Lacking a purpose (Closed)

[hoffman]

Darkun had offered to take the boy on something of a journey and obviously, his interest was piqued: however, in spite of the cold sensation of the tendrils that slowly wrapped themselves about Leiz's lower body, he showed no fear - no - felt no fear, though his legs shivered coldly under the duress of the prevailing shadows.

He only felt doubt in his mind. An underlying thought that Darkun's intentions were perhaps not noble or harmless. The cynic (or was it the skeptic) in his heart cried out, wishing he would react and break free, to which he made not so much of an act of discontentment. To do that would not be in the boy's best interests. He ran a hand through his hair and simply mulled over what consequences could possibly come of trusting this individual far too much. If there was anything the androgynous boy knew, it was that nobodies lacked emotions and consequently, no actual ties. They were incapable of forming stable friendships or relationships for that matter. In a sense, they were always an enemy as much as a friend.

Leiz simply folded his arms over his chest and exacted a cold, unmoving gaze upon the nobody. Earlier, the nobody had asked what his purpose might have been. The boy hadn't responded then, and he hadn't followed up on that remark now. Instead of saying anything that would sate the heart-lacking male's curiosities, he intended on making clear how comfortable he "really" was with what the nobody was doing, when in all actuality he was anything but.

"Sure, Darkun... go right ahead."

Being truly skilled at social engineering, Leiz hadn't quite embraced the irony that he was being almost as much of a shell as the nobodies he so detested. Could he keep this facade up, or would he eventually feel compelled to show true emotion? No. The latter was unlikely. Focused on proving his masculinity first, the boy had no clue how closed off he was really being right now.

[herby]

The shadows curled up further, tightening round each one of Leiz's ligaments. "Sure, Darkun... go right ahead." Nodding slightly in response he allowed the shadows to go at there own pace instead of holding them back. Which of course included Leiz's entire shadow coming up and coating him in a bag before dragging him down-wards into his own shadow.

Taking a few steps for-wards Darkun began sinking into the same shadow rift on the floor. " Coming?" He asked probably the closest thing to a sibling he had. " I promise it will be beautiful." he added.

The shadow realm was alot different from anything else, even the realm of darkness, it was an entire plaine made up of greys and blacks, the only things you could see where shadows of things on the real plaine, everything else was kind of like a shadow of it. In short, the shadows and actual items where reversed here, but one could only interact with the shadows. The real things where almost behind a see-through curtain.

Of course Leiz had little time to admire this, the strange bag dragged him deeper and deeper and faster, although at the same time it felt as if he was motionless and everything else was moving not him.

-- Somewhere in the middle of the ocean --

Already stood there on a large platoon of solid shadow the azure haired teen stood awaiting his company. The shadow rift opened on the floor and spat out a Leiz, who must of felt quite disorientated, the lack of knowledge of time would of been the main thing. Had it been seconds or days?

"Most people vomit the first time... Sam did..." His eyes scanned across the endless ocean, beautiful, the sun was almost set now, so it had been about 2 hours, that or several days and 2 hours. "Don't you agree that its beautiful?" he asked Leiz, keeping an eye out to see if his dusk friend had followed as well.

[hoffman]

Even in light of all that he had known and seen as a courier, Leiz wasn't ready for the flood of sensations and sights he was about to take in.

A sinking feeling had overtaken him as the shadows wrapped about his form like a cocoon, dragging him down into the abyss of his own shadow. While completely in the darkness, he was preoccupied with thoughts of understanding the nature of the shadows he was being swallowed by. His heart yearned for understanding. Was he feeling hopelessness? Was this kind of what death felt like? Shuddering at the sensations, he felt like he had to scream, though nothing escaped his mouth.

The blinding void didn't last long. Feeling himself being dragged down further, Leiz's vision was returned to him in the form of a world completely cast in grays and blacks. It was devoid of color and Leiz wasn't quite sure what to think of it - not that he had much time to understand it - because mere moments later, he found that he was being dragged downward into darkness yet again. Even if he had little time to appreciate what he had just witnessed, the sight would likely stay with him for all eternity. Something so desolate, lifeless and inorganic reminded him of Belevadia - or what Belevadia would one day become.

Just as soon as that thought sunk into his mind, Leiz immediately found himself spat him out and onto a platform constructed out of solid shadows. Helping himself up, Leiz took a moment to understand just where they were. The islands were gone, nowhere to be seen. The sea was the only thing that remained, stretching out in infinite directions.

