InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Prologue - A Test of Memory (The Coming of Rinkatsu) ❯ The Castle on the Hill ( Chapter 34 )

Sesshomaru led Sango, Inuyasha, Kirara and a passed out Shippo to a snowy path in a nearby forest. The path seemed as though it led right to the beam of light.

Sesshomaru's presence among the group made it awkward to even talk because of his hostile personality. Inuyasha and Sango had a lot of questions they wanted to ask, but hesitated to do so. Finally, Inuyasha spoke.

"So, Sesshomaru, who the hell is this Rinkatsu?" asked Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru didn't respond immediately... but was instead quiet, offended that Inuyasha even talked to him. But, he soon responded. "He is part of a band of magical wish-granting monks..."

Inuyasha got a confused look on his face. Something he didn't realize until now was Rinkatsu's scent... no native monk would've carried a scent like his... it was like... desert soil.

"He's foreign, isn't he?" asked Inuyasha. "He smells of no familiar soil."

"It is sand." Sesshomaru kept walking as he spoke. "He is from the Arabic world... far from here..."

Inuyasha was confused... what was an Arabic monk doing in Japan?

"They travel around the world... some reside here in Japan, others in Europe and others in Africa," explained Sesshomaru.

As Sesshomaru said these words, a gigantic castle came into view. That was where the light was shooting from. When Sesshomaru mentioned that some of the monks were in Europe, it made sense that the castle looked foreign in it's architecture.

"That castle looks odd..." mentioned Sango. Suddenly, she stopped. Something was on her leg. She looked down and she saw a human hand unearthing itself from the ground and grabbing her. She shrieked.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru stopped, but only Inuyasha turned to look at Sango. "What the hell?" He unsheathed Tokijin and sliced away the hand. But that didn't stop the rest of the body from coming up. It soon came to the group's attention that there were dead bodies groping their ways out of the ground all around them.

"Rinkatsu knows we're coming," said Sesshomaru as he cut one of the dead in half.

"They're everywhere!" yelled Sango.

"They won't die!" said Inuyasha.

"The only way past them is to ignore them... but if we take any more time, we will soon see the whole world like this," said Sesshomaru as he continued through the hoards.

The group ran towards the castle, attacking a few of the living dead here and there... Sango tripped once because another hand had reached through the ground and grabbed her foot and Inuyasha had to deal with a samurai zombie at one point, but finally they made it to the castle. There was a moat and a drawbridge that prevented them from getting access to it, however.

"Dammit!" yelled Inuyasha as he turned around to look down from the mighty hill. The entire land was covered in snow and the red sky... demons and the living dead roamed everywhere... the world was basically Hell.

Suddenly, the bridge lowered itself. There was a voice. "Come in," it said.

Sango, Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Kirara and the unconscious Shippo all braved the unwelcoming drawbridge and entered the mighty steel castle doors.