Yukimura

Matt stood in awe as he stared at the sight before him. There were hundreds of men, something about them seemed to shine. They stood so close to the presence of God, which Matt himself was never allowed to see, even in his own vision. They praised His name over and over, and their hearts were overflowing with gladness. There was something about them though, at first it seemed somewhat creepy. They were all exactly the same. Sure they still carried individual air about them, but they were like photocopies of one another.

Matt felt Enzeru tap him on the shoulder, and he turned around. In an instant, he could see into the depths of hell, and there were the same copies, suffering and screaming. The sight of these was too much for him to bear, and in an instant he was back.

"These are the dragons of heaven and earth?"

"Half right, these are the dragons of heaven."

"Oh... I guess I just assumed that servants of God would be..."

Matt allowed his voice to trail off. Though his curiosity was not sated, he could not bring himself to continue on this train of thought. Something about it seemed blasphemous to him.

"You thought that dragons of heaven had some sort of free pass to heaven?" Matt moved to speak, but was glad to be interrupted. "All humans have a choice to make, and each is free to make his own. God does not bind even the dragons of heaven against their will."

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Marc was walking behind Amarth through a thick wood. He didn't quite remember coming to this wood, but he didn't bother to think about it too much. He knew they were training, and he couldn't wait to get even stronger.

"Hey, Amarth. Where are we going anyway?"

"We're almost there."

Suddenly, Marc heard a huge crash tear through the woods. It startled him and he took a fighting stance, but Amarth simply continued walking. Taking a queue from him, Marc let his guard drop again and followed. After a moment more, they arrived at a great pit within the wood. It was vast, deep and wide. Within was a terriffying beast, a dragon that was black as the night sky. It seemed to have an infinite number of razor sharp teeth. Its eyes tore through the souls of those they landed on. Marc instantly became terrified in a way he had never known before. It took him no time to calm himself though, as the dragon was held by a great army holding ropes and weapons, keeping it contained within the pit.

"Come."

To Marc's terror, Amarth began walking down into the pit. He saw that about halfway down was a deck of sorts that walked out towards the dragon's head. His eyes widened fully as his entire being hoped to stay away from it.

"Amarth! Don't be crazy! You can't go there! He'll kill you in a second!"

"Do you want to be stronger or not?! Now come!"

Marc swallowed hard and started down into the pit. As they drew closer, he noticed that Amarth's eyes never broke from the dragon's, not even for a fraction of a second. Marc tried to look as well, but every time he did, he felt as though he would be crushed under its gaze and was forced to look away.

Marc was surprised to realize that they had already made it all the way onto the dock. He laughed slightly cocky in the face of what he had thought to be so dangerous. He payed close attention as Amarth began to speak.

"As long as you look without fear, it will not attack. In fact, it will fear you to the degree it expects to be feared. You must purge yourself of fear, or be destroyed. Good luck."

Marc didn't need to voice his complaint as Amarth began to walk away. He knew that they understood each other, and Amarth was going to leave him either way. He also knew that there was no way he'd pass up this opportunity to grow in such intense training, so he stayed, turned, an looked up.

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Maybe the answer is in the very light reflected off our blades. Maybe that's what it means to be this creature known as samurai.