Riz:

I'll keep this short, since I don't have much time; it's the end of year 12 for me and in two weeks time I'll be sitting through a three-week long test period that shall decide if I get into uni or if my parents kill me for not getting enough marks. Because of that, I barely had the time to open the computer, let alone go on the net or write. This chapter is suppose to be a lot longer, but I didn't have enough time to write up the whole thing, consider this to be a very very long preview of the chapter. I'm not sure when I'm going to update, but it's definitely after four weeks or so. Sorry...

To:

Sutaro-Shintsuteru: Yea, sorry. For some reason I always spell it the wrong way. And as for Yuki... Well, when I first started to write, I had no intention of making her character. Then my friend somehow nagged (blackmailed, threatened, etc) into me putting her into the story. So Yuki is my friend's character, Roviel's mind. As for the sidey thing... I don't know. In a way Yuki plays a pretty big part to the story; she's the polar opposite of Roviel in all aspects, she's the main plot of the second Act (something that I could not have written the third Act without), and she's the only female OC that you will see in a LONG LONG time that is perfectly human, have no abilities whatsoever, does not have a previous life/angel/goddess soul.

Togurotheman: Hey, good to see you back! It's been a long time, ne? Well, I'm glad that you like how the story's progressed. Keep reading!

Kitsune Chic: ...Are you bloody serious? You actually printed it out? Wow, I never thought that my story was worth enough money to be printed out in ink and paper. I salute you!

Chapter Twenty Two: Beneath Blue Unclouded Sky

He was resting quite happily in the midst of a dreamless slumber when someone, or rather, something woke Hiei up. Opening his eyes, Hiei realized that it was no longer night and that he was in a completely different room to the one he fell unconscious in. The next thing he noticed was the other presence in the room. The fire apparition growled as he saw the figure of a smiling Seritsu standing over him. Bemused, the woman raised a brow at the apparition.

"Well, don't you look happy."

"Shut up woman."

"What a way to thank someone who had saved your life! Now if you don't shut up instead, I'll make sure your vocal chords never work again."

Whether the threat actually worked or the fire apparition just felt like reverting to his usual silent self was unsure even to the author, but the end result was the same; Hiei fell quiet. Minutes passed unspoken as one glared at the other. In the end it was Hiei who broke the heavy atmosphere. Sitting up on the bed, the youkai growled at Seritsu.

"What did you do to me before? I remembered you drew something in the air..."

He copied her gesture, one finger drawing an invisible hourglass.

"And then I fell unconscious. What did you do?"

"Oh, you mean this?"

Leaning back in her chair, the woman drew up the hourglass again. Hiei tensed, the fire apparition's hand automatically reaching for the empty space where his katana had always been. Holding the pattern in the air, Seritsu waved her free hand at Hiei.

"Oh stop it; you look idiotic standing like that. A female such as yourself should not be so foul-mouthed and blunt in your words or actions."

Hiei bit back the strong urge to grab for the woman's throat. The apparition took her advice though; Hiei willed his body to relax and stood normally.

"I am not a female. It's your demented world's fault that I look the way I'm now. And don't try to swerve off-topic; what is that?"

Seritsu gazed at Hiei, an incomprehensible look in her eyes. Her lips moved, the woman seemed to be muttering something to herself. Try as he might, Hiei was unable to understand one sound that was coming out of her mouth. Whatever Seritsu was speaking, it was definitely not Japanese, or as Japanese was known in this world, Palien. Hiei was beginning to wonder if he ought to hit the woman over the head for signs of life when the mumblings suddenly stopped. With a final odd look at the apparition, Seritsu waved her hourglass away and sighed.

"Even now I still don't know whether to believe your absurd story or not. It'll be some time before my friend comes, and I suppose until he's here it's going to be impossible to know if you are lying or not. Since we have the free time, and I'm feeling bored, I suppose there's no harm answering your question. For now, let's just assume that your story is indeed true and you were indeed dropped into this world by accident. If so, then I think I should start with the basics.

I do not know the basic theory of how the energy in your world works, but here everyone's powers are determined the moment they are born. There are twelve different abilities a normal person can be born under. The six abilities of Earth are the following; Investigate, Counter Manipulate, Power, Precision and Ambush.

