I advise you to think about it while we will tend to young Shadowfang here. Sir Birchwood,

If you might be so kind as to leave us for a short while? June… please send to Geo,

maybe you can help him concentrate on the principle knowing this might take a while."

June nodded and took Geo by the hand, pulling him out of the room. Ragnee held me tight as it was now time to check the seal

Alexandra turned towards Michael and ordered Blair to take a look at his seal.

"Knowing the Church of Healing they must have used a 2nd-grade sealing technique to lock away the demonic ent.i.ty. They ordered us to examine this, taking a closer look we will evaluate if it might be necessary to take better precautions.

One of the reasons you were brought here to us isn"t just to measure your essence and affinity, but also to see how the seal is holding up.

You see… The demonic ent.i.ty that tried to take over your mind is well unknown within these lands. Without having any encounters this was the best thing they could come up with. But… here at the Rogues a.s.sociation, we have ways to strengthen the seal a.s.suring he will not break out like before.

"Blair if you"d be so kind?"

Ragnee kept on holding me tight thus time knowing she had to hold me down, preventing me from getting away.

"Good Ragnee, hold him down. Michael, let me warn you, this will hurt you more than it will hurt us."

Blair sat down in front of me, preparing what was needed for the ritual. Creating a sign with her left hand she began chanting.

"Oh G.o.ddess of the seal, bestow this lesser being with the knowledge of the ancients. The knowledge needed to purify the one in front of me. Allow me to re-open this seal and seal the impurities within."

A purple blueish flame formed in the middle of the palm of her hand as she held it clawed and open close to the other hand with the sign. Now moving the same hand in front of the hand with the sign the flame began spreading towards her fingertips. Turning into a cool turquoise her hand turned towards me.

"Let us begin."

Her hand now on top of my chest, where the seal was placed, her fingers digging into my flesh as she turned her hand clockwise. They were right... the flames didn"t feel like burning, rather... it was the opposite. I felt like freezing. I felt my heart pound a mile a minute when the cold turned into burning pain. Searing straight through the core of my being, the seal began to open...

Immense pain shot through my chest slowly creeping throughout my entire body.

Slowly but steadily the seal got broken down, only adding to the pain.

Trying to coop with but unable to handle the now never ending surges of pain,

my body began to spasm. Finally succ.u.mbing to the sheer pressure my mind collapsed as I fell unconscious.

I found myself in eternal darkness, completely void of light and color.

When I felt it... The demonic essence seeping out from deep within.

Meanwhile, Blair lifted her hand from the seal. The flames slowly extinguished one by one, shocked by what they saw they quickly tried to look away in disgust.

The seal began to erode, slowly eating away at the skin. Ever so slightly weakening the seal, more and more, allowing the essence to seep out. Unable to look away Both Alexandra and Blair fixated solely on the ink-black essence that streamed out of my chest.

Almost like in a trance both women got ever closer. Unaware of what transpired in my subconscious. Inside I found myself in a large corridor. A corridor dimly lids by small flames across the walls.

Feeling myself slowly growing weaker I had to find a way out… But, where was this place?

I did not recognize the area I currently found myself in.

Growing restless as the pain began to take control even in my subconscious I started running in the hope of finding the end of the pathway.

I kept running for what seemed like hours without a clear end in sight.

When suddenly at the edge of the darkness… there… I could swear… Yes!

At the edge of the darkness, I could swear I saw the reflection of a door of some sort.

"This should lead to the exit, should it not?"

I ran as fast as I could hoping to close the distance between me and the door.

With every step pain surged through my body, making it almost unbearable to move.

But I couldn"t give up… because in front of me… in front of me, was the exit! I strongly believed it was the exit, it had to be!

But arriving at the foot of what looked like a door quickly struck me.

A gate? Very old and huge inscriptions could be seen on the surface of the gate.

Unable to tell what they meant and honestly being beyond the point of caring because of the pain I tried to open the gate and tripped, falling with my head first against the gate.

Laying there… motionless on the ground, I thought to myself this was the end…

When suddenly large tremors could be not only be heard but also felt from the other side of the gate. The gate began to creak heavily as it slowly opened towards the other side.

*Creeeeaaaaak*

Walking through the gate everything felt oddly familiar.

When suddenly the large gate closed behind me. Knowing there was no way back I continued to move forward, encountering yet another gate. This time, more similar to that of the traditional torii gate. Symbolizing a pa.s.sage towards sacred grounds. Something felt odd…

As now I found myself in a bright lid s.p.a.ce with gra.s.s, rocks, and even rivers crossing the sides.

Not only that but up ahead there were two more similar gates, guarded by what seemed like a tiny fox spirit… Confused I walked closer, hoping it would introduce itself.

As I tried to cross one of the gates I got abruptly stopped by the spirit.

"Stop! Michael… we finally meet. Haha!"

Confused I looked at the little fox as I got stopped dead in my tracks.

"H-how do you know my name? And… wait… Did you… did you just talk?!"

I couldn"t believe my eyes and ears, making me anxiously jump backward, only to trip and fall into the small pond behind me as I did not pay attention to where I went.

*Splash*

The small fox laughed.

"Hahaha, don"t be scared little one. I have been here longer than I can remember. Starting from your birth. Hehe."

Trying to make sense of it all I got even more confused, splashing around in the water as I tried to find some footing to stand on.

*Splish, Splash*

Finally, I calmed down as I lay motionless in the water.

I calmly asked the questions that came to mind.

"Who are you? This must be inside my subconscious, doesn"t it?

Then... why don"t I recognize this place?"

The little fox shrugged off the questions.

"Curious as always I see... let me give you a hint.

This place, like me... has been here since the beginning.

This here is what we like to call... a crossroad.

