SUMMARY
Having observed the lives of two of the most important demon in the demon's world, from the day they were born onto their deaths, the angels not liking what they saw decided to go into the past to change it. This story tells the tale of the lives of Sesshomaru and Yomi as the angel's had observed them. Explore and observe what forced the gods to eventually make such a drastic decision that would ultimately change the future of the entire demon's World for centuries to come.
In this work I have taken the effort to write a story based on a what we didn't know concept, sort of a fill-in-the-blanks kind of tale. If you were ever curious to what Sesshomaru's childhood was like, and or ever wondered how Yomi overcame his blindness to become a king then this is the story to read. Rated M just to be safe for later chapters.
All nonecanon material entierly made up by me. If you have any questions PM me.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho, and I certainly do not or intend to profit from this work in any way.
Proem
The heavens see all
The heavens know all
The heavens hear all
Under the sun,
Upon the earth
And what lies therein
In the beyond
And underneath
Omiah
In the year 775 AD, in a remote village in the desert of Djudea, a woman's voice cried out, "Heaven help us!" Alongside her, screams resounded throughout the mountainous region of the Demon's World. It was the middle of the day, but this fact did not seem to faze a certain demon, a mazoku of terrible power and stature who appeared on the outskirts of the land and began to assail its residences. His assault was relentless. The victims being merely humble Seirim, a race of human-like demon goats, armed with only farming tools and simple weapons, were no match for the mazoku. In the end, the able men were killed, their village was pillaged and the women were molested and raped.
The massacre continued throughout the countryside, village after village slaughtered until the demon eventually tired and moved on. Only then did the attacks come to an end. Soon the shattered community regrouped, and recovering from the horror of the experience sought after much prayer to return to the lives they knew. Though try they did, it wasn't long before they discovered that normality would never again be as it was. Trouble soon rekindled when announcements were made that several women assailed by the demon had become pregnant, and that these women had been virgins before the attack.
To the Seirim, virginity was sacred. In Seirim Law a young Seirim was to remain a virgin for a thousand years. The rights for marriage were given at eight hundred and then the right to bear children was only permitted a full century later. But these young women that were impregnated were each in the tender early years of three hundred years or younger.
The outcries of this atrocity rivaled even the assault itself, and within the months to follow sons were born, each of them bearing of signs of the mazoku. Some with markings some without, but all of them bore odd features of feet instead of cloven hooves and extra horns. No one knew who the demon was that attacked their villages or why he did it, only that he was a Bennai'Jinn, an unknown demon and a monster. Born fatherless, the children were to become known as Ben'jinn; illegitimate sons of an unknown demon. Deemed impure as the work of evil and unfit for Seirim heritage, the children were dismissed as lesser beings, viewed as no better than vermin.
In one isolated village that lay at the foot of a mountain, where the Third Temple of Rajul of Elliem was built upon its summit, there lived such a Ben'jinn child. His name was Omiah, and he was among the first of his kind to be born. Larger and stronger than most, Omiah Ben'jinn was no ordinary child.
Little did anyone know, in centuries to come this child would grow up to become king of a third of the Demon's World, a demon worthy of legend and known only as Yomi. This is where his story began. Born a Seirim and Mazoku hybrid the child Yomi had a tough life, for not only did he receive little love from family, he lived in a region of the demon's world where there was little food or water.
Located in the far southeast, the desert of Djudea was among one of the most desolate lands of all the surface realms of the Demon's World. Considered a wasteland, locals would often be heard saying, 'One could find more to survive on in the depths of Hell than here,' and being a child that required the bounty of living flesh to survive only made life even more difficult for Yomi.
His mother Ishiiha was the petit and virtuous daughter of Ishar, wife of the elder and the head household of the village. Seirim villages had no names, nor were they known on any map. All Seirim knew the location of fellow villages by heart alone and never shared that information with others, those they considered outsiders. Seirim life was a world to itself.
Associated with Judaism, the Seirim bore a direct relationship with humans in that they took part in the ceremonies that would take place in Human World. During the festival of the Seirim called 'The Releasing of Bonds Ceremony,' humans would commit to a period of fasting were they would meditate and pray for forgiveness of their sins to the Lord of Heaven. Where at the end of this period of prayer and fasting, a great feast would be held and sacrifices would be offered to finalize the ceremony. Two goats, one for God and the other, laden with the sins of the peoples by the head priest and would be released into the desert as a sacrifice for the demon Azazel. A stoned Satan that had once been a demon, he turned into an angel and is believed by man and jinnikin to reside in a desolate gave where he had been buried alive after incurring the wrath of the Lord of the Heavens long ago.
Believed to be the master of sin, not the creator of it, there was a saying, "Though Satan the Great Evil One laid down the book of sin for the world to read, it was Azazel and his cohorts that taught the world how to read it." However the Seirim, being the direct descendants of the kin of Azazel, had their own beliefs.
