No reviews, but I’ll still write! ...That’s just how freaking pathetic I am. ^_^;; Well, if anyone’s reading, enjoy!

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The second they went through the portal, Seri and Ska found themselves in a extremely large tunnel. Above them was blackness, far below them was fires of all different colors. To the sides of them, there was large, cracked doorways that looked as if someone had broken them down and did a crummy job of putting them back up.

“...Where do we go first?” Seri asked, one hand steadying them on the staff and the other holding Ska around the waist to keep her from falling.

“I don’t know.” Ska snapped, “Just pick a random place and lets go!”

Seri jumped slightly, before giving a hurt look, “You don’t have to be so mean...”

“Shut up.” Ska replied, looking away.

“...F-Fine then...” Seri sniffed and steered the staff to go right, into a red splattered and splintered door. When they entered it, they entered a world of utter chaos.

There were bodies everywhere, bloody and decaying. Seri almost wasn’t able to keep up the flighty thoughts and the staff quivered a bit.

“Hey! Watch it!” Ska snapped, baring her teeth in annoyance.

“...S-S-So-Sorry...!” Seri managed, disgusted by the sight of a wolf-like creature that was feasting on a child that couldn’t have been more than 8 years old. Finally, Seri could keep them up no longer and clumsily skidded to the ground, the staff returning to it’s two inch self. Seri grabbed it and jumped up in horror when she realized they were sitting on a dead man.

“Oh! Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!!!” Seri squealed, trying the wipe whatever had gotten on her dress off.

“Oh, stop being such a pansy! There’s nothing on you!” Ska said, rolling her eyes.

But Seri continued to freak out, “Liarliarliarit’sthereit’ssogrossgetitoffgetitoffgetitoff-” Seri stopped hyperventilating when Ska stood on her tip-toes and slapped her hard across the face.

“Listen to me very closely,” Ska said gravely, “If I have to work with an idiot like you, you will not act like a total jackass like you are now when you happen to get a little dead guy germs on you!”

Seri was stunned for a moment. A tear made it’s way down her cheek, before she turned to Ska, glared, and backhanded her back across the face.

“And you will not hit people!” Seri slapped her again, “Or curse!”

Ska slapped her back, “You will not tell me what to do!” She yelled.

Seri slapped her yet again, “You will not make a pacifist, like me, hit someone!”

Before Ska could slap Seri again, and voice interrupted them, “Ahem. Sorry to disturb you ladies, but it’s not wise to be out here in the open.” Seri and Ska turned to face the voice. It was a boy, no older than 15 or, at most, 18, with dark brown skin, no pupils in his eyes and long white hair that went just past his hips. He wore tan, tattered shorts and a loose, tattered shirt with no shoes.

Ska glared, “Who are you?” She spat.

The boy was apathetic to her rudeness, “I’m Rinel. Zeno informed me of your arrival. I am to tell you what to do next.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” Ska asked, none too polite about it, either.

“You two are to go to that castle in the distance.” He said, pointing behind them. Seri and Ska turned, there was, indeed, a huge, old-looking, stone castle at least a few miles off. Rinel continued, “There is a great beast there, it is a minion of Zao Jin. Destroy it, and the connection that enslaves this world to Zao Jin will be destroyed with it, and we will be free.” He explained.

“D-Destroy?!” Seri gasped, “But...! I-I couldn’t kill anything! I’m a pacifist!”

Rinel raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t look so peaceful a minute ago when you were slapping your companion?” He said, humor in his voice.

Seri blanched, “That is totally different! We were fighting, and you said I’d have to actually kill this thing! I’m sorry, but I positively refuse to kill anything!” She huffed.

“Then I will do it.”

Seri looked at Ska, surprised, “What...?”

“You heard me. Your being a total a pansy tree-hugger about this and ranting about ‘Making Love, Not War’ crap isn’t going to get us anywhere but six feet under! If you won’t kill this beast, then I will!” Ska said, her voice stern but not quite yelling.

“...Fine...” Seri said, shakily, “...I-I will help you, but...” She glared, ice and fire fighting within her periwinkle orbs, “I will not, or ever, kill. For any reason.” Her eyes held a final resolution in them that no one could change.

