horrible demons we all know and despise.
(The red dragon's face is that 'mound of miasma' and as a red scale in Shoji's underground lab. He must still be as poisonous as the rarest desires ever conceived!) Dramatic much..*
As the winding down tick tock of the astral clock commences, will Aiden and the gang ever reunite in time with their caretakers , in order to stop the Manifestation Djinn of another past?
Is Marcus really or was he, a student in a magical academy with former half- daemon kid, Raku?
Reading the Wattpad story may help, but it's up to the reader to see if this is fiction will tie into our tale. (Dramatic again!)
Lastly, an old enemy will be making a return by the title-so!
So? Ehem, without any further items to add, part two now starts off, red hot!
/
Aggie paced the floor. As she had dreaded, there had been a delay. One extra act was supposed to open for her...But they had caught an 'upset' on their flight over from their extended vacation in Brazil. The food had not been the trouble. Air sickness had instead been the culprit, and weakened, gut flora too.
"We cannot replace 'G-Flo!' " Aggie raised a brow as the MC (the man to open for the line up of six to ten artists, ) was gripping his microphone with such strength, that it would have snapped in two like a twig.
"Si, but what of the others who are still waiting to go on tonight?" The second was a woman with a chart of names and a tablet in her hands. "Are we supposed to fly in another replacement for the opening or just-
"Argh..." The man pushed Mariella away with a splayed palm directed outwards. "Let me think...Aggie! " He turned to see their dazzling teen- sensation in her best outfit.
"What are you doing before the first performance?" Mariella asked.
Their brows were coated in plenty of sweat to ' just add more! '
"Ah...you, may have a problem too." The MC tugged at his expensive shirt collar as if not everything was going as planned. Exactly, it was a flaw in the schedule after all.
"Would you let me fix this?" Aggie had invited herself in to their conversation. Se asked this time with a it more concern in her voice for a role to perform. The studdering secretary protested in a weaker tone. "But, Miss, you...you are just -
"Mariella, let me call in a performer. He was once a punk , but now.." She smiled to the secretary and her partner, knowing they could not refuse her offer on a whim .
"He is listed down into the charts as a sucess from..then..Well! ..Ahah..-
"Oh! He, even on hiatus could blow the roof off of that stage with only a single note. "Her phone was out and searching as millenials has the upper hand in their time.
Aggie pointed to the front as the curtains were left for classical premiers (typo?) and sultry duets by symphonic superstars, maestosi - artisti musicali (eh, could do better next time. )
"Hah! But does that even make sense?" The male executive MC barked back, (as if he could have seen this through without Aggie's help.)
"Perfectly, I am living proof. " She boasted her reasons a bit. "You had forgotten my last visit to Italy two years ago?" Aggie smirked to the two with her head held high. Her arms were crossed behind her back as she waited for either to reply.
"That..was said to have been an error with the sound -
"I do not lie to my company." She added again with a wag of her finger, this time with a more playful tone as the secretary bit her lip to quit interrupting . Mariella cleared her throat, then spoke up as the time they had was vital if was wasted poorly.
"If you have an act, call them here, 'Pronto' and don't come back until they are flying right for Sanremo! " She said this as if her lungs had been tied up, then undid to demand as her own boss might have been so lucky.
"As you wish!" The silvery haired girl smiled before turning her back on the two mortals- she had a line to hack! Perfection at its finest would come, just...While she had a bone to pick with one vocalist from two years ago...
/
Ron sneezed as if he could catch the voices of someone chattering on about him. (Cliche ! I know!)
"Did you need to powder your nose before-
"Vespa..." He growled to his cousin. Her chuckle was unappealing and had devious undertones to it.
"We should be prepared..." He huffed and got ready to head inside the hall. "Sanremo is more modern than I would have-
"You thought it was a festival with balloons and candy...Why did I even bother then?" The dark eyed guardian Vespa put her hands to her hips and frowned.
~Where was Vee when you needed him?.. ~ The lightening dog was about to interject to defend his pride from the harpy, when his phone suddenly rang. Rather, it was a number that looked to be of the same area as Sanremo Italy.
"Should you?" The woman above him teased. The dog male tsked * and picked up the call, just to spite the dark arts daemon with all he had.
"Who is this?"
~An old competitor from back in the finals..Back in Sydney? Remember, Puppy?~
Ron's eyes distanced from the line, to look up at Vespa. She nodded, replying in a harsh whisper. "Go on, find out more.."
He returned to the caller, his lips drier than they had been since his last competition in his home country. With a Sky- borne vixen not hoping to be present.. Ah, yes.. Those, were the days!
"You have me all wrong, Maybe." He could not say 'mate' , not when this person was a total enigma bent on separating the dogs on their mission.
~I now feel very embarressed, but I just..had to ask you..~ She had the voice of a muffled caller with the accent similar to Catalina Daia, maybe a bit stronger than the other country's roots . Something dangerous was about to occur as Ron forgot what to say. He took in a gulp of air.
~Would you perform for Sanremo, tonight as my opening?" The dark eyed guardian Vespa swung her head towards the call, her eyes as viscious as an angry wolf's. She wanted that line decimated with such an expression. It was certain by her rage.
"You know what I am, but what about you?" Ron snipped back to the caller. "How could I remember a random person, when competing was only second nature to us like you'd only forgotten to add? Huh? I will NOT be blackmailed if that is what you are going for..!" He growled into the cell with his grip shaken by rage.
The character giggled as if the joke was on the fox. Ron then decided, he screamed back into the cell's speaker.
"What are you , no..How did you get this number?" His loud voice alerted the crowds that had been entering the music venue. They immediately turned to stare and whisper words like 'this rude foreigner is being unacceptably rowdy while visiting our city?' Vespa knew this was what the voice wanted. Ron knew, but was now causing trouble due to the enigmatic person's talking.
Vespa slapped her hand to her face and groaned before finally ripping the cell phone from her cousin's paws. His power was out of flux! The devil on that line was no mere mortal!
"Why don't you ready your costume staff, and the clowns back stage can pick us up anytime!" Vespa smirked her own grin of deceit , hoping that her aura was read by this odd intruder on her cousin's private line.
" Add me into that duet and we have your number..." As he stood dumbfounded, Ron looked as a drenched puppy. His cousin's intervention was too risky! Why was this happening? The Titans, they were still apart and within the venue's borders!
~You know how to weave your words well, miss...~
"Introductions I will state for we both..That is, once WE meet..." Vespa held back a sigh. Ugh!..Oh, as if this would take all day. "Toodles, and...I have one idea of what YOU are.." The caller almost brought herself to protest ,though was cut off sharply, and right on schedule. With a click, Vespa tossed the cell phone back into her disturbed cousin's palms.
He looked up at her again with eyes searching for unknown answers. Ron then suddenly exclaimed, "Wh...what just happened? Way to spoil our tour with more surprises!"
"Hush, I got us backstage...Idiot. " Vespa ignored him and brushed her hair back, to then transform into what looked a post- hardcore image idol. " The nails weren't exactly talons, but her lashes looked sharp! The style was mid modern at best.. Vespa's long hair was let to flow as the deity hound of underworld investments . She smirked to Ron with her red to violet lipstick just as hard as her usual punishment- games in heck. (Being stuck with her least favorite cousin, he could end up pushing up daisies if he disses her..)
