Post by The Blind Monk on Sept 30, 2013 15:26:56 GMT -5
The Blind Monk entered the temple, the sacred precinct. Lee Sin walked over the ancient floors, touching the aging pillars that seemed to refuse to fall over after centuries of standing (and truthfully, through the help of some engineering support). At either end of the room were single doorways leading to the halls of the lesser rooms. At the very front were the doors leading towards the Inner Sanctum where it is said the Shojin Scrolls were housed and kept kept under watchful protection by the generations of monks to have entered the room to observe it. When Lee Sin first joined, he was to enter the very same room to commence his ceremony. This ceremony was not often spoken of among outsiders, so The Blind Monk thought it best to simply take Vha'Xath straight to his trials first before he can even think of pledging himself to the monks. The Purge was simply the first of many.
Lee Sin led the azure ninja and the voidling down a hallway to the right of the room, taking several turns before finding the room he was looking for. The Blind Monk turned to his pupil, "Vha'Xath. This room is pitch black." He opened the door, the light spilling in only few feet before falling prey to the darkness within, further making Lee's point.
"Hidden within are candlesticks, flint, a piece of steel and a shrine. Your task is to locate all these items and light the shrine. Once the shrine is lit, you can find the door on the other side of the room." The Blind Monk stated the instructions of Vha'Xath's purge.
"Be warned; it is unknown what you will encounter within." Lee Sin said, rather ominously, before taking a look inside the room himself and turning his attention back to Vha'Xath, "Are you ready to undergo the Purge, Vha'Xath? If you do not want to go through with this, I'll simply take you to your quarters now and we can call it a day. If you want to do this now, then you will have one hour to complete your task."
Vha'Xath peered into the dark room himself for a moment. "Unknown? Is there something in there that can harm me?" He thought nervously about whether to go inside the room or not. "I have glowing saliva....isn't that an unfair advantage?"
Vha'Xath took a step inside the room, hoping to hear a reply from Lee Sin telling him nothing inside could harm him.
With the door shut behind him, Vha'Xath knew his choice had been locked in. He wandered through the dark quietly, not trying to use any saliva to light a path lest some danger inside find him because of it. The room was dark, he saw nothing, but kept cautiously moving forward, hoping it was the right direction.
He then contemplated going back and seeing if the door was locked, but he did not know if he had been walking in a straight line and therefore, did not know the way back. He also began to believe there was simply nothing in the room to harm him, and no reason to go back.
Then he began to wonder if Lee Sin simply tricked him into walking into a death trap, getting rid of another denizen of the Void. 'That would be idiotic....he could have easily killed me without going to this trouble.' Vha'Xath mumbled to himself.
Post by The Eye of Twilight on Oct 27, 2013 5:50:50 GMT -5
And once more that ancient door shuts out all light to it's guest, as he have witnessed before, a test. One wouldn't speak of time spent, for in the darkness, time is but a perspective. A concept. As such, one but has to count and see.
The Azure ninja stands outside, like he did when he was young and under tutorship, with the Order's greatest mortal enemy as it is now, Zed.
The Blind Monk stood firmly and waited. Shen has a few questions that needed answering.
"Are the participants of this Purge possibly subjected to fatal injuries?"
The azure ninja would voice his inquiry to Lee Sin beside him, such abstract terms benefitted not the gathering of information and Shen are throughly intrigued by the details of the "Purge". But perhaps more throughly intrigued by the possible response of the man.
Post by The Blind Monk on Oct 28, 2013 22:12:09 GMT -5
"Physical injury? No. We have many other tests that can provide as much." Lee Sin gave a short chuckle, before his voice slipped into a sudden serious tone, as if a weight had just been placed in the atmosphere.
"This room is a test of mental fortitude. It has stood, along with many mysteries of the monastery, for centuries. The darkness within is different for each person, but it is in darkness that we can face our demons."
Lee Sin crossed his arms, observing the door intently, "I've seen a few who've entered the room, immediately come out screaming and breaking down. Vha'Xath has to traverse his own mind and purge himself."
He paused for a moment, his mind recollecting faint memories of his many trials.
"It puts you face to face with your inner demons, and puts the skeletons in your closets on display."
