Hattori had never, ever ventured this far from Ashen before. He felt as though there was a hand gripping the scruff of his neck, threatening to drag him back the way he came, and willing him to ignore the voices that whispered to him in the night. And yet he couldn't, not any more.

At first he had simply written it off as a symptom of the strange phenomena that plagued the land, but somehow this above all else felt personal and impossible to deny. The words were unclear, distorted and garbled beyond recognition, but the rhythm and phonology was unmistakeable. Try as he might to explain it away there was no denying that these voices were somehow speaking in his native language, calling out to him when the world ought to be peaceful and still.

A trail of blue lights wove across the land, luring him south as the voices somehow grew louder, a little clearer after each region crossed. And thus here he stood, at the edge of the Bamboo Maze with the voices murmuring louder still. All of this, everything that had led him to this moment felt intentional, like he was about to blindly stumble into a trap. The ghosts of his past finally catching up with him. He pressed his lips into a thin grimace, his hesitation palpable, as the voices crooned at him. Their intentions clear enough.

Beyond the voices the lights were clustered within the sea of bamboo, blues slipping in between the slices of wood and air.  Hattori remained right where he was, on the threshold of the Maze, unwilling to cross over just yet. If ever.

"I am here now." He rumbled, his voice taking a deeper timbre in his native tongue.

Ever since the voices had called to him from the pool of the Shrine, Takeshi had been avoiding the area like the plague. At first, the distance had quieted the voices nagging at him in the back of his head, but as the days grew shorter, turning into what felt like an eternal night, and the moon grew larger, the voices grew louder. They drove him wild, waking him from his sleep and telling him terrible, awful things that he knew weren’t true, but had to ponder on anyways. He’d gotten little sleep the past week, the voices bringing with them nightmares that left him balking in cold sweats. If he’d been human, his lack of sleep would have been apparent with dark bags hanging beneath his glowing red gaze, but as it stood, one look into his eyes would show the exhaustion that remained there.

Those past days, it only grew worse. It felt like the voices were screaming now, following after him and never leaving his side. And so he ran. It was like he was in a panicked stupor, the world hazy around him as he’d crossed the bifrost into Auster and simply went for it. His legs weren’t his own, nor his breaths. They were being stolen by some otherworldly entity that was trying to tell him something, but he didn’t want to listen. Maybe if he had, they wouldn’t have been so cross, but he was far too scared for logic, especially when the situation seemed to be devoid of any logical explanation at all besides the boys seemingly pending insanity.

He’d traveled for days almost unending, except for when he’d become too exhausted or thirsty and simply collapsed to the ground for a fitful sleep. Eventually, he found himself at the entrance to a massive bamboo maze. It reminded him of the bamboo island back in the Archipelago and he felt a pang in his chest, remembering the days he’d spent alone trying to tend to them to please his father. He probably didn’t even notice, didn’t even care. In the darkness, a form began to come into view. It was massive and coated in a pelt of almost shimmery red, its head mounted with dual, melanistic horns and...distinctly his father. The boy stopped, confusion pulling his brows together above his exhausted gaze. Surely this was an apparition, the voices finally putting a face to themselves, and that, perhaps, scared him even more than his faceless spooks.

Takeshi, without a thought, bolted into the maze.

"Takeshi Ani Oritsu Abraxas"

Hattori wasn't sure what sort of response he expected. Something, any sign would have validated his efforts in coming out this way. But beyond his sense of trepidation he knew there was nothing to be gained, or lost, by standing here. An unseasonably cold wind ruffled his coat, reminding him of the long winter back in Boreas, and the voices picked up with it. The lights flickered brighter, rivalling the perpetual moon in the sky. There was no turning back, it was now or never to face the ghosts of his past. If he was even capable of such a thing, strong enough to look back without averting his gaze.

As though to force the issue, he turned at the sound of approaching paws. What was his son doing here? The very boy who seemed to make a point of avoiding Hattori, like there was something to be ashamed of. He turned a little to address his youngest son, only to furrow his brows in alarm as he raced off into the Maze, his expression fraught with panic. The Shogun had no choice but to enter, to turn back without his son at his side was simply not an option. Peril or not, Hattori knew what had to be done and would see it through regardless.

What ought to be a dark and labyrinthian place, was well lit by the blue lights as they formed rough funnelling streaks, (think runway approach lights) that branched in three separate directions. Which one had Take ventured down, if any? For reasons Hattori couldn't quite put his paw on he couldn't catch his son's scent or trail at all. He was here, Hattori could faintly catch the thudding of his heavy paws, but the bamboo branches did well to smother the sound and made it impossible to pinpoint which direction he was in.

"Is this what you want?" He asked the voices (and in turn lights) as he picked the second path that laid right ahead.

