Without Question

With the global situation developing as it was, Shin Itami was quickly coming to the realisation that his ally Cornus was right, and he would need agents, much like the other perfect level channelers that shaped the landscape of the global political and military environment.  Unlike the others however, Shin had no intension of drawing a large amount of attention to himself, so the funding of a military faction, though possible, seemed to be a bit too much to facilitate his considerably simpler goals.  All he would need would be a few worthy channelers, whom he could trust to execute his tasks with a high level of efficiency and a minimal level of questioning.  As he pondered on this, only two channelers came to mind, the fragments of the Guardian Herald, his two youngest sons, Roun and Ryuu.  Unfortunately, Roun had already chosen a side in this war, leaving just young Ryuu, who, unfortunately, was little use to his father without his brother’s aid.  Shin sighed now, pondering the dilemma.  His sons’ fractured nature could almost entirely be attributed to spectral tampering on his part, making neither of them particularly whole, and ultimately useless once separated.  Given this, if he actually wanted to be able to utilise either of them properly, now that they seemed to be taking different paths in life, he would need to find some way to mend the fractures, and complete the two channelers.

Shin scoffed lightly as he realised that he would need to bring his little experiment to an end, and modify the bonds that held these fractures souls together in the jigsaw that he had constructed.  Amusingly enough, in his earlier calculations, he had foreseen this possibility, one of the key reasons why he had executed the bonding in the way which he did… that was, making it easily modified if need be.  Unfortunately, all he could do was to provide the catalyst that would fix the bonds, his sons would need to provide the spark to ignite the flame that would purify their forms.

Shin had already commenced the process on his side, dissolving the shields within Roun’s psyche that barred his essence from those of the two disembodied entities that were bound to him.  The resulting events, which Roun still considered to be dreams at this point, would secure the bonds of a singular entity to his form, while the other found its hold becoming more and more tenuous.  As this interaction reached its critical point, all he would need to do is ensure that Ryuu was there to accept the rejected soul and complete the Astral Transfer.  As expected however, both of his sons remained oblivious of the events that had been set in motion, going about their daily lives as if all was well, meaning that they would require some guidance to ensure that they handled the situation properly once things began to happen.

The catalyst which Shin needed to provide would be simple, as he compiled his communications link in his hand, before calling Roun at the Rogue base in Barbados.  As he expected, Ryuu was also there, being present in the room when Roun answered the link.

“Father?” Roun opened, raising an eyebrow as Shin faded into view.  “What’s going on dad?”  He inquired now, somewhat perturbed by the call.

“Good-day Roun.”  Shin replied now, glancing over to Ryuu.  “And it’s good to see you too Ryuu.  As you would imagine, I didn’t contact you just to check in.  Events have been set in motion that will result in another strange interaction between your twin souls.  This event should be far safer than the event that took place on the small island, during your run-in with SABER, but should leave you equally drained, putting you out of commission for at least a day.  With this in mind, I believe that it is best if this event be forced to manifest early, rather than occur randomly, at a time when it may endanger your lives.”  Shin explained causing the two to nod.

“So what do we gotta do to spark this thing?”  Ryuu inquired now.

“As you two may or may not know, you are linked by an excessively powerful bond, which proves to be both a strength and a weakness in your channelling abilities.  Unfortunately, you are not bonded in a conventional way, as your souls share their essence, making you each an assortment of Astral fragments, rather than a whole soul.”  Shin explained, causing them both to raise eyebrows.  “It no longer serves me to have this Astral jigsaw manifest in your souls, and as such, I have put measures in place to correct this unnecessary format.  Unfortunately, only you can complete the process, and it will require that you both fully utilise all of the fragments of yourself.”  Shin explained, causing Roun to nod, as he had recently come to grips with the fact that his form was indeed quite fragmented.  Ryuu on the other hand proved to be rather perplexed, as he tried to figure out what his father was referring to.  “Once the time comes, simply allow the entities which pass between you to complete the transfer… it will all make sense when it is done.”  Shin explained, causing the two to just nod, not bothering to question the advice.  “I’ll be in contact.”  Was all Shin said as he cut the link, leaving the two to contemplate the repercussions that this event may have in the future.