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Damrius did turn around, but at that same instant, tore his coat off teh second he heard the other marble whistling through the air. He saw the indent on the coat, and dropped it, all the while using that energy of his to boost jump him about eight yards away.

Damn... THat's my favorite coat too.

Damrius only felt the swords peirce his skin, and then blinding pain. He screamed out, unsure of whether he was going to live or not, and with the pain, came energy, which would burts in all directions. Black energy, wild, uncontrollable. A last attempt for vengeance.

All was quiet in the void as the endless flow of time continued on its neverending path to whatever its ultimate destination was. It ebbed and flowed peacefully through the entirety of the void, along with the massive ammounts of magical energy that made up this strange place. Here was where there was no absolute time, no absolute place. It was here, and yet it didn't exist. It was a physical realm of existance, yet it had no TRUE boundaries within its limits. It was a place where time, space, reality, existance, life, death, and all planes of being merged to form a realm so shrouded in mystery one could spend their entire life studying it and never fully understand its many inner workings. This was the Etherial Void, a living paradox if ever there was one. And deep within the "Center" of this mass of endless space and time was a single construct. This construct symbolized existance and each creature's place among it in the form of a giant and massive tree, larger than any tree existing anywhere else in the known world, or Universe for that matter, and around it floated millions of platforms each one the home to a different reality where fighters might clash, or friends might speak of days gone by. This construct was the Tree of Life, a massive magical symbol of existance, ever growing as infinately complex in its branches as the Universe itself.

But then, something unexpected happened, something that should NOT have happened under normal circumstances. A strange etherial wind began to stir the leaves and branches of the Great Tree at the center of this mass of existance and non-existance. The energies slowly began to drift about at quicker and quicker paces, beginning to whirl and whip about in a chaotic frenzy of colors so amazing one would believe it to be nothing but a dream. But this was real, and even for the void, reality was reality, albeit a different form of reality. Then, something began to take shape in the upper echelons of the void. A distinct point of light began to appear where there should be nothing at all. A soft white light came into focus and soon, it began to crackle and spark, archs of sparks and what appeared to be electricity zipping around this tiny pinprick of illumination in the otherwise dimmed reality of the void. It slowly began to grow, getting brighter, and more massive as energy from below zipped up to feed this tiny ball as if it craved power, energy. And then suddenly, it erupted!



A massive burst of light and raw magical energy shot from the tiny pinprick, covering nearly one fourth of the total viewable "sky" of the void. Glowing orbs of energy rained down upon the "ground" of the void, being absorbed back into it as a massive ball of firey white energy spat from the center of the mighty hole that had been torn in the void, and rocketed towards the "ground", slamming into it with mighty, cascading waves of energy being released, and streamers of white light and tiny sparkling bits of energy rained down all around a singular figure, dressed in white, as bigger shimmering orbs of energy raind down onto the "ground" of the void, spreading out and being absorbed into this vast and endless sea of arcana. The figure in white looked up at the branches of the construct known as Tree of Life, and around him at the area known as the Etherial Void. He took a gloved hand and brushed back his spiked silvery hair. His swords had made it cleanly through the transition from elemental plane to the Paradox of the Etherial Void without incident. Ryugi Kazamaru was alive, and he'd made the trip soundly. And now, he looked for a way to continued his journey.

Ryugi raised an eyebrow and turned to face the figure in black. He spoke calmly and clearly, and his voice was filled with kindness and curiousity.

Well, that would depend on where exactly this place was, for I've been to many strange and wonderous places in my one thousand, nine hundred and eighty seven years, eight months, three days, and forty three hours.

But it seems you are comfortable with this place. Would you bychance know what and or where this place is?

Ryugi chuckled a bit and looked about.

Company makes any lonely desolate place better. You know, you remind me of someone I once knew.

Ryugi looked up at the tree in wonder as he spoke.

He passed on not too long ago, and I've seen nor heard nothing from him since.

Don't worry, no offense taken.

he looked back down from the tree to talk to this strange man in black. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was familiar somehow.

His name was Maximos. I only knew him for a short while, but in that short time he became one of me best and most trusted friends. Peace be with him wherever he is...

At first Ryugi smiled, a little somber, but nonethless agreeing with the man, until...



How did he know... How did he know Ryugi's name? He was certain that he hadn't told this strange man what his name was, and yet...this man seemed to know exactly who he was. Was it possible this man had known his friend? Had Maximos told this man of him?



And then the man turned, showing his back to Ryugi as so many questions began to flood his mind. Who was this man? Did he know Maximos? Had he met him? How did he know his na--

All sentient thought stopped in Ryugi's mind as the hood dropped off the man's head.

It....can't be...

Ryugi spoke quietly, almost lower than most humans could hear. His voice was hushed, awed, almost non-believing. He doubted and yet at the same time he wanted to believe that what he was seeing was truly real. That navy hair...the way he spoke...the mannerisms... But mostly it was...

T-That smile....



Maxi...mos...? Is it...really you...?

A single tear rolled down Ryugi's cheek as he saw his friend's face for the first time in well over a year. Ryugi was known to be emotional in times of great happiness, or times of great sorrow. He'd cried when Vargus and his parents had died. He'd cried when Kara died. He'd cried when his friends had fallen in battle over the years. He'd cried after telling Ryudo how he cared about him and could never kill him because he was the only family he had left. And he'd cried when he'd said goodbye to this man in the stadium. And now, he cried as he looked upon him once more, in the most unexpected place anyone would hope to find another.