Chapter 13 – The Driftwood Cathedral Part 2

I own nothing except my OCs

Could someone draw up some fanart for this fic? I appreciate it if you would!

The theme that should be played for this chapter, and any scene with the Tree or the Cathedral from here on out, will be "Hunter's Dream" – Bloodborne. Play it on loop if you must.

Read and review! Constructive criticism is welcome!

" " – human speech/writing

' ' – human thought

' ' – demon thought

" " – demon speech

-Obscuro-

It was quiet.

Despite the unusual and entrancing landscape, there was not a sound to be heard. Not the rustling of leaves, nor the blowing of wind reverberated through the air. The large tree's branches and leave remained still, as they have always been. The white clouds kept rolling around it, thick and large as thunderclouds. Yet no drop of rain or sound of thunder was seen or heard, as though an artist has painted the whole scene onto reality itself, leaving it unchanging and eternal, untouched by time.

All was quiet, except the sound of pages turning. Every minute, a page could be heard turning over, echoing throughout the hill.

The white being floated near the base of the tree, its papery wings rippling silently as though an invisible wind struck them. It did little but merely gaze at its book as the pages turned. They were sometimes blank, sometimes filled with words, other times inscribed with simple drawings; each page its own story. What was interesting though, was the fact that even though it Knew, no story ever seemed to wear itself out, no piece of knowledge seemed repetitive or dull. Everything it knew was as old as time and fresh and entrancing as a snowflake up-close; nothing was exactly the same. Patterns may repeat themselves, yet in those patterns there was always something new, something different from before.

What an unusual and confounding paradox.

A page turned, revealing a drawing of a familiar sight, one that has appeared recently, a pattern starting anew. As the white being gazed at the page, seemingly infinite thoughts flowing through its mind, a flowing, clear voice rang out from its right.

"This is truly like you, isn't it?"

It turned to the direction of the voice, knowing fully well who its source was. Floating cross-legged below one of the large branches of the tree was a being with blue skin and four arms. Two of its arms, human in appearance, rested on its knees in a meditative position, with the tips of the thumbs touching their respective hand's index finger. A black cloth with white, marble-like linings draped over its legs and lower chest. An inversely-colored cloth – white with black marble linings – was draped over its shoulders and fell to its crossed feet. Its head and face were a blank grey – no features appeared on it, just like the rest of its kind. Its other two arms were of a darker blue and appeared as though made up of twisting metallic coils. One arm rested lazily across its chest while the other held aloft a large brazier that held a raging blue flame. The flame danced upwards in the brazier, sometimes licking the branch above yet never burning it.

The two featureless faces gazed at each other for a few minutes before the white being returned to its book. "What if it is?"

"Your nature is unavoidable, that is absolute. You are one of the farthest from Creation, yet you are drawn to it more than any of us. You do not need their knowledge – that is what you are. Nevertheless, you are drawn to them, you peer and study their thoughts as though it was the most valuable treasure in existence." There was an unspoken question in that statement, but it was not asked because the answer was already known.

The white being raised a finger and pointed up to a branch. "One can observe a tree and be continually entranced by the dancing of its leaves, even though he knows that they will fall. One can gaze at a mountain and be eternally fascinated by the shadows that it forms on the earth as the sun travels through the sky, even though he knows that their patterns will never change. I know the causes, the desires, the wants and needs for their thoughts and actions. Yet each time, there is always a deeper reason, a different cause, a changing level of need for said actions. They have a flow, a changing rhythm that I - for all my knowledge – lack. That is the most entrancing and confounding thing about them."

"You are…content…every time they learn from every action, every experience they undertake. For all their fleeting and fragile selves, their polar acts, they embody what has been Bestowed upon them." There was no accusation or question in its tone; there was no need for it.

"Indeed."

Silence reigned over the hill for some time, the two beings floating in their respective positions, neither of them so much as twitching. Eventually, the blue being floated downwards and lowered its brazier.

