Welcome to Gaia! ::

"You're not exactly on my holiday shopping list," Alex responded through clenched teeth and an obviously faked smile. "What do you want from me? I don't know half the people on that damn list you gave me and finding them isn't as easy as you'd think." In truth, she hadn't really tried, she'd been hoping someone would kill him first. As the two walked and talked, she busied herself with putting the blade she'd taken out during her fight back into its place at her wrist.

::Thats really all it took. Shadows dont have to be told twice. It wasnt audible, or even visible, but somehow it felt like Nocturne just smiled.

Shouyins shadow reached over and around him, it was warm, like a loving embrace. Or a blanket wrapping around a cold body beside a fireplace in the dead of winter.

And yet inhertly it was dark. It seemed tainted with the darker emotions, the feelings of hopelessness and emptiness, the belief that there is no point in life and thusly nothing to lose. And the desperation that comes from such. Those with nothing to lose are truly the most dangerous. They have no value for anything, but their purpose, their goal. They are without fear, without hesitation, only drive...at any cost...without anything being allowed to stand in there way.

This drive is the fuel of the shadows rage. Of the shadows burning rich indigo flames.

In a seconds notice the shadows had embraced Shouyin. The mat covering the floor retreated inwards, into and around the half golem. He would find his clothing died to black. He was covered in a sheek trenchcoat, flowing out behind him. A jet black set of dress pants leading down to a sleek set of dress shoes. Loafers if he looked close enough. Underneath the trench was a black vest, fastened down the middle, and beneath that was his shirt, just barely popping out the sleaves of the trench. Even his hair was jet black. His eyes however were not, while his left eye found itself darkened, his right eye remained normal. For a moment, the world was skewed.

Shouyin's ears rang with a thousand and one voices. The clones spoke to him, the shadows of the people beside and around him spoke to him. The very ground around him spoke to him. There was a million and one voices speaking all in the same volume, and all directly to him not each other, the sound alone would have driven a man mad and yet it didnt. They all spoke, and yet he could hear no words. And deep in his gut he would feel that he could speak to them, and yet it would require no words, just a thought, a whim.

For the first time in this fight, the shadow clone looked...scared. The lunoc markings which covered the left side of his face, glowed a slight blackish purple.::

NO!

::The woman exclaimed as she slammed her fist into the table and violently stood up.::

Kill him now!!

::The clone shook off the fear, rearing its fist back to deliver a punch. As fast as these things were, the punch seemed to crawl. Shou could hear her voice, but it echoed in his ears, and across the shadow channel. He had been given the gift, now it was his chance to use it.::

::For Shouyin, it would feel like he had just slammed his head through someones cardboard box. The shadow clones head quite literally just shattered on impact. Bits of black falling to the ground like dark rain, pinging off him like dust in the wind. As he was tugged in, his chest concaved, standing the same amount of chance a glass vase does when its hit by a car. The body was motionless as it hit the ground like a broken store mannequin.

The woman seemed scared, she took a few steps back, getting behind the table as if it would help her.::

I said KILL HIM!

::She bellowed as the other clones sprung into action charging Shouyin from seemingly all angles. A flying kick to the right, a hip kick from behind. A brutish punch from straight ahead. A sweeping kick from the left. They were hopelessly overpowered, but they obeyed none the less.::

::It was more than that to be sure. The feel never really matches the look. As Shouyin took to the air, time seemed to crawl, he would connect with each and every clone. His fists and feet moved like swathes of impossible black. He would be able to feel them connect, and feel the very magic that bound the shadows together splintering like cheap plywood under the pure force of his attack. It was as if he was the direct vessel of their destined unmaking.

It was as if the clones were simply not moving, yet the moment his hands made contact they were forced into the time stream just long enough to react to his initial impact before being frozen again in place. Their faces etched with pain, particles of black hanging in mid air.

And just as his feet tapped the ground, time resumed. All 5 shadows reacted as if they were each struck almost simultaneously. Their lifeless bodies striking the ground and shattering like the broken pieces of a jigsaw puzzle tossed out onto the floor. All in cue with the exactly moment, the tap of his heel against the concrete was heard.

The woman, nameless as she was, tried her very best to run. Her once sexy legs tripped and stumbled on her long flowing dress sending her tumbling to the ground. She looked back on Shouyin in much the way a child would look at their childhood horror if it was given form and shape and stood poised to rend them to shreds. She tried to speak but all that remained of her once beautiful voice was mumbles and broken shards of what should have been words. But were lost to the sound of her hands slipping and her feet kicking, as she tried to push herself back...back and away. Only managing to let a single word fall from her lips in the rush of syllables.::

...no.

I...I...I...

