InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Fates Unknown ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Disclaimer ~ I don't own much.  Of course this means Inuyasha and his crew.

Description: (AU) Kagome and her brother, the last of the Ceadda race, after their village is ravaged, return to where their people came from. A land and her people's history she knew next to nothing about. Lord Inuyasha is bound to become ruler of Rhea, his only threat is the warning given to him about the Ceadda and their magic. That they would one day return to try to reclaim the lost crown. Will Kagome ever learn the truth behind why her people were overthrown? Will Lord Inuyasha use the legends to help him in his own goals or will he due away with the possible threat before it becomes one.

Of Fates Unknown

Prologue

The obelisk dominated the tower room, where the conical roof rose to accommodate its twenty-foot height.  It was slender, only about six feet in circumference at its base, and tapering slightly to the apex where a smooth round stone no larger then a pearl was surrounded in a crystal type substance.  The color of the obelisk and stone was a somewhat unpleasant bluish-white.  An unnatural color if the truth were told.  But then it was no stranger then the intricate writings that were just barely visible as faint bluish-gray lines that seem to coil into its mysterious depths.

No one else now living knew of the things existence, let alone its history and purpose.  Long ago the tower room had been securely bolted - so long ago that everyone else had long since ceased to think about the tower.  It was generally accepted that there where structural problems that had rendered the tower unsafe.

Inuyasha had learned of the existence of the obelisk when he was declared heir to Domna many years ago.  His older half-brother having taken the right to rule the lands of his mother's kingdom, in Vali, when no males of royal blood where left.

Twenty years ago, he thought, momentarily startled at the passage of so much time.  For twenty years, he had been stealing up here to stare at the obelisk, drawn to it at irregular intervals for reasons he no longer questioned.  Twenty years that may have seemed so long ago but only a blink of an eye for those with youkai blood.  Even if that blood is only half.

Inuyasha was an educated hanyou, not inclined to superstitions like so many of his people.  He only believed in that which he could see with his own eyes.  So although the obelisk fascinated him and the tales about those who had once occupied the great keep intrigued him, he also retained a healthy skepticism.

Nothing had ever been written about the Ceaddas and their obelisk.  Rather, the tales had been passed down through the generations.  He knew that there was much room for distortion and exaggeration- and yet, each time he came here, he found himself hovering along the very edges of belief.  There was power in this room- even now, with the obelisk in its quiescent state, the only way he'd ever seen it.

The tales told to him by bards of both human and youkai alike were of a sect long since vanished into the mists of legend, their lives snuffed out by his father, a great Inuyoukai by the name of Inutashio.  But the story told to him by his father was slightly different.  It was possible that some of the Ceadda had escaped Inutashio's army and fled to distant lands more than a hundred year ago.

"If it's true," his father had said, his gaze fixed thoughtfully on the obelisk, "they will return someday.  This is their place- and you must remember that."

But the origins and powers of that strange sect, his father had known nothing more than the stories that circulated among the people.  They were Rheas just as all of those who where of the mortal world where, but at some point in the dim recesses of history, they had formed a separate sect and had come to control all of the sprawling lands of the Rheas, from the sea to the mountains of Domna.

It was said that their powers where awesome.  They could call forth the rains to aid the crops, then stave off frosts until the harvest was completed.  They could channel their powers to cure the sick and the lame.  And it was also said that they could use their powers to confuse and defeat their enemies.

Naturally, it was this last talent that most interested Inuyasha, especially growing up as a hanyou.  Normally looked down upon by full youkai he had to learn to harness his own power to defend not only his land but his title as well.  Later in his life he learned the secret tales told within his family had it that the Ceadda had overreached their great powers, venturing too far from Domna in an effort to punish Inutashio and his insurgents who had retreated into the distant mountains at the border of Rhea's lands.

Inuyasha turned his back on the obelisk for a moment and walked over to the tall, narrow slits in the stonewall of the tower.  From here he had a bird's-eye view of his lands: the sprawling city of Domna, the fertile fields and small villages and lower hills where gold, the great wealth of Domna, was mined.

It should have been enough.  It had been enough for his father.  But it would never be enough for Inuyasha.  From the day his father had brought him here and spoken of the long vanished Ceadda, Inuyasha had believed that he would one day accomplish what his father had ever managed: he would rule all of the vast land of the Rheas.  He had laid his hands on the cold obelisk and vowed that, with or without the powers that lay locked inside it, he would prevail.

Since the defeat of the Ceadda, the land of the Rheas had never been peaceful place.  With each new rise of feudal lords, the battles raged anew.  Alliances shifted as each heir sought to attain the power that Inuyasha sought, but none had ever managed to become king.  Even Inutashio, who claimed the title, had in the end, held only the most tenuous control over the other feudal lords.

Domna was both the largest and the wealthiest of the Rhea lands, but even so, the lord of Domna was denied the ultimate power.  Always the others set aside their won feuds to band together against Domna, keeping the land of the Rheas in a more or less permanent state of war.

On that day twenty years ago when he'd sworn that he would become King of the Rheas, Inuyasha had vowed as well that he would pass on to his own son what had never bequeathed to him.  And for that reason, he never mated.

At fourteen, when girls had seemed no more then a minor nuisance, the vow had been easy enough.  And later, when his position and his good looks, even for a hanyou, had combined to guarantee a steady supply of willing females, he'd still found it easy to hold to that vow.  But now in the prime of his life his youkai and human parts where beginning to feel the very strongly the need to produce an heir.  His inuyoukai was demanding a mate but refused to do so with any female he had meet so far.  Besides, the law was made quite clear.  Only an heir legitimized through marriage could succeed him.  Hence the reason why his older half-brother was not made the heir.  He didn't wish that on any his offspring, which was the main reason why he had yet to take one into his bed.

In the fields beyond the city, the harvest would soon begin.  An uneasy peace reigned at the moment, since all combatants had temporarily exhausted themselves and winter was approaching.  But when spring came again, the battles would resume- and this time, Inuyasha thought, he must be successful.

He turned back to the obelisk and felt again a growl of frustration knowing that it might well hold the key to his success but would not yield up its power to him.

~ )O( ~

Names of cities, races, and some other aspects that I chose will be listed here with an explaination of the terms.  Most of the terms actually are god and goddesses names.

Domna ~ Irish Goddess of scared stones  (it just seemed soooo appropriate a name for a city that Inuyasha ruled.  It was either this or a forest god.  But since this was also close to sounding like Dogman.  I just couldn't resist.)

Rhea ~ Mother earth  (um… yeah, sort of self explaining here.)

Vali ~ Hindu Destroyer Goddess (territory Sesshy controls, also seemed appropriate.  Was a tie for either this or Ares, but Vali won.)

Ceadda ~ God of healing springs and sacred wells  (seeing as this is who Kagome is a descendant of … once again it just seemed soooo appropriate.)

~ )O( ~

This story is complete, I am just in the process of typing it up. I will try to shoot for at least one chapter a day. (time permitting) The only thing I don't have is a beta tester for this thing. It will be a monster of a story, since I have already typed up well over 25,000 words and it isn't even half way done. So be in for a long haul. I may end up posting more then one chapter a day, depending on how quickly I can type this out.

Brightest of Blessings,

Lady Banshee 999