The Meeting: A Change of Leadership (Nikuvillain)

It had been a long time coming. Long since the fencer had become the Aura Master did he attempt this, but he had not yet succeeded. Today, however, Zorlo felt things were different. Perhaps, today, the green haired man could attain the power of astral projection, or the ability to project one's spirit into a spiritual realm. Even with the fencer's extensive knowledge of aura, he still lacked the ability to move his spirit to this higher plane.

The fencer sat in silence, meditating peacefully in a room of total solitude, allowing his mind and body to be completely at ease. Spirits were calm, and the auras of the outside world became streamlined and relaxed. Zorlo's body drifted into a state of complete, and total unawareness, the fencer's mind being the last barrier between the fencer and the spiritual realm.

The world around the fencer changed, becoming the spiraled room that the green haired man had only once visited. When his consciousness had been ripped apart from Shinu's by Kat, the fencer had found himself here. The fencer had spoken to his subconscious, but now, that being was gone. However, something was in this room that Zorlo had not seen before: a large door that seemed to lead to the outside. The fencer moved towards it, his hand reaching out to grasp the handle of the door.

The door opened slowly with a creak, the light flooded into the fencer's eyes.

Seconds passed. Minutes passed. Hours passed. Days passed. Maybe even years passed. The Aura Master floated in stasis for a period of time that could not be determined, but when he awoke, the green haired man found himself floating idly in a place the fencer had not been. The green haired man was underground, however, he had no tangible form, and only a spiritual form.

The fencer looked around where he was and began to float upwards, allowing himself to pass through the ceiling, and emerging somewhere that was, however, extremely familiar. The ruined city where Zorlo had first met the original members of the Alliance of Tasogare had met here for the first time. The fencer sighed and floated back down into the ruins to go exploring. However, why had he been summoned here, of all places. The green haired man was intent on finding out.

Smooth, soft, calm wind came in and out as the swordsman breathed in the middle of the mountain. The wonderful fresh air that filled the sky kept the young man’s mind at ease. The rough winds that gusted across the mountain blew the grass and leaves from the trees around. He stood unconcerned about what was happing around him as he held the beautiful sliver hilt katana he has come to call Solana.

His mind was focus as he begun to draw the sword back towards his body. Then with a quick thrust forward the blade of the sword disappeared. He danced around the field at high sword acting as if he was really fighting someone. He moved with such grace that it was like a dance in a play.

Solana come crushing down on the dirt ground underneath him leaving a hole in its wake. He swung the blade up again and dirt flew up following the blade. Without even a thought he moved his right hand to the back of the hilt and guided the sword cutting all the pieces of dirt that came up.

“Finally,” he said sheathing the sword back to his side. “I was able to cut all the dirt this time.” Nikudemon glance out at the open sky feeling the breeze as he thought about how long it’s been since he has begun training. Walking to the edge of the mountain he sat down and begun to meditate.

OoC: You know what needs to be done now. Right?

The Aura Master's astral projection looked around the catacombs. Silence fell in this odd place. Twisting corridors on all sides, but all seemed to have a spiritual barrier around them, preventing an person from entering. Or maybe not a person, but simply a soul. After all, currently, the fencer had no body, and he continually neglected that fact. Still, the pseudo room he was in had its own interesting attractions.

Two massive obelisks reached their top points at the ceiling of the landscape, with a hole the fencer had never noticed that lead to the outside world. The obelisks had all kinds and styles of writings etched upon them. The fencer ran his spiritual hand over the surface, and looked over the writings, but could read none of it. This place, still, was very interesting. Still, there was one other things of great interest to the Aura Master in this place.

The fencer stepped towards a great door, built into the catacombs before him. The whole building has a very powerful spiritual sense that radiated from it as the fencer approached. A flight of stares stood near the green haired man, and he walked up the stairs, stopping at the top. The door was massive, at least twelve feet tall, and had no handles, or anything written on it but more of the strange writings found about the seemingly manmade structures of this cavern.

