Temple Run

[Lenneth]

A claiming stillness then darkness appearing in a flash of colours, leaving behind after the sudden storm before returning to form into the figure of a beautifully man then dissipating away. The person whom was formed wonder hesitantly towards this marked graveyard of the ancient war that had scared this world and shaped the fates of the many worlds of light. This place held something about it that could reveal so much potential information and knowledge about the plane of existence that they all co-existing on and with that knowledge one could be very well armed for domination or defending. Which often was the only reason Lenny found himself caring abut exploring these places outside his home, it was a such a unfitting sense for him to leave out on quests like this but never the less would vital for him to take as many precautions as he could calculated time in the event anything would oppose him in some manner.

Having come on official work he dressed himself as he liked, wearing much of his same attire of an open black vest and sliver trimmings and outlines but with the additions of some black skinny jeans today.  Seemed like the wind would make things cold so people wore more covering fabric for this right? People were weird. He kept a more human appearance for the time being as not to be caught by a bystander again like last time whom mentioned his demonic features as negative attributes.

Moving about land the dark prince kept  himself true in his state of mind, freely expressing his vanity and pride about himself, though even as he walked along this row of fallen weapons and rusted memories. He couldn’t help shake his own feeling of uneasiness towards this place, almost trying to hide his eyes with his golden locks just to not physical see them too well. It didn’t only steam from the horrifying image of all these keys scattered but the last time he arrived here the charm lord tasted defeat for the first time and quite possible the actually threat of death looming over the immortal of darkness.  

Lenny tried to shake off that unsettling feeling as he held his arms together at his sides, slowly moving with a bit more caution as he came in sight at the forking paths the keys were laid out. From the rust and worn condition of each of these swords it was clear that power within these weapons had long been lost, strutting down this runway of the day he couldn't only wonder just where the power went, maybe it be something he could re-claim for himself reminding him sadly of the misfortune that had befallen both of his halves, losing their connections to their own keys.

Unaware of the danger this world present it would only make matters worse as the La Vaeas could feel the the discord of his heartless kin raging in this darkness. He wasn't sure if just what was causing it but it felt as though they were in great fear. The emotion ringing across the entire hive mind in this world luring many of the dark ones to gather and rid themselves of this fear and here their pain was made as a sorrowfully cry in the dark. In fact the screaming became louder and louder as the winds grew heavy in motion, gusting around him as the beloved kingship of his people came for a strong heart.. Len's amethyst gaze circled around him in irritation to this act of treason, conjuring two of his blue hand guns tightly in his black painted grips.

Heartless took their place at his feet, surrounding the mighty king of the dark taking the forms of the Neo shadows. But alas they were not coming to their king's side today no instead their hunger for the great addiction had turn them feral as the fear grew within them. Their attentions became very apparent to him as they scared in their limited little minds and drew out their claws bearing harmfully intent to Lenneth as they slowly moved around him waiting just for an opening. Lenneth took the first move quickly taking aim and firing to the crazed muscular shadows with deadly accuracy as the bullets punctured through and damaged a number of them before they melted underneath the surface while moving.

[Edis Rehtona]

What the hell am I doing back here?

This singular thought ran wild through Edis' head as he stepped out of his Corridor of Darkness into the Keyblade Graveyard, a world he had more history with than he would like to talk about. It was here, not actually that far from where he was, that he had lost his brother to the darkness. In fact, he was sure that his brother's Heartless would still be here, wandering around looking for a purpose or for hearts to steal and consume. Edis had a burning desire well up in his stomach to shout his brother's name and summon him, summon the Heartless that was once a part of him, but he was able to put that desire to the side for now. That was not why he had come to this world, and at present he wasn't yet strong enough to face him, he hadn't yet unlocked the power of the Keyblade that he needed before he could meet with his brother, so instead of venturing to the exact spot where Edis had succumbed to the darkness himself, he decided to journey the other way. Mikael could wait.

As ever, Edis was dressed well for any occasion, wearing a formal attire consisting of a white shirt buttoned most of the way up tucked into his black suit trousers and fastened with a black belt, complete with a black blazer over his shoulders and black shoes. He didn't know why he dressed this way, there had never been any occasions where he had needed to be dressed the way he was, but it was more a force of habit than anything else. He did it because he didn't own very many other clothes, and he could both fight and dine in his formal outfits. He tried to be mentally and physicall prepared for anything, so he naturally liked to dress for any and every eventuality. After all the worlds, of which the Keyblade Graveyard was more than most, were dangerous places, and there were a great deal of things that could go wrong wherever you found yourself, especially with the Heartless becoming ever more present in these worlds.

Strapped to his side, in its brown sheath, was Imitation: Edis' aptly named katana or, at least, it was a katana at this present moment. His weapon shared the shapeshifting abilities of its master, and had something of an identity crisis. It's base form was the 40inch katana that Edis now unsheathed and held in one hand, with the grip having enough space for both hands if its wielder so desired, but it had five other 'forms' that it could take on to suit, just like its master, every eventuality, and Edis was well equipped in fighting with each style of the weapon, being able to adapt his fighting style to accomodate the new form and the transition from one form to another. Running one hand along the flat side of the blade, Edis felt its power, it was a blade worthy of a suitable master, with cold steel that took no pleasure from taking a life, but similarly did not yield in the face of death. Smiling at his blade, Edis imbued it with his powers, so that it could be used with the Moon element. In this land, he had to be ready for anything, and this was to help him do just that.

It was then that he heard something, a noise that he was far too used to hearing but one that still sent the sense of dread and rage throughout Edis' entire person. Wading through the defunct Keyblades like they were a current of water, Edis reached the source of the noise and saw them standing there, a great number of them attacking a man who held himself like royalty, and possessed an air of power about him. Regardless, Edis was not going to let this man fight Heartless on his own, not if Edis could help it. He hated Heartless, and loved any and all opportunities presented that allowed him to run rampant and destroy, or at least whatever it was that happened to Heartless when defeated by conventional weapons. Seeing the man shot and defeat several of the Heartless, Edis jumped into the fray, wielding his katana in one hand as he violently struck the Neo-Shadows, keeping his mind calm as he did so. As much as he hated the creatures, he was a cold fighter, and he wasn't about to let his emotions take over. He took out a few of them before backing away, having some of them surround him in a different circle to the other man, while still being rather close to each other, close enough for the man to hear Edis' voice.

"You all right over there?"

[Lenneth]

Lenneth's battle would countine as the moments ticked down upon their meeting, one shot down through a shadow's arm puncturing it off just from the sheer force of the buellet before it hit the one behind  and pinning it to the floor in pain. Then quickly he grabbing the amputated heartless by the head to spin the poor creature around with great power. Enough to smash about four different ones away enclosing him before crushing down his victim into a black particles smudged across the   earth red painted by the sun.  Dashing towards Lenneth a few of the shadows hide underneath the surface, swimming though the physical matter of the stone before popping up and leaping at Len's gorgeous face with razor sharp claws in mind. He would retorted by drawing his head backwards diving down while the tips of his boots would slam into the creatures crouch and send them flying upwards as the king cartwheeled away a few meters.  Three other shadows tired to pop up right underneath as he flipped on by but could not reach his speed. Once Len landed he fired another road between the yellow orb like eyes of the nearest one, blowing away his  blonde bangs before taking the shot and landing a direct hit with a smirking of his bright white fangs with a hint bit of delight. As darkness freely danced along Lenneth's elegant form, his eyes seething with dark magics.

Lenneth would stand back up after the first few warm up moves, testing out the poor mindless minions of addiction here and getting in a little actions for himself in a long time. Espionage while greatly rewarding for the greater good was a little dull to the full on thrill of fighting to one's self without much limits, working the muscles so they seemed real always made things so much more lively. Holding his left hip while licking across his lips Lenny taunted with a smooth look at his foes before holding his aim for their next actions  to simulate his silky smooth body to move to.

It was then as he could slowly start to feel the sensation of ecstasy flow into his senses that a different trigger took his notice, the perception of darkness coming to life just a short distance away and the presence of a strong heart. Not one that bared  the tragic marker of a key so it wasn't much to worry about but something to note. As that thought cross he quickly turning as a enemy tried to catch a piggy back ride only for Lenneth to swing around and kiss the little bigger before head butting him across the side of the little guy's antenna and sending it flying across the distance with a nasty bruise...if it had blood or skin to bruise.

