Soon we arrived at the mentioned crossroads with two separate sacred gates.

Both quite impressive yet opposites from each other as their size was just big enough to walk through. One bright as day as it reflected all light that shined upon it giving of its radiant white glow. Amidst the radiance black markings could be seen which spelled; for the one who follows this path, good karma will follow.

Looking inside the gate a portal could be seen spiraling clockwise as bright burning flames giving off a welcoming embrace with the radiating heat.

The pleasant feeling began drawing me in.

but something didn"t feel completely right as this feeling began chipping away at my subconscious.

Suddenly murderous intent shot out of the other gate, this time completely black, void from any light pa.s.sing through, giving off an eery cold this didn"t feel welcome in the slightest.

The black gate had white carvings in it, warning those who closed in to stay away.

"Beware"

"Danger"

"Egotism"

"Bad Karma"

Looking at all the carvings warning about misfortune it became clear this shouldn"t be the way to go. The murderous intent began drawing the both of us in as purple flames shot out of the gate, which in turn formed a portal like before. Only this time to be circling counterclockwise.

The murderous intent became unbearable as our legs began to give in under sheer pressure.

This was it... this was where we needed to go.

Something inside told me I needed to go through the black gate, even if it was wrong,

I knew I would find what was giving off this murderous intent there.

Shigure snapped out of the hypnotic trans before getting to close. Trying to stop me from entering alone she yelled at me.

"Stop Michael, don"t go in alone!"

The yelling wasn"t enough to pull me out of my trance, something felt like it was calling me. Void from what transpired around me I slowly walked closer to the gate. Still wanting to stop me, Shigure did everything she could. Holding my arm she tried to pull me back with all her might... which failed as the both of us got drawn into the portal of darkness.

Walking through the portal we instantly fell into a pit of pure darkness. Our fall got broken by shallow waters as we were still unable to see anything around us, Shigure gasped for air trying to find anything to grab on to. Unable to find each other in this darkness I became restless, worried about Shigure I called out to her.

"Shigure! Where are you?!"

I listened carefully only to hear the sound of waves breaking apart. Not giving up I tried looking around but was unable to see... When suddenly I heard Shigure calling desperately for help.

*splash*

"Help H-help me! I can"t swim!!"

*splash*

Further away, I must have heard right, it"s that way!

"Hold in Shigure, I"m coming to help you!"

Getting closer to the splashing I knew I had to be close, the panicking screams of my friend made that clear.

*Hyaaa help me!! I can"t swim!!"

Standing next to Shigure I noticed something I should have noticed a long time ago.

"The water... It"s shallow! Look! It doesn"t even reach my knees."

Relieved by finding this out and also disappointed for taking so long I got close to where I last heard Shigure, there I reached into the darkness hoping to find a familiar touch. Thankfully she wasn"t that difficult to find, because of her never-ending screams.

Eventually, she started clinging onto me very desperately as it became apparent that she certainly couldn"t swim, which in turn explained why she was dead scared of the water.

The darkness didn"t help in this situation, making it only more difficult to venture forward.

Thankfully our eyes adjusted to the darkness over time allowing us to find shimmering lights in the distance. These lights seemed to be stationary at the edges of the room.

Unable to make heads or tails from where we were we kept on walking closer towards the shimmering lights. Exploring what we could on our way as we grasped into the nothingness of the darkness.

Not wanting to lose each other in this void Shigure turned back into her fox form. Gently she climbed on top of my head as there she lay down,

allowing me to move freely.

As we slowly got closer to the lights something felt off... it seemed like it did not matter how far we walked, the lights... stayed the same...

The only thing changing was the ma.s.sive amount of killing intent pressuring us.

As we kept moving this pressure only increased...

"This pressure... it"s almost... unbearable..."

Shigure couldn"t handle the pressure only to lay down flat in her belly on top of my head.

Struggling to continue I desperately moved forward as if I knew the questions who were still unanswered would finally be revealed.

The pressure kept getting stronger, almost as if something was creeping slowly towards me trying to take over my mind. Quickly looking back I tried to face what was lurking in the shadows, only to feel the pressure diminish and rush towards me from the east.

Again I strengthened my resolve facing in the direction the murderous intent was coming from.

Only to vanish and resurface in the opposite direction. This continued several times when suddenly it completely vanished. We had come to a standstill.

The shimmering lights had vanished from sight, to find ourselves engulfed in darkness.

When I heard it… tremors…

The ground we were standing on trembled viciously again and again. Thinking it would never stop, suddenly it did. I tried finding the tiniest form of sounds to locate anything that would want to approach us.

*Absolute silence*

Seconds went by as nothing broke the silence, we both held in our breath knowing we were not alone. When subtle but ever so slightly a droplet of water hit the surface we were standing on.

*drip*

What was that? Did you hear?

Soon after, another.

*drop*

Again, silence fell. After a while, without feeling anything we began believing that the worst was over. When the room got instantly lid with glowing orbs of light. We froze not knowing what to expect. Anxious we waited as the orbs ignited into flames, revealing a large black area with a small layer of water. Taking in as much as possible the room began shaking once more.

pressuring us on the spot we were unable to move as we saw something surface from the water. Knowing the seal was broken the essence inside should be able to move freely.

Not knowing what to expect we stood there locked in place, froze, and immobilized by the pressure.

Water began shooting upward as two arms reached out from the depths,

pulling itself up from within the water something humanoid surfaced.