As I am the guide who hopes to guide you on the right path, but the question remains... is this path I wish you to take the right one for you... or for me?"

The small fox smirked as it burst out in laughter.

"Hyahahahaha ohoho! You should have seen your face!"

"This... this didn"t make sense at all... why would something like this be inside me? Not to mention a guide who tries to trick its host? Hmm...

I can"t take this anymore!"

*Aaarrrrgghh*

"You... what is your name?

Maybe then it will make a little more sense?"

The fox bows down as its appearance slowly shape into that of a woman.

A beautiful woman at that, while still having her ears and tails, her skin became silky smooth.

Her hair, as white as snow, like her ears and tails and her eyes, as blue as the sea.

Realizing I was ogling at her beauty she smiled and slowly covered herself up with her tails.

Wait? There wasn"t just one? I started counting.

"1"

"2"

"3"

"4"

"5"

"6"

"7"

"8"

"9!"

"wow, there are nine of them?!"

"Feisty and naughty, aren"t we?"

The woman suddenly disappeared.

The woman noticed me staring at her before disappearing. Deciding to make the most out of this situation she reappeared behind me whispering in my ear.

"If only I wasn"t bound to this place... we could do so many "fun" things together."

Shivers went down my spine, I didn"t know for sure...

But something told me she was an ancient and powerful being, to think that she got joy by teasing her host. It was absurd.

Gently her arms wrapped around similar to the embrace of Ragnee.

"I have seen you grow into the fine young man you are today, watching over you ever since you were born.

Both of us were inseparable. In a sense...

You could say that I am your guardian spirit or your older sister so to speak."

Giving in to hear teasing att.i.tude,

confusion got the better of me. Unable to break free I became all fl.u.s.tered knowing my body gave off a reaction towards the opposite s.e.x.

I should have known better as this was exactly what she was after. Her legs locked me in place making me unable to escape when suddenly her hands began slowly going down. But before she reached my precious family jewels she stopped.

"You... don"t recognize me, do you?"

she asked with a hint of disappointment inside her voice. As slow as she teasingly got closer to me just as fast she let go of my body.

I stood up and noticed the fox flicking away a tear falling from her right cheek.

"To be honest... I can"t blame you, you were so little when we were together, such a cute small boy, fighting for his life. For some reason your will to live compelled me. But noticing you began to give up just before you were born I couldn"t let that happen...

You see, your mother had a hard time giving birth to you. You... like the fighter you are,

were grasping for air inside of her uterus.

When suddenly I noticed you began giving up the fight for survival... Having been by your side since the beginning I didn"t want this to end. I jumped up and screamed as loud as I could hoping your parents would get the message. Worried because of my reaction, since I never had done that in my life they rushed towards the hospital.

There in spirit form, I saw everything transpire in front of my eyes as the doctors removed you with extreme measures, cutting your mom"s belly open from top to bottom. There you were, the warrior who lost the battle but won the war...

The doctors told your parents the news, that it was a good thing they fought for the operation to happen as soon as they arrived... because the doctor who got you out could feel that you were giving up the fight.

The lady quotes "You arrived just in time as we felt his heart slowing down from a 10 to 9, 8 and lower.

This young warrior will need support for the next few months."

The most beautiful thing... I will never forget is, that you Michael Shadowfang didn"t come out crying...

Instead... you received the warmth of the world with open arms, smiling as brightly as you could."

I remembered my mom talking about the experience they went through with my birth. Our house pet who was my best friends seemingly saved my life. After arriving back home we were inseparable."

Tears began falling down my cheeks as the memories rushed in from long ago.

"It seems you are starting to remember,

let me continue the story; The next few years weren"t the best of years seeing how you got ill of almost everything without much resistance to anything the dangers of the world had to offer.

But even still... I never let your side,

even jumping inside the bathtub with you.

Because we were..."

"The best of friends."

Tears now clearly streaming down my face I quickly turned around and hugged the deity tightly.

"Do you remember what I was called back then?"

*hick* "of course I do!" *hick* "but it can"t be..."

*snort* "is it you Mr. Bear?"

The deity welcomed me with open arms as her embrace warmed me up ever so gently.

"That"s correct young Michael and my...

have you grown."

The deity looked away as it to imply something inappropriate.

"As you have known me as many pet names,

never have I had the chance to introduce my pure and true self to you, my one true friend. Michael."

I held the woman tight as to say I didn"t want to leave her now that I knew who she was.

I slowly let go of allowing her to formally introduce herself.

"I might not be who you think I am as I am more than "just" your friend.

You see, my name is Shigure,

even though I am your guide and guardian spirit...

I am also known as the G.o.ddess of Light and Darkness. In this world, people worshipped my very being since ancient times, but now you see...

My soul has been placed inside yours to look over and protect the last of our tribe."

I couldn"t contain the feelings rising from inside as I couldn"t care less about her explanation.

I was finally reunited with my long lost friend...

And she seemed to be a woman all along!

Emotions to powerful to contain came over me as our lips touched one another igniting in a pa.s.sionate and warm embrace. When I finally opened my eyes I realized Shigure enjoyed what transpired just as much as myself. Slowly we both backed away making the situation a new level of awkwardness.

But we had to move on.

"Our reunion has to be postponed for now,

before we are two gateways, one for representation light, while the other represents darkness."

Just then the ground began to shake and tremble.

When suddenly a roar could be heard from afar.

"The beast within has awoken. Spreading its demonic essence it contaminates your nature, manipulating you to go down the wrong path...

The path of hatred...

The essence is one of yourself,

only being strengthened by the demonic spirit you encountered in the forests of Sharoo...

Outside the others are doing their best to close the seal, broken by their own hand. the essence has taken over and infested your soul ocean.

But now, we go... to confront that essence...