"Enough energy to gawk? Then get to it, pooch!" Vespa snapped her fingers for Ron to do so...But others...She had the ability to mask them! Incredible!
"Are we not going to be in danger of being weened out by Marcus's cronies?" Ron asked cautiously whilst among the crowds. His brow remained furrowed as he kept on his toes for any sign of dangerous faces. None were set for reappearing, so he breathed a sigh and followed Vespa's example.
"We are fine as long as you don't run off ." She teased as they readied to enter the main vestibule (to say the j east of the layout..oy..) "Or is Ronald just a scat- cat?-
"What does that even imply?" The fox snorted as the two completed their transformations. Ron looked... as Aiden from those few years prior. Skater boy or not...
His hair was slightly shorter and in a pony that brushed his shoulder blade uncomfortably...Reminding the dog of his cut career life and gaudy style..
"Where do we meet this , 'deep voice' tonight?" He conveyed his question with Vespa, who had every right to clock her cousin unconscious until they arrived...Bagged and packaged up tight, sounded nice.
"You are thinking of something evil!" He shuddered by her low chuckle. The fox frowned and knew Vespa better than Vee or Kay. She was a crone in the form of a young enchantress. Such a drag that she was his partner...
"We would be best to express our emotions once your 'heroes' save the Earth." She stated calmly. Almost trying to tick off her younger family member. "Won't forget that, you had better be on our side. No takers or losers in your game of life."
"Course, it would be unwise to try and out-wit a fox..." Vespa shrugged before changing her posture a bit to mimic the woman she had dressed as.
Up to the door, and security looked alright...too tight to squeeze by as their fox forms.
"Ciao." The punk diva through up a normal hand gesture to the staff. Informal as ever, Vespa made that word shine past the door's security ...They were even gaping b-
"My partner's voice is what you all wanted, could let us in? A certain...person of importance is waiting to meet some old friendsof her's."
"S...Sure! You, you can both go inside now." The main security guard opened up the way, as Ron and Vespa took the place of whoever had lost their appetite aboard Air Brazil. They had to have had rocks in their tummy before boarding. This G-Flo so far was going to be in one heck of a pickle. Royalties and all!
Ron looked around to see that the VIP looked over booked.
"Should I wear a mask or..."
"You look too outdated in my opinion. "
The older woman's snarky tone had Ron snort back.
"Says post hardcore- itis, who's standing on my!-
"Ahhh!" The voice was not from someone stepping on a kitsune son's tail, rather it was a host from one particular session..
She was wraring silver and lots of sequins. It was the year to don the nineties...
Her hair was in straight silvery strands down her back and a matching set of clean-cut bangs to add to her appeal. He star earings dangled with what looked to be a dozen bracelets. She wore a dress that shone like those same stars by her lobes, though looked..petite for the age she actually should have appeared..
"Agatha..." Vespa took a step back as Ronald whispered her name. "You know...?" The dark fox cousin hissed to her relative before all fell silent.
Vespa would not get to finish. Aggie was all over Ron as a child with her favorite play mate.. To her relative, it was as if he taken in for a visit with his cute, little sister... Vespa felt her hybrid self cringe. Any moment now, they would discover the diva's secret...Then, Aggie - G would be Aggie- Done. (Lazy language! My slang is improper!)
As long as Ron stayed conscious throughout supper.
"My my...Is she your date this evening?" The girl had no clue! She looked up grinning to the couple with a fan girl's , half lidded expression in admiration of the love birds (in fantasy!)
Ron slyly smirked. With a chuckle, he brought an arm to drape over Vespa's side-
~Touch me...~ She grit her teeth through the speak to display her angst. ~And we will be having delicious fox for dinner!..~
~Just play along! ~ He stopped her words a minute by continuing the speak under Aggie's watchful gaze. ~I won't do anything evil..this is, just to get her guard down.~ He promised this , yet Vespa was a skeptic, a warrior and a master assassin.. Vespa shifted to allow herself to lean onto her...relative's shoulder. He was going to lose all of his nine lives in another life, and his teeth. She'd have bet her own soul on the fact, womanizing shit! (bit, ughh!)
"He invited me right about a week ago, right baby?" The sweet eyes of the other, younger woman were uneasy as Aggie's arm never let loose of Ron's. Vespa saw this and just let go of her arm, thinking a trick would be better than being tricked. "He's a joker, I swear!" She had bull-shit her way into bars for intel inside the deepest dives before..But being' a stand- in for one top sale to your label!?
"That's all too rich fer my tastes...But dollie? Where are the rest of the crowd-
"We will let them in soon, ooohh! Ron! You should tell me everything about your..ehem...extended-
"In a sec. But first." The fox tugged away his arm to narrow his eyes a bit. Aggie was surprised,though nothing shocking was not to be expected. A guardian pair...or maybe...
"That caller was you, wasn't it?" He said this , convinced that she had hacked her way in. That technique's use went both ways but...it was illegal by Sayu's position on Earth, Ron could be sentenced of his life turned upsidedown by a bad tabloid article!
"Yes..." The girl regressed. Aggie was in her time line then older, but acted a teenie bopper by her outfit in this universe. Why had this world changed her? Was she lacking in growth? No..she had traversed! It made sense! Then the recreated Agatha was not recreated...she was summoned by Shoji's lab rats! (Previous arc, Part two and later.
"Where is he, kid?" Vespa added with her arms crossed. Aggie paused , then let out an adorable laugh. One that sounded innocent enough on the surface..
"Ahahah! You think?.. no no...I don't care about him! My time was reborn so, I want to relive it! You guys are too funny!"
"NOT FUNNY." Ron stepped closer , trying to shake Aggie from her daydreams a while longer. ""You caused a goddess to go off the path of her kin, the heroes are searching for you to stop this charade! You left for what reason? Huh? Why are you acting the evil mastermind's pupil when we , the good guys know your real face?"
"I...you would only laugh!" Aggie shook her head then replied. "Come, come!" Aggie tugged Vespa who was caught off guard by the extra affection .
"I will tell you like you said, in private! Follow, please?"
"Just go with her , Ron?" Vespa begged as her grip was like a child's. Too needy...
"Fine!" Ron threw up his hands and started off towards the V.I.P hall. "We decide this off, once and for all."
"Excellent!" Aggie smiled which cut the foxs' confidence down a shred. A heart to heart was needed, as well as a way to quiet her new guests from lecturing the daughter of Delphi..
/
Ayane fought but had to do something- anything to slow Marcus from starting another 'end to end all ends!'
"Grraahh!" Kaede fought as well, just as skilled by her spiritual gifts as Lori was for Sakurano's outcome.
"I will meld in with his power! I will become a god! You cannot stop me!-
"Stop this at once! Yameru!" She revert to her world's native tongue as the pressure in the room smothered the good- guys' powers. Marcus was calling on fate, he was becoming a monster of unspeakable intent...
"Sore wa jubundesu!" Ayane brought her eyes to meet with a peeved Kaede. She had spoken those words after seeing the wreckage of Shojii's facility.
Kaede closed her eyes to chant aloud.
~Watashi wa densetsu no SUN uman o yobidashimasu watashitachi no tatakai o tasukete!~ It was too modern, though the spell had to work...it had to! Her fists lit with the light the kitsune had though she'd lost. Haru had to have known..everyone treated her as her true self...now..it was time to turn things to move ahead!