::Her hands dug into the sand trying to gain traction but as her feet simply slipped through the soft fabric of her dress she failed horribly at moving. Shouyin's mean face, was more than mean. To her it was the face of terror itself. In all likelyhood this woman would never go into a dark room again without seeing those markings and those eyes...and hearing that voice echoing all about her.

It really didnt take long for her bodies natural defenses to kick in and for her to simply break down in tears.

Shou didnt seem like he was going to kill her, but she was terrified for her life. She begged at the hope that he may have a merciful side.::

I...I dont know....he was tall, he had black hair, he was old...he gave me a notebook. He told me to write the symbols in my room and maybe I would save the world...He said to wait until I felt you....and then....

::She burried her head in her hands, her tears dyed black from her dripping mascara, and slipping between her fingers to soak her midnight black dress. Finally, she looked up, her hands digging into the fabric of her dress, her voice crying out as if begging for Shouyin to understand.::

...It was just one life for the world! One person dies and, and everyone can live! Wouldnt you have done the same thing!!!

::Her head sunk, her pale face drenched in tears. Her voice devoid of all hope.::

...please dont kill me....

::It seemed like it was working. Her make-up stained face titled scarily upwards, her dark eyes just barely managing to meet Shouyins. She was too scared to smile, but she was brave enough to see through her fears. At least brave enough to see him, as something close to human.

She let his hand on her shoulder. And began pouring out thank you's like one would pour water from a bucket. Thank you's for not taking her life...

What was this....emotion? This was not despair, this was not solitude of purpose. This was not unspeakable drive for victory, this was...mercy.

As if an entire stadium was surrounding Shouyin and all at once screaming, the sound filled his ears. The Shadows....they beckoned...they called. They begged, they pleaded, they called out like a thousand starving souls would cry out for food...their desperation was screamed for him to year, and expelled for him to feel. They all wanted something...they all needed something...

And they were all asking for it by name, but that named seemed clouded in fog. But as they chanted it, it grew louder and louder within him...they sounded like a storm, a riot, no....an army. An army screaming for one thing. One audible word. One command.

"...Kill..."

Shouyin should have had control but for a moment he was without, it was as if his arm, was not his own. He could see it, he could feel it, but it denied his commands. His fingers extended, nails beginning to draw out like claws. His hand began to tighten its grip. He could feel the tension as the skin was pressed against his nails, and then the ever so slight give as the nails broke in.

The girl grew progressively more scared as the pain shot through her shoulder. She wanted to scream but it hurt bad enough she couldnt. The few few drops of blood added moisture to Shouyin's finger tips, horrid moisture...he didnt want to hurt her right? Did he?

In that army of voices screaming for blood and death, was his voice one of them? Only he knew for sure. Just as sure as he would recognize the voice that shot through his mind afterwards shouting one word, the shadows dare not disobey.

Enough!

Nocturnes voice was never without that undeniable power. The Shadows immediately retreated, not only from Shouyin's mind but from his body as well, forming themselves into one, singular black chain necklace hanging from Shouyin's neck with a single Lunoc rune hanging from it.

The girl looked, shocked, terrified, and confused as if she didnt know who or what to do. Was she being betrayed?! How did the half golem do that?!::

::She didnt even know what to think! The moment she was released, she found the strength, and the co-ordination to flee! Nevermind her dress! It tore into a skirt as she forced her feet to move and her arms to push, rushing to her feet and taking off into the crowd to be lost. Shouyins last view of her face, would be that look of terror as it returned, coupled with enough panic to let her run for her life!

My apologies Shouyin, my spawn was born of my darkest moments...some forget those moments have passed...

::Nocturnes voice yet again, this time sincerely apologetic.::

:: Shouyin might also notice that as he stepped, he cast no shadow on the ground behind him. The shadows were silent for the moment, and remained silent as the half golem peered into the clear blue water. The sunset casting a splash of orange and purple across the sea.

As Shouyin watched, the runes beside his face slowly began to fade. His clothes very gradually lightened back to their original color, and shape, and in cue his shadow very slowly extended out behind him. Within a few minutes the shadow formy had faded away. Shouyin stood on the dock in his clothes, and a normal shadow cast out behind. The second necklace jingled just slightly, and single rune, glowed a bright purple.

He had silence, for a time, to be with his thoughts, before Nocturnes voice returned.::

You asked for power...

::It said in a voice as consoling as a deep gods voice can be.::

The power to save millions, the power to free your conscience of any lingering guilt...the power to be a hero...a savior...and perhaps even, the power to change...

::Whatever drove Shouyin, beside the hopes of the people of Aria were for him to know, Nocturne would never dig into his mind to find them. Perhaps he respected Shouyin to much for that.::

She was decieved, deception is the path my former servants walk as they have turned away from my teachings. Their deception cast me in this prison. She has been shadow tapped, letting a seed of the dark into her soul. She is lost. Once free'd I will help her, guide her...and any others that have been tainted...