Spiritual Business

[3kul]

((This is a story that I wrote up the other day, so surprisingly you're going to have something from me that's finished in just one post. Don't let that fool you though, it is pretty long, but I think that it's also quite interesting.

I started with the premise of a kind of Spirit evaluation - as a person who borrows the powers of spirits, I figured that HollowEyes would be scrutinized by them every now and then, and he's considerably more complex than the average disciple, so I came up with a lot to talk about. It started out as a literary debate with myself over where HollowEyes' powers would be based from now on and ends up exploring HollowEyes past, his present and his future, I was pretty surprised to see how it all unfolded myself, and I'm the one who wrote it .

Well I won't add anymore length to it as it's already long enough, so here it is.))

HollowEyes was waiting quite nervously in what he could only describe as an office foyer of some sort, though to say something like that would be mostly untrue. For one thing, he wasn't actually 'here', and for another, it wasn't exactly an office foyer.

Every few years he'd been brought to this place involuntarily as he slept, a strange realm that he knew not to be quite the Immortal Realm of spirits and gods but not too far off from it either. He'd given up trying to work out where it was, and it didn't ever seem to be at any specific time or date so he was never able to plan for it, though those who evaluated him usually seemed to have organized around it well.

HollowEyes was sitting on the edge of his chair, a rather uncomfortable and bizarre piece that was a disturbing hybridization of steel, wood and leather - whoever had made this was more concerned about the aesthetic appeal than the fact that it was meant to be sat on. He glanced over once again to the small table to his left, a small pile of magazines lay there, none of which were in any languages that were familiar to HollowEyes. It was interesting to note though that whilst he'd seen the office furnishings change a few times the magazines had always stayed the same, though even with his highly adaptable Parasitian mind he'd never been able to distinguish the contents, he assumed that it was meant to be that way, that he was supposed to think about the meeting to come.

"They'll see you now, Mr. Byule"

The non-existant secretary spoke, which startled HollowEyes as it always did. Despite the fact that her desk and chair were in plain sight, he never saw this person and she only ever said the same six words to him. As with these meetings she never seemed to act in any other pattern, sometimes she spoke to him straight away sometimes he felt as if he had to wait hours before she'd speak up, though she always managed to speak when he least expected her to. Without saying a word to her, he got up and walked through the doors at the front of the room, the only doors in the room, to his evaluation.

"We are gathered here, the assorted spirits of the spirit medium Byule, aka HollowEyes, Second-in-Command of the Evil Council." HollowEyes recognized the aging beetle spirit at the head of the table, who was adjusting his reading glasses as he read from a piece of paper. He was dressed in the same strange suit that HollowEyes had always known him to wear to these meetings, black with an odd metallic sheen, like the shell of some of those christmassy beetles, although his own exoskeleton was brown and mottled. "As I drew the short straw I shall be overseeing the meeting this time, so let's start with a quick roll call. We have the Locust Spirit-"

"I prefer Locust King nowadays cousin, has a certain ring to it, don't you agree?" The large, sinister locust spirit sat to the left of the beetle spirit, though rather than being dressed in a suit like the others he was covered in all manner of gold and jewels, such was as HollowEyes assumed that his main worshippers must be adorning him with at this time. The spirit gave HollowEyes what he interpreted to be a grin of sorts (hard to tell with insects), which was more than a little worrying for the Parasitian, as usually he only showed up to gripe about HollowEyes being behind on his sacrifices.

"For the sake of the meeting we'll be going with titles, not names, Locust spirit, though off the record I congratulate you for the addition of your latest civilization to your long list of worshippers. Is that orkinsence I'm smelling on you?" HollowEyes knew that the beetle spirit and the locust spirit were old friends who went quite a ways back and they usually carried off on their own conversations at these meetings, though not all of the spirits here were on such good terms.

"Let's keep this quick shall we? My master's list is quite a bit longer than that of the Locust spirits and I have other meetings to be getting to." HollowEyes looked over to the impatient spirit to find a familiarly unfamiliar face - as usual the Fox spirit has sent a representative rather than make a personal appearance, he appeared to be a smartly dressed fox, as they always did. "Ah, my apologies Fox spirit representative, indeed, since we have much more to discuss at this meeting than usual let us make haste." The Beetle spirit was sincere in his apology, though the Fox spirit representative seemed to be more irritated now to learn that this was going to take longer than usual, muttering angrily to himself. "We also have with us the Cicada spirit and representatives from the Lava spirit, Mirror spirit, Vine spirit and Fox spirit. Oh, and the Squid and Jellyfish spirits have left letters for you to read in your own time HollowEyes, as they, well, as the Squid spirit usually does and as the Jellyfish spirit will henceforth be doing so."

HollowEyes nodded, but did not speak. He'd learnt from experience that unless he was actually asked a direct question in these meetings he couldn't speak up even if he wanted to, something that made him even more nervous about these meetings. "Since he seems to be in a bit of a rush I shall grant the Representative of the fox spirit the chance to speak first." "Nice to see you making the right choice Beetle Spirit," the Fox representative said, coughing as he said something like 'for once'. "I'll make this brief disciple Byule, you are becoming an increasingly complicated case and, whilst the Fox Spirit does appreciate disciples in high places, he doesn't appreciate some of the company that you've been keeping and their rather... disrespectful attitude towards our lupine brethren. I am of course referring to the continuing slaughter of the wolves that have been residing close by to your 'Corrupted Cave'."

He paused for a moment as he turned the page of the file that he was reading, though HollowEyes knew that this was more for his own sake than anything. "The Wolf Spirit and the Fox Spirit are rarely on good terms and whilst we could overlook this before you took up your position as vice-Headmaster-" "Second-in-Command." The Beetle spirit corrected the Fox representative, not liking where he was going with this. "Whatever." Snapped the Fox representative in reply. "Now that you're a high-profile disciple we can't tolerate such actions. I have been told to relieve you of your obligations towards the Fox spirit unless you have anything to say on the matter." The Representative of the fox spirit waited a few moments to see if HollowEyes had anything to say, grinning maliciously. Clearly he was aware of HollowEyes' limitations here. "Do you have anything to say, HollowEyes?" The Beetle spirit asked, standing up as the Fox spirit representative did to make sure that he didn't leave, much to his annoyance.

