Ran did not agree with this stupid plan, this doomed journey. The Noxsphere had been resealed, he saw no need to break in when there were Lagarakeis out here they could hunt.
Which sounded crazy to him. Why even hunt a Lagarakei in the first place? Not even a full day yet under Xin's service and he was already hating his existence.
He'd always known that an adventure in hell was an act equal to hari-kari, there was so much danger in this place than there was sand in a desert.
And he hadn't even gotten the chance to talk to his father. Xin had sent him back, ignoring Ran's request.
Ran glared at the striding figure of the black demon with hatred again and decided he needed to do something else but glare at the man else he'd start thinking of murdering him.
Which, would be another thing equal to suicide.
Remembering his friend, he reached out mentally.
"Haru? You're there?"
"Ran, how have you been? It felt like years since I last spoke to you." Haru sounded almost distorted like he was too far away. Ran had never experienced this when mentally communicating with the acolyte, not ever.
"I can understand that. I have had one hell of a long day." That was very much an understatement in his opinion.
"Ahh, it's actually because I'm in Kurana right now. Nothing to do with a long day on my end, I'm afraid."
"Kurana? What are you doing in Kurana?"
What Ran resisted the urge to ask was why his friend had left him here after promising to be by his side in his rebellion against his father's death, to be with him until he'd accomplished his goal for coming here to Naraku.
"An artifact of hell fire was unleashed upon a desert here and the Supreme Spiritualist wanted everyone back in the Monastery, he wanted everyone from acolytes to the Ancient Monks to be ready in case he couldn't contain it. He summoned us all back himself. One moment I was in the dark and skeletal City of my sister and the next I was back at the Monastery. He promised to send me back but I don't know when that's going to be."
"Well, it's good that we can talk like this isn't it?"
No, Ran did not feel good about anything. What he felt was anger. Not at Haru, or at least not majorly directed at his friend.
He felt a great anger for Master Sei.
The man could pull people out of hell and send them back on a whim and he'd refused to do so just once for Ran.
He'd asked for nothing else. NOTHING!!
He could have been a typical child and asked the monk to not only accompany him but also help him fight the forces of hell to claim his father back.
But he made no request pertaining to that. He'd been ready to fight the fight himself, to sacrifice his life if that was what it took. He'd been ready, and still was, to give away his soul to save his father.
All he'd needed was someone to just open the doors for him to get through.
That was all he'd asked for.
Furiously he cleaned the tears that were rolling down his cheeks.
He wouldn't cry. He was older than this. His father used to say sorrow had no respect for age, but Ran felt like he was beyond sorrow.
He'd lost everything and was on a journey now to claim it all back. There was no time for sorrow, no consideration for it.
"So, tell me. How was the fire stopped?"
He walked through the infernal lands and cracks of the realm of Blazes and souls as he listened to his friend regale him with a tale of hell on Earth.
~Break~
Ran thanked his stars that whatever he was now— ichor from an ancient god, blood of an Arkon, Lagarakei and Hell Lords' essences, and whatever a Yosei was —he could last very long without sleep, food, or water.
He thanked Mukoku's aura too for protecting him from the nature of hell.
Just the wind here was deadly, and never the same. Sometimes it was hot enough to melt flesh, sometimes poisonous, then it could become cold enough to freeze iron.
Nature in Naraku was never consistent. And only Mukoku's aura kept him going.
Xin was truly evil, the man had no need for rest, knew Ran had little need for it, and thus pushed him till his very limit.
Only conversations with Haru kept him from losing his mind, or remembering that he never got the chance to even meet his father.
He'd asked Haru to check up on the old man because it still felt like a dream to him. He needed to be sure that he'd been saved, that his father was alive and well.
"BOY!"
Ran looked ahead and was surprised to see Xin looking tense for no reason, the Demon even had a glaive made of burning, hot lava in his bare hands.
"Come here now!"
Ran rushed to him, already on a look out for any sign of danger.
Before he even got to Xin he could already feel it. There were some strange forces about.
Xin's black gaze regarded him darkly when he finally got to him. "We are being watched."
Ran looked around. He could see nothing, but he could feel a lot.
Standing next to Xin, it felt like both of them were standing between two or more forces, which were acting in strong opposition to each other.
He felt like a bolt in between two magnets and the feeling was wrong, just wrong.
He'd never had a shark, with a rictus of salivating hunger, standing invisibly behind him—but that was the mental picture this feeling gave him.
There was something watching them, several somethings.
He clenched his fist wishing he had a weapon, any weapon, as he entered a mental state of being tense.
Shadows started to crawl over the floor, the wind picked up in speed as though it could sense his feeling of nervousness and it caused it excitement.
From behind, a wave overcame them silencing Ran's fear, the sound of his breathing, the sound of Xin's grip as he tightened his hand around the hilt of his glaive.
The wave silenced everything, even the flow of thought.
Yet, Xin spoke through it and his voice was heard. The Prince of Blazes straightened up suddenly, his whole body becoming a pillar of fire, the wave of silence flinched back and the shadows crawled away.
"Identify yourself in the presence of a Prince of Hell," he demanded, his voice carrying over like crackling embers.
There was stillness, and then—
"We are Hell Lords to Tera the Queen of Shadows."
The roaring fire that was Xin turned around in the direction the wave of silence had come from. "And you, I believe you are servants of the Gagara, Queen of Silence."
There was no response except silence. Ran wondered if he should have expected anything else, but he actually had.
"What is the reason for this madness?" Xin asked.
From the left came a response from the Hell Lords of Tera.
"Upon the Eclipse of Eternity, the realm of Silence has invaded ours. Our Demon Queen has locked this side of Naraku to avoid the war spreading and angering the rest of her kindred, thus as is the law, the Toll of Blood must be paid to earn passage."
"You deny me passage in Naraku, you little creature?" Xin asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft, sending a shiver through everyone.
"I…it's the law, great Prince. All must obey the laws of Naraku."
Xin stewed in silence and in that silence Ran could not help wondering what the Eclipse of Eternity meant.
The Toll of Blood he knew, it was when one must fight a champion from a realm to death in order to cross when they have been denied passage.
He was still wondering what the Eclipse of Eternity could possibly mean when he paused, raised his head to regard the fiery human-form of Xin who was staring at him now.
Ran looked around to see if there was another Knave close to him.
There was none.
He was very confused.
He wasn't sure but he could have sworn he just heard Xin say something despicable.
He could have sworn he he heard the Demon proclaim—
"So be it then. My Knave shall pay the Toll of Blood."