"We have felt a ripple, a changing in the winds that has not been felt for ages. The others have listened to it, felt it, yet they cannot find its source. Some of them might already know why or what, yet the others are growing cautious; as though the door has been opened by an unknown key, or something has slipped in through a crack in the window. All of them, knowing or not, do not know what to make of this." The blue flames settled in the brazier, shapes forming in the mystifying light.

"As a whole, they do not believe it is disconcerting, yet they are growing intrigued. A few have noticed your wandering thoughts and are curious to know what is it that causes you to waver from your post."

"I have not wavered from my duty. I have felt this ripple too; my curiosity is piqued by it. I know what caused it, and I might be partially to blame. It does not need to worry them" the white being said with a mere sliver of decisiveness in its tone.

The blue being merely floated in its place, the flames changing into a new shape, one familiar to the white being. "Do you think it shall turn out like last time? How do you believe it will turn out?"

"That is the beauty of it; I know that events will flow as they have done before, yet the outcome is hidden from my sight. It is the one fragment of knowledge that I have failed to reach; all I am doing is waiting for the outcome to be known to me." Another moment of silence passed between the two beings, one not tinged with suspicion or accusation, but one filled with confirmation and undeniability.

The blue-skinned being raised the brazier high above its head. The blue flames started to erupt wildly from it as said being's form shimmered and started evaporating into the brazier. Already half of its body disappeared when the book-holding being asked, "The others…they do not wish to confront me about this?"

"No. They are merely curious or intrigued; they will not come with any demands or accusations. Every word I have spoken describes the situation perfectly. Besides, I would not be able to hide such things from you. After all…" the being said as it faded away into the air, leaving a blue wisp in its place. Its final words echoed throughout the hill and reverberated, like a tolling bell.

"…all I know is Truth."

-Obscuro-

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Naruto awoke to the sound of dripping water. His eyes were welcomed to the view of a dark, stone corridor. The floor was covered in water and dimly-lit torches adorned the walls.

"What…what's going on? Where am I?" he asked as he rubbed his head. "I remember that we were in that cathedral…then I touched the altar…but…"

He was broken from his thoughts when he felt a breeze coming from up ahead. He tried to see further into the corridor, but despite the torches, it was too dark to see. Deciding to look for an exit, the young blond headed down the corridor. As he kept walking, he noticed strange markings were starting to appear on the walls. They were mostly faded, as though they were drawn by the tip of a brush, even smeared, yet Naruto recognized one of the scribbles.

It looked suspiciously like a ritual circle.

He tried to see what it was, but the mark was too faded. After a minute of trying, he scowled and moved on.

Soon enough, he entered a large stone chamber, with numerous inscriptions lining the walls. In front of him was a massive barred gate with a piece of paper with the kanji for "seal" slapped on the center. The most unnerving thing however, was the massive presence that he felt emanating from the gate.

He took a few steps closer to try and see what was in the gate, but when he did, a rumbling sound echoed throughout the chamber. He stopped in his tracks and looked around to try and see what was happening. When his gaze returned to the gate, he saw a massive form shift and approach him. When the rumbling stopped, Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

Sitting in front of him was an enormous red fox with silted red eyes and massive, razor-sharp teeth bared in a growl. Behind it, nine tails lay on the floor. Naruto didn't need to think for more than a second to realize who this creature was. "Kyuubi."

"Of course. At last we meet, human," the fox replied.

Naruto tilted his head as he kept looking at the demon. "If you are here, then this place…is the seal?"

The demon nodded. "How did I end up here?"

"A few minutes ago, I felt the connection between us clear up, enough so that I could pull you down here. I must say, you do not look impressive."

Naruto inwardly bristled at the comment, although he knew it to be somewhat true. "Why am I here?"

"I have grown curious about you. This seal allows me to access all of your memories and thoughts and I must say…you are an interesting vessel. You were one even before the living ink-stain came into your life."

