InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cure for a Wounded Soul ❯ Ranna and a Broken Stone ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 4

Ranna, Dyrim and a Broken Stone

A black miasma covered the top of the hill. Within, demons were streaming from a glowing portal. Standing to the side of the gateway was a man, dressed in robes that blended into the murk around him. A pale face stood out, with embers for eyes, and flowing black hair surrounded the features. A grin split the mouth, showing pointed teeth and a black tongue. Inhuman laughter echoed through the smoke. Suddenly the figure turned, eyes narrowing, laugh ceasing. A white figure showed through the blackness, glowing brighter in gradual stages. With a noise of disgust, the man vanished into the smolder.

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Kagome made her way up the hill, moving stealthily. Without the extra cover of the woods, she was more vulnerable than she would like, but didn't have time to be picky. A cool wind had picked up, and clouds were scuttling across the sky, creating momentary shadows from the light of the full moon. She had been able to see the black cloud from the edge of the woods, and studied it with a professional air. Ranna had been a good choice after all. Balancing the bell in her left hand, handle downward, she checked her sword again, and then continued forward.

When she was close enough to the cloud, she stood up from her crouch. A howling mass of demons was pouring from the smoke, paying no attention to her. With a collected precision, Kagome flipped the bell over and caught lit by the handle.

Ranna let loose a sweet peal, and a bright shaft of light stuck the miasma. Shrieks echoed over the hill as demons flew from the protective darkness and strait for the miko. With steel nerve, she held her ground and swung the tiny bell in a figure 8, letting forth more sound from the eager bell. A huge wall of light, blinding to Kagome, shot before the miko, saving her from an onslaught of demons. When the light vanished, she brought down her arm from were she had covered her eyes. Blinking away spots before her vision, she stilled the bell clapper with her thumb and first finger before turning it over in her hand again. Slipping free her sword from its sheath, she stood in a slight crouch, sword at the ready, incase she missed any demons.

Seeing no demons, she stood from her crouch and resheathed her sword. Striding though the ashes that littered the ground, she made her way right up to where the miasma began. After studying it for a moment, she turned Ranna over again, being careful to still the clapper so she could not sound. Closing her eyes, she envisioned what she wanted to do, and her wrist swung the bell back and forth, then in a circle. With a soft sound, a large column of light engulfed the swirling smoke, changing it for white light. After a few moments, both light and miasma vanished, leaving an empty, snow covered field before the miko.

Kagome opened her eyes, and stilled the quietly echoing bell. Tucking Ranna back into the bandolier, she made her way to what looked like a stone in the middle of where the miasma had been. Reaching the large rock, she discovered it to be split down its middle. A cloud covered the moon just then, and she could barely make out the carvings on the stone itself. Dark stains also covered symbols engraved upon it, and the whole area resonated strongly of demon, from the miasma she had destroyed. She placed her hand on the stone to try and remove the stain, that way she could read the words. The cloud moved and bathed the hill top in silver light just as her hand touched a stain, and she jumped back in horror. It was blood that had broken this stone. From the marks that she could see, she could recognize it as a Page Stone, a sort of protector and provider of magic for a large surrounding area.

She remembered her father telling her about these stones as a young child, and how they were every so often within the Lands. Towns and cities tended to spring up around them, for soil and water nearest a Stone were purer the closer you got. People tended to keep there distance from them though, content to let such a powerful object alone. That one had been broken spoke of a dire prospect for the land surrounding it, and the entire Lands themselves.

Fear was what lit her eyes as she made her way away from the broken stone. Because of the power it admitted, it kept demons at bay. Without the Page magick in the stone, it became a portal into the demon realm. Kagome started back down the hills opposite side, hoping to find the town that would be near here, incase it had been overrun by demons without the assistance of the stones protection. She just hoped it wasn't too late.

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When she had seen the town below her, Kagome had rushed back to her camp and gathered up her supplies, careful to give the broken Page Stone a wide berth on the way there and back. After stumbling down the hill bearing her items, she found herself in a very abandoned town.

