Other Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome's Trial ❯ Chapter 8

I'm back from vacation! Well, sort of. I'm starting my online classes maybe this week. Then my friend from Tennessee is coming for the 4th of July. Anyway, new chapter.

 

~*~

 

No one was allowed to leave their homes except a select few. Eric had to work so he was gone for most of the day, and when he came back, he was furious.

 

“Those people threatened the Healer and the mayor,” he raged, grabbing a cup of water and downing it in one gulp.

 

“Who were they that both the mayor and the Healer were present?” asked Arianna as she served food for the family. “What did they want?”

 

He laughed without humor. “They were an embassy from the north, and they wanted access to Sol Sanctum to look for the Elemental Stars.”

 

“They should've known that they wouldn't be granted permission to enter Sol Sanctum,” Arianna commented. “And to look for the Elemental Stars no less.”

 

“What are Elemental Stars?” Kagome quietly asked Felix.

 

“They're a legend,” he answered. “Supposedly if a person only has one, they could destroy or take over the whole world. Also, they're the key to unlocking the powers of the Elemental Lighthouses, which will make Psynergy run rampant in the world again.”

 

“The Elemental Lighthouses?”

 

“Back in the old days, Psynergy was a common thing, but then a group of Adepts locked up those powers in the Lighthouses, one for each of the four elements, and hid the Elemental Stars so that Psynergy was sealed away. The Lighthouses are still around, but the keys aren't to be found anywhere.”

 

“And those people are looking for them?”

 

“I guess they think the answer to finding them is in Sol Sanctum. If they actually exist, they can be used to relight the Lighthouses and release their power. But if that were to happen, the entire world would be destroyed.”

 

I guess those Stars are their equivalence of the Shikon no Tama, except there are four of them. “But they're only a legend?”

 

“Yeah.” Felix frowned. “I don't know why they'd ask to go to Sol Sanctum for just a legend, though. No one is allowed in there, not even the healers.”

 

The discussion changed to how the family spent their day entertaining themselves. Eric expressed his astonishment that the house was still standing, which started all three of the children on how they learned to play cards and listened to Kagome's “noise box”. This got the adults' interest, so she retrieved her cards and CD player and demonstrated what they were talking about. By the time they were finished, it was had been dark for some time, so Arianna shooed them to bed. “You all will need to go with Kraden tomorrow and catch up on what was missed today,” she told them.

 

At the top of the stairs the two girls said their goodnights to Felix and made their way into their room. It no longer bothered Kagome to think of this place as her home anymore. She had long since given up hope that the rock would take her home and tried to make the best of what she had. On the rare occasion that she felt homesickness, she would take out her pictures and look through them, remembering what each one represented. Then it would pass, and she would put it away and keep moving on. The hardest thing for her to try and forget was Inuyasha. He would always be at the back of her mind, and she missed him so much at times there was a physical ache in her heart. She thought of him every night before she went to sleep, and while today's events did occupy her mind, the last thing she thought of was him before sleep overtook her.

 

She was rudely awakened by someone shaking her shoulder. “What?” she asked groggily, not opening her eyes.

 

“Get up,” Arianna's voice said. “We need to leave.”

 

Sighing, Kagome opened her eyes to a dark room lit only by a candle. On the other bed Jenna was already moving. “What's wrong?” she asked Arianna, still not awake.

 

“The boulder on Mt. Aleph is falling,” was her distracted answer. “Don't bother bringing anything; just come with me.” She turned and hurried out the door with Jenna right behind her. Kagome followed them after grabbing her bag; something told her she would want it later. She joined everyone else downstairs and waited while Eric and Arianna discussed what to do. A short time later they reached a decision.

 

“You four will go down to the plaza,” Eric told them sternly. “I'm going to help the elders try to stop the boulder.”

 

They nodded and started for the door when Felix stopped and turned around. “Felix, what are you doing?” Kagome hissed when he went in the opposite direction of everyone else. “We have to leave or we'll get flattened.”

 

“I need to get Jenna's necklace,” he called over his shoulder. “I promised her I'd look after it.” He darted out the door and onto the dock where rain pelted him. Kagome didn't want to leave without him so she waited just inside the doorway. He bent down to get something and started back when he was jerked to a stop. The necklace had gotten caught on a piece of wood and he was struggling to get it off when a huge wave came down the river. Kagome tried to warn him but was too slow. The wave slammed into the dock, swamping the entire pier. When Kagome looked out again, the dock was still there, but Felix wasn't.

 

“Felix!” she screamed over the roar of the wind, thunder, and rain. Running out, she slipped on the wet boards but was saved from falling into the river by the railing. She got on her knees and scanned the water around the dock. She heard footsteps from inside the house and heard Arianna shout. Looking at her, she saw the woman pointing farther down the river, and when she looked herself, there was Felix, holding onto a wooden pole and looking half-drowned.

 

Behind her, she heard Eric searching for something but not finding it. “Arianna, where's the rope?” he shouted over the thunder.

 

The redheaded woman joined her husband in looking for it while Kagome and Jenna could only watch Felix trying not to slip off the pole. More footsteps told of the arrival of new people. Sparing a glance to the door, she saw Dora and her husband Kyle. She didn't hear how Arianna explained the situation to them, but they knew that Felix was in danger of drowning and they joined in the search.

 

“Got it!” Eric yelled triumphantly, holding a coil of rope in his right hand. He knelt by the edge of the pier and slowly let the rope out into the water. It twisted this way and that in the currents, but it stopped before it was three-fourths of the way to where Felix was hanging on for dear life. “It's not long enough,” Eric said in frustration. “We need to get someone with Psynergy to get him out.”

 

Unfortunately, just then another wave washed over the boy and when it was gone there was no sign of him. His parents and sister crowded together in their grief and Kagome stared at the place where her friend had been clinging just five seconds ago. No, her mind kept repeating. No, no, no. She felt tears starting to fall when Felix's head popped back up out of the water. “He's still hanging in there,” Kyle shouted. “He still needs an Adept to get him out of there, though.”

 

“I'll go,” Dora volunteered. “Jenna, you go to the plaza and see if anyone has any Psynergy left; I'll go to Mt. Aleph.”

 

Kagome would've volunteered, but her feet were stuck to the pier. She knew she wouldn't be any help looking for an Adept; she would only be in the way. She felt Jenna and Dora's footsteps as they ran into the house and out the other side. Her eyes were locked on Felix, afraid that if she looked away even for a second, he would disappear and never come back to her.

 

It seemed like an eternity later, but in actuality was only fifteen minutes when she heard voices on the bank of the river. Quickly glancing over, she saw that Dora had returned empty-handed, but Jenna, Isaac, and Garet had found someone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw them approach the house, but then they stopped. Faintly she could hear voices, but their words were being carried away by the wind. She ignored it until she felt the ground shake. Surprised, she gave the area a quick scan, but there wasn't anything she could see that was doing it. As she looked, the ground shook again. The people still on the bank of the river were shouting and gesturing to them, but she couldn't make sense of what they were saying. Vaguely she felt Eric, Arianna, and Kyle on either side of her and sensed their confusion also. A shadow fell over the dock even though it was too dark for there to be one cast. They looked up and saw Mt. Aleph's boulder right over them. I'm going to die, she thought dumbly. I never did get to say good-bye to Inuyasha or the rest of my friends and family. I'm sorry. Inuyasha…Darkness overcame her.