~Amaterasu -hime!~ Her eyes shone as the sun rays of a new day. Marcus was shocked by the immense power Kaede held, yet his arms still held that damned book. He was goig to counter her. Ayane saw this and called upon one deity she could trust.
~Aria! Lady of the Coastal waves ! I compell to you...lend me your strength!~
As if the daemoness had her eye on the brawl, the force of wind and water turned to ice for Sakurano's use. An ability combined as two , Aria had been forgiven for now. Switching to latin, Ayane collected her powers into a shot on the book in her enemy's hands.
~ GLACIES! Lumen terebramus acuto, quia anathema est illud pieces!~
The force was enough to send spires down onto the brat. He cried out a spell as the floor nearly gave, then cracked to bits by the ripple in space and time. ~I SUMMON THE REMAINING LORD'S FIRE! GIVE ME THE POWER OF THE OUTCAST GOD! THE DJINN SON OF DARK MOONS AND DYING SUNS! I DESIRE HIS STRENGTH!~
Ayane did not have time to wipe the sweat from her dirtied brow. As she stood panting for clean air again, Kaede stood with her wish unfulfilled. Marcus laughed maniacally with a gash to his forehead. He was still up? His blood rushed as the scale and mass of power within the dog's lab shuddered by the outside contact. ~Make me a god!~ He bellowed in aging unlike his own.
Poor Marcus continued to belive in devils ruling under his thumb, yet the light princess had yet to change everything.
~THE SUN WILL RISE TO DEFEAT THE MONSTER KING, OF TODAY AND TO-MORROW!~ A voice called out from below the ground, the crack in time's walls was heavily apparent.
As the rift broke apart a bit more, the void deepened to allow the heroes' Hime of the solar sect to reappear.
Just as predicted no less!
By her side, was Isis along with Astarte . The fighter deity dusted off the debris that had fallen, the crash having left more to repair upon their entry.
~He is trapped here.~ The chariot weilding deity sniffed, her head directed itself towards that evil book in the boy's hands.
It was frozen by Ayane's spell. However, the book's influence still entangled the child with tendrils of an evil influencer on the other side. He looked afaid as a school boy, not knowing what powers he had allowed free from the other side.
"We are...exhausted!" Kaede revert to her kitsune - trickster voice. Amaterasu had never forgotten! The princess looked kindly over to her old friend and seemed to feel the same way. ~Thank you for keeping the enemy enclosed within these walls.~ She said this as Astarte and her cousin closed the rift from behind them. The glass of the holding cell for the mass was at its limit.
Just as Marcus was about to shout out, he felt his heart literally quit its beating from inside his pained chest. He collapsed - though while still alive..yet his eyes remained aware of everything. He could not shut them! What hex was this?!
Ayane screamed out as the mass exploded through the shard shower as the tome did at the exact same time . The ice was shot to the ground as rifts of miasma smog started to again fill the lab with painful air. Sakurano Ayane covered her mouth and looked on in disbelief by what happened just then after..
Amaterasu tried to use her strength to seal the mass into a container of light, yet the unidentifiable figure breached by- her power was not as her former self...Amaterasu was losing , and Marcus was now stuck within a comatose state.
Astarte rushed, as she dashed across the ricketing floor to collect the red scale before it could become a threat by the tome's added power. Isis was a natural born healer. She quietly chanted beside Sakurano to recover both of their energies as the other warriors stood strong.
Kaede ran to collect Marcus from the ground, though found that the tome was preventing anything from doing so against its influence. Her finger were scorched, she saw the book radiate its energy all around what would become Manifesto's new host.
"He is trying to take hold of the boy!" Kaede shouted over the screeching walls, floors and howling infrastructure as if fell to pieces.
"The mass is changing!" Isis gasped and pointed to the form inside Amaterasu's incomplete sphere. It was...
IMPOSSIBLE!
The hair of a spectre in raven black. Eyes as a red eyed demon of body of a seductress, not a harpy, yet without wings she flew ! The outcome..had changed drastically...
The mass was a woman, one connected to such a lore who could be their new source of infinite strife. With a toothy grin, the character cackled in mid-flight to the sky, ~AAHAAHHH! Akane's BACK, babyyy!~
/
Ava and her crew tranported to Italy, time was running short . Aiden had allowed this as she and Chris took care of finding the veteran Titans. Dami, Aiden, Zan, Henry, and Glen were forced to stay behind to knock some sense into the temporarily tied down Amelia with one of Robin's favorite accessories.
"How do we stop her?" Aiden was the first as her big bro to ask this. His concern that she had made a big 'uh- oh' again had the ruddish haired blonde steaming mad. "He took her anxiety in his clutches and toyed with poor Amy!" Aide snarled by the innocent loss of his ally's true innocence...
"Idiots! I Am her!" Screamed the bratty dopple. "She is me! We are duel opposites! Why !-
"Ami is still in there..." Dami looked to the girl, then to Aiden as that false hope was becoming tiresome at best.
"She won't let us in...any way to break in without permission?" Henry was hushed by Zan as she did not want the other daemon's host to hear them plotting.
"I can read your energies..." The dopple yawned beside her captors. "Why not bet on another's life inside of my lord-
"Stop using her voice! " Aiden growled back with the child's dead eyes in his view. "She...she is not gone and you know how to bring her back!-
"Heroes are not prison guards, laddie-
"Dami! Do you have one of those gadgets to get her to quit it? " Aiden pleaded with the other boy as Wayne's kid attempted to dig through his belt for a solution. "Here-
Aiden grabbed the tape tech from the titans' leaders hands. He did not spare a moment when it came to family.
"Ami is coming back, but you can just play the quiet game. " The sticky tape item went snuggly across the girl's mouth. Her eyes knew how to soften as he came close enough to speak - before the boy would even think his plan could work, she acted the damsel.
"B..bro?..W...what are you doing!-
"You are a fake !" He cut her off, though his task was still not through. " I won't let you out until Ami is able to banish you for good!-
"B..but! Aide! You have one too!-
"W-
"Enough!" Zan used her magic to tug Aiden from facing the trickster doll . She was being treated like this...he wanted to bawl his eyes out to grieve every loss so far! This was too unfair!
"I have to!-
"NO!" Dami dragged Aiden by the collar to meet Glen's boots. "Big guy? Keep the kid from getting away from his team?"
"Please would have much better for you, rich boy!" Aiden snapped before he was tossed at Glen, who bear hugged Aiden to death. It was to prevent him from getting anywhere near his little sister. This was a sacrifice, astage they hoped unlike last time with Ava.
"No! She's not going to tell us! We have to...Please let me...Go!" Aiden's power was miniscule by hispact. Yet a spare was as a lighter burn to Glen , who yelped and clumsily had to regather his cap-
"Not now!" Aiden kicked the frost elven half blood before Henry used his wand to defend the giant.
"Hold still!" Henry grunted as his aim was far from the mark to put Aiden into the range of his sleeping spell. " T'is...n..kay..." Glen grimaced with a sour look on his face. "Kid...has ...-
"Glen!" Henry gasped, then turmed his eyes on a fleeing Aiden Grayson.
"What would your sister think!?" Dami shouted before the wizard of the greenest glen could protest first.
