The Cliffs of Tears

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

At the back of the forest, at the very edge, there is the Cliffs of Tears, a beautful place, where at the centre lies the entrance to Amaterasu's temple. As this is a sacred place, magic becomes twisted and unusable, and essentially, should not be used.


In the centre of the water within the circle of cliffs is the Torii that marks that this is an entrance of Amaterasu's Shrine. Although often placed where the entrance is, this one is in the centre as the entrance shifts more often than not depending on who seeks Amaterasu.


The Entrance to Amaterasu's Temple, located in the cliff face, and only lets those who most desire an audience with Amaterasu pass through. The Entrance is also only found by the one who wants to find it. And does not always appear in the same place for different people.

[Maveric]

Hamino followed Haruki as she looked with awe at the spectacle.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki stopped at the cliff edge, and looked at the landscape before her. It was strange to see this sight from Earth, but it never ceased to amaze her. Her skill was impeccable. The rock formations and the waterfalls made for a serene place. Suitable indeed for the first Creator. She scanned the water.

"Down below we will find the entrance to Amaterasu's temple. But..." Haruki said pausing for effect, "...it is not easy to find, nor can it be found before or after the sunset. Judging by the sky...we have at most an hour before the sun starts setting and the portal will open."

[Maveric]

"what do we do till then?" Hamino asked.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki blinked and laughed, "oh dear, did you think it would be easy? We have to find the portal first...no, you have to find the portal, because you are the one who wants to speak to Amaterasu. I can only tell you that it is somewhere along the cliff face, don't be misled however, what you think is the portal, may not actually be the portal."

[Maveric]

Hamino looked off the cliff face. "does the portal open at sunrise or does the person have to be there before hand?" Hamino asked

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Sunset. It opens as the sunsets til when the sun finishes setting." Haruki knew where the entrance was because she was Amaterasu, however, even if she told Hamino, Hamino would not find it. Hamino had to find it for herself. It was one of the tests Haruki had put in place. "And it is preferred that you be there before it opens. However, so long as you arrive before the sun's light fades, then the portal will still be open."

[Maveric]

"okay then." Hamino said as she flipped her palm out and sent out her violet magic into the wind. "now we wait till the sun starts to set." Hamino said.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki smirked, "sorry hun, the temple cannot be found that way. You must walk the cliffs. The portal appears wherever it wishes to appear in the cliff face. It is different for every person. I know where it is for me, however, for you, it may be elsewhere. It must be found with the heart, not magic."

[Maveric]

"and my magic is personified by my feelings. anyway I didn't check where the portal was, since this is my first time being here I have no clue how any thing looks, the portal could be a pebble for all I know." Hamino said as she sat on the cliff edge, looking for the shallowest drop.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Still," said Haruki smiling a small smile, "magic is magic. If you haven't noticed, nothing magical works exactly as it should here..." Peerin over the edge of the cliff, "you're running out of time, how about trying to climb down?"

[Maveric]

"there is do and not do." Hamino said as she pushed herself off of the edge, landed on a curved piece of mossed rock, slid down a distance and then stopped. "there is no try."

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Excellant philosophy," said Haruki, sliding down next to her. "Let's keep following that path," she said pointing behind Hamino as the barely visibly narrow path against the cliff face.

[Maveric]

"this is a test of my heart and want, right?" Hamino said as she rose a hand to her chest.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Yes," said Haruki, wondering what other method the demon would try. There was still fifty minutes before the sun started setting. She was in no rush.

[Maveric]

"then let my feelings choose the path." Hamino said as she closed her eye's and took a deep breath.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki hummed, "give it a try. It may work. If it does, you should feel a tug on your heart. It might hurt," she said, with a light flick of her hand, she tugged on Hamino's heart with an invisible thread.

[Maveric]

"stop that." Hamino said without opening her eyes as she pulled a band of cloth from her pocket. "i want to do this without any influences." Hamino said as she tightly wrapped the cloth over her eye's, nose and ears as well as pulling out a second one to wrap around her mouth.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Stop what?" She asked, amused.

[Maveric]

"whoever pulled that thread." Hamino said. when she was done she could no longer see, smell or taste and could only hear the bare fraction of what happened on this landscape she new nothing about and with one wrong step could make her plummet to her death.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Oh, that wasn't me..." murmurred Haruki. There's no magic allowed technically in this space...yet she wants to go blindfolded and blind in nearly all her senses....daring...

[Maveric]

Hamino, now deprived of her sense's, let her heart tell her what to do as she took a single step down a slope and gained speed on a location she's never been and rocketed down the path's, leaping up, falling down, rapidly changing direction when needed and never slowing down even though she had no clue where she was or where she was going.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki followed at a much slower pace, and well, since she was bare footed, she walked in the air rather than on the paths. The demon could injure herself...it was fascinating to watch.