"Unlike yourselves I am not capable of controlling every action of those around me, my position as SiC grants me many liberties but I cannot ensure the safety of every wolf in the Black Forest, nor will I." "Then we are done here." The Fox spirit representative hastily replied, disappearing as he did so. HollowEyes felt like adding in 'perhaps you should speak to the Dark Psycho about such things', but he didn't really feel like trying his luck so much. With this the Fox spirit would be satisfied, there was no need to insult him and incur his wrath, especially when HollowEyes still intended to use the many remaining fox charms that he had.

"Ah, so he was Bound to another meeting." The Locust spirit commented in an amused tone. "Lucky you got to speak when you did HollowEyes, he wasn't expecting any kind of answer from you." HollowEyes did not know why the Locust spirit said this, it was the kind of thing that didn't really require any sort of comment, unless the spirit was trying to convey something to the Parasitian himself. He would've asked the Locust spirit about this, but he had to wait to be asked a question, and a deafening silence seemed to now dominate the room's atmosphere.

"Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm pleased to be here." The cicada spirit spoke up to break the silence, his song-like voice echoing about the room. "It is good to finally see one of my disciples doing so well, though it'd be nice to see you using a bit more of my power HollowEyes." HollowEyes smiled and nodded, unable to reply. "Ah, Cicada spirit, aren't you glad that you agreed to take him now?" The Beetle spirit gloated, quickly forgetting that this was a meeting "I told you, didn't I? I said-".

"I don't mean to be disrespectful Beetle Spirit, but there are still a few matters that need tending to here." HollowEyes looked over to the other side of the table to see the representatives of the other spirits sitting together. It was a small pumpkin that had spoken up, his leafy tendrils propping him up so that he was raised to the same height as the others. A representative of the Vine spirit, no doubt, though HollowEyes had never met this one before, and she usually sent the same one. "Oh yes, sorry about that representative of the Vine spirit, we shall of course continue. Cicada spirit, do you have anything more to add?" "Not really. Though there's a few things that confuse me about his file I'm pleased with HollowEyes as my disciple, and I'm sure that my questions will be answered in the course of this meeting."

"Very well then. I will be speaking for the majority of the meeting so I will save my piece for last, and I know that the Locust spirit intends to do the same, so do the rest of you have anything to add?" The Lava spirit representative and the Mirror spirit representative said nothing, though the pumpkin headed representative of the Vine spirit took this as his opportunity to speak. "If it's of no bother to the rest of you I'd like to take a few moments of this meeting." The Beetle spirit seemed a little surprised by the Vine spirit's representative, as they never usually spoke up during these meetings, but allowed him to speak all the same. "Very well Representative, take as much time as you need."

"Thank you Beetle spirit." the Vine spirit representative said, bowing his head slightly as he stood. "I am sorry if this offends some of you here but my mistress the Vine spirit has made a very specific request of HollowEyes," he seemed to be looking at the representative for the Lava spirit as he said this, the humanoid figure made from molten lava huffed a small cloud of black smoke and turned his head the other way. "She has also said that what I am about to suggest may be in line with what many of you may have been thinking, though as it has never been raised she has decided to be the one to do it." HollowEyes thought that the Vine spirit had a strange way of doing this, but continued to listen all the same.

"HollowEyes, the Vine spirit has requested that you cut ties with the Lava spirit and cease your dabbling in the fields of pyromancy."

The lava spirit representative jumped up from his seat, bubbling over as he began to lose his humanoid form. "This is an outrage! My master will-" "Your master would say the same as mine fellow representative, and request that you adhere to the rules of this meeting please. You will have your turn to speak when I am done." The Vine spirit representative replied in a very calm manner, not at all intimidated by the Lava spirit representative's explosive rage. "As I'm sure that you've noticed HollowEyes, pyromancy and the Fire element in general does not complement your own elemental preferences, those being Wood and Earth." "I'm sorry, I don't quite follow..." The Cicada spirit started, though the Beetle spirit quietly filled him in. "He is referring to the rather ancient way of thinking in terms of elements - fire, electricity, water, wood, earth and for those sticklers, light and dark. Not the sort of thing that we animal spirits tend to think about really." "Ah, I see." "Thank you Beetle spirit, that is exactly what I was talking about, though as light and dark don't really factor in here, would it be alright if we were to just... skip over them?" "That's fine, I don't really count them myself." The Beetle spirit replied, glad to see that the Vine spirit representative was of a similar mindset to his own.

The Vine spirit representative nodded, ignoring the blue flames now covering the head of the Lava spirit representative and continued. "As I was saying, the art of charm using itself branches from the Wood element, and the spirit that you've borrowed powers from the most often would stem most of his power from the Earth element. Wood and Earth go hand in hand with each other, and I notice that you've also got some ties with the Water element, I am of course referring to the Mirror spirit," as he said this he indicated a leafy tendril towards the Mirror spirit representative, a watery figure who nodded in reply. "along with the Squid and Jellyfish spirit. Water and Wood as well as Water and Earth mesh quite well together, but only if you use both in moderation, as you no doubt understand."

"In addition to that, though somewhat unstable in it's preferences, your work with spiritual energy has not been ignored by my mistress. She was impressed with your Chains of Despair and your ah, I believe it was called the Lantern of a Hollow Eye? Both displayed quite a masterful display of control over the Earth element, though to call the Jaws an Earth element weapon would be a bit old-fashioned I believe." HollowEyes had never considered his weapons to be created in terms of elements, though he had found it much easier to create the Jaws and the Lantern compared to his work with the Ruby Dagger. "Your work with the Ruby Dagger on the other hand," the Vine representative continued, speaking in a very displeased tone. "Was very amateurish. The 'Heat Seed' that you managed to create was very dangerous, though you had the sense to contain it, at least until you had the half-baked idea to use the incomplete soul to resurrect a hundred year old cat to create a creature who understood the Fire element better than you did. The creature is called Caton, correct?"