---
Vha'Xath looked around the area, and suddenly he could feel an uncanny surface beneath his feet. Then he felt a terrible wind in the room, and moisture seemed to gather at the nape of his neck. Then he heard the sudden sound of biting and crunching. Voidlings in the distance scurried around a fallen creature, savoring the taste of a fresh kill as they feasted. The sight may have been dismissed as a fake, but it seemed all too vivid. As if Vha'Xath's time in Runeterra had suddenly been stolen from him, and he was plucked right back where he started. The darkness in the room suddenly started becoming all too real, as Vha'Xath heard a gluttonous, bloodthirsty roar that screeched through the moist air of the area. It felt as if the terrible winds had been whipped up tenfold, and the Voidlings feasting on their kill all suddenly retreated in fear. A huge weight suddenly felt like it was compressing Vha'Xath, as in the distance he could make out the colossal figure of one of the most carnivorous creatures ever.
Cho'Gath looked directly back down at Vha'Xath, and as if it was a mix of a starving bellow, and a devilish chuckle, it got the message across to the inferior voidling.
Post by The Eye of Twilight on Nov 4, 2013 7:11:28 GMT -5
Shen paused to gather his thought, upon hearing the words of the Blind Monk, he would truly understand the words of the ones who came before him, his ancestors, and their documentation of such a place.
The door stood in front of him, it's existence ordinary, mundane and stalwart. But if what is truly contained within, is the manifestation of one's inner darkness in it's essence. Then, maybe... Have any of the Kinkou been exposed to it beforehand? Or more specifically... The one who suffers the consequence of disturbed balance?
Shen would stand alongside the Blind monk and wait until the Voidling finishes his trials, Can the denizen's of the void be afraid, of the void itself? Through, he wouldn't really know unless Vha'Xath takes his leave from the trial room and speak about the experiences himself.
"One must be prepared for all things, the inherently evil within another, and the impurity of one's own soul. That is certain for all those who seeks to pursue a greater purpose and to the Kinkou... It had always been the idea of equilibrium. But we have always struggled, like all who came before us, we struggled to uphold those values and to call them our own. Zed, was but the most extreme of such examples."
Post by The Blind Monk on Nov 4, 2013 21:57:58 GMT -5
Lee Sin paused for what felt like an eternity, at least to him.
"No. At least, not entirely." The Blind Monk said, before walking closer to the door and placing a hand on its surface. He felt the cold metallic feeling crawl up his fingers and up his arm, shuddering through his spine and throughout his entire body.
"To fail and give up so easily is to succumb to the temptation of imbalance. A raindrop does not fail when it plummets to the earth, nor is it's journey finished when it rises up again to the skies.
Real wisdom comes from struggle. When we fail in the face of our darkness, we learn what we need to do in order to overcome it. Imagine if Zed had not lived the path of the Kinkou, but rather of the Shojin Monk. If he had taken this test and could not overcome his own desire for power, then I am sure he would have left with a bitter taste in his mouth."
Lee Sin turned around once more, walking back to stand beside his companion.
"When I first took this trial, I was told I had spent days within the dark confinements of that room. And I came out as a failure. I expected the monks to have better equipped me to finally face my past, and I was angry and resentful at first. But I have learned that teachers simply open the door; it is up to the student to enter.
I have yet to pass this trial, but true tests... never end."
An shriveled monk walked by solemnly, carrying a tray of various hot teapots and cups. The old monk saw Lee Sin with the Kinkou Ninja on his way past them, and stopped to offer them a cup before he retreated back to the refectory. The Blind Monk graciously accepted, taking three cups and a teapot before offering one of the cups to Shen.
He smiled, "Tea, my friend? No better way to pass the time as we wait in reflection."
Inside the room, Vha'Xath was no longer skeptical. He was sure he had been tricked. Tricked into walking back into the Void. He thought about saying something, but nothing that would help him in this situation came to mind, so instead he ran.
Vha'Xath ducked behind a large rock when he became too tired to continue running. He hoped he was safe, that the beast, Cho'Gath had not seen him. He camouflaged himself and rested for a minute. Knowing he couldn't run or hide from that beast for ever, he tried to think of a way to fight. Running and hiding were useless options, only delaying a confrontation, but they seemed like more desirable options all the same.