Noticing the sky's darker hues, there was a dizzying sense of disconnectedness. It was the evening only mere seconds ago, and now it was the beginning of dusk... where had the time gone? Clearing his disoriented mind and shaking his head, Leiz felt as if he was about to vomit, but remained steadfast as he looked over to Darkun for answers.

"Most people vomit the first time... Sam did. Don't you agree that it's beautiful?" Darkun had asked, not revealing who this "Sam" was or his actual reasons for bringing Leiz out to this spot. His powers were certainly one-of-a-kind, which certainly intrigued the green-haired boy. However, this interest was ultimately belittled by his desire to ask just where they were.

Not at all interested in answering questions that he believed to be patronizing, Leiz had some questions of his own. "What happened? Where are we?"

[herby]

"What happened? Where are we?" Interesting, the first thing he questions is where he was and what had gone on. Even though it had been Leiz himself who had said he was OK with traveling. It was slightly amusing to most, Darkun just found it interesting.

" We shadow stepped... Like I asked if it was OK and you agreed. As for where we are... I'd say about 200miles from the mainland on a platform that I made, you cant turn intangible so you still have to breath, I didn't think letting you appear several hundred feet below the water would be a good idea due to this. He stared out at the sea for several more moments, letting the dusk lit sky mesmerize before turning around slowly.

His eyes focused on Leiz, his hat gone and his long azure blue hair drifting in the wind to his waist. " Your head might still be a bit woozy, if you want we can wait before you start asking me questions. He knew the questions where coming as they usually did, why else would Leiz agree to have shadows devour him? He had questions he wanted answering.

The sun flickered slowly in a battle with the ocean horizon, though the battle was pre-ordained of who would win, and he knew that soon the sun would fall and all would be coated in shadow. " It'll be dark soon, and all shall be blanketed in shadows."

[hoffman]

"Shadow-stepping" was an answer that simply wasn't good enough for the boy. Letting his long, green hair blow back in the wind, his face was no longer shadowed by his bangs and it could be said that he was moreso easier to read than before - even if only some of his face was moonlit.

"Your head might still be a bit woozy. If you want, we can wait before you start asking me questions," Darkun pointed out, seemingly lacking the boy's enthusiasm for the subject. Of course, Leiz understood why. No nobody in the universe's known history had ever taken true interest or pride in anything. These were the kind of things that were just taken as fact. "It'll be dark soon, and all shall be blanketed in shadows."

It was a peculiar comment, something made only by nobodies. They walked the twilight, and as such, matters pertaining to the balance of light and darkness were often prevalent in their manners of speaking.

Still, while he couldn't deny that he was woozy, Leiz was persistent and vigilant. No amount of dizziness was going to keep him down, and so he shot another question at the nobody with no regard for his own comfort. "Two-hundred miles...?! That doesn't sound like 'stepping' to me. What was it that I saw before I got here?"

Folding his arms over his chest once again in a stern pose, Leiz had to honestly wonder what insane manipulations of reality had to occur in order for him to be transported two-hundred miles away in a single bound. It definitely wasn't something along the lines of teleporting. Some other forces of nature were at work here, and he wanted to know.

[herby]

"Two-hundred miles...?! That doesn't sound like 'stepping' to me." He looked out in the direction of the mainland. It was so far that it was beyond the horizon. He could still feel every shadow that moved around on the mainland, just as he could every shadow on this planet. " Call it what you want. We was there, now we are here, what is so difficult to understand?"

For anyone else that could feel emotion this might of been hilarious. Darkun knew that this situation was odd, and might of been funny, but he knew that he couldn't feel it, no matter how hard he wished or tried. He was hard to even want to feel, never mind feel itself.

Looking at Leiz for a few more moments he looked at Leiz's own shadow when the question came. "What was it that I saw before I got here?" obviously leiz was referring to the shadow realm, he didn't know exactly how to explain it. If he had been asked a year ago, when he was far better with social tactfulness he might of been more careful with his answer but now he had no idea what people could and couldn't comprehend.

"That was the Shadow Realm, my home, and what you saw was every shadow in existence. I can travel to any of them, though its kind of a random guess if I don't know what I'm looking for." yes, he probably could of answered that a bit better.