The fencer looked down at the ground before him, noticing something that looked almost like a celestial chart. On the ground were rings upon rings with all kinds of letters and figures drawn about them. The fencer took one step into the rings, and a rush of spiritual force echoed throughout his body. Another step, and another after that, and the green haired man stood in the center of the strange device.

Power surged from all of the rings around the fencer as he stood in the center, his eyes going blank as his astral form felt another presence. Welcome! the great voice boomed throughout the whole area the fencer found himself in. Zorlo, the Fencer of Tasogare, you have been brought here for a great reason. You have a job to do. Your alliance is falling apart, and few of you do you know where they are. I have summoned you here to begin rebuilding your alliance. However, a matter must first be attended to the loud voice echoed into the spirit's head as he looked up.

"But who are you?"

I the powerful voice said, am the spirit of this cavern. Long ago, this was once a great base for many powerful warriors. Now, it has long been under disuse, and great beasts live in the deeper recesses of the winding corridors here. I have called you so you may summon your alliance and free me of this to put the souls that died here to rest. Then, and only then, the doors of this base will open.

"I see," spoke the Aura Master as he smiled. "I will help you, but there is someone I must first talk to. Of all of the old alliance, he is the only one of the original four of us that I know is still alive and possibly somewhere near. I must speak to him."

Very well.

With those words, the spiritual barrier fell, and the green haired man stumbled backwards and walked between the two spires. "NIKUDEMON!" yelled the Aura Master as he looked to the sky. The voice echoed through the catacombs and beyond. That was the last person the fencer had to talk to before he even thought about calling together the remains of the Alliance of Tasogare and then summoned new people to join. So soon would the alliance be one again, and perhaps, they would even help the spirits of this building to rest. It had to be done, since all warriors deserved to rest in peace, especially after a fierce battle.

"NIKUDEMON! WE MUST TALK!"

Nikudemon’s mind drifted off into the deep dark shadows of the world. He wondered into different planes totally focus on trying to only hear and cutting every other part of his body off from the world. It was other part of his training on he had not been able to do yet, but hopes to one day get done. He wasn’t even sure if it could be done all he knew was that he was going to try.

“NIKUDEMON!” He thought he heard the wind call, but it sounded odd. It wasn’t like the last time he heard the voice of the wind. “NIKUDEMON WE MUST TALK!” His eyes shot open in his mind an only a single thought ran thought him.

“Zorlo!”

The black shadow that covered him begun to disappear and he found himself in what looked like an underground city. He didn’t understand what had happen, but what was clear was that he had done something new this time. He walked slowly through the tunnels that when in every way one could think of. He was speechless at the sight and what was happing, but he found his voice again as he saw the fencer in front of him.

“Zorlo?” he asked not sure if this was real or not at this point. “Is that really you? Can’t be?” He mind couldn’t understand how he could see his friend and be so far away at the same time. He reached down for his swordsman, but only one was by his side.

Why is she the only sword with me? What happen to the other one? He thought to himself, as he got closer to the fencer. “Zorlo what is going on here? Answer me if you are really here and if you’re a demon I warn you I know him very well. Now what doing on?” He asked ready to pull him sword at anytime, but by looking at him it didn’t even look like he was ready to fight.

The Aura Master gave Nikudemon a quizzical look as he noticed the samurai's low held hand, ready to draw his sword. Zorlo moved his right hand towards where his sword should have been, about to rest his forearm on one of his blades to rest his arm there. However, much to the fencer's surprise, his swords were gone. He had taken them from his belt before he became an astral projection. Looking back on it now, that seemed like a bad idea, mostly not knowing what would happen in the process.

The fencer blinked a few times and looked at Nikudemon, and let the threat sink in. The Master Swordsman looked rather different then he had before, when the green haired man and the swordsman had last met. "Niku, you look oddly different from the way you did last time we fought. Well, at least you look stronger. Your aura is simply pulsing with new found powers," the green haired man stated as he began to walk around the samurai.

