Kitty returned Jaya's smile but she seemed somewhat distant, she had been since she returned to Jaya to help her. She quietly exited the shuttle with her daughter, and despite the fact that it seemed things were peaceful and there didn't seem to be any danger, Kitty's hand never left the handle of her sword as if ready to pull it out within a blink of an eye. "Remind me of these Crypts again Jaya?" She turned her head briefly away from the man they were following, looking to her daughter. "What exactly are we supposed to do?"

"It's a custom of their people. Magic comes at a price and often it goes wrong, so they look their failed experiments in the crypts." Jaya chuckled slightly as she realised she wasn't exactly selling the idea of what they were about to do. "These crypts are then used to test outsiders. If we pass their trials they'll talk to us and hopefully join the Alliance." Her explanation was cut short by the squeaking of a rusty gate, as their welcoming friend stood before them with his hand resting on the open entrance.
"Good luck to both of you."

Jaya walked through the gate and headed down the steps, the limited light of torches gleaming off the metal armour she'd chosen to wear for this day. Her right hand rested casually on the sheathe of Blightslayer which hung at her side. Once they reached the bottom of the steps the entrance was out of sight, and now only a long and wide hall stood before them. The more they looked around the more they saw. Parts of the floor turned out to be piles of skulls, whilst dismembered limbs of creatures Jaya couldn't even guess lay strung from walls. 

By the end of the hall two options lay, with a large sign reading: 
"Two of the same blood shall enter these halls. If they seperate, they shall perish. Together they must choose their path."
On either side of the sign lay a different tunnel. One was made of old cracked stone, within the crevices of which came a faint red glow resembling something demonic. The other path was made of precisely arrange bones and skulls, most of which were not of things recognisable.

"I'll let you choose." Jaya smirked, taking the whole situation lightly.

Kitty narrowed her eyes at her daughter, not necessarily liking that Jaya was taking this situation lightly. "Fabulous, I had hoped you wouldn't inherit your father's cocky nature. Most of the time it got him killed." She mumbled under her breath, looking away from Jaya and stepping closer to the two tunnels. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to block out everything else in the current room they were in so she could see what she could hear and smell of the two tunnels. The tunnel on the right, smelled of something she didn't recognize, while the other tunnel she could definitely sense something that hinted at a demonic nature, but she wasn't sure. "Not scared, are you KitKat?" The weak desperate little whisper in Kitty's head startled her, making her draw back from the caves and frown. She knew who and what the voice was, but was calmed by the fact that it sounded weak and desperate. 

Kitty started to step toward the cave with the bones and skulls that were mostly unrecognizable, then turning around and holding out a hand to her daughter. "I've seen a lot of movies about a person going through one entrance and it closing behind them to separate groups. Take my hand before we enter."

"It's not cockiness," She shook her head still smiling whilst Kitty examined the two tunnels. "We need to be confident. These crypts hold a lot of magic, some of it not so pure. If something senses our doubt it might feed off it and make things worse." Once her mother had decided she took her hand, nodding at her choice. "Yeah, I've had enough of Demons for now."

The two made it into the tunnel together and could continue on for a few minutes, noticing only slight changes in the arrangement of bones and skulls. Dried blood stained some of them, but it was not recent at all. When the tunnel came to an end it opened up into a large chamber of which the entire floor was made of skulls. At the end stood an altar with various ungodly figures upon it, aswell as a silhouette stood behind.

"Is this what you fear?" The voice of Lana spoke out from around the room. "Do you fear this woman who killed one of you and tortured the other?" Now the silhouette walked towards them, making it clear it was literally made of shadows. "If I'm your enemy you better strike me, like you always do..." It was clearly looking at Kitty now, approaching her to the point where it could be toe-to-toe within seconds if unhindered.

