To Open Your Eyes.

[Shin]

There was nothing but the impenetrable darkness combined with the sensation of falling and the cold, a cold beyond that of the mortal senses one that touched the very soul itself. Time had lost meaning to Shin and as he fell seconds seemed like minutes and minutes seem like hours, but in truth Shin had lost all grasps on time. Ever since stepping foot into Oblivion his definition of time and men skewed and now it simply lost all meaning.

Falling allowed Shin to do only one thing, reflect on his past. The many many terrible things he had done came to recollection now; they had been forced to the forefront of his mind by the subconscious. It seemed for nothing now, all that time training was wasted and he had built a name for what… Shin had nothing to leave behind. No legacy, no children, nothing but corpses and name that would only be remembered as a blood thirsty killer. The Tenken. He had turned the name from one inspiring courage and honor to one of a brutal murder.

Shame and regret found their way into Shin and though it couldn’t be seen tears formed and drifted off into the darkness. Here was, to die in a hole…shot in the back and thrown in like some dog. Pride had no place in Shins next thoughts but if only he could have …

-Boom-

Despite the sheer gravity of the bottomless pit Shin had been thrown into it was shaken by the explosion and a light as bright as that of the sun exploded outwards and with only two ways to go it reached further down, it’s fingers still not touching the bottom. Yet, the hand that reached up would reach the top and though it might not have been visible from the city the area around the hole was bathed in a very bright and golden light, flooded with Chi and for a moment, Shin Shiden was everywhere.

[Undisclosed amount of time later]

Fingers gripped dirt and rock, like a feeble newborn they closed to make a fist then stretched out again. A single eye opened slowly, and as if seeing the world for the first time a blinding light flooded in. Shin laid still very several minutes, his eyes adjusting to the light, his muscles flexing as he worked each one separately.

With effort Shin pushed himself onto his elbows and looked around, hauntingly light grey eyes surveyed the very dull scene. The world looked like something out of a dream to Shin, no color, no people…nothing. He laid, as far as he could tell, in the middle of nothing.

“Where…where am I?” He asked himself with a voice that sounded as if he had been sleeping for far too long. Shin pushed himself into a sitting position and attempted to get his bearings, and then very thoughtfully looked up into the sky. “Did I hit the bottom?” He wondered aloud, feeling thoroughly lost and out of place.

[Zach Kaiser]

No immediate answer would come to Shin; he was alone, with only dirt and rocks for company. Colorless dirt and rocks, at that. They were the same dull gray as the sky and the horizon. It was difficult to tell as there was little to see, but visibility was extremely poor; gray mists swirled all around him, as though he was in the middle of a dense fog.

Time had little meaning in such desolate isolation, but to an outsider it would have been a relatively short time after Shin awoke that he would find company--or rather, that company would find him.

At first, he would just hear footsteps, echoing through the endless gray. Then a silhouette would slowly emerge from the fog. Though the hair was short--a little less than shoulder length--it was clearly the build of a female, wearing a tight top, loose pants, and a long, thin, tattered scarf that trailed many feet behind her.

And perhaps most importantly to a warrior like Shin, she was armed; a pair of short, curved blades rested in sheathes on either side of her. Her hands rested on their hilts.

[Shin]

The loss of color was not lost on Shin, and he stared at the sky and it’s lack of color in open awe. Shin wondered if he lost the ability to see color, briefly, but quickly dismissed that thought. He remembered falling and then a sudden pain and..

“I’m dead.” He said flatly.

Shin distinctly remembered a pain unlike anything he had ever felt, beyond being slashed, punched, shot, electrified, engulfed in flame and anything else he could dimly remember. A bright light followed the pain and then nothing…now this grayness.

This fog was everywhere, obscuring his senses, or perhaps he was still groggy, he couldn’t tell either way. Slowly Shin rose to his feet and tried to peer through the fog, find a hole of some sort. But even with his superior vision Shin couldn’t discern a thing.

It didn’t take but another moment though and Shins equally keen ears picked out the sound of someone walking across the dirt. He focused his attention on where the sound was coming from, strained his vision and in moments he saw a figure, a female figure walking towards him in what he took as a nonchalant and relaxed pace.

