InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hollow Burn ❯ Prologue: Curse of Wars ( Prologue )

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


He raised his sword high above his head, hearing his samurai armor clink in the effort. The massive beast in front of him growled low in it’s colossal chest, baring it’s serrated teeth in a grisly threat. The soil around them was soaked in the destruction of remorseful blood, and the early morning sky was tinted with an ominous shade of red.

The han-you’s bleeding brother stood fifty paces away, looking on with a horrified expression upon his handsome face. Inu-Yasha took in a deep, exhausting breath.

This is it…, he thought bringing the Tessaiga down with a blood-boiling cry of finality. A flash of blinding yellow light sliced through the tense atmosphere, and quickly closed the distance between the wolf king and him. The demon could not move fast enough as the power concentrated upon him, and the pain of the deaths he had caused ripped through him with enough force to execute a more powerful being. He let out a terrifying cry of defeat and pain, and as he morphed back into the elderly demon he originally was, his howl was an agonizingly human scream at the end.

“FATHER!” the Prince called in emotional agony as he helplessly watched his father’s body bounce off the demon-caked earth. Kouga ran to his dead kin, screaming with frustration.

Inu-Yasha sank to his knees, his long, graceful fingers releasing his sword with a hollow metallic sound. Even in his glazed mind, he realized that he killed the liken king. He literally slashed open the War Era of horrid enterprises. The overwhelming remorse swept over him in agonizing waves, and he barely noticed his older brother limp over to his side. He could hear Kouga’s howls of pain and sadness, and Inu-Yasha knew that this was the beginning.

“This is most troubling.” He heard his brother say, a slight slur in his voice, but still able to maintain his elegant manner. “You, brother, have opened the gates to centuries of hell.”

Inu-Yasha could only manage a stupefied nod, as he and his brother both turned to the likens. One dead. The other crying. They listened to the prince sob as dawn broke in a pale yellow line over the horizon, making the freshly slain shine in an evil manner. The air stank of blood and decay, the coming sun and heat would only make it worse.

“Come brother,” Sesshomaru said. “we must leave the remaining likens to grieve, as we must go grieve for our dead warriors.”

Again, Inu-Yasha could only nod. He tore his trance gaze away from the liken royalty, to stare at the coming dawn over the hills of the battlefield. Oh, father…., he thought, What have I done? As he shifted his glazed eyes across the across the sky he saw a black silhouette standing at the edge of the battlefield. Somehow, he had a sense of foreboding exerting from the figure. His shoulders tensed.

The figure raised it’s arms, as though baring a weapon. Inu-Yasha waited, Kouga’s sobs and Sesshomaru’s voice muffled to his ears. He was frozen to the bare patch of dirt he was kneeling upon, and his vision tunneled; focusing only on the ominous figure in the distance. Suddenly, everything seemed much more bright and clear, as a loud snap resounded, making the living jump and the dead more chilling.

And Inu-Yasha’s vision tunneled again as an electric blue force ripped through the air, surrounding an arrow of immense power. It was aimed for his chest. All was completely silent, as the iron tip of the blue arrow pierced his sternum, rendering him further into a state of shock.

“Brother!” Sesshomaru said in explicit concern.

Inu-Yasha’s eyes traveled slowly down to his chest, where blood was protruding around the wooden stick of the arrow. Slowly, he gently used his four-jointed fingers to slide the iron out of his body. The tip came out blackened with blood, and he stared in an almost horrifyingly calm manner at the tool. He raised his now heavy head, to see the figure upon the horizon was gone.

As though it was fate, the sun broke over the top of the hills, casting pale golden rays over the dead bodies, making the blood upon them glow with a most cruel malice.

The sudden light traveled over the land , until finally it grazed Inu-Yasha’s tanned face.

“AHHH!!!” Inu-Yasha cried in bone-freezing agony. The liquid nova chorused through his veins, scorching the blood in his heart. His skin felt as though it was boiled and he fixed his eyes upon his bare hand, where the fluids rose in bubbles underneath his skin. His vision turned red and he could hear nothing but a voice in his head

This is your curse Inu-Yasha…., it said. You have done your kind horrid pain with your foolish deed. Now, you will pay.

He raised his hands to either side of his head as though he was trying to keep his skull from splitting in half. It felt as the sun was clawing mercilessly at the edges of his soul. He screamed. He was burning. This is what hell must feel like…

And then it stopped.

He looked up to see Sesshomaru standing in front of him, shadowing him from the evil monster of light. Steam and smoke was rolling off his skin in waves and patterns, making him pant in the sudden loss of pain. He clutched at his heart. It was beating in over-time, as though trying to compensate for the mortal agony that had been inflicted upon it.

Inu-Yasha felt as though something had been taken from his being by the sun. It burned it away, leaving him feeling hollow. He laughed without humor.

A hollow burn.