Like the room it was ink black, something ancient overcame us making us kneel by the pressure.

Unable to see what had surfaced because its appearance blended perfectly with the room we looked confused at each other. Unable to see? Let me give you a glimpse.

The ent.i.ty shrouded itself in the aura, revealing a thin outer layer allowing us to perceive it"s from.

Purple aura slowly rose from the ground as smoke to the air enveloping the ent.i.ty.

I blinked with my eyes trying to see the ent.i.ty more clearly in this darkness.

But when I did, it had disappeared… thinking this wasn"t over yet I looked around.

Only to let it resurface in my blond spot. Where it spoke to my mind.

It seems you are trying to ressseal me, but child… I mean you no harm, for you sssee.

You too are needed for my sssurvival… without you… I will ssseize to exist.

For now, I"ll let you do what you want as I can"t let you die here today…

But when the time comesss, I"ll take over and eat your exisstence alive!!

Murderous intent shot through every fiber of my being, I knew this was serious.

The ent.i.ty reappeared in front of us and bowed down mockingly with a wide grin from cheek to cheek to abide by our customs.

I sssee… the othersss are almossst finished… I"ll leave a sssmall gift behind for you to ussse… when the time isss right… Then this iss goodbye for now… Next time…

I"ll be waiting for you to accept my proposssal.

Shigure and I fell backward onto the surface of the water, the shallow water had become an unending depth, which we now found ourselves in. Unable to resurface we lost consciousness only for me to awaken back in the room inside the rogues a.s.sociation.

Slowly regaining my senses it became apparent that Ragnee, Blair, and Alexandra were finished with the ritual and never left my side. They looked worried at first but quickly showed relief as they noticed my awakening. Ragnee jumped on top of me as relief was almost too much to bear for her heart.

You"re awake! You"re finally awake. I thought we had lost you…

Ragnee cried as she almost suffocated me as she tightly hugged me.

Ragnee… I-I can"t… Breath…

Alexandra laughed.

We were all worried, but she worried about you the most Michael.

We found out who the ent.i.ty might be, which is why we had to quickly increase the strength of the temporary seal which the church had placed on you.

Alexandra gave me a mirror to show what the seal now looked like.

My… appearance has had quite a chance, first only covering my chest with a normal ritual pentagram now covering half my body with black flames?

What is this? How come I look like this? To be honest, I look rather… cool!

I am sorry Michael, I understand if you are in shock by the sheer size of it.

But… This was the only way to… wait… did, you say… it looks cool?!

Yes! Well… to be honest I can"t get a good look at it right now…

but for what I can see, I do find it rather awesome. Tell me, how did this happen?

And you found out who the ent.i.ty is? Might you tell me?

Alexandra bowed down and began explaining what had happened while I was struggling in my subconsciousness.

As for what transpired during the time you were out cold, we had opened the seal the church had placed on you for temporary protection. You see, the essence of this being was so powerful that black flames began spreading the moment you lost consciousness. These flames embedding itself in your skin spread out throughout your body when we finally realized who we were up against. Blair instantly began reciting the proper incantations to prepare to embed the seal with your elemental affinity. This, in turn, would allow you to take control of the seal"s power after cultivating and training your body through training. This will eventually allow you to withstand the destructive prowess of the ent.i.ty and eventually make it your own.

But for now… we have found out that it feeds on negative emotions. In the future giving in to them will result in the weakening of the seal. Allowing the ent.i.ty to take over like what happened during the tournament.

As for what the true ident.i.ty of this ent.i.ty might be, you have to find out for yourself.

As we are intending for you to learn how to harness its power.

For now, we think it is best to focus on the principle of shadows because this will allow you to grasp an understanding of the darkness element allowing you to gain resistance against the black flames from within.

Trying to grasp an understanding of what Alexandra just told me I knew there was only one thing to do to prepare myself for the future… I had to train as my life depended on it, literally!

When Ragnee had calmed down a bit she allowed me to freshen up and observe what had happened to my body. To be honest, it needs some getting used to, but thanks to everyone"s efforts I"m still alive and well. For that, I will be eternally grateful.

Say Ragnee, does this look weird to you?

I turned to Ragnee, allowing her to see the full extent of the seal.

Embarra.s.sed by my naked appearance she quickly looked away.

I think it looks good on you! But please! Put on some clothes!!

You, sure? It doesn"t look weird or anything?

I closed in on Ragnee who tried to cover her eyes as I was still not wearing any clothes.

Look. Don"t be embarra.s.sed.

I grabbed her hand and held it against my chest.

*Bab.u.mp* *bab.u.mp*

Thanks to you all I am still here. I wanted to thank you for that.

I gave Ragnee an innocent smile showing her I felt truly blessed by their help.

F-Fine… I understand… I"m also glad you"re still here, but please… Put on some clothes!!!

Ragnee didn"t know where to look as impure thought began to flood her mind.

Why? What"s wrong? You look all red…

Ragnee couldn"t hold it in anymore and pushed me back, quickly running out of the door and slamming it shut behind her.

Because it"s inappropriate you Idiot!!!

Oh well… it seems I have teased her a bit too much, better apologize when I see her again.

Alone in the room, I took one last long look at myself in the mirror, the seal had reached half of my body. The right side, covered in black flames, but something looked like it had broken through on my arm. As it looked like lighting shot down from my shoulder trough the tip of my hands.

Quickly getting dressed I went towards the training area to prepare training for the principle of shadows.