Investigate is the noun term for the ability Seek. This ability allows the person to find and nullify, or unravel if you like, a possible trap set by the enemy. Counter is the noun for the ability Defense. As the name implies, Defense allows the person to defend, reflect, hinder and generally repel the enemy's physical and Word attacks.

Manipulate is what Word I'm born under. The verb form of the ability is called Heal. As I've already demonstrated before, I'm able to control and manipulate a person's physical and internal workings, such as sending them into sleep or burst the capillaries in their lungs so they suffocate to death. The latter takes much more concentration and time to do than the former, so it doesn't mean I can go around killing anyone I like.

Power, or Attack, as the verb is known, is generally using a mix of endurance and might to overwhelm the enemy. Their attacks mainly consist of direct Word attacks that are used to stun, knock down, constraint and physically damage the target. Those who are born under the First Word Precision are viewed as the most intelligent in strategic warfair, planning and general tactical anaylsis. Their power, Timing, allows the user to find weaknesses in the opponent's attacks and defence. By doing so, the user can find the opponent's weakness and exploit that.

And finally, Ambush. Out of the six abilities of Earth, Ambush or Entrapment, is the most passive one. There's a lot more strategy involved in this ability, where the user sets up Word traps that, under certain conditions, activates. Ok, and the…"

For some time now Hiei had been looking quite agitated, the fire apparition repeatedly tried to interrupt Seritsu's flow of words. As the woman stopped to take a deep breath, the apparition saw his chance.

"You've been saying this for so many times yet never bothered to explain; why does each ability have two terms?"

Having been cut off from her speech, Seritsu narrowed her eyes at her rude audience.

"If you were listening, you would know. One is the title of the ability; the other's the verb form. For example, someone would say that the ability they have is, say, Counter. But they would not say "He Countered against me". Instead, it would be "He Defended against me." Now do you understand?"

In actual fact, the fire apparition was still at somewhat of a loss, but not wanting to look idiotic in front of Seritsu, Hiei simply snorted and turned away. The woman took that as a gesture for her to continue her lecture, which she returned to with much gusto.

"Um… As I was saying, that's all six abilities of Earth. Now for Heaven's six. Their titles are Alter, Create, Veil, Weave, Bind and Trace. Create, or Sagacity, is an ability where one can change the genetic material if a living life-form. There are exceptions, of cause; one can not use the ability on a fellow being, for changing one's genetic information would send their Word alignment into disarray. The ability's mostly used to change a certain characteristics of some life-form, like extending some plant's flowering time.

Create gives form to the ability Alchemy. While Sagacity allows the manipulation of living things, Alchemy gives the power to change inorganic materials on an atomic level. Things such as marble, water, oil, smoke and like; they can all be manipulated. The only things that can not be changed are the most basic of elements, like silver and lead for example.

...Ah yes, Veil."

Seritsu snapped her fingers at Hiei, the fire apparition showing a particularly rude hand gesture in reply. Seritsu raised a brow at the gesture.

"Is that meant to be rude? Oh well, whatever… But as I was saying, I think this one will be of most interest to you, kid, so pay attention.

Veil is the ability that the person we are visiting for is born under. With his ability of Reveal, my friend will be looking into your thoughts and seeing if they contain enough solid information to be truth. He'll also be seeing if anyone's tampered with your mind and all the memories you have are created or not. If all that you remember are indeed fake, we'll see if he can't unlock your true memories. It's a very useful ability, for only Seek and Reveal are able to break an Illusion.

It shouldn't be too hard for you to figure out what this ability does. People born under the First Word Weave are able to create illusions. Not only that, but they are able to tamper with your senses. Sight, smell, touch, sound and taste can all be affected. Those particularly talented can also place an illusion on not only the surroundings and one's senses, but their thoughts and perspective to something. A friend earlier can suddenly seem like a possible back-stabber with some slight nudging of the mind from an Illusion. Of cause, it's impossible to make someone think exactly as you want them too; it only works if the person's weak-willed and the thought contains some degree of doubt or uncertainty.

