In the Darkness, Light (Terith/Kiru/Jiyu)

TAKE ME TO VALHALLA WHERE MY BROTHERS WAIT FOR ME

Shirotsume at a glance had been kind to a stranger like him, and it was a fateful thing, since his limited knowledge of the place spared him nothing less than brief passages through a worn map and a train stop from Hosenka. He hadn't meant to have the mountain district as his final destination, rather, it was just of his own misunderstanding to board the wrong train at the crack of dawn after a restless night. As far as humility went, he was most likely to admit to his fault and claim responsibility it, but the more he mewled over the thought of mistaking 'Shirotsume' for 'Cedar', the more would his frustration manifest with a distinct crease to his temple. And, with a dejected expression, Terith would find himself there, traversing the winding pathways that cut through Shirotsume in hopes of catching the next train, preferably to arrive at Cedar before the evening closes.

"Tsk." he muttered, clicking his tongue as he weaved over the directions for another time, the edges of the map crinkling to the beat of his folding and unfolding. "Can't believe I took a wrong turn."

Atop his head, a weightless bundle of fur shuffled in response to the swordsman's resentment, pawing at his blonde mop as if to resolve to a sympathetic patting gesture. "It's not that bad, nya~" the bakaneko whistled with glee, heavily ignorant of it's master real plight, "Shirotsume is really purrty! So why not take the time to look around, nya~?"

If at first his pace was similar to a tenacious jog, his pet's suggestion seemed to have diminished his frenzy into something more mild, his steady pace coming to a yield. He'd breath in a pensive sigh, lifting his arms to tug the bakaneko off his head, giving it a blank look as he deftly held it in his arms. "...I wish I could. But you know what?" his expression shifted into grimace, the emptiness in his pockets baring a significant weight to him as he spoke, "I'm a broke bastard. Which is why I'm going to Cedar, remember?"

The yokai cat rendered its youthful master a curious mewl, tilting its head one way as if to further showcase its thoughts of confusion, "Ehhh....did master use up all his money on foo-"

At the mere mention of that particular syllable, a gloved hand would cup over Nikuko's mouth with visible persistence. Terith eyed the bakaneko with a sharp glare, a comical vein of annoyance bulging over his temple, "....Shut it." he said, his mouth twitching in a make-shift grin, "If my memory serves me right, I wasn't the furry fella who ordered an entire enchilada of premium sushi."

"...Nya? What if master's memory is hazy from all the sake he-?"

"I said quit i-...!"

It dawned on him that, because they're bickering was happening in a public area, he might have caught himself some unwarranted attention for being that one crackpot who was arguing with his oddly-shaped cat. Fortunately, there had been very minimal pair of eyes to watch his little stunt, apart from the children who looked at him curiously with their large, beady eyes over to one side, their game of hop-scotch seemingly disrupted.

Terith waved the children a gentleman's smile and an apology. "Sorry kids, nothing to see here!" he said, stepping one inch forward before scurrying off, deeper into the schematic layout of Shirotsume, only ever resting to take a momentary breather as the crowds started increasing and the houses only grew larger and fancier.

"Ugh."

Casting aside the audible giggle Nikuko made, Terith all but pried his grip from his bakaneko, shaking his head before opting to settle the round, bun-like cat on his left shoulder. "Not a peep from you." he whispered, easing himself into a leisurely pace and deciding that he'd forget to heed to anything the meat bun said unless it was something dire.

"Ouuaaahh! Master! Trouble up ahead!"

...Did he speak too soon?

The bakaneko lightly grasped at a few stray strands of his hair, tugging so forcibly as if it was urgent that he had to look in that specific direction. The action generated much irritation from the young swordsman, and, with little leeway for escape or much less ignorance, Terith forced himself to comply, casting one disinterested look at a portion of the sky. From where he stood, a dark and ominous gathering of....something drifted closer to Shirotsume, slowly, but threateningly. The shift in his expression indicated a sudden pique of curiosity as he eyed the strange thing a bit more carefully. He'd seen many storms in his long ventures across Fiore, but not of this magnitude. Could he even consider it a storm? If not, was it something his abilities could handle what with his current state?

"This doesn't look good..." he said, one hand idly lingering over his weapon's hilt.

deltra of gangnam style

TAKE ME TO VALHALLA WHERE MY BROTHERS WAIT FOR ME

Terith had seen many ominous indicators back in his day, but not one of this magnitude, and it was the kind where he expected the eruption of hysteria over a wide area as soon as the chaos descends, swallowing the town whole with its grim intentions. From his position on the ground, he'd count down at the seconds that it would take for the disturbance to happen, his blue gaze wide with desperation as his expression was placid with a tangible sense of fear, and doubt, and the inability to comprehend the events that followed after, marring his sharp features.

