SHIFT 2 - Purgatory

Cosmic calamity

The dark folded around him. Shapes moved within it, but none came close. He walked through the field, the castle seemed to gleam a black foreboding light. It shimmered on the air as if it weren't fully of this world. Nagisa knew the difference. He could spot changes in the air, in the land anything that would indicate if he walked into another reality. A test. Aradia's tests. They had all trained him for this moment. Had she always known it would be him?

He flexed his hand over the hilt of the sword. It was the only light he had. His own lighting magic was dimmed to what the blade held. He was growing weak. The night kept bringing on new monsters. He had spent a lot of energy fighting them. Even after the years he spent in hell. He wasn't rested, his soul felt worn.

He drew in a breath. Was he still only sixteen? No, seventeen now. He let the breath out. How come he felt so old? How come this had to be his life? He had never wanted to be a fighter. Had never wanted to join his siblings at that stupid school. He had fought it all. Fought to be something different. Yet, it always pulled him back here, back to the iron stench of blood in the air.

Back to broken bones and howling cries of pain. Had he once wanted to be a healer? He pondered that as he walked. A part of him found he was good at it. Something that came to him as easily as breathing. Was it lucky that he had this skill? He wasn't so sure. For with it came the dread sense of discomfort, pain, anguish like none should ever have to bare. He had wanted a different life.

Friends. People to laugh with, joke with, play games, read stories maybe even write their own. People to create beautiful works of clothing. He dreamed of his own runway show. Something he never told anyone but Cami that he had ever wanted. Yet, in his heart he knew it had been her to close the door on that dream. Not that she meant for it to happen.

He had applied to a fashion school, before getting rejected and deciding to go to S.H.I.F.T. Cami told Carter nearly everything. Cami didn't have the heart to break her brother's dream. Carter on the other hand... well he did what he thought best. Problem was, thinking wasn't his best ability. Nagisa chuckled at that.

He paused now. How had it gotten here so quickly? He gazed up at the tall dark castle. Spirling towers fading to dark as the lights were out. Nagisa knew he was in the real world. They didn't have a witch like Aradia on their side. In fact they most likely didn't have a witch at all. Witches didn't tend to like vampires.

Nagisa looked at the closed gates. Should he knock? Vault over them? He felt tired. A tired the bore deep into his sense of self. This wasn't the life he had wanted. This was the life his family had shoved onto his shoulders. All those years he spent rebelling agiant them, he reconsidered his choices. Maybe, he wasn't opposed to his family, but the destiny they kept turning him on the path of.

"I'M HERE!" He yelled out.

Nothing but the sound of the wind greeted him. There were no night sounds. No animals, no rustling. Nagisa sighed.

"You aren't going to make me fight my way in, are you old man?" he spoke in a normal volume of voice. He knew, without knowing how, that Ellington could hear him.

"I'm tired of this shit! Tired of fighting!" Nagisa growled out.

"I'm tired of being treated like some pawn in a game I don't want to play. So open these fucking doors and let's see whose fate is stronger tonight." He demanded.

"You were always so mouthy. I thought once I killed your father, you would learn your place." That voice wasn't the weak withered tone of the sick old man. It was stronger, but the child noted, not strong enough.

Ellington wasn't completely healed. He had spent too long under Vazquez influence to heal immediately. He was old, but old in vampire terms, meant strength. Nagisa hung his head. He heard the soft chuckle from his grandfather.