There was a legend often taught to children by their mothers that spoke of the lover of Azazel, the demon once known as the Grace of the Moon. One night when Omiah and his half brother Ishmar, also a Ben'jinn and borne from Ishiiha's sister Lilia, had gone to bed hungry his mother soothed them by telling them the story she called the 'Legend of Saharah.' It went, as she began, "Long, long ago there was once a Seirim who was so virtuous and good that the heavens smiled upon him. So bright was his smile that the gods took notice and invited him into Heaven. Once there he became a mighty angel who served the heavens for many years. Until one day when he had descended upon the world on a mission, he met a demon by the name of Saharah. So beautiful was the demon before him that he instantly fell in love and carried the demon away with him back to Heaven. And there they lived happily for many years, until one fateful day Saharah died mysteriously and the heavens swept away h'er soul."
"But if they were in heaven how did s'he die?" Omiah had asked, "I thought everyone in Heaven lived forever?"
"Why did Saharah die? Did s'he do something wrong?" asked Ishmar.
"It is unknown," said Ishiiha, while stroking back a loose strand of the child's black hair from his forehead. "But the story does not tell that Lord Saharah ever became an angel, and only angels can live forever. For they exist within the embrace of God, where as we as demon must live beneath that grace."
"Why must we live beneath it?" asked Ishmar, seeming somewhat disturbed by this. Ishiiha noticed, and replied assuring him that it was no such bad thing. "Because we are imperfect beings, and therefore do not know such grace." Ishiiha answered, though lamenting her own words as she spoke them.
Satisfied with this for an answer, yet not liking what they were hearing, Omiah and Ishmar contently listened as Ishiiha finished her tale. "All we know is that s'he died. Lord Azazel was so grieved that he lost his hold on his embrace and fell to earth, and just as both of you asked he too could not understand why one of such grace and beauty had to die where as he was to live forever. And so he wandered the earth searching for this answer, though it is said he never found it. However, since the earth is a place of corruption and many evils, it took its toll on his mind and he succumbed to the sins of the world and lost his way.
It was then that he committed the sins that he has been charged for. He and his cohorts engaged in many crimes and wrong doings and taught the world many sins they were forbidden by the heavens to know. Why he did this, it is unknown, but many believe it was because of his heartache over the loss of his beloved Saharah that compelled him into such darkness."
"What did he do?" asked Omiah, the open curiosity shown brightly in his star shaped dark brown eyes.
"He did many things," his mother answered.
"But what… what could have been so bad?"
"He did many things indeed," responded the grandmother Ishar, figuring this as her time to chime in and fill in the details. She knew her daughter was much too modest to tell the child what he wanted to know. "Azazel was many things," she started off by saying, coming up to sit before the children beside her daughter. Her drawn face rimmed with streaks of gray in her long dark hair. "But being a fool was probably the worst of them," she said in a rather matter-of fact way.
"When he descended to earth he ended up cohabiting with humans. It was to them that he taught the ways of aggression and vanity. By teaching the men how to make deadly weapons so they could fight more deadly battles, and the women how to make cosmetic to make them more beautiful, he single handily enriched the world of sin with more sin then it needed."
"But it wasn't single handedly, he wasn't alone," Ishiiha countered.
"Of course he wasn't, it's known that two hundred other angels followed and did the same, teaching all sorts of things to the humans. Things they weren't supposed to be teaching. Things the poor humans never needed to know, but they did so in his example."
"But why did they do that? What's so wrong about teaching things to humans?" Omiah asked.
"Because there are certain things the good Lord didn't want them to know. Humans are simple minded and can be ignorant and foolish creatures; because they are mortal they naturally don't have the patience or the heart not to bide through life simply as the Lord would will them to, which is only to love Him and to keep their piece. Humans go through life like we go through days: they have the dawn which is the instant they are born. Then there is the day which is their life and then the evening when they grow old, then die when the night comes. That is how life is for a human."
"So they only live one day?" Ishmar asked, completely amazed.
Ishar grinned and laughed slightly at the boy, being one of the few that would willingly indulge in him. "No," she mused, "not just one, they have years, but it's the best way to understand them. Life for them is fleeting; they are there one minute gone the next. They do not have lives like us who live for centuries. Our existence is like the passing of an entire year compared to a single day a human lives for."
"For that I don't blame them, it would be sad to be a mortal. They're exposed to so much they just don't understand or have the time to."
"And they aren't meant to, says the good Lord in Heaven. Oh, but they have enough time to understand enough. A human's mind can perceive like lightening. Supposedly they were born all knowing in love when they were created, but then they lost that when life became too much for them. It is said that once you learn to cry that the world of darkness is exposed to you and you end up living in a world of shadow."
"Mother, the boys!" Ishiiha objected instantly to the negativity to which her mother had described.
"Nonsense, let them hear it," Ishar countered, waving her off, yet without fully dismissing her modesty. "It's important to be aware of these things, especially for young boys like these two. You see, this is what happened to Azazel when Saharah died. Azazel cried, and when he did that is when he fell from the grace he had known all his life. So you see he was a fool, too foolish to accept that things happen, terrible things that not even he could control, and that if you're not strong enough you can lose your heart to it and end up lost in a world of shadow."
"That's enough, mother. Now can I finish the story?"
"Of course." Kissing her daughter on the forehead, the elder Seirim got up and returned to her own business.