A new stranger came to his aid oddly enough, someone willing to show themselves and partake in a battle that may have not even been in his path, interesting. The figure in question caught the La Vaeas's eye for his sense of style if anything, quite the formal attire to behold that raised both of his thin  well groomed eye brows. A nice white shirt, clean and pressed black additions like a vest and wrinkle free never mind no stains, it was really fancy wear to see out in a graveyard that much was certain, was he not concerned for the sand stains? Or dust?.

The black hair stranger wasn't a fresh face either from his weapon swing damaged several at once from one attack so quite adapted in handling his blade it would seem. This man had seen some battles and lived to tell the tale. Other then that he was of interesting but not flashy features just from this initial examining.

“ Doing well good sir” Lenneth replied while slightly muffled by the sounds of his guns cutting off a few more pieces of heartless to the winds, turning his whole body and ducking down as a couple of them went for the high attacks.

“Welcome to the party” gesturing while spinning on his back to push off an enclosing swarm and leaping off  a bit further away from Edis but still quite close for their voices to reach. The heartless were not done yet as they would start to grow more aggressive.

[Edis Rehtona]

In all honesty, it seemed very likely that Edis' aid was not required. From what he could tell, this blonde, proud man seemed more than capable of taking out all these Heartless, which was probably true. But being able to and wanting to were two very different concepts: and he hadn't pushed aside the help he was being given, so Edis assumed they were both happy to simply fight the Heartless, not necessarily to destroy them as quickly as possible, but simply to take their time and enjoy the fighting that was ensuing at that particular moment, something that Edis already was doing. As much as he didn't overly like killing without cause, he loved fighting more than most things in life, especially when the stakes were high and it was a fight to the death, like it was on this day, not even to mention that he was fighting the one type of creature that he loathed with all his being and loved destroying: Heartless.

The man Edis was fighting with was certainly a strange fighter, as Edis watched him while also taking out his own adversaries. His combat partner was a gun combatant, in the sense that he fought with two guns in his hands, firing off bullets at the Heartless to take them out for the most part. However, there was one distinct difference between this man and most other gun fighters, of which Edis had faced a few in his travels. Normally, when someone fought with a gun, or guns, it was because they liked to keep their distance. They would normally prefer to stay away from the main group and take their opponents out from far away, usually because they were pretty weak when it came to close combat fighting. To defeat a gun fighter, one merely had to get close enough that their guns were useless, and then you could take them down without an issue. But this man, he was not like that at all. He fired at the Heartless to destroy them, but he reacted when they came close, throwing them off him or simply crushing them with his hands. He was both a gun fighter and a melee fighter, and was clearly adept at both forms. He enjoyed fighting, and almost seemed to enjoy being taken by surprise by the multitude of Heartless, so that he coudl react and show off his strength, of which there was clearly a great amount.

Edis, despite the situation, couldn't help but laugh at the man's words, and while he laughed a Heartless came very close and required attention. The katana, Imitation in its base form, was very useful when it came to taking out single enemies, but against a group it lacked somewhat, meaning that Edis needed a new plan, and he had one ready. His katana changed, in an instant splitting into two spiked tonfa which spread over Edis' arms, giving him the close combat mobility needed to fight even closer to his foes, as he quickly sliced the head off of the Heartless that was coming close, watching its body slump to the ground and become shadows. The rest of them wished to take a moment to analyse the new situation, but Edis was not one for allowing his enemies time to think. He ran at a group of them, running in and spinning as the blades took separated shadow from shadow, slicing up their entire bodies. Of course, a couple of them got claws in to damage Edis, drawing some blood which then disappeared as soon as it appeared. Edis' weapon was capable of storing any spilled blood, and now it had a healthy amount in it, as Edis took out some more Heartless, lifting one after impaling it with the blades before tossing it into another group, watching them all fall over before he shouted back over to his combat partner.

"Party? What are you talking about? This is a warmup."

Imitation:

[Lenneth]

“Hopefully this isn't too much of an ice breaker. I'd hate to see such a nice shirt torn apart in the name of exercise” Lenny playfully gestated to the dark hair man while leaning back from an attack before springing back up and punching out the dam fool with his gun's barrel.

There was just something about being watched while in the middle of such a performance that gave Lenny the chills, sending up those soothing tingly sensations thorough his nerveless body like tiny bits of ice trying to knife at him and wake the firefly seductive demon from its prison of seriousness and responsibility. It was kinda nice to let go for a little while and have someone new to enjoy it with that didn't seem to want to stab him in the chest after just meeting each other. He could also respect a man using a single weapon instead of the endless tool box he normally saw people through at their foes. It was getting a little old seeing the endless swords rain down on the battle flied given how many times its happen to the dark king...and there were enough swords around anyways.

Oh but the stranger did have some surprises it seemed as his weapon changed itself into another one that Lenny had never seen before if memory serviced correctly, his month almost mimicked the O sound of that awe. A pair of thick wooden roads that remained close to the fore arm. Where they from, the land of dragons? Hmm strange well they seemed effect even while spiralling away from a few claw swipes at his legs Lenneth took a moment from the intensity to see Edis's side of the fight. A clean cut with such a thick blade yikes normally thinner blades cut through easier, that huge spike must have really had some force to it to cut like that, jeez ouch cringing a little Lenny didn't want to picture something that thick trying to cut through his body, he'd perform a much more sensational approach to that.

His admiration caused an opening for a sneaky little neo shadow to jump up and land on Lenneth's chest, grabbing then for the his throat while digging in with its claws just at the base of underneath his  structured chin. With it brought the mighty La Vaeas down an air of discomfort as he quickly grabbed at the heartlessness's claws and broke them off with his strength shoving the creature down before ripping out its claws from his flesh. Painfully leaving their damage to his memory but leaving no visible mark to disturbance the perfection of his flesh.

A little annoyed the heartless king would leap upward into the skies, hovering quite high above the battle filed before slowly descending while picking out his targets by the numbers quickly. He would spiral his falling motions as he pointed down with his twin guns and fire down a hail of bullets with deadly accuracy and care, hitting each shot between the centre of a larger number of their black buddies down before striking a second one through the same bullet's entry right behind the first bullet. Dealing a significant blow to their numbers as many of their prey would fall back into black dust with just enough missing any directions towards his partner and the playmates he was chopping up into confetti.

With the warm up coming to its end Lenny landed down a little distance away from the kind stranger in hand that didn't recognize as a fellow monster. Brushing himself off from this world's dust that stained his perfect black threads and gotten a little caught up in his hair. His guns would vanish into darkness then from sight while he stood there patiently letting Ed have his fun before addressing him again as not to distract him.

Hmm what to say...it had been a long time since he thought about being so causal to someone. In the recent days his has meet Queen's, snooby guards and media interviews for his photo shots always holding an air of professionalism and high breed morals. But they both were in a barren world with no life only danger, how much of a stuck up stick in the mud did Len really need to act? Stretching his chin he pounded and choose to try and be a little boyish for this, smiling at the lack of stress of maintaining his normal guise.

“Thank you for the assistance good sir, you can handle yourself well. I'm Stiri do you have a name?”

[Edis Rehtona]

Personally, I couldn't think of a better way to break the ice between two men than to have a life or death fight together against some Heartless.

Edis knew how he felt about this, he did love fighting after all And this was the best way to ensure the person you were fighting with was, in the most basic sense of the word, a decent enough person. After all, fighting with a stranger was the best way to discover whether this person was a friend or foe. Currently they were both fighting Heartless, but they were both not silently doing this. They were both conversing as they fought, and they were both taking out the enemies so the other didn't need to, that was, if nothing else, the foundation of a good partnership. They were both fighting together. If they wanted one another dead, they wouldn't bother killing the Heartless that were attacking the other, and just let them kill their target, while the target killed some of the Heartless for you. The fact that they were both actively seeking out all the Heartless to kill them meant they both loved fighting, but also they both didn't necessarily want the other one to die, something that was very interesting considering the two had just met and knew nothing about one another.

