InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Man and the Monster ❯ The Stone of Essence ( Chapter 1 )

The Stone of Essence

 

“What a strange thing, that all my travels should bring me upon this savage land of the orient,” murmured the peculiar little man, as he wandered through the village. The villagers, hard at work in their fields of wet rice, could not help but stare. He was strange to their eyes; his skin more tanned, his hair a lighter brown, and his eyes a blue they hadn't known was possible. He was also short, stout, and bald—all in all, a curious fellow to eyes of villagers in Sengoku Jidai Japan.

“They will learn though, oh yes, I know that they can, it has sustained me through far more remote corners than this, it certainly will not be any trouble here,” he continued on, unaware of or indifferent to his ever-increasing audience, “no, they will all see, yes, for I will show them—no, no, no, it will show them, but I will show them with it. The…the men will rape, the women will strangle their babes, the children will claw and bite and trample, and…”

“Excuse me.” One man, volunteered by his wife, called to the stranger.

“And…and there will be…”

“Sir? Is there something you're looking for?”

“There will be…will…be…” the foreigner turned to face the villager, his lips curved into a small smile and a spark of gleeful anticipation in his eyes.

“I think that you had better be on your way,” the villager said forcefully, feeling ill at ease. A small, round, grey stone in the stranger's hand began to glow a deep yellow, and he clasped his hand tightly around it.

“There will be a reckoning! A salvation! An uncluttering! A cleansing!” He laughed, as the wet rice fields were already becoming thick with human blood.

 

Inuyasha arrived to a burning city, attracted by the stench of violence and a sense of something he could not describe. “What is this, what is this?” came a small voice. The hanyou drew Tetsusaiga from its sheath and thrust it up to the neck of the newcomer.

“Who the hell are you?!” He snarled.

“Who am I?” The strange man replied, “Who am I? Who are any of us, really?”

“You are one crazy-phrase away from losing your head,” Inuyasha threatened.

“Well, if it's a name that you require, I suppose you might call me Anaxagoras, although I doubt you would get the joke,” came the answer.

“The only joke is you still being alive,” the impatient dog-demon growled, “now tell me what you did here.”

“And why would you think that I had anything to do with this…this…”

“Cut the crap. I smelled it. You were here, and then…they changed,” Inuyasha interrupted, “you're changed, too. Kind of.”

“You can smell that? Fascinating.”

“I asked you a question, and I'm starting to feel less like waiting for answers and more like avenging these people,” Inuyasha snapped, “a weak human like you shouldn't push his luck so much.”

“The Stone of Essence.”

“What the hell?”

“An explanation? Once it was thought that all there was was one, and then there were those who thought that instead there was many. The gatekeepers of history have told us that there is many and that to everything there is an essence, that which makes something what it is. Yet upon discovering the stone, that which reveals the essence of all things, I find that it does not reveal the one true nature of everything, but merely simplifies. So I have come, from lands far, far to the west of here, traveling and simplifying everything so that we might go back to the one as all should be.”

“Well, that makes a shit-ton of sense,” Inuyasha sighed, “I guess I'll just be killing you, then.”

“No you won't,” Anaxagoras told him with confidence, backing away by a few steps.

“I won't?”

“No. You detest killing humans.”

“And how would you know that?” Inuyasha snorted.

“Didn't you listen to a word I said?” Anaxagoras retorted, holding out a glowing stone between his thumb and forefinger.

“That's the stone you were babbling about?”

“The Stone of Essence. I went to a great deal of trouble to get a hold of it.”

“A shame it's going to end up being pointless, with you being dead and all.”

“Your sword. It has two natures.” Anaxagoras observed.

“What?”

“There are two of it. How very interesting.”

“Right. Would you two like to get more closely acquainted?”

“I think you should feel the weight of your conscience,” Anaxagoras said with certainty, the glow of the Stone of Essence taking on greater intensity, “your humanity, your empathy, your burning guilt—all together they are you, and now you will become none other.”

“What…what are you doing?” Inuyasha demanded, as he could feel his emotions shifting. More than that, his physical body began to feel inexplicably unlike anything he was used to.

“I waste no more words on a simpleton who does not listen,” Anaxagoras told him with evident boredom, “but that sword of yours will be worth examining once the stone has made you my slave.”

“Slave?” Inuyasha growled, struggling against the effects of the stone, “You…want Tetsusaiga?” He lifted the sword up above his head and moved to strike.

“We both know you aren't going to harm me,” Anaxagoras sighed, holding the stone out further in front of him.

“Don't…don't have to hurt…you,” Inuyasha roared, swinging down and connecting the mighty blade with the Stone of Essence. The explosion of light and power blinded them both, and a surge of pain, anger, and every desire that had every welled up inside of him began to flow through Inuyasha without filter or logic.

 

“What could have happened?” Anaxagoras asked himself, his head throbbing. He crawled around on all fours, searching for his precious possession. “Could he have destroyed the stone? Is it even possible? That which is one, the atom, the elementary sphere?” He stopped suddenly as a low growl erupted from behind him. Turning around slowly, he was met by the piercing glare of blood red eyes. The full girth of Tetsusaiga instantly pierced his torso, and the impaled man found himself lifted off the ground.

“Detest killing humans,” a low and dangerous voice spat, “there will be nothing left of you for anyone to find, you disgusting bubble of fat.” His heart still failing, the last sight that the curiosity known as Anaxagoras saw were clawed fingers making their way to his face.

 

When his companions found him, hours later, Inuyasha lay on the ground, clutching the untransformed Tetsusaiga.

And entirely human.