Back to Step One (Open)

At first glance, one ma think they were in an underground cavern, but all around this area was candles donning eternal blue flames. As Tai made his reappearance to what was now his home, he would find a small conglomerate of other people surrounding him, not necessarily in a rush but more so as if they knew he was coming back, but relieved nonetheless.
There were two petite twin girls, both with red hair.
There was a balding old man in a brown petty coat.
Then there was a girl around Tai's age (appearance wise) with long blond hair.
Each one of them had bronze Keys around their neck on a chain, and each one of them welcomed Tai home.

At the same time, a couple of other spirits walked by, simply chuckling mockingly at the gathering. Both were tall slender men with black and blond hair in tank tops and with dog looking ears, otherwise identical . They each have a gold kry hanging around their necks.
"Fucking brownies," said the blond one, clearly mocking the color of their Keys.


Standing above all else far off in the distance was a tall, immaculate figure, watching over all with omnipotent eyes. A key hung around his neck that reflected all the colors of the light spectrum - prismatic.

The two girls quieted down when the gold key bearers made their remarks, as did the old man. All three of their eyes shot to the ground, as if they were royalty. Without saying another words, the trio stood silent until the gold kry bearers walked past.

The blond girl however was ready to raise a storm. Her face was red and the air around her seemed to get much, much thicker - but she quickly cooled down when addressing Tai. "Of course we didn't summon you, silly? This isn't Star Trek, we can't beam you up on whim. No, we've been waiting for you because you're the strongest bronze here! You can just sense when a spirit is coming back... Bizarre, huh?" Now she leaned in closer, and closer, and closer. Innocently as it were, she placed her hand on Tai's chest. Small beads of water formed in thin air around the duo and closed in on Tai's wounds, helping them healing faste, despite being here making wounds heal rapidly as it is. "That's the Spirit King, of course he's big... But they say his time is near... He has collected over 100 Keys, his power is spread so thin that he may die... Speaking of dying, whatever you did you need to stop doing. You were gone almost 6 minutes... Thats half a day in the human world... Did you run in to trouble ?"

The old man slowly looked up Tai, and just as slowly approached. "You know it is rather Rude to ask one of their daily activities, Styx. Be less forward. This young man has yet to understand what he is, I believe. He may not even remember his own death... Yes, son, I am Eros, these two young ones are Yama and Yami... Or is it Yami and Yama... Dear me... Oh and this is my dearest, Styx. She is very forwards... And yes, son, I am Hercules. It is a pleasure." This old man smiled quaintly at Tai, bowing very formally. "Have you an questions, son, please, do not hesitate to quiz. I'm sure Styx nor I would mind... After all, she seems to have taken quite the liking to you."

Without so much as a word, Styx looked down, her face growing red once again, but for another reason. She kept her hands on Tai, smiling all the while.

In suit with Hercules, the twin girls bowed as politely as they could to the man. They did so in perfect unisonz all the while holding each other's hands.

From atop the mound he stood upon, high above all else in this Celestial world, the king of all spirits, with his eternal gaze transcending though space and time to see all, his eyes never sending to focus on anything here in the present, took notice to one Spirit in particular with a bronze key. When Tai looked to this omnipotent being he would find that his gaze was returned. Before a thought could form, the king looked away in disinterest...

It was now that with the barrage of curiosity, Styx and Eros looked back and forth between one another while the twins giggled to themselves in a disturbing unison. Eros cleared his throat, as if to prompt Styx to finish. Perhaps her ladylike charms could help soften the blow to come...

"No, no one summoned you here, goof; the shackles that once kept us in place are gone. Whenever your path is unclear and you feel not as confident as you know you should, you will return here: home, however..." This is the part where Styx trailed off. Really, this was the best part to be more ambiguous about. To soften the blow what would need to be done? Well, he is a man, she thought. And with that thought she wrapped her arms around Tai, placing her body firmly against his own. She looked up at him, her lips right below his chin and her breath against his neck, and she whispered, "You died over 60 years ago..." Now that the hard part was over, she gently and slowly unlatched herself from Tai, taking a few steps back.