When she left Ishiiha continued, "Because of these crimes, the heavens seized him and he was sentenced to an eternity of punishment on a bed of stones beneath the desert lands. But before his sentence could be carried out, a voice cried out for him from heaven that pled for his forgiveness. This voice was the voice of Saharah, whose soul salvaged by the gods became a great spirit of such excellence and wonder the angels could not resist from taking heed, and she pled to the gods that if the spirit of Azazel were to last till the Day of Judgment beneath the land, that he's soul could be redeemed.
So passionate was Saharah's plea that the gods found they could not refuse such a request from one so beloved as s'he. They granted Saharah's request, and said that if Azazel survives in his imprisonment till Day of Judgment then he may be granted the chance for redemption, and thus his soul may be saved. So grateful was Saharah to the gods for this that s'he opted for a way to assist him. While thanking the heavens with every intent of h'er heart, s'he casted h'er demon soul into the sky. When s'he did this, h'er soul burst into a ball of silver light that illuminated the entire sky and shone brighter than all the stars. This light that s'he created became the soul of moon, the very same moon that continues to shine until this day, showing the way for Azazel's soul so he may know the way back to Heaven when he awakens, and many believe that it does so even as he sleeps.
This is why Saharah is also known as the Moon that shines for the damned, the Moon of Hell, a constant reminder to those lost in the darkness that redemption is always possible should they chose to pray for it with all of their heart."
"Even us then though we're Ben'jinn?" asked Ishmar.
Ishiiha felt a dagger shoot through her heart. She simply smiled, and replied, "Yes."
The children were at a loss, for the moral of the tale taught them nothing but to pray a lot and fear ever falling in love or risk succumbing to shadow, but it was a traditional children's tale nonetheless. Ishiiha continued, "And so ever since then the Seirim have prayed for Azazel so we may assist Saharah and help make the forgiveness of Azazel's soul possible by the heavens, and absolve of his sins for all time. This is why we take the goats that the humans release into the desert into our homes, because it is believed that the sins they carry with them manifests as sand and new stones upon which he is continuously pelted."
"Why? Wasn't he already punished for doing wrong?" asked Ishmar.
"Yes he was," Ishiiha said softly, "that is why we must pray to relieve him. The humans believe that if they continue to blame him for their own sins that he would be the one to be punished for them instead. That is also why when we are born we take the sins from the goats upon ourselves to redeem them so we may lift the weight on him by doing good deeds, and by being virtuous and chaste."
"Humans are so stupid!" Omiah snapped, intending to speak louder than he did, but Ishiiha silenced him.
"No!" she said harshly. "Do not pass judgment like that, for we the Seirim are not perfect either, if so then we would all be angels living forever in heaven, but we are not now are we? Humans are no different; they simply do not know heaven either and are no closer to it than we are. So never allow yourself to be so judgmental of others that way, or judgment will be casted down upon you tenfold if you do."
From a young age Omiah had always taken his mother's words to heart, and though he tried being the things she said he should be, he found the trials of Seirim life to be quite difficult. He was not a stationary child, and bore a wild and restless spirit that had a hard time remembering the proper words for any prayer or the reasoning behind certain rules and principles. Some being why he couldn't assist the workers in the fields, stand at the head of the village altar or hunt for food after sundown.
It was Seirim Law that all Seirim, regardless of age, had to be within the village premises at sun set. The reason for this was simple: it's the time the Tanim, or the Jackal race, come out to prowl. Natural predators of the Seirim, the land was populated with as many Tanim villages as it was of Seirim. There was an understanding forged between the two races, which settled in one being day dwelling and the other nocturnal. It was a natural development that became accepted as law.
It was written: should any Seirim be caught outside its village after dark by Tanim hand, he or she was then considered property of the Jackals; in other words, they were fair game. Young Omiah learned the hard way, after having suffered an assault from a jackal one evening after sneaking out once all had fallen asleep.
Omiah had always been aware of the awakening activities of the late night hours; the call of the insects and cries of the beasts sang out to him through the evening air. To him it seemed the world only came alive after dark, and with an empty stomach and driven by hunger he found it too hard to sit by and wait for morning.
He snuck out; indeed, hunting was easier at night then during the day. Under the glow of the moon, everything was in plain sight and most of the life in the world was sleeping. Omiah found he was able to come alive as if he were a beast himself.
The Tanim were beasts that hunted for prey and so was he; he wondered why should he be bound by Country Law when he was like them, and different from a Seirim—Omiah Ben'jinn was no ordinary Seirim. He was a beast of prey that prowled the night, 'Tanim look out or Omiah just might steal your prey.' He'd think to himself, playfully seeking to make the best use of his time.
He did this many times, and as he did his hunts were always much more successful than during the day. Half the time he'd catch enough to share with Ishmar. So before dawn he would store away his kill in a brush or under the sand in a marked place, and then retrieve it for Ishmar at sun rise.
But then one fateful night after spotting a weasel, he chased it to its den under a bolder out in the valley outside their village, but the thing plunged down its hole before he could catch it. Not willing to give up too easily, he began clawing through the sand when the commotion drew the attention of a wandering Tanim that was passing by on the road.