Even if one of them did want to kill the other, this way gave them both an opportunity to gain an insight into the other's abilities, although Edis had only changed the form of his sword, and his partner had only fired bullets out of their guns. They were both keeping their true powers hidden, but not out of any malicious intent, it was simply that they weren't needed at this time. Neoshadows were nuisances, but they weren't worth wasting an ultimate attack toi wipe them out. After all, as Edis ran through them, decapitating and generally dismembering them with his bladed spikes, this was much more fun, getting to kill them one at a time and savour the fight as it happened, it always made life much more interesting.

Having only run directly forwards, and after cutting a solid line through the legions of Heartless, a Neoshadow appeared from the ground underneath Edis, grabbing onto his legs while four others got ready to charge at him. The Neoshadow beneath him was still intangible with the exception of his grip, which wasn't actually as strong as Edis expected, giving him the chance to have some real fun, and kill in an interesting and different way. As the Neoshadows charged, two on his right and two on his left, Edis waited until the very last second, when they were within touching distance of him, before he reacted. He jumped, not very high into the air but high enough to clear the Neoshadows as they went spiralling, claws out, into the poor Neoshadow still holding on beneath Edis, ending his existence without hesitation, and now Edis was above four other Neos, and he let gravity take its toll, using his fall to his advantage as he landed on the shoulders of a Neoshadow, sending it crashing to the ground as the three others were cut to ribbons by the two blades running along Edis' forearms. Five more Heartless defeated, this time not just casually killing them too. How good it felt to be alive in this day.

And then, in an instant, so many Heartless dropped. Edis saw a few fall before he located the source of the destruction. High in the sky was his partner, firing down death to all the Heartless, never once missing his target as their numbers dropped to single digits, an impressive attack certainly. Not an ultimate, but definitely more than just your average attack. Knowing the man would not miss a shot, Edis continued his fight against the remaining Heartless, not needing to pause for him. Even if this man wanted Edis dead, a bullet was too fast for him to stop or avoid, so Edis might as well kill as many Heartless as he could before dying. The bullets hit many of the Heartless, but none ever came for him, he wasn't a target, and he was left to silently kill the rest of the creatures, watching as they evaporated into black smoke before Edis looked over to his comrade in arms, receiving thanks from the man, as well as praise for his fighting, before his partner introduced himself as Stiri, asking for Edis' own name, to which the man was more than happy to oblige.

"I dunno, I think you may have defeated more after that last move, very impressive stuff I must say, it was a pleasure to fight beside one as strong as yourself. I'm Edis, Edis Rehtona, strange name but it's mine, pleasure to meet you Stiri. I must ask, what brings you to the Keyblade Graveyard? You can clearly handle yourself well, but this is still a very dangerous land."

[Lenneth]

Lenneth smiled brightly in acceptance to the compliment,  it felt nice to be admired for his hard work instead of being cursed upon for the results, likely due to the fact he was fighting along side someone...and someone  whom wasn't already madly obsessive with him to start with. Thinking on it he has spent a considerable amount of training during his time in the dark to ready himself for the realm of light and even just climbing his way into the ranks of being heartless king, they were horrible bright days he feared death would only be the mercy that his elders had during his youth and being different in the only humanoid heartless around for that many years alone didn't add much to his confidence. But here he stood today as a symbol of power as well as beauty in the dark because of it.

“Thank you I had to train for a long time to handle the style of bullet arts, guns are such strange weapons to use. They have recoil push back, it takes a stable hand to aim correctly yet constantly move around to avoid attacks and mixing that with acrobatics, it all took some evolution time to adjust given the trickster like moves but I find it all paid off in the end”  

While speaking Lenny conjured one of his guns just to illustrate his tale, playing around with its frame and spinning along his fingers while admiring the multi coloured jewels for a while. They were heavily stylized to be durable to closer quarters and still pack enough fire power for mighty shots to be let loose on the poor victims at the bad end of his barrels. They would vanish once more back into storage while Lenny took a gaze around their surroundings figuring his location after jumping from the dark realm and into a unfamiliar playing ground for those heartless.

“Its a pleasure to meet you Edis Rehtona. I am here for the purposes of knowledge and the power to understand the sands of time of this place. This world holds a great deal many secretes regarding one of the greatest stories among the worlds, the Keyblades. I myself would like to explore all of their wonder. How about you Mr. Rehtona? I can't imagine a handsome guy  like yourself seeking anything from this wasteland other then for knowledge as well, its pretty dangerous like you said”
speaking again Lenny didn't have to fake a smile for his bright grin was real for a change, being normal felt alright he admit it.

[Edis Rehtona]

Now that the Heartless were all dead, Edis was able to get a better look at his partner, and the man was indeed one of a kind and stood out from the rest in terms of his looks. Edis wasn't attracted to men, but he was humble enough to know that there were many better looking males than him, and this man could quite possibly top the list. He was of impressive size and stature, and wore clothes that both showed and heightened his physical attributes, clothes that were much more interesting than a simple suit. However, Edis bore the man no ill will, nor did he see himself as any less of a man being in Stiri's presence, he was just making observations. After all, he looked for a man that had just fought a great many Heartless, even if he did predominately use guns to defeat the creatures of darkness.

Stiri then spoke to Edis, conjuring one of the pistols he had used earlier in his hand as he explained the intricacies of his fighting style, and how it had taken a great deal of time to learn and master the art of using the gun in both ranged and close combat, going so far as to even mention the specifications of his weapons, and how he had had to work with the recoil and the steadiness necessary to aim correctly and not miss a step. After all, guns were fickle creatures themselves, they could choose to shoot or not to shoot, and a gun not fulfilling its purpose could have fatal consequences for the shooter. Stiri admitted that it had taken a long time to master the weapons, but it had been worth it. After witnessing first hand the man's abilities with his guns, Edis couldn't help but agree with his final statement: his training had certainly paid off in the long run.

It was then that Stiri gave his reasons for being in the Keyblade Graveyard, and Edis couldn't help but smile at the man's words, as they were both there for the same exact reasons. Perhaps they both sought the powers of the Keyblade, perhaps not, but at present they could at least aid each other in their individual goals. Edis took a puff of his newly lit cigarette, inhaling the destructive chemicals before exhaling them in a puff of smoke, while simultaneously altering the form of his tonfa back into Imitation's base form, sheathing the katana as he picked his words. Much like Stiri and his gunplay, Edis too had once needed to learn various styles to become stronger, having spent many years fighting the Heartless of Port Royal to learn the true art of fighting with Imitation and its many forms, now being a master at all of said forms.

"Much like yourself, and just as your predicted, I too am here seeking knowledge about the Keyblade. I have heard many stories about its power and wished to see if any of them were true. Unfortunately, the Heartless have seen to it that all the Keyblades here are without any power, they are simple blades, lacking the hearts that once sustained them long ago. If I may, could I ask what you already know of the weapons? As a scholar and a fighter, it's within everyone's best interests to discover what makes these weapons different from all others, and why they are capable of completely destroying the Heartless while conventional weapons merely dissolve them. It truly is a great mystery, one you and I could work together to unravel, if you are up for it?"

[Lenneth]

The man seemed to share Lenneth's curious nature at least and  was happy about it given that smile that peaked out from the man's expression defined. While his words provide some welcome air of friendliness, enough for Lenneth's own tense paranoia thoughts to finally place him at ease Edis's appearance spoke of a much more stern persona underneath that well tailored suit. He wasn't sure to be certain but it just like that man had seen stuff, like really really bad stuff that would scar a normal human. They were after all creatures of habit and anything beyond their understanding at the time often would spark a negative reactions like that. Just thinking to himself while his partner light up a cigarette and pollute his lungs Lenny though the guy needed a better night's sleep. Maybe he could peek a bit into this man's history when the chance arose, just for fun or ammo if the need arose.

“ Excellent! Its nice to meet another seeker of knowledge on these dangerous quests, it makes things a lot more enjoyable being more social and whatnot. Studying can be lonely plus it doesn't look like either of us needed to be babied by the other.”

