He looked around in surprise. "What's with being so conscious in my dreams these days...?" He muttered to himself, sighing as a random thought began to shape and mutate before him.
He was standing in a much larger rendition of his current bedroom. Medical supplies were set out on the tables, just as they had been when Takuto was there- but the tools were rusted and bloody. Similar to his previous dream, Korosu was standing in a few feet of blood with more seeping through the walls. A white raven floated up out of the river before his feet, bobbing dead in front of him. He stared down at it with his mouth creased in a grimace.
The former Deputy was slightly fuzzy in form, his voice alike static. He'd been standing in the river of which the raven bobbed above blood. It was as if he was tethered to his subconscious, dragged into the other's dreams by forces unknown.
Side-stepping over to Korosu, fuzz faded in and out.
"The tools aren't that bad. And the trees are waaaay too high for any flooding, bud. Would know. You alright?"
The demon was expecting the soldier's company. Before them, the floating raven slowly transformed into the skeleton of a little boy, the bones separating and spreading out in the bloody waters around their feet.
"One of my sons died, that's all." Korosu replied. He looked over at Maware with a bothered expression. "What's the matter with you?"
Warrior raised his eyebrows and blinked repeatedly in surprise, baffled yet concerned about how nonchalant the demon was over the death of a son. He raised an arm and scratched at the back of his head, puzzled on how to safely comment on the floating corpse. So, for the moment: he chose not to.
"Uhh, nothin' really. Just a lil' something you ate that tried to mess your stomach up some. It'll work its way out, eventually."
He phased in and out a bit as he spoke with words laced with static, though the entire sentence could be deciphered with ease. He lowered his arm and grinned a bit as he quickly added on with a realization of sorts.
He sloshed his way forward, through the floating bones, towards the door and opened it. His treehome was sitting thousands of feet higher than it usually was, the trees on the ground nothing more than a colorful rug far, far beneath them.
"So what do you know about the goddess who runs this place?" Korosu asked bluntly, surrendering to the fact that he was quite trapped with the ex-deputy. The blood from the room flowed out around his feet and off the deck to the ground below.
Shrugging off Korosu's assurances, he followed the demon to the edges of his home in the trees, parting the bloodied river in the process. Deputy glanced over the other's shoulder, unable to view the ground below them.
Some fear of heights.
"The goddess?"
Taken aback, he hadn't expected to be outright asked. Nevertheless, he shifted through what he knew and decided to share it with him.
"Well, she's the younger sibling of Lunarisclan's goddess. We call 'em Solaris and Lunaris at times, but nobody's really ever asked them for their names and gotten a response as far as I'm aware."
Obvious information. Maware squinted back and down at the skeletal being, continuing to bob up and down without pause.
"Solaris's power draws from that of the sun. She communicates through elemental fire-- and even when clouds surround the clan, as long as its during the day, she's been known t'send the clan prophesies through thunderstorms... Thought ya didn't believe in this nonsense, though. Change 'a heart?"
"Something like that." The demon muttered in response, his mind clearly elsewhere. Korosu glared at the trees far below. At his will, the treehome was suddenly dragged from the clouds down to the forest floor. Immediately he jumped the railing of the deck and walked into the dream woods.
Reaching up, Korosu did something unusual. He tied his hair back (hard as it was with only one hand). Completely disregarding the ex-deputy he'd left in his home, the devil stood in place amongst the trees and lifted his head.
"What's your name then Solaris?" He shouted up at the sky, "Where I come from, names are important. If we're now on blessing-relationship terms, I think it's only fair for you to introduce yourself properly."
"I'll go first, because I'm a gentleman." He smirked, eyes narrowing up at the clouds as he then shared with the sky something he'd never told anyone before.
"My name is Adonis Semper. I'm in Class Three under Set, who is under Bael, who is under Lucifer."
Saying these words made Korosu feel exposed, his innermost identity laid out before him in the forest air. Even in his dreams his true name was rarely uttered.
Far outside the land of dreamscapes, the goddess remained, tired, yet amused at the clan's transpiring. The moon held highly in the mid-summer sky, her sister's power at its fullest for the season.