That brings us to the final two; Bind and Trace. The former allows the person to create or break links or bindings that exists within Space. A person can Mark a passage between two different dimensions, or just different places within the same dimension. They can also Mark a certain area, cutting it off to create its own pocket dimension so that none may enter or leave. A person born under Bind can also use their power to embed Words into inorganic material. Like that light, for example."

The woman tilted back on her seat, pointing upwards as she did so. Curious, Hiei's head lifted, claret eyes following the finger until his gaze rested on a piece of creamy tile in the middle of the ceiling. The apparition was scrutinizing the seemingly useless piece of tiling when, with a snap of Seritsu's fingers; it lit up the whole room much like a bright light bulb.

"See that? That piece of tile is made of milky quartz, and it has quite a few Words embedded into it. Entrapment is there to activate the contraption upon a specific signal, and that's me clicking my fingers. A mix of Sagacity and Alchemy have been used to create the light; Sagacity for enabling light-creating lichen to survive within the tile, and Alchemy to alter the quartz's physical structure so that it's permeable enough for air and moisture to pass through the rock and reach the lichen while retaining enough of it's original shape to stay so durable. A Word of Attack has been embedded so it amplifies the light created by the lichen, creating enough brightness for the whole room. An Illusion is also working as we speak; if you think the light's too bright, imagine it fading. Go on, try it."

Skeptical, but curious, Hiei peered at the bright light and imagined the brightness to dim. To his surprise the light faded at once until it reached the perfect brightness that he had been thinking in his mind. Ruby gaze turned to stare at his host.

"Like I said; Illusion. The light hasn't actually dimmed, but the Illusion embedded makes your mind think it has. But it's impossible to maintain a constant Word upon something unless it's been Marked in like the tile."

Still glaring at the light, Hiei's attention suddenly twisted to the door. Someone was coming towards them, and judging by their soft footsteps, whoever it was didn't want the inhibitors of the room notice their presence. The apparition smirked to himself; although physically different, he still retained all the mental edge his of his previous self. Actually, the senses are the clearest he's felt in a long time, like before the invasion of Nigenkai and when the Reikai Tentai was whole. Ah, memories…

A glance showed that Seritsu was happily oblivious to the intruder's approach. The soft footsteps prowled closer. Hiei positioned himself closer to the door.

The door began to open.

Hiei pounced.

-

Sunlight filtered through the glass panes. Or rather, though Kurama, cloud-light would be more accurate, since there's no sun and the light came from the eternal blanket of swirling clouds. In the past three days, the red-head had been able to tell the time of day by the color of the clouds. It's quite a simple procedure; the clouds shift through the entire color spectrum starting with blood red at dawn and ending in grey-violet at dusk. Night was distinguished by a faint silver, but otherwise darkened sky.

A knock on the door announced the arrival of his lunch. The guard, a short man with pale violet eyes, smiled at Kurama as he placed the tray of food down before the prisoner. Bowing his head in thanks, Kurama watched as the guard left, closing the lock-less door behind him. Left to his own device, Kurama took up the fork and knife and began to eat.

As he chewed, the red-head's mind turned back to the two paradoxes his brain had been working on for the past few days. The first was how the door and windows of his room manages to keep locked without any means of being barred in place. No matter how hard he had tried (and the youkai has tried very hard) to break down the window, there was yet one single scratch on the window panels to show his futile attempts to destroy it. Technically it's impossible for such fragile glass to stand up against the onslaught he's given out, but there was something about it that he didn't know about. And Kurama wanted to find out what that "something" was.

Which leads to the second question swimming in his mind. Having nothing to do for the whole day, Kurama had taken to watching the scenes outside his window. Officials came and went, the authorities occasionally hurrying across his window, co-workers chatting away in their spare time. All this the youkai didn't bother to remember, but it was one particular scene yesterday that had caught his attention.

A fight had broken out in the courtyard that morning, two females who, by the looks of things, tried to strangle the other. What they argued about Kurama had no idea, for it was in their native tongue. But what drew his utter and unquestioned attention was that, during the scuffle, both fighters were drawing sequences of symbols in the air. It was too far away, and the drawings too fast for his eye to follow. The effects, however, could clearly be seen; one was coughing up blood when the fight was broken off, the other frozen like a zombie. Both had to be carried away, for neither was able to even move by the end of the fight.

