((I'll be taking the role of Kavarr until someone else claims him as a permanent character for Karasu.))<br/><br/>***Viridian Forest***<br/>For now, Kavarr seemed to sleep, his massive wings folded tight and his scaled back rising and falling with every slowly drawn breath. His nostrils flared occasionally and he shifted the weight of his heavy head, bellowing a low, groggy growl from the depths of his chest. The monster, however, was not asleep. He never truly slept, keeping a sort of lazy vigil for his own sake--and to be sure that Sarianna wouldn't try to run off. Not that she could easily, but he preferred to know exactly what she was up to rather than letting her run about.<br/><br/>It helped that Kavarr felt his instincts were amplified. He had a sort of sense about him--a feeling that the earth under his feet was merely an extension of his body, and that everything he touched would eventually become that clarified as well. He certainly felt as if his human pet was that much a part of him, but the bond wasn't exactly loving. No, she was just another extension of his body, and one that he could use to gain his own ends in many ways. After all, they could understand each other well enough, but humans were a mystery to Kavarr. Sarianna was the perfect link between him and them. A link that he needed if he was to always maintain the upper hand over them. He felt powerful, and he wanted to increase and maintain that power.<br/><br/>It was a good feeling..... a feeling that sometimes drove him out of his mind.<br/><br/><br/>***Location Unknown***<br/>His heart raced, pounding in his ears with pressure that threatened to burst his veins. A sickly cold sweat beaded on his brow and ran down his neck, soaking his shirt and giving him a dreadful chill that didn't match the fire of adrenaline tearing through his body. His muscles jerked, and his fists clenched. No matter how hard he tried to awaken, his nightmare clung to him like his wet clothing, smothering him.<br/><br/>A shining yellow jewel glinted in the strange light coming in through a dirty window. Set in a ring around the old man's finger, it shown with unusually bright light for being in such a dark place. Its wearer's hands shook slightly, but were strong as they gripped and tore at his clothes, desperate for relief and freedom from the consuming terror holding him in his unconsciousness.<br/><br/><em>He tied a thin sash of pure white cloth underneath the ring and pulled it back around his wrist, adorned with a shining gold bracelet, around which the man wound the sash like a braid, connecting the ring to his wrist.<br/><br/>Finally...after all of the effort he had put into creating this purest of pure jewels, he was finally able to say that his work was finished. He arose from the pallet that he used as a bed, and he walked to the window, looking out at the brown-gray sky. It seemed only to be getting darker, but he had faith that everything would turn out exactly as planned. He HAD to have faith...otherwise there was nothing left for him.<br/><br/>Turning his back to the window, he looked down at the ring and thought to himself.</em><br/><br/><em>My body is getting weaker.... This...sickness. It grows stronger all the time.</em>He thought, a ghost of a memory, repeating itself over and over. The ring flash brightly as he tilted it one way and then the other.<br/><br/><em>He raised his hand and pressed the smooth gem against his bare chest. It began to glow brighter. "Chase away this all-consuming darkness...." He whispered, his heart beginning to race as a warm sensation began to spread from the contact site outward. "Give me just a little longer.....just a little...."<br/><br/>Suddenly, a flash of light burst around him, and his own body began to glow with the same brilliance as the gem. When he looked down at the stone, he could see a thread, not quite tangible but very visible. It was pitch black, and being pulled out of his body, sucked into the rock. It twisted and screamed like a dying vine of thorns, but it was powerless against the ring.<br/><br/>The man's blue eyes widened in horror at actually seeing the darkness coming out of him. It was like pulling a living parasite out of your body while it was still holding on and trying to devour your insides. He was mortified, but also relieved. The device was working.<br/><br/>"Thank you, Father." He whispered under his breath. "Perhaps I do owe you a lot more than I thought I did....I'm only sorry that we couldn't have been on each others' side."</em><br/><br/>Samuel's eyes shot open, and he felt the present reality creeping back to him slowly. His head throbbed mercilessly, and he moaned in protest while pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut.<br/><br/>The darkness behind his eyelids pulled forth his dark thoughts again, and with them a sharp recollection of emotions and experiences, passed to him from another in one instant of misery and desperation.<br/><br/><em>Hammering, throbbing, pulsating pain. The struggle through confusion and disorientation had become too much. The Incarnus was forced to return from his travels through time into the trap that held him suspended in some state of the future. He slipped through his own time rifts and into the bubble of security that prevented him from going forward to his certain death.<br/><br/>His body would have been shaking if it could have moved at all, but naturally, it couldn't. He was caught between the realm of the living and the dead, time and space, darkness and light. All he had left now was to concentrate on maintaining his protective barrier. If it failed, and he slipped back into the natural flow of things, he would be consumed by the rift that was already set in place by Dialga and Palkia. He would be banished back to the realm of Alefgard, and would be killed instantly by the wrath of Arceus.....