"Zorlo, if that is truly you, where are we, and why were you calling out to me?" the dark haired warrior asked, still readying to draw his sword.

The Aura Master stopped and rested his left hand under his chin, visibly thinking. The fencer smiled in his normal, calm manner and closed his eyes, looking at Nikudemon. "Well, you see, where we are is easy enough to explain. We're under the ruined city where we first met," the Aura Master stated. "Also, we're currently astral projections of ourselves, not physical. Pretty much, our spirits have transcended the need for their body, and can travel on their own with enough focus."

The fencer smiled again, still happy to see his old friend, and decided that it was in the best interest of himself to ask the samurai about the subject they needed to deal with. "And I called you here because there are things involving the Alliance of Tasogare that you and I must discuss. Things I feel are very important. First, however, I need to know that you believe I am me before we begin discussing these things. If not, ya know, what good would discussing them be?" the Aura Master asked, still smiling as he did so often now.

It was truly Zorlo, the stupid fencer he has come to know for a long time now. Nikudemon didn’t understand how he somehow did this astral projection, but he thought it could be a helpful tool for later uses. He gave a sigh before giving the long awaited answer the fencer seek. “Yes, I believe you are really dumb, but that is you,” Nikudemon said beginning to walk around the cave to a more open part.

There was only one thing left to find out and He had a feeling what the fencer wanted to know. He too felt the Alliance had fallen a part since he left to train, maybe even before that. There was no true way to tell when the members begun to disappear, but with both leader no around it had fallen. Nikudemon gripped the caver wall thinking how he failed to keep the group together.

“Nikudemon,” Zorlo called up snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Yes, I know what you’re thinking Zorlo and it true. The Alliance has fallen in the absent of are true leader. I don’t even know what has happen to that Neko-boy,” he calm said looking out into the cave and the magical runes the covered the place.

“So.”

“So, there not much I can do. I’m still training my self to become strong. You know with the lost of my powers I need to train hard every day. You should still remember the days of training or have you’ve forgotten what made you strong in the fist place?” Nikudemon questioned glaring back at the fencer. “There nothing that can be done until Neko returns to us.”

OoC: If Zorlo wants leadership status he'll have to show it.

"No," the Aura Master interrupted the swords master. "All waiting for Tsukineko will do is let us fall farther and farther apart. If neither you nor he will be here to guide us, then why should we wait. I don't care what it takes, I won't let the alliance die!" the fencer yelled, swinging his arm across, looking at the samurai with some level of seriousness beyond his normal look.

"And, what do you suggest," the swordsman asked the fencer. The green haired man smiled in his normal manner, and the samurai looked at him with narrowing eyes. "You don't honestly-"

The fencer cut in before Nikudemon could finish his thought. "If neither you nor Tsukineko are around to lead it, then leave leadership to me!" the Aura Master told his friend as he began to walk again. "I don't know what's happened to Tsukineko or Celia, but I know they've vanished and can't be found, but I know that I'm left. Of the four of us, I've maintained contact with any other members I could find. Currently, I know where two others are, and I'll not let them escape me so easily. I will bring together the Alliance."

"So you know where two others are? What difference does it make. And Celia's left the Alliance; she no longer wants anything to do with us."

"I figured that would happen. And you're wrong, I still spend long days training, but I'll never let it consume my life. The time has come we bring together the Alliance of Tasogare again, with new people to fill out the ranks for those we have lost. I care not if you will allow me or not, I will be summoning them together to this place. Either you will give me the title of leader of the Alliance of Tasogare in your and Tsukineko's place, or I will take it by force. Which would you prefer?" The fencer asked, aura glowing around his hands.

Nikudemon just laughed at the thought of other fight here. He understood now why the fencer summoned him this why and not have met him in real life. It was smart, but he wasn’t about to fight the dumb fencer here. “You’ve always been quick to fight for one reason or other,” he calm said thinking some more of what to do.

“So. Are you going to give it to me?”

