The One and Only.

[Majik Sordman]

((Solo. Sorry, kids. It's just me, playing with myself this time. Innuendo intended.))

"Boom. Boom. One, two. Boom. Boom. The ghosts are coming for you..."

Those were the words that echoed into the mouth of the mountainside cavern as Blaze uttered them with a sing-song tone and a grin. The pitch black darkness that tunneled into the hole before him was foreboding, to say the least. Fortunately for Blaze, he hadn't ever really taken the idea of 'fear' too seriously but instead, finding solacement in projected courage. He always wondered whether or not that was a good choice. Though, of course, if he was going to be staring into the glowing eyes of demon spirits all throughout his life, Fear would have to make itself scarce. He anticipated that this day would be no different, for the stench of ghostly spirits almost tangibly wafted out of the cave mouth like putrid effervescence; the morning breath of a sick old woman. Razeki wrinkled his small nose at the scent.

The nekojin's deep jade feline eyes peered into the entrance of the cavern for a moment longer, before spinning on his heels to survey another scene. He was apparently waiting for something. The winter months in Akashima were always a sight to behold, Blaze thought, as an almost flawless shiny white and green canvas sprawled before him, as a sea of snow-covered pines. A veil of fluffy thick snow blanketed the wilderness region and went into the horizon and almost blinding even, when coupled with an afternoon sun that finally decided to peek out from behind a curtain of grey clouds.

However, if one were to step ten paces forward, they would also be forced to enjoy the lovely scene of the cold hard ground hundreds of feet below while plummeting to their death. The particular cave that Blaze had been sent to was but one stop on a long, upward winding path that hugged along the cliffsides of the Shirayama Mountains, with Ninyama Village at its starting point about half a mile back down the way.

"Come on..." He said impatiently before turning back to the cavern entrance, his naked feet crunching softly on the snow covered dirt path. A cold, howling wind constantly barged its way past Blaze into the cave, ruffling his fur uncomfortably. There were lines crossed when having a warm coat of obsidian black hair became obsolete because it was pitted against biting wind that never seemed to cease on such elevations.

It was at that moment of impatience, as he squinted into the darkness of the cavern, when he heard the sudden sound of footsteps rushing down the path from the right.

There were rumors running rampant that several of the more powerful ghosts haunted those parts of the mountains around the Shirayama cliffs in material form for years now. His left hand slowly crawled to the long hilt of his katana, a calm and collected gaze set on watching whatever it was approach from up around the bend.

Whoever - or whatever - it was, was in a terrible rush.

[Majik Sordman]

The steps slowed to a walking pace. The feline's ears perked, chest heaving up and down casually. Eyes dilated as the sun shone down in full force again. He waited, for what seemed like an eternity. Up around the bend of the steep slope he watched. "One, two, three..." Thoughts in his mind ticked like a clock. Then, finally, a black garbed form slowly descended.

"Ah... Suki." He visibly exhaled a cold breath.

Razeki was greeted with a forced smile by the woman, Suki, as she approached him and nodded. Looking into the gaping cavern momentarily as it loomed just a couple of feet to the side, she exhaled audibly, almost a sigh. Then, cocking a curvaceous hip to the side and placing a spiky gloved hand upon it, the woman looked at Blaze expectantly with a brown eye, the other covered by her shiny brown bangs.

"..." The nekojin waited for a moment before opening his mouth again, which was contorted into an appraising smirk. His race notwithstanding, a life among humans had eventually taught him to appreciate their beauty; and Suki was most definitely a fine Akashiman specimen. It was rare that Razeki's sect of Exorcists ever featured a woman - as they were always more liable to be adept at things such as spiritual healing - and even rarer was the fact that this one was quite comely.

"The falling snow," He began, his tone poetic, as he held his free palm out skyward to catch some descending snow flakes that had been sent into a frenzy by the blowing wind. "It accentuates your body."

Suki snorted, shaking her head, "Right." With that, she stood straight up and pushed her hair back, revealing a solidly framed face that exhibited both good looks as well as strength. Though her serious, piercing gaze belied her otherwise fragile frame and reminded Razeki that she was indeed a Master Exorcist and his tutor; on top of a long, flowing black robe, a myriad of paper charms of various folds and sizes were strung tightly, suggesting preparation for any situation.