Recognizing the child digging through the sand as Seirim, the Jackal saw his opportunity for a fair meal. The Tanim lunged at Omiah but missed. Omiah leapt though the Tanim's claw, catching his leg and leaving a long scratch; after that Omiah ran all the way back home and dove into the house, awakening everyone.
His household was furious, and he was scolded like he's never been. They screamed and shouted at him and called him all sorts of ugly things, but he never understood it. The only one that was silent was his mother, who sat by and just looked sad. She kept staring at him, but wouldn't say a word. Later it was his grandmother Ishar that explained it, telling him a story about a rebellious Seirim boy who lived not too long ago in a village in the south of the land.
The tale went like this: Several years ago, there was a young Seirim boy by the name of Radu that had no respect for the law. Night after night he would run out into the fields and work the soil, thinking this could help the village get ahead on the following day's work. Well since the fields where Seirim grow their crops always lay outside the fencing, the boy, though well meaning in his work, was still breaking the country law by working after dark outside the village.
So one day a Tanim, just like the one Omiah had met, came along and saw him. Seeing the working boy as an easy meal, the Tanim caught the child and went to leave when he was spotted by the men of the village, who had been drawn out because of the strange noises they heard from the boy and his work.
At once they began to shout at the Tanim, and grabbing their tools, they attacked the jackal and killed it. They saved the boy, but there was a witness. Now the next day, the elder of the Tanim clan to which the slain Tanim belonged came to the village and demanded to know why his kin was slain.
The Seirim had no choice but to confess and explain to the elder that the men of the village saw him attack one of their children and took action. The elder then asked for when did the attack occur, and when they admitted the hour the Tanim were outraged. In the end, the Elder took upon himself the right of the law and demanded a sacrifice from the village, both in exchange for the lost prey and the life that was taken; an even bounty of two sacrifices.
And so that day because of the child's disregard for the law, both he and his mother were handed over to the Tanim and were never seen or heard from again.
Omiah had never imagined that his actions could cause the village or even his mother so much pain or trouble; he was just doing what made sense to him. That hunting should be done at night just seemed the best time for it, but the risks were too high. Omiah didn't know what to do, so he went hungry.
Like the night, the village shrines were off limits to Ben'jinn for no more than their impurity. The same went for the work in the fields, believing that the soiled hands of a Ben'jinn or even of their mothers could contaminate the ground that fed the village and cause others to possibly fall ill, or contaminate their prayers. Nor were they permitted to tend to the goats, for they were considered sacred animals, and they were not. 'Only clean hands can purify sin, and the hands of a Ben'jinn are born unclean!'
But over it all he tried his best to please, to hunt and to provide food for his family. During his day's hunt he would bring home beetles for Ishmar or the occasional lizard or a scorpion with its stinger ripped off, or the roots or cactus flowers for his mother that bore a sweet fragrance. He always made sure he took his share before returning home so he had something in his stomach and wouldn't need to share it. For this, the villagers called him greedy.
On the day he was born, Omiah had received the sin for greed upon on his brow from the Goat of Azazel, and so being declared a greedy child by his kinsmen was an obvious expression of their dislike of him, even over the other Ben'jinn children. And with the fact that Seirim don't eat meat, but live entirely on oats and grasses was viewed as yet more evidence of the same. They would say, "There that abomination is at it again! Maybe if he would find some use for himself that could serve us, it would take his mind away from his stomach! None of the other boys behave as careless and unruly as he."
But being a growing boy as he was, Yomi could not ignore the hunger that grew inside of him, and as he got older it only became worse. Seirim children, like most demons of the Djudean region, grew at a mortal's pace, so by the time he was the equivalent of the age of a ten year old, he was indeed ten years old and would only cease to age once he matured. At twelve, Omiah was still at his mother's breasts, which the villagers thought was profane. Being of the nature she was, and since it was against a Seirim's nature to kill, Ishiiha felt it was all she could do.
Her milk was a life saver for him, yet the villager criticized her for it, saying she was indulging him and spoiling him too much for having nursed him for so long. "The child doesn't deserve it; he's greedy enough as it is and he's much too old. He won't be right for it and you'll only suffer the more for it!"
Her relatives would berate her, though she rarely listened. "He's my son, and what else can I do? I feel if I do not feed him, he could fall ill or even die." She would reply to them.
Yet she was always countered upon with proclaimed practical sense, "So let him die, not any use to us is he? He can't even work the fields!"
Omiah, after observing the moon one evening, asked his mother, "If we're good, then Azazel will be able to be with Saharah again?"
And Ishiiha responded, with a smile. "Yes, we hope so."
"Will he be able to go back to Heaven, and marry Saharah? Isn't he over one thousand years old?"
Ishiiha took her son and kissed him on the forehead, and said to him, "Yes…that is what we all pray for."
Not long after this, a goat in the care of the village where Omiah dwelt passed on during the night. Its death was from old age. The Seirim considered this a natural blessing bestowed by Heaven. A ritual was held honoring the goat for its long days, for it is believed that the longer a goat lives the more chance the people have of dissolving the sins it carried from the human world. Upon death, it is believed that the goat receives amends and the sins are relived, so long as all the residents in the village were righteous and kept their traditions. Of course not accounting the Benn'jinn, for it would be considered a blight onto Azazel should he be forced to rely on the impurities of a Benn'jinn.
