Shinji's eyes had closed with no expectations about seeing anything ever again, a grim realization that his life was over. The many doubts and worries on his mind finally faded away as he accepted it, finding it inevitable. He wanted to rage against the situation he found himself in, but there was little he could do anymore.
He expected to find nothing beyond that last breath of air before the system would shut down, and with no life support he would be dead, lost in the ocean within the angel, trapped forever in his Evangelion. It was oddly familiar idea, but the thought of what it meant was lost as he felt something rudely poking at his arm. Cold, sharp and metallic.
That certainly woke him up and he realized immediately he was no longer in the entry plug. He was wearing the plugsuit, but there was no signs of LCL anywhere near him, and even his hair seemed dry. All these little thoughts were only noted down as minor oddities when facing the fact that he had a tall, red-skinned demon looming over him with a scythe poking his arm again lightly to wake him up.
"What is this, who are you? Where am I?" Shinji began to ask in a hurry, worried and frightened by the creature before looking around and shivering. He had died, he had obviously died. This must be after life. He was in Hell. 'Well I did live a life of killing Angels, where did I think I would end up?'
Before the demon could answer, Shinji let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I know I just died but I didn't expect to actually go in Hell. Even with Angel blood in my hands that seemed just too strange to even consider.
Now that got Horny's attention. While the young lad spoke in a language he wasn't familiar with, the powers of the Dark Gods were useful as a tiny bit of mana allowed him to understand Shinji and answer him in his own language as well.
"You are not dead, though you are trapped here with me. This is a hell of an annoying place to end up in, but its something we can improve upon. Now, I am the Horned Reaper, and this is my prison for the last few years. Now that you are here, it will remain my prison and become your tomb, or it may become the start of something far greater. I cannot leave this place alone, but now that you are here I want to make you an offer."
Shinji had learned enough about the oni and demons that he was wary of deceit, but the words sounded genuine to him. He was not an expert but he could usually catch the tone Asuka took when she was mad at him but lying about the reason why, and there was nothing similar to that here. While he wasn't too eager to trust in something that looked so inherently evil, he was willing to at least listen and talk with the creature. So he nod his head, waiting for the Reaper to explain.
"This place is a Dungeon where I was trapped because the walls around cannot be broken without the power of a Keeper. As a Reaper I cannot become one myself, but I can help you become one. Then you would have the power to release us both from this prison. If you are afraid I would harm you, you are smart to be careful, but there is a reason why I am stuck here and that is because I need a Keeper. So, its either a few days before you die out of thirst here, or you accept my help and we can both get out of here."
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(Posted Mon, 30 Dec 2013 23:10)
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