“You’re foolish code of honor in battle and your willingness to fight anyone will be the down fall of are name as it stands. I can’t not give you the title of leader with views like this still in your mind,” Nikudemon said walking over to a lonely rune on the floor.

“But.”

“But nothing Zorlo. Even right now you’re ready to fight me over the subject than to talk it out like friends. Do you even know the main thing a leader does? Well?” he asked not really looking at him, but he gave a quick glace to see if he was still around. Nikudemon knew himself what the main thing a leader should do and it was clear by now that Tsukineko did not now it.

The fencer looked at his hands and sighed. A slight laugh escaped from his lips as he pondered exactly what the samurai meant. Realizations of the true quality of a leader were never hard to find, since every person had them, but it merely left a person wondering which one the swordsman wanted to know. Still, the green haired man wouldn't allow this to end yet, but he wasn't about to prove Nikudemon right and start a pointless fight like this.

The Aura Master sighed and took a deep breath, clearing his head. He was still a bit too ready to rush head on into a battle before fully thinking out what was going on. Even so, Zorlo found that almost everything he joined in combat was totally worth it. Ever learning more from battle and training was the way the fencer desired to gain what he needed to know, but here, that wasn't enough.

"Perhaps you are right, but perhaps you are not entirely," the fencer stated as he smiled. "The true goal of a leader is to put the safety of those that he is leading ahead of himself, and to make sure that whatever choice made benefits everyone he is leading, and not only himself."

The fencer began to walk again, his total relaxation and calm demeanor would shock anyone that he enjoyed the rush of battle. "Tsukineko and you left for personal training and have both vanished from the world. What part of that is truly leading?" the fencer asked as he looked at Nikudemon. "I am still part of the world, and I know where most of our allies are. What is your fear of me being the leader?" Zorlo asked, standing strongly in front of his ally. He wouldn't back down so easily.

“First off your wrong. That is an important thing to remember as a leader, but that is something a leader needs to have to be good. You are half right about Neko and me. Half being that you are also wrong.” Nikudemon stated knowing that Zorlo wasn’t going to back down, but that was part of his plan. He already got him to realize that he was ready to fight for no reason.

“What do you mean half? It is true that both of you half without thinking about what would happen to the Alliance. What part of that isn‘t true?”

“I’m here right now am I not? We are talking together about this problem of the Alliance falling into nothing. Where is our friend Neko that was the leader. I was never given the title leader I happen to step up as one. He left without thinking about the Alliance and how it would live on. I on the other hand am still here and I know what has happen.” Nikudemon said with a tear falling from his eyes. He missed his friend and the adventure they found themselves on.

“Tsukineko wasn’t the best leader and I’m not the greatest ever, but you can’t even tell me what is the main thing a leader does. If you want to be a leader how are you going to do it? When are you going to know that you are no longer fit to be leader? Whom are you going to hand it down to?” Nikudemon sat down on the hard rocky cave. “You want them to come here without even knowing yourself what is in here. I can’t pass down the title leader if all you are going to show me is hopes a dreams.”

It might have been the stupidest thing the fencer ever thought of, but perhaps he had known the secret to being the a leader the whole time, he just had to look inward to find it. Yes, it was somewhere inside of him. He knew, deep down, every person knew the secret to being a leader, but what was it? How did a king separate himself from those he was leading?

The fencer crossed his arms and thought, his eyes closed. The samurai watched the fencer with a mild level of interest, but seemed much more interested in returning to his training it seemed. Still, Zorlo stood in silence, his mind tracing into its very core to find exactly what a leader needed to be a leader. It was either something so very complex that it was built into the soul itself, or something so simple that a person didn't even think about it.

The Aura Master asked himself the basic question that came to fruition as soon as he began to ponder this question. The first question that came to every warrior when they took up their place as a warrior. The shear instinct to fight. The will to fight. The desire to fight. These things all played in, and all of them were basic. They were what set a warrior apart from the average person. That was the design of the warrior.