Naruto's eye widened a fraction as he realized about who Kyuubi was talking about. 'Ink-stain though?' he thought. 'I should remember that.' He raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean by 'interesting?'"

'Also, why do demons use that word a lot?'

"You do not resent me for ruining whatever life you could have had. You accept the company of another demon as if though it was your own kin," the Kyuubi drawled. "Even before your meeting, you were always intent on gathering knowledge, always trying to find a way to evade your pursuers."

The fox shifted in its place before continuing to speak. "The other reason that I called you here is in regards to your…newfound activities with the ink-stain."

"You mean rituals? What about them?"

"My previous containers were…rather rude and only demanded my chakra for battle. As the ink-stain has taught you, your little rituals run on life-force. Now I will admit to having practically no knowledge about such arts, but I do know the mechanisms behind life-force, albeit to a limited extent. What he maybe didn't tell you is that demons or chakra beasts like me do not have what could be called a proper life-force. In my case, I am mostly made of pure chakra."

Naruto understood where the beast was going with this. "You don't want me to use your chakra when performing rituals. Why?"

"As I have said, I have grown tired of people demanding my chakra. So, I wish to make a deal with you: You will not barge in here demanding my chakra and in return, I won't try to control your body."

Naruto was a bit startled at the simplicity and somewhat unrelated nature of the request. Seeing the question in the child's eyes, the Kyuubi said:

"I am not just doing this out of a personal want, I am doing this a preventive. From what I have learnt from your memories, rituals have a very specific method of working, and it all starts with your life-force. Should you draw on my chakra when performing a ritual, the results could be catastrophic."

The young Uzumaki mentally reviewed that fact and agreed. Obscuro had drilled into his head that rituals had to be performed to the letter (or symbol). But a question still nagged at his mind.

"Why are you telling me all of this? If I would die, then you be free right?"

"When it comes to your little rituals, there is too much uncertainty in regards to my survival. Like I said before, I find you interesting. You are perhaps the only container who is going down a path that I cannot guess or predict its end. I wish to see what you will become, that is all. The learning experience helps too."

Naruto mulled over the reason given to him and decided that while it was unusual, it didn't seem very suspicious. He would still keep an eye out for any trouble from the fox.

'To be honest, I'm actually rather excited about this,' Naruto thought. 'A being who's lived for that long must have learnt a lot of things in its life. Imagine the things I could learn from it. Is it even an 'it'? What was it like before the villages were established?'

He was broken from his inner thoughts (again) when he heard a small yet deep chuckling coming from the fox. Naruto guessed that he must've had an excited expression on his face when thinking about those question and blushed.

"S-sorry," he stammered. "It's just that...could I come here in the future to ask you more questions?"

"Ha-ha!" Kyuubi barked. "Ever the knowledge seeker, are you? Yes, as long you don't disturb me often, you can come here to ask me about my supreme knowledge. Now however, I suggest that you leave. Your companion is getting worried."

Naruto then remembered that to Ajisai and Obscuro, he fainted after he touched the altar. He tried and failed to find an exit in the room when Kyuubi said, "Do not panic. Just close your eyes and focus on the real world; that should wake you up."

Naruto calmed down and did as the Kyuubi instructed him. He closed his eyes and focused on mental images of Ajisai, the Forest House and other things from back home. He felt his consciousness fade again and soon saw darkness.

Back in the seal, it appeared to the Kyuubi as though Naruto's form had rippled and vanished from sight. The tailed beast closed his eyes and pondered on the deal it just made.

"What an interesting vessel," it said. "Unusual and unpredictable maybe, but still rather interesting. If what I have seen is true, it is most likely that ink-stain will come here to visit. I wonder how that will turn out..."

-Obscuro-

A few minutes earlier...

"Naruto! Naruto!" Ajisai yelled at the blond in her hands as she shook him to try and wake him up, but to no avail. She turned to Obscuro with a panicked expression. "What happened to him!?"