Kitty did not flinch, nor did fear or even anger cross her face. "No, the sorceress Lana is not what I fear." Kitty's fears were more mental but could also be considered physical. She feared standing idly by helpless to do anything as those she loved died before her eyes, she feared losing herself completely and being the one to kill them, and she feared having them see the monster that she was and decide to put her down. But she did not fear Lana, not in the slightest. 

When Lana came toe to toe with Kitty she did raise the hand that wasn't in her daughter's,  flames engulfing her hand, but there seemed something just a tad off with her fire, it looked a little bit darker than usual if one could tell. "Lana is my enemy, but you are not Lana. She may be a coward but she wouldn't hesitate to attack upon sight."

"I see," Lana tilted her head to think for a moment, as if processing the words Kitty spoke. There was an odd silence until suddenly her arm flung out sideways. Within her hand shot up a blade, slicing straight across Jaya's throat and sending her falling backwards to choke on her own blood. Whilst Jaya convulsed on the floor the shadowy figure looked down at her, almost curious. "Like that? Am I like her now?"

Quickly the figure was gone but the voice remained. Short bursts of laughter echoing through the hall. After moments of writhing around, Jaya's body went still with the grasp of death. At that point the figure appeared in the center of the room again.
"Are you angry yet?"

It's form radiated shadow and resembled more of Lana each second, as if slowly building the picture of her from Kitty's mind.

Kitty instantly reacted, going for her daughter instead of Lana. She placed her hand on Jaya's throat as she tried to staunch the bleeding, wildly wracking her brain for any form of healing spell. Suddenly Kitty was thankful for having magic, lately she'd been seeing it as a curse despite frequently using it. "Επικαλούμαι τη δύναμη του Απόλλωνα, ο Θεός της Θεραπείας. Εισάκουσε την προσευχή μου και μου δανείσετε τη δύναμή σας, να διατηρήσει την προστασία και να θεραπεύσει. Έτσι Mote είναι." It took a second but her hands glowed a light gold as they slowly began to heal Jaya's wound. Once it was healed Kitty stood with a slight scowl on her face, ignoring Lana's question. 

"Foolish to challenge me in enclosed space Lana." Kitty thrust her hands out, repeating the light spell she had used against Lana before in the cave and against Zalgo when fighting him.

After the healing spell Jaya still remained motionless, the only movement coming from the pacing shadow of Lana. It stopped however when the light spell came. In fact every aspect of the shadowy illusion dropped, revealing a hairless and disgusting creature with a magical gem encrusted in it's chest in place of Lana. With a hiss it retreated back from Kitty, only to remember the other woman behind him.

"Always with violence! Flawed! You are no better than those you hate and kill! You are a monster!" The creature spewed.

Jaya stood on the other side of the room alive and well, although somewhat confused as the light had dropped her separate illusion too. Turning to see the creature and her mother, she walked forward with Blightslayer raised. As she came in for it's back she gave the nod for Kitty to attack from the front.

Kitty nodded toward her daughter, recognizing that what she saw had been an illusion, she withdrew her own sword and began stalking forward. She moved with vampirism speed, her hand moving with the intent to thrust the sword through the creatures stomach.

As Kitty's sword impaled the creature it screamed out in pain, trying uselessly to escape. While it was held in place Jaya swung around with Blightslayer, decapitating the beast and leaving a hissing white smoke behind where the purge magic had singed through the cut. Once everything went silent again Jaya sheathed her sword, looking around for a double check.

"So, what did you see?" She asked, obviously somewhat shook by what she saw herself but well enough to stay strong. "I saw alot of death and destruction... and father was there..." A small pause as she remembered what had happened only a minute ago.

"Anyway, it wasn't real... We should go..." At that point she moved off the the tunnel, hoping the trial was over.

"Lana slit your throat." Her mother replied quietly, grasping her daughter's hand again and starting to move again. "I doubt that's the end of it though. That was too easy." Kitty didn't sheath her sword this time, instead keeping it in her free hand with a grip so tight her tanned knuckles looked white. "I saw your father recently. He said you've become quite the queen." Kitty spoke bluntly then fell silent, as if she didn't want to speak about Dan anymore. "Let's go."