"I lost...my two sisters! Anna is still inside that crazy storybook!" Aiden shouted back to the late Robin. "I failed them! Anna was the oldest next to Ava...I didn't win any wars...she's not ok! I..I want Ami and that kid is going to !-
"Stop it!" The voice to shriek the men to seize was none other than Lady Amelia . She huffed once all, had finally settled. "Ehem! I am a villain? So? What is with your bickering ? It is not at all proper of real heroes! Fix your attitude or Ami will never be found! -
"I so don't want you talking like you have morals! You are a !-
"I am the self on the other side...of the miko's talisman...the sacred mirror. " Amelia let the words sink in around the rooftop setting. "Mirror? As in, opposites?" Glen asked .
"Yes, and the only way is through a mirror inside of THAT world." The dark eyed child replied with a forced nod. Her neck was not in the best position to be talking 'sass' to the teens. That was the REAL Ami's job! Not her dark side's!
"So?" Dam crossed his arms and frowned. "Where is it?"
"The mirror shall not come forth. I may not summon it. Only a goddess can do unto we what I hath done to-
"Dim witted archetype!" Glen shouted as his ears rung by the excuses. "Henry was her friend! You are nothing more than an imp by your behaviour..no..even imp are of the law we bare! You are cowardly! Face him! This 'master' is no better than a miserable swindler of souls!"
"Easy, tough guy!" Zan soothed as best she could the frost fae's wild temper. "We still have a chance to turn this around. Where is the mirror or an equivalent copy? " She asked the dopple. "There should be a main temple where they hold one here in Japan-
"Hah! The fox sisters left the place to us! The temple was trashed as SHE took the mirror and placed it within your girl..." The demonic child smirked as Aiden soon became impatient enough to speak. "Then you are going too. We are going -
"Amaterasu is in the tallest tower..of a certain dog of hades!" The team gasped in unison by Amelia's words. Aiden grit his fists and turned to the roof exit. "What are you doin?" Glen called out.
The blonde just kept walking however, refusing to let matters rest. He had let her run off back into another dream time disaster! He had failed...but it was time to fix this, once and for all.
"Mmm, and how do you expect to upsurp my lord?" The girl asked as her voice carried to meet Aiden's two ears. He stopped, then turned to reply with a crooked, confident grin. "She's my sister, my family and teammates won't let Manifesto's tricks scare us. Right you guys?"
"Yup!" Glen threw up and arm with Henry slung over his shoulder. The garbled words of the kid wizard were unread by his team as anything other than a sickly sort of gibberish. The toxic stuff Amelia had injected could be neutralized at the lab where Aiden was headed.
"The dog's not around!' Zan realized as she contained Amelia inside a balloon of energy to keed her powers in check. "He won't be back , but what-
"No time." Aiden had to start off with a sprint before the portal in front of him,deterred the boy from walking off.
"Non, non! The puppy won't have it!" The kids saw the being as a sorcerer in blue. He had wavy brown hair and fan- girl gaga features of a model. The man held a clich rose inbetween his fingers and twirled it before dropping the pretty piece to the ground . It shattered the sky as a mozaic of colours brought the team far from their destination.
"This is the day..yet your time has to end or...Sigh..I shall not hear the end of it!" He laughed as the sky around them spun, pulling the heroes in as Amelia was freed from her captive.
"About time! I was a sitting duck!" She pouted, reminding Aiden that Ami was still in there somewhere.
"My lordship has spoken! He says that you intend to free your friends...? Are you opposing our beautiful to be goddess? I am going to paint the sky a different shade! Only for our demise!" Charl lept up with a wand as a brush in his hand. He chanted words in his native language,then left his guests speachless by the former knight's power.
"I turned by my desire to be...another! An Artist! The nerve of my father! I was sent to work, to fight the good fight...I never finished...my , masterpiece!"
He allowed the reds, blues, and orange to grey splatter across this uncanny resemblance of an illusion. Aiden looked away ,though squinted through the paint shower as he searched for...-
"Aha!" Zan noded as she too had located the noisy brat dopple. "Hah! Ent-
"Wah!" Zan was swung upside down by the strands of cavas that had come to life. Sharpened, sheets left the sorceress strapped down inside a warped cocoon of paper. Glen attacked as his brute strength jammed the ink stains to dip from the canvas world onto his team. He cried out as Henry was placed to the side. "Let us free you monster!"
"Oh my!" The snickering brunette teased as his brush was now coated in a shade of silver. "I must defend my unfinished piece! Amelia, darling?"
"With pleasure, imp boy!" Ami's doppleganger laughed as her teeth were no better than a certain aspect's from, some previous years of misery..
~Halt!~ The riot came from a voie in the dark, a voic that had Amelia gasping to speak. No..no!
"You should be buried!" She screamed at the top of her lungs to that voice. That voice, that would ruin everything...
~Nay , child. I am what built this portion of your soul...you should respect those who bring you all you've asked! Stand down, NOW!~
The voice had Charl also looking to the sky for answers. Manifesto had won, hadn't he?
"My leige, Lord of Manifestation! " The brunette called out to appease this angered , omnipotent being out of their reach.
"She is only to aid-
I , am no book bound in sheep's skin, peasent!~
The imp revert as his devil's form quivered in the presence of another. Aiden felt it as well as Zan and Glen. This was magic, a dark kind that dragged you into the abyss...
"Who's there!?" Dami called out as his breath turned to ice. Glen too clutched the limp form of Henry as his comatose state only deepened by the team simply, 'lollygagging away' (as Vanderbilt might have described their circumstance any better.)
"Are you our enemy too?" Aiden had his team gawking by the obvious question of the blonde's. His eyes never left where Amelia dared to look away. ~I am an overseer beside the king of illusion and delusion. ~ The voice was clearer now, sounding a mix between male and female. A bit deeper than that of Lilu or even Veronica.
~Don't toy with your servants...eh..you are of his right hand, I take it?~ Charl now had to rethink his plans to win over Manifesto! Who was this personal servant to the bound tome? Where did it come from?
~Hmm, you all are unable to guess? I must be speaking in tongues..~ The crature sighed ,and on its breath it appeared in the air.
"No. Way...that means he's!-
"No, that..." Zan gasped as she searched her team over for the same reaction. "Roko!" Aiden cried up to the daemoness in the flesh.
"R-ro...Why?" Amelia sniffled as her inner child wept by the sight of the dragon's old hench-woman. "Why did they have to bring you here?.." She bawled into her hands as the other's dark magic left the girl drained. She had the palor of a real ghost, and that scared the blonde boy so much more, as if Ami had been facing the heroes...
"This...this is a surprise?.." The imp Charl chuckled as the heroes stood , unable to inerrrupt for fear that they too would be dragged where none could hope to escape.
~I was summoned by the last bit of evidence that ties the dragon to the human realm. The conscious realm, though you expected me to just play along? I shoud have guessed an impish ingrate such as yourself would wish the power that Manifesto, has so kindly bestowed onto me..~
The self Roko was older , maybe nearly Lilith's height by how time had pasted her by. How had she survived? Did that man that the dragon would again be revived inside a new vessel? Aiden shouted out to the goth Amelia as her mascara ran down the child's cheeks.
"Ami's life isn't worth losing yours over!" He tried to say to talk some sense into the aspect youth. She was in danger of becoming fodder for the worst of the worst!
"I...I am under contract, boy! Do not involve yourself!" She shouted back, her voice cracking. Aiden felt a lump inhis throat form. As if by his will , he mind spoke to Dami, Glen, and Zan as the demons spoke. Minus one dopple.