She was about to try and wake the blond up again when she felt a pebble flick her forehead. She calmed down a bit and turned to Obscuro, though the girl still held Naruto in her arms.

"Remain calm. Panicking will do you no good; I have taught both of you better than that," Obscuro wrote on his board (which had of course, appeared from nowhere).

Ajisai took a deep breath and let her mind focus again. She kept looking at the shadow-demon and asked, in a much calmer tone this time, "What happened to Naruto? In fact, what happened to you? You were in human form before we landed but then you just…melted back into your demon form."

"As a collective answer to both of your questions, I am not completely sure yet what exactly happened. However, when our boat left the fog, I felt this unusual energy in the air. This feeling only intensified when we disembarked the boat and stepped foot on the beach. At this point, it was as though something…weakened my hold on my human form and forced me to revert back to this state. Not that I'm complaining; human form is such an annoyance to deal with," wrote Obscuro.

Ignoring the verbal jab at humans, Ajisai kept asking. "You think that whatever this…energy…is, it made Naruto collapse? What did it feel like and why am I not affected?"

"In order: Yes, I believe that it made Naruto faint by weakening the seal that is holding his prisoner." Ajisai nodded. She knew of Naruto's status as a jinchuuriki from the day that she decided to stay with him, but out of politeness she had never breached the topic.

"It isn't loosening," Obscuro wrote. "Rather, from what I am sensing from the seal, it seems as though our blond ignoramus was invited to a chat with the demon fox. He should be fine in a few minutes. To answer your second question, I cannot properly describe this feeling, since I am not good with such things due to my nature and the elusiveness of the feeling itself. The closest thing I can relate it to is a sort of…commanding presence, one that seems to unravel any sort of lies that it feels. In my case, my shadow form and in Naruto's case his seal. As to how were you not affected, that is simple: unlike me and Naruto, you do not have any sort of demonic or hidden manifestation, hence why you felt nothing."

Ajisai took a moment to digest that information and looked down at Naruto's sleeping face, which was cradled in her hand. He didn't exhibit any signs of discomfort, so he must be OK. Rather, his sleeping expression was rather calm, the opposite of what she had seen during the first night of the voyage, which was an expression of fright and anxiety. She didn't like seeing that expression on his face, after all that he been through and done for her.

She was awoken from her musings when she heard Obscuro writing again. She looked back up and saw the new message: "How far are you willing to go for the boy?"

A bit confused at the question, she asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, what is he to you? What will you be willing to do for his sake?"

Ajisai thought for a moment, mulling the question over in her head, before replying. "He is the first person, ever since my parents died, to show me some form of affection. He saved my sanity, and possibly my life when most people would just look away or back down. Both of us have a lot of things in common, but we have different views as well which makes him all the more fascinating to be around. He's the best friend I ever had, which is just a plus for him since I have only known him for several months." She looked down at the young Uzumaki with a soft look in her eyes, but then looked back up and asked in a slightly demanding tone:

"Why are you asking 'what will you be willing to do for his sake?'"

Obscuro's shadowy claws kept clutching the piece of chalk for a few good seconds. Then, he put the chalk to the board and wrote, but he seemed to write with a hint of carefulness in his movements.

"Naruto has set on a path that will pit him against many foes, some due to his condition, and others due to what he will do in the future. But the enemy that he will struggle most against is himself. The doors he has opened have been opened before, and they have dragged many men into the abyss of forbidden knowledge, leading them to insanity and other such conditions. My proper question to you is:

Will you stand beside Naruto to the very end, even if he will do something that would be considered unforgivable by most?"

Ajisai was stupefied by the question she was presented with. The purple-haired girl tried to formulate an answer in her mind, but she just couldn't. A big part of her still felt extremely indebted to Naruto for saving her and taking her in, so abandoning him seemed out of the question. Who else would she even go to? On the other hand, Obscuro had taught both her and Naruto to think for themselves and not blindly follow instructions; always question and weigh the consequences of what you are about to do.