Finally, a direct question, and HollowEyes was granted the opportunity to speak. "That's right. Caton is a Nekomata, a mythical feline creature with a natural affinity towards fire. Though I hardly think-" HollowEyes suddenly lost his ability to speak, having answered the Vine representative's question. "You do think HollowEyes, but it's clear to my mistress that you didn't think this one through so well. With considerable difficulty you went on to create another Chain of Despair out of this Caton's spirit, though it's quite a great deal less powerful than your previous one." HollowEyes opened his mouth to object, but no sound came out, and the Vine spirit representative didn't want to give him a chance to speak anyway. "I speak the truth HollowEyes, you created four Jaws from four bodies the first time, though this time you have the power of a godly item and you can only make one. I may not be a mathematician but with that kind of power I'd suspect that you'd be able to make hundreds of Jaws, which is further evidence to support my mistresses belief - you are not cut out for the Fire element."

HollowEyes would not have replied to this even if he could, as it struck something deep inside of him. He knew it to be true, though he'd never wanted to admit it. He had never had any trouble with any of his charms, but he'd always been less skilled with the lava charm. Out of every charm that he had, it was the only one to have just one single function. That had changed when he'd gotten a hold of the Ruby Dagger, and he began to use it more and more, though his control over the element of Fire had always been weak at best - the moment he'd inserted the Ruby Dagger created soul into Caton the creature had displayed better pyromantic control in his little finger than HollowEyes had ever shown in all the time he'd ever tried such things. Of course, this didn't mean that he'd simply pack it in and do whatever the Vine spirit wanted him to, but he'd certainly listen to what it had to say now.

"It seems that you now understand my point, and so I shall get to my mistresses wishes. As I mentioned earlier, she would like you to cut all ties with the Lava spirit. Consider that to be less than a wish and more of a demand, for if you do not do this it will most likely result in her severing her own ties with you." He leafed through some papers and produced a lists, a copy of which he passed around the room to everybody except for the Lava spirit representative. "To ensure that there is no bitterness between herself and the Lava spirit, my mistress has provided me with the details of a small civilization to pass on to your master, Lava spirit representative. Apparently she's convinced them that they should worship the volcano lest it erupts and burns them to death, it shouldn't be too hard to convert them to worshipping your master." The pumpkin headed representative handed a small folder over to the representative made of magma, who immediately cooled down. HollowEyes noticed his eyes widening with greed as he poured over the file, and it seemed that the Vine spirit had parted with a very lucrative bit of information in exchange for more exclusive rights to him. Quickly closing the file, the Lava spirit representative bowed deeply to the Vine spirit representative, deciding that this would be a much better gesture than shaking hands. "My sincerest apologies to you and your mistress for my hasty actions earlier, I hope that I haven't offended you in any way?" "Not at all my friend, not at all." Replied the Vine spirit representative, smiling a little more now. "If you'll all excuse me now, this is something that I must report to my master immediately. HollowEyes, uh... It was nice working with you."

HollowEyes blinked several times in surprise as the Lava spirit representative disappeared before his eyes, it was as if his mind was being made up for him and he had no say at all - first the Fox spirit and now the Lava spirit? This meeting was by far the worst of the lot, and he wasn't sure exactly how he'd explain the sudden change in his powers to the rest of the Council. Were they ever planning on letting him have a say here? "If you'll all direct your attention to the second and third wish of my mistress, you'll see that she's addressing the 'Caton' issue." HollowEyes definitely didn't like the way the Vine spirit representative had called Caton an issue, but as he still couldn't speak he was forced to listen in silence. "In regards to Caton, she requests that you find yourself another ah, well I suppose we in the business call them a 'summon', though you might refer to him as an assistant? I'm not entirely sure, but regardless of what you call him we'd like to see him gone. I'm willing to wager that most of the other spirits and representatives here would agree with me on this matter."

To HollowEyes great surprise, every spirit and representative seemed to nod in agreement. None of them had directly objected when he'd brought the idea to the Beetle spirit, though as he glared accusingly at the spirit himself he saw a faint glimmer of guilt in his eye. The old beetle had forgotten to even mention it to the others, how typical. "Of course, it could be argued that he's an important asset to your own capabilities, this is something that my mistress is well aware of, and she is willing to compensate you with another creature that you believe to be of equal or lesser value to Caton, provided that this creature complements your own abilities." HollowEyes was a little curious as to why the Vine spirit was taking such an interest in him, as he'd never been able to communicate with elemental spirits like herself very well before, and he'd really struggled to get the tiny amount of her power that he'd gotten the first time they'd spoken. He'd been pestering the Beetle spirit for years to get a summon, but he'd told HollowEyes that such creatures were not to be given out to just any disciples. Again he directed his accusing eyes towards the old spirit whom he'd once trusted, but the Beetle spirit shared his expression of disbelief, leading HollowEyes to believe that this was a very unexpected turn of events. "She is hoping that this will in turn lead you to be a little more ah, agreeable when considering her next request, that you relinquish your control over the Ruby Dagger."

