Inner Sanctum of Arcana Obscura Vol I

[Ginyama Senshiro]

Shin scoured the vast arrays upon arrays of tomes within the Bibliotheca Conscientiae, his pace quickening in frustration after every near-miss in his endeavor.

How pathetic . . . I hope you do realize this is an exercise in futility. Otherwise I might just die of old age myself!

Shut the hell up, Leech! Yoichi knows some kind of magic or something . . . something that is better at keeping your ass in check than chakra and jutsu ever could. And if he learned that from somewhere, this would be the best place to look.

Zansatsu's demonic laughter sent shivers through the boy's soul.

You truly are a fool if you think anything--least of all a few words--will allow you to overcome me!

Shin clenched his teeth and his fists for a few seconds before closing his eyes and sighing.

Maybe you're right . . . but I'd be an even bigger fool if I didn't try.

Before the jinchuuriki could continue, the boy raised his hand to his cheek and muttered the same spell as usual:

"Honglath dosstan . . . "

And then silence: both his own soul and the demon within were placated by those words of dark power. Even so, his quest for knowledge had yet to be fulfilled, and thus he continued searching for anything regarding magic or other unnatural forces.

It didn't take much longer for him to find a thick book covered in even thicker dust, which he promptly picked up and blew clean.

"'Arcana Obscura Volume One'," he mouthed the title as he set it upon the a nearby desk and began to flip through it's pages. "I know 'obscure' kinda means 'dark', but I have no idea what 'Arcana Obscura' could mean. Maybe 'dark magic'?" As he pouring over the tome, one of the chapter titles caught his attention.

'Honglath Dosstan' . . . so that basically translates to 'Behave Yourself' . . . huh . . . wonder why it affects myself when I say it to Zansatsu then?

Shin skimmed through the next few pages, gaining only minimal insight about the spell he had been addicted to ever since that fateful day at the Aesculapium. However, the next chapter caught his attention.

'Sreen'aur Wund Usstan' . . . also known as 'The Inner Sanctum'. So this can allow me to enter my own soul and view any unwanted guests . . . cool.

After absorbing all the information from the next few pages, the boy muttered the phrase as he held his hand over his forehead, moving it towards his heart as he finished. Within moments, he collapsed into an almost comatose state, unaware of the world outside his own body but very aware of his own little world within.

 

[Kuro]

The bulky Kyoujouran wandered the village, as he found has become his new hobby, and realized he ended up at the Bibliotheca Conscientiae, which would be of no help to him with his lack of eyesight. But despite that fact, something told him to just go inside and check it out.

The rooms within smelled of archaic times, dust threatening to choke any unwary breathers in the building. Kurogane walked the old halls of the library, wondering how much knowledge was stored in there.

As he wandered, his ears caught the sounds of a boy whispering. He didn't give it much thought, and began thinking about activating his sensei's eyes to read something, which he hasn't done in ages.

Before he could finish that thought, however, he sensed that the boy fell to the ground, as if knocked unconscious. Kurogane quickly activated his Byakugan and rushed over to the boy. He appeared to be healthy in every way, though there was something strange about his chakra system. The bronze-haired man was no expert in chakra systems, so he was uncertain, though it appeared there were two systems in one body. Maybe this boy was a Jinchuuriki? That seemed unlikely. Perhaps there was some other explanation for it. There was only one way to find out.

Kurogane took the boy's shoulders and shook them slightly, trying to wake the boy back up. "Hey kid! Are you alright? Can you hear me?"