'Could do it? Could I really abandon Naruto in favor of my own morals? Even though I have no one else? Even though what he might do would be wrong?'

She sat there, cradling the unconscious blond as she kept thinking long hard. Obscuro just stood(?) there, silently observing her. The dark hall of the cathedral loomed in the background, seemingly getting bigger in her eyes, as though the halls responded to the enormity of the question that she had to answer. After a short while, she lifted her gaze to the shadow-demon.

"I..."

But whatever she might have had to say was cut short by the sound of Naruto groaning and stirring from his sleep. She quickly dropped her conversation and looked down at the boy with a worried expression.

"Ugh...what's going on?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes and sat up. Ajisai let out a relieved breath.

"You touched the altar and fainted. Obscuro said not to worry though. Are you hurt?" She asked, looking him over.

"N-no I'm fine. It's just that I... had a strange chat with my prisoner," replied Naruto.

"Oh, just like he said." At hearing that, Naruto turned to look at Obscuro, who just wrote: "I had my suspicions. What exactly happened there?"

Naruto then relayed to his companions his experience waking up in the cell and his chat with the Kyuubi. The two listened with rapt attention, Obscuro more than Ajisai surprisingly.

In turn, Obscuro submitted his thoughts about his forced reversion and Naruto's fainting, though (thankfully to Ajisai) he kept his talk with her a secret. After the exchange of information, Naruto looked around the main hall with a questioning glance. "So...what now?"

"Now," Obscuro wrote, "we do a little exploration of this place. We have no knowledge as to what it exactly is beyond its basic architecture, so 'knowing the terrain' so to speak, will help us in this venture."

He pointed a claw to the left side of the hall where a large door was placed. "Naruto, you will go through that door and Ajisai will go through the right door. That way we can cover ground faster. I suspect that these two paths will meet up, so don't worry about being separated for too long."

Naruto just sighed, got up and went to the door. He turned around to see that Ajisai had already went to the other door and had turned around too. Their gazes met and they nodded before each opening their respective door. Taking a breath, Naruto stepped in.

There really wasn't anything interesting at first glance. He had entered another, smaller hallway that turned a sharp right and went on for a good distance. As he headed down the hallway though he noticed, that in culverts that were carved along the walls, were statues of uniform size. Those statues were very similar to the ones in the main hallway, albeit smaller. What was interesting about those statues were what they depicted: The all had some human features, like hands or feet, but they also possessed some unusual attributes, especially regarding their heads, for example; one had a crow's head and another had a cloth around its head. Some of their faces even had no features at all.

But the most disconcerting detail that the blond had made out as he kept walking down the corridor was this: They had a faint resemblance to the white being he had seen in his visions.

The corridor took another sharp right and the young Uzumaki found himself in a section that had, just as Obscuro had predicted, another corridor leading to it, which was most likely the one Ajisai took. True enough, he heard footsteps and Ajisai came out with a puzzled expression, looking at the ceiling.

She met his gaze and nodded, prompting Naruto to look around a bit more. To his left was a small walkway that must've led to a back section of the cathedral, seeing as at the end the path forked. To his right however, was a smaller door placed on a pillar-like bulge on the wall.

Obscuro then appeared (still in full shadow-demon form) from behind Ajisai and surveyed the section with his glowing red eyes. When his gaze landed on the small door, he flicked a claw in a snapping motion and it opened. Peering inside, Naruto was greeted to the sight of a staircase that went both up and down.

Ajisai walked over and peeked in too, her gaze going up and down the stairs. "Let's try heading up. I think it leads to the towers we saw on the beach." Naruto simply motioned her forward, and she ascended the staircase with the two following her.

The stairs didn't creak, as they were carved from stone, but they were rather large so it took a big step to climb them. They soon reached the top of the stairs where another door greeted them. Thankfully, Obscuro pushed it open.