She was a warrior, her pose, her step and the way she wore her weapons told Shin as much. With her hands so close to the hilts of her curved weapons, scimitars Shin thought they were, he knew she would be ready if he attacked, luckily Shin held no such ideas.

“Hello.” Shin said with a bow, though he never took his eyes off the women and nor did he say anymore, at least not until he knew her intentions.

[Zach Kaiser]

"That's right," the silhouette responded in a rough but feminine voice. "You're dead."

She was now close enough that Shin would be able to see much more detail; the first thing that would likely draw his attention was that unlike everything else in this place, the girl had color to her. Her hair was a vibrant shade of red, which along with her equally red scarf all but totally obscured her face. Her dark skin, tanned and burned dark from a lifetime under a scorching sun, marked her as from the deserts of Xexoria.

But most catching were her emerald eyes, hardly visible though they were through her hair. They were eyes that had seen many battles; they held a hardness that, much like Shin himself, spoke of an age far greater than what her body would otherwise suggest.

"You're in the transitory world, Purgatory. However, this place is not for you--another world awaits, and I will send you there." While she kept one hand on the hilt of a sword, she offered the other one to him; all he had to do was take it, and he would move beyond this world--which depending on his destination would either be a blessing or a curse.

[Shin]

Shin had never had a weakness for women, but there something about the one before him that tugged at an unknown emotion. Or perhaps it was simply because she was the only thing of color.

Color?

Shin looked from himself to her once before raising a normally blue eyebrow, though it was a light shade of gray in this world. He hadn’t the slightest clue what that entailed, was she special somehow? She had to have been he reasoned.

“Purgatory…” His lip silently mouthed the word. Strangely he didn’t panic or flinch with the confirmation that he was dead. Shin had been a warrior his entire life and death was something he had come to terms with many years ago…however, it was nothing like he imagined.

Being brought out from his thoughts Shin eyed the women skeptically as she offered the hilt of the other weapon to him. “I will have to pass on that offer.”

“I have no desire to condemn myself.”

Shin took a step away from the women and shook his head, hooking the thumbs of both hands in his belt. Belt? He looked down to see boots and a long black coat with what he knew would have normally been blue trim. He had missed it before, but he was wearing the clothes Exitus had given him when he had agreed to be the Blue Enigma.

Shin knew his sins and he knew, or assumed, that there would be no place for him in any sort of heaven. He would rather take his chances with the women in front of him then hell. If she was out here and himself then there must be others, somewhere…maybe…he reasoned.

Regardless of his own thoughts Shin had denied the women’s offer and he hadn’t the slightest clue how she would respond, not violently he hoped, at least not until he found a suitable weapon.

[Zach Kaiser]

"It was not," the woman responded, taking a step forward to keep the same distance between the two of them, "an offer."

She reached out, attempting to grab Shin and hold him in place. As much as she enjoyed fighting, completing the mission came first, and if she could pass him on without a drawn out confrontation then that was what she had to do, personal preferences aside.

"I will send you, and I'm not afraid to hurt you to do it."

[Shin]

For once Shin was not the aggressor and he really didn’t want to fight, at least not under these circumstances. He had nothing against the women in front of him, and the way she spoke made him think this was some sort of a duty for her. Yet, Shin would not go without some sort of struggle.

As she reached for him Shin recoiled away from her, taking another step back and keeping his arms in close as to prevent her from grabbing him. It was at this time that Shin realized exactly how he felt…which was surprisingly good, the constant weakness he had been feeling before was gone and above that he felt as if a piece of him that had been missing was restored.

“I don’t know who you are but I do not want to fight.” Shin said in an even tone, loosing the boyish quality it had held a moment ago. “Maybe you should just explain yourself.”

Shins own body language clearly showed that he was fully on the defensive and would likely run if he had too, a very unorthodox tactic for Shin, but being as he was unarmed it made perfect sense for those that didn’t know exactly who he was and what he was capable of.

[Zach Kaiser]

At first, she was ready to spring after him when he rolled away from her, but she stopped herself. If she could get him to go by explaining herself, so be it. Though it was rather unusual for someone to ask for an explanation; but then again the person in front of her was rather unusual himself.

