V3 Incline 25: Nin

"Can I get down now?" I ask the God of Law as we seemingly come to an end in our journey. Finding ground quickly, I put some distance between us as his lovely sister catches up. However, neither seem to be able to take their eyes off the lonely building we came here to inspect. Looking it over myself, I furrow my brow as I notice how damaged and abandoned it clearly is.

"Enorcoustice, do you see anything?" Motrtha asks as she moves around to the right side of the building. She vanishes briefly and when she comes back, it is only to present a distraught shake of her head.

"I will look into the forests nearby, you two search the building." he answers as he marches off into the cold and dark embrace of the dark woods.

What he is hoping to find among twigs and leaves I can hardly fathom. This church, however, should prove far easier to search as things are more likely to stick out. Easily pushing open one of the heavy doors that has clearly seen better days, it crashes to the ground. Blinking my wide eyes away, I look back to the broken hinge.

"Well, as long as it is not a broken brick or a crushed piece of wood..." I remark quietly as I look over this absurd mess. Torn-up books and ripped-apart cushions, row-filling chairs snapped in two or merely moved about awkwardly. Like some bored teenager kicking a sign or bin over.

A muffled noise comes from behind.

Turning towards Motrtha, I am greeted with a strange black barrier rimmed with a deep, crimson ebb. Gulping audibly, I watch as the beautiful goddess desperately slams against the barrier to try and get it to budge. Heading back to her, I speed up into a ramming motion and fall from the surprise of there being no resistance. She breathes a sigh of relief as I blink up her way, my still on the inside foot sliding out as if nothing's there.

Motrtha's testing hand, however, confirms there really is something.

"It's Her... This is Her power, I'm sorry Nin, but, I need you to be brave for me." she says down to me as I take her hand to get back onto my feet. She slowly starts to push me back inside, testing my ability to go in and her lack of it.

"Ok." I nod as I straighten my back out. Hopping back into the confines of the church before she gets a chance to open her mouth again. I start to look, rubbing one arm as a cold breeze shivers me full of worry.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here, a shitty, shitty, ever-so stinky piece of shit target!" a maniacal voice goes as familiar bangs bark out. I dive for cover and flinch as I do so, with five, poke-like sensations bothering me on the way down. Crawling up to the lengthy chair I find myself behind, bright lights go off next to me. Wood and stone shower me aggressively as do their dying cries.

"Undwote better stay away..." I curse to myself as more bangs ring out. A hole suddenly appears on my left and rushing footsteps come accompanied with sadistic laughter. What do I do, should I charge back? Try and throw this chair!?

A silver rectangle slides under the chair and to my hand, its glowing top meeting my gaze.

"AHHHHH! BUGGER!?" I scream as I throw myself out into the open, that bang of light lingering in my eyes like bubbling shampoo. More pokes are felt as I tumble about and I collapse on some of the stone, going right through its crumbling structure. Smashing against the floor with audible cracks and rattles.

A small gun barrel goes against my head, only, it clicks.

"Ah, shit, now!? Stupid guns, this is why swords are better!" a blurry craze dressed in black and white robes declares as a small tube in his other grip erupts into a glowing sword. He swings it right for me as curses and swears fill my head. The 'sword's' edge rolls away as the man's disbelief is vocalised.

He cannot hurt me...

Feeling the lack of weight from the man, I gently push him away, only to send him flying. Skilfully, the man reorients himself with a growl and a swift, mechanical click accompanies him. More pokes come and I cover my face as that furry midget appears in my head of all the times for it to happen. I blink as the man becomes increasingly frustrated by his failed attempts to hurt me.

"Oh, right... I'm bulletproof." I go as I rub my forehead, the memory of Heiya clearer for it. I still have all the strength I had when I was alive, it's still in me. The very same strength that lifted a tower of oak and iron!

Wiping the last of the blurs and splotches of colour from my vision, I adopt a crude posture. Smirking, I snicker to myself as the bullets continue to feel like simple pokes and prods. The man's expression hardens and he snaps into a stiff form as he holsters the gun. He sneers as I wiggle my fingers his way.

"A Castle, ey? Well, alright, got more than enough battering rams for you! Piece of shit!" he goes as he starts to throw whatever he can at me. Covering my face, a lot of it thuds away or shatters on my overalls. Steadily, I move closer to him until I can nearly grab the annoyance. He slashes me to no effect and runs off into the dark from whence he came.

I groan and pat myself down in an effort to clear off the glass shards and splinters of wood. Following the man with my gaze, I notice that he goes into a dark tunnel in the only sligtly brighter end of the church. All thanks to his glowstick. I scratch my short-haired head as I think about that word he kept using.

Shit... What an odd word.

"Wonder what it means." I ponder in the open as I start to throw things about to clear a path to the far end of the church. However, getting into the mysteriously vanishing darkness, I find no tunnel or escape route. The back end of this building collapsed some time ago by the looks of it and there's only this shrine thing. A statue of a winged man with his face blown off on top of it.

Pacing about, I find an upwardsly loose stone and mess with it as I try to figure something out. Maybe I can dig my way down, I am strong enough to do so after all and I can easily grab this stone. I know I saw the light go down this end of the church, unless it's some kind of magic? I really don't know what to expect with ma-

A click resounds.

Shakes are spooked into me and I calm down as familiar sounds fill my ears, the mechanisms of a lock. I smile with starry eyes as the masonic engineering comes to life. The statue slides back and a dark staircase is revealed. Getting up, I look down at the loose rock of circumstance.

"I want to do it again!" I childishly giggle, gently pressing my foot on the loose slab. Nothing comes of it, though, leaving me thoroughly deflated of enjoyment.