The blue lit fireflies guided his path as he blindly ran, his exhausted state putting him on autopilot. After a moment, he came to a three way split, the fireflies bumping and bouncing jovially in the air without a care in the world. He envied them a little, how free they seemed, but perhaps they were happy with the anguish they were causing him. His mind barely registered the way the blue lights in the center glowed a little brighter than the rest, but somewhere in the recesses, he knew to follow it. He shot down the second, central path. The next one split into two forks, forcing him to make the instinctual choice of right or left, and his body led him down the left path. His body was no longer his own as the voices seemed to take control, guiding him until, finally, he reached the large, round center of the maze.

It was there he finally stopped, chest heaving as he gulped in deep breaths, the bioluminescence in his scales, eyes and mouth seeming to pulse with the fireflies around him, growing dim then firing back to life before rinsing and repeating in a mellifluous way. His hind legs collapsed beneath him, forcing him into a sitting position, before he allowed himself to lay, covering his ears with his massive paws in an attempt to get it all to just shut up. A whine escaped the boy’s lips.

"Takeshi Ani Oritsu Abraxas"

Yet again Hattori came across two paths, one leading left and the other right. But what was the right course to take and had he already taken a wrong turn? It was impossible to say, to even guess what was truly going on here, but Hattori trusted his gut. It hadn't let him astray just yet and hopefully tonight the same would ring true. Glancing between the two options Hattori inevitably chose the right path, though he had a hard time concluding why. It just stuck out to him, felt almost familiar as he padded his way down the bamboo lined corridor.

The Shogun had no idea what he expected to come across, but it seemed as though he'd stumbled into a dead end. That his boy was never here and never had been. Scowling, Hattori eyed the lights that had dimmed somewhat, moving slow and calm, as though they'd finally gotten what they wanted. Was this it? They had simply wanted to trick him? For some reason such a conclusion didn't sit right with him, there had to be more to this. Like the world was giving him a sign, implying he'd been taking the wrong path all along.

"If you have something you wish to tell me, then speak." And then. "Where is my son?"

Hattori

As you pose your question to the voices the fireflies suddenly stir back into activity. They fly suddenly towards you in a tight cluster, vanishing where they make contact with your body and sending a sudden shiver of cold dread down your spine.

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

While his paws covered his ears, his glowed red gaze looked up to the sky. He watched the stars, streaked unnaturally across the dark horizon, blink lazily in and out like they were breathing. His attention turned to the blue fireflies, clustered around him, and they seemed to blink in time with the stars above, like they were the same living entity. He wondered if they were, though the voices that continued to scream unintelligible words into his head seemed like they would be from hell rather than the heavens. He wondered, for perhaps the millionth time, what he had done to deserve what was happening to him. All he’d ever done was his best, yet it never seemed enough. Why could it never be enough? Suddenly, he felt anger boiling in his chest. The voices were reaching a cacophony and they fireflies were swirling like a dance around him. He got to his paws, eyes squinting at the heavens, before he released a deep, angered howl. It echoed through the bamboo around him and, for a moment, the blue fireflies went scurrying away, disturbed by the sudden, loud noise that had escaped him.

"Takeshi Ani Oritsu Abraxas"

Takeshi

Your howl echoes woodenly off the bamboo before it eventually is picked up and carried away in the wind. Your heart hammers loudly in your ears and... The time between one heart beat and the next seems to stretch to agonizing infinity in your chest, which tightens and constricts painfully, before the comforting rhythm returns to normal.

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

Hattori expected some sort of verbal response, but instead the lights rushed at him and closed in before he could dodge out of the way. He stood there as a cold feeling descended upon him, coiling down his spine till it worked its way outwards down his limbs and then down to the tip of his tail. The Shogun was not an easy man to unsettle and yet creeping dread surged within, strong and forceful as though the emotion was his own and not forced upon him. Glancing down at his form he looked about the same, which meant... Were they inside him? Was he possessed? He didn't feel any different, for now...

"Tell me what you want." He repeated, insistent. They had his attention and had gotten closer to him like no one else ever had, tugging at the strings of his worries like a ghost from his past.

It Continues for Hattori...

Huh? It doesn't seem like anything happened... Well, maybe that's for the best...

The howl that came from his jaws echoed into the night air, filtering through the bamboo before the thick stalks swallowed the sound whole. It was replaced with silence, a silence so prominent that he felt as though he could hear his heart racing in his chest. Then, the pain began. His heart gave a stutter, then the silence became louder when he could no longer hear his heart beat at all. He felt dizzy and pain bloomed in his chest, and he knew his heart had to have stopped. His panic grew and he let out a gasp for breath, a louder whine coming from him this time. Oh god, was he going to die? He didn’t want to die, not like this, not without saying goodbye and not without working things out with his father. Then, a few short moments later, his head stuttered back to life and he released a breath of relief, though the pain was still fresh in his mind. What had just happened, and why?