<br/><br/>He could feel the demon's rage boiling around him already. He could even SEE it. It was like looking into unmoving tongues of fire rising up all around him. Black fire, blisteringly hot and yet cold enough to freeze the warmest heart. But he had to focus. He had to make sure he didn't lose his grip and slide into the flames. To ignore the bitter pain that gradually weakened his resolve, he slipped into the realm of memories, letting them take him away from this place and remind him WHY he was doing this.<br/><br/>His face...he just couldn't look away from it. Those helpless blue eyes grabbed the Incarnus' very heart and soul and wouldn't let go. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, and yet, here it was. He'd come to rescue Ace, but he was already weak and didn't know just how sick he was. The darkness had already begun the process of consumption before he started up the mountain. When he'd made it to the top, Ace barely had a moment to look at him... and the man started shaking violently.<br/><br/>Arceus had laughed, a cold and brutal laugh.<br/><br/></em>"I told you that he belonged to me! Now see as his body fails and his soul becomes mine!"<br/><br/>No....<em><br/><br/>It was all he could think. How could he have failed his beloved master so badly? He had thought bringing him here would be his own saving grace...but Arceus had been right...<br/><br/>Sliding back in time far enough that he could release his spirit from the hold of the time trap, the Incarnus drifted to his master's side like a ghost and fell to his knees beside him. He looked up, old eyes exhausted and filled with pain. Oh those eyes.... The incarnus longed to look away and not see the agony anymore, but he just couldn't.<br/><br/>Leaning forward, Ace buried his face in his master's neck and stroked his hair slowly.<br/><br/>"I shouldn't have brought you here.... I'm so sorry....this is all my fault."<br/><br/>"How is this...your fault?"<br/><br/>"I did not think you would be so susceptible to Arceus' power.... but.... I should have known better. I did this to you, Samuel. I did this to you and bound your soul to mine. And mine... Mine is the heart of a monster." Tears began to roll down Ace's cheeks, "Now your heart is as much a monstrosity as mine is....and it is all my fault...."<br/><br/>Samuel looked at him, vision blurred and eyes glazed with confusion and pain. "I don't understand...."<br/><br/>"Samuel...I can put it no more plainly.... my heart, entwined with the darkness, has become one with yours over the years...through my actions...through your acceptance of my actions...... I knew that the closer humans got to monsters, the more danger they were in and the firmer the grasp of the demon lord's hand upon this world. But I am a wretched hypocrite. I've allowed myself to grow close to you...closer than I ever should have. The bond we've forged, though I never meant it to, has now bound you to the darkness as much as I am. You are a cursed man, Samuel... and now....Arceus is claiming you. His first human casualty to be obtained through these insidious means."<br/><br/>The man coughed. "You mean....to tell me....that because of passion....I am marked to die....now?"<br/><br/>"Yes....Samuel.... Because of my passion..."<br/><br/>The incarnus' master laughed weakly, coughing as he felt the coldness constricting him. "Ours, Ace. Don't be a fool.....it's not yours...it's ours...."<br/><br/>"I wish I could take it back....I wish I'd never brought this upon you, but I did not know--"<br/><br/>"No... If this is how....I must meet my end....because of the choices we made.... Then this is how it will be.... I would never take it back....and I would do it all again if given the chance."<br/><br/>Ace's eyes widened in surprised, but he looked away. "Samuel..."<br/><br/>The man's hand lifted and lightly brushed the side of the incarnus' face. "Don't ever take it back....promise me you won't....."<br/><br/>Ace was silent for a moment, and when he spoke his voice was a hoarse whisper, "I won't...."<br/><br/>"Good.... I'm sorry that....that I could not save you....."<br/><br/>Ace shook his head violently, sending a splash of warm tears across Samuel's body. "You have no reason to apologize! So please don't!" He leaned forward and touched the weakened pokemon professor's forehead against his face, but from Samuel he got no response. His life was gone. The tears began to flow more freely down Ace's cheeks, and he cradled his master's head in his hands, kissing his forehead and clinging to one last thread of quickly fading hope, "I will save you instead... I don't have much left in me....but I will save you...."</em><br/><br/>It wasn't real.... Or, perhaps it was, but was a glimpse of what would have been. It felt like a memory, but it had not come to pass. It was the future, but it was prevented. Ace had given him that much--a gift in parting, to ensure that Samuel would not come after him on his own. A warning to find a way to stave off the evil infection festering in Samuel's soul.<br/><br/>And he'd found it. The purifying ring on his finger, modeled after a device long forgotten--one with the power to draw darkness out of a living body. It wasn't going to last forever, but it would last for now. It bought him time and--if he was lucky--one more chance to bring Ace back and restore the final revolution before everything came crashing down.