I frown as I let some seriousness back into my unlife, do I wait for the other two or go back to them? The barrier seems to be gone, going by the lack of black and red beyond the shattered glass. Yet, no one is coming down the main aisle my way. I am still on my own in this ruin and my head starts to move as I turn.

Muttering on the jog back, I pop back into the open and find Motrtha idly resting on a bench by the road.

"The barrier is gone?" I open up with as she worriedly taps the side of her leg.

She shakes her head, "No... It only activates in my presence, or, rather, the presence of the divine."

"Hmmm..." I go as I look down at my recently altered overalls. Guess there's a technicality at work here.

"I'm worried to think that She is hiding something in this church." Motrtha sighs, rubbing an eye.

"There's a tunnel at the far end, a staircase going all the way down." I explain with demonstrative actions. The goddess slowly rises before sharply grabbing me.

"I need you to go down those stairs, Nin. Please." she begs and I nod slowly.

"Much as this lunatic couldn't hurt me, what if something in this place can?" I ask and I glance back at the church. Before I even found the keystone, I thought some magic made him vanish. I have no idea anymore!

"Use your strength, Nin! Your body is the same as it was when you died, all of your magic is still with you. But, here, in this land of different laws, you are deceptively stronger here!" she tells me and I nod along as I think about simply stomping and punching my way to the treasure or whatever.

"Motrtha... I don't know what I need to look for. This is your family's area of expertise..." I say, my eyes glancing towards the distant battle that has set the city ablaze. Giants are clashing and magic is exploding with destructive grandeur. Trees of spiralling fire and rivers of melting rock, a smokey fog that can choke me far better than the coarsest of hands.

The goddess pauses and thinks on it, a bent finger lingers near her lips and it straightens as an idea comes, "Chains, see if you can find them or a little toy piece!"

"A what? A toy piece?" I question, baffled by why this is something I should be looking for. She does not answer and starts to push me back towards the church. Going in with bad footing, the barrier surges to life more powerfully than it has before. Motrtha yelps and I watch her fly away on the way down myself.

Rubbing my head as I get back to my feet, I look back at Motrtha as she silently begs me to go on. Her hands shaking in the quickly heating hair as she hisses at the stings.

"Alright, beautiful goddess wants me to look for chains and a game piece. Or, either or." I repeat somewhat as I jog back to the hopefully still-open tunnel. When I discover its resealment, however, I am undeterred and I smirk deviously at my fist. Rearing it back, I drop it down as if I am slamming it on a desk and I shatter the staircase roof. Slipping back as more than anticipated falls into the dark depths, I look at my trusty boots.

One step at a time, I kick the debris further down and out of my way until I can merely walk the rest. I blink and suddenly torches light my way, raising a brow at this, I shrug my shoulders at the strange gift and the bar I can grab. I won't complain about being able to reliably see now, however, I am a little worried. What if they all suddenly blow out?

Looking back up the staircase, my concerns are realised with some growing dimmer as I distance myself. Snapping a magic torch off, just in case, I keep on walking somewhat calmly until I begin to notice the great rends in the stone. Dangerous claws have passed through here, scarring the place for a good few hundred years at best. Freezing up, I swallow a heavy mouthful as I, unfortunately, do not hallucinate the noises coming from the dark.

It sounds like the hive, I want to go back up...

"No... No... No! Keep going, Nin, you beat them all once. You can beat them again." I tell myself as echoing, feminine screams lash out at me from the aggressive wind. Tightly gripping the thankfully present handrail, I keep my torch ahead of me at a slanted angle. If anything wants a piece of me, I'll snuff the torch out in them!

Carrying on with my descent, the light reveals a path splitting off from the descent, the darkness parting as the torch's light reveals its edges.

Turning to face it fully, I step through the square opening and gag at the increasingly foul air. A slight slip in my steps. Vomit threatens to spill into my mouth and I find myself glad I have somewhat of a resistance to the gorey now. The chamber this entrance leads to is thoroughly blood-soaked.

Voices echo around me and images of unfamiliar people and places flash on the bloodied panels. My new best friend, Worry, accompanies me as I properly enter the ruined room. The scent of copper and iron continues to crumple my nose and my throat hacks slightly. In the corner of my eye, I catch a small red glow.

Looking down at it properly, I bend down and reach for the strange red tube thing. No, game piece. This is the game piece I was told to look out for! A weird, crenellated item that reminds me of an old tower. My thumb goes along the golden lines decorating it and I place a hand on the far end of the chamber.

"AH!" I go, frantically waving my hand as the game piece burns a fresh mark onto my skin. The dropped piece rolls away like it should before it flies, zipping away on a string of same coloured light. The red string dissolves when I try to touch it and strangely accented voices enter my ears. Not ones I know or am familiar with, it's practically gibberish.

I sniff the air as smoke fills my nostrils and blink as I realise everything has changed. Dark, smog-filled skies and an ash-painted arena surrounded by strange towers and floating screens. One of which shows a red-haired woman with pale skin and blue eyes. She's in some kind of white dress and she is full of heart-wrenching worry.

"I'm going to be honest, Kyrvern, I wasn't sure you'd come to help, but... Thank you, Sair will appreciate it, so will I. Now, let's go beat this chicken up!" a brown-haired boy wearing two shirts says. One unbuttoned and clearly a uniform of some kind, the other a plain ol' red tee.

I stare at the young man's scaly, reptilian arm and blink.

"Who in Motrtha's good name and looks are you?" I go with a slight crack in my voice as I notice how I am dressed somewhat similarly to him. My skin paler and head more full of hair than I am used to. The kid doesn't answer, he only prepares for battle as a bird shrieks.