"First, you must learn how to control the current of magic in your bodies." Daiyu was holding a shiny black stone and she drew her arm upwards, extending it towards the ceiling.
"Manage to awaken your power or you will die," She stated as another one of the women against the back wall stepped forward, holding a basket. She went towards the cluster of girls in the middle, stopping in front of each of them one at a time, holding the basket up.

Tripitaka watched other girls pull glossy black stones out, like the one that the head priestess was brandishing. When the woman with the basket finally got to her and offered the jet stone, Tripitaka took one. The threat of death lingered in the air but everything just felt so... Fuzzy.
"Ready? Begin." The woman said as she laid a slip of paper on her rock and held it. It flashed a fierce misty green and then...

There was only darkness. Tripitaka tried to glimpse around, but couldn't see anything. She took a step towards where another girl had been. She didn't feel her there now. Tripitaka bit her lip, but it was only a moment later that the darkness began to fade.

"Tripitaka, what are you doing?" Sandy questioned her from the rock she sat on. Sounds of water trickling through a stream and birds chirping sweet songs confused her. Everything was hazy, bits of green and blue coming at her from either side like a kaleidoscope of colors.

"Sandy? What happened? How did I get away?" She wondered, everything just felt... Strange?
"What on earth are you talking about, Tripitaka?" Sandy's voice seemed to echo, but Tripitaka felt it kind of hard to focus on that. The white-haired god stood up from where she sat as she started towards the human.

"No, I,"—Tripitaka shook her head,—"they took me, don't you remember?" Sandy frowned at her.
"No, the demons took Pigsy and killed Monkey, don't you remember?" Sandy asked. Tripitaka brought a hand to her mouth, unable to hold back a shocked gasp. She didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it.

"Wait... What? Not Monkey. He can't be, I mean, he always wins." Tripitaka didn't understand. It wasn't possible. Not even a chance.
"Who... Who?" Tripitaka muttered, having a hard time keeping herself together. Sandy gazed at her, almost emptily as she pointed behind Tripitaka.

"He did," Sandy said and Tripitaka turned so quickly it could have given her whiplash. Flashes of blues and greens glinted past her, fading from purple and yellow to reds and oranges. Before her eyes, he stood, blonde hair and gray eyes that gleamed as hot as a blazing fire. Yet at the same time, his expression was as cold as a dark winter's night.

"No, he's on our side," Tripitaka muttered, unbelieving.
"It was a trick Tripitaka," Sandy claimed, her voice echoing so many times that it hurt Tripitaka's head. Tripitaka brought her heads over her ears and doubled over slightly from the pain of the noise.

"No." Her voice was quiet as she eyed the Font Demon who gazed at her like a hunter that inspected its target. A smirk came across his face as he held his hands to either side and summoned his blades.
"I killed him Tripitaka, and now I shall send you to join him." He declared, his voice calm and steady, no emotion to it whatsoever. Tripitaka took a step back and turned to look back at Sandy, but she wasn't there. The colors seemed to whirl across her eyes as she did, making her head swim.

"Sandy!?" Tripitaka called, but no one answered back and her own voice boomed so loudly that it made her scalp tingle with anguish.
"Die mortal." The Font Demon was quick to come forward, raising his blades at her. He swat one blade at her, but when the blade grew close and she tried to move out of the way, her body was a tangle of limbs. She lost her balance and fell. Either way, she missed his blow.

His eyes pierced her again as he thrust one blade down followed by the other. Tripitaka rolled several times as quickly as she could manage before she scrambled up and turned to face him.
"Please, stop this!" She yelled, but he rushed at her again. Tripitaka barely had any time, she tried to dodge, twisting to the right, but instead, she felt his blade bite into her side. It sliced past the cloth of her monk garb straight into soft, sensitive skin.

She howled in pain and turned her eyes to him, tears stinging them.

"How could you?" She questioned as she grabbed at his wrist to remove the blade from her skin, her other hand going to the blade that remained stuck in her, attempting to somehow press against the wound to ease it. As she did, she felt something inside of her.

It was a wave of anger she had never felt before. She felt a cold darkness stir into a fire that ignited her from the inside. She glared at the demon and then—energy coursed from the center of her chest, through her arms, and out of her hand. He became dust. She stared at the raining ash, a frown on her face as she dropped to her knees and cradled her head.

She began rocking back and forth, one hand pressing to the cut on her side. His cold eyes on her, eyes with hatred cutting into her with the fury of a tiger pouncing on its prey burned in the back of her mind. She didn't like this, she didn't want this. Why would he kill Monkey? Why!?

"Very good." The voice seemed to thunder out over the now darkened sky and Tripitaka gazed upwards, looking around. She watched as the light began to dim and just like that, she was surrounded once again by total darkness. Shadow swallowed her, her surroundings becoming the hue of ink.