What was all of this? What even was this? Why was he here? He could have a ton of questions flood his psyche, but nothing could ever come as close to supplying him his answers, much less a repose.

The sky would break out in a roar of noise and smoke, where a dragon of bone all but tore through the paper sky with an impressive set of wings, generating a sense of dread with each deliberate move of its white-washed limbs. For a moment, the situation seemed to have paralyze not just his legs, but his lungs, too, reaching a point where his entire being felt like it was running out of breaths to spare. He'd stagger back as the beast made its landing, scrolling through the various households with its twisting body, and there had been nothing to steady his fall as he hunched over, stepping back and falling ungracefully unto the streets.

"What the hell..." he muttered, realizing the imminent prob of death at his dulled senses. At his waist, Kushinada's violent rattling made the realization all too clear to him. Shirotsume was under siege, and he'd been unfortunate enough to be muddled into it. It was too early to think that this'd be a leisurely stroll through a fancy town, perhaps, and it was more than late to assume an escape route then, not after the earth rumbled with the rising of the dead men from their graves, groaning, moaning back at the citizens as they desperately tried to flee.

He wasn't too sure what he could've done if he opted to run with them, find safety, maybe, live, maybe. But a part of him dictated something else entirely. It wasn't his spirits or a berating voice numbing his skull. Instead, it was a soft presence, a smile that beckoned him to get up, to brandish Kushinada, fight with his morals reaching higher than the boney arms that grasped at the grey skies.

Could he really do it with his sub-par abilities? Of course not, but...

'I believe in you, dear.'

He...needed to do it. He was compelled to do it. His being wanted him to do it and...maybe it was just the something he'd been looking for, inspiration beyond belief, beyond doubts, beyond reason.

The swordsman's head rose, the sunless sky reflected with a thin stream of light from within himself. He stood, but not without inhaling sharply before. His legs were stiff with an icy feeling, but he kept running, somewhere, closer to where trouble was brewing ever prominently. The dragon was...gone? However, its wake seemed tangible enough as the hoards of undead gathered, and if he was even allowed a light jest, he'd compare the fright to a zombie apocalypse that he'd seen in some movies, back in his golden days, when his world wasn't Fiore or Ishval, for that matter.

As he ran, his thoughts seemed to race as well. He was human, and a man could only do so much against his fears of perishing under a great, impenetrable force. Perhaps it was inevitable to halt death, but it was human nature to have an inner desire to defy those mechanisms to any extent. He'd dig a hand beneath the fold in his belt, undoing the deftly tied knot at his hip and letting the rope slid off his form before safely tucking the flimsy thing into his spare pocket. In an instant, his body began to fizzle in a pale blue light, the colors in his hair falling off and revealing stands of white beneath the melting process. The material of his clothes seemed to shift, where the blue energy tailored an entirely different ensemble for him, one that had been dyed white. Then, the blue in his eyes seemed to pale, blurring into a mix of oranges and reds before steadying into an uncanny golden light.

Biting at his lip, the swordsman took a short glance at his reflection from a passing shop, briefly catching the whiff of white hair and strange clothes. Though he'd seen it before, it was still weird to consider this other appearance as his. But more importantly, the shops were being ravaged with several packs of skeletal fiends, the remainders of their rotting flesh falling off their limbs as they clawed at the doors.

"Khh." he whispered under his breath, visibly appalled by the progression of events as he made a bee-line for the tops of the houses, feeling the winds beneath his feet as he hauled himself upward in a jump. As he perched himself atop a mansion's rooftop, his eyes would gloss over the full extent of the damage, seeing the mortified faces of the survivors as they hurried to evacuate to a shelter somewhere, corpses dangling off their bastions, and so much crying, anguish as far as the eye can see. In the absence of a clear objective apart from eradicating the threat, Terith was prompted to search for any other wizards, eyes skimming over the town as it neared a state of mass tragedy.

At his shoulder, a bakaneko stirred, but only barely. Nikuko had been silent the entire time, and he couldn't blame it. There weren't any proper words, or emotions, for that matter, to perfectly commit to the actual weight of the incident.

"....I'm scared, master." it mewled, shrinking into the size of a baseball. Terith thread his fingers through its fur briefly, passing it a gentle smile, a curve of encouragement, or something close to it.

"I'm sure most of us are." he simply said, unsheathing Kushinada from its scabbard. "But survival depends on how good you can put up a resistance." He'd run a hand down the silvery length of his weapon's blade, beckoning to the spirits and pleading for advice.

"This time, it's not just our's, but a whole town's resistance. Right?"

The yokai cat would only nod, staring back at its master's hazy golden eyes.

deltra of gangnam style