Seeking knowledge

Zexus would be dressed in his black robe that draped down to his feet. Book in hand, he would approach the office door wondering about the depth of knowledge that were withheld in these walls.

He knocked on the door as if he had an appointment. Zexus had no worry in his mind about what was behind the door in front of him, but he knew that someone had answers and he had to find them. With a hard expression he stood outside the office waiting on the superior's response.

As the man knocked on the door, moments later a hologram would appear of a woman in a short skirt.

I'm sorry, Shadow is out on unofficial business right now. Please come again.

Zexus would stare at the hologram with utter disappointment. His thurst for knowledge wouldn't be quenched as easily as hoped.

¬"Fuck.."¬

As the hologram dissipated Zexus would step through the empty corridor and proceed to meander throughout the office building to check for anything of intrest. His mind was solely focused on finding the knowledge hidden within this area. He would go from room to room looking for any sign of life to give him said information.

As he was looking around, he would hear a strange rustling sound coming from a rather dark corridor. He could choose to investigate or not.

Zexus would peer down the dark corridor where the rustling resonated from. He is hesitant to investigate, so he reaches into his black cloak and withdrew his book. As he would flip through the pages of the book, the pages would seem to glow a faint light green color.

~"Amos emunes con spitritos."

Zexus would whisper the written word of the dead. As the words were spoken, two light blue transparent figures would appear in front of Zexus. The spirits would materialize and gaze back at their master.

¬"investigate!"¬

The spirits would dash off into the darkness, becoming completely invisible once they hit the corridor. A trail of black goo would be the only way to track them. The ectoplasm the left behind would be a nice safety precaution for what lay ahead.

The rustling sound that Zexus had heard was none other than Shadow Uchiha himself. Upon further investigation, the rustling noise was Shadow flipping through pages of six ancient books. He was reading them all at once.

-As Zexus had sent his spirits to investigate the noise that Shadow had been creating, he would soon realize that the spirits would only be able to go so far before being stopped by an invisible barrier. They would not reach Shadow's location.-

As the spirits were stopped, Shadow would pause from his reading and squint his eyes ever so slightly. His Mōngekyou would begin to spin slowly.

"...*slowly exhales*...

Zexus would sense the abrupt hault of his ethereal spirits and call them back to his side. The spirits would dissipate from the darkness and their essence would be sucked right back into the glowing book.

"-thud.-"

Zexus would close his book and walk down the corridor himself. He would walk slowly down the hall with his palms behind his back facing toward the ground collecting all the leftover ectoplasm. The black viscous liquid would travel up his fingers and into his cloak for later use. He would approach the lit room and stand outside the doorway.

-knock..knock..-

Zexus would look at the shaded man in the room and begin to speak.

"So, seeing that you are the only one around, maybe you can help me."

Sitting with his back facing Zexus, Shadow would ignore what he had to say. Almost instantly after Zexus finished his sentence he would be surrounded in utter darkness. It seemed as if all light of any kind was completely absent within this room he had just stepped foot into.

-Once Zexus had stepped foot into the room, the only door would dissappear, leaving no entrances or exits within Shadow's study.-

Suddenly, two small glimpses of crimson light would seemingly shine throughout the darkness surrounding Zexus and Shadow.

...Tell me...What do you see..?

Zexus would stare into the darkness that had enveloped the study. The red lights would catch his attention as he turned for the doorway. The door was nowhere to be seen, and the room had seemed to get smaller as the time passed on.

"Where are you!"

Zexus would turn back to the red lights and head toward them sensing that it was the only way to find out what had happened. He would come closer and closer to the light looking deeply into each gleam. He would notice that the lights weren't lights. In fact, the lights had black marks within them and pupils.

"Who are you? Tell me where I can find this fabled Shadow Uchiha!"

You should have left while you had the chance...

The gleaming crimson lights were indeed Shadow's eyes. As Zexus had made eye contact with Shadow, it would already be far too late for him to return to where he had came. The two crimson beams of light would stay constant.

...Tsukuyomi...

Zexus would feel the world around him begin to change. This was no ordinary illusion. This was Shadow's most powerful and potent Genjutsu. Within the utter darkness, the crackle of lightning would be heard but not seen.

