Return to the Desert

"Whoa, who knew we'd end up here again?"

Said a voice belonging to a young female. Said female was walking through the desert with her friend and five fairies. The first female, named Hibiki Hojo, had waist length orange hair with small twintails tied at the top of her head with pink ribbons and dark blue eyes. She wore a pink dress top with long white sleeves, pink heart patterns on the front and pink frills on the sleeves and hem. She also wore black capris, white socks, and white and pink sneakers.


The other female, named Kanade Minamino, had long dirty blonde hair tied in a ponytail at the top of her head with pink beads and dark green eyes. She wore a two-toned pink dress, with long white sleeves and frills at the shoulder and bottom hem. She also wore thigh-high white stockings and dark pink shoes.

The first of the fairies, named Hummy, resembled a white kitten with pink ears and dark blue eyes. She had musical notes around her eyes and a heart symbol on her forehead and back. The four smaller fairies, called Fairy Tones and named Dory, Rery, Miry, and Fary resembled gemstones and were pink, white, orange and yellow, respectively.

"Yeah. I can't believe it's been a whole year since we were here last." Said Kanade. "That was one heck of an adventure, huh?"

"Sure was!" Replied Hibiki. "We met a lot of cool people. Though not all of them were awake to meet us..." She added with shrug.

"But I still have nightmares about that giant sandworm, nya..." Hummy said sadly. "But the baby one was nice, nya~!" She added, instantly perking up.

Hibiki smiled at her, then looked into the distance.

"Huh?" She put a hand above her eyes and squinted to see better. "You've gotta be kidding me!!" She exclaimed in disbelief upon making out the object.

"Huh? What is it, Hibiki?" Asked Kanade.

"Follow me!" She called, running off.

"Uh..." Kanade followed, curious.

Upon getting closer to the structure, Hibiki pointed at it.

"Look! Remember that place?"

Kanade gasped.

"Y-yeah! Last time we were here, those ruins were destroyed by that enormous sandworm, but a year later, here they are, standing as if nothing happened!" She observed.

Hibiki surveyed the area a bit more and spotted a familiar shape standing near it.

"Wait a sec... Isn't that the blond guy?" She wondered aloud.

"Blond guy? Which one?" Kanade asked.

"The one I carried in those ruins."

Hibiki ran off once again, followed by Kanade, Hummy, and the rest.

When Hibiki reached the man, she greeted him.

"Hey, you were in those ruins too, right? You might not remember me, but I helped carry you out when you were out cold." She said. "I'm Hibiki Hojo. Can I finally know your name?"

"I'm Kanade Minamino." Kanade said, following the introduction.

"I'm Hummy, nya!" Hummy said, raising a paw.

From within the blanketing sheets of dirt picking up spontaneously upon the approach of a certain individual, it was almost as if his very appearance, masked by shadows unseen by the naked eye, would have caused a disruption in the natural habitat of this wasteland. What he was doing here was a mystery, but with nobody around to see him, he would feel free to take his time. The spell consumed his being, enveloped him in a shadow that made him as transparent as a spirit in the fog. The sky became unnaturally cloudy within mere moments, blocking out the sun as tiny droplets of liquid began to fall slowly, yet faster and faster to the now wet sand beneath their feet.

The figure made its stride, walking with calm steps towards its destination, the kicking up of sand dogging his heels. It would become clear he was aware of the appearance of one person after another, his head held low but his gaze clearly staring forward. His attire looked that of a well dressed suit, with a Fedora perched atop his discolored hair. Each step brought him closer and closer to those he knew were there, with no hope of him being seen, and yet he did not anticipate those with magical abilities. Or perhaps, he did, but wanted something of magical prowess to provide him with absolute entertainment.

Silence met with sounds of splashing as the rain continued to pour down in steady torrents, becoming ever more furious by the moment whispered its voice across this desolate wasteland. Murmurings of one to another becoming more mute by the minute, the sounds of their voices slowly but surely coalescing into the endless grey cast above them. It was clear they were to take refuge into the welcoming arms of the structure ahead of them, but yet why would the man want them to do so? To them, it was even a mystery that this thing stood before them despite having its foundations swallowed by the largest Sandworm in the desert. The matter at hand was getting them inside without having their suspicions mark their movements.