Now this, HollowEyes would not stand for, and the Beetle spirit could see this very clearly. "Excuse me Vine spirit representative, but I believe that HollowEyes has something to say. Speak HollowEyes." It was the first time that he'd been able to speak freely in this room without being asked a question, and he felt as though an immense pressure had just been lifted from the room. Hesitating only out of surprise for just a moment, he quickly seized the opportunity that the Beetle spirit had presented to him. "The Ruby Dagger is more than just an item of pyromantic control, getting it was no easy task and I'm not just going to give it up because the Vine spirit wishes it so. As you yourself said before, it is a godly relic, relinquishing it would lower my standing in Blackstar as well as the Evil Council, why would the Vine spirit ask me to do something that could so easily reflect badly on her?" The Vine spirit representative did not seem too perplexed by this outburst, and continued in his relatively calm manned of speaking. "My mistress believes that the Corporation may be willing to trade their relic for your own, to a group so heavily focused on industrial development such as them she believes that an endless supply of heat would be of more use to them than the ability to make the trees twist and bend." "The Corporation?!" HollowEyes shouted, hate filling his voice. "The Corporation is a select group of greedy fools who protect themselves with cash-fuelled robots, they've basically devoted themselves to selling everything in the Dojo that they can get their hands on." "And you are a member of the Evil Council, a group that is hell-bent on ensuring the suffering of every person living in the Blackstar Dojo, do not pretend that your own intentions are so honorable HollowEyes, for they are not. I'd also like you to take the recent changes that have transpired here into account - you no longer have the Lava spirit's power to claim as your own, and without Caton you cannot even produce the fire that the Ruby Dagger allows you to control. Does this not significantly decrease it's usefulness to you?"

The Representative has a point, and HollowEyes was forced to take a different approach. The Vine spirit held a lot of clout with many spirits, and if he seemed too disagreeable at this meeting it would almost certainly come back to haunt him. His mind calculated the seemingly endless solutions to the predicament he currently faced, but all of the best endings resulting in him relinquishing the Ruby Dagger. He closed his eyes and sighed, realizing that he couldn't win. For somebody who's powers depend almost entirely upon beings many thousands of times older, more powerful and more wise than himself, he usually had very little choice when one of them wanted to do something like this. "What if... What if I were to hand the relic over to a person of my choosing on my own terms, would that satisfy your mistress?" The pumpkin headed figure tilted his bulbous orange head to one side, pondering this matter. HollowEyes mentally flinched a little as he could tell that the Vine representative had seen right through his scheme, but he replied in an unexpected manner. "I do not believe that my mistress was very specific with such details. If you should wish to give it to a friend or family member for nothing then there should be no problems. My mistress merely assumed that you'd want to hang on to a relic, even if this was not the Ruby Dagger." This was a step in the right direction. HollowEyes believed that, offensively, the Ruby Dagger was probably the most powerful of all the relics of Blackstar, and there was no way the Council would let him get away with trading it to somebody. He would simply pass it on to somebody else in the Council, claiming that he was terrible at it and wanted to see it put to better use. He could already think of several people who would most likely fare better with it than he had, though some of these people he didn't really enjoy dealing with.

"And in regards to your assistant, Caton?" The representative seemed eager to get a response for every demand that the Vine spirit had made, and HollowEyes found him to be irritatingly efficient. The Locust spirit seemed to share his sentiments, and had begun to tap several fingers on the table in impatience. "I will have to speak to him about it." This was not the kind of answer that the Vine spirit's representative had wanted to hear, but given how well he'd done with the other requests he decided that this was enough. "Very well, I will speak to you again on this matter soon." With that the Vine spirit representative sat down, finally allowing somebody else to speak.

"Well that ends your evaluation HollowEyes, but this meeting shall be a bit different from our previous ones." The beetle spirit started, coughing a bit as he did. "We have several issues concerning you to address that, at a majority vote, we have decided to voice today. As the meeting is officially at an end the rest of you may be pleased to know that we may drop all of the formalities and refer to each other as we normally would. To avoid confusion HollowEyes I suppose I'd best reintroduce you to everybody here: to my left is my cousin that you know quite well, the Locust King," The Locust King seemed all too glad to be casual, leaning his chair back and propping his legs up on the table in front of him. "To his left is another cousin of mine, the Cicada spirit," The Cicada spirit loosened his tie and smiled at HollowEyes. "To my right is the Vine spirit Summons, Pumpkinhead." The 'representative' bowed slightly, but did not otherwise change his posture - formal and casual seemed to be similar settings for him. Though his facial expression did not change, HollowEyes felt that he was far too smug for his liking. "To his right is the Mirror spirit, and not her representative, though on previous occasions she has been unable to attend." The spirit did not move, but HollowEyes was very surprised to learn this - why had such a detail been kept from him? "And finally we have the Fox spirit, who I believe is sitting behind me?" "Close but no cigar, Beetle spirit." A voice sniggered. "I'm behind your buddy the Locust King." The Fox spirit emerged from thin air, somehow having concealed himself perfectly from the rest of the room until now. "I have to say HollowEyes, for somebody who's as good at detecting hidden foes like yourself you really did fail at this." "Now now Fox spirit, 3 out of 6 isn't so bad." The Cicada spirit replied defensively. Unlike the Fox spirit, the Cicada spirit had very few disciples, and he didn't like to see the Fox spirit belittling one of his best. As he said this though, he realized his error, one that HollowEyes had quickly picked up on. "How do you all know what I thought you were?" The Beetle spirit rolled his eyes, and the Locust King snapped at the Cicada spirit with his mandibles. "Nice going runt, we weren't planning on telling him that." "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." The Cicada spirit nervously replied, his voice was much less stable and more screech-like now, as though he was warning the Locust King to back off. "No matter, we may as well spill the beans now." The Fox spirit said, taking up the Lava spirit's empty seat. "Cicada spirit over there is responsible for a species of space bugs that can read minds via the tiny electronic pulses that your brain gives off, he's been doing the same to you and so our minutes for these meetings have been including your thoughts. Hence why we don't usually let you speak, coz we don't need you to."