Nonetheless on this occasion there was one instance that differed from the previous ceremonies, and the Ben'jinn mother Ishiiha requested that instead of burning the goat's dead body, which was the tradition to do in their village, that they should permit the Benn'jinn boys to feast on it. As controversial as this was, the elder allowed it and young Yomi ate amongst his brothers. It was a meal he would never forget, for not only was it was the first time he had a decent meal, but had ever felt the sensation of a full stomach.
After the feast the boys all ran out in to the valley, which was their usual hunting ground to play for the day. And for the hours until sundown they celebrated, and played a game of war. It was a sort of reenactment of the day their village got attacked, all seven boys split up into sides. Four of them, including Yomi and Ishmar, were the villagers and the remaining three represented the rampaging mazoku. They began the game by gathering in the valley, pretending to be minding their own business while the other boys would run up and attack.
They would switch off of course, Yomi played both roles and was the last one standing each time. The boy Tura seemed to be his only rival and Ishmar was the first on the ground with every round. He ended up quitting after a constant bloody nose and having counted too many bruises. The other boys laughed at this calling him an athi'ben'jinn, a woman-ben'jinn, and that he represented the women. Beaten and weak he left the field in tears; Yomi was forced to defend him being the only one that was obligated.
However, because of this activity it didn't last long for hunger to soon come crashing back with force. Greater drive and yearning for fulfillment of hunger took hold, and suddenly all the boys begun to crave the flesh of the sacred goats. Soon with his hunger having got the better of him, Omiah snuck out during the night and out of desperation for food smothered one of the goats. Such a task proved difficult. The goat struggled, but he held on to it with a cloth full of mud pressed to its snout. Knowing that without air the creature would suffocate, and its soul would leave. The gods would absolve it and all would be well.
After what felt like a frantic struggle he persevered. The beast suffocated and collapsed dead on the ground. Not expecting the struggle to have gone on for as long as it did, Omiah stood dumbstruck over the body, his breath coming in hastened short gasps. Barely able to believe what he had done, he looked around. No one was coming out, so no one saw— 'Good,' he thought. 'So nobody knows and will know.' Satisfied, he left the goat to be found the same as the first. He snuck back inside his small hut and pretended to sleep.
The following morning there was a commotion. At first he was excited, for he thought that because another goat had died mysteriously, he would have a chance at another fulfilling meal. But what happened next quickly put an end to that hope.
The men outside began to holler; their voices were loud and angry, and many were complaining why the goat was found dead when it should not be. It was then that the young Omiah had realized his error, where in the dark he had chosen a goat that was much too young and healthy to have died of natural causes in the span of a single night. He left mud caked to its snout and forgot to clean it off, so it was obvious that someone had killed it. And not only that but, as the men were quick to point out, that amongst the goat's body was the evidence of a struggle. Foot prints were seen on the ground going to and from the body to a certain hut where young Omiah and Ishmar slept.
Seeing that the tracks were footprints, it was determined at once that the culprit could only have been a Ben'jinn. Having followed the tracks to the hut, both the children Ishmar and Omiah were seized and brought to center of the village, where they were presented before their grandfather the elder. When they were accused Ishmar instantly began to cry, but Omiah said nothing. He didn't realize though that while he stood silent before the crowd and his grandfather, both his hands and feet were still dirty from the mud he used. This was noticed and he was signaled out as the culprit.
Ishmar was grabbed and pulled back out of the way while the crowd took hold of Omiah. Only one set of tracks was identified and when they brought him over to compare the tracks with the length of his foot, Ishmar was cleared of any suspicion, but Omiah would be condemned to death by stoning, which was the term of the law. Should any transgression be committed upon the Goats of Azazel, the penalty was death by stoning.
Viewing the crime was seen as a deliberate assault on Azazel, there was no absolution. The execution was to take place at noon the following day, which was the customary time for pretty much any form of punishment or discipline. The Seirim believed that the sun in its highest position endowed the criminal with the full wrath and judgment by the Lord of Heavens, permitting they're souls to receive the harshest of punishments.
Despite protest from his mother, who could not bear the horror of seeing her only son executed for any reason, the village proceeded and young Omiah was lead from the elder's house, the home in which he was born. Back again to the center of the village where he was encircled by the villagers, family amongst them. All of whom had bundles of lime stone gathered amongst them.
Lime stone gave a sharper sting when hit with it. Seirim reserved them for only the worse of crimes, and this qualified. In his short twelve years of life Omiah had seen little. He had heard of these things, stoning, executions happening before, but had never been witness to them. From those stories he understood little of what it meant to be put to death, or what the true penalty of a real crime was. He didn't know if he should be afraid or how afraid he should be. All he knew was what was happening right before him, the entire village; what was once his home turned into a chaotic and angry mob, everything was wrong and unfamiliar…and the ugly words and scowling faces.
