HEAVY METAL QUEEN
The last bout made somethings hidden into something transparent and abundantly clear. She would find herself in a place she once thought was no longer necessary, the home and beginnings to her greatest challenges and growth as a shinobi. Here in the darkest parts of Iwagakure, a place most have forgotten and even more had abbondoned. It was here that the darkness of the village had been literally suppressed and here it slumbers awaiting the days when perhaps a curious traveler would stumble upon it's nesting ground or perhaps a seasoned shinobi would return to listen and learn from it's silent but wise words. How long had it been since she found herself in the depths of Iwagakure? How long has it been since she greeted the silent dark free of the robust city howls and chants. To long perhaps for she had almost forgotten what the silence was like, how it felt, how much she had enjoyed it's embrace. Her visit was but on a whim. A traveler from another land onset her creeping doubts in her abilities and she knew to find remedy in the place where she awoke confidence. It was in this very dark did she learn to be one with the earth not only beneath her but to her left and right and to her front and back. Here, even the ceiling was made of Stone. The very fondation of her village, her heart, body, and mind she had trained all she was to become the embodiment of the will of stone. However, to truely embody what it means to be a Stone shinobi one must never waiver just like the mountains never waiver when the winds howl and the storms roar. This traveler from another land had matched her resolve revealing her complacency..."When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end
The goddess descends from the sky
Wings of light and dark spread afar
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting"
She uttered these words to herself as she sat in the pit of darkness. No torch was needed for one who had Mastered the earth and ventured in it's enclosure. She had made her way deep into the caverns using only her feel of the earth but not without fault and difficulty. She had never felt so blind as she did when her training had first began and, not in contrast, now. It was strange but she was sure it had everything to do with that traveler from the Clouds. He had far exhausted her spiritual power and thus severed her connection to the earth... to her home. However, she still managed to find her way to her meditation point. It was familiar but different... how was she able to navigate the dark with only a fragment of her connection to the earth? Perhaps it wasn't the earth guiding her at all... perhaps the attacks and injuries to her chakra and spiritual energy had left her open for a different source to guide her. The deeper she went, the less of the earth she could feel and hear... no, that wasn't quite it. She could still feel it, hear it, but it's voice just became more and more unfamiliar. It was as if a louder voice had made feint the voice of the earth.
Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water's surface
The wandering soul knows no rest.
Amaya began to feel faint from her exhaustion. She had not recovered her spiritual energy but was there to train and meditate. She was pushing her limits, attempting to be stronger than she ever was. This however only made the voice of the earth even more faint than before. She sat and meditated eager to reestablish her once harmonious relationship with the earth but again another voice was drowning the voice she sought. Hours had passed and not once did she think to listen to the louder voice. Perhaps it was stubbornness or even because she was only used to one element that she could not fathom a relationship with another. It wasn't until it was so loud that she no longer could comun to the earth that she decided to search the voice she could have. This voice was also familiar... she had heard, felt it before and even during her spar with the cloud traveler. It was the Dark...
"There is no hate, only joy
For you are beloved by the goddess
Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds
Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul
Pride is lost
Wings stripped away, the end is nigh"
Thinking back to her spare, the earth was not the only alley present. When she first trained in these caverns, the earth wasn't the only Master to teach her. To her left, her right, beneath her feet, above her head, her front, back, there wasn't just earthen walls and floors... Darkness surrounding her entire world. It was here from the beginning, a master she had ignored. A master awaiting her return. Amaya opened her eyes to greet the darkness and stood before it. She began walking deeper into the Caverns allowing the dark to lead and guide her actions and thoughts while atuning her pockets of chakra to the dark to feel what's ahead. As the earth called to her she did not respond... darkness had her now. It molded her with wisdom and insight...
"My friend, do you fly away now?
To a world that abhors you and I?
All that awaits you is a somber morrow
No matter where the winds may blow
My friend, your desire
Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess
Even if the morrow is barren of promises
Nothing shall forestall my return"
[Mft]
[Earthborn Change and Applying for Opportunist wc 1001]