InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Endless Hunger ❯ Part 2 ( Chapter 2 )

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

So sweet. It’s calling to me.

The strange force that had completely enthralled Munashii continued luring him towards its source. With every span of ground he covered, the more intense the emanations felt.

Deep within his body, a whirlpool of youki energy began to reawaken and start drawing in the surrounding corruption. In what seemed to him like ages ago, he fondly remembered using that flow of power to spread his influence and feed off the negative emotions of his human hosts. But the dark vortex had been unable to penetrate through the cursed exoskeleton that now surrounded him.

He attempted channelling his power out through his shell to try and manipulate humans only a foot away. All he had gained from that attempt was failure and even more of his own despair. With the power contained within him, he began resorting to feed off his own essence out of desperation. Left unchecked, this destructive habit would eventually kill him.

Now, a new source of nourishment for the void had broken through his body’s barrier. Not because of any success on Munashii’s part, it wanted to be absorbed. He couldn’t have prevented it from entering him even if he wanted to.

Leaving the shade of the forest behind, Munashii began travelling through open fields towards the distant hills. He was now totally exposed, and would be an easy target for predators that lived off lower youkai.

I am not alone!

His instincts alerted him to the presence of other creatures above him. Their shadows soon began to enter his field of vision. Those beastly silhouettes matched well to the youkai they belonged to. They too had abandoned their secluded dwellings and taken flight along the same path he was travelling. No doubt they were also being drawn by the same unseeing force just as he was.

They were not predators, and he was not their prey. Understanding this allowed Munashii to quickly dispel his fear.

Together they formed a grotesque company of flying horrors that could very well give chills to the trees themselves. Any greater youkai who had earlier espied potential prey were suddenly put off, and did not dare attack this larger concentration. Separate, these lower youkai were weak and easy to kill. But together, they were a potentially dangerous foe to those hunters.

Soon the swarm of youkai came across a small cave, the entrance emitting a weak glow from a source within.

Within the cave they discovered the horribly charred form of some poor creature. It lay next to a small lantern, the source of the light, and was wrapped in what appeared to them as a strange cloth cocoon. The body lay absolutely still and reeked of rotting flesh. Munashii would have surely though it to be dead if only its very life force wasn’t screaming out to him.

But this was the source of the emanations. Being so close to it sent spasms through Munashii, he was practically in a state of ecstasy.

He thought perhaps it could have been an injured youkai, one that had been hunted by the local youkai exterminators and managed to evade annihilation. Or worse, maybe more of those foul monks managed to contain its spirit. Trapping it within the cave, letting it slowly suffer through an agonizing existence of confinement.

Just like me. Cursed monk, I shall make him weep for death before I-

As he and the horde of youkai spirits hovered over the body, it spoke!

"My soul is rancid to the core yet it still holds value.”

Soul. A human? No, that’s impossible. A filthy human could never have this sort of power over so many youkai.

But no human Munashii had ever encountered had a soul so corrupted by darkness. A youkai may be savage and bloodthirsty, but few were genuinely evil by nature. To live in this world, one could show no weakness for fear of being devoured by their fellow youkai. His own cold nature was born out of the need to survive. His hunger was not his to control. Yet even some of the most despicable of youkai did not possess as much as one breath of this creature’s sin.

The human spoke again, this time his voice more laboured and strained. Whatever strength he was holding onto was fading fast.

“Feast on my flesh. I must possess my former mobility, then the jewel will be mine. Not to mention the lovely maiden Kikyou.”

What is it he proposes?

Has such an act ever been performed with a human before? What good could it possibly do for him? And what other use does this man have for the priestess if not for the jewel?

Munashii had trouble fully comprehending what the man intended. Questions swam through his head, and fewer answers paired with them. He’d once heard a story, that in times of great need some youkai were able to join in power and form, and thus become beings greater in power. Together, they could become more powerful then the sum of their parts.

But he’d never heard of there being such a joining that included a human. To do so could upset the balance, potentially create a horrid abomination. It would be neither fully youkai nor human. Calling it even a hanyou would probably further dishonour the name of that subspecies.