Another piece of food disappeared from the fork as Kurama pondered. The kitsune chewed slowly as his mind slowly worked upon the theories and evidences it's collected. Leaning back into the chair, Kurama began the puzzle.

He had no Youki, that's for sure. Half a day of trying to encourage, then later, force plants to grow without any result definitely proved that point. The feeling wasn't as if he's been drained of Youki, but rather a total absence of it from his body, as if it had never been there in the first place. Agile fingers caressed an empty cup. This represented him rather well; just an empty shell without anything inside. Then how could the two women be able to draw up the symbols which harbored such devastating power? Are those two a rare species, the only ones who had such power? The glass cup weighted heavy in his hand. No, it can't be, he was sure of it. He had seen many other people creating the symbols as well, but only in passing. So it's an educated guess that everyone in this world has the ability.

So why can't he feel a thing? Kurama held the glass cup up to the light. The transparent structure shone in the light, crystallized surfaces shifting with faint colors of the spectrum. Gazing at the glass, Kurama frowned. This… This reminds him of something, something from back in Nigenkai. What is it? Letting out a large breath, emerald gaze stared deeper into the translucent surface before losing focus as the mind swan in a sea of crystal light…

-

Holding the piece of glass upright on the table, Yusuke turned and faced Roviel.

"Ok, here's what we are going to do. In order to control your Youki, you must be able to emit it at will. Releasing enough energy and it'll create a shockwave of some sort that can literally smash anything in its path. What I want you to do is exactly that; I want you to release enough Youki to break this glass."

Off at one side, Kurama's mind was only partially upon the training, for there was something much more urgent in need of his attention. For the first time in his life the kitsune had failed to complete his school work in time. Well, it wasn't his fault that he was unconscious for three days, but still…

The pen flowed across the page, scratching the surface. It was only a few moments before Kurama realized that the sound of his pen was the only sound in the room. Curious, the red-head stopped in his frantic writing and looked over at where Roviel and Yusuke stood.

She was angry, he noted at first glance. The frown that marred her face grew deeper with each passing second. Occasionally, her clenched hands would open, the fingers curved like talons, before curling back into a fist again. A glance at Yusuke showed that the boy was oblivious to his pupil's growing (and dangerous) anger. And yet, still no hint of Youki in the air.

It's not looking good for Yusuke. In the few weeks that he'd know her, Kurama had come to two solid conclusions about Roviel; she relished upon other people's discomforts and she has a very short fuse. And by the looks of things her fuse is about to run out. Concerned, the kitsune decided to take hold of the situation.

"Excuse me, but it looks as if you are in need of some help?"

Amber eyes snapped open and glared at Kurama's figure. The glare narrowed as Roviel decided whether or not the red-head was being sarcastic. Kurama arranged his features and put on the most innocent of looks he could muster. A few more moments of painful scrutinizing before Roviel was finally satisfied. Clenching and unclenching her hands, the youkai growled through her teeth.

I don't feel a thing! I'm concentrating as hard as I can but I can't feel any presence of Youki in my surroundings that I can control! How in the name of heavens am I supposed to do this?"

Kurama stared. He wasn't the only one; both Yusuke and Kuwabara, who was here out of curiosity, was looking at Roviel with something bordering disbelief. As if with a single mind, the three male's eye locked with each others before coming to a silent agreement. Holding back a grin, Yusuke coughed for attention.

"No wonder you can't do it; you are looking at the wrong place. Of cause you can't find anything; how the hell would air have any Youki anyways? Youki and Reiki are inside the body, not in the air."

Roviel blinked, a confused look on her face as she tried to grasp the concept.

"…So one releases energy, not by manipulating the power around them, but the energy within themselves?"

You catch on fast… Hey, that wasn't sarcasm, don't look at me like that! …Ahem, so… wanna try again?"