Ska stared for a moment, slight alarm written on her features, before returning the harsh look, “Fine.”

Rinel cleared his throat, a little uneasy, and said, gravely, “There is once last extremely important thing you must know before you even step foot inside that castle. Whatever you do, do not touch the m-” But before he could finish this sentence, a deafening roar emitted from under the ground, and a huge, dragon-like monstrosity erupted from the dry earth and grabbed Rinel by the arm, carrying him off towards the castle.

Seri screamed, “RINEL!!”

Ska shook her head in a ‘I-should-have-seen-this-one-coming-a-mile-away’ kind of way and muttered, “God damnit...”

“What are you just standing there for?! We have to go save Rinel!” Seri yelled, grabbing Ska’s wrist and forcing her to follow her as she sprinted toward the castle in the distance.

“Wait a minute! We can’t just go in there, we didn’t hear that oh-so important warning that he was trying to give us!” Ska reminded her.

“Who cares? It’s going to be dangerous anyways!” Seri shot back.

Ska sighed, annoyed, before giving up on the matter, “...Fine. He said not to touch something, so lets just not touch anything unless we absolutely have to, okay?”

“Okay. No touching. Got it.” Seri said, and summoned her staff, once again thinking about Koki. Seri couldn’t think of a single bad memory she had with Koki. The staff elongated itself and Seri jumped on, pulling Ska onto her lap.

“You know... I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to give this thing a name...” Seri mused, referring to the staff, as they flew towards the castle.

“How about Obsidian Oblivion?” Ska suggested, half serious and half sarcastic.

“Er... Well, it does kinda fit... But it’s a little long... And, well, I don’t really like the ‘Oblivion’ part about it...” Seri replied, trying to be nice, “You know... It shines really nicely in the sun’s light... And it is shaped like a star... How about Obsidian Sirius?”

“...Sirius... Isn’t that the really old star that blew up about a fifty years ago? The one that was supposed to have been around before even the planet Doukoji?” Ska asked.

“Yeah, that’s the one. They say that a really long time ago, it was the brightest star in the galaxy.” Seri replied.

“They have no proof of that, you know. They don’t know for sure it was the brightest.” Ska scoffed.

“...That’s true, that they have no proof... But...” Seri stopped talking.

“...But what?” Ska asked, shifting her weight so that she wasn’t so close to the edge of Seri’s lap.

“...I... I don’t know why... But I truly believe that Sirius was, at one time, the brightest star in the galaxy...”

Ska blinked, “You seem so passionate about it... Why is that?”

Seri shifted, a little uncomfortable, possibly embarrassed, before replying, “I... I don’t know... But... For some reason, I’ve always felt a... Connection, between that dead star and I...”

“I can sort of understand that... There were a lot of stars that were around before Doukoji, Sirius was the last of them to die, wasn’t it?” Seri nodded, and Ska continued, “Well... You know that dead planet, the one that’s next to the other dead planet that is right next to the place where they say a sun used to be, before Doukoji?”

“Yes, they call it Venus, don’t they?” Seri asked.

“Yes. I don’t know why, but I’ve always liked that dead planet...”

“I know what you mean, I’ve always liked the really big, dead planet, the one called-”

“Jupiter?” Both girl said in unison. Seri giggled, and, well, Ska looked a little less annoyed.

“...Do... Do you think there might have been a planet like Doukoji, at one time?” Seri asked, timidly.

“It’s crossed my mind... But there’s no proof. ...C’mon, where here.” Ska replied, pointing at the castle in front of them.

“So...” Seri said, as they hopped of the staff and walked towards the huge doors that led inside the castle, “The staff... It’s Obsidian Sirius, then?”

Ska smiled, an extremely small smile, and nodded, “Yeah... Obsidian Sirius it is...”

And, with that, the walked past the front doors of the castle, knowing little of the danger that was in store...

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Okies, hope you guys liked this chapter! ...If you guys are even reading it. ^_^;; I know it must be confusing, but I have given off a couple of hints, in this story and another. Please review, minna-sama!!