“Feast on me demons, devour me! And in exchange, bestow me with your mobility and strength!"

As the burnt man uttered his final words, he sent a massive blast of fury through the multitude of youkai. That shockwave broke through Munashii’s earlier reservations and triggered within him a seizure of exhilaration as his body soaked up the hate. This was as close as he’d ever felt to regaining his old self; he would not let this opportunity slip away. He and the rest of the youkai that had also become increasingly excited from the man’s mental cries wasted no more time and dove into their willing banquet.

Tooth and claw sank into the man’s body. Limbs were quickly stripped of their meat, and his organs were punctured and leaked vital fluids. But the man never once screamed, or even so much as winced while he was being devoured. Even though it was nearly unrecognisable, Munashii could have sworn that through the whole ordeal, the man was smiling.

Their feasting soon started to become more frenzied. Overcome by their bloodlust, youkai began devouring the other youkai in the cave. They in turn were also devoured by other mindless youkai. Within that cave, an orgy of death and feasting took place that lasted hours on end. More and more began to spill into the cave, smelling the blood from outside and eager to participate in the feeding frenzy.

Among those that were gorging themselves, Munashii could make out a select few that were present from the start. They managed to avoid being devoured, and proved to be deadly to be near. Like the horrid snake youkai, engaged in swallowing prey far too large for it to be even possible to swallow. Yet it did! Or the many-tentacled youkai, extending it’s brown appendages to capture prey outside what they considered its proximity. A costly mistake. And that spider.

The Red Spider. It could have been there almost before the swarm even arrived. It had hardly even moved from its spot right above the human. It still gazed at the remains of the body, as deep in concentration as it had been when he arrived. He then considered whether the human had earlier addressed the silent brood of youkai, or maybe just one in particular?

He momentarily drew more of his attention away from his bounty, and began noticing more from the spider. It had weaved multiple webs onto many of the strong demons, and quickly reeled them in the moment they paused out of momentary exhaustion. It would not openly fight them, but watch from the shadows and struck only when it knew it was safer.

A sudden surge in youki snapped Munashii out of his close observation, and once again he began his own feasting.

As the number of dead and feasting youkai grew, so did the concentration of youki energy within the cave. It saturated itself into the creatures still living, and strength was awakening in some that they never knew they possessed. What once was a swarm of lower youkai now had the strength and power to challenge even their former hunters. And while Munashii was both feasting and avoiding becoming a feast himself, he started to feel himself regain what he had lost, and had sought desperately to reclaim.

Yessss! I am becoming whole again. I can feel the connection with my youki. My hunger can finally be satisfi-

Lost in his own euphoria, he was unaware of the radical changes taking place within the cave. The energy that was building in the cave was becoming tainted with an overwhelming corruption, and was spreading to the cave’s inhabitants. Youkai that accidentally made contact with each other soon found that they were instantly bound together. Their flesh became one, and their bones fused into mangled appendages.

The discarded bones and flesh that littered the cave began to twitch and spasm. Concentrated youki soaked into every tissue, every cell, and every mind that existed within the cave. Youkai began screaming simultaneously, creating an unearthly resonance that filled the cave. Such a sound would be more suited to a place in hell.

And Munashii suddenly found himself quickly being enveloped by masses of meat and bone. The whole swarm within the cave was consumed in a blinding flash of energy. They were all instantly drawn into the torrent of youki that surrounded the unholy mound of crippled but still living youkai. The horrid composition of youkai contracted and expanded as more were being drawn in.

As the last of the youkai were absorbed into the fold, the mound became still. Protruding claws became motionless, antennae ceased to twitch. Beneath the deformed mass, the very soil was scarred black. No grass would ever grow there again; the taint would remain for centuries. What once was a screaming mass of horrors was now calm and unmoving.

Deep within the deformed heap, Munashii’s consciousness began to fade, and was lost among the other minds that found themselves dissipating and unable to escape from their dark prison.