HollowEyes was shocked to learn this, but before he had a chance to speak the Beetle spirit took charge. "Thank you for the rather crude explanation Fox spirit, but we have more to cover in this meeting. First of all HollowEyes we have decided that now is the time to deliver a most important warning to you - you are being followed and have been followed by two spirits since you left the Parasitian Homeworld, and these two spirits are both quite dangerous in their own rights." The room suddenly fell quiet, and the casual atmosphere of the meeting was gone. "The first is an incredibly dangerous spirit whom you were promised to at birth, the Spirit of Cutting." "Calls himself 'Scissors', of all things." The Locust King laughed, though the rest of the room did not find it quite as funny. "Scissors, as he indeed refers to himself as," the Beetle spirit continued, "is you families ancestral spirit. He has been serving your bloodline ever since he left the mortal coil and ascended and expected that he would be continuing to do so for all generations to come. If you want proof of his influence look no further than your own hands, the genetic blueprint for the armblades was developed by him for his descendants, I believe that your father was exceptionally skilled with them."

"Assuming that this is true," HollowEyes thought aloud, "why hasn't he caught me yet? For a spirit who's been following me for so long it shouldn't be such a hard thing to do" The Beetle spirit folded his arms at this and turned away, looking as if he was gazing out a window. "Your father was beside himself when he learned of your nature, that you and your sister were not one and the same. He had brought his family to new heights, a child prodigy, bearing the strongest connection to Scissors that any Parasitian had ever seen in a familial spirit, and he quickly ascended to the rank of Prime Disciple. He led the Leech clan to a golden age of prosperity, never before had they had so much territory, and never before had they had such a vast array of powers at their disposal. His strength caught the eye of the Prime Specialist, who was quite old at the time, but had a promising daughter who had come a very close second to your father in gaining the rank of Prime Disciple, and it was decided that they would pair and produce a child who would succeed them both. Parasitians, as you know well, partake in only the most basic concepts of logic, believing that one strong Parasitian plus another strong Parasitian must equal and even stronger Parasitian. Thus your father and mother met, produced an egg and resumed their lives as near strangers. Parasitians do not believe in love but there is a very strong sense of parental pride that binds couples together, and so they doted over you quite a bit even though they weren’t always together. More than a few members of the clan joined in on this, you must understand that to them, your birth would be akin to the coming of a new saviour. They truly believed that you would lead them to dominate over their hated rival clan, the Jackals, and there were even extremists who talked of you ruling the Homeworld."

"Your... problematic birth thus caused far more damage to the Leech clan than you could possibly comprehend. Unlike most Parasitian births, yours was a very public event, almost the entire clan had shown up to witness it, and they were horrified to see that your body was corrupted and malformed - in two pieces instead of one. Your mother was remarkably similar to your sister in her attitude, and she instantly blamed your father for this. Her own family spirit was one that promoted union and growth, whilst his was one that only cut things apart. The Prime Specialist was quick to jump to the defense of his associate, your father, and pointed out that if you were to devour your sister then this would not be such a problem, and it could be overlooked. His way of thinking was not a very popular one, as twins are especially hated in the Leech clan, but as you were who they believed you to be the clan agreed, and asked that you do this for them." HollowEyes remained silent, though his head felt like it was about to explode. He had never heard his own history so detailed, these early parts of his life were such a blur to him, they were all terrible memories, and he had never considered trying to find out exactly what had happened. "When you refused... It was as if all hell broke lose. I cannot remember what exactly it was that you said, and I'm certain that you can't either, as it translates poorly, but your manner of speaking was not at all Parasitian - you spoke with a kind of unwavering solidarity, a 'no compromise' response to the Prime's plea. You cut down the entire clan's hopes for the future in a single sentence, the kind of destructive power that Scissors himself had never witnessed, and he watched the family that he had spent centuries building up fall apart before his eyes."

"Somebody struck out at your sister, proclaiming that if she died you would have no choice but to eat her. The crowd was still mostly shell shocked, but this male believed too strongly in your abilities to let it all fail now. He was amongst the most extreme of the extremists, one of the few Parasitians crazy enough to believe in worlds far beyond his own, and that you would somehow lead them to conquer it all." The Beetle spirits voice was now wavering as he spoke about this individual, and HollowEyes got the distinct feeling that he had something of a personal connection with him. "You killed that Parasitian instantly HollowEyes." The Locust King took over from the Beetle spirit, knowing that his cousin could not continue. "Before he could touch your sister you swallowed him whole, digesting him in a matter of seconds. I doubt that you inherited any of his abilities, apparently you ate him in a most wasteful manner. In the confusion that followed this you did the same thing to your mother, the Prime Specialist and several other Parasitians, it was enough to create an atmosphere of panic and fear the likes of which is very rarely seen on the Parasitian Homeworld. Or so I'm told, I wasn't actually there at the time." Noticing how unreliable the Locust King was now seeming in his account of the events, Pumpkinhead stepped in. "It was then that my mistress stepped in, appearing to the Parasitian people for the first time ever, binding you in her namesake." HollowEyes was surprised to learn this, as he had suppressed all memories of what happened ensuing his slaughtering of the people who were trying to force him to murder his sister. Most of what he knew was cobbled together from a patchy recollection from Little Sister, but this didn’t sound at all familiar. "Your sister escaped in the frenzy, being so small and insignificant to the crowd that she may as well not exist to them. Your existence was far more important, you had broken one of the very few sacred laws of Parasitian society and murdered so many people, you had done irreparable damage to the social structure of your clan and had almost left them without any leaders at all, though your father still remained. My mistress wished to execute you on the spot - an eye for an eye is the most common form of punishment on the Parasitian Homeworld, and you had killed one of her most promising disciples, your mother."