[Maveric]

The demon ducked and weaved around branches and over roots that she had no chance to know about as she flipped over holes and up walls and never slowing down, until she slipped on a patch of moss and began to slide off of the edge.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki made no move to help her. This was Hamino's journey. And she could not help Hamino. If she slid of the edge, then she slid off, perhaps to find the entrance of the portal, or to plummet to her death.

[Maveric]

Hamino, upon instinct, luck or fate, kicked her foot out and caught it into a root of a tree and pulled herself back into the wall and through a crevice that had no path leading to it other than that root which snapped as she slid into a small opening that had no accessibility other than that crevice. when she slid out of the crevice she tripped and collapsed onto the floor and bounced/rolled further in with the bands of cloth being torn of and several places on her clothes being cut.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki walked down air steps and followed Hamino's descent. True, magic did not work here, but she was Amaterasu. She was testing a potential worthy soul. Angel or demon, if they were worthy, then they were worthy.

[Maveric]

Hamino moaned as she struggled to push herself up. "this is, where my heart, said I, should be." Hamino groaned as she placed her left knee underneath her.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Then open your eyes," said Haruki standing just outside the crevice.

[Maveric]

Hamino opened her eyes slowly as she pulled her other knee underneath her. the cave looked simply, like any other cave, but the feel was different. this cave gave her the sense of belonging.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"I cannot follow," said Haruki. "Essentially, you must walk in, deeper, if you are in the right place, you shall end up in a room with a circle of stone rising out of the middle. When the sun sets, this should glow blue, only then will the portal be open. In that room, you should meet a priestess. She will guide you."

[Maveric]

"thank you for showing me as far as you did." Hamino said with gratitude as she walked deeper, in search for this stone circle.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki nodded, and then faded with the winds, she transformed herself into:



A miko girl, a priestess of Amaterasu's shine. She waited by the stone circle for Hamino to wander in.

[Maveric]

Hamino stumbled into a room fitting Haruki's description and the first thing she saw was a priestess, pretty compared to the tattered marks on Hamino's own clothes.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

Haruki looked up, "welcome..." she said faintly. She wasn't usually shy or demure, but her character was. A character who looked nothing, sounded like nothing, and didn't act like Haruki.

[Maveric]

"hello, i'm Hamino and i'm looking for my portal to Amaterasu's shrine." Hamino said to the shy priestess, again not sensing a connection.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Y-you're quite b-blunt," stuttered the Miko.

[Maveric]

"you seem really shy so I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable." Hamino apologized to the priestess, it was unlikely for Hamino to come into this place with a buffet.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"N-no no, it's not y-your fault. I-I just not used to s-strangers. T-that's why I've been p-put here. I-I take it that you f-found here on your o-own?" The Miko blushed, completely embarrassed.

[Maveric]

"someone else tried to guide me but I ignored them and most influence's my sense could have given me." Hamino told her truthfully.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Y-you would not b-be here if y-you were s-shown the way," the miko stuttered out. Her cheeks blushing furiously. "Th-the s-stone circle should o-open the p-portal when the s-sun is setting, t-that- m-means A-amaterasu has a-accepted y-your desire and b-begs you to g-go through." She gestured to the stone circle next to her. The sun hadn't started setting yet.

[Maveric]

"as I said, I didn't listen to anything but what my heart told me." Hamino said as she walked over to the stone circle.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"Y-you like r-repeating y-yourself a-alot d-don't y-you? I-I merely s-said as I was i-instructed t-to say," said the miko bowing a little. Haruki sighed, why had she chosen to be a stuttering miko? She had no idea.

[Maveric]

"you stutter a lot, is that because you're nervous or it's some medical symptom?" Hamino asked the priestess.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

"N-nervous perhaps. I-I don't know if i-it's a medical symptom," she said, she blushed. Her voice was naturally small too, unlike Haruki's usual voice. Therefore sometimes it was hard to hear.

[Maveric]

"well, is there anything you want to do till the sun sets?" Hamino asked.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

The Miko looked at the stone circle, and said, "N-No, the sun will b-begin s-setting very soon, y-you arrived j-just in t-time. P-perhaps y-you could t-tell me a l-little of your s-story as the p-portal o-opens?"

[Maveric]

Hamino used her memory manipulation to insert the memories about the important factors about her story.

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ}, ~ Queen of Hell ~]

The Miko frowned, a little confused. But then the sun had started setting, and a blue glow began to apear in the centre of the stone circle, growing, and spreading across the empty space. She blinked, "A-ah, it is time, P-please stand before the s-stone c-circle," she gestured for Hamino to do so.

[Maveric]

Hamino walked over to where she was directed as the blue light glowed.