Smiling back while standing with his arms hugging each other Len proceeded to slightly clean himself from this dusty land's effects to his perfect frame, brushing off the ends of pants from the sand and combing through his hair with his black nails and straightening out the strands as carefully and quickly as he could while they spoke back and forth. The graveyard was quite dry and looked like it was missing a lot of moisture, what on earth happened to this world? The tall dark and well suited man would then purpose a partner ship for their quest for knowledge which for the dark beauty didn't sound like such a bad idea, it would make things more interesting and less lonely. New people were always interesting at first to.  

“It is a great day for both of us then, just to the northeast of this location is rumoured of hidden path leading to an ancient structured hidden in a cannon and by the mountains. As far as the rumours go the place remains a mystery due to the first ones to discover it being driven back by some kind of force, likely the heartless we encountered if I had to guess. I would be happy to explore this mystery with you then. If something like that were here then it should have some clues about the keyblades”

That interest in finding the key's history in order to understand better  how it slaughter his kin then was at best troubling and something he would need to consider while the idea of a partnership was in mind. Lenneth wanted to find that answer as well though for the opposite reason, maybe this man was a heartless sympathizes but that seemed unlikely with how quickly he came to the aid of a stranger in order to kill them outright. There time spent together would be the test surviving it purpose for this and show Lenneth the light realm's convection in finding their salvation.

“Ah well in relation to the heartless the keys are indeed their mightiest foes. For it is there special power to unlock any sort of  seal in there way that gives them this edge. Keyblades have the power to unlock or lock any kind of lock like how the darkness keeps hold of fallen hearts.  Once the hearts from their dark shells of the heartless are freed and cut off from the prison of shadows they allow those hearts to return to their original realm and into its natural cycle of life without risking destroying the heart in the process. Without the heart to animate the darkness that gives heartless their form they essentially die or more acculturate scatter into a back into formless darkness. Normal weapons while able to break up their form cannot separate the heart away from the darkness thus the heart is able to reconsecrate it given time even if it is place else where.

That unfortunately is the extend of the more useful parts of my understand of the keys,  I have a few other little trinkets of knowledge about them but given the response from my peers or keybladers I've come across that is the most useful known facts about them.  

What sort of information have you come across or anything to share?”

It was a simple nugget of information that most as far as Lenneth has come across knew about when it came to the heartless and their mortal enemies the keys. It wouldn't be too much of a revel for someone truly looking for the key's history. And planting the fear of killing anything innocent like their hearts of fellow people of mankind might even dismay others from seeking to misuse the information. Though how it came to be might be a little bit of a gamble it wasn't reverent enough to derail their study into holding their hearts after being slain by a chosen. More importantly if Lenny could make allies even with a cursed keyblader or gain additional information about the legendary weapons it would prove all the more usefully.

Lenneth would also conjure a drawn paper book out from his magics, flipping through the pages into one filled with notes and decently drawn diagrams related to this surrounding area as he examined the environment all around them to better aid in finding their quest marker.

[Edis Rehtona]

It seemed Stiri was glad to have company while he searched for knowledge as he, unlike Edis, found studying alone boring and tedious, and much preferred to learn things with another by his side, especially one who would not require saving should they enter another predicament like they just experienced. Edis on the other hand loved to study by himself, and preferred it over being with another. He had always found that, when studying as a pair or group, it always ended up that one person did more work and there were a lot more pauses or breaks than if one studied alone. Despite this, the young man was happy to join Stiri as they both searched for information on the mysterious artifacts known as the Keyblades. After all, they were currently in the graveyard, surrounded by heartless everywhere and god knew what else: couldn't hurt to have a little bit of back up just in case.

The conversation then grew very interesting, as Stiri spoke of a location, not far from wherer they were now, that could potentially hold the secrets they wished to learn. A hidden path leading to a ancient temple in the graveyard of the Keyblades, it almost seemed too good to be true, provided of course that it did aid them both in their quest and wasn't going to be a waste of their time. But Stiri seemed confident in its existence, and Edis had no reason to place any mistrust in the man. Luckily they had already possibly destroyed the threat that stopped the first group of explorers from properly discovering the temple and documenting its existence. A force had pushed them back, halting any progress they could have made, and Stiri belived that force was the numerous Heartless that the two men had just wiped out. If that was the case, then there would be nothing stopping them from reaching the temple, giving them no reason not to go. Worst case scenario was they would find nothing and they would have wasted a couple of hours of their lives, but the best case scenarios outweighed the risk of losing time.

Before they set off to their destination, as Edis was following his partner for this venture, they decided to share what information they did know regarding the Keyblades, so as not to hide anything from each other. Stiri shared what he knew of the weapon's ability to free the hearts, and taught Edis the reason why they worked over conventional weaponry. He had heard a similar concept written in a book in the Castle of Dreams, but his blonde partner explained much more clearly and helped aid in the dark haired man's understanding of the weapons. It did make sense: the hearts were locked inside the bodies of their Heartless. Breaking a lock didn't always allow you to gain access to whatever was locked, but with a key, with a key you can unlock the Heartless without an issue, and free the trapped hearts, a pretty straight forward, and yet very intriguing prospect, as Edis said his piece on the weapons.

"I don't know very much, but what I do is pretty handy to have. For a start I know that the Keyblades scattered around us in this graveyard all belonged to individual wielders, and each blade is unique in both its looks and its abilities. The Keyblades represent the user's own heart, and the strength of that heart, regardless of whether the heart is light or dark, and its abilities suit their owner. These Keyblades are now relics of the past, they are useless at this point in time as their wielders have since perished. However, I have heard two varying theories surrounding the powers of a Keyblade, both of which I imagine are true. The first is rather simple to explain, but difficult to comprehend. The Keyblade is known for its power to free a heart trapped within the Heartless, but that is not its only use. A theory suggests that the Keyblades can be used to reform a Somebody. If a Heartless and Nobody of the same person are together, the Keyblade can free the heart from the Heartless and allow it to re-enter its former housing: reforming the fallen man or woman. I have never seen this used in practice, but it is certainly interesting."

Pausing for a moment to allow Stiri time to process everytrhing that was said, Edis took another smoke of his cigarette before continuing.

"This other theory works in tandem with the previous one: the reforming of a 'dead' Somebody through the Nobody and Heartless, but this takes it a step further. These Keyblades had wielders, and those wielders are now dead. That means one of two things has happened to them: either they entered the underworld, trapped there forever unless able to escape, or they have become a Heartless and a Nobody. Now, if it is the latter, the theory states that, since the soul of the person never truly perished to the underworld, they are still very much alive. From that, if a former Keyblade wielder turned Heartless and Nobody was reformed by a Keyblade into the Somebody once more, that Somebody should be able to use the Keyblade that they once drew power from. So it's possible that many of these dead Keyblades are actually dormant, just waiting for their wielder to return and use them once more. Interesting, huh?"

[Lenneth]

Ah good the man seemed to accept Lenneth's company, excellent he'd be a nice helping hand for the real threats that were in hand, the forces of the unknown. Lenneth could shake the feeling but there was something else about this world's disturbances that were causing him to feel uneasily. He painted on a smiled while flipping through his magical book that hovered in underneath his chin trying just to keep his mind busy. The pages would slowly  start to emit a faint purple light shimmering off the letters just as they started to float off the pages and given in between them. The book would start to move its own pages while Lenny backed away letting his partner share his turn in the information pot luck and giving his magics some space.

What Ed spoke of his history a cold shivers  ran through Lenneth's body as he was almost visible shaking himself from recalling the effects of the keys and scars they had in his memory. It was a distant time when he and Thelen came to their first death at each other's hand then reuniting back into their human form much in the same manner Edis described. Though they were connect they shared memory of ripping reality pain they both felt then each held a copy to this very day that hunted their dreams and fuelled their fear of deaths. In the end it brought both halves of the La Vaeas together again, showing them a level of intimacy that no other could possible know like they did and Lenny was thankfully. It also proved the man's of the theory but he couldn't let the guy know how he knew this.

The second theory was quite puzzling itself, raising an sharp eyebrow arch it give Lenny a moment to think more heavily on this possible subject while the swordsman committed on it further, interesting to note since both he and Thele had recently lost that connection. If they rejoined then what if, wait then who's blade would there human would be able to use.