"Somehow you had failed to attack your father though, and he pleaded with my mistress to spare you. He showed a kind of compassion unknown to Parasitians, and given how susceptible your species is to mental trauma I suspect that he was not quite all there. As the Beetle spirit mentioned, it is not strange for a parent to feel pride for their child, but he was excessive and even called upon his own spirit to strike my mistress down in his frenzy. Scissors, having originally been a Parasitian, sympathized greatly with your father, and appeared before him. The appearance of not one but two immensely powerful spiritual beings would be enough for most societies to etch the events that followed into the history books forever, but your clan no doubt wishes that they never happened. Scissors managed to negotiate with my mistress, also pleading with her to spare your life. He claimed that your father would be unlikely to ever get the opportunity to have another child again after what had just happened, and that you should at least have the chance to redeem yourself to the clan. His argument was a very persuasive one, and my mistress decided to grant him his wish. Unlike Scissors, she had many disciples amongst the Parasitians, and served more than one family. Whilst the loss of your mother was no small matter, it did not squash out her influence on this world entirely."

"Your own reaction to this is something that I can only describe as one of cruel irony. Still bound by the vines of my mistress you were desperate to escape, and in your struggling you managed to get ahold of your father, with your tongue of all things. You did not hesitate to begin consuming him, though he did not fight you. Probably more a case of him being unable to fight you than anything, he didn't want to risk killing you, and your father was a very powerful Parasitian. Seeing that his beloved disciple was not doing anything, Scissors did the only thing that he could think of - invoking a bizarre chant that my mistress could not understand a word of, he sliced your tongue off, saving your father's life and at the same time ending yours as a Parasitian. Needless to say his actions surprised my mistress, and for a moment she feared that Scissors was attacking her, which caused her to loosen her grip of you."

"You slipped off and were never seen or heard from by your clan again." The Fox spirit interrupted, "I don't mind hearing an interesting story but is this going to go on much longer? We've all heard it before, and HollowEyes lived through it." "No," HollowEyes said quietly to the Fox spirit, "I don't remember it like this at all." He was quite emotionless in his tone, as he was still processing all of this information. "Oh really?" The Fox spirit replied, now intrigued to see how he'd react to the rest of the story. "Do go on then, Pumpkinhead." "I do not know much else," Pumpkinhead said somewhat dejectectedly. "HollowEyes' father went beserk, as he believed that Scissors had destroyed whatever chances he'd had of becoming a normal Parasitian, though Scissors attempted to say otherwise. My mistress quickly left as she did not want to be involved in the chaos that was likely to ensue." "Ah, well then..." The Fox spirit replied in a disappointed tone. "Beetle spirit?" The Beetle spirit seemed to have regained his composure and had returned to his seat, though he shook his head. "I cannot tell the next part of the story, that would be up to the Mirror spirit." All eyes now focused on the Mirror spirit, who, not pleased to have the spotlight so suddenly put on her, reflected the room back at them. "No need to stare, I will reveal all that I have to say on the matter." She took up a mostly humanoid body, turning to face HollowEyes. "HollowEyes, there is something that almost everybody in this room aside from yourself has in common, something that you must now no doubt realize yourself - in the earliest parts of your life you have killed at least one of our disciples from the Parasitian Homeworld. The Lava spirit is an exception to this, as is the Cicada spirit"

HollowEyes couldn't believe how many times he was being surprised at this meeting, and the Mirror spirit had thrown him one hell of a curve ball - these spirits had helped him so much in his life, why were they doing this if he'd murdered their disciples? It didn't make any sense to him, though he was a little relieved to see how uncomfortable the Cicada spirit seemed to be with all of these revelations. ~I am not entirely sure what to say to you HollowEyes.~ A mental chirping echoed throughout his head. ~But I will wait until the end of the meeting to before I pass any sort of judgement on you.~ HollowEyes didn't say anything in reply but agreed with the Cicada spirit's idea - waiting until this was over might offer more illumination. Nobody else seemed to be aware that the Cicada spirit was speaking to him in such a way, but the Mirror spirit seemed to have given them enough time with her dramatic pause. "The Lava spirit is a colleague of mine and the Vine spirit, and the Cicada spirit is a cousin to the Beetle spirit and the Locust spirit, but the rest of us first came to know of you through your murdering of our disciples. We all reacted differently, some of us taking it quite badly," she seemed to be looking at the Beetle spirit as she said this, though he was avoiding her crystalline gaze, "some of us were impressed," HollowEyes noticed her turn her focus to the Locust spirit, but he seemed to have fallen asleep, "and some of us barely noticed it at first," she seemed to stare at the Fox spirit for quite a long time as she said this, but he merely shrugged her gaze off. "Please continue Mirror spirit, you're beginning to bore me." She resumed her unwavering focus on HollowEyes as she continued her side of the story. "My disciple was related to your mother, and her family sought to banish your father, as they were too afraid to hunt you down and did not know what else to do. They were at first afraid of him too, as he had summoned his own spirit to do his bidding, but in a heated argument he told them that he had severed all ties with Scissors, and refused to commune with his family’s spirit any longer."

"Ah, now I see..." The Beetle spirit mused, unintentionally interrupting the Mirror spirit. "Oh, my apologies Mirror spirit, please continue." The Mirror spirit did not seem upset by the interruption though, shaking her head and indicating with her hand to the Beetle spirit. "Short as my contribution is to the tale that is really all there is to tell, you know how the rest goes Beetle spirit." "Oh, well... Ok then," the Beetle spirit said, a hint of shame in his voice as he continued. "Your father approached me HollowEyes, as my disciple was a close friend of his. Well, as close as Parasitians get in terms of friends I suppose. He begged and pleaded with me to find you, to return you to him and that I find some way to restore your tongue. I refused, outraged that he'd approach me to ask me to help my disciple's murderer. Back then I had a different view of how things were, I had spent a long time on the Parasitian Homeworld and I'm ashamed to say that I had become used to the mindset and in my rage I requested a favour of my cousin." "Namely the assassination of either you or your father, preferably both." The Locust King had lazily opened one eye as he cut in. "As you know HollowEyes I work with large numbers, I had a big family at my disposal and they were just dying to get some justice for their fallen brother. So I appeared to two of them in a dream, one I ordered to hunt you down and the other I ordered to hunt your father down." He stood up and pushed his chair aside, removing the large gold decorations from his body as he continued. "I never heard from either of them again, but they both met the same fate. Sliced in two, a perfect division, two thirds one side and one third the other. Like the idiot that I was I didn't think about it too much, I thought that perhaps it was your father's doing and that he'd just gotten the better of both of them. Of course, it wasn't until I met up with Scissors later that I learned of the real culprit." He snapped his fingers at the Mirror spirit as he unfastened the last gold chain. "Get rid of the spell, he needs to see this." The Mirror spirit nodded and a bright light filled the room. When the light subsided, HollowEyes couldn't believe what he saw - an enormous blade was skewered through the centre of the Locust King, the kind of wound that HollowEyes expected anybody mortal would die from.