"Takeshi Ani Oritsu Abraxas"

Firefly Shoppe- Takeshi

A firefly draws your attention nearby to reveal a cloaked figure with a small wooden table in front of him. On the table lay three items, with their prices beside them. "Choose wisely, and only choose one," the figure says. "If you can afford it, that is." Perhaps he accepts cŕ̷̕y̵̍͊stals and mushrö̸́̀ō̴̉ms... or perhaps its worth bargaining for something greater...


Inventory:

• Opaque Sack of Mushrooms/Crystals- 1 /
  Running out of event currency and not sure what else to spend it on? Gamble on this mysterious pouch and potentially find more mushrooms/crystals within it! Or perhaps something else!
  
• Xtra Shrink Potion- 2 /
  It comes in an extra tiny bottle. There’s barely even one drop!
  
• Xtra Shrink Potion- 2 /
  It comes in an extra tiny bottle. There’s barely even one drop!
  

As if Takeshi wasn’t terrified enough, out of nowhere, a large cloaked figure the likes of which he’d never seen before appeared before him. It seemed...to be made up entirely of fireflies? The boy nearly pissed himself. It spoke, its words garbled and sounding as if a thousand voices spoke all at once, and perhaps there were. A thousand tiny firefly voices reaching a horrible cacophony. It offered him the wares on its table, two identical bottles of some unidentified liquid and a pouch filled with something he couldn’t quite make out. A part of him didn’t want to even partake in the deal, but he was afraid of what the entity might do if he refused, so, after carefully considering, he nudged a shaking paw toward the opaque sack, ushering forward one of the crystals he’d found as payment as requested before holding his breath to see what would happen next. In the back of his mind, he wondered if he was being faced with a god, like those he’d heard about from his grandmother. He knew they could do terrible and wonderful things, but they usually had to be requested, and at a price. Sure he had all of his crystals, but the boy had no voice. He knew he wouldn’t be able to barter anyways, though he’d barter for the very thing that kept him from doing so. He longed to be normal, but he doubted even a god could do that for him.

"Takeshi Ani Oritsu Abraxas"

Firefly Shoppe- Takeshi

The boy seemed hesitant, the thought swirling behind his eyes, and the fireflies keenly saw the chance for a deal. As the pup motioned to the bag, the figure held up its hand. "Is that what you really desire, young wolf?" He waited for a reply. "If it is, then it will be so."

You gain:

• ???- ???
  

You lose:

• ???- ???
  
  

The boy waited for the being to take its payment and leave him trembling, but, instead, it held up a glowing, firefly encrusted hand. It seemed to sense the hesitation in him, sense his desire for more, and Takeshi stilled. He looked at it, his glowing gaze wide. Could it...hear his thoughts? Perhaps that would make sense, seeing as the voices seemed to come from the fireflies. He contemplated for a moment, then, with his claws, the bow reached back, hooked then beneath a glowing scale, and wretched it forward. He bit his lip to stifle a pained yelp as blood began to flow from the place the scale had been. Then, he did it 4 more times for a total of 5. The scales were large and hard, and despite being detached from his body, they still held their bioluminescence. They glowed, shifting from red, to yellow, to orange then back and certainly were unique. He knew they would grow back, he’d lost some in spars with Sirius before, but it wouldn’t make them any less valuable. After all, there was only one of him.

“Yes, sir. If possible...I would like my voice restored. Please,” he mentally asked. He gently pushed the 5 glowing scales forward, hope shining in his red gaze. Please, let his wish be granted.

"Takeshi Ani Oritsu Abraxas"

Firefly Shoppe- Takeshi

The figure watched patiently, silently as the boy contemplated his options. He then reached to pry his own scales painfully from his body. The figure didn't move, but many fireflies found themselves attracted to the bloodied spots on his body. The boy then spoke to him through his mind. The conviction of his acti9ons and the humility of his first choice- to not immediately jump to his greedy ants and desires, but to accept what was given.

It was decided.

The figure nodded slowly into a bow, "Very well done, young wolf. You perhaps deserve a voice more than many who were born with theirs. Now..." The man summoned a few fireflies between his palms, and they spoke in the voice of many. He nimbly moved his fingers, as if cranking gears as the voice shifted and pitched into something that sounded familiar, although Takeshi had never heard it- his voice.

The fireflies ambled over, following his breath as they absorbed into his lungs, his throat glowing warmly for a moment before it dissipated.

"Now, not all at once, but you shall be able to find your words, young wolf." The scaled found their way to the figure's hands as they were carried by fireflies. "For these, your sacrifice and dedication which these represent, I thank you- do not worry, your wounds will heal nicely."

With a final slow bow, the man vanished. Leaving Takeshi alone, a strange new color of glow where his missing scales once were.

You gain:

• Your Voice- It's raspy from disuse, but that will face in time (1 IC season).
  
• Blue Glowing Scales (x5)- Healed and fitted from the 5 missing scales offered. Will revert to red if plucked, but the scales themselves will grow back blue.
  

You lose:

• Red scales (x5)- Hard, smooth, and glowy.