InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Endless Hunger ❯ Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

50 years ago

Dusk settled over the sloping countryside. The shades of night gathered within the folds of the land and beneath the trees in the woods, and the shadows became as dark as the hidden face of the moon.

As the last traces of daylight vanished, the youkai known as Munashii began swimming through those shadows like an eel through oily black water.

I must regain myself.

His true self had been taken from him, reformed to take a more solid shape. The shape of a lower youkai, with a serpent-like body that appeared to slither through the air, a ridiculously weaker form of life compared to what he once was. Robbed of his powers, he spent his days seething in anger and conjuring up hundreds of different fantasies of revenge within his mind. And there was always the hunger…

How dare that fool monk exorcise me!

Once he had been a great spirit-oni, one that sustained itself by feeding off the evil emotions of the lesser beings of the world. He had been born of the collective desires of the men of the war that relished battle and fought for greed and power. Using his spirit-form that hid his true self from mortal eyes, he was free to manipulate men in order to better feed his hunger. He’d whisper lies, spreading rumours of hatred, fear, even lust. And when the soul was completely corrupted, he could enter the body and devour it whole. Mind, body and soul, they all became his. All would be used to fuel his growing presence. Great his power had become over the years, having devoured countless human souls that had succumbed to his dark taint.

Munashii ‘s hunger would never dissipate though. It would always remain within him, like a great void. Its depths were infinite. The more he devoured, the more it would grow within him. And although his very nature marked him as evil, his primary goal was that of survival. His very existence was built upon feeding his hunger; malice existed to him only as nourishment.

I was indomitable. No mortal could resist my power.

It was when he had chosen to spread through a village near an old Buddhist temple that he’d finally met an end to the only existence he had ever known.

Humans hold onto such strange ways of living. Values and morals were non-existent in Munashii ‘s mind. Only hunger. Those humans who followed precepts, the monks, were stranger still. Desire and greed were always repressed. They worked to contain their vices in order to achieve their eventual nirvana. He knew it to be folly, but by doing so, those monks provided him a feast of pent-up emotion. So ripe when he eventually made them break their own laws, utterly seduced by his machinations.

Munashii would have eventually consumed the entire village and temple if only not for the young novice who guarded the temple storeroom. Only this monk had noticed the vile corruption that plagued his home. He watched as his teachers and friends began to turn back on their own teachings and way of life. He had even found in himself strange behaviours manifesting that weren’t his own.

Curse that wretched mortal, and his whole misbegotten race!

Alone, the monk had challenged the dark force that had threatened his home. Using ancient holy relics hidden in the storeroom he was assigned to guard, he managed to bind the spirit of the youkai through incantation and prayer, and drawing the creature into his own plain of existence. His powers of corruption severed by his corporeal form, the youkai’s spell over the village was broken.

Angered at the loss of his power, the youkai lashed out at the young monk. But the loss of his power coupled with an onslaught of mystical sutras and the monk’s holy Shakujou left the youkai utterly defeated. He had barely enough strength to escape the temple.

So he began his search for ways to return to what he once was, and have his vengeance against the foul monk that had diminished him so. Tales of a sacred shrine maiden’s relic drew Munashii to this region. By acquiring this sacred jewel, he’d be able to recover his lost powers and undo the binding spell of the monk. He would also be able to satisfy the uncontrollable hunger that ravaged his mind. Lost were his powers, but not his hunger. It began to feel less a void and more like a terrible vortex that would eventually consume him as the weeks went by without his sustenance.

Hungry.. So hungry.

Upon discovering the location of the jewel he thought he’d finally be whole again. But it would never be so. The woman that guarded it was many times more powerful than the monk who had bested him months ago. She’d even enslaved a hanyou to protect both her and the jewel from others who would seek to steal it, be they human or youkai.

Desperation was new to him, as were all the emotions that ran through his mind. The more he was a part of the physical world, the more he found himself emitting the same evil feelings that had nourished him for so long. Now he felt true fear for the first time.

Fear of death. Either by his own self-destructiveness, or by some predatory youkai looking for an easy meal.

A shudder spread through the youkai’s frail body. An overwhelming force began radiating incredibly strong emotions in all directions. He could feel sorrow and pain echoing all throughout the hills. Something was calling out to him, something filled to the core with uncontrollable rage and suffering. He shuddered once again as he drank in the sweet torment the likes of which he’d never felt before. Perhaps it would be able to allow him to achieve what he so desperately sought after.

He began to drift towards the source of the emanations that spoke to the hunger within him. His last vestige of hope now sat on what he’d find searching through the surrounding darkness.