~What be the case?~ Glen demanded an answer as to how the boy had the ability of his kin. ~No time, I think I can speed things up- but Zatara is going to have to make a way through, to grab Ame-
~This again, Grayson?~ Damian jumped in as Robin , knowing Zatara was too willing to help if he could. He didn't want anyone lost inside this illusion place without a way home. It was too risky to anger any more monsters!
~No! I know what to do as long as I have a shot. But you guys have -
~No one is the leader here.~ Dami reminded them that the Titans still had an opening. ~If you get us all banished to the 'under-whatevers' , then no one is going to make it in time to stop the real mastermind.~
~Manifesto...I could locate him by my telepathic connection.~ Zan added as soon as Dami had stopped squinting at poor Aiden. Two of his family had become props in a villain's dinner theatre performance. Why was he so touchy about taking a risk? This was unlike Robin..but Dam...He was defending her...worse! When had they been together ever!?
~I'll go ahead and try.~ Zan said this without a slight bit in her voice of any hesitation. ~What about the kiddo?~ Glen asked. ~Miss Amelia can save Henry with her venomous nailpolish I think. Didn't that happen the last time? ~
~Was too early but news travels fast in the spirit world, I take it.~ Zan smiled as her companions all decided on a vote.
~Damian, Aiden, go after Amelia and get the venom to save Henry. Restrain her and I'll open a portal as soon as I make contact with that 'Manifesto' character. ~
~What about Miss Roko up there, floatin' about?~ Glen again pointed out. ~She is an eagle ready to strike by her stance. Ths might be difficult, so let me aid the boys in their fight.~
~I am sorry we left you out, big guy!~ Aiden smirked as Dami rolled his eyes in annoyance. ~Just disconnect already, Grayson! We don't have all century to make up our minds!~
The contact broke as the villains had soon ended their debate- yet another one had arisen.
"What the!?" Dami and Aiden both gasped .
~He was being pushy. ~ Roko smiled by her handiwork. Charl had been turned into the largest moth monster - his blue and silver swarming familiars were in numbers above the heroes' heads.
"You..MADE him transform!" Zan brought her arm out to create a defensive barrier around the group. She had seen it. Aiden was growling over the mistake- they had been distracted!
~Scatter and go bye-bye, little Titans!~ Roko cackled and sent her cronie forth.
The creature once as Charl, roared with its antennae twitching in desparation. It wanted to consume, as if this world... paper..this whole world was made of Charl's art! They were next! It was a danger zone as the moths devoured every outline of the false world. Aiden managed to save his garb of the Phoenix's Chosen as he dodged and flew by with the help of his powerful blade.
Dami shot down the rest with birdarangs, the sword he kept was given some fire power by Zan's magic over it. She used the barrier to steal a few minutes..just a few while the team remaining fought to take down the devils of this crazy dream- realm.
"Ami...just hang on..." Aide grit histeeth and avoided the sputtering powder from the great moth's wings. He shielded most of it , but coughed in the rest. ~Hero!~ Roko had seen him..no!
"Fall back!" He shouted as the reminder took her arm up to redirect the monster's attention. Zan screamed as Dami was knocked back by a wide gust of the creature's wings. "Aaagh! Don't make me attack!"
He shut out the pain before attempting to fight the swarm 'up close and personal.' "Take me out and we will shut you both down! You too! Right this NOW!" He called out to Amelia last,as if he still wanted her to listen to his words. Ami..who was she to these people? What could that little girl hope to accomplish, when she was a prisoner anyway inside the great tome's pages?
"No good!" Glen shouted as other rest was set to turn to ashes in mere moments. Aiden's power was bound to unleash from his conscious state. They would make a door back to earth. Back to their home!
~Unveil...open now!~ He had not used a spell which had Zan gaping by the efforts of the current 'Chosen'.
"Like he said!" Dami sent a birdarang to cut the swarm in two as it exploded in a burst of light and smoke. "NOW!"
He bellowed as Aiden let it loose. His sword cut the veil holdimg this realm together. Roko tsked with a click of her tongue , setting off through the first light of an opening. ~Your pretty princess is still my lord's toy!~ The daemon lady creature reminded the blonde and his allies. "Am!-
"I...I won't -
~Defy Manifesto, defy me?~ Roko grabbed the tween by magic bonds and tugged her along. A portal did the rest as the two split the scene before Glen and Aiden could attack. ~Finish the job, imp!~ Roko shouted the command to poor Charl as he wildly thashed in a cloud of smog. The birdarang had done damage as he was forced to change forms.
~Rrrraaah!~ The parisian daemon was returned to his form of a brunette 'ex- soldier.' "They...will not leave his world by my honor! Now, go!" His scalp was lit with magic,dark arts in his blood as the sorcerer called aloud a broken language to the air.
"He's gonna attack!" Glen was the bearer of obvious news as Zan decided to go on the offense. Robin pushed to get to her side, he passed a lost looking Aiden as Ami's last thread left on this plane , was dagged from right before his eyes...
"She's not Ami." Dami grunted for the blonde to wake up. "But...it could be a lead to finding her!-
"Shut it and get Zan some back up!" He really wanted to smack the sentimental dummy for being so slow. He was going to get them all swallowed up into the abyss below their feet. "Zan! I'm coming! Hold on!" He didn't care. The kid was his age but no Titan. Never like Grayson or Kori. He was too easy to manipulate.
Dami quickly decided and turned to the bratty seventeen going on eighteen year old with a blank stare. He grabbed the boy's arm and they ran to where Zan was defending herself . He had to have been just as weak! Gosh!
"But!-
"Grow up! This is our fight! Amy can wait, they don't want her dead . Why else is she still so important?"
Aiden bit his lip and reflected on those words as the two met upwith their three team members. "Glen, you want to take him?" Dami panted and sent the kid closer to meet the half- fae's back. "Heck!...Aiden? Why do you look so lost a sudden? Why's he-
"We..have to get out...let me go offense!" The brat split and used his sword to jump the gun. Zan saw Aiden face the mad- sorcerer in the midst of a smoke screen.
"He's going crazy!" She tried her hand at tossing a projectile attack at the walls of their collapsing prison, though Roko had already departed with Ameliavthrough those walls. Aiden was going stir crazy. He would not stop until his siblings were safe and sound.
~Hello!~ A voice came to Zan through the speak. Ah! It was Ava! She had made it to safety.
~Where are you? We made it to Shoji's lab! It is locked up tight. Why aren't you close by? Why is Aiden's aura unse-
~A lot is happening..he went..berserk! Roko took Amelia and he won't stop until we escape...Charl trapped us in another dimension...~
~What is furthest of your status so far?~ Christopher added as the two had gone together. He had sworn to protect the Barren's future ruler.
Zan paused before considering tge question carefully. ~Ugly.~ She replied in one word. ~Charl was sent into a state which transformed him, then he transformed back and now...he's unstoppable...-
~Wait..Roko!?~ Ava interrupted Chris from speaking as Zan kept pelting the unbreakable sorcerer with her magic. Nothing. Nothing was working! He was a brick wall, forcing them to back away from their only way to Earth.
~We can't get outside, it's an illusion that's falling to pieces! Charl's other form decimated its structure..now we have only ...~ She tried to send mental images of the realm. Ava frowned or so Zan could sense she'd do by that response.
