"Does.." Tatsuo licked suddenly dry lips, everything coming in much too fast and hard for him to even begin accepting. Nothing made sense, he was just some drunk that had just gotten done with spending the last yen on a bottle of sweet forgetfulness the night prior. Hell, if rent had ever been a problem, it would've been a top concern right then. But now, here was someone that was telling him what? That he was some god's descendant? That he was special in some way?
"Ridiculous frankly." Iori snorted, cutting his hand through the air to match the disgust further marring his heavily cratered face. Instantly causing those rising hopes that the drunkard should've known better than to allow to form in the first place. This was the real world, no matter how strange it might've turned out to be. "The Tsuki Tusmami No Me has no connecting to any form of divinity or Kami, just a genetic mutation that just so happens to be beneficial. Creatures like Tsukuyomi loves laying claim on oddities in the world, especially when they're useful."
"So is that why you're here? To take them for yourself?!" From the old man's speed alone, he knew there was very little chance to even begin fleeing or fighting back in the slightest. So in all intensive purpose, nothing was stopping him from blurring over to pluck them out of these valuable orbs. And just like that, another avenue of an alternative life would be stolen from him. But that didn't mean he wouldn't squirm against the inevitable. There were some benefits to growing up as a delinquent and becoming a bitter drunkard, his cursing skills were equal to none.
"I don't need nor want your eyes." Shrugging his frail shoulders, he sunk back further into the accommodating tree limb. A few leaves growing in size to completely support an aged back. That green smoke surged, pumping itself like a heard as the ancient giants 'cooed'. Letting out a small smile, he continued. "Even if your eyes were of better quality like your ancestor, I wouldn't desire them. There are many mutations in this world that would make your eyes seem mundane in comparison, like even the weakest and less talented Yokai will still run circles around in pure Youki manipulation alone. I am secure in my path and see no point in straying from it for something so minute...but others who aren't as set in their ways as I am will see your eyes as the edge they need to progress further. And as you are now, it'll only take some Stray running around to pluck their prize from your skull."
"….What?!" Maybe at first he was feeling a bit brow beaten as the his 'special' bloodline was dismantled so efficiently, pride chipping away with every word distracting him from the very real bomb shell and warning. "Yokai are real?! And what's a Stray?! And why wouldn't I have a chance against it? Did you really sign me a death sentence?!"
It was all becoming too much, much too much. Creatures were going to come looking to rip his eyes out or kill him outright? Kamis and Yokai coming to hunt him down? It didn't matter if he didn't know what a 'stray' was, he just knew that if they were put on the same levels as those other supernatural beings then it was something that he had no business tangling himself with.
"Are, are you going to protect me? Guide me or take me as a disciple? Like you did my ancestor?" In times of great desperation, pride can go take a hike. If his continued survival required he to fall to his knees and grovel before this old man then so be it. Nothing else mattered then, besides all this was Iori's fault in the first place! He should take responsibility for tossing some random drunk into the mix!
"No." The old man opened a single eye, blue depths instantly forestalling the instinctual rebuttal from bubbling up to the surface. There was no cruelty in that voice, just a casual disinterest as though his actions weren't responsible for a death! What kind of monster was standing in the middle before him? "I don't repeat myself lightly. You aren't talented enough to be my disciple, nor do you have connections that could make me change my mind. I'm here simply to make sure that the final will of disciple is carried out."
"Even if that means the death of his very own descendant?"
"All things die eventually." Iori shrugged before reaching a hand out, that smoked surged through the branches. Rolling down until a small speck of gas broke off from the larger body and a small leaf came falling gently into his palm. Holding it up between two fingers, something within it was changed. Morphed and honed into something more..dangerous. Sharper edged, a more refined spine. Just looking at the small leaf caused goosebumps to form along the mortal's flesh. "But that isn't your fate today. Or maybe it is, it'll all depend on you in the end. My disciple, or ancestor, might've portrayed himself to be a brute but he was anything but that. A budding master of formations could never be considered a fool. He saw far in the future and knew of the dangers his bloodline would have for his significantly weaker descendants. So, to counter act that, he left an inheritance for all his progeny that had awakened their bloodline. I do not know what's inside but I do know is that whatever it is, will be enough for you to either trade for protection or will allow you to stand on your own two feet. Beneath your feet, is more akin to a miniature realm. Pocket dimension but less in some ways. And if he followed the example of other inheritance, there'll be traps and obstacles both meant to protect itself from outsider but also to test you."
"The key, is your newly awakened blood. A single drop will unlock the path down but, it'll also draw the eye of all those who covet what is not theirs to begin with. They will come. Not to negotiate but to take. Normally, you would be forced to contend with their youths to acquire what is yours and even if you did survive long enough to inherit the true prize, all their elders would be waiting outside to snatch you up and extract everything of import from your shell. Death would be a mercy then, because to survive you would've needed to kill many of their disciples and juniors."
"...How am I suppose to compete against people like that?! If they know about this, then that means most of them must've been trained since they were children! I can barely hold my own in a drunken brawl!" If anything, this sudden 'gift' seemed more and more like a curse than anything else. But a sudden idea struck him then. "If I don't open this 'inheritance' then no one should be alerted by it, right? Then I can just pretend to have not awakened these eyes and live out my days normally?"
"Maybe." The old man nodded, a twinkle in his eye that only spelled trouble for those caught up in his schemes. Just as Tatsuo felt every hair on his body stand to attention, before he could even register the idea of running or fleeing, a small stinging pain struck him. Looking down in horror, the man saw a thin cut run across his skin. Nothing deep, barely akin to a paper cut. But it was the single drop of blood rolling down his forearm, it's free fall was slow and imposing in his eyes. A multitude of terrible fates that he could've avoided now for naught in the face a monster that simply did not care.
Splashing against blades of grass, nothing happened at first. The world almost let out a breathe of relief that matched his own but in the next moment, in that sight beyond sight, something 'clicked'. Symbols so profound and complicated that even looking at them momentarily caused a splitting pain to pierce his skull. Spinning, these sigils rose up from the ground. Splitting apart to rotate in opposing directions. Faster and faster, until a single beam of light pierced from somewhere unknowable beneath the ground and through the storm of symbols.
Reality warped, bending around the edges. Screaming out to the otherness of space-time and with a pulse of purple 'Ki', the world split apart. Like pulling open a wound, widening until it was just large enough for a door to placed.
"What I described was what normally happened when an inheritance is uncovered." Now, the old man looked a bit smug. Possessing far too much youthful energy to be natural and out the corner of Tatsuo's vision, those strands of black began to come into better focus. Looking like...hair? "But that won't be the case here. No one, and I mean no one will interrupt you. No one will compete with you, nor will you have to worry about anyone taking what is not theirs. As the final request from my disciple, Takemoto Fuji, I will guard the gates and make sure you inherit everything that he wished for you to inherit. That, I swear on my name as Yamato Iori, The Heavenly Demon, Master of the Golden Pavilion, He Who Pierced the Sun, Maker of Monarchs, Butcher of the End Times and The New Heavens!"