"You are dead," she stated flatly. "You aren't in your body; you're just a soul in Purgatory. Purgatory is a world of transition, where souls go after they die. I am what's called a Reaper; we maintain the balance of souls. One of my duties is to pass souls of the dead onto the afterlife. I do not choose where you go; your actions in life determine it."

She paused to let that sink in; one of the most common misconceptions was that Reapers had some say in where a soul ended up. It was one of the reasons the few people who'd heard of them often feared them.

"Souls that remain in Purgatory for extended periods of time lose their sanity. It happens to everyone, without exception. If left that way long enough, they become Voleur d'Ame--monsters that feed on souls and spiritual energy. When that happens, we have no choice but to destroy it, along with the soul of the person that once was."

"That is why I have to send you," she concluded, eying Shin warily, ready to pounce if he tried to run. "I will not let you become a monster, and endanger the lives and souls of others."

[Shin]

Shins stance relaxed when the women actually explained herself, a year ago he wouldn’t have believed a word she said. But now, after all Shin had been through, he found himself with no reason to question her. His first instinct was to bolt, turn and flee but in the long run what good would that do? He told himself to remain calm and think, all the while eyeing her with obvious distrust.

“At least I am free of them now.” He mumbled, though she wouldn’t likely understand what it meant.

Despite Shins apparent calm demeanor he was swirling with emotion on the inside and fear, a fear of the unknown. Heaven, Hell…something else? He didn’t know and he wasn’t particularly a religious man either, which made this whole ordeal even more nerve racking.

Yet, Shin recognized his crimes and sins and had decided that he wasn’t going to run from them, not this time.

“Very well. Lets get this over with… “

Shin stepped forward and extended his hand towards the women.

“I am ready to be judged.”

[Zach Kaiser]

She could understand the dilemma Shin must be going through. While most people could be relatively assured that they had, if not done much right, at least done little wrong in their lives. But as a warrior, one could never be sure what judgment awaited them. Would their cause be considered worthy enough to warrant the taking of lives? Or was it their conduct on the battlefield itself that earned their place through either honor or dishonor? Or perhaps in the end, those who chose to kill would be condemned regardless of the reason...

While it was not she that would judge him, she understood her role as a vessel that made the judgment possible. She extended her hand towards him arm...

...but stopped short on impulse. Here in this place lonely by even the standards of Purgatory, she could not bring herself to simply send a fellow warrior off and then forget.

"Warrior...might I have your name before you go?" she asked.

[Shin]

Shin accepted the fact that he was dead because there was no use in denying it, somehow he knew the girl was telling the truth and he knew that he would be judged. What Shin found increasingly difficult was to accept that judgment. Why when he was sure he could find a way out of here, the women surely knew a way and even without a weapon he could…

With an effort Shin pushed that line of thought from his mind and took in a deep breath, or did he? He had to wonder for a moment if he was breathing because he needed to or simply because it was something he was used to doing.

The revelation brought a genuine smile to his face as he contemplated his destination, Heaven or Hell? Surely a place for a murderer like him would be Hell, he who had taken so many lives needlessly and without remorse all in an effort to claim something as intangible and ultimately futile as the title as the best.

He openly laughed at himself, probably confusing the women in front of him, and let his arm drop for a moment while he spoke.

“I am Shin Shiden, Master of the Shiden Do son of Toryiama Shiden Grandmaster of the Shiden Do.” He proclaimed with a sense of pride that he had never shown before. “I can only hope that wherever I go I get a chance to reconcile my wrongs and atone for my sins.”


“But you can call me The Tenken.” And with that Shin reached a hand out to grasp where the women offered and send himself to whatever awaited.

[Zach Kaiser]

"I see." Truthfully, she had not heard of him, but that was no surprise. She'd been long absent from the mortal world, and even when she was alive she'd known of little outside her homeland of Xexoria.

When he clasped her hand, he'd immediately feel lighter, and an ethereal glow would envelop him.

The woman smiled at him. "It would seem you have been found worthy. Good luck in Heaven..."

It would feel like when he escaped from battle by letting his chi become one with the planet's: as though he was giving himself to a current, one that could be trusted to carry him securely.

"...Shin Shiden the Tenken."

And with those words, his last traces would disappear from the transitory world...

But all was not well in paradise...