His hands crossed behind his back, still a safe enough distance from the individuals yet not so far as he could not see clearly through the storm. Perhaps there were more than one side-effects to this invisibility cast about his being? His form was not becoming steadily affected by the cold droplets raining down from the Heavens held high above whilst the Angels sung their sad tune only falling upon those ears. He looked up to see them basking in their endless light, scoffing at the sight at the thought there were those he could not reach, those he could not hope to affect by his power. And yet, they were deathly afraid of him. Were he to retain knowledge regarding the entrance to their lair, he would devour them all into endless despair, nothing but darkness following what once would be their mighty kingdom, falling into the depths of the abyss this man would have so aptly named: The Cauldron.

Sure this would not be the first time he has thrown someone into that abyss. There had been countless, and all the same person. It was the Takamagahara themselves that continued to meddle in his affairs, but no longer as they were also disposed of, thrown into a world filled with problems they had absolutely no hope of solving. Each solution met with a different problem would leave even Sherlock Holmes himself baffled by the question or questions regarding whatever this man had conjured in his mind.

With nobody able to detect him, it was highly possible this was not his real form. Yellow hues glared through shadowy optics at the people merrily talking amongst one another in front of him. He wouldn't help but give a bright scarlet grin knowing very well those smiles would soon fade into hatred. Hatred pointed towards him. Fear, hopelessness, despair all invented into their childish minds: all made by him. He was evil, no doubt about it. What would be hiding in that mind which would beget such hindrances to their causes, and why would he do such a thing?

He finally got the attentions of the Gods. Each of them stared down in disbelief that he was still there, walking about. The shadowy figure soon reached a halt, the Temple in front of him and the people still talking about as if this pouring rain were absolutely no big deal to them. He tilted his head and frowned, not knowing why they would risk catching a cold in this cursed weather. He then realized, his spell had not been taken off. He slapped himself in the forehead, giving the notion he had done something wrong. As long as his spell remained intact, what he would see would not be visible to them. But as soon as he took this 'masked appearance' off, he could be seen right away.

What could be done about it, however? That was when an easy thought had crossed his mind. What happens when even a single drop of rain reaches the ground? Why, it causes the sand to become mud, of course. This reaction would keep their attention long enough for this Father of nature to perform his miracle he would know as: fog. He would still be able to hide about in the surroundings without the risk of being detected by sight, and because of his deathlike aura, it would be extremely difficult to pick him up using any other of the four senses. As long as he stayed out of sight, he would make his mark in their lives.

It wasn't that long ago to him that he had first found out how glorifying it felt to perform his bastard plans upon another. He had taken the body of a student with high hopes of the future, devoting his own powers to the other so that he would gain his immortality. Sadly, it did not last, the man was sealed away forever inside of that damned abyss named The Cauldron. At the terrible cost of his own life was he finally able to escape its cold embrace, only to find out many years have past since he had been sealed away. Maybe it would have been better to stay there after all, said the voice of his conscious. Yet his mind told him there were more bad deeds to be done, so he set off with his ghost to cast his magic on this plain of existence.

It then started with the kidnapping of a Sister, the near death of one's own brother, and the manipulation of jealousy among brothers. Sword met through bone, the stage had been set. The man however did not anticipate the acts to be repeated through time by these self-proclaimed Gods, nothing more than machines that governed time and space. He found his way to them after several tries, their eyes diverting for merely a moment made it possible for his chance to strike. And so he did strike, taking their ability of spacial travel with him as they were plunged into their now new homes. He was now left with the task of making sure events would not repeat themselves, lest the world be thrown into disorder: absolutely perfect, he would think.

Sure enough, this type of power in his hands was like giving Nuclear weapons to Adolf Hitler. When a chance would be seen, it would be met right away, and this was a chance he would not miss. He saw in front of him the form of a black dressed figure with slicked back blonde hair, glasses posed on his face edging the part of the nose closest to the face, this masking his red optics unseen through the dark shades. There was the annoying sounds of high pitched voicings of those not accustomed well to the harshness of the real world, soon to learn very well what sort of powers they were meddling with around here. They did not know of what they were doing here, so why bother running about? Were they curious as to what would happen if they angered something far beyond their potential could possibly reach?

A new set of events had been set. Now it was the shadowy figure which were the curious one. What would these travelers do in the face of adversity? What would occur if even family had to be pitted against each other, each with their own goals whether it be domination over a species or simply just survival? The blanketing shadows began to dissipate about the man, leaving his well-dressed form slowly to be rendered visible before the rain he would only be able to see now be seen, and felt by them. The man slipped back behind the curtain of fog that followed as the stickiness of mud made its unique splashing sounds with each step backward. His grin returned as his hands slipped into the respected pockets with which would each side would belong to.

"I'm interested to see how they will handle this one, hm?"