Welcome to Gaia! ::

Raiden smiles, and places the scythe on his back.

"I'm glad things worked out that way. I really didn't want to fight them. Hopefully anyone else I meet will be as kind. And I hope their master won't be angry with them for letting me pass."

He continues on, in the direction Karura instructed him earlier.

The true Raiden looks at this apparation with disgust.

"So...it's some kind of doppelganger that guards the entrance. I won't be fooled by this. You're only meant to look like me...only I am not that man anymore."



The doppelganger grins.
"But I am you! I am the real you! All these experiences you've had...they've merely been a distraction. You've forgotten your anger and hatred for your half sister. You've forgotten your mother, who loved you dearly, and only you. You were the only child she accepted as her own...and you have forgotten your duty of vengence! So I, your former self, will slay you where you stand...and finish what you were unable to do."

The doppleganger drops down, and slashes at Raiden's left leg with an energy blade. Raiden staggers, and drops to one knee. The doppleganger approaches, and places a blade at Raiden's throat.



"Your old hatreds. Your old vengance...that made you strong. You fear me...because you know that you are me. Stop fighting, and be who you really are. The puppet of Yokoshima, the servant of Lady Ruby. This is who you are. Accept it! Bow to me!"

Raiden struggles, and uses his scythe to stand. He smiles at the doppleganger.

"You're wrong. I don't fear you. You're who I was. Not who I am. I don't fear you because you don't exist anymore. You can't hurt me anymore either."

The doppleganger snarls and slashes at Raiden's throat...but as he does so, the doppleganger begins to vanish, the way mist does when the sun touches it. Soon, there is nothing but empty air where the doppleganger was.

Without hesitating. Raiden uses his scythe as a cane, and hobbles to the entrance of Lord Ashura's shrine. He slowly makes his way inside.

Raiden nods respectfully.
"If you will not see me, then I will simply wait. I hope you will not mind if I sit, but this leg is quite painful from earlier injuries."
Raiden sits down. The heat from the volcano is boiling, but Raiden endures it.


Raiden waits in this way for three whole days. He does not eat or drink. He doesn't speak or ask anything of Lord Ashura. He simply waits. His stomach growls, and his leg throbs. But without any magic, he can't heal his injuries. So Raiden simply waits. Waits and endures.

Raiden breaths heavily, even talking seems like a heavy chore at this point.
"You said before...you heard everything that I said the moment I arrived. So then, you know why I want the "Ashura's Soul" treasure. And you know how important is is to me. I will not leave here without it."


Lord Ashura waves a hand.

"The wards that block the use of magic and summoning have been lifted from you, changeling. Face me now, and show me just how much you desire my treasure."

The Water Sprite sisters appear.

"Wait...where are we Aqua?"

"We're...OH! Marie!!! It's the changeling! And....and ohmygosh Lord Ashura!"

Both sisters throw themselves at Lord Ashura's feet.

"My lord!"

"Please don't scold us for letting him pass...well...maybe just a little..."

"AQUA!!"

"Sorry!"

The sprite sisters leap in front of Raiden with their arms outstretched.

"WAIT!"

"Please Lord Ashura!"

"We like this changeling a lot!"

"He's not like the others at all!"

"He has respect for magical beings. Earlier when he faced Graine, he did all he could not to hurt him too bad."

"Even against the doppelganger! And you created that one yourself, of pure darkness and evil! It deserved no sympathy, and yet this young changeling faced it respectfully!"

"Please don't kill him Master Ashura!"

"It was a waste for him to summon us here, so perhaps he's a little stupid."

"But he is a good creature, and we like him a lot!"

Raiden and Ashura appear equally as stunned by the sisters' sobbing.

Lord Ashura holds out a palm. A tongue of flame leaps from it, and dives into Raiden's chest. A warmth spreads throughout the summoner, and Raiden finds the pain in his leg vanishing, and his strength returning. He stops leaning on his scythe, and returns it to his back.

Lord Ashura looks at him critically before speaking.
"Young Raiden. Changeling. Summoner. I will recognize you worthy to weild my treasure "Soul of Ashura" but under one condition. You now weild a summoning instrument given to you by Lunaris. You may keep it, as I am sure it is a precious treasure to you....but you must retire it from battle. From today on, you must recognize me, Lord Ashura as your Patron God. In the same way that your sister is considered a "Daughter of Lunaris." You must now serve me as a "Son of Ashura." But in exchange for your loyalty, I shall never betray you. When you need me in battle, call on me and my form and powers shall be yours to command. However...my powers are great, and weilding them yourself will take much endurance. But you seem to have plenty of endurance already. You bear the mark of evil...you have been marred by the one called "Yokoshima". That means you were once tempted by power that was more than you could control. Entrusting my power to you means that you risk being consumed by power again...and you may be tempted to flee back to your old master. But I also trust that this will not be so. Your scars remind you of your failure. They burn as a reminder of your wrongs....but they also drive you to never fall to temptation again. I am sure that Yokoshima did not realize that you could become so strong in spite of his best efforts to break you.
What say you Raiden? Will you pledge your loyalty to me, take up my treasure, and destroy those who threaten the existance of Gaia?"