He didn't understand it until the first stone was thrown. He didn't know who threw it, but it hit him right in the brow just beside his left horn and instantly left a mark. Seirim are earth demons and so aren't much different physically from humans, especially in their weakest state, and so when cut they bleed and when beaten they bruise. The wound on his brow both bruised and bleed, but what struck him more with the realization of fear was the pain. He knew this was a punishment, what he got for killing a goat, but what he didn't expect was what was to come next.
'Why?' he thought. He was starving to death, a child of skin and bones and still nursing at his mother's breasts at age twelve; it was either that or starve. He got a taste of real food, food that he desperately needed and should have been his God given right to seize and feast as any naturally born predator must do. He craved that food, he killed for it, and for it he was to be put to death.
The thought had only an instant to sink in before the shower of stones fell upon him. His mother screamed, but it was drowned out by the drone of the crowd. The other boys stood by in horror, unable to believe what they were seeing. Omiah had done what they all were thinking, and as they observed the result a deep brooding resentment began to build within them, especially in Ishmar.
They were predators, impure beings that could not relate to Seirim ways and understanding the very same as Omiah. Any of them could be the one being punished, punished for doing what he must to survive, which was the right of every living being.
Deciding he could take no more, for Omiah was his brother and the only other demon in the village that tried to help him other than Ishiiha, he had a sudden moment of courage and for one moment forgot his weakness. He snatched a stone from the ground to toss it at the crowd. With that he began to holler, "Get away from my brother! Leave him alone!"
The other children saw this and saw the reaction he got from those it hit in the crowd; they began to do the same. Angry and frustrated and compelled by hunger all at once, the boys took their aggression out on the crowd and began to shower the executioners with stones. The chaos caused a break in the circle and Ishiiha fell onto her son, shielding him with her body. The boys kept throwing and a hole opened up in the midst of the chaos amongst the clashing Seirim. Ishiiha said to her son, "Go!"
Omiah, in tears and riddled with pain, cuts, gashes, and bruises leapt up and ran.
He didn't know how far he went, but that he didn't stop running until he needed to breathe and cry. The reality of what had happened was still settling in, but he knew that somehow he had escaped. He had run from something he should not have been able to escape from and he was alive.
He escaped into the dessert, hurt and starving with nowhere to go. Eventually he was picked up by a caravan of slave traders after collapsing in the road. The demons that were with him in the caged cart that he was thrown into gave him water so he would live, yet thinking amongst themselves that it was probably better off that he didn't. Regardless of the difficulty, when an opportunity presented itself he slipped the grasp of his captors and fled into the desert. Considering the boy more than useless from the beginning they didn't bother in pursuing him, and so again he escaped.
Wandering for what felt like days on the open desert, it came to the point that his body could no longer handle the stress of his blight. He collapsed in the wilderness unknown to anyone, or so he thought. In the sky as vultures circled high above, a demon that bore the same pattern of horns as he upon his head appeared before him.
This demon was a mazoku, a powerful demon of his time. He picked up Omiah and carried him away to his camp in the desert. Omiah awoke to find himself splayed on a mat beside a low camp fire with a wet cloth rested on his brow. Beside him, seated on a rock was the largest and most monstrous looking demon he had ever seen. A beast without a doubt, he was all muscles with grayish brown skin old and withered and riddled with black markings. Omiah learned much later that these were cultural demon markings of the mazoku. They covered his entire body and half of his face, which was angular and appeared strangely small for his mane and body. His hair was long and big, like the body of a porcupine, and fell down the full length of his back to rest on the ground behind him.
As his vision cleared, he could not keep himself from staring at him. Knowing that he should be more afraid than he was, he couldn't help himself from feeling a deep fascination of the demon that was before him. When he looked at him, his eyes bore an extraordinary and other worldly silver glow.
He wanted to ask who the demon was but could barely muster the strength to keep his eyes open. Eventually the demon ladled a cup of broth from a pot over the fire and said to him, "It'll do you good kid, drink up."
He obeyed, and the drink brought life into him that he had never known. The demon laughed when Omiah suddenly leapt up, turning from near death to lively and awake. It was then that he was able to ask him who he was and why he saved him, but the demon wouldn't answer. Instead he explained to him what he had done, and gave him the reason why his strength was able to be replenished so quickly. "It's because you're mazoku, child; you're one of us and that means you must hunt and feed boy. That broth there I made for you came from a human I killed not long ago." And he pointed to a body lying on the ground, motioning for him to go over and have a look at it. Omiah walked in that direction and there in the sand lay a human man. His heart and liver had been carved out and his head lay in a position that seemed oddly out of place, as if the bone beneath had been broken.
"I shatter its neck to kill instantly, but usually I don't bother. Though for you kid, I would advise it. Kill them quick and you should have no problems. And eat them while they're fresh. Take whatever you want or need. You have the right to do it. You're mazoku so it's necessary; not even the gods can say you don't have the right to take what you need in order to survive, boy. It's anyone's God given right."
"Just heed this," the demon said next. "Don't ever eat them alive. Be sure you kill them first and give time for the soul to depart, you don't want to risk ending up like me." And he pointed to himself in an odd away that seemed rather significant, yet to Omiah's eyes he didn't know why.