Doors swung from broken hinges in the freezing wind. Bits of trash flew about in mini tornados, and the sudden slamming of a window shutter made the miko jump. Cursing herself for her foolishness, she called out to the empty houses. "Is any one here?" Only the howling wind answered her. She moved off down the center road, unaware that a pair of yellow eyes watched her from behind a torn window shutter.

Within a relatively together dwelling, Kagome put down her things. She looked around the tiny room in slight aversion, but it was better that sleeping in the snow. A huge cockroach scuttled across the worn floorboards and she cringed. Maybe she'd chance the snow. Just then a particularly strong gust of the biting wind made its way into the hovel and she shivered, even in her heavy clothes. Sleeping with the cockroaches it is.

A quick search outside provided her no fuel for a fire, so she broke apart the few chairs within the dwelling to burn. Soon after she had a bright fire going, and the room warmed slowly but surely. Kagome stretched out her bed roll and lay down, staring at the fire. She could already feel the stiffness in her legs from the unaccustomed motion that skiing caused. Hopefully she wouldn't be to sore in the morning. Her eyes drifted closed as the fire enveloped her in warmth.

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Outside, the dark figure moved from the protection of the house. It stopped, slightly hunched, in the middle of the road, seeming unaffected by the bitter wind that whirled the fresh snow. Yellow eyes glowed as another cloud covered the moon, hiding the world in shadow. Using its enhanced senses, the humanoid demon searched out the life source of the miko that had left her steps in the snow.

This demon called himself Belk, a simple, male name (since it could not remember if it was male or female since coming through the portal) that the deformed tongue could form with ease. When the miko came upon the portal, this demon, being smarted than most, had fled to this already abandoned settlement. Hiding in a shack, he'd heard the howls and the sound of a bell as his brethren were destroyed. Then the miko had come here. He'd stayed quite, waiting for the perfect chance to strike the woman, and now the opportunity had presented itself. She was sleeping in a far hut, protected by nothing, as far as he could tell.

He set of down the street in a slow, shuffling gate, using demon magic to hold his form together. Although he could have moved about as a generic shaped demon, he preferred the mobile form of humans. He did not hold enough power to create and maintain his own skin, but he could take someone else's. A male body left in one of the houses from the slaughter of the village served as a perfect vessel. However, the corrosive mature of demons lowly wore away the flesh and sinew, so he'd have to find another body soon, or revert to his original form. This miko would serve as a perfect container, and he could get rid of one more magick wielder while he was at it.

Cackling quietly, Belk made his way to the hut where the miko slept. As inaudibly as possible, he made his way within the hut, were the dieing embers of a fire lit the sleeping woman's form. Crouching beside her, he stretched out his hands to break her neck.

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Kagome had been dreaming peacefully, still warm from the fire, when her dreams began to change. Instead of the reverie she'd been having (valiantly saving her father from a hoard of demons and becoming the heroine), they became dark and strong with demon presence. Kagome ran widely from shadows, al the while trying to find her bells, a sword, something to protect her. Demons began to appear from all sides, attacking her, and she was trying to remember Page symbols so she could fight them, but twelve times twelve was all she could remember…

Kagome flew up from her bed, wide awake, and right into a demon. With a shriek, it jumped back, gibbering erratically. Kagome lept from her bed and grabbed her sword right as the demon came toward her again, and preformed the stop-thrust that had won her second in the Fighting Academy and later lost her first. The Page spelled blade sliced through the demons neck with a shower of white sparks, severing it halfway.

Belk screamed in pain, hands clawing at his cut throat. Kagome withdrew her blade and grabbed at her bell bandolier with one hand, ripping free the first bell she touched. Praying that it wasn't Astarael, she swung the bell in a slightly crooked figure 8.

The embers behind her flew into the room, alighting the ancient wood. Kagome, forgetting everything but bell and sword in her hand, fled the blazing inferno and into the cold night.

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Who can guess which bell she pulled? See you next time!

Dragon Warrioress