"You realize how slow you are - ?"

" - Are you finished, Blaze?" She interrupted, her tone stern, almost angrily so. A stone gaze gripped Razeki's own. "You shouldn't even be out here, fool." Suki gestured to the side as she finished. Razeki's eyes drifted over to the mouth of the figurative beast that was the cave, blinking.

Blaze snickered in response. "Heh, I wanted to see you again before diving into my grave, so to speak." He lowered his outstretched hand back to his side and leaned back into his stance relaxedly, though keeping a sturdy hand on the pommel of his sword. The woman continued to look at him, the kind of look a mother would give her disobedient and stubborn child.

"Hmph. Alright then." He nodded to Suki, his smirk fading. "See you on the other side."

[Majik Sordman]

Razeki was stalling, and he knew it. He knew that once he started spelunking, he would be in the midst of a league of dead spirits; the aftermath of a great battle that took place in a time that only the gods remember.

Worst of all, they hated Spirit Warders.

For they were nothing but a menagerie; pawns in the Warders' training games. They were a test of an Exorcist's strength and mettle. Caged inside the cavern system they waited, barred by way of powerful wards and runes etched onto wooden slabs that were tacked near each cavern's gaping maw. Blaze's task then was to enter this timeless den of wandering demons and just literally fight. An unforgiving trial of skill in which, upon failure, the punishment was death and, most likely, sentenced to wander the same haunted lair in agony as a spirit for all time.

This ritual is performed once a year, and it was Razeki's turn. The thought was that, considering the fact that an Exorcist was only needed ever so often, their abilities needed to be honed and kept top notch. Of course, a Master like Suki was always sent along for validity, as well as a new part of the mountain was picked out of a hat to serve as the trial.

So it wasn't as if it was his first time, Razeki thought, as he stood inside the mouth of the cave. However, this would only be his second trial as a Spirit Warder, and he lacked any other real world experience in combating malicious ghosts. Life in Akashima, or a life like Razeki's rather, was very secluded to that region of Corone.

A single thought clicked in his mind,"Enough talk. I can do this."

"Razeki," Suki called out, her voice frigid with the cold and her black robe billowing furiously in the wind. The nekojin had stepped past the runic barrier, inches of snow had changed to ice cold stone. He looked back at her as she finished, "... Good luck."

Blaze knew that Suki wasn't ever fond of his disposition, but there would always be that sense of caring between a mentor and her student. The way a teacher wishes that her pupil learns and succeeds. Sending someone to their possible death was never an easy thing, especially when it was for the sole purpose of gaining learning experience. Such a situation always brought out the best in her, Razeki thought.

He winked.

[Majik Sordman]

His first thought was an obvious one: The cave smelled. Bad. Blaze had walked into a stinking hole of centuries old carrion, mulling around stagnantly in the damp and foul air. He sniffed an exaggerated sniff and looked back over his shoulder, where Suki stood in wait about twenty yards behind. The light at the end of the tunnel, he thought. It was ironic that he was actually going in the opposite direction. He nodded once, and looked ahead again. The cavern was pitch black, save for the entrance that stood in a quiet light given off by the soon-to-be-fading sun. He couldn't understand how he was expected to be able to see.

The pitter-patter of wood on stone made his long ears twitch, and his gaze spun around to see a torch lying on the ground about ten feet in. He nodded his head again, and began to slowly walk forward. A rock fell in front of his face unexpectedly, and he reflexively stopped and looked up.

"Well then, how odd - "

Then another, near the wide entrance. Razeki's eyes trailed out towards the woman standing outside. She shrugged.

Another stone fell, this one bigger. Another... Another... The ground began to shake. The nekojin's eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and unexpected fright, he knew what was happening. Instead of watching the scene unfold, his feet broke out into a dead sprint.

"Gah! Suki!" He cried out, huffing and puffing his way towards salvation. Razeki's voice was drowned out beneath the thunderous roar of the cavern mouth slowly shutting its lips, the light that once marked the finish line of his trial being snuffed out before his very eyes.

Fifteen yards. Ten. He was getting closer.

