Colin's posts

Azazel smiled.

"Good." he replied.

"Glad to hear it." he told her.

"So... odds are you're feeling pretty drained." he commented.

"And it's understandable." he said further.

"But... on the bright side, you now have complete control over the mark." he went on.

"Congrats!"

"Nngh..." the shadow muttered.

"Damn you..." it cursed.

"Filthy... miserable..." it said quietly, before sighing.

"Very well." it then mumbled.

"You win." it said.

"I... concede." it finished. With that, it seemed to dissipate into nothingness, and the world seemed to turn black before her eyes... but that's when she realized it was because she had her eyes closed.

When she opened them, she saw Azazel sitting before her.

"I assume you succeeded?" he asked her.

The shadow seemed to cower slightly, before growling again.

"SO BE IT!" it yelled, before exploding hundreds of the strings from within in.

The battle of wills rages on for an unknown time period... before the shadow collapsed to the floor, before Erica.

"...why...?" it asked.

"I... I am... Aka Manah..." it said.

"How... can I lose to a mere mortal...?"

The shadow growled even more loudly than before.

"You dare!? YOU DARE!?" it howled.

It then sent dozens of the 'strings' towards her, all of them embedding in her body, and started to force her to walk towards it again... but something seemed... different.

Erica sensed that the control was weakening... and almost as though she could control IT.

"What!?" the figure exclaimed.

"No!" it yelled, as he threw some more 'string' her way, the strands stabbing into her.

However, she continued to pull them out.

"This can't be!" it growled loudly, as it took an unconscious step back.

"You are just a mere mortal!" it said.

"I AM AKA MANAH!" it then declared loudly, its voice seeming to shake the entire area.

The shadow figure growled as it heard that.

"A worthless mortal." it responded, as the shadows dug deeper inside her.

"Now COME HERE!" it ordered her.

After it did, she felt her muscles twitching and jerking about, as she started to slowly move towards it.

"You are worthless, as is that pathetic worm that put you here." it told her.

"He will be the first to feel my wrath."

"HAH!" the shadow exclaimed.

"You know NOTHING of who I am!" it declared.

With that, several string-like appendages shot out from the back of the creature, and attached themselves to Erica... and she could feel the strings starting to assert control over her.

"You will be my puppet." the shadow said.

"Aka Manah WILL live again!" it declared.

Azazel smiled.

"Good to hear." he said.

"Now close your eyes... and concentrate." he told her.

When she did, he inserted the key in the hole in her palm... and turned it.

Instantly, Erica found herself in a white empty space, with a figure standing before her. A figure that appeared to be nothing more than ink and shadows, but clearly had the head of something bovine, with the twisted horns of something goat-like. And they seemed to have a marionette in one hand... also made of shadows.

"Well, well, well..." it said, its voice seeming to echo from all around.

"You are a fool to have come here." it told her.

"Hold your arm out towards me." he told her.

"Palm up." he said.

When she did, he took his ring off, allowing his true form to be seen, and started to concentrate... hard.

As he did, she felt something... odd... happening in her palm. She looked at it, and saw some of the blackness swirling around, almost seeming to form a kind of hole. She also saw that energy from Azazel was starting to rise up from his hands, and the inky black and crimson red mana started to form... a key shape.

Which was when she noticed that the hole in her palm had formed into... a keyhole.

After about 5 solid minutes, Azazel opened his eyes and grabbed the semi-solid key in front of him.

"Prepare yourself." he told her.

"When I insert this key and turn it, the struggle for dominance will commence." he informed her.

Azazel's face turned a little pink when he saw her, but he shook it off and cleared his throat.

"Ah-hem." he cleared his throat.

"Bra's fine." he said.

"It's cool." he told her.

He then cleared his throat again, and composed himself.

"All right, ready?" he asked her.

Azazel sighed when he heard that.

"Right." he said.

"A warning." he told her.

"You're going to have to have a battle of wills with the mark." he informed her. "It's going to want to spread and take over... specifically, your own mind and emotions." he said.

"But if your will is strong, you'll be able to fight it back, and keep it down." he told her.

"And once you've... asserted your dominance... you won't need to do it again." he then assured her.

"So if you're ready, I'll need to see your mark. The entirety of it." he finished.

"Well.... hm." Azzy muttered.

"A number of things." he said.

"The mark will spread out to its maximum coverage, probably to your neck and around this part of your torso." he told her, hovering over one of her breasts, and reaching down towards her belly button.

"You will be able to manipulate the mark to come off of you, ie: physical tendrils can rise up and enter others. Intimidation factor and other such things." he went on.

"You'll be able to suppress its effects at will, and won't need to cover it up." he continued.

"And you'll be able to not only amplify emotions, but actively control the emotions of the one you're touching. Or that your tendrils are touching." he then finished.

"Eh-heh..." Azazel chuckled sheepishly.

"Sorry." he said.

"But... uh... well... I've been doing some digging." he told her.

"Going back... 'home'... and gathering info and skills and such." he went on.

"And I can finally help you unlock the full potential of the Mark of Aka!" he declared.

After a few seconds, it was answered.

"Hey." he said.

"Come in, come in." he told her, stepping out of the way.

There was something.... different about him, right now.

He seemed... excited. Genuinely excited and eager.

"Sorry to call you in on a day off." he apologized.