Silent as a shadow the man had appeared. He word a spear in his hand and another pair on his back. Still, Sinistra looked at him friendly and calmly. "Hello." She bowed slightly. "Who are you?"
"My name is not of interest to you and you will not bother my companion by asking for his name, either, woman", the man said calmly but sternly.
Sinistra tried not to get choked up about this and while doing so didn't notice how Eternia first turned pale and then almost green besides her. The blonde's eyes strayed hectically back and forth, she looked for a place to hide.
The black haired one managed to stay calm. "Well then. So we have a rude ninja plus company. And my name is Sinistra, by the way."
"It was not my intention to be rude", the man ascertained in a very rude voice. "It's just better for you if you don't know who we are."
When Eternia anxiously hid behind her Sinistra finally realized that something was wrong. She broke into cold sweat. Did Eternia know this man? When her bold friend was so afraid of this guy, just how evil and powerful was he? And it was up to her to solve this? Just her? The elementalist gulped.
"Well then. And where is your companion?" Since the ninja was blunt she didn't try to be very polite, either.
As it turned out the question was unnecessary since in this moment a man in a black kimono casually strolled towards them. He looked around interested but at the same time managed to appear completely uninterested and absent, which was actually impossible.
"Master." The ninja bowed deeply, then stayed tensed, ready to protect his master at every second.
Sinistra felt a strange magical aura emanating from the man in the kimono but found him to be way less frightening than the ninja. What she felt was actually not power at all, but on the contrary the utter absense of everything. There was nothing threatening coming from that man, but also nothing positive. He was like empty space. Sinistra got goose bumps. "Good day", she greeted boldly.
The man didn't answer. His gaze shortly grazed her, then he turned back to looking at the landscape imperturbabely. He had radiant pink eyes which made it unlikely that he was human.
"Err, hello?" Sinistra cautiously asked again.
The ninja reacted. "Pardon him. My master is in the middle of an unpleasing interphase which makes it impossible to him to communicate."
"I understand", said Sinistra, who actually didn't understand anything. Did that mean the man was in the middle of a metamorphose?
"You have to turn in all bulky items to be admitted to the box", the woman informed the men and tried to keep her voice from shivering. "That also means you have to turn in your weapons, ninja."
The ninja looked at his master who nodded slightly. Reluctantly he parted with his spears. "When will I get those back?"
"Err, I don't know, I think right after arrival. Surely Eternia knows more details. Eternia...?"
"...?" Sinistra froze. It was just now that she noticed that Eternia had tampered with the boxes behind them.
The blonde spun around. She wore Mao's glasses and hid beneath an absurd, way too big wig. "What want you?" she asked with an altered voice. "You know I speak English very bad. I no understand."
The thoughts whirled around in the elementalist's head. What was the meaning of this? She turned back towards the two men, subduing a frightened shiver. "I'm sorry, it seems my more experienced colleague isn't available right now. Tusnelda here doesn't know any details, either."
"So, is that so?" The ninja looked at her sharply. The woman noticed how exhausted he looked beneath his make-up. "Then I will get my weapons back right after our arrivel."
"Very well. Please enter the box now." Sinistra did her best not to disappoint Eternia and bravely stood in front of her.
The man in the kimono displayed a fathomless smile and walked past her with a slight nod as goodbye.
The ninja followed, walked past Eternia while doing so. Right when he had passed her she sank down on the edge of the wig box, jaded and relieved. In this moment the warrior paused in his steps. Without looking at her he said: "You're out of training, Tahome. Downright pathetic, your appearance. You can do better than that."
Eternia gasped and turned white as a wall. The man in the kimono paused his steps now too, but he didn't turn to them
The ninja also stood motionless. Suddenly he said: "Nobody excapes fate. Not even you. We'll meet again in Dolltopia."
Then he let her sit there and followed his master.
Nobody coould see the emotions on the face of the man in the kimono. First there was something like mild amusement and then a weird mix of pity and sadness. His eyes flickered, became black for a moment. Then these emotions vanished as fast as they had come and his face became a mask of absolute indifference again.