He then remembered it was merely a test. Perhaps it was true, maybe it wasn't the Void. "I-I give up!" He hoped his words would reach someone, that this world would disappear and he would be in the room again, with an open door in front of him.
Post by The Blind Monk on Nov 14, 2013 22:22:34 GMT -5
Cho'Gath saw Vha'Xath pop out of a large rock some distance away, hearing his plea from afar.
The superior voidling simply chuckled, "Giving up?" he seemed to cackle, "Death is the only mercy I'll show you" Cho'Gath stomped the ground, creating spikes that ruptured out of the ground beneath Vha'Xath.
"Your bones will be buried in the Void! Here you began, and here you will suffer!"
The Terror of the Void pushed forward, gaining ground as he approached Vha'Xath, a malicious air around the giant that seemed to wither away any hope as he drew closer.
Vha'Xath was helplessly knocked airborn, though he didn't try to avoid the attack. He hoped perhaps giving up would end this nightmare, but it was clear he was wrong. While falling, he considered just attempting to run again, but seeing how easily Cho'Gath stayed in pursuit, decided that would be useless.
The only reasonable choice seemed to be to fight.
Upon landing unsteadily on the ground, Vha'Xath stealthed himself and darted towards the terror. He knew nothing he could do would bring Cho'Gath down, but had faith that this was all just a test, and tried his best to ignore his fear.
Not being able to keep stealthed any longer, he became visible as he leaped up towards Cho'Gath's face, attempting to claw his eyes. He hoped if anything that it would at least impair the beast's vision.
Post by The Eye of Twilight on Nov 26, 2013 0:18:59 GMT -5
If one would place the Ninja at his early childhood, all accounts of his eye witness to the event of the purge, would only result in a simple sentence: "He stood in front of the door and waited until it was over."
However, with time comes experience and with experience, such is not the case any more. The door emits through the echo of it's victim, an aura of despair and fear, an anxiety, through it is faint and brief. Shen did catch it's scent in the stone solid temple it reside in. Shen would take the cup of tea from Lee Sin and stare within the cup, at it's content. The water bashed against the edge of the cup as affected by his previous movement, until it grind to a halt. Shen would give the cup to the monk passing by collecting their containers, offer a slight bow of apology to Lee Sin before remarking upon the Voidling inside.
Post by The Blind Monk on Dec 10, 2013 11:33:34 GMT -5
"I can feel a terrible battle starting within." Lee Sin took periodical, deep breaths, before taking a sip of his tea.
"Vha'Xath's energy is focused now on the fight ahead of him. He is no longer running. Like the rain, his only purpose is not falling."
---
Cho'Gath was surprised, seeing the smaller voidling before his eyes. He did not expect him to fight back, but now he was face with claws at his eyes. He let out a guttural screech, as he backed away a bit from the pain. He could barely see now, and now his hunger has been agitated. He opened up his throat and let out a harsh, feral scream blindly in front of him, letting the noise pierce the ears and silence whoever was in front of him.
Vha'Xath covered his ears upon hearing the roar, which did nothing to help. He noticed Cho'Gath became much more defensive, and figured the eye injury must have been severe. He knew if he ran Cho'Gath would catch him eventually, and the harsh scream from the beast made it hard for him to do much.
Deciding the best course of action was to attack the wounded Cho'Gath, Vha'Xath ran unsteadily towards the beast, weakened from the roar. He aimed to ram Cho'Gath's legs, hoping to catch him off guard. If this would work, Vha'Xath would leap onto the fallen beast and strike the neck with his claws.
Post by The Blind Monk on Jan 1, 2014 18:03:09 GMT -5
Cho'Gath fell over, the hulking beast creating a loud crash as he quaked the earth with his body. The giant struggled to get back up, his limbs swaying in different directions.
""The prey is trying to take the predator?!"
As soon as Vha'Xath leapt unto Cho'Gath, the larger monster swept his scythe-like claws to try and shake the voidling off him.
---
((SOOO SORRY for the inactivity, I forgot to post I would be away for a bit for Holiday break. I'll try and be more active ;^; ))
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