He looked at Leiz's face looking for a reaction, what would he take to knowing that Leiz, no matter how strong he got, and how many defenses where in place, was always open from his shadow. Just as all facilities and defenses in the universe where.

[hoffman]

Darkun had replied, apparently satisfied with the rather blunt response that he had given. His eyes encroached on Leiz quite uncomfortably. Being a nobody, however, Darkun was exceptionally hard to read. Leiz was having a difficult time figuring out what it was that the heart-lacking male was looking for.

"Look, I'm not getting into semantics," Leiz replied, somewhat irked at the notion of giving the technique a different name based on the extent of its purpose or its functionality. Being perhaps too literal here was a waste of time and detracted from Leiz's true goal of trying to understand the world around him to better suit himself. "Every shadow in existence" was probably as blunt as the nobody could have put it, so feeling satisfied, Leiz ceased asking questions.

He looked up into the starry sky, hardly batting an eyelash at the bewildering sight of the known universe. He was hardly emotional. Something hard to contemplate like the vastness of the universe - and its accompanying sister realm, a "shadow plane" - hardly phased him on the outside level. Keeping his composure wasn't too hard when that's all he fixated on.

"Well, it's pretty crazy," he quite bluntly replied, totally out of responses that would serve as being purposeful or meaningful. He could likely get away with outwardly acknowledging the explanation. Darkun probably wouldn't or couldn't care either way. Leiz was far too preoccupied with his state of outward composure to concede that he was surprised.

"This'll definitely go good in the journal."

[herby]

"Well, it's pretty crazy," He looked around slightly as the sun finally fell, the oceanic horizon had won, and a crescent moon hung in the sky, now visible due to the lack of sunlight. He stared at it for a few seconds. He stared at it for a few minutes, the sea occasionally wafting a wave over the shadow platform and creeping along, a small boarder appearing around his feet, preventing him from being touched.

" I'm not restricted to here, I can travel to different worlds. Or to your shadow, at any time I want." He didn't really look at Leiz during this comment, he just made it on a whim, he wasn't quite understanding what it was Leiz was so interested in finding out, was it just what he could do? Was it about Darkun himself?

" Do you have any friends... Leiz?" his glance finally breaking away from the moon and its beautifully rippling reflection that had appeared in the ocean. He wanted to know how similar they was, was he too alone now? Alone in a universe so vast, whats the point in having such a big place if you have no one to share it with. You might say it was enough to drive someone... insane.

The shadows had coated everywhere now, it would make for easy fighting, if a fight where to ever occur Darkun would hope it was at night time, shadows where so much larger due to the lack of light, fighting at night time was like suicide, everything was his weapon. "Why am I obsessed with thinking of violence? the thoughts shimmered around his mind. Is this all he was created for?

[hoffman]

Or would it go good in the journal? This bit of doubt and uncertainty was rather disconcerting. Leiz was rather introspective. Things he always thought of weren't necessarily all good ideas. Known to be critical, he spent a lot of time doubting the actions he was taking.

"I'm not restricted to here. I can travel to different worlds. Or to your shadow, at any time I want. Do you have any friends... Leiz?"

If a tingle could run up the boy's spine at a sudden question like that, it would. Nevertheless, he wasn't expecting Darkun to ask him if he had any friends or what relevance it had to the matter at hand. He was more concerned about whether or not a story such as this had a place in his journal.

But could he be so selective? A journal was a collection of stories that when sequenced together would form an accurate portrait of the author. If he was to be literal, not including this would be deceitful. Perhaps it would be the one story that proved to readers that he was a worthwhile individual. A man of some merit. He could not pick and choose which stories were important.

Leiz, for now, had supreme tunnel vision - the only thing he was seeing was that leather-bound journal of his sitting at the end of this hypothetical hallway. Seeing the forest for the single tree, as it were, completely unfeeling towards the other collections of foliage in the area. Right now, he just was not ready to see that it was perhaps not the pages that needed to be written, but the adventure that needed to be lived out. Something drastic would need to happen.

Answering quite bluntly and truthfully, Leiz coldly responded. "No, I don't."

[herby]

" No friends... I don't have any left now, there all gone. I hurt them all and they all left me. Maybe we could be... He stopped not too sure how he would finish the sentence, could he have another friend, after such a long time of being along could he really go back and have friends again?

He stared at Leiz for a second, loosing concentration on his surroundings, for a moment he wasn't paying attention to all the shadows around him, just this man.