She hadn't expected to be summoned by her blessed one, but the pull of his will raged war on her sleepiness.
So be it.
Embers began to flicker as flames rose, catching onto the forestry and wildlife around the demon. Unlike the previous time within clan borders, however, everything burned-- smoke covering the figure of the goddess completely.
Maware had only barely caught up behind Korosu, coughing from the intake of fumes. He glitched further, in this dream which seemed to be causing real pain. Such sea of fire was no longer fake.
"Huītzilōpōchtli, goddess of the sun and of war. Blessed one, Adonis Semper. You may speak my name freely, unless you intend to sully it."
With haste, the former Deputy took knee and lowered his head-- to which smoke cleared from around him.
The goddess sneered, waving a hand behind the cloud of smoke and forcing Maware to his feet.
He moved on his own, hurriedly stomping his way over to Korosu and grabbing him by the back of the collar. Maware held him, not to choke him, but with an inhuman force to keep him from proceeding forward.
"I think that's far enough, bud."
The former deputy muttered, staring away as he reluctantly moved as the Goddess willed.
"Your title won't gift you that privilege. The more you call for me, the less I'll appear before you."
Korosu gave the goddess a sneer of his own, his attitude of respect broiling into toxicity.
"Well if you're going to be a bitch about it," His voice suddenly became dark and deformed as he uttered a disrespectful string of demonic words in a language only spoken in Hell.
"It really is a delight to hear how easily you are annoyed, it will make all of this so much more fun." He added in commontongue, laughing a little.
"If talking is too hard for you, you could have just said so, dearest. And fuck you must be ugly if you're not willing to show me anything. I thank you for that."
Only the crackle of embers accompanied Korosu's rantings, silence from the goddess herself. His impertinence showed no bounds, Maware's expression absolutely astonished at him.
"You're welcome."
Somewhere between his speaking the former deputy had released his hold, opting instead to take aim at the back of his head. Was it the Goddess's will? The warrior wasn't entirely certain as he launched the fist, filled with inhuman strength as air parted to the force of his punch. It was enough to send anyone flying, although Maware noticed how oddly he flew-- his projection was through layers of smoke, a face-first landing at the goddess's feet.
Invisible force held down his head while the smoke cleared entirely. However, the flames continued to raise, the heat overwhelming the dream with a sensation that felt real.
"Tell me, Adonis, what punishment best suits you for your sins? Surely they amount more than a blessing could ever overlook."
The goddess' voice sounded three feet under water as Korosu sloppily attempted to lift himself up. He couldn't.
"F-Fuck!" The demon sputtered, blood pouring from his mouth, ears, and nose. He was extremely dazed, unable to comprehend what was happening just yet. Korosu's head rested on the ground (for even if the goddess allowed him to raise it, he couldn't anyways) and he continued to spit up blood, struggling to breathe. "The fuck...!" Was all he could say, his voice garbled.
Maware kept a hard stare down and away from the goddess, with balled up fists at his sides. Guilt crept into his soul, but it was drowned by what he assumed was devotion. While he couldn't see the scene that played out in front of him, he listened.
A low hum accompanied Korosu's struggle for air, footsteps echoing from his general location.
Stealing a glance upwards, he noticed a golden outline of a body crouched down beside the demon, although he quickly shot his eyes downwards once again.
"I'll send you back, but not before I revoke nearly all of what I've since gifted you. You still have one. Last. Chance.
So treat him nicely."
A weight with enough force to crush his skull burdened down onto him, breaking and cracking the dream as it quite literally split his head. The dream would go up in flames--
The dream shattered with a split that sounded like lightning. Korosu sat up in his bed, violently spitting blood as it poured from his nose down his throat. Both his eyes were black and bruising. His vision spun.
"Dammit..." The demon muttered to himself. Korosu leaned back against the headboard, blood seeping from his ears and nose. "You fuckin' moron."
What he'd done was stupid and he knew it. Everything in his blood drove him to do stupid things. He both delighted in it and hated himself for it.
But, by the goddess' grace, he was still breathing - and at that, he smiled.