-

Liquid splashed as water poured into the cup. Lifting it, Kurama inspected the clear liquid before draining it. A smile broke out on the kitsune's face. Of cause, it's so clear now. There are only two types of energy; if it's not internal, then it must be external. If that's the case, then instead of focusing in himself, he just needs to concentrate collecting energy from the surroundings. The grin turned into a smirk of triumph. Judging from what he has seen, one collects energy at their fingertips, and by drawing the symbols in the air, arranges the energy in a certain manner so that some reaction occurs. It wasn't so hard, now that the basics have been found. The kitsune felt like gloating. But time was sparse, and gloating was more of Youko's personality rather than his own. Settling down into a more comfortable position on his chair, Kurama raised one hand into the air and concentrated.

-

Coming to a halt before the door, Seth gave a final hasty check of his appearance before tapping on the oaken panels. The door glided open and taking the last moments to arrange both his clothing and face, the man walked into the large room. Turning to face the desk that sat at the end of the place, Seth was already the the process of bowing when he realized that no one was sitting there. The widened eyes swept across the empty room. No one's here? That's not possible, for who then had opened the door?

A soft laugh suddenly sounded in the warm air, accompanied with the sound of clapping. Seth whirled, his gaze resting on a tall figure that slowly walked out from behind a door of frosted glass. The balcony doors glittered in the morning light, the brightness reflecting in inky eyes crinkled with laughter. Seeing the figure, Seth bowed again, this one complete and more graceful than the former.

"Li-syl, I've come to report the progress of..."

His sentence was cut off as a hand was flapped in his drection. Still chuckling to himself, Zyril tilted his head at Seth, a quirky smile on his face.

"Aw, come on, there's no need for the formality. It's not as if I don't know why you are here, and stop the bowing already. Just looking at you bobbing up and down gives me a headache. Understand?"

Seth bowed.

"I understand."

Zyril glared at the bowing man, a evil look in the sapphire eyes. Seth remain bowed. The seconds dragged on. Finally it was Zyril that gave in. With a audile sigh he slumped into the chair and arranged the mess of papers and books littered on his desk. Once upon a time, the table would be spotless and everything on it stacked and placed to order. Ah, how the times change...

"Really, why are you so uptight around me? Just because you work for me there's no reason why you can't act human. Look at your sister; Seritsu seems to think I'm human enough to joke with and talk to, so why can't you?"

The man in question chosely to remain silent.

"Then again, I suppose if you are to change, then you won't be you anymore. Stubborn, introvent, ampthetic; everything that makes you so invaluable. Won't you say, Seth?"

Zyril looked up and for a moment the two's gaze locked, blue upon violet. Keeping the gaze, Seth saw the reflection of himself within the navy ripples; a small and insignificant thing lost in the dark sea, slowly starving in the inky nothingness, and yet, unwilling to leave the warm embrace...

Zyril blinked and looked away, breaking the contact. His mind slaming back into reality, Seth stood there, momentary forgetting the reason for this visit.

"You said you are here to report the progress? So, how it is?"

Report? Ah yes, of cause! He remembered now; the search for the identies and whereabouts of Hiei's comrades. Bowing again, Seth cleared his throat and fumbled to state the report that he knew by heart.

"Eh... We have confirmed that there were seven unregistered disrupts between dimensions, all of which seemed to have been generated from the same source; a gigantic amount of raw energy of some kind exploding between worlds, and thus destroy the barriers between dimensions and allowing clear passage from one to the other.

There are currently two problems. After investigation, it would appear that the explosion had destroyed numerous barriers aside from our's. Neighbouring dimensions have also reported unknown rips in the barriers, but as of yet, none had found any trace of anything entering through the barriers. The other problem is that we still don't know where the intruders came from. Our sources have only been able to trace the rips back to where the explosion occured, but not where it had origionally came from."

Zyril nodded his head in an absent manner, the man's clouded as if his mind was elsewhere.

"Hm... What of the intruders themselves? Are there any news?"

Seth stood taller, the man pushing back a smile from his face. Finally, some good news he can report to Zyril.

"Yes there are. We were able to know the appearance and names of the intruders from Hiei. With that information, our sources were able to track down two others. Both are in Rukailia, on the outskirts of Salitan. It appears that the two were captured by officals and are currently held in cells. The person in charge of that area is Rukiri Tainuki. He had held the position of Superior for seventy-six years, and have no known links with anyone."

"Indeed. I've never heard of this man's name. Say, who does this Tainuki report to, Yisgal?"

