Naisho stood atop the iced landscape. His expression remained dull and his eyes obscured by the light of what he saw in the distance.
A cold gaze of a little girl warped into a demonic face of Wrath.
Reiju rippled through the iced landscape as Naisho kept his gaze on Nabi as her white of her crimson eyes shifted to a deep shade of black.
A hidden darkness she seemed intent to conceal.
The hungry gazes of the students shifted to Nabi, as if recognizing a threat to their own being. Some readied their weapons and others prayed to their Sin for protection, yet Naisho looked forward with an incurable smirk.
Nabi stepped forward, and the mountain shook from the pressure as snow shot away from her. Naisho kept his gaze on her, like a scientist analyzing how well a specimen would perform in an experiment. He chuckled at the girl whose eyes he recognized so easily.
"Either Zephyr has a fun game of torture for me, or he's an idiot to not have recognized you earlier, Daughter of Wrath."
Idle words left the mouth of Tebiki Naisho as he watched Nabi shoot towards him. The sensation felt familiar.
The Heat.
The Sound.
The Speed.
The impending feeling of death.
He chuckled as the sense of monotony left him.
"It's interesting how the mind perceives time…. If you can't perceive an event, then what's to say that time passed prior to it," Naisho muttered to himself.
The world seemed to slow down in his eyes; eyes that felt frozen in time. Naisho took his hand from within his pockets as his pink eyes held a soft glow. Reiju swirled around him like mist as he muttered an incantation.
The mind is a fun toy to play with.
This time, sadly, there needs to be a reset.
Anima Series
Memoriae
Disappear into the hallowed mist
______________________________________________________________________________________
His words rippled through her mind.
Time moves in one way, uninterrupted and endless, yet is it memory that allows us to perceive such an occurrence like tides in the evening or morning? You wouldn't be able to tell that time has passed if you hadn't experienced the sensation.
Stolen sensation.
Stolen stimulation.
A blank canvas to be imposed upon.
An Endless White--
A blurred gaze blinded by white grew clear as day. Nabi set her eyes on the endless snow surrounding her. Her eyes appeared blank and lifeless before Naisho's calculating gaze. He carefully approached her, watching as she moved around, testing her body as if something were off.
Like a broken glass that's shattered and repaired, the cracks of a missing piece remain.
Naisho never could forget the fact as he spoke up for what felt like the third time he'd done this interaction with her.
"You look like you dozed off or something, everything alright?"
Nabi looked at Naisho with careful caution, only replying with a simple nod. The frozen breeze got to her as she released a cat-like yawn. She looked at Naisho's warm smile before shivering at the sight.
Something was off, but these days what wasn't.
She sighed at the young man in pink, mumbling something for him to hear.
"What exactly do you even want from me?"
"I just wanted to make sure you were prepared for the Trial of Birth. It isn't that common for this Trial to be used as an entrance exam for first-years, you know."
Nabi stretched slightly, letting the sound of her bones crackle through the landscape.
"It shouldn't be too much trouble as long as I do 'whatever it takes', which Exousia thought this Gem up, anyway?"
"Exousia Shi."
"Another Superbian-born, at least it makes sense that they were allowed control over this then."
"Not even!" Juno chimed in. "It's only because he's Zephyr's special little snowflake with that Anima of his, he's from Invid."
As if the mountain itself heard her words, it shook wildly. Snow shot from the edge of the cliff like the waves of a tsunami engulfing an island in white. As the chaos died down Naisho looked at an expansive tree that appeared in front of the Cliffside with two at its peak: Zephyr and Shi.
The two stood beside each other like a lord and his noble knight, and Naisho's gaze seemed to sour at the sight. Zephyr chuckled at the sight of the people below while the boy beside him continued meddling with his robes incessantly.
Emerys Acheron, the boy known to many as Exousia Shi, couldn't shake the creeping cold thoughts lingering in his head as he looked over the crowd, balancing his emotions as if walking on a tightrope that dared to be cut.
His hands shook and the light from his Fuschia-colored eyes shot around until being stopped by a sight he didn't expect to see out in the open in such a way.
A gaze gave by one whose eyes matched the unnatural cold that encircled the mountainside had shifted to something many had barely seen in their lifetime. Zephyr looked towards Emerys with a smile to reveal his softened purple gaze.
A warm gaze.
Emerys' face reddened.
"Don't focus on them, just on your desires and your own power."
"And if my Anima ends up--"
"It won't. Just do like how I taught you, Em."
In a world like this, what one desires is their strength.
Whether you crave destruction.
Corruption.
War…
Or Freedom.
None can come to fruition unless you are a god, but in a world where a god and human are indistinguishable, then what stops them from achieving such desires? Gods without desires of their own have no purpose thus, he who believes himself worthy of becoming God must find a mantra of their own.
Emerys closed his eyes, letting his consciousness enter the eternal flow of his mind. His memory flowed like a river containing all that he held dear. His past, present, and future laid before him. Zephyr's image flickered through his mind before being swept up in the currents and replaced with the image of the Deadly Sins.
The boy took in a deep inhale before letting out an exhale like a calming spring breeze. He held out his hand for a moment as petals of light swirled around his hand to form a book whiter than the snow around him. As Emerys spoke, the atmosphere shifted as another let the tool that would make them God be revealed with his mantra.
No longer shall I be commanded.
Emerys opened his eyes, letting their color burn away into a ferocious grey. Zephyr watched in awe at the sight, wondering what the boy saw through such mystifying eyes.
A crimson thread linked all Emerys saw, connecting them to himself. All their thoughts, their dreams, their pain flooded into his mind.
Too much!
A tear rolled down Emerys' face as he fought to stay awake through the pulsing migraines assaulting his head.
The Anger.
The Fear.
The Expectation.
The Pain.
Emerys felt as if his blood would claw its way out of him if it lasted any longer, yet he continued, his soul linked to others, yet an unshakable feeling lingered in his head no matter how much he tried to shake it away. Zephyr reached out to the boy for a moment, only to stop short before reaching him, choosing to watch and see if Emerys truly was of worth.
Despite this, Emerys held on, gasping out an incantation while every word burned his throat, as if the air had violently been sucked out of his lungs.
Anima Series
Law
Élenchís
Everything around him grew silent, from the pain that overtook his body to the thoughts that flooded his mind. Time moved forward, but everything else froze. No one should have to handle such pain of all those thoughts. Emerys stood tall despite the strain. His eyes burned with tears, yet when he spoke the mountainside shook.
"Th….THIS IS THE POWER THE DEADLY SINS THINK THEY CAN MOCK?!"
Nabi found herself unable to move and her mind empty. Her crimson gaze flashed to the boy with pink hair who stood above the students, yet her brain refused to let her move despite her will.
"Just like I have, you will prove yourselves to be destined for something more, something greater. If you believe you can stand beside me, you'll have to survive through Hell itself. I, as Exousia Shi: Emerys of House Acheron refuse to see any one of you as weak like how the Sin's see you… If you wish to not be trampled beneath the feet of the strong like salt, then fight and survive!"
Somehow, when given a common enemy, a common goal, the students seemed to unite. Emerys let the bonds of his Anima be released as he fell back into Zephyr's arms, even as his gaze blurred. The resounding cheer from the students below echoed in his mind.
Whether worthy or lucky.
Slave or Free.
Noble or Commoner.
When they found the next candidates to become Deadly Sins, they would show them true Hell.