" Do you think people can make a purpose... I'd quite like to make one... I just don't know the ingredients He stared at the solid shadow that they both stood on, it yearned to drag them away, he always felt it. Slowly he forced the seabeds shadows onto the pillar, it started extending, growing higher and higher until they where around 100 meters from the sea, up in the air.

" Why did you trust me, I could leave you here, remove this shadow, and you'd have a long swim, possibly drown. Yet you trusted me... Isn't trust something that friends share... Sorry, I'm just confused He grappled his own head, after all that time within the shadows he was having some inner turmoil understanding people again, he had forgotten so much in the time he was gone.

[hoffman]

A fearless and thoughtful one indeed, Leiz had already considered the consequences of what might happen if he had wrongfully trusted Darkun. He was prepared to swim out several miles if he had to - small islands were not that uncommon in a sea as large as this.

Focused on Darkun and the area around them, Leiz's eyes peered down to see that they were being hoisted up into the air by the platform underneath them. It was like an elevator of sorts, only in this case, they weren't going to any particular destination... they were just moving upward.

"I suppose it would be a sentiment shared by friends. Nonetheless. You don't have a reason to leave me stranded out in the middle of nowhere. Unless there's some sort of ulterior motive ... in which case, I probably wouldn't trust you at all."

He crossed his arms about his form, looking out to the endless sea with indifferent eyes.

[herby]

"No... I don't have a reason to. Is there anywhere in particular you need to go? Traverse Town? Twilight Town?" He wanted to help this man, maybe through helping he could earn friendship. From what he could remember thats how it worked, you earned friendship from people through kindness...

He glared round at the sea when he felt darkness stirring. [/color=blue] "I hope you can fight..."[/color] He asked in a very monotone voice as he flicked his hand up wards just as a soldier materialized from a sphere of darkness. The hand motion caused a spike of solid shadow to slice through the air and skewer the soldier before it could even land on the platform.

Seconds later several more portals opened around the platform, spewing out 2 large bodies, 3 soldiers and 3 Red Nocturnes.

As they where on his platform he could have the platform devour everything, though that might damage Leiz and he also wanted to see how the man fought, so for now he held off to see how this battle would progress.

" Lets see what your made of" he said, his eyes seemingly darker and his stance a much more aggravated one. He was ready for a fight, he had been dieing for one for such a long time.

[hoffman]

"My ship will do," he responded bluntly, not actually having an ultimate destination in mind. Needing to get back to his ship out of fear that a group of island kids or stragglers might be after it, Leiz was becoming a little bit anxious.

Suddenly, to break the peace, portals of dark matter began to sprout out and all around them, dropping off three groups of heartless. Uncertain as to why they would go to such a distance for only one heart to collect, Leiz narrowed his eyes, looking over at Darkun. His face noticeably becoming hardened by the incoming tide of battle, Leiz's very demeanor stiffened as he issued out a suggestion to the Nobody, backpedaling towards the very center of the platform.

"Save us a minute of grief and just narrow the platform! They won't be able to reach the center if there's nothing for them to walk on," he said, his right hand reaching down for a holster hanging loose from his rear. Withdrawing a magnum-shaped weapon from the leather sheath, he held it steady, waiting for Darkun - or the heartless - to make their move.

[herby]

The hardened eyes, coldly examined the heartless and then to Leiz. Listening to the suggestion he glared at Leiz for a moment before responding. "I could, but wheres the fun in that. "

The heartless came for Leiz's heart and to consume the nothingness that Darkun was. Darkness consumed nothingness, it was a matter of fact, Darkun was as of yet unaware why, he knew that the reason heartless attacked nobodies must be some kind of racial fued. He didn't understand it.

His hands flipped to the side and two three pronged blades flickered into exsistance, disapearing into the column on which they stood he flashed into exsistance behind one of the large bodies slicing down into its back watching as it clumsily flied forwards, flicking a hand after it a large spike rose through the large body and it turned into a small pile of black smoke before dispersing.

After another second he was gone, appearing once again behind a soldier slicing at its head and watching as the head turned to black smoke.

" You standing there or helping? "

HEARTLESS PHASE

Large body one slaps its stomach and begins charging at Leiz

Soldier 2,3 attack Darkun attemtping to slash at his waist.

Red Nocturne 1 flings a fire spell at Darkun from behind

Red nocturne 2 and 3 fling a fire spell at Leiz from each side.