With Renewed Purpose [Solo/P]

Splitting, Agonizing pain covered every inch of Kamiko's body as she forced herself to stumble back into the church she had called home until only a short time ago. It was there she would collapse onto the floor upon entering and force herself to crawl down the center aisle until she reached a statue at its end: The statue resembled what appeared to be a female angel clad in armor, wielding a sword with which it was piercing into an unknown enemy with a stern expression of stone carved into the face permanently.

In this moment, she felt as if she was the enemy of this angel and that its stern expression - if for only half a second - changed directions to look upon her directly, boring into her very soul as she attempted to force herself to at least her knees, using the stone blade of Aufero in order to prop herself up as she gazed upon the state with a mixture of pain and fear; Aufero and Zyarae had both promised vengeance upon the Priestess for her inability to complete the task given to her, for the fact that she had left when their plans were finally beginning to come to fruition...

How could she have helped herself? She had been seeing monsters in the shadows, distrust in the eyes of her allies and worst of all: In the eyes of the very Leader that she had sworn to protect and to follow unto the ends of the Earth. But how could she follow someone whom in the corner of her eyes she could feel plotting against her? How could she trust anyone, if that were the case?

They were all going to betray her, it was only a matter of time. Whether it was the Darkness that had begun to slowly corrupt her mind, or perhaps simply her own paranoia... it made no difference, she had made up her mind and had left before anyone could deal a killing blow -- that was all that mattered.

Yet now, she knelt upon one quivering knee while being propped by the very blade that had sworn its vengeance upon her and was one of the sources of the pain that Kamiko was currently doing her best to endure, even if it felt as though she were being burned alive slowly and by each individual layer of skin at a time. Now was not the time for reflection, nor was it the time to allow herself to die for the sake of her own pride: She had broken her promise and was being punished for doing so, that was all, nothing more and nothing less.

"I beseech you..." Kamiko began to speak, blood trickling from her mouth as she spoke as a result of biting her own tongue in order to distract herself from at least some of the other pain. Her voice was weak, pained as she was, and carried with it a tone that suggested the woman was near the breaking point; perhaps exactly what the Spirits wanted from her in the end. "Give me another chance to prove myself, I shall not fail again..." She said, managing to raise herself to both knees only to promptly bow to the statue before her as if it would hear her wishes out.

"I have given you all that you could ever want: A Home, Power, Allies -- And you threw it all away for the sake of your own fear." Came the stern reply in Zyarae's voice, the familiar ethereal hands of the Goddess squeezing her brain tight and felt as if they were nearly going to make it explode. "You failed me once, and that is more than enough reason to end your pathetic life here and now..." The voice continued, causing Kamiko to wince and glance down; yet when she looked up, the statue that had been there before was no longer there. "It is not as if there would be mourning for one such as yourself: A mad 'Holy Woman' who preaches of dark Gods and burdens themselves upon others." Zyarae continued, now causing tears to fall from Kamiko as the Priestess now dropped to her hands as well as her knees. "You are worthless to this world, Kamiko, Without my power you are nothing - A worthless Human." Zyarae continued berating Kamiko, who looked up with tear-filled eyes to see the statue in a fleshed-out form now before her with the sword in hand aimed downward at Kamiko's neck.

"I am worthless," Kamiko repeated softly, her eyes glazing and her expression changing to one of defeated acceptance even as tears streamed down from her eyes and over her cheeks onto the floor of the church below. "I am nothing without your power, Goddess, I never was and never shall be." She would continue, clenching a fist against the ground so hard that her knuckles began to turn white. "But that is why..." She began, reaching her other hand out to touch the angelic figure's armored leg as her other fist slowly released. "I must make amends for this, I must show you that I am worthy of life and of your power." She would continue, before then adding softly. "If I were to die here, then your plans would be for naught -- You would still be imprisoned within my soul and unable to escape, my failure should not determine your own, Goddess." She attempted to reason, remaining on her hands and knees as she awaited a response from the Goddess.

"Humans... Always so keen to continue living, even if it means a life of subservience and pain." Zyarae sighed, as the statue's blade was moved away from the neck of the Priestess. "You amuse me, Kamiko, if nothing else your willingness to serve me and beg for your life has taught me a great deal about yourself." Zyarae continued with a hint of disgust in their tone among the general distaste they seemed to have for this situation in general and the anger that both they and Aufero were feeling at this very moment.

