Chapter 14 - Practice Makes Perfect

"A room was created here in the Golden Empire that is nearly identical to the sealing temple you'll be going to, to do the actual sealing. It's in that room that you'll practice the ritual." Nanashi led them out of the red room and started leading them through the Empire once more.

"Can we meet the Dragon's?" Hidan asked abruptly. He'd been meaning to ask that since they got here. When people are young, they're often told stories about Prince's slaying Dragon's. To most, the Prince's were their heroes, but that wasn't the case with Hidan. He much prefered the Dragon's. (He always figured that's why the Dragon's were never killed in the stories his mother told him. They were the ones slaying the Prince's.)

"I'm afraid that's impossible. The three Master Dragon's are currently examining the extent of Lucifer's damage. They bring me reports from time to time, but I doubt they'll be returning before the eclipse." Nanashi replied.

Hidan was clearly disappointed, but said nothing else.

This time when they stopped in front of a door, it was actually two doors. Two pearly white doors, with golden handles. There were words inscribed above the door, but none of them could read it. It was written in some ancient language, either Latin or Greek. They couldn't tell, but this is was it looked like : Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.

"What does that mean?" Tenten asked, pointing to it.

"It's an ancient Latin phrase meaning 'I will either find a way, or make one.'." Satoshi replied. He continued to walk with them, knowing that this is where they would probably need him most. The ritual wasn't very complicated, but they would need to learn to do it with distractions. Satoshi knew Lucifer would try anything to get them to take longer than necessary. The eclipse would be 70 seconds, and the ritual should take 55 seconds. They didn't have time to waste with distractions.

Nanashi pushed open the door, "Come inside." He walked into the room and they followed silently behind.

The room, to put it simply, was entrancing. Black candles lined the walls, all of them lit with dark purple flames. The room was circular, with a high ceiling. It was rocky, as if it were inside a cave. What made the room so beautiful, was the large pentagram painted in the center of the room. The room should have been dark, since the flames from the candles were such a dark colour. But the pentagram was painted white, and it brightened up the whole room. There were ten other candles around the pentagram. Five on the points, and five on the curves between the points.

"Each of you pick up a candle and stand exactly where it was. Stand on the line. Not inside it, not outside it." Satoshi started directing them. Nanashi stayed near the door and watched as the shinobi carried out the order. Satoshi knew more about these type of things, and so he would be the one telling them what to do. Nanashi would remain to make sure nothing bad happened, and to see how well they did.

"What happens if were not exactly on the line?" Deidara asked, picking up the candle, trying not to extinguish it.

"If you're more inside, you'll either be sealed away too, or the sealing won't work. And if you're more outside, the sealing won't work at all." Satoshi replied.

They all made sure to be right where they were supposed to be.

"Now, I'm going to tell you the incantation, and I want you to repeat after me. Lucifer, tu exilium aquam, fugant ignem-"

"What the fuck does that mean?" Hidan interrupted Satoshi.

Satoshi let out a long sigh, "The complete incantation is 'Lucifer, thou art banished from the waters, thou art banished from the flames, thou art banished from the winds, thou art banished by the earth. Thou art banished by the God's and all their creations. Thou shall be no more. Sealed forever more.'" He gave them the english translation.

"Any more interruptions?" Satoshi asked. When he received none, he said the entire incantation, "Lucifer, tu exilium aquam, fugant ignem, spiritum ignem, terrae exilium. Tu exempta Dei et omnes creaturae. Tu non erit. Signatum in saecula saeculorum. That's the incantation. For the ritual, you have to repeat it 5 times. This will take the full 55 seconds. Now repeat after me..." Satoshi said the first line, and they repeated after him.

"What language is this? Why can't we just say it in english?" Temari asked, after being told that she was pronouncing 'creaturae' wrong.

"This is also ancient Latin. Spells don't have the same power when translated into another language. And for this particular ritual, we need to have all the power we can get."

They continued to repeat the incantation. This would be one of the most difficult parts. If they say one word wrong, it would ruin the entire ritual. They had to be perfectly in synchronization. Their accents had to be just right. Their speed had to be at the perfect rhythm. It all had to be perfect. If it wasn't, a dear price would have to be paid. Their lives.

None of them knew how long they spent standing there. They held the candles, long ago having realized this was no ordinary candle. It wasn't melting, and it couldn't go out. (Some of them realizing this after blowing on it.) But they wondered just why they kept repeating the incantation. They felt it was alright. Satoshi had stopped interrupting them quite some time ago.