Zexus would shudder with the crack of the thunder ringing in his ears. He immediately withdrew his book of the ethereal and summoned his spirits to his side. Staring into the darkness, Zexus was furious in how easily he fell into this trap. His spirits would hold their hands toward Zexus allowing a flood of ectoplasm to come onto Zexus. With his previous ectoplasm already stored he would produce a dense layer of hardend ectoplasm around his body in the form of a royal knight's suit of armour. Providing him a strong defense, the armor would get denser and denser as the ectoplasm flowed giving his defense a continiuos hardening affect.

"Who are you!?"

The ectoplasm that would Zexus had surrounded himself in would soon, begin to heat up to an incredible temperature. Almost like the ectoplasm was boiling. Shadow's Mōngekyou would be projected throughout the darkness on a much larger scale; like a movie is projected onto a screen. It would be all that Zexus would see.

...light, into shadows...shadows, into darkness...darkness, into Illusions... I am Shadow Uchiha...

Within an instant, Zexus would feel like he would be falling into a massive hole. Basically a free fall into the dark nothingness that was Shadow's study. To Zexus, his fall was infinite and his skin, boiling.

"Shadow Uchiha!?!"

Zexus would be amazed by how he could manipulate his ectoplasm. The searing hot arm our around him would dismantle in an outward burst of energy sending searing hot ectoplasm all around the study.

"What is this?"

He would free fall feeling the heat from the suit of armor. His body was seemingly unaffected by the heat due to his vessel being so new. The internal energy flowing throughout his body would ward off the burns by seemingly radiating around his body. He was glowing a light sky blue from the energy that had given him such good defense. He was only further intrigued by the power within him and what he could do with this man's help if he ever got it.

"Why do you do this?"

As Zexus fell further and further into the darkness, he would begin to feel cold.

"You are quite curious, aren't you..?"

Suddenly, the darkness would change into light. Zexus would 'wake up' from the genjutsu and find himself lying on the floor of Shadow's office.

Sitting behind his desk, Shadow would have his arms folded. Leaning back in his chair, Shadow would raise his eyebrow.

"...I do believe the hologram said that I was out..."

Simply amazed by the illusionary power this man possessed, Zexus knelt down facing Shadow. With no experience in this realm he was at a great disadvantage, and it didn't take a genius to figure that out. Shadow would prove to be a great ally if he made it out of here...

~"Are you a manipulator of the spectral as well? I have never met another of my kind."~

Cautiously, Zexus would begin to raise his head to looking at the man, being careful not to peer into those magnificent eyes. Looking at him, it didn't seem as though he was using a vessel, but it also didn't seem as though he had all of his humanity. This fact would catch Zexus's interest furthering his curiosity about the man and the mysteries this world currently held. It might prove to be a more difficult feat to accomplish his goal with this in mind. Without leaving more than moment to respond Zexus would speak his mind once again.

~"I am truly sorry for the intrusion. I am new to this and was simply looking for a guide to help me on my quest. When I came and your....'hologram'?, said that no one was here I simply knew that couldn't be the case. I could detect life within, so I made my way in to discover what it was that this place held that was so important to hide. I now know that wasn't the wisest decision."~

This was a bad situation he had put himself in. Zexus had just acquired his new vessel, and it would be a shame if it was destroyed before he saw its full capabilities. However, even if that was the case, unless he was another spectral being it would be a difficult task trying to keep him from escaping to find a new body.

~"You could have ended me while I was caught in your illusion, am I just lucky? Or do you not intend to kill me?"~

Leaning forward in his chair and placing his elbows on his desk, Shadow would stare this still unnamed man in the face with the same glowing crimson eyes from his rather unorthodox entry. Slowly gathering his thoughts, he would slowly close his left eye as his cold stare continued to persist.

"Before I answer any of your questions.. I want you to answer one of mine."

As he spoke, the walls and seemingly everything within it besides Shadow and his visitor would begin to twist and distort rapidly.

"What exactly are you and what do you want? Don't think that I can't see through your seemingly supernatural essence. Think carefully with your answer because this distortion is no illusion."