"I will spare your life, on the condition that your loyalty to me be made absolute and that you become the new Wielder of Aufero; such is the price you must be willing to pay in order to live, I shall accept nothing less." Zyarae said sternly, eliciting a weak nod from Kamiko who then felt the pain dull if only somewhat throughout her body, allowing her then to stand up fully with some effort and raise the stone sword of Aufero above her own head.

"I bind myself to you, blade of Darkness, may you guide my hand and alongside the Goddess take me down the true path, the righteous path." Kamiko would say solemnly, color and vigor returning to her eyes slowly as she began to feel more and more confident about her own guaranteed life and the fact that perhaps this was not a failure after-all; but a test by the Goddess to determine her worth. It was surely possible, and the more that Kamiko assured herself that this was the case she became less and less concerned with what had happened to those she had collected thus far; if they were truly loyal, they would soon return, otherwise they would be counted among those who were enemies of both Aufero and Zyarae, in time, they would be dealt with.

A wave of relief rushed through Kamiko as the pain was finally withdrawn from her body, yet she could not help but drop to her knees and bow before the statue which had, in the blink of an eye, returned to being a simple statue:

"I will not fail you again." She assured the two spirits that now lived within her mind, before then bringing herself carefully once again to her feet with a bit of an unsteady stance due to the prolonged pain she had endured up until this very moment. She was still terribly sore and tired from the entirety of this ordeal, yet she knew that it was no longer her decision what she was to do from this point on - that decision rested upon both Aufero and Zyarae, neither of whom seemed to be in much of a generous mood at this moment.

As she was contemplating this, however, Kamiko felt a chill rush through her body followed by the air being taken from her lungs as the world around her shifted and changed into what appeared to be a simplistic black plane of nothingness which she stood upon uncertain and invisible ground while a ghostly blue outline of a familiar young girl appeared before her:

"I warned you, I told you... You promised." The girl said, shaking her head and although Kamiko could not see a face upon her apparition it was clear she was in distress from her body language and tone. "Now you're like me, stuck here until Aufero decides to devour you, too -- Your only chance is to destroy them, You need to find a way to--" The Girl was cut-off abruptly and her visage disappeared only to be replaced by a much taller and shapely adult woman's ethereal form bathed in orange. "I see you have met my former Wielder, she can be... difficult, at times, and certainly has done myself no favors by trapping me within this stone blade; But you will be different, right, Kamiko?" The Ethereal orange bathed woman said, Kamiko almost being able to make out a grin on her form as the hand of the ghostly form touched her shoulder. Kamiko could only manage a nod, still in shock from the sudden nature of what had just occurred over the last few moments.

In an instant, the world around them shifted and changed once more, and they were back within the sanctuary of the church: "Good." Aufero said with a hint of arrogance in their town, followed by a command by Zyarae soon after. "Enough of this talk for the night, our Vessel will be no good to us if she is exhausted out of her wits -- let us allow her to sleep, so that she may wake with the energy needed to complete our task at hand." Zyarae would say, followed by a curious question from Aufero. "And what is it we shall do tomorrow, Zyarae?" The blade asked, to which the Goddess responded simply. "We shall show them that if peace is unacceptable, then we are equally willing and capable to perform as much violence as is needed."

With permission from both Spirits, Kamiko staggered into her bedroom and collapsed upon her bud in no uncertain terms. She was more than ready to rest after the ordeal she had been through over the course of the last few weeks. It would not even be until morning that the full realization of what happened to her would set in and she would realize the terrible fate that she had agreed to in a moment of weakness in order to save her own life. She had forsaken not only her former allies but her own Faith, she was now truly and utterly a member of the Darkness that she championed.

She dreamt of her former friends, both new and old, their bodies each laid upon a sacrificial altar one by one and given up to the Spirits of Zyarae and Aufero as sacrifices for their unholy goals. Each time she pierced the blade through another one of her friend's hearts a piece of Kamiko was shattered inside, For every one that died by her hand an equal part of herself died with them and, by the time that Kamiko awoke, there would be little left of her former self, save for her own appearance.

She was no longer Kamiko Koutaishi, She was Thanatophobia, Her fear of death had manifested and was now in control of her actions; all that she would do from this point onward would be for the sake of her life and no one else's. What was perhaps most surprising to her, however, was that the more she thought on it - the less she missed her former self.

[Exit]
[2,033 WC]
[10 Stats]
[2,000 WC toward Chakra Absorption = 2000/2000 WC = Technique Claimed]

Approved.