Zorlo smiled and opened his eyes, looking at his friend and speaking for the first time since the long silence. "The essence of a leader is the ability to lead. A leader isn't anything if he can't rally people behind a cause, and I know you know that. So, how now, Niku, or do you still have questions of what I do, or do not, understand?" asked the Aura Master.

“You still understand nothing Zorlo!” Nikudemon yelled out getting tired of the fencer trying to talk down about him. “That is the wrong answer once again,” he said with the sound of anger in his voice. Nikudemon was losing it because he knew what he must do, but he wasn’t sure if it was for the best.

There is no time to train or teach him how to be a leader. And handing it over to him without watching him would not be smart on my part. I must know that he’ll at least be able know what is best for the group and not himself. Thinking of only himself will have the group fall only faster than it is now. Zorlo my friend you must see this before I can make you leader of this group. That is what I feel he would have wanted you to leader too…

Zorlo seemed to still be thinking of the answer his friend was looking for him to give. Nikudemon knew that just like him, Zorlo would be able to do it once he begun to take over. The only thing that really stopped him from handing it over was the foolish that Zorlo shows. He never agreed with the fencer on everything and one of them had to do with his code of honor.

“So have you’ve come up with the right answer? This is your last chance Zorlo to show me you’ll be able to take over without me by your side all the time.”

The fencer smiled and looked at the angering samurai. He could get mad as he wanted, and it wouldn't change the fact of the matter. However, that fact also had the fencer with a need to reply. The fencer thought back to the questions the swords master had asked and pondered them again for a moment. To answer them would settle things, but the Aura Master honestly had to give them serious thought. He couldn't simply answer them in a half thought out manner.

"I'll be a leader the best way I know, by trying to bring people together and figure out ways to help us reach our goals, both as individuals and as a group. Aside from that, I'll seek to gain the respect of every person that I'm working with so that they understand that I'm the leader, but they are important as well. Aside from that, I'll show my leadership skills both on and off of the battlefield, and when in combat, I'll stand in the way of an attack if it means saving the life of a comrade. I'll give up all thoughts of self if it better helps the group, and with that, I'll stand up for any one of my allies and hope they would do the same for me!"

The fencer took a deep breath and stood up strongly, intent on making his presence more then known. "As to when I'll know when I'm no longer fit to be able to be leader is when I feel my skills to keep the Alliance together are falling apart, and my chosen successor will be someone who had the same qualities that I had, albeit they might be slightly different, but it will be someone I know is completely capable of the job. If I didn't think that person was capable of the job, the I wouldn't pass it on to them. The person that would take up the roll of leader wouldn't simply be someone that I liked, but someone I trusted could handle leading. Just as you test me now, I would test them in a similar fashion, to know that they knew what they were getting into."

The fencer took another breath and stood up to his full height, still shorter then Nikudemon, and looked up at the raven haired man. The Aura Master hoped his answer had been satisfactory, but he would wait to here these words from the swordsman's lips. Hopefully, those answers would bring a favorable answer.

An odd little smile came over the swordsman face as he listened to Zorlo talk. He had finally heard what he wished to hear and more. He didn’t think Zorlo would know he was only testing him to see if he was truly able to take over. It was true that his friend would not lead the same way he did. No, he would do it better than he could ever hope to do it.

“Well, Zorlo,” he begun taking his time to walk towards Zorlo. “I have to say.” Nikudemon was happy he could leave the group in his hands while he continued his quest to become stronger. “You sure know how to give a speech. The Alliance of Tasogare will be in good hands with you taking over as leader. If you shall ever need me you know how to reach me.”

“Thank you.”

“And thank you for showing me my foolish ways again. I will leave my training grounds and once again fight to keep this land a peaceful place. Oh, and remember to watch over are weaker members and I hope they grow strong under your wing,” Nikudemon said as he disappeared from the cave.

***

The view of the mountain returned to the swordsman eyes and he knew he failed again. But he was happy that he was able to pass down leadership to someone he trusted and knew. Getting up from where he sat he swung the white sword around a bit more before sheathing it again and walking away from his training grounds.

OoC: Good mini Rp it was Zorolo.