In hopes to keep Tai from potentially having a meltdown - as most do when they find out - Eros would continue where the answering left off, swiftly picking nup with, "And now that you are here, 60 years means nothing. Age is irrelevant. Most of the gold key bearers are thousands of years old, and we are all immune to it. As for the spirit king, he is the overseer of spirits, our true sovereign. He used to be a regular Spirit millions of years ago, but collected all the Celestial spirit gate keys. Whoever has the most powerful and numerous Keys can become the king.. But who would want to challenge that?" He cleared his throat once again, then pulled out a small pocket watch and examined it.

Now all four of the spirits surrounding Tai were starting at him, waiting to see the how he would react. The twins leaned closer, it seemed.

The old man chortled heartily as this resolve Tai displayed. "Next Spirit king, eh? Fine then, we shall help you with that... As for the keys, you will find them all over the world. Many spirits that took the evil path became demons, and their Keys remain with them. Or you could always challenge another Spirit for their key... Once you have 50, you may stand aa fighting chance against the spirit king."

Styx walked up to Eros and gently smacked his arm, "Don't fill Tai's mind with goofy things like challenging the spirit king... Not even the gold key bearers can fight the spirit king one on one..." Then she looked at Tai and the unwavering determination in his eyes was clear, she could not deny this. She pointed towards the north, at a giant door. "If you insist, however, I suggest gathering a small band of friends and go Demon hunting. That's your best bet for Keys... If anyone can do it, I imagine you could... I haven't seen eyes like yours in a long time."

All the while these spirits chatted, multiple groups of spirits congregated... Each group seemed to ironically be key color exclusive, ranging from bronze, silver, gold to black. It was as if the keys determined the social cliches.

From atop his large mound, the spirit king continued to look onward with an unwavering gaze of solitude...

Styx giggled as her hair was ruffled and immediately threw her arms around Tai and buried her face into his chest, smiling all the while.

Eros on the other hand grimaced slightly, only looking into the far off distance, as if there was something lost beyond sight that could not be retrieved. "You know, son, they say when creatures of strong magic bearings die, if they have a strong enough will to accomplish something before their soul moves on... They become a Celestial Spirit. However..." His tone darkened for a moment before he looked at the small twin girls, who smiled innocently, and Styx, who seemed lost in bliss... "However, we are those who failed our missions. We are together because we have no urge to keep going, yet our souls are burdened with eternity. Each of have nothing left to live for, yet cannot die..." He sighed, his gaze wandering helplessly back to the present. "Our Keys are representations of our strength. The stronger you grow, the stronger your key grows with you. No one can take your one key, but the excess Keys can of course be stolen or taken by force. You will never know how many Keys a spirit has unless you ask... And demons, may or may not have a key. if you take theirs, they will die."

At the mention of all of this, Styx would lose her smile, it being replaced by sullen complacency. The twins as well would look down, a certain disgrace masking their faces .

It was at the remembrance of each of their missions that a certain disparity ran its course, each of them going from sullen complacency to outright disparaged. A moment of awkward silence filled the air after Tai talked, and taking the reins of this situation Eros broke thee silence. "Yami and Yama once had a third, younger sibling, and in order to protect the small boy they gave their lives multiple times... But his life was taken by a dark guild called Derelequit and its associates... My main prerogative was to protect my wife and children, but dragons saw to it that that would not happen... As for Styx -" Eros was cut off immediately, Styx breaking from Tai's embrace and sighing, "I had a husband once, dozens of years ago. He was just like you... Determined, forthright, honest, kind, and strong... He was my hero, but he was slain years ago... His name was Kaito, he was the guild Master of the most powerful guild of his time. He was taken too soon..." And the silence resumed temporarily, before Eros cut back in. "As you can see, we're not up for travels anymore. Our time has passed. You must go on, show us what you can do, what you're made of... Make your dreams come true, son."

It was then that the door would be opened by another Spirit, but stayed open, as of beckoning for one more denizen of the Spirit World .