"Oh, wow..." Jaya felt her throat all of a sudden, almost able to imagine it happening to her. "Well I can assure you no one's killing me, mother." That smirk came back as she glanced over, more to mock than to be overconfident. The journey back was uneventful until they reached the first room again, at which point the two tunnels behind them completely disappeared. Before them stood one figure; the cloth-wrapped being from before.

"The final trial is to face me." The man conjured a bright blue sword from thin-air, holding it low to his side at an angle almost like a fancy duelist. "We can discuss the terms of your Alliance alongside our duel."

"Very well, my liege." Jaya smiled, drawing Blightslayer and glancing to Kitty. When everyone was ready the being shot forward, splitting himself into two separate versions to fight both women at once. Each version of him would come in for a series of fast slices, aiming to testing the defenses of his opponents.

Kitty moved just as quickly, avoiding the fast slices as she withdrew her sword. Then she flipped backward with one hand reaching for the floor as she flippef. "Jaya jump!" Kitty shouted just before she let loose a wave of flames from her hand, then flipping off her hands to land on her feet.

As the warning to jump came in their opponent was not stupid enough to stand around. He too avoided the fiery floor but by blinking magically above them so that he could attempt to smash down atop of them on their landing. Once landed his sword would come down for a forceful stab at their shoulder, hoping to pin them into the floor with it.

Luckily for Jaya she had released her wings when jumping and they provided some protection from behind once the man had disappeared from her front. With a swing of her left wing she batted her opponent aside and saved herself from being pinned down. A short flight maneuver distanced her from his blade, leaving her ready in a defensive stance meters away.

"We need your mages for the fight against the Demons," She spoke whilst staring him down. "And also your knowledge on a certain magic that might help our academy."
"Your academy..." His voice came from both his projections with a curious tone. "Yes I remember now. A man once came to me long ago about an academy... You seek the blade enchantments like him?"
"That was my father, and yes, I do." 
"Maybe we can come to an agreement." He spoke, but suddenly blinked behind his targets to test their reflexes with a backstab.

Kitty spun out of the way of the stab, decidedly keeping quiet as she listened to her daughter and the man converse. She didn't know much about blade enchantments or about what her daughter came here for aside from the academy, then again there regrettably wasn't much she knew about her daughter. 

Kitty anticipated the back stab when her opponent disappeared before her eyes, her ears catching the sound of a heartbeat just behind her. She slammed her sword down deep into the rock, gripping it with both hands as she suddenly moved to the side, walking along the wall quickly to gain momentum before swinging back around with her feet in the air. Her aim was to knock the sword off its course with her feet.

Jaya's wings once again saved her from the attack, propelling her forward and out of his stabbing range. With an impressed grunt he then sheathed his sword. On Kitty's version he missed his lunge, extended outwards and vulnerable to her kick. Before she connected however he cancelled the secondary illusion, meaning she kicked only the air and now their remained only one true version of himself.

"Consider the trials passed," The man spoke with a nod. "My people shall look through your treaty and organise accordingly. The Crusade approaches and we will not be stubborn in refusing aid." He walked back to the entrance, opening it for them all. "As for the blades, I shall send you what I sent your father." With that he went up the stairs and out of sight.

With a sigh of relief Jaya sheathed Blightslayer, then looked to her mother.
"Not so bad, huh?" That smirk returned as she too went for the exit.

Kitty had a frown on her face, pulling her sword up from the rock. She didn't seem to hear Jaya at first, instead her attention was at the whispered screaming in her head. A sliver of Corsetta had remained,  a part she couldn't absorb, and something was agitating it. Then just as the whispered howls started, they stopped. Kitty turned to Jaya as she realized she had spoken, "Yeah...not so bad." She murmured, following after her daughter. But her mind and thoughts followed other routes.