~Have your team dig themselves out from there before your hell collapses.~ Christopher turned to his lady. ~Ava, we can send word to the deity Alue...or -
~I don't want to stand aside, but yes. I know someone better suited alongside darkness - realms than myself.. ~
~Who?~ Zan was desparate though curious still.
Sadly, the crumbling below had the team scrambling to hang on. Aiden ripped a hole finally into the fabric or reality, though he was rushed into by Charl before his plan could be finalized.
~You'll see. Don't look down and keep the jester busy.~ Ava ended the contact as the world seemed once again only hanging by a thin strand. Aiden was barreling back into Charl with his blade still useless against the power crazed magician. The vile self of Charl's form was now airborn as it transformed once more...
~No...~ Aiden saw it as Ava's connection to the Chosen had her breathing heavily. "Ava?" Christopher caught the princess as she panted by the shock.
"They...Charl is now turned...he is a true demon in form..." She held her temples and prayed this not be the end...calling...contacting...Alue would not be enough!
/
Agatha was ready to start. Her feet tapped lightly as the lights turn on one by one above her standing frame. The mic was warm in her grip. The second to stand tall would be after this mock warm up. Her lure rang out by that pitch she sang, the one that had made her a star in the humans' eyes.
~Turning back tiiime, I'd give it all away. Do you have? A rooom to spare. My feet are aching, back feels as if , a ton of bricks...have driven it to -
~Stand tall! A mountain is not iiin my way- I scale over - top, until I drop! Drop to meet the bottom where you should be ! We cry! Out intoo the dusty air. The desert never felt so aliive as I travel it to turn back time...returning, to where you aare...~
~I hold the gavel, are you ready to repent! We have lived forever in the past, now move while I dance for us! For the time we lost, will never come agaain! ~
She shouted, using the moves of her model behavior ( every magazine had a shot of those choreographed moves.) Her body swayed as if sirens were air born round her on this tiny stage.
Music inside and out drove Aggie to riot as a performer of her calling. A deity of drama...she felt freed from those eys for only now. Later, her trials would begin again.
~Hold me tightly, we are losing ground. You are falling back- the stream of time is ever winding...Give in ...Give give give innn to mee! You cannot escape this spiral dance! ~ What the dumb producers did not know, was that she was casting a spell by the craft learned from true sorceresses of divine intent. Agatha of the Sect of Delphi was unstoppable.
~Hummmmm, your timmme is up! Return with me to our love...eternity...~ Her number endedcas the lights turnd down. Clapping could be heard from the girl's staff. "Better than your last!" Mariella smiled by how the foreign artist had all sights set on her. "Yes, yes! Belissimo!" The M.C was amazed by how he could have doubted the girl's potential. Was she this good?
"Thank you, I don't know though where that opening act is...-
"We are here and ready ." Vespa stepped forth in one of her better outfits. Her hair was set to fall to her hips as the woman wore only darker shades. Ron was beside her and wore white and black. He looked stunning in what seemed to be a funky suit with studs and choker? How risque!
"My, you..two are new?" Mariella tugged her shirt's collar by how intimidating yet bedazzling the couple was( they had been chosen by the infamous 'Aggie-G 'after all!)
"We aren't anything special, ma'ame" Ron chuckled with his dopy grin still one of his best traits.
"Ehem, we came as soon as Aggie told us about the incident...What is the plan? He may be rusty, but my Bass is always packed where it's kept clear of dust and old memories-
"Are you ...retired?"
"No, no! A short hiatus! No need to worry. " Vespa reassured the M.C as her eyes kept Aggie's powers from showing off too much. "Aggie is an old friend from a show in Sydney with this -
"Ron, but I went as WOS with meh' band back ...say, four years till today?"
"Long, hiatus-
"I was still active. BUT modeling took up a ton of time . Had bills to pay, the most of that free time was for survival.." Vespa interrupted with a shrug as she had saved Ronnie-
Yet again! Ugh..the clown could have had their cover blown!
"I was redirecting myself as somethijng less,self discovery...worked out fine. Got a tan out of it at least for a month.."
"They are a funny pair, fantastic then!" Aggie smiled and clapped her hands together before grabbing the dogs' (one hand in each.)
"Well, I want to see how good you are now! Care to step onto that stage?" The M.C was enthralled by the story. Mariella was taken by the lover boy Ron from this headline worthy, rock band ...WOS?...What did that stand for?.
"Sorry, Scuzi...But, WOS -
"Wall of shame if that makes any difference. He went solo fter getting most of the attention- drove his fans loco but..that's showbiz!" Vespa again had less to add after all had been spoken. She decided to take up Aggie's offer however. A sorceress against a priestess of dark shadows, and an esper at that...
"Why not a sing off? Or a battle? Your best against this old' soul's rhythms?" Vespa proposed and patted her chest pridefully. Aggie looked to her manager and the M.C. They were having fun just watching the act! Mariella nodded with cautiously as she took less action than the dogs' mamas.
"Why not? New blood or old..." Aggie gracefully brushed past Vespa to whisper into her ear, darkly. "I wonder who's blood will be spilt first?.."
/
Verra was quieted for a while, while Shoji Takahara dragged on to locate Charl's hidden hideaway with the Pope's home. Kaien was already hot on the monk's blood trail. The guardian Kayu was outside the church walls. He had one cat gone solo to collect for an even bigger twist of fate.
Lao Ming was out there, wandering to try and sneak her way in for a better chance...what was her problem?
"That cat is making me run out in the rain..Ah!, yet for what?" Kay could ask himself this a thousand times over. Yet the answer was clear.
She was drained of her energy. Milling about would return the Tenkit woman's strength in time, yet Ming had no real plan but to wait..For what though? Charl was as useless in this case to her as Verra was to Shoji lending a paw.
"No coffee for this kit , dead of night and still no heads or tails of the Sheila... " He sighed. "Mum always said I had potential. Where did it run off to? I hope to gods that Ron is having a killer time with is' mates." Whenever this defect ran Kayu back to the Celestial realm with his tail between his legs, he just hoped Sayu would crack the whip with a conscience.
Kay looked to the air as the rain had stopped for a while , only untilhe made it closer to the outer reaches of the country side. "Agh...Shoji had better let me in on his brilliant plans." The fox groaned. "I am a dead duck drenched in buckets ah' sea water out here!"
Lao Ming had huddled inside a local hotel for warmth. This was not the days of Robin Hood! How could she have survived then without Marcus's bonus in her pocket? "Too bad this false humanity is wasted on the likes of us." Ming frowned and decided to have something to eat. She called for someone and was not disappointed. A suite like this was something she could never afford without her dear lord's kindness...
"I could, but assassination is a cruel way to go.." She let her arms drift overhead as the decor only seemed less than in her reach. Leaning back, Ming layed on her large bed and softly had the pillows there to caress her aching skull. She was to recover, then go back after the woman known as Catheine Daia.
"That pooch is very persistant, but I always manage to escape with my tail tied. " Ming smirked by her prideful thoughts. She was a warrior for the old nation of her people...a traitor, yet King Araakn-yawur had been her dearest ally of the dynasty of Fuu-Ri. (Furry. Hardy har to that!)
"Before the Princess Jin -Wei , there was war among our kind.." As Ming recalled the grain that could only pass as bartering , as currency to keep she and her mother alive...
