InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Genesis ❯ One ( Chapter 1 )

 

 

Locked up in a security vault, surrounded by the world's most prestigious security systems, lay a series of papers and charts. These papers tell of unimaginable destruction, the prophecies of the future. Deemed too risky to let the public know about, they had been examined secretly in labs and scientist's offices. Years of research and work had been poured into the translation and deciphering of the ancient texts, and yet only half of them had been made fit to read.

So, as a dedicated scientist leaned over his desk in the early hours of the morning, he struggled to keep his eyes open. Always hungering for knowledge, he delicately turned a rotting page onto its back to continue the translation. He found himself running into many unknown symbols and shapes, and having to backtrack to continue. Tracing his finger lightly across the page, he ran past a particular symbol and then, after a second, went back to it. Frowning, he opened his records of the symbols and their meanings. After a few minutes, his frown increased and he left his seat to search about the room for logs of the other scientists.

When he finally sat back down, he was puzzled. The symbol was new, and while that shouldn't have been such a big issue, it wasn't close to any other configuration of any of the other symbols. It was completely unique, in the length of the strokes and the width. As he leaned back over his desk, something itched in the back of his mind. Somehow, he thought, he should know what this means, what this represents. It seemed so clear to him that he sat there for a good while thinking about what exactly it could be.

And while he deliberated, he didn't notice the text on the page glowing a deep red, emitting an eerie light about the room. So involved he was, that he didn't notice a liquid seeping off the table onto his pants. When the soft splatter of liquid hitting the floor finally caught his attention, he traced the source back to the book with his eyes. Although he should've been terrified, he was pulled to the book as if by an imaginary string. He watched as the thick, red substance slid down the page of the book, some streaming off onto the empty space of his desk between the stacks of papers and notes. And he watched as the liquid wove itself into letters, letters that he could understand and read aloud.

And as soon as he did, a tremulous shudder shook the building to its very foundations.

 

 

~~

 

 

Kagome sighed as she walked down the crowded road. Her bike was being repaired at home and her brother was sick so she was straight on her way.

Every day was the same, in and out, there and back. Her life lacked action, spontaneity. It was controlled and set into a predictable manner. Ever since her father had walked out on them, her mother had clung to her brother and herself as if they would do the same. The aftermath led up to Kagome taking on most of the major roles of the household, and while her mother did work and make an income, she was so frail and fragile that Kagome did almost all else.

It left her tired, and she found it hard to focus on the pavement below her feet. She absently acknowledged bumping into a person walking in the opposite direction and mumbled out a barely audible apology. She found herself wishing for an adventure, excitement. Like those she read about in novels, where she would be the heroine and meet her beautiful hero. He would be strong, courageous, handsome, giving…

The list went on and she let out a wistful sigh. As the sky suddenly clouded over, she looked up and pushed the magical thoughts aside. Frowning, she thought back to the morning's weather forecast; it had predicted sunny skies, humid and hot. So as the sky grew darker with every passing second, she began to walk quicker. She was near her school, so she was positive she could make it without be drenched too badly.

As she rounded a corner, her stomach suddenly gave a sharp lurch, and she dived through the crowds to the nearest lamppost. She threw her hand to her mouth in an attempt to keep the contents of her stomach where they belonged. She took a deep breath and tried to right herself, her hand shaking slightly on the pole. She debated over if she maybe caught flu of some sort, but she had felt fine earlier this morning. Aside from being tired, that is. Maybe it was fatigue?

While she was still trying to catch her breath, the sky above her split open in a sound that could only be described as the fabrics of the atmosphere being torn. She screamed and fell to her knees, scraping them, and looked to the sky. In a space between the clouds was a… She didn't know what it was. She could barely make out the figure, and then suddenly, it shot forward towards a low-rise apartment down the street.

From her angle she had a perfectly good view of what was happening. It disappeared into the side of the building and for a minute, everything was quite. She dare not move, her breathing coming in shallow and panicked. She stole a glance around her, and noticed that the crowds seemed to be moving as if nothing had happened. She couldn't be imaging this, she told herself.

Then, in an earth-shaking rumble, the building the creature had gone into started to collapse. Her eyes widened as the very foundation of the building seemed to give way, and the better half of it toppled into the busy street, crushing cars and people alike. A cloud of dust, debris and dirt shot at her at blinding speeds and she wrapped herself around the pole, hanging onto her only lifeline.

When the air settled, she was coughing, her lungs full of dirt. Her body was filthy and her once white uniform was a sickly gray-brown. It was easier for her to say what wasn't in her hair than what was, and her fingers were dirty and pasty. She blinked to clear her eyes, and there was grit in her mouth. Spitting onto the sidewalk, she tried to stand but her knees gave out.