"What are you expecting to happen?" Sasori asked after a while, tired of saying the incantation. His vocal chords couldn't take the chanting anymore. The others stopped as he said this, all of them wondering the same thing.

"I didn't have you unlock the powers for nothing. You must try to tap into them, and use them. It's with the powers that the sealing ritual is going to work."

"But how do we know when we've tapped into the powers?" Ino asked. The light feeling they had earlier was still lingering, but it felt like the power had disappeared.

"There will be two ways to know. The first, you will feel it, just like earlier. The second way to know that you have successfully tapped into the power, is that the candle you are currently holding will turn white. The same thing will happen during the real sealing. But when that time comes, you will be able to use the power at will, and you should never be holding a black candle." Satoshi explained.

"I know that none of you know this, but the time here is very different than your time. It goes a bit faster than you're accustomed to. The 336 hours that you had when you first arrived here until the eclipse, is now 200. I suggest you try harder." Nanashi added.

"We are trying!" Deidara complained, "But this isn't exactly easy now is it?"

"No, it isn't. But you must succeed. Try to tap into it like you would tap into chakra. The power is there, you just have to find it."

"Now, continue the incantation." Satoshi said, getting them back on track.

And so they started over again. Some of them closed their eyes, hoping it could help. But the difficult thing was trying to find something burried deep within them, while still saying the incantation. Some of them were more adept though. Doing these things was normal. It was really similar to meditating. The first flame to show any colour besides purple was Hinata's. She didn't see it because her eyes were closed, but she could feel it. The power was in full bloom inside of her now, just like before in the red room.

Itachi's flame grew whiter next. Following quickly behind were Tenten and Kisame. Their meditation practice while stuck in the ocean earlier had been helpful once more. Sasori's normal inner peace helped him find it soon after them. Sakura and Ino were right after, both of them being well connected to their hearts, and knowing how to get what they want from it. Temari was next, though she had quite a difficult time in doing so. But Hidan and Deidara were the ones with the most difficulty. Their flames flickered between purple and white.

But they had time. Not a lot of it, but enough. They managed to get their minds in a tranquil enough state to tap into their hearts and find the power there. Their flames weren't as white and bright as the others, but it would suffice.

"Never stop the incantation. I will speak, but never stop." Satoshi said in the middle of the incantation. None of them stopped chanting, but some of their flames flickered. "All of your flames are white, or as white as is acceptable. When the time comes to do the real ritual, Lucifer is going to be there. He will try to distract you. Say things to you. All it'll take is 15 seconds of hesitation. He knows this. He will be unable to hurt you physically, but keep in mind that he will say anything, anything at all, to get to you mentally."

"Always remember, that he doesn't want any good for you. He may promise things to you, but he won't follow through on them. That I can guarantee. He may try to convince you that his world will be better. That he'll bring peace. Do not believe him. Lucifer does not want peace for the worlds. Only destruction and mayhem. He wants people to suffer. He is cruel...But very persuasive." Satoshi continued to speak to them with a low, melodic voice.

"Lucifer will be in the center of the pentagram. When the real ritual comes, I suggest all of you keep your eyes closed. His eyes can see all, and can show you all. His eyes are a great help to his ability to be persuasive. If you look him in the eyes well...It might be the last thing you do. If this ritual fails, he will not hesitate to kill you all."

Satoshi spoke more to them. He kept an eye on their flames. When he first started speaking a couple of the flames were flickering, and most of the others were dim. But now they all shone. He could feel the power. The Master Dragon's powers were as powerful as they always had been, and he was hoping that, that would be enough to seal away the devil once and for all.

His eyes locked onto Nanashi's. The latter mouthed to him the amount of time remaining. Satoshi nodded. They were about as ready as they would ever be, he figured. The eclipse was near, and Satoshi had hope that they just might be able to pull this off.

48 hours.

But they had to pull it off. There wouldn't be a second chance at this.

AN: Oh my gosh...Is she already updating again? What is happening? Yes, I know. I'm updating again in under a week. But I figured it out yesterday, and if I follow through, there should only be three chapters and an epilogue left. This has made me just so excited, I think this is going to be my main focus until it's done! Chapters will be coming out quickly, but not too quickly. The next few chapters will be quite long and will take me some time to write up. But I know where I'm going with this!

I hope this chapter wasn't too vague. I think it's alright. I made the incantation in latin because it was the prettiest one. Seriously. (Done on google translate...) I tried a few different languages, but they were too long, or had too many accents on the letters. Latin was as simple as it got. The random phrase over the door? No real reason for it. Just inspirational!

Thanks to my reviewers and readers!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
-MewMew