"Ngh!" Out of nowhere, a large rock happened to fall and clip the meat of his right shoulder, sending the swordsman flailing to the ground and exclaiming in pain.

Suki screamed, "Razeki!" and with that, the light disappeared, and the roar ceased into a low grumble as the cave-in ended.

The beast was content with its fill of feline humanoid for the time being.

[Majik Sordman]

Groaning faintly, Razeki pulled himself off the icy stone and staggered into a sturdy stance, snarling ahead of him. A scary silence replaced the quiet rumble as the ground stopped shaking. The cave-in was serious and deep, he wasn't getting back out anytime soon. The swordsman could barely see in the blackness, taking a couple steps forward until halted by the large boulders that destroyed his only exit.

"... What...? How could this...? Really!?"

"Damnit! Suki!" He yelled out, laying his hands on the rocky obstacle and pushing a little. "Suki!"

There was no response.

Blaze tried to take a deep breath, calming himself down. Adrenaline had his chest heaving up and down as he struggled for air. The stagnant oxygen that was then the only thing he could breathe was horrible and meager. He turned around after a few moments and leaned back against the fallen boulders, his eyes downcast. What was he going to do, now that he was stuck inside this spirit infested cave? Looking into the inky darkness of the cave ahead, he heard something moan from deep within. He had no choice but to see what it was at this point, to deal with the entities that primordially resided there. Razeki moaned a little himself in retort.

"... Shiiit."

[Majik Sordman]

It all had happened so fast, the rush had Razeki's mind swimming in confusion as he near blindly proceeded further into the nothingness. His thoughts initially swooned with dismay as any trapped man's would, running through his head like a flooding river, "I can't see, how the hell am I suppose to fight anything? Am I ever going to get out of here? How could this happen to me, of all people? Hmph!" He assumed that, as he meandered through the cave, his eyes would properly adjust and he'd be able to see at least a little bit ahead of him. The blinding, all-encompassing, and maybe even illusory darkness that surrounded Razeki only added to the hysteria.

His feet trudged along the uneven stone ground slowly, not with slack, but still with a lethargy all their own; he didn't know how long he'd have to walk, or how far he'd gone. The nekojin stuck close to the cave side as he moved on to gain some sense of direction, keeping a cautious hand running along the stone. The cold and clammy dampness of the cavern wall seeped through his furred hand, serving as a constant reminder of his situation.

The thought crossed his mind of using spirit fire to try and illuminate his path, but unfortunately his strength only allowed him to enact such an ability for several seconds at a time. Not nearly enough to properly delineate his course, but it still served as meager aid for any confrontations he might have possibly faced, of which he had no idea. Ancient lore claimed that once upon a time, the cavern systems of the Shirayama Mountains once served as a refuge for rogue Spirit Warders; people that had fallen from their beliefs and chose to live their lives in hermitage. This he remembered, in his very brief studies in Ninyama Village.

They rejected the belief that a person's spirit should move on forever, that it wasn't always scribed in Fate that the Afterlife was the only option in death. These new beliefs sometimes delved into the realm of Necromancy, and those derelict caves, teeming with spirits that could never sever their earthly bonds, served as perfect laboratories for dastardly experiments. Blaze couldn't help but think that this was the same type of said den, that once served as a necromancer's playground.

Razeki hoped, nay, begged the gods of which he only believed wholeheartedly when circumstance willed it, that he was wrong.

[Majik Sordman]

Each step had become a conscious thought, not anymore a secondhand motion. Each step he felt the almost supernatural iciness of the stone, each step seemed to feel the same and give the feeling that he wasn't making any progress. The lack of sight, Razeki thought, was beginning to play tricks on him. It altered his perception of time, thinking that he'd been walking into this endless cavern for hours. The anticipation ate away at him, waiting for something, anything to happen. His wish eventually came true.

The sound of whistling air erupted from the depths of the darkness. Something was coming his way, and coming fast. Initial instinct told Razeki to unsheathe his katana, performing a quick draw to free the blade from its wooden home, the sound echoing pathetically against the howling noise. His other hand left the cold cave side, pushing his palm forward and concentrating. Small spurts of brightly colored green spirit flame burst forth, illuminating the area with flickering light.