"That *happy spices* Scissors did this to me, said that the rest of us needed to 'stay away from his family', that I would 'serve as an example'. I would've died if my cousin here hadn't found me and petrified me, but it still took me years to heal. As having a giant sword stuck through me does some serious damage to my reputation as a spirit I had the Mirror spirit help me out, and she put a spell on the blade to make it seem invisible to everyone." The Mirror spirit took this as an indication to put the spell back in place and the Locust spirit sat back down. "It's a little more complicated that just invisibility as you can see, but that's not really the point. What you need to understand is that Scissors is capable of killing other spirits quite easily, and he's a damn sneaky *happy spices* that could probably get the drop on a God if he had the chance." HollowEyes felt much as he had for most of this meeting, having no idea as to what he should say. This went way above the kinds of enemies that he was used to, but he needed to figure something out. "So... If he's so strong, why have I never seen him before?" "That my dear HollowEyes is because of the second spirit that has been following you." The Fox spirit took over, pleased that the conversation had become so interesting. "Nobody here has any idea as to what she's thinking or what she's planning, and we don't understand why she holds you in such high favour. As far as we know you are her only disciple, though many of us weren't even aware that she existed until you met with her, those of us who did knew her only by the assumption that she must exist. We've all spoken to her at one stage or another, most of us were introduced to you as a potential disciple through her, and considering that so many years had passed since we'd lost our disciples to you and that we'd all had a chance to reflect and grow we were able to look at you in a different light. We all have our different motivations for supporting you, and yes, I do intend to keep lending you my power as long as it's all off the record, I don't really care much for the Wolf spirit." He laughed for a moment at this, though the glares he received from the rest of the room let him know that they didn't appreciate his attitude. HollowEyes got the distinct feeling that the Fox spirit had had the least trouble in accepting HollowEyes as a disciple. "Well, in any case, this spirit has become something of a mortal enemy to Scissors. For whatever reason she despises him and refuses to let him anywhere near you purely out of spite, and for that he abhors her and will do just about anything to get you back." The Fox spirit seemed to find this hilarious and burst out laughing, and even the Locust King started sniggering, though HollowEyes could not see what was so funny.

"I suppose it is quite humorous that a spirit who calls himself Scissors should have so much trouble with the Spirit of Paper." The Beetle spirit noticed HollowEyes jaw drop and his eyes widen, the Parasitian could not believe how blind he had been to this when it now seemed to be such an obvious thing. "Yes, your friend Ayame, or Aoiame as you call her, is a Spirit, and a very powerful one. She has passed a huge amount of power on to you, more than any of us spirits would ever give to our any of our disciples, and on top of that she has acted as your personal bodyguard since the day you met her. Do not ask us why, there is not anyone here who can tell you that, but it is safe to say that she's responsible for most of what's happened in your life after that. She sent you to a place where the Evil Council would find you, knowing that they were a powerful organization that would allow you to grow in a relatively safe environment. The Council's membership has included Gods and Spirits, and even if Scissors succeeded in capturing you he would be chased to the ends of the multiverse for his actions against the Council. I do not believe that she could have possibly planned for the creation of Blackstar but it has worked entirely to her advantage - it is a place carefully controlled by a powerful God who happens to hold your Council in high favour, and Scissors has had even less of a chance to get to you."

"What your friend Ayame has told us, assuming that it is true, confirms our suspicions - Scissors is not sane enough to explain or rationalize his actions, and his only goal seems to be to resurrect his bloodline. He is becoming more and more frustrated as more and more obstacles are placed in his way - first Ayame, then the Council, then Blackstar, and more recently Noten." "The God of Nothing? What does he have to do with this?" HollowEyes hadn't intended to interrupt the Beetle spirit, but Noten didn't really seem to be something that was worth factoring in. "I told you that you sucked at this HollowEyes..." The Fox spirit sighed, wiping his face with his paw. "Noten is not a God. He's not even spirit." "... I don't understand." HollowEyes had been able to follow the rest of this meeting, as mind blowing as it had all been, the revelations upon revelations, but he now found himself lost. He was certain that Noten was a God, from what Little Sister had told him he knew that this much had to be true. "Noten's existence is truly bizarre, and it's very difficult to say exactly what he is. Ayame apparently knows but she refuses to tell us, says it's not important in the grand scheme of things." "Of course, she could be lying." The Cicada spirit spoke up, finally able to contribute to the conversation. "Whether she's lying or not doesn't really matter here, we are discussing Scissors at the moment... No offense cousin." He added as he noticed the look of rejection on the Cicada spirit's face. "Yes, I'm not a big fan of discussion the affairs of Gods or God-like entities anyway." The Beetle spirit huffed, though the Mirror spirit and the Fox spirit both seemed to have a wistful look in their eyes. "Get over it you two, your Goddess doesn't care for you anymore." The Locust King snapped at them, bringing them crashing back down to reality. "Fine then, let's wrap this meeting up, shall we?" The Fox snapped back, cross that he was denied the chance to relive his glory days.