Seth sighed mentally. This was where things become complicated.

"I'm afraid not. He reports to Zura."

"WHAT? Why?

Zyril had pratically jumped out of his seat upon hearing the name. Now he was pacing the carpeted floor, a rare frown marring his face. Letting out a soft sigh, Seth continued on.

"It was Zura that nominated Tainuki into the position. Initally he did report to Yisgal, but later changed over to Zura. The excuse were that, considering Salitan harbors the largest amount of Unauthorized Off-World trafficing, and he's, holding the position Ambassador, is the one who should handle these things. Somehow the Assembly thought the excuse was of enough merit and voted for Zura."

Silence wore on with the occasional muttered swearing coming from Zyril as he kicked the carpet. Finally he slumped back into his chair again. What to do? He had to find the rest four, and fast, before Zura locates them. His lips twitched. Well, three. If she doesn't want to be found, Roviel can insure herself to remain hidden. But he needs to find her. And Zyril was sure it is Roviel that came through one of the rips. No other person he knows has a necklace that turns into a glaive. No other person he knows uses the quote "I don't do charity work." Yes, it's definitely her. But how to find the woman while not drawing the search to unwanted attention? An idea suddenly popped into Zyril's head, one that would allow him to pass on his message to her without drawing any attention and giving an adequate reason for him to visit Salitan in a very short notice. The man looked up at Seth, who promptly bowed in answer.

"Seth, I need you to do two things for me. Get these two things up in the news; one that there's illegal Off-World intruders around, and they are presumed to be somewhere on Rukailia. Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the intruders are encouraged, and I repeat, use the word encouraged, to tell the officals. And put this at the of the article; A reward has been offered by officals as incentive for the whereabouts of the intruders. Make it national news, so have the title red. While you are at it, put another article up, this time a normal one, saying that I'll be visiting Salitan in one Arc's time because of the intruder business.

The second thing I need for you to do; make sure that Seritsu and that Hiei are both in Salitan, in immediate contact and set to depart at any given moment by tomorrow night. I'll be departing for Salitan first thing day after tomorrow, and I need you to make sure that this news gets around to the Unauthorized organization and not a drop to the officals."

Seth nodded, but a look of mind confusion still lingered on his face.

"If I may interrupt, Li-syl, but I thought you said that you are leaving day after tomorrow?"

"Oh I am, but I want the public to think that I'm going in an Arc's time. Surprise is one very important element that will help me grasp this situation into my hands."

-

It was later at night that Zyril finally relaxed. Lounging on his balcony, wine in hand, the man mused over the current situation. The many "What If"s that came with his plan are too many, but he still have to try. But... Zyril's fingers twisted around the wineglass. There's still one more thing that needs to be sorted out, and it's the most important aspect. He had stated an incentive, but when the time comes, what can he offer Roviel that she would want? Wealth and power are out of the question; he might as well offer a rock, since they all have the same amount of usefullness to the woman. Charges against her cleared? No point, since they don't have any evidence to catch her anyways. Then what?

A memory of long past floated up from his mind, a memory of when the five of them were still together, when they were young and still trying to find what to live for. And from the memory, Zyril remembered what Roviel had said.

"What do I want? Freedom, the ability to do as I wish without socially created laws prohibiting my movements. But... I want them to try and catch me, I want to see how long I can evade the laws and squeeze free from the tightest corner."

Lailos yawned, his eyes blinking behind the specticles.

"In other words you live to gamble, at the risk of your own life, against the world and everything it stands for."

The night clouds rolled and curved over itself in the darkness. Zyril walked back into the room, a smile on his lips. Not the best answer, but the only one he has to offer..

Riz:

I'm curious, but what's your top three favourite ability out of the twelve? Here's all twelve:

Earth: Seek, Defence, Attack, Heal, Timing, Entrapment

Heaven: Alchemy, Sagacity, Reveal, Illusion, Mark, Recall

Trace, or Recall, is the ability to manipulate with time. Can look back in time, try and predict what's to happen next by finding all the possible outcomes and slow or quicken time.

So yea, I'm very curious. It took some time to create the twelve abilities and give each of them two distinct titles. Which ones do you like best?