No never mind that the thought of this many key wielders escaping extinction and  raising up arms against them again no this could not happen, never.  

“The keyblades...a truly frighting power to behold that they can transcend the mortal concept of life and death. Whatever first created them and their awesome powers must be no less then Gods of Gods” expression this statement faulted Lenneth's beautifully face into one of cold disturbance, concern for a possible future overtaking his ideal one.

Finishing up that thought the book finally flipped its entire volume, the letters then jumbling together and forming into a large sphere of magical knowledge that grew a few pretty like incest wings of blue hues, flapping over top them flying like its own little entity. At first magical creature circled them while scanning the area giving itself an idea of their current location and scouting for whatever land marks it needed to match its own contents.

“Ahhh nice the spell has started to work, the little book its trying to match the area with the rough notes I got about the location of this place and manually direct itself to best reach our destination. Took a while to get the information too giving how desolate this place was and how historically it to a lot of people, some even refused this place exist stating it to be a land only the legends may walk on.”

The flying orb found its way, blinking in its bright colours while almost making a soft sound before it took off into the direction, heading just north between the stones surrounding them and moving just at a decent jogging speed. Both of them would easily be fast enough to simple take their time walking with the flying haul of information and easily keep in sight of it.

“Seems like the little fellow found the way or I hope it did anyways. The spell only works with information that was written in the book so fingers crossed” Lenny gestured while scratching his cheek before walking behind his summon. Holding his hands behind his neck while stretching out in a relaxed manner, shifting his hips from side to side lightly while strutting his steps just  caused by habit. He would then rest his arms to the side turning only a little to see if Edis was following behind or if he sensed something else.

[Edis Rehtona]

Edis shared Stiri's sentiments about the Keyblades: they possessed powers beyond mere human knowledge, and could do things that no human could achieve without their powers, which begged the ultimate question. Many scholars often asked where the Keyblades came from, but that had been truly answered long ago, and was an obvious question. Keyblades came from the heart, the strength of the heart, of the individual wielder, but that was never what they meant by their questions. They didn't want to know how it was created, they wanted to know the criterea for unlocking the power, an impossible question as it was different for everyone. You had to prove the strength and worth of your heart to unlock the power, but every person had a different obstacle to overcome, otherwise everyone would possess the Keyblade by passing the same test over and over again. No, the important question that truly interested Edis was not how the Keyblades were formed, but who. Who was the first to wield a Keyblade, and how did they know what to do? Did that person create the Keyblades? Who were they? It was the question, the answer from which all others could be answered also.

It was only then that Edis noticed the book which Stiri had opened recently, but which was now floating in the air around them, apparently searching for their location, after being given all the information that Stiri had managed to uncover throughout his own travels. The blond haired man tried to explain it to Edis, and it all made sense to the dark haired man, who understand everything about it. He had soon discovered that most magics were just worth accepting in the worlds, some just didn't make any sense in the slightest, but they still worked, so Edis was content with discovering how it all worked, even if its very nature made no sense whatsoever, like a flying book for example, that possessed enough sentience to work out where to go from a bunch of notes given about the surrounding area. Then again, after only a few minutes, the book began to fly towards something, with the two men following it closely, at normal walking pace since the things didn't seem to be the quickest of magical creations. Stiri seemed more hopeful than anything else, which caused Edis to roll his eyes as they walked in the potential direction of the temple they were looking for, with only a single sigh escaping Edis' lips throughout their journey, as well as a phrase.

"I swear, if that book leads us into another swarm of Neoshadows I'm putting it in a shredder."

[Lenneth]

“Lets hope then that this is a walk in a park like a really dry and desert like park. Magic isn't perfect after all”

Lenneth found himself at ease while walking in line with the direction given by his spell, it kept up its pace with little effort and didn't stop once as of yet to confirm its direction. So that there was some hope for it to find what they both looked for, a greater spring of wealthy information regarding the weapons of legendary. While their journey seemed to start and not forecast the end of this quest a few side thoughts kept Len's mind busy while his body moved, everything about this world just seemed off.

He paused for a moment while his magical tome continued along its path. He simple keeled down to touch the land, to feel its pulse for himself up closer and personal. It had gone unnoticed till then but Lenneth could not feel the world's heart radiant its force much along this outer shell of a body, normally it was unmistakable feeling such a massive flux of power and yet this world appeared devoid of it. Honing his heartless senses and dimming his other sense the mighty heartless king focused and yet nothing nothing that could oh but wait! Maybe? Just a hint of it...maybe. It was so difficult to tell. He stood back up and turned back to his partner, lightly smiling to apologize for his odd behaviour before continue to walk beside the man and behind their guide.

“Hey Edis do you know anything about this world itself? I far as I've heard this place is only been known for the site of a great war between keybladers. But that doesn't make much sense to me, this world has likely existed before then but as a dead one? The earth is very dry but the formation of clouds above us speaks of once upon a time there was water here not to mention this place has an breathable atmosphere for us to breath in so plant life must have existed at one point. Its only speaks more question as to why those involved choose this land to fight upon

So what could have happened? Or how devastating were those battles that they could erase this place from memory”

[Edis Rehtona]

Stiri warned Edis that magic was never perfect, but he also hoped that their journey was a 'walk in the park', a phrase used over all the worlds that Edis had heard multiple times. It was supposed to symbolise ease, like nothing was easier than walking through a park, but even in a park things could go horribly wrong. It's not like Heartless avoided parks, they were just as dangerous as everywhere else, possibly more so as there would be very little cover to use in the event of an attack. It was a nice phrase, and rolled off the tongue easily enough, which is probably what made it so widely used, but if anything it was a phrase, not for suggesting ease and lack of stress, but for becoming aware that the world was a dangerous place no matter where you were, be it a graveyard, a battlefield, or a park. Nowhere was safe from the Heartless, they would attack anyone wherever they were, without hesitation or thought. That was the true danger of the creatures: they did not think, the feral Heartless at least, they attacked anyone in sight, which is why they were monsters in many eyes, Edis' included, although he had personal history with them.

While they walked, never needing to speed up or slow down thanks to the magical tome keeping a steady speed, Stiri stopped and went to the ground, kneeling and putting his palm flat on the surface of the barren wasteland. Edis couldn't really understand why but he assumed it wasn't to see how the ground felt when touched. There were many different reasons why Stiri could be touching the surface of the world, but Edis could only really think of one main reason for it. He wasn't touching the ground itself: he was channeling his power into the ground to get a glimpse of something, he was looking for something through the ground, but what that something was Edis couldn't know, there were too many possibilities.

It was then that a question was asked, as Stiri stood up. Their search for knowledge never ended, as the blonde man asked Edis what he knew of this world. Of course, like Stiri, Edis knew that this was a site of a great war, but his partner thought beyond that, or rather before. Before the great Keyblade War this world must have been something. The barren wasteland was the result of the war, and yet the clouds above showed signs of water, and of life. Perhaps, once, this was a place of great beauty, a utopia of sorts, before the war and the death, which caused everyone to forget the once proud world and only see it for what it had become. It was an interesting theory, one which Edis shared to an extent.

"I understand what you mean Stiri: this world could not have simply been this desolate place we see before us. Once, before the war occured, perhaps it did hold life, perhaps it was just like any other world: full of people, hopes dreams, love and loss. As to what happened to that world, the war ravaged this land, causing it to become what it now is. Perhaps everyone that knew it before was wiped out, or perhaps no one wanted to remember the happy times. Perhaps it was too much for them to think of the lost world. A world that once was, but would never again be, if you understand that, you can see why they would rather it just be seen as the wasteland it is. The war took much more than simply lives, it destroyed hopes and dreams, it spread death and despair, and destroyed worlds and hearts. There has never been anything like it before or since, and we must hope it never occurs again, or other worlds will share the fate of this one."

[Lenneth]

A world dead yet not given the comforts to return back into darkness's embrace, a horrible image indeed to ponder about. In the life one lived for so long Lenneth had consider the darkness to be its own eternity itself, the passing of which all existence was to continue to exist without end. The light in contrast was a version of eternal was that of fleeting, sparks of a greater flame that traveled through its endless space igniting new lights to take the place of the old, ever shining as an endless wild fire of evolution that burnt away at its realm slowly by the moments.