When everything came back into view, she noticed she was back in the room with the other girls and the high priestess and her followers. Tripitaka sat up quickly, her eyes wildly glancing around. She hadn't even realized she was laying on the floor. Everything seemed strange and she couldn't make sense of it.

"You may join your sisters for dinner." The high priestess—Daiyu, stated as she held an arm out towards another door. Her voice almost seemed half-spoken, half-whispered in her head. Tripitaka searched the woman with her eyes, tears still caught in her own.

She tried to think of something she could say or do. She thought of nothing and when she realized she could not quickly think of any objecting action to take, she finally stood up. At the amount of time Tripitaka took to follow the command, the woman's gaze on her intensified. Tripitaka shuffled into the next room awkwardly. Her mind was racing as she wondered about the strange vision she had just had. Or was it a hallucination?

BoS

Pigsy's leg was getting much better. Being a god did have its benefits, it also helped to have the scroll of immortality. Even though it was mostly healed, it still bothered the god. Sandy had poured over the scroll until she found a sort of herb that would help numb the wounds. They had gone in search of the plant and found it soon enough. They wrapped bandages around the god's wounds with the herbs loosely crushed, pressing to his skin underneath. It had already begun to take effect.

It was through a forest they walked now with no specific path laid out before them, but Monkey seemed to know where he was going. He had spotted a village from his cloud and now led them on foot. Thickets of twigs and brush stood in the way, but Monkey whacked at them with his staff in the lead, and the font demon cleaned the path wider with his twin blades.

"How much further, Monkey?" Sandy questioned as she caught up to his side, previously she had been walking with Pigsy. She had turned herself to mist and appeared at his side, pushing away a branch that had almost stuck her face when she appeared.
"I think we're almost there." Monkey stated, keeping up his pace. He was solemn and quiet, not talking much.

"Alright, well, we're gonna need to take a break soon, Pigsy's stomach is sore, I want to check the wound again and let him rest," Sandy said and that made Monkey slow down. The water god felt bad, she sholdn't have made him soar with her so much. She hadn't been thinking of him earlier. Monkey turned his eyes to their companion furthest behind them.

"We'll take a break here and then make it to the village by nightfall." Monkey announced as he began to shoulder off Pigsy's pack. They had decided it best that he not overstrain himself. Monkey and Font took turns carrying the large pack while Sandy had spent most of her time by Pigsy's side, making sure he kept his balance and keeping an eye on him.

"It's fine guys, we can go on," Pigsy said as he heaved in a few breaths with his hand pressing where his stab wound was. Sandy gave Monkey a look, it was obvious that a rest would be required.
"Nonsense, Sandy, his bedroll. I'll make a fire." Font stated as he nodded at her before going further into the woods, stepping over rough thicket, starting to collect pieces of wood. Monkey gave the demon a look, shocked at his initiative.

"Yes, a rest would be good." Monkey put his hands on his hips as he proclaimed it. He nodded to Sandy.
"His bedroll then, Sandy." He held his arms out.
Sandy pulled Pigsy's bedroll from his pack that was now set on the ground.

"I got it Monkey." She said as she turned away from him. Monkey stood there, his arms still held out before he dropped them to his sides.
"Well... Food then, I'll get some food." Monkey stated as he now dug through the pack, pulling out the kettle and a large pot and he started towards them.

Sandy spread the bedroll out over a spot that had old dried leaves and bits of dying grass, smoothing it out until there were little to no wrinkles in it. Monkey set the cookware down on the ground beside it before he went back and took out provisions and brought those over as well.

"Here Pigsy, sit, I'll get some water," Sandy said as she now grabbed the water skins and headed in the direction that she sensed water in, using her scythe to chop away at any brush that was in her way. Pigsy wore a big frown as he took a seat, grumbling as he did so.

"I hate this, you guys don't have to give me special treatment," Pigsy muttered, but Monkey went to his

side and sat down.
"You know you should take a break." Monkey said, but Pigsy shook his head.
"We need to find Tripitaka. When we get to the village, you guys should just go." He muttered, but now it was Monkeys turn to frown.

"Is that what Tripitaka would want? You're almost done healing." Monkey asked before making his statement. Pigsy let out a sigh.
"Monkey, what if something happens to her? We don't have time." Pigsy said. It was now that Font returned with a bundle of wood in his arms and he dropped it to the ground, stealing the attention of the two gods. The demon held up his hands. With a quick movement, the logs lit up, flame sparking to life in no time.

"There we are, should warm us all up." Font said as he went to Pigsy's pack.
"Tea?" The demon questioned as he pulled out a small tin box with tea leaves.