Omiah looked at the demon, and realized he seemed strangely solemn. He didn't know what he meant by this, and thought to ask but didn't need to. "Ingesting souls causes their deaths to consume you; it'll drag you down to the depths before you'll know it. Many demons will try to tell you it's the best way to gain power, but don't listen to them. Those bastards are just headed for the pit no different than I. You stay at a distance…stay safe, and you'll be alright."
He didn't say much more after that. But after a few days when Omiah fully regained his strength, he led him to a passage that crossed into the human world, so he could begin his lesions in human hunting. Along the way, he explained to him the ways of discerning paths to the human world from ordinary roads, and how not to mistake them from one another. After that he lead him to a village and pointed out an old farmer house at the edge of town, slightly apart from the rest where there were many children running about.
"Now remember what I told you boy: be quick, and make sure no one sees you. Take the prey. Kill it and make your way back to that road. Be sure the victim is killed before crossing over to our side, or that as well could cause you trouble."
With no need to be told more, Omiah followed the instructions as they were given to him and caught a child. For a moment he thought it was going to be like the goat, a hard struggle, but the child put up little fuss and died instantly when Omiah snapped its neck. He was surprised when the child went limp in his arms, but as he was instructed he didn't linger to contemplate on it. He took his prey and returned to camp.
He found his way back to the road easier then he thought by following the instructions the old demon gave to him, merely taking about twenty minutes. There the large mazoku was, seated just as he was before on the rock before a low fire, waiting for him.
He smiled at the sight when he saw the young Omiah with the human child in his arms. "Pretty good. Many will say kids are the best for flavor, but if you want what's best for you I'd aim for bigger. The adults got what you'll need, but you'll have to get a lot stronger if you're going to take on an adult human. You'll find out they're not as easy to kill as you'll think. Some can even fight back so make sure you're well prepared before making your move. Don't be like those arrogant fools that assume all humans are weak, because it'll be a harsh reality for you when they run that stick they call a sword through your heart and disperse its force with their life energy. It's a serious threat, so don't getting too big on yourself that you lose your sense of caution."
After this, he instructed Omiah in the proper way of preparing and cooking before allowing him feed. The meal wasn't like anything he had ever experienced; the energy that he had attained from the goat was entirely different in comparison. This energy was enduring and made him feel better than he had ever known, or ever thought was possible.
Young Omiah had never known exactly how weak he was or how close to death he had actually lived until he tasted human flesh for the first time. And right away, his life in the Seirim village was but a passing nightmare that he would never look back on, a period of his life he only wanted to forget. Even his mother, the whole lot of them…gone, wiped out and rid of for a much better life as a man eater.
The next day, Omiah awoke to discover that the demon he had come to know as his savior and new found mentor was gone. The fire was out. All that was left was a pot beside the coals and a stone where he had sat. He thought at first that he had gone off hunting and would be back soon and waited for him, but the demon never returned.
So Omiah left and never saw the demon again.
Life moved on, and within years of consuming humans he grew into a perfectly able bodied and strong young man. By the age of twenty, he had formed himself a little gang, all of which were man eaters, some of which he had even taught to be so.
Within time he was able to move up in the world, and perused a personal interest after hearing of rumors about a certain gang lead by a demon of unspeakable beauty, a spirit fox known as Youko Kurama. By the age twenty four, Omiah had joined parties with Kurama and worked his way at becoming second in command of one of Demon's World's most notorious band of thieves.
His name became known worldwide as the bandit Yomi, Omiah being a name he had abandoned years before. "What's your name?" Youko had asked him.
Because he had decided to forget it along with his past he couldn't answer; all he could say in response every time a demon would ask him for his name was this: "I don't have one. I come from Hell, and that's all I know!" And so the Youko, being a demon native to an island off the western coast of the demon's world called Jawah, called him Yomi.
"For that is the word for Hell where I come from." And so the demon formerly known as the demon Omiah Benn Jinn became known as Yomi, a demon from Hell.
However, this time of glory was to be short lived. When Yomi reached the age of thirty six, there was a falling out amongst the gang. After a simple heist went terribly wrong, Yomi found himself the victim of an assassination attempt. It happened in the country of Jia Tian, otherwise known as 'the beautiful land' and 'land of the Great Dog Demons,' on the far west of the Demon's World, when they had crossed paths with a certain demon child none had expected to meet.
The child was called Sesshomaru. He resembled a child only at age four of life, yet he had actually been alive for around nineteen years. He was an unmistakable beauty; they thought could easily fetch them a fortune on the demon's world's black market with him. And so thinking it a good idea Yomi went to capture him, but was stopped by Kurama. Surprisingly, it was Kurama that attacked first, and with his ability to control plants deep within the forest made his efforts to ensnare the child easy enough.
The child wasn't their original goal, yet Kurama settled for it and ordered for their retreat from the forest and the entire nation of Jawah. He had plans for their new hostage, so they ran for the coast. But their luck soon ran out as the Taisho was soon upon them, the leader and most powerful demon of the western hemisphere of the demon's world, furious apparently at the audacity of these lower class demons attempting to steal away his son.