This world lost in the war of the keys was likely such a world that just meet its end time in the spotlight. And yet why haven't the heartless sought to this pearl sitting out in the sand and taken it back home, to feel its memory of life in their countless whispers within the hive mind of the great shadows. The answer could only be one dreadful thing, the mortal weapons of destruction of the keys locking the path to rebirth that this world deserved. It would remain here dead hidden away from its memory and exist only as a blank slate housing the sins of the powerfully.

Such a cruelness to behold, the fear those that call themselves heroes and the extend to which they would protect there ideals above the lives of countless others all of it to disrupt the cycle of life. He found himself more in silent awe as Ed proclaimed his thoughts in a organized and poetic manner. Though his insight was appreciated Lenny found himself walking in silence for a few minutes while processing this theory and his own troubling thoughts. It was not out of any sort of malevolence he kept to himself for that while he just needed to think. His heartless kin likely didn't did share Lenneth's perceptive of balance between the light and dark only what their own goals and wishers drove them, their sin of desire. Ironically as the embodiment of desire itself was it within the mighty king's right to even think about? Lateral thinking outside the establish designs of once's essences seemed almost dishonest.

How to be, how to feel, what to think, what is right, what is wrong and who was he to think on this. Visible Lenny could almost seem like he was passing some painfully kidney stones right about then, even as he wondered in the path shown by his magical book his face and eyes crush together as if the muscular discomfort of tensing his perfect features would help generate more brain power for him use but of course they did not. A few times too Lenneth would lose his focus and wonder off in the same direction even as their guide turn into a corner leaving his master to trail off but only a few meters before quickly rushing back following behind the book.

“Sorry...A few things on my mind” Len said in quick reaction to how thought he was projecting to himself

As they moved the book's light would intensely the longer they followed behind it, hovering faster it would dash forward with greater speeds as if to show its own excitement, Lenneth followed in suit matching the speed of his tome, turning also to see if Edis would do the same and hopefully not trail too far behind. Flying faster and faster the guide picked up speed and evaluation, inching and closer to a large cluster of mountains and a path twisting along its lowest edges at ground level. There is it could hiss itself with joy the magical map stopped dead on at the edge of a large cave tucked away between three or more standing stones very out of sight.


Peering out from the corner Lenny caught up with his book, a little stunned to see its trail held up and itself flipping the magical pages as if to confirm something. He then noticed the entrance to the cave, leading down into the mountains which was very perplexing.

“A Cave? Thats weird I don't recall hearing about that from the directions I got. I mean that three mountains touching, two points to the north west tip and the other to the south west when the sun was three hours past high noon. It should be giving the current time for this world in the 24 hour clock system” stretching his head the dark king found himself at a lost as his book closed itself and proceeded to move again. This time at its walking pace as it entered the cafe alone, lighting a bright path for the duo to follow if they so choose to. Lenneth decided quickly enough and took suit in exploring the unknown darkness ahead with a sexy confidence and concerned smile.

“A cave might slightly different kind of dark threat but no heartless right?”

[Edis Rehtona]

After voicing his own opinions and theories on the state of the Keyblade Graveyard, a place that Edis had spent all of his current adult life having nightmares about and being terrified of, his partner Stiri remained silent for the rest of their journey to process both what Edis had said and, judging by his wandering off on occasion, much more personal things. Edis didn't interrupt his musings, as he knew how rude it was to ruin someone's train of thought when they were deep inside their own mind. Instead, as the two men followed the flying book to places unknown, Edis swerved his head to face a different direction, looking over to the space where his brother had perished, even if mountains and wastelands stood between them. Edis could feel the area, and he knew exactly where it was, it was the one thing that he never lost sight of in this land. For he wasn't looking for a place to keep track of where it was, instead he was sensing other life in this wasteland, and there was only one other faint trace of a Heartless sitting in one position and not moving. That Heartless of Mikael was too far away for Stiri to notice, and even if he could he would pay it no heed, and hell it was too far away for Edis to properly know where it was, he wasn't strong enough to feel its position from where he was, but that's not what he was doing. Mikael was doing the same thing that Edis was: keeping a close eye on the other and watching for them and where they went. Mikael was much stronger than Edis at this time, and he had the power to sense the position of his brother at any point in this world, Edis was just noticing the eyes on him and following them back. They both knew what was approaching: the battle between them where they would decide who was the stronger, but they both knew Edis wasn't ready for it, and Mikael didn't want to take a weak heart, which is why he left both Stiri and Edis in peace for now. Soon, Edis would return to this land and seek out his brother for their conflict, but that day had not yet come to pass.

Without realising at the time, while thinking of his brother and of what he had to do, tears began to stream from Edis' eyes, tears at the loss of his brother and tears at the pain so many had gone through on his behalf. Stiri never turned around to see them, instead apologising for losing his way, but Edis didn't care about that. He wiped the tears away with the sleeve of his shirt and lit another cigarette, discarding his current one and hoping the flames of it would evaporate the remainder of the tears, and hide his face in the smoke while it did so. Edis hated being seen as weak by anyone, and he knew his tears were not of weakness but of sorrow. However, he would not allow Stiri, despite the man proving himself a strong ally, to see him weep, no one again would see Edis weep, not until he had sorted everything that he had caused to happen in the world. He blinked a few times and removed the tears, realising that those were the first tears he had shed since losing his brother, having vowed then never to cry until the wrongs were righted. His vow, and his spirit, broken, Edis kept up with the book barely until they reached the cave, and listened to Stiri as he explained that the cave was not what he expected to find, but that they were looking for a clock of sorts. In all honesty, Edis couldn't care less at that point, for the cave was obviously the way to go for them both, as the book agreed, flying into the cave, lighting the way for the two men to follow. Stiri went in first, and Edis followed suit, smiling very weakly at his partner's smart remark about them finding a cave and not Heartless. Trying to at least sound himself, and very nearly succeeding, Edis spoke with a hearty laugh.

"I dunno, Stiri. Heartless love caves and darkness, it's their thing after all. I'd be willing to bet a healthy sum of munny that we fun into them in this cave. But hey, at least we've got a light, I'm not that good at fighting in the dark blind, glad I won't need to."

[Lenneth]

“Good to know, as for the bet hmm nahh”

Lenneth proceeded into the cave with his magical book lighting their path through the darkness, taking command then for the light to brighten for them as they walked deeper into the unknown, unaware of his partner's inner blight and unseen emotional shields. As their vision widened their environment revealed itself to be a huge open space with the walls widen far past their current location, stalagmite and stalactite doting their limited vision while appearing much like teeth welcoming its pray. The sun slightly poured down through a few openings in the sky sprinkling a little wonder into their abyss. Along them tiny sounds would also greet the two strangers entering their domain, small droplets of water shimmering in the limited sunlight before breaking apart at the stone down below hitting just enough distance down out of sight like a newborn cries.

Both Lenneth and Ed could notice this, their path was not a one that widened itself with the distance of the cave, it instead it was a narrowing line in compassion dotting only a single path for them to take. Though it was linear the path could easily fit at least ten fully sized men so the duo had plenty of room to move should their dancing shoes be needed.

“Dam this place is huge and there is signs of moisture too, I wonder if this is a natural cavern or was it made my an outside force” Lenneth's voice would echo for several moments while he spun around admiring the wonders of an open yet confined space pondering yet the means such a hide out was created on this world. He would proceed to venture further taking in his partner's notice while admiring something unseen.  

Ahead the path both waged heavily straight and downward as it spiralled into several loops towards the lower levels of elevation just out of sight. Below the darkness strengthened as not even light could touch down at its depths. The book would also slowly following in sight of this path, taking the occasion turn from left to right while moving in the single path way for some puzzling reason outside of their scoop.

“Those travellers must have been drunk or something, wonder how long it took them to find this place.”

