Shadows of Madness

It was like she were a mother raising a den of wolves, the way they stood around her, some venturing off to sniff at the slumbering monks loudly snoring in their hammocks. Their tongues licked at the faces of the subordinates, awakening them slowly with a chuckle as a scratch was given to the beasts' heads. Despite her closed eyes, her cousin help lightly snickers as her hair was ruffled at the touch of nails scratching as giant her scalp. Strolling into the chamber, robes' sleeves interlocked to hide the complexion of her hands, Hana noticed familiar canine barking as she entered the room, hearing the familiar clink of the chandelier as one foot pushed into the place's confines.

The wolves barked at her, to her amusement, a motherly-calm chuckle escaping her lips as she bent over to lift the canines into her arms, cooing at them as kisses pecked against their furry faces.

"Aww, such good boys!" Adorably cried Hana to the summoned pets, attaching her lips to the canines' faces' sides, kissing on them.

Placing them onto their paws, she watched as they barked rapidly, running on over to their summoner, Hana gazing intently at the content face of that young woman. Kima's lips kept shut, the purple coloration of her pupils hidden behind her pale eyelids, that dark-violet aura resonating from her soul's inner workings to extend further and further to form the shadow of the wolf, like the spirit protecting their mother overhead.

Saiai couldn't help but scratch with one finger at her chin, witness to the way but one eye peeked from Myers' duo arsenal, but even so, noticing the way she felt so uncomfortable with her bubble gradually popping, Hana leaned further with a hum.

"Uh... excuse me, Miss Saiai?"

Kim couldn't help but ponder of Katie's months spent. Laboring, bruises forming over her skin, but even so, the way her muscles bulged from within her attire couldn't help but send a nerve of envy through Myers' spine. If this was the price to gain such an advancement with such an odd but comforting teacher enhancing not only her physical but spiritual capabilities, then maybe she wouldn't mind paying it. The Master raised but one finger, smug smirk painting over her softened mouth, eyelids, just like the young student she was teaching, hiding her pink pupils.

"Ah, ah. Hana, please. Are your ears open for a lecture, however not as boring as English in American colleges?" Hana queried, awaiting a response, watching Kim stutter, then turning away with a spin, "Glad you agree! Your power is unlike any I've ever seen, for I hadn't the opportunity to meet your father. I believe the initial assumption of your ability is incorrect, for instead of accessing a shadow realm to access incarnations of banished monsters, instead, it's a rather... afterlife for them that only those granted access can enter."

Hana explained with fingers gliding over the canine pawing at her leggings, brushing its furry back to slide back stood-up fabrics backward, blinking to reveal her pink eyes, gazing into the hollow insides of the beast summoned.

"You can summon the lost spirits, strolling within the afterlife you can access. Incarnating them after carving them with shadows, granted physical forms when manifesting in the real world."

The words of her new mentor sent tissues of curiosity through her anatomy, tilting her head just slightly to the right, Kima removed her arms from spread to each side, kept within her crossed legs. Even with such casual posture, the purple aura didn't dissipate, the serpent slithering entangled around her curves' scales hardening even more as it stared at the Master.

"That's pretty cool, but... if that's so, why was I able to summon Ace's grand-uncle a few months ago? I knew I could do it, but if your theory's correct, why was Jason Rivera's lost soul residing within that hellish purgatory?"

That was the only way she could describe that familiar abode she saw almost every night, dreams with event horizons, so vast in its apocalyptic atmosphere even her slumbering nerves shuddered to the touch at the sight of such infinity. Was she truly so ignorant to believe those wandering spirits, those distant voices reverberating endlessly from that cloud-ridden skies... just monsters waiting to be created? If Jason, the Vampiric Hunter, could be summoned from that realm, then-

"Truth be told, I'm not all-knowing, but it likely had something to do with the abilities he had. A vampire also embedded with demonic blood to create a terrifying hybrid; there's no doubt the people of the Old World, especially those who'd call Jay their enemies, would be scared of him. I doubt he's the only one, though. If Jason Rivera can be summoned, then maybe... the potential can expound to ensnare even the spirit of your father, the former wielder of that specialization you now possess."

The coin belonging to Whitney Myers, gifted especially with that love for a woman whose name started with the letter V, a girl she'd never met, but even so, had that love... ensnared her heart, too? Did Vivian Myers, her father's older sister, the aunt she never knew, still live on? And beyond that, with this gift, to summon the desires of mankind into fruition, could she see that man, her father, one last time?

"Do you truly believe that, Miss? That... I can see my father again?"

"I do, my child. And yet, something irks the back of my mind. That shadow realm you call your monsters' abode, do you think, if you summon your father from your Artifact, he would be able to remain forevermore on this mortal coil? You know the choice you'd have to make if you wish to permenantly reunite with him... don't you?"

It went unsaid, however, at times like these, the weight didn't. It was like she could abruptly well feel it slamming onto her shoulders, the path ahead that stood carved out for her, the desire to be useful to someone, no matter who they were. Would she still feel that, even in the arms of her beloved father..?

Hana couldn't hug this pain away, for she could feel the urge to bawl at the noticeable alter she just underwent, the purple aura surrounding her being had begun to dwindle, shrinking to mimic the shape of a raindrop, pointed at the peak. But what more could she do? Embrace her, the same way she did with Ace only minutes ago? Of course not, for as she turned her back, those sobs couldn't be suppressed... for even with all the power she held at the tips of her fingers, there was one thing she couldn't slash away; the biggest enigma she could never solve.

One's innermost thoughts: the irritable turmoil within the human heart.