“Are we even in the right place?”

“Yes young one.”

“But there’s nothing here.”

“You trust your senses too much. Which is why we are here.”

Fifth towered over the young Oni woman, her arms crossed and showing off her extremely toned and refined body as she stood before a vast and empty wasteland of a city, the ruins more like a cryptic sign of some plague than of a bustling warrior kingdom.

“I thought we were going to train.”

Fifth smiled down at the Oni woman, waving a hand for the two to walk. “We will, worry not.” The two began their stride through the ruins of the city, the armor of the Oni woman clanking softly as she walked, marching with an unsure hesitant pace to her walk.

For a long time they walked, the smaller of the women glancing about the ruins, questioning how this could possibly make her any stronger, let alone as strong as the monolith of a woman that lead her.

“We’ve arrived.” Fifth stopped, staring up to a great black obelisk before the two, the pillar having been erected at the center of the city, it’s sides etched in countless markings, runes, and symbols of various cultures and races, marking it as a center of great importance.

“Write your name.” Red looked to her mentor, holding her hands out as she questioned what the woman meant for her to do. “But I’ve nothing to carve this with.” Fifth smiled at her and stepped back, sitting down to observe. “We shan’t be leaving until you have carved your name into this obelisk.”

“So you say.” Red looked at it questioningly, drawing her blade from it’s scabbard, angling the tip at the stone and pushing forwards. Surely a reaper’s scythe could cut such a stone with ease and they could move on.

As the tip of the blade touched to the surface, it slipped along it like the sweat along the inner workings of her armor. It felt so hot today, and being in full armor did not help the situation in the slightest.

She attempted several times, her frustration growing with each attempt, until she had grown vastly impatient, hacking at the pillar in it’s defiance to allow her to cut it. Night came quickly, her body tiring as Fifth set up camp, cooking a wild animal she had caught earlier in the day.

Eventually Red gave up, her frustration, exhaustion, and temper causing her to throw her blade at the obelisk in a great rage and anguish. Her scythe lay to the side of the pillar, as she sat crumpled before it, heaving each breath as Fifth offered her food.

“How goes your venture?”

“The tower is unharmed. Such a stone can not possibly be cut.”

“Yet there is countless scrawl in it’s surface, each with it’s own name and story behind it.”

“Perhaps there is some trick to it?”

“Rest for the night, calm yourself, and try again tomorrow.”

Red took the proffered food, sitting and staring at the obelisk in her discontent state. As she ate, she questioned, “Is your name in this stone’s surface?” Fifth merely laughed at this, waving a hand dismissively at her protege.

“For now, focus on your task.”

Red spent the night in a restless state, perplexed by this vast barrier that she had encountered. In her little time spent within the realm of the Great Reapers, she had come to expect impossible odds to be at every corner and boundary.

What they lacked in quantity of warriors, they made up for with quality of warriors. If anything could confirm this, it was the fall of the house Errant by the hands of a single canine. She doubted any of these monsters truly tried in the face of impossible odds, but that she had come to expect.

Early the next morning, Red arose and stood before the great pillar, her blade once more in it’s sheath as she stared at it’s surface. She mused over what could possibly cut such an obstinate surface. Perhaps magic of some kind?

For hours she tried the various magics she had learned as part of the house Errant, though she doubted magic meant for slaying dragons would assist in this task.

After many attempts all ending in failure, she once more found herself stood at the pillar in the vast darkness of night, the stars overhead watching as she continued to ponder what could assist her in this feat.

For the next few years she continued in her attempts, taking days to train or to make her attempts, though she did grow stronger with time, she did not make any progress in her venture.

After nearly thirty years of attempts, she had lulled into a tedious state of depression, thinking this task an impossible one and that she would never leave this place stronger than she was. She spent weeks wandering the city of ruins, searching for signs of life or of some clue to assist her.

Months passed as she wandered, the great obelisk always within sight, always looming high in the distance. She could only question if it mocked her or if it was some sign that she was not going to escape this barrier that stood between her and her success.

“Why are you so sad?”

“Because I can’t seem to-”

Red paused, looking up, caught off guard by the voice she heard. It was not Fifth’s, and she was sure no one wandered these streets, if the years of silence were any indication. Yet this voice greeted her, sweet but firm.

“Yes..?”

“Who’s there?”

“Hm.”

Red stood, drawing her blade as she looked around for the source of the sound. “Show yourself.” She was rapidly searching now as she walked forwards to search the nearby ruined buildings for the source of the noise.

“What’ll you do if you find me?”

“That depends on what you are.”

“If I’m something harmless?”

“Then I have no reason to harm you.”

“But what if I’m dangerous.”

Red paused at this, furrowing her brow in confusion. What kind of a predator would openly admit that it’s a predator when it has the upper hand, if they know they may lose it to their quarry?

“That depends on what you do.”

“What would you do if I was?”

Night was descending by now. Red had learned that this place grow dark rather quickly, the days seemingly short, but the nights going on endlessly. She searched for Fifth’s presence as she made her way towards the obelisk.

“I’m not sure.”

“that’s not an answer.”

She was rapidly losing her cool in her own paranoia. Fifth was not responding, and she could not be found anywhere in the city. The voice felt as if it was looming ever closer, continuing it’s questions as Red hurried to the Obelisk.

“I’m not sure how I would react, until I met you.”

“And would you wish to meet me?”

“That depends on if you’re dangerous or not.”

The night was growing darker. It felt unusual quiet, quieter than the normal stillness that Red had come to expect of this place. “If I’m dangerous or not depends on your reaction.” the voice felt astonishingly close now.

There was a warmth down Red’s neck as she stood before the great black obelisk, her breath shaking as she gripped her blade cautiously. A hand went up to her neck as she slowly turned, shaking in her armor slightly at what she may find.

Behind her, from the way that she had come, was a vast and endless darkness, reaching into eternity as it greeted her with a silence she was not expecting.

From within the great blackness came the voice once more. “Would you like to meet me?” It’s voice had changed slightly from it’s warm but firm tone to a more sinister lull to it. Red was finding it difficult to focus on any one point.

“Show yourself.” She held her black out, the dark sky above giving her no hope to distinguish what was waiting before her. “As you wish.” The darkness moved.

Red nearly let out a scream as it moved once more, shifting and contorting as if alive, a deep black hue forming as face in the darkness. It was twisted, warped, and sinister in every aspect that she could think of.

With a suddenness she was not prepared for, it rushed her. The Obelisk glowed brightly from behind her, a wall forming between it and the thing, a grotesque and horrific monstrosity slamming against the wall with a sickening thud that sent Red sprawling back against the great pillar behind her.

She could barely keep a straight face as horror washed over it in wave, the sickening beast that stood just mere feet away causing her stomach to writhe in terror. She was of Oni descent, and had seen the gruelling wars of many races and the deaths of many Dragons, and yet….this thing that writhed against the dull glow of the barrier brought a primal fear to her that she’d not known she had.

“Now tell me little one. What will you do?” It’s voice sounded like the gnashing of a thousand teeth, the crushing and grinding of bone against bone, the bubbling of blood in a pool of mangled corpses. Red could only shake as she stared at the beast before her.

She reached for her blade, but could not find it. Fear gripped deeper into her heart as she attempted to summon it multiple times, finding it to have vanished into the endless darkness that surrounded her.