"Ba-ba rose up and fought bravely, the king rewarded..." She curled up her fists and growled. "The Dynasty of Lord Nyaewzeer WAS the last Hin I faced as a killer...That..that Kitten! Lady JinMae was the daughter of a murderer...why should I care what becomes of her allies ?" Ming had her fire back as the puppet cats danced by her side. "Those dogs will pay for allowing the girl to rule! I won't have it!"
Lao Ming readied her weapons as she set out into the world through a balcony window to her suite. No story was without some 'dramatic departure .' This would be quite tragic for a certain official of Roman blood.
However, in Ming's life, she had never seen this picture . This illusion was by a cerain tome. Yet Lao Ming did not recall her past strongly enough to stop the demon's terrible reign over her mind. She had actually been a servant, forced to fight by her father's orders. The war that Manifesto had planted in the Tenkit child's brain was fictitious by far. Though adding in Jin Mae as an enemy worked all too well for the cursed storybook's plans to unfold.
/
Shoji clambered past the staff that night to search high and low for a secret passage. According to some gossiping brothers, Hecate's doorway was under the church , right where Cici possibly took to visiting the crone to report her findings.
~She's sly, not to mention the kind that doesn't enjoy losing.~ Cecilia Crscendo Daia was a powerful figure beside Sayu, Aluehainyu, Dreamwake, and even Bao Shi Lan. Tsani was still mastering her abilities. It had only been fourty ethereal years in time for the spirit worlders.
"Glad I don't age. Death kept me pretty..but Hecate hates to break code. She's one day going to let Chronos have a piece of her judgement..None' ll be spared.." He bit his lip and wondered when that day would be. When the Teen Titans were dead and buried themselves?
Kaien was lost, his sniffer was weak against...?
"Ow...that...scent!" The cat pounced as his arms caught an unlikly figure around the corner.
"Agh...w..wait?!"
The dog blinked back and thought his eyes had spied a ghost.
"Tsani?" She stood before a brilliant moon as it peaked up over medeival style turrets across the heart of old Rome.
Her hair had not become as long as Tsukiyume's, though her face had become prettier with age and her grace far beyond any deity's throughout time space. "You are well, no..Why are you beyond your home!" He asked in a nervous whisper. "If Bao Shi discovers you mising from the Eternal and Celestial factions...We could be in serious danger!-
~Guardian Veravakumu.~ Tsani's light eyes of sky blue smiled back at the dog with the grace of a lotus's morning bud. ~I have come to open a path with my light and power. Hecate awaits..~ She let her lanturn relic light with the power of Time's own knowing. Tsani was unable to speak yet could use the Ancient speak as a way to communicate. Her starry eyes shut slowly as the air drifted down , dropping the hallway's temperature as her astral presence began to wane.
"Tsani...Malady-
~Go to her, Verra...~ The lady of hope and light pointed as a traverse opened before the cat's two stunned orbs.
~I will, thank you...My, Lady..~
Tsani nodded then bowed a gracious bow before disappearing into the night sky.
Shoji took to the underground passage, as the last person he'd have guessed to have been its keeper had emerged right on time to open the door to Hecate's realm.
"Sigh...I wonder if Solario was so lucky...Tsani is the next candidate to take the role of the departed, Lady Light. She may even don the cap sooner, with her abililies growing like I just witnessed..." Having decided on a path once the road was split, Takahara took to allowing Verra some ground to cover with his unique sniffer.
"Hiff hiff? Oh,righty- o...Ok...I smell...Bats!?" Verra as the dog beside its partner Shoji, jumped by the stink of underworld critters.
"Bats? Are they familiars, Vee? " Takahara asked as he walked behind his current compadre. "No...no...It...they are watchdogs in a sense..eyes in the sky like a mobile alarm system..tread quietly...or-
A stone was kicked by Shoji as he had only to avoid Vee's angry red and yellow eyes.
"Damnit you dog! We have gotta bolt! Down there!" The cat whooshed* by as Shoji clung to his fellow's aura. The thread it had woven was gripped by the con cat as Verra had no trouble picking up the pace. Bats was the start. The ceiling above was a cave- a big one with stalagtytes, (typo I am aware ) Mites, big ol' bites and more mayhem than her hell had to offer! The underworld's late queen certainly loved her privacy enough to dwell down in the catacombs!
The two ran as the bats flew down and up, around and overhead the duo.
"Argh! Quiet was too much to ask? Duck !" The fox hybrid self dove to the side as its fur grazed a set of bat claws in moments. "Owwyyy!" The pup cried as Shoji recalled the fun he'd had when the mutt had been confined to that one guise as good ole' Vee.
(All arcs including first, new beginning. Verra lost his memories (once he was sent to the later time of our heroes in this previous arc.) His task was given to him by Isis once Roku had broken free from The pit of ends . He was unable to change forms until his power had later returned in Rest of us and Shadows and Creatures ' etc ' (along with his full identities as Veravakumu and Takahara Shoji of Takahara Corp.)
"Where ..is the..way to Hecate's throne!? Where? We can't run forever!" Shoji pant* heavily while the two fought to evade the flying rodents. Too bad that these were not fruit bats. Vampire? Yes, most likely.
"Grrr! I am sick of running around chasing my own hide! " Verra growled angrily out to the empty space of the caverns. "HEC! Lady folk! Get yer butt out so we can tango the right way!"
Shoji gasped and drew out his palm to reclaim Vee. He was way too hyper for words. A goddess had been talked to in such a vulgar manner that his ears would have bled venom!
"Hecate, please! Ignore my companion! We request your help! The world is in grave danger!-
"That it may be..." The voice had a mouth indeed, yet it was not Hecate's. Verra growled at the blank arena as his fur stood on end. "Young and pretty, bold? You know that this is the fate of the balance an' all? Come out and we can talk politics. Just you an my partner!"
The chuckle from the other voice was from a woman, one not so close to a certain daughter's age...
"Why run around, not on my watch!" She teased. "Oh, Verra! I am sorry to have deceived your allies...It was my choice to make.."
"Cici, been a few years too many." Shoji grunted as the darkly clad priestess revealed herself at long last. "Likewise, tyrant. Your dog is still with a loud mouth and a hot temper...I wish you had better control over his ranting.." She sighed with a frown, her head shook by the bout going on within, slowly feeling the annoyance building in her dear ally 'the dog of hades' heart.'
Shoji shrugged and tried again to control his disobedient self. No real luck this time either. "My power is weaker since the fight, we are on the lookout for an imposter. "
"Oh? Is he ugly as a Djinn and sworn to secrecy as a hermit under a mound?"
"No trolls are so easy to spot, highness." Takahara smiled by her jest. "No , he is clothed to look like a brother. The pope trusts this fella' who is actually a spy of our current enemy ...Manifesto-
"He is indeed a trickster at heart...though not within Rome I fear."
Shoji frowned and had the urge to scratch his chin. Verra scratched an itch by his ear with a hind leg instead . "You mean he's the faker's fake idenity? See? I caught that before Shoj here could pick up the pieces!" Verra beamed while Cici simply continued explaining the actual reason.
"True, the real Shifter imp is not inside Italian borders any longer. He used the channels to escape. Kaien made it as far as he could here, yet you are together, the last of our allies within the chapel .."
"Then...Kaien is now after ..." The fat cat gasped. "Cathy! She is who he's really going after !"
"Mother has gained too many fans while on Earth." Cici hated to be the center of attention for too long. She had taken to Hecate's teachings in order to center her dark side. So far, no outbursts.