"HollowEyes, every spirit here shall continue to support you... in one way or another," the Beetle spirit said, looking towards the Fox spirit as he said that last bit. "However, you must be wary of the existence of two spirits who have questionable motives regarding you. Scissors is hell bent on getting you back to the Parasitian Homeworld, and he doesn't seem to care about Little Sister so I'd say that he either knows something that we don't about Parasitians or he's just too crazy to give a damn. Either one's likely, he's been with Parasitians since he himself was one as a mortal, and he's quite insane now apparently. Ayame on the other hand seems to be serving as your protector, which is good, but we have no idea what she intends to do with you. She has proven to be most untrustworthy to everyone she's ever come into contact with and we can't help but suspect that she might not have your best concerns at heart. We will be speaking to you again like this sooner than usual HollowEyes. Stay safe until then." With that, he gathered up his papers and stood up to leave, ushering the rest of the spirits out of the room. The seemed to now forget all about HollowEyes, having other meetings to attend to, and they left the shellshocked Parasitian to contemplate all that had happened here by himself. He couldn't even begin to count the number of bombshells that had been dropped on him since this meeting had 'dropped the formalities', and he didn't even notice that Pumpkinhead had remained behind.

"HollowEyes, I would ask that you seriously contemplate the offers that my mistress is giving you. She has gone through a lot since you murdered her favourite disciple, your mother, and I'm sure that you have experienced quite a bit as well, but this is in the interest of your own safety. As a disciple you have become very valuable to the Vine spirit, she has even come to consider you as something of a favourite, and she tells me that there is quite a bit of your mother in you. Scissors does not really fit in under the old elements, and we are being forced to update our thinking on the matter, but flames do not deter blades, and we feel that you would be safer if you focused your attention on your strengths." HollowEyes frowned as he put the events that had just transpired here towards the back of his head and returned his focus to the Vine spirit's suggestions. "Vines do not deter blades either-" "But vines grow back HollowEyes. If you put a flame out it will not spark up again by itself." The Parasitian folded his arms, a luxury that he was able to enjoy in a realm where he didn't really exist. It seemed that Pumpkinhead was not going to take no for an answer. "If you were in my shoes, what would you do Pumpkinhead?" This threw the Vine spirit's minion off a little, but he'd expected this response. "Me? Hard to say HollowEyes - you don't know everything that I do, and I don't know everything that you do. Even if I tell you what I would do I doubt it would help you very much at all." HollowEyes had a feeling that Pumpkinhead was trying to avoid the answer to the question, but he had a point - he hadn't really intended to take the vegetable's opinion to heart, and it wouldn't have achieved very much if he'd voiced it. "Well do you have anything that you could tell me to help me to make up my mind? I don't really know what to think about anything anymore." HollowEyes joked, laughing to himself. "There are a lot of things I could tell you, and I judging from the events that just transpired here it seems that nobody could decide just what they wanted to say."

"I could tell you that you destroyed you clan and were largely responsible for ruining a place that all of the people here enjoyed. I could tell you that Scissors is a dangerous maniac who would now do just about anything to get a hold of you, and I could also tell you that Ayame's stories are so questionable that we struggle to get even the most basic pieces of information out of her. I could even tell you things that you don't know - that the Beetle spirit has aged more in the past 20 years than he has in his many centuries of living, that the Locust spirit will probably never be able to remove Scissors' blade from his body or that my mistress is probably more upset at Scissors losing his mind than she is about you killing her favourite disciple."

HollowEyes remained silent as Pumpkinhead said all of this, having not anticipated such a serious answer to his question. "But there is not point in telling you any of that. Much like Spirits, mortals rarely concern themselves with the affairs of those above them, unless it directly affects them. As far as mortals I find you to be quite unique HollowEyes, you have a tendency to look forward rather than look back, and you seem to be the exception to your race. Your sister is not gifted with such abilities, and she looks back to a time before she was born. Spiteful cretin though she may be, the Mirror spirit wished to tell you that you should not hold her actions against her HollowEyes, as she clings to the possibility of returning to the Parasitian Homeworld that she has idolized since birth as all Parasitians do, and it has become a dream-like paradise to her that she will do anything to return to." Pumpkinhead seemed to speak with a sense of longing, as though he could relate to what she was feeling. "Do you really think that the Parasitian Homeworld is so great?" HollowEyes replied with an eyebrow raised, having never heard anybody refer to the Parasitian Homeworld as a 'dream-like paradise'. "Aha, well, I was born there you see, created by a very gifted Parasitian. For those of us from the spiritual realm who lived there, it might have seemed like paradise - the Parasitians were devoted to their Spirits and Gods, and I think that most immortals tend to have a bit of a soft spot for younger species... It was nice while it lasted, but it has changed greatly in the past two decades, more than any planet should." Pumpkinhead suddenly realized that he'd said a bit too much, having forgotten who's company he was in. "In any case, please do consider the offers of my mistress. Demanding as they may seem she really does have your best interests at heart, unlike some other immortals you might hang around with. I will probably be seeing you sooner than the others, so goodbye for now."

And with that, Pumpkinhead left, and HollowEyes woke up.

((Feel free to comment as much as you like, as this is the entire piece and you have no need to worry about interrupting anything ))

[Fort]

As I tried my best to understand about what you were talking about I got quite lost - but I'm pround to say I bridged the gaps in my ignorance effectively and overall it made a wonderful read.

The only nitpick I have is the profanity filter's over-zelous censoring.

[3kul]

Censored?! Noooo, I didn't realize... Argh, and the censor makes stuff sound so laaaame -_-...

Well if you want the uncensored version feel free to e-mail me or grab me on msn some time.

I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed it though Fort I understand that there's a bit of backstory that you'd need to know to fully grasp this story (sorry, I probably should have warned readers about that), but I thought that it might also be fun to put stuff in that maybe only certain people will get.

Looks like my next big project will be to update HE's history so that people can refer to something short before reading stuff like this . Please ask me if there's anything specific that's confusing you though, as other people may be unsure about the same thing.

[Swix]

You write too much 3kul, I had to read this in two sittings .

But, it's a pretty cool story though, very enjoyable.