His feline eyes widened with a mixture of fear and surprise. A mangled form was sprinting down the hall, a bloody corpse with a long crop of disheveled hair covering its face, appearing to be a female. A piercing scream escaped whatever mouth it might have had, and Razeki's muscles tensed like a coil. Closer, closer she came, an agonizing scream like piercing daggers in the Exorcist's ears.

His spirit fire went out, all went back to pure darkness.

Razeki grunted loudly, left with everything but sight once more, but the screaming came closer ever more. The air was freezing, biting even through a fur coat. The wind came and tried to push him off his feet. As soon as it would sound like the woman was in front of him, he slashed blindly and yelled in exasperation. In an instant, as quickly as it all had happened, everything seemed to vanish. The cold stilled, the screaming stopped. The spiritual sensations that had alerted him of malice, gripping his body tightly, had gone.

It was like it never happened.

[Majik Sordman]

His heart pounded in his chest like a beating drum and adrenaline gripped his senses in its choking grasp. His chest heaved, up and down, up and down. Razeki's mind whirled madly, logic torn asunder by the illusion he just faced. It was something he had never been subjected to in all his twenty two years of life, and it had his stomach reeling.

"What... The hell... Was that?!" His words echoed into the darkness. He couldn't really articulate a proper response.

Blaze reformed his stance, set entirely off balance by the blind swing of his sword that hit nothing. Blinking several times in disbelief, he snapped around to look behind him. Nothing but blind darkness. Then around again, to witness the same sight, with a silence only broken by the slight sound of his shuffling feet on the hard ground. "What is this place...?" The thought stuck to the back of his mind like plaster on a wall. He felt as if he'd stumbled into a nightmare...

[Majik Sordman]

Clap clap.

Blaze's ears twitched at the distant sound, and then he heard torch flames bursting to life in front of him. He steeled himself to face what he presumed was another illusory attack, regaining his posture and breath. Two mounted torches, of which he hadn't known existed, lit just a few feet in front of him on either side of the cavern to illuminate the area with half-circle glows of warm orange light. Then another pair lit, in the shadowy reaches just beyond the lights of the initial torches. Then another. Another. More, until about twenty feet ahead he could see the cave open up into a large chamber. A plush carpet of crimson was rolled out before the nekojin and led into the lair ahead, until it reached what looked like an altar in the distance, on the far side of the mysterious chamber.

Razeki could see clearly that the granite cave was roughly ten feet wide, and the jagged ceiling loomed about ten feet overhead. Nothing big. He spun around to gain a perspective of where he'd come and how far he'd possibly gone. Nothing but darkness. He shrugged, surmising that he was already waist deep in whatever twisted game he'd hopped into that it didn't really matter anymore how far in he was. Might as well put on a good show for whoever was watching, he thought with finality.

With his katana held tightly in hand at his side, Razeki moved forward slowly like a lion on the prowl. The surprisingly soft feel of the thick carpet was a refreshing change from the iciness of the cave's granite. The path opened into the square chamber, roughly three times the width of the narrow hall that led to it. Four columns of polished marble made a smaller square, lined up diagonally with the four corners of the room. Many torches lined the room, sitting in wall-mounts of archaic design. The granite walls had been chiseled to smoothness, and Razeki could notice ancient symbols etched onto them - remnants of a time in history. The air was old, cold, and stale, but he could feel the aura of energy that coursed throughout the chamber, it tingled his fur.

His jade eyes eventually rested on the altar that sat atop a dais on the far end of the room, roughly twenty paces ahead. A single decorative candelabra of ornamental design rested on the altar, with five arms that branched in separate directions to each hold their own flame. He could feel it as he approached the dais cautiously, the ebb and flow of spiritual energy that coursed through the chamber. His feet were muffled to silence on the carpet. His ears were standing straight up, on high alert. The scent of teakwood sat heavily in the air nearing the altar, and Razeki presumed that the five candles that dimly illuminated the altar were incense. The smell made his nose crinkle.

His thoughts were in tumult. His imagination contemplated what could possibly be happening. Was all of it an illusion? If so, then who - or what - is creating them? He wondered if he'd make it out alive, or if he'd been trapped forever. Eventually he shook the ideas from his head and deemed them unnecessary; he was there, and the only thing to do was investigate.