It was then that she noticed that everyone was still walking as though a building hadn't just fallen and killed several hundred. People at the crash site were standing, if they weren't dead, and continuing on their way to work and not a single person was on a cell calling emergency services. She gaped as, one by one, people passed her without a glance.

When she tried to stand, she gripped the pole so hard her knuckles shone white through the dirt. Her legs felt like jelly, and her stomach was still reeling with that awful nausea. She took a step and nearly stumbled, catching herself against the pole. A woman was coming near her, and she tried to speak, but had to swallow a few times first. When she touched her shoulder and the woman look at her, she drew in her breath sharply.

Her face was like a mask. There was no emotion, and while her face was normal, there was an underlying thing, a disturbing thing. Her eyes were slightly drooped, and her mouth was pulled into a tight line, and although she couldn't have been a day older than twenty-five, she resembled an elderly woman. And she said nothing to her, simply turned and kept walking.

Then Kagome knew that something was wrong. Suppressing the nausea and a growing feeling of dread and worry, she walked towards the building, which was currently smoking and emitting a great amount of dirt. And as she walked, she started to jog. Then she started to run, suppressing a whimper as she neared the rubble.

There were bodies littering the ground, and some were hanging out of would-be ten story windows. She averted her eyes with a frown, and ignored the people passing by. The pedestrians in cars had simply gotten out and continued their way to work on foot. But the way they walked was if they didn't have a purpose, if they didn't know what to do. They walked as though getting to their destination was their only goal in life, and they did it slowly as if not knowing what to do once they got there. She didn't dare make eye contact again.

Something inside her was numbing her, and she couldn't understand why she wasn't feeling fear, disgust, and pain. She shed no tears and yet she didn't think she could if she tried. She was horribly ignorant to all of it and it made her want to rip her hair out and scream at everybody near her who kept on walking.

Far off, deeply buried in the wreckage, something shone brightly through the smoke. She saw it out of the corner of her eye, and turned to face the light. The vivid contrast of the light against the darkness of the sky, of the smoke, the light that it provided in such a dire time drove her, and she found herself walking to it without a thought. Bringing her arm up to shield her eyes from the smoke, she walked through to an open place, and towards the towering beam of light. She kneeled in front of it and calmly started pulling off the debris. Then she started throwing pieces, quickly, frantically, hysterically as the situation finally started to sink it.

Just when she thought she'd collapse and weep herself into sleep, she threw the last rock and blinding light filled her vision. She shut her eyes and brought her arm up to shield her, and when the light died down, she cautiously dropped her hand. In front of her was a space in which the dirt, dust, everything had been locked out of. The ground underneath was a deep black, the color of the street. In the middle of the sanctuary was a necklace. A long, silver chain slid over her fingers when she picked up the centerpiece. The chain was thin and smooth, the links intertwining perfectly with the next creating a beautiful, seamless length. In the middle was an insignia of sorts, outlined by red trim. The insignia itself was black with hints of white, gleaming silver in the light of the other item.

Which brought her attention to it. Looking past the beautiful necklace in her hand, she saw what appeared to be a green stone. Yet when she reached out to touch it, circular patterns on it pulsated a brilliant lime green. Drawing her hand back, she hesitated over what to do, until her curiosity got the best of her and she tried again. It pulsated once more, but not as intensely as the first time, in such a way that she thought it was calling her to it.

When she touched it, a thousand emotions, and an equally thousand responses came to her. She cradled it to her as her body was ravaged by the centuries, her mind lost in what the object was showing to her. She gritted her teeth as she was shown similar scenes, of people who were numb and oblivious, of the devastation that had only begun in her time. She saw death, disease, and famine. She saw pain and suffering, and she felt it too. Just when she thought that she could see no more, that there was nothing left for her to discover, she saw the present day. Or what was the present day until just then. And as she closed her eyes and tried to block out what she was seeing, she suddenly saw herself, clutching to a pole. She saw when she had touched the woman and she saw herself trying to make it to the ruins. And then she saw herself discover the necklace and the orb, and she watched as she picked it up. But she didn't repeat what had just happened. Instead she watched in horror as a sickly creature crawled over the top of the apartment side and down towards her.

She watched as it came close and closer and she saw that she didn't realize that it was coming until it was right in front of her. The face was jagged and defined, with edges that looked sharp enough to pierce skin. Its limbs, if they could be called that, were longer than its entire height, skinny, and with claws like razor talons. The feet were much the same, and the joints that held him together were accented with spikes. He was a black as the shadows of the night everywhere, all except one place. His eyes glowed with the fiercest red she had ever seen and beyond what she could've ever imagined. They glowed with the lust for blood and death, they hungered for pain and suffering. She tried to call out but she couldn't, until she saw that at last she had looked at the creature.

And then she was brought back. Her breathing came in deep, as she gasped for air. When she opened her eyes, those terrifying eyes were staring back at her.

She screamed.