The dark king would then proceeded to travel further into their destination following in suit to the book minus the intoxicated shifts. As he did the cave's upper ceiling lit up with tiny yellow lights that first broke out from the black. First one pair then three more then hundreds taking form as flapping shapes diving down at them. Literally dotting the small amount of light with their darkness as a swarm of hook bats enclosed around the boys. The book in response grew much brighter as a mini sun letting all five sense be sharp for this threat.

Lenny conjured his guns back into his hands kissing them at their barrel before holding them along his hips, counting in his mind just how many voices there were and how distance they all seemed to him, the poor lost heartless to their kingdom. He did not move until they would move first, eye balling them like a school of sharks taking in the sight of their intent, most of them seemed to gather more around Edis then Lenny for some explainable reason.

This dance would start with stone hearts, several dozen bat hook heartless garbing off the stones and swinging them quickly at the pair of them, hurling more and more rocks as their sized started to varying into larger chunks. Lenny proceed into taking his eagle  sights and firing, splinting the stones that came around him as quickly as he could though the number of target would steady increase even as he held them off for the time being.

[Edis Rehtona]

Edis and Stiri both walked into the newly found cave, following that book of Stiri's to wherever it could take them both. Normally, in this situation, he would be a lot more cautious. Not just of the cave and the potential threats that could lie within, but also of his partner, who could easily have been leading Edis into a trap, commanding the book on his own and knowing exactly where he was going, but this was one of those very rare exceptions to the rule. Edis had fought and killed Heartless with Stiri, and he trusted that the man did not want to see Edis die at least, for now anyway. That was enough for the young male: he didn't care if his partner was planning on turning on him later on down the line, for now they were allies, and for now they were both in the dark, quite literally save for the floating illuminated book that hovered a few feet in front of them.

There path and scenery changed as they entered a much larger cave like system, with their path still being relatively narrow despite the given space that they now had. However, in relation to the arena their path might have been small, but there was more than enough room for them to move about freely should any threats make themselves known. Stiri pondered whether the cave system was a natural creation or whether it was man made. It was large and grand enough to have been either, as no one quite knew what powers the land held before becoming the wasteland for which it was known. Perhaps it had been formed as a crater in the war, or perhaps it was a temple that housed great mystery, and even greater treasure. Examining one of the walls of the path they were on, Edis couldn't help but notice that it was ridiculously smooth for the cave to have been naturally created. The wall had been sanded down to the finest smoothness, as Edis traced his hand along it as their journey continued, his hand only flinching when the texture suddenly changed dramatically.

He had been stroking the smooth, cold stone one minute, and then the next he felt a lump of something almost leathery in material, and warmer than the wall itself. Raising an eyebrow, Edis stopped for a moment to turn and look at what he was touching, and it was then his eyes were met by a pair of glowing yellow orbs. He rolled his eyes as the Heartless hook bat swatted his hand away, hitting him before returning to the rest of its group, who Stiri had also noticed. They all swarmed around the two men, but most of them seemed to focus on Edis rather than Stiri, the reasoning for which Edis didn't know. Maybe they saw him as the easier target, which made the man smile, as he drew his previously sheathed blade, thinking of how he would use it to wipe out the Heartless, but his question was answered as a rock hit him in the head, causing a little bit of blood to dribble down his forehead and into his mouth, out of habit to be met by Edis' tongue and he drank the escaped fluid. His next movement was to change his weapon into his nunchaku which he manoeuvred with ease and grace, dispatching of the rocks as they came near him, and watching as the bats looked to their enemies, understanding that the rocks would not work, and instead deciding to charge, most of them heading for Edis than for his partner, but it mattered little. Regardless of their opponent, they would all fall to one of their weapons, be it the nunchaku of Edis, or the pistols of Stiri.

[Lenneth]

The bats fell one by one before their duo's might, vanishing as poofs of dark smoke with a moderate cry but it would not bring their end so quickly, one might fall but it felt like a new pair would take its place to overtake them in sheer numbers. And the men's resistance seemed to spark something more within the little heartless, a kind of thirst their essence called out for as it fought back. The test of a heart a fresh heart off the light's assemble line though even the dark king's tainted heart might be something if they could reach it beyond the dark realm's grasp, might be less of a hope. They would continued to gather around them in a blinding cloud formation for a while longer while attempting the same tactic but soon releasing it was failing due to their skills, even in their animalistic patterns.

The lot of the bat heartless would form into a single unit, filling up like huge balloon right in front of them even as they took on Lenny's bullets picking a few off here and there. But it wouldn't do much good they would then charge towards Edis at full speed. Striking at the suit wearing warrior with the full force of torrent of weight which Lenny expected the man to move out of the way soon enough.

But something else became a miss as with his connections felt a mass of heartless just underneath them, a secondary swarm formation that at least's Len's physical sense did not pick up right away and it felt like they were also charging but upwards underneath their footing. If they could phase through physical matter and took him by surprise or damaged he bridge just to get to them...

Lenny quickly moved towards his partner, quick as lightning just in a kneeling position just closer to ground while concentrating, emitting a bright purple light being griped firmly in his hands. As Lenneth's eyes flared up with magic and the hook bats came at once Lenny erected a large barrier around before himself, Edis and the large portion of a stone way underneath them. As it glimmered the force of the heartless took on both sides of the protective sphere, shaking it and causing some greater discomfort for the seeker of desire to maintain up against their pressure. The heartless would sporadic push up against the crystal like barrier flapping in angst before dispersing along the area back into singular school formation again a further distance away gathering itself for the next wave.

[Edis Rehtona]

These Heartless, the bat hooks, were surprisingly more intelligent than most of their kin that Edis had ever faced. From the initial assault of ranged attacks with rocks, they were simply to size up their opponents, even if the rocks were easily destroyed by the two. After that came the seemingly never ending onslaught as bat after bat charged for the two men, the majority seeming to prefer Edis over Stiri as their target. The nunchaku was certainly the best choice for the situation, as it helped Edis move around freely and take them all out one by one, defending from their attacks and launching his own simultaneously as he survived wave after wave of the Heartless mob. Occasionally, some broke through and caused him some damage, resulting in Edis' suit to tear in places, and for his arms and face to be covered in scratches, bruises, and blood from the deeper cuts, all of which flowed along his arm towards his nunchaku, which absorbed the blood, in preparation for a much stronger attack which would come soon, but would be wasted on the hook bats. At least, that was the original plan.

The waves stopped coming, and Edis thought for a moment that perhaps they had won and their were no Heartless left. How wrong he was, as he looked over at the swarm, now forming a huge creation of the Heartless, a swarm with such great momentum that it would not be good to take the hit directly, no matter who it was on the receiving end. Naturally, almost as if they feared Stiri, the swarm headed straight for Edis, with enough speed and force that it seemed unlikely he was going to be able to dodge without taking some damage. Luckily, he had just the skill to avoid him from taking any damage whatsoever, and probably do more damage to the swarm than they could do to him. He'd never need to use this skill though, as his partner rushed to his side and erected a barrier, a barrier which was taking damage from two sides: the swarm in front of them, but also something below, something Edis hadn't been able to sense, something a normal Somebody probably wouldn't have been able to sense since it was in the ground itself and intangible. Smiling at Stiri for now, Edis saved his questions.

"Seems I owe you one now."

With that, Edis decided to end the battle, releasing the blood, roughly around 100ml, stored inside his weapon, as well as growing his weapon to double the size of the normal nunchaku. His suit torn, and his weapon charged, Edis dashed past Stiri, going straight for the Heartless swarm that had now retreated a few steps back, but it wasn't enough. Edis jumped into the heart of the swarm, unleashing his fury as he swung with perfect precision, dispatching every enemy that came near him, this time not letting any get through to damage him at all. It took a few minutes, but the hook bats were utterly destroyed by Edis, who's weapon now shrank back to its original size, and who damage also reverted back to normal. That was one enemy dealt with, now there was just the swarm in the ground, a swarm of Heartless, or one very large Heartless, that was capable of phasing in and out of the cave system. This could be a fun battle.

Imitation: Skill 3 & 4 used
CD for Skill 4: 6 posts

[Lenneth]

The pressured poured onto the magical sphere Lenny had conjured, testing his magical ability as well as his self-imposed limitations for this day, how far he was willing to maintain the air of the common adventure restrain himself from tapping into his true might? Only his own fate could tell him that. It was still difficult to hold though with thus number raging itself at them like this and with the vigour push this bats what they should be able to do normally.