"Catherine is who we look for, but what about the threat on the pope?" Takahara asked the priestess.
"She is no threat without the faction, she's a plain figurehead beside Hecate's p-
Cici cleared her throat to try again. Her words would be useless here covering up more mysterious happenings.
"The reason for Hecate's lasting peace was by the side 'Crescendo, never Daia.' Mother has reclaimed these roles, as I will be forced to bear the widow's mark in the future...Our sect is everlasting as the great void is vast. " She replied.
"I can see why they trust you, not for the with fact that you hold the same energy as the Crone mother." Shoji commented. His counterpart yawned, posing still as an adorable hybridized cat.
"As honest as they see me, I am not so noble as you have been for the Chosen, Takahara." The blonde did not enjoy the guardian male's praise. Too noble indeed as she looked away to move farther from the shadows that had cradled the witch's form.
"As for the Chosen, his allies are in danger. " Shoji said this with the urgency in his voice masked by serious undertones. She was wasting his time, as was he her's.
"The sun girl and her sibling of the fire bird. We of the council are attempting to find the thread that will release his hold over that book." Cici spoke, though Shoji did not believe her words at once. "You can come here again to speak with Lady Hecate, yet be warned . The witch is unwell, her serious affliction was due to the dragon's teacher. The strix has always foreshadowed these events. Even Inanna was not able to stop the demoness once her curse had taken effect..Any deity of the left will be burned by her wisdom...The strix will not relent. That is why I too must suffer "
"Cici...you were cured-
"I was, then it came to me again...the widow and I are destined to die as one entity." The blonde added with her cowl's hood now in place over her distant , green eyes.
"We can find the way to -
"No, Takahara. " The witch rejected his generous proposal, as her one word spoken echoed acros the walls to the under-realm.
"Live and allow those children to continue their tale. You must remain a guardian before you too have no rite to hold that pledge high." She was right, Cici was losing herself to a pact with the wise widow keeper. A spirit that had once tried to turn the daemon mother Sayumon from her duties. She had been sentenced to that fate by Roku as he had laid seige to the Eternal keep. Rokuro, his on was taken that day. Sayu had never again spoken until the time he had almost had her people up in arms.
Thankfully, (An eternal tomorrow and part one these new years arcs) the war had been stopped short, the valkyrie precession thwarted by the guardians and Titan chosen's quick reaction to the dangers that were bound to erase the earth from existance.
"Those children know not of the mind, how it is fickle, yet moldable by the defeat of one's spirit. "
"Is that what we should be expecting?" Shoji thought the idea grim, depressing even! Hecate had done a true number on the diva for all this time she'd been locked away! That was why Cecila had flocked to Lilith. To gain protection..from the order of Crescendo..
"I won't let you suffer, not even if that is your wish. You have a will, then stop and think about what that is doing! " He was upset, Cici saw that worry over her cloud the pup's judgement. Her eyes turned to a tawny gold as she stared back with her lips pursed into a frown.
"None should direct the other. Let us be off then, you wish to speak directly with Queen Hecate." Jjst to have the dog quithis guilt tripping. It was enough to travel through portals noon and night!
"I want you to hear what I am going to say to your, teacher." He paused at the last word. That title did not suit the hypocrite that was the crone herself.
"I warn you though." Cici looked to the dog, then had them follow through a passage as it opened inside the wall shehad been standing by. "There will be trials. You do not fully hold her trust. You were away to be tried, yet you left the hearing and did not identify the reason. "
"I'll tell her what she needs to know. As long as Maat is watching." Shoji nodded as Verra padded along.
"No, you stay here." Shoji stopped the aspect in his tracks with a turn back towards the dog creature. "Aww! I am soo truatworthy! Why the fuss?" The aspect Verra snorted and kicked his leg up in protest. "I ama part of you of our darkness! Why am I never invited to the fun events, hah?"
"Hecate is ...She would tame you." Shoji muttered something more as the cat self pricked up its ears in surprise. "Deity..are scary folk, you know that?"
"That is why you can't come. Wait for me here and don't go anywhere." Shoji commanded. "We have to make it out of here alive, got it?"
The self lowered its tall ears and groaned.."Garwsh...you have all the fun, Vee-
"That is you, not my respected form. "
"Just sayin' yeah..I won't go no place!" The cat shrugged, then laid down like a good doggie for his contracted partner. His perfect pose was as if he would wait until hell froze over for his master's return. What a dedicated way to show how much you'd kick a person later for abandonment!
"Good, then I won't be dead and gone yet." Shoji smirked before turning back to Cici. She had an amused look on her face. The cat's relationship with his aspect was very amusing. Her widow mother companion was not so much to even bat an eye if she ever chose to joke around like the fox did.
"Then are we ready to traverse-
"Oh, right...Underworld business." The con man cat rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Had almost forgotten that it's a long way down. "
"Like I said." Cici sighed and used her powers to weave a portal into existance. "The void is vast. Here is not an exception to any god, nor creature of the nether regions. Now, follow. We haven't time to stand around . I was only hoping you'd have told me sooner."
Shoji gaped by how Cecilia had been judging the older male's every move- what a brat!
"Right behind you, malady Daia."
"I prefer you not call me by any name that could upset the balance. Cici to you, will do just fine."
The ..so saying or speaking the name Daia was taboo here? As far as its meaning, saying Crescendo was allowed. The day, was however forbidden from this dark realm. Light was no enemy, yet it left the balance, the perfect embodiment of darkness to squirm. Worms, bats, moles, who knew what lurked beneath the floor of her tomb!?
Dogs were borderline as wolves could only just pass as allies. Yet cats? They must have been pretty unlucky for Hecate to have seen these creatures as dual aspects of her power.
~Stay safe, Verra.~ Shoji hoped that time would not wind forwards by his venture into the next realm. He had to win the goddess over, once and for all.
Before the true evil emerged (and never in his time,) would that evil have the mind or thought to release his captives?
The sun, the fire bird's child of Amaterasu's teachings...this was the endgame to come. Shoji took a step into total darkness as he could have sworn a voice had left his brow coated with sweat, his skin shivered by a presence unlike any he had felt in eons.
~Welcome boy, to the end of time...~
The cat's skin pricked by the touch of something, yet nothing was there. Shoji was sweating now, more than just by his brow. He had no choice. With a sigh, the dog slowly closed his eyes. The words returned and with that second sight he saw it. The creature which had this web so interwoven, one could lose their sanity for good if they overstayed their wel...come...
With an eight legged reminder of its power, the almost deva- being spoke with its breath thick and sultry against the world around Takahara. He was afraid, it was a huge..HUGE!-
~And welcome.~ Its fangs dripped a venom that had smoke rising from the darkened earth of this netherealm.
Welcome, to the beginning of this world...This world, in which you shall not ESCAPE..~
/
Occult junk is fun to put into words..addictive even- no wonder our post-human minds of the past and our ancestors told myths that defied reason or reality at all! An imaginitive artform if given life to expand ones' horizons- as an artist! Just a fan girl's thoughts but poetic, no?
Anywho! Next is Shoji's meeting with the keeper of nightmares and alternate ends and beginnings- Aggie is going to battle sing out her lungs against two fox guardians!
Where are Amy and Anna now? What is up with Marcus conking out in the middle of his master plan? All to come next in chapter eleven ! Manifesto pages! Stay curious and read on for the exciting conclusion!