Unfortunately for Ajisai, they hadn't entered the towers like she thought. Instead, they entered a small room dominated by a large device, with massive pipes at the back and four keyboards at its front. A table and a chair, along with several other open pipes decorated the room with a small window at the cieling. Naruto entered the room and approached the device, his hand slightly raised to touch the keyboard. He stopped himself though, and turned back to Ajisai's direction, only to see Obscuro write down, "It's fine. This is an instrument used in such places called an organ. It is basically a grand and menacing version of a piano. Go ahead and touch it."

The blond returned his gaze to the now-named organ and gulped. 'Here goes,' he thought. He leaned forward and pressed a few keys with his fingers. Suddenly, a loud bellow came from the pipes, startling Naruto and making him remove his fingers as though he was stung. The sound ended immediately after he did, though the echoes lingered briefly. He shot a nasty glare at the shadow-demon, who had just written: "Fascinating, no? It is my favorite human instrument."

Naruto sighed in exasperation, mentally berating himself for failing to remember Obscuro's tricky nature. "Let's just head to the bottom, alright?" He stepped by Ajisai and descended the staircase.

The trio descended the staircase with no more words spoken. Once they passed the ground level door, Naruto took notice that there wasn't going to be any light this time so he unsealed a matchbox and lit one. He held up the now-lit match and kept climbing down, the small light providing little illumination to the small tower.

They had soon reached another door, this time flanked by two torches (which Naruto lit). He grabbed a torch and made to grab the doorknob, but the door had already opened courtesy of Obscuro. But when he entered through the door, he stopped short and wide-eyed at a sight that, illuminated by the light of the torch he held, that would forever be ingrained in his memory.

Skulls. Piles and piles of skulls were scattered throughout the whole chamber. Bones decorated the supporting pillars and whole skeletons hung from the walls.

Naruto just stood there, dumbfounded by the sight. He then managed to stammer, "W-w-what is this p-p-place?"

Ajisai grabbed his shoulder and shook it, despite being unnerved herself. She had taken the remaining torch and thus now provided more light to the room. Naruto turned to her and calmed slightly at the reassuring look in her eyes.

A shadow passed over them and Naruto raised his torch. Floating beside him was Obscuro, looking over the contents of the room. The shadows cast from the walls and the bodily remains portrayed a very terrifying picture to the children; as though his true nature was revealed in this very room:

A monster. A killer of humans. A being who enjoyed death and despair. Naruto had just realized how would everyone else would perceive Obscuro, and the crazy thing? They would be right.

Naruto took a closer look at the shadow-demon's face. His teeth-filled jaw was curved in such a way that the blond would swear on his library that he was grinning with delight. Obscuro then floated deeper into the chamber, the two children sticking close to him. While he was infinitely scarier now, he provided at least some measure of security, however twisted it may have seemed.

They reached the end of the room where a small, dusty altar stood, decorated with red candles and a skull. A strange star-like pattern was drawn on it, with what seemed to be an eye at the center. Naruto lit up the candles and looked at the wall behind the altar. Hanging from said wall was a cloaked skeleton with a black hood, a false beard on the jawbone and a strange ring that stretched from the sides of its cranium upwards and met above the head. Two skeletal wings, painted black, stretched from its shoulders. A large scythe was held in its hands.

Naruto just looked at the skeleton with fright and a small sense of awe while Ajisai asked, "What is this place?"

Obscuro raised his claw and word began forming out of the dust. Naruto peeked to take a look, only to shiver when he managed to translate the words.

Memento Mori.

Remember Death.

-Obscuro-

Hi! New chapter! Tada!

What do you think the Tree actually is?

In regards to the cathedral, I know that there are official names and terms for everything in it and pipe organs haven't been invented in Roman times, but this is told from Naruto's perspective. He doesn't know any of these terms and I am trying to describe it in the way that he sees things.

As for the organ...my world, deal with it.

Go check out my other stories and challenges!

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