“Fuck.” Dropping to the ground, Shango felt like his body was going to explode. It felt ten times worse than what the Elder did to him, so much so that he could not even scream. He thought that somehow he had offended the gods of this new world. Maybe in his past life, he went balls deep into some god’s wife or something. There was no other way to explain it.

These were just some of the thoughts that run through his mind as he laid on the ground, hoping that the pain would subside quickly or that he would pass out.

“What a nice and sturdy body you have.” said the older woman, nodding as she floated from side to side, examining him.

Shango could not see her but he could hear her voice in his head. Honestly, it was giving him quite the fright.

“Since you can withstand this amount of mana being taken from you without dying, you pass the first test, but I just won’t let any old youngin be my master. Rest a bit while I see what kind of life you lived till now. Rest, young one.”

And without being able to get a word in, Shango was sent off to dreamland.

“Now then.” With a snap of her fingers, she shrunk down and entered Shango’s head. She could see many memories from Shango’s past. One of a child crying into his mother’s arm and one of a little boy searching for his childhood friend, but the one that stood out to her the most was the image of a child covered in blood, crying with pain that could be felt in his voice.

The sight caused the old woman to feel a wide range of emotions, some she thought she had long last. “It looks like this one knows what it means to lose someone.” she said while jumping to the next memory, and like that, she went through a good bit of his memories.

“Oh, what is this?” She had stumbled upon the image of a young boy and girl marathoning their favorite anime while gleefully singing along to the opening song.

“Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by delight.” The defender of love and Justice captured the old woman, by the sixth episode, she was singing along with the children, experiencing the up and downs of each episode. When the end of the season came, each scout gave it their all to save the planet, sacrificing everything for victory.

“Wait, that’s how it ends? There has to be more.” she yelled as she searched Shango's memories for the next season.

“Found it!” she said as she struck Sailor Moon’s signature poses. Just as she was about to watch it, the world around her distorted.

“Wait, no, just a little more!” she roared at the top of her lungs. The next thing she knew, she was out of Shango’s mind, floating around his still sleeping body.

“Looks like I spent too much time enjoying myself.”

Looking at the sleeping Shango, the old woman was quite pleased with him. She found his character was quite enjoyable.

“I think I found myself a nice one.” she said as she summoned the two marbles back to her. “Now how should I do this?” Rolling the marbles around in her palms, the old woman looked like she was deep in thought. A few minutes passed before a smile slowly started to appear on her face.

Placing the amethyst marble between her index finger and thumb, she smiled. She gently blew on the split on the marble and a few seconds later, it made a cracking sound. It shook for a moment before it split in half. Using her index finger and thumb to hold the marble together, she looked at the broken marble in satisfaction.

“These should be more suited for your style of fighting.” The two halves of the marble floated from her hand and went towards Shango, one going to the back of his right hand and the other to the back of his left hand, settling right in the middle.

Looking at the placement of the marbles, the old women nodded. “Perfect.”

Taking her right hand and extended it towards Shango, she snapped her fingers. Almost instantly, an amethyst glow emanated from the halved marble. It started to sink into Shango’s skin, stopping halfway. A pained expression appeared on Shango’s face before disappearing.

Bending down, the woman lifted Shango’s right hand and looked at the amethyst half marble that was now merged with Shango hand. Bringing her lips towards the marble, she kissed it. A second later, both marbles started to glow. The glow began to move up to his forearms. It grew brighter as the seconds passed. It became so bright that it was impossible to look at it. It went like this for a while before fizzling out. What was left behind was amethyst colored gauntlets that covered Shango’s forearms and hands.

Looking at what was left behind, the old woman was pleased. “That should do just fine.” she said to herself.

“Now as for this one,” she said as she held up the pale green marble. She looked at it before placing it in the center of her hand, and with a bang, she brought down her other hand on top of the marble, crushing it. All that was left was a small pile of pale green dust and a small piece of the marble.

“I hope I made the right decision this time.” She had visibly aged by another six or seven years.

Placing the little piece of marble on Shango’s forehead, she took the dust and begun to cover Shango’s entire body with it. It started to merge with him, along with the little piece of marble that was placed on his head. No significant change happened except for the ends of Shango’s hair changing from black to a light pale green.

“You won’t be able to use this now, but when you do, I want to see who will be able to bully you.” she said with a smug look. “Now, I going to rest a bit. This old woman worked too hard today.” 

Disappearing into Shango’s body, the only thing that could be heard in the room now was the sound of him sleeping.