[b]Vates - GUESS WHERE![/b]
His arms and legs frantically jolted around as he tried to swim out of the dark thick blood but it was no use. He was drowning in it, his desperate lungs tried to cough it out with no avail. It filled his nose, eyes and ears too, making his head feel heavy. 

With a massive gasp, widen open eyes and a forehead drenched with sweat Vates sprung up into an upright position from his slumber. It took him a few minutes of sitting there in silence to recover. It was early morning now, and despite being asleep for some time he had gotten no rest. [i]“Please tell me you came across something interesting? My heads fucking killing me”[/i] said Vates inwardly as he used his thumb and index finger to massage the pressure points at the top of his nose. 

[i][b]“I’m sorry Edward, I couldn’t resist.”[/i][/b] Replied the elderly voice within his mind. It was gentle voice, low and soothing, but it carried a certain distinction that suggested wisdom. To Vates the voice had always conjured up visions of an old wizard from the stories he read as a child.

Vates heaved himself out of his bed with the intention of getting dressed. [i]“Janus, did you see anything useful or not?”[/i] he asked.

[i][b]“I’m not sure. There were a few visions: I saw some views from the past; the boat (again); a mansion covered in ice; some flashes, I think from a battle; and the blood…”[/i][/b] listed the Kage, the regret clear in his tone. This was not the first time that he had tried to force visions. The forced visions never usually ended well, causing migraines and blackouts, as well as yielding often random sights. Janus had noticed that these forced visions were easier on his host when he was asleep, but even then they took their toll and were often just as random. Worse still perhaps as far as Vates was concerned was that when these visions were forced during his sleep that they were even more dreamlike that usual, and that like a dream he often struggled to remember them and so relied on Janus to retell them. Even the random visions and ‘tears’ as they had come to call them were few and far between and only rarely proved useful. It was perhaps not surprising, as it had only been over the last couple of months that they really begun to grasp the ability – it had only been over the last few months that they had begun talking, with Vates initially going into a mental breakdown whenever Janus would try to communicate. Vates would claw at his skull and try somehow force Janus out, ultimately resulting in Janus hiding away for weeks not wanting his host to hurt himself. 

[i]“The blood… what was that?”[/i] Vates paused the buttoning of his shirt as he asked, the unpleasant sensation still fresh in his mind. 

[i][b]“I do not know. I do not think that it was any one specific event. It was certainly a vision of death; maybe it was the opening of the gate?”[/i][/b] quizzed Janus, still not himself sure of how his powers functioned.

Vates did not want to dwell on anything to do with the event and so quickly moved on, [i]“A mansion? You say it was frozen? Like completely?”[/i]

[i][b]“I believe it was. It was dark and I could not see much in the way of detail, but it was big, frozen, and lacked life.”[/i][/b]

Vates’ was dressed now. He walked out of the bedroom and into the open area of his vault. It was perhaps the only place in the entire building, the entire area even, that wasn’t a mess. Around the sides the bookshelves that were not broken in the event were used to store what Vates considered to be important or (now more likely) interesting to him, and those that were broke had since been broken down and used/stored for firewood. His computer and other electrical equipment was now stored beneath the floating half-landing stairs that led to the vault door. In the corner was a very basic kitchen, with a make-shift fire pit situated in the centre as most the equipment was unpowered. In the kitchen was also a fair supply of food/water that Vates had managed to scrounge. [i]“What was the vision from the past? How did you know it was the past?”[/i] Asked Vates, not caring to ask about the boat (for he knew the vision already) nor the ‘flashes’. 

[i][b]“It was a group of people here in the city. There was so many people, so much life.”[/i][/b] There was a hint of sadness in Janus’ voice, [i][b]“they were sitting in a restaurant eating ‘squigbombs’”[/i][/b]

Vates’ face screwed up as he remembered a horrible taste, [i]“Squigbombs?”[/i]