"Yes please." Monkey was quick to say, liking the sound of some warm tea. All this talk of something happening to Tripitaka... He would never forgive himself. However, if something happened to Pigsy? No, that wouldn't do either. He had to find a way to save all of his friends, he had to protect them all. Pigsy let out another sigh.

"Yeah, I guess." He muttered. Font began putting leaves in the kettle before awaiting Sandy to return with the water.
"Don't worry Pigsy, Tripitaka is smart, she'll be okay until we get there." Monkey tried to reassure. Pigsy didn't say anything, but the demon stared at the god as he said it.

"We will find her." The demon also stated which made both gods look at him.
"As long as I know I am under her control, I know she is alive. They have not killed her yet, so I doubt they intend to kill her at all." Font added. Monkey gave a small smile with a nod.

"Then we know she is alive and as long as she is alive then we can rescue her." Monkey stated. Pigsy frowned. He supposed the others tried to stay positive for the sake of hope, but he knew that there were things worse than death. Much worse.

BoS

At least two days had passed if when they were sent to bed was anything to go by. Tripitaka supposed it was sometime in the morning or early at night when they sat in the dungeon-like room. Eight other girls were seated criss-cross in a circle with her, the priestess Daiyu in the middle of them.

"Take mind girls, should your combination of words be slightly wrong, you can have terrible results. Use words that are far too powerful, it can kill you." The priestess chattered on. She had been working to teach them the god language and what words couldn't be put together and which ones were already being used now by the women of the order.

Tripitaka sighed. There was something she couldn't remember and it was really bothering her. No matter how hard she tried to remember, she just couldn't make her thoughts work on the matter.
"Tripitaka, are you paying attention!?" Daiyu snapped at her. Tripitaka frowned at her.

"Not really." She stated. Lately, she spoke her mind, even when she wanted to lie. That was another issue in and of itself. She hated being here. She didn't even remember how she got here. She almost felt like her will was being bent, like she wasn't in control of herself. Daiyu narrowed her eyes and raised a hand as if to hit Tripitaka.

"You must have a good reason then, hm?" Daiyu muttered with venomous eyes at her, waiting for her answer before she would strike. Tripitaka flinched where she sat.
"I already know all of this. It's boring." Tripitaka stated. She already knew the God-language when the other girls didn't, that is what seemed to discern her. The high priestess lowered her hand as she looked Tripitaka over again.

"Sister, take Tripitaka, she is ready if she thinks she already knows everything." Daiyu called for one of the priestesses who stood by to come forward. The other priestess grabbed Tripitaka by the arm and hauled her up.

"Ready for what?" Tripitaka wondered. The way Daiyu said it, it didn't sound good. The high priestess smirked as she eyed Tripitaka up and down.
"Initiation of course. Take her." With a wave of her hand, Tripitaka was pulled out of the room, forced to go down a long corridor until the priestess that took her stood in front of a door and pushed it open. In the middle was a cage and there were several doors at each end of the room.

"Give me your hand." The priestess said as she took Tripitaka's hand and pulled out a knife. Tripitaka tried to pull away, the sight of the knife making her uneasy.
"Let me go!" Tripitaka yelled, but the priestess grew angry and banged the blunt end of the knife against Tripitaka's head. Tripitaka brought her hand to her head to hold the now-forming bump, but the pain was nothing like she would soon feel.

The priestess dug the blade into her other hand, carving a symbol before admiring her work and then shoving Tripitaka to the ground.
"Enter the cage initiate, or stay seared here until you starve to death. It matters not to me." The priestess muttered with a glare. Tripitaka snatched her hand to herself as she looked at the symbol on her hand. Death, wilt, and destroy were written over each other, and Tripitaka's heart sped up. Were they trying to kill her?

"Wait! Please!" Tripitaka began, but she went ignored. The door slammed shut and Tripitaka was quick to her feet. She tried the knobs of it to no avail.
"Please... I don't want to die!" She yelled, but all that came was silence. She turned her back to the door and slid down to her bum.

Tears left her eyes. Everything felt so impossible. She didn't belong here, that much she knew. The women here were cruel and the other girls... They too had been scared and seemed to be missing chunks of their memories.

Eventually, her sobbing lessened and after many long moments had passed, she found she was still alive. Slowly she stood up and blinked at the cage. What would happen if she went in? How could she know? What if the spell activated in there. At the same time, if she didn't... She didn't want to be stuck in here forever.

She decided to try some of the other doors but found she couldn't get them open either. She tried the main door once again, shaking the knobs as she tried to force it open. When none of that worked she heaved in a deep breath and looked once again to the cage.
"I guess I have no choice." She muttered as she tiptoed towards it, feeling uneasy.