[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

Yogensha awaits. Patiently. “This isn't optional Tatsu. Our fusion is imminent. You will gain all of my abilities, all of my specialties, all of my possessions, everything will be compounded into one. You will remain you, more or less everything about you will go unchanged, after fusion I will cease to exist. My soul will give itself unto you, and forge a new being. One who would walk through time and space. You will be a summon, you will hear the calls of those in need, you will feel more than you could ever dream of....”

I clench my fists. “I don't want this! I never asked for any of this!” I grit my teeth. My muscles tingle with anger.

“What you want, what you ask, is no longer valid.” Come Tastu, I grow impatient, the end is nigh, I can finally be free of this.”

Yogensha drops his cane, and sways back and forth, moving towards me, closer and closer. With arms outstretched he pulls near. His wrinkled fingers quivering with anticipation, his arm shakes as he raises his hand up, closer and closer... Mere inches away... I turn my head, shut my eyes tight, biting my lip. I can feel his breath, he is grunting, and his pain is all to apparent.. He grabs me around the shoulders, his grip is tight, he digs his nails into my skin, the heat of his palms rush through me. I am cold and chilled, but I begin to sweat, this mixed series of emotions makes everything move in a blink of an eye. I open my eyes and the two of us are in flames, still, I cannot move, the fire doesn't burn. His hands are the source of it all. The flame engulfs everything. The black of the void begins to brighten, the whole world is on fire. Stars in the sky twinkle through the blaze. The moon rises and sets, then rises once more, in a matter of seconds, days pass us by. Or was it really happening? I couldn't be sure. Nothing made sense, I lost focus of what was reality....Then, the smell of nirvana, the palpable sense of satisfaction, that bleak emotion of joy. It was all mixed. Nothing made sense... Then I realized, and looked down at Yogensha.
“I am evaporating, being swallowed up by the ocean of your soul, I am boiling out. I feel this pain. It will be the last thing I will ever feel, though it hurts, it feels good.” Yogensha struggles to speak out. “This is it Tatsu, this is the moment....”

Night turns to day. The flames shoot into the ether, hover there for a moment, then spin into a million beams of energy, they loom there, spinning, inward and outward, contracting and receding. Until finally, a sun is born from those energies.

Red, yellow, orange. My vision is blurred by a sea of flames. Purple, green, blue...Everything is melding together. It is too bright to look, I can't see anything...
After what feels like an eternity, I open my eyes, and find myself lying down on a bed of grass. My head digging into a rock. I raise my chin and the first thing that catches my eye is my left hand. Four rings are placed upon my fingers. The same rings that Yogensha was wearing. I push myself up, my vision spinning, I feel nauseous, my surroundings whirl into focus... I see a dark shade, and notice a red robe hangs down in between my arms. This is...I stand upright and grab at the crimson garb. This is the robe that Yogensha was wearing over his others. The collar is embroidered with the summoner's seal, laden in fringes of gold. Looking around the grass I was lying on top of was the only grass present.

The grove had been completely demolished. All the trees were burnt and dead. Everything was fallen over, reduced to ash. I look at the horizon. From what I had seen, the majority of Shinkirou was in flames. It took me no time at all to realize that the barrier around the city was down.

“How long was I out?”

I try to move my legs forward, but my knees buckle and give out, I fall forward, catching myself with my hands. I felt so weak, it felt like my soul had been ripped from my body...But how can I know what that feels like? It was hard to stand. I could hardly walk. I felt pathetic, like toddler learning how to make his first steps.. Shuffling my feet through the ash and dirt, I haul myself to a fallen ranger station. Glass and debris are everywhere. No signs of life. No corpses, it was completely silent... In the glass I saw movement, I inched back to see what it was that had caught my attention, it was myself.

I had now gained the robe of Yogensha. The crimson robe, sat loosely upon my cloak, and the rest of my clothing, my hair has gotten longer by a few inches, it now hangs just below the collarbone. The black pupils of my eyes are gone, the blue iris that was once there, has been pushed to the center, making up new pupils. The once blue irises are now yellow, as was once Yogensha's. The sunlight glistened in my eyes. They shined dark.

Then I recalled something important.

“Quickly. I must find Swift ! .....”