They lost more than half of their gang, and narrowly escaped alive. Yomi was the last to flee; after Kurama had dropped the child, he tried to retrieve him only to find himself in the shadow of the monstrous canine. For the remainder of his days he would recount on what a miracle it was that he had escaped; that lady luck must have been smiling on him as he made it to the coast and straddled his flying beast to cross the open sea back to Jia Tian. They were instructed to meet there should they ever get separated, and there the survivors, Kurama included, reunited.
But things weren't to be as they were. Not long before this, Kurama had suffered the loss of a long time friend by the name of Kinu, another fox demon from he met shortly before he left Japan, whom Yomi displayed a much unsettling satisfaction towards. Yomi did not like Kinu and Kurama knew this. He had known of Yomi's growing affection for him, but though he had indulged in him briefly when he first joined he was only toying with him; the twenty four year old was naïve and oddly powerful, a semi-attractive virgin was something he couldn't pass up. But Yomi had been fixated ever since, much to his annoyance.
Kinu was his closest friend for years, as they had not grown up together. He was the demon he trusted the most, and the one that understood him. He was also as reclusive, whereas Yomi was obnoxious and a socialite. When it came right down to it, he simply made too much noise.
Kurama resented Yomi for his short comings, and having come so close to losing his own life he put much of the blame of that incident on Yomi. He believed that if it hadn't been for his influence -that reckless, bull headed foolishness- he would have ignored the child and continued on their intended course. But he didn't—why? What had possessed him to capture the son of the great Inu no Taisho, a demon he knew better than most to fear? He grew up in Jawah, he knew who the Inuyoukai were, and couldn't forgive himself for his actions. It made him think too much of Kinu; he had thought then at his death that their actions had grown too careless. They had both been influenced by Yomi, that young and naïve demon from the east the gang had picked up assuming he would be useful to some extent, only to discover he bore the aura of a powerful mazoku and all too quickly caught up to their stature in power and almost in skill. He should have known he would be nothing but trouble. He decided then that in order for their gang to rebuild and to proceed, Yomi had to go.
But unfortunately for Kurama things once again were not to go as planned; the assassination failed. Yomi was injured, this he knew. How injured he didn't know, but when he got close with the intention of finishing him off, he heard a voice say from behind him, "I wouldn't do that." It was deep, metallic, and peculiarly alarming.
He turned to look behind him and there seated on a rock was a demon, a large mazoku with dark aged skin covered head to foot with demon markings, a full mane and horns, and glowing silver eyes. Startled for he had sensed no other demons around, and certainly not a demon of such obvious stature and power the fox froze, his sharp golden eyes pinned on the demon. "Who are you, why do you address me?"
"Here to finish him off, are you?" the mazoku asked in return, and Kurama grew rigid.
"Why do you ask? Do you know Yomi?" Kurama asked, sensing something he didn't like from the demon.
He gestured towards Yomi. "Yeah, I know him…" But it was what he said next that would change the meaning of life to Kurama, when the demon confided in him a secret never before spoken to anyone, a truth about his so-called underling Yomi.
After this, Kurama fled to the Spirit's World where he would not be seen or heard from again for a thousand years. Gordon, the mazoku that had taken Yomi in, watched him go. "Yeah, get a move on you shit," he muttered beneath his breath at the fading image of the silver fox dashing away in fear of his crime.
He got up from the rock; he was tall, very tall. If Yomi were to stand next to him, he would only come up to his chest. He was on a flat top mountain with Yomi in the valley below; he went over to the edge and peered down at him, and uttered to himself, "Damn."
'And the kid was doing good too. Eh, guess we'll see how this goes.'
"He should be fine, just observe him for now." A voice said to him; he knew from whom it came, but he didn't respond. He didn't need to; he had known for some time that he wasn't the only power that observed Omiah. He knew that the gods and the angels amongst them had their eye on him, and had been watching him long before he was even born.
"Yeah, I'll watch him," said Gordon as he returned to his rock and sat. "I'll just see what you bastards want from him, and why you're all here. Damn Heavens."
Yomi had been slashed across the face; both of his eyes were cut and he had lost all of the fluid in them. Stricken blind he struggled, but could go nowhere. After a while Gordon was forced to help him, though he did so in secret. Knocking him unconscious, he brought him to a place out of the way where he would be safe where he saw to his injuries. Unfortunately, he was not able to restore his eyes. 'The boy's instincts aren't too sharp, are they? He took too much time crying about it he lost what chance he had to restore them.' The eyeballs literally dried up and fell out, leaving hollowed sockets.
There was nothing Gordon could do. "Just leave him as he is, and don't do anymore," said the voice to him.
This time he cocked a brow and responded. "Something you have to say, spirit? Speak it; don't think you can leave me in the dark. I'll find out what you're up to my own way."
"It was meant to be," said the voice. "This was a lesson well deserved and much needed. He will be fine, let him learn."
"Right," said Gordon. "That I can do." It was enough; he could get more information about this later. For the next few days, he helped Yomi get though the shock of his handicap. But just like that day long ago, before long he was gone.