It would also come to reason why so many were working in conjunction with each other and even where hiding out in this little back water world, no hearts for them to feed on and still between the border of light and darkness this world should have been left to the scarps and the lone hunters as a resting stop at best, this was all very puzzling.

Edis then explored his talents for what they were a talented warrior with a more red stained battle tec that proved effective given how much fluid he lost at that point, or it could be he just hit a larger volume area with the wounds. Rushing past him the suited man took his leap of faith inside the upper swarm itself with little fear even as Lenny looked on in puzzling shock for a few moments.

To his surprise the man had evaded the raw skilled need to deal with this unusual heartless tactic though Lenny could not physically see the man's action the mental screams of the heartless he slayed rippled at his sense with such number and speed they almost vanished just as they let out their cries, falling then back into shadows leaving his partner bathed in their defeat and his own injures.

Now with that out of the way Lenny could focus though his delight fell short as the lower swarm continued to push away at this magic bubble and without the force of the other swarm counter balancing it Lenneth's magic as well as himself were pushed upward like a geyser, now being overtaken by the number of heartless flying upward and pushing the barrier around like a captured victim in their stream. It was interesting now as the force of their movements compressed the entire sphere applying much greater strength against it.

The La Vaeas would ride this wave a little while longer as the somebody finished his deed, the force flied cracking around him while lenny kept it alive with a moderate attention. He divided his focus with slowly infuriating the heartless around him trying to figure out their purpose among st the madness he felt in their dark hearts but doing so in the midst of battle was taxing the say the least.

Finally the magic could take no more and shattering itself in a bright flesh that sent several chunks of itself among the heartless, dispersing their physical shapes back into raw darkness sent into their home realm. Most of the hook bats readiness now filling the space and clawing away at Lenny in their stream of movement, flying him downward into a lower level of the path way just under Edis position before dispersing away from both of their areas.

With a crashing thud Lenneth's back slammed against the stone, thundering the echo across the cave with the dark king reeling from the ride in a little awe from the sudden stop.

“Ouch....” he called out while curling into a small ball for his back, feeling their sore muscle ache tingling down his entire form. He'd turn onto his side to sit back up though slowly waiting to see where Edis was at that point.

[Edis Rehtona]

It seemed Edis' plan hadn't really worked tremendously well. Granted, Edis had indeed defeated the swarm of Heartless causing both him and Stiri bother, but in destroying one swarm he upset the scales. The swarm from below that Edis had not been able to sense, the swarm that made him question how Stiri could sense them, it now had no force to balance it, giving it free reign to blast Stiri high up into the ceiling of the cave, forcing some loose rocks and stalactites to fall down to the floor of the cave where Edis stood. After some time watching, as Edis had dispatched all of his enemies and had none left to face, he watched the explosion of the shield and saw Stiri fall, swarmed by the Heartless as collided with the stony floor of the cave, lower down than Edis' position to a lower path.

Naturally, the ouch was the only thing the man uttered as he sat up, with Edis jumping down to make sure he was okay, even offering a hand in case Stiri needed help standing. That was a dangerous wound the man had received and could easily have done some severe damage. Luckily, the man looked mostly unharmed as Edis looked around the cave, his weapon still in its nunchaku form as he held both bits of wood in one hand, with the chain hanging between them below Edis. He scouted around to see if he could spot the swarm of hook bats, but not one showed their face, and no yellow eyes floated in the darkness. It seemed that, for now, they were both free from the Heartless, at least for a time, which allowed Edis time to ask his questions.

Sitting down next to his partner, Edis spoke.

"Glad to see you aren't dead, a hit like that could have seriously damaged weaker men. Thanks for what you did back there with the swarms, but I have to know. How was it you were able to detect the swarm below us. I know I'm not the strongest by any means, but I couldn't detect them until they were already pounding on your barrier, so how did you know they were there?"

[Lenneth]

Lenny accepted the friendly hand while stoking his back a little as he slowly stood back to his feet with a slight grin to his elegant face. He would dust himself up while checking the rest of him making sure there wasn't too much harm done from such a fall and string of attacks. Patting his bubble butt and hips and finding a few marks and cuts along his sides and back pants. They weren't deep but enough to tear noticeable gaps between the fabric, ah well.

His partner seemed to have taken the brunt of it ending up with a lot more visible cuts and bruises then anything but still able to stand and show a level of concern worthy of fighting along side a stranger. The heartless were clearly more interested in this one's heart arability as a fresh meal, Lenneth's was already claimed by the dark and couldn't be taken. But they were certainly aggressive about it, more then normal in fact, that was a interesting. Realizing it Lenny could feel it too, there was something a little more alluring about this man then just some slum or street rat. He was special somehow but not very obvious about it just yet, did he realize the potential yet?

As Edis spoke Lenny felt inclined to ease the man's worries with the causally happy persona he had crafted for this encounter, but his mind froze a little when Ed mentioned what had transpired. Lenny's grip tightened a little before he pulled away noticing he had held on a little to long, giving Ed almost a little bit of an apoplectic look.

“Ahh so you noticed...pretty observant guy huh. Well its not something a lot of people like to admit but its something you pick up on when you fight them for so long, especially with a keybladers”

[Edis Rehtona]

Accepting the gesture offered his way, Stiri stood with Edis' help, as the blond man checked himself over for dangerous wounds, which he didn't seem to have. A few obvious cuts and bruises, but nothing too taxing, which made sense considering he hadn't fought head on that much, having only been scratched somewhat due to the hook bats pummeling him into the ground. Besides, Edisa had been the one who charged in and took out a swarm, so it was obvious that he'd be more battered and bruised than his partner. But in the end they had both survived relatively unharmed and able to continue, but not until Edis got some answers.

Stiri spoke, but there was something more, something that came before the words themselves. For an instant, sudden and brief but definitely there, Edis' partner looked overcome with fury at the questions posed to him by the young, black haired male, almost as if he had wanted to avoid such a topic and he hated that now he had to give an answer. And then it was gone, replaced by the happy persona Edis had become accustomed to over his short time with Stiri. It had been present long enough that Edis had noticed it was there, but short enough thast he found himself questioning whether it had been real or imagined. Regardless, Stiri spoke to allay his partner's concerns.

And with his words Edis froze, not from anger or fear, but from exhilaration. Stiri claimed to have gained an acute sense for the Heartless from fighting them from years, but he had gained this special ability from fighting them with a keyblader. His eyes widening and his pulse quickening, Edis began to stutter as he spoke in a mixture of awe and impatience.

"W-w-wait. D-do you mean t-to s-s-say that you know a k-k-k-keyb-b-blader?" The last word was the hardest to say: it was his dream to find the power of the Keyblade, he needed it in fact to solve his problems, and if Stiri could help him attain that power, or even just point him in the right direction, it would be a debt Edis would never be able to repay.

[Lenneth]

Lenny continued to brush himself off from the mess of dirt and dust of the shattered stone across his body though the man's words and way of speaking did not fall on deaf ears. He did pause though thinking to himself with uncertainly on the correct manner to address this with a civilized tone similar to what he had been portraying this entire time. If just for the sake of practice and to gain an ally in these warring times. With a hesitating breath and a fading smile Lenneth stood strong, positioning himself closer to Ed while emitting a soft blueish light from his hands, one filed with smaller white lights dancing around it.

Holding this magic out the heartless intended to heal the some of the damage done in their last few bouts together, just a small portions of hurt while they two of them could take a rest. A smoothing lunar spell that would work just upon contact and heal overtime while they travelled uninterrupted by combat with anything else, hopefully.

He would rain this art down upon the smoker, offering a kind expression to defuse any suspicious this may entail. In time his partner would feel his wounds closing and restore some of his vigour as time pasted with rest and simple movements.

“Haha kind of a fan of them are ya? Well your in luck cause I used to be one of the famed Key Bear's you seek”

Len's smile curved up in some joy while expressing his past but feel into a even line of depression at the end of it. Turning around to then walk down their path in sight of the strange structure down below that echoed of an era past.

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