Cries of the Great Elf War: Prelude

AN: Hello! This is my first fanfic and I hope that everyone enjoys it. No flames please. I will try to add AN's every now and then. Also, I hope to get some reviews and see if I should put up more of the story. So, I expect some good reviews. Please. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha. It all belongs to Rumiko.


Prologue: The Dream

"Miroku…"

The voice called out again, as Miroku ran through the dark hall, which seemed to have no end in sight. The hall was lined with doors on both sides. The same dull, dried-leaf, color on each one, and with no numbers or letters to identify what or where this was.

"Miroku… You are the one…"

He ran desperately, as if his life depended on it. His feet carrying him to the source, as if he knew exactly where it was. Looking left and right at each door he passed. Carefully, looking at each door as if he could see through each one.

"Miroku… please… hurry…"

He stopped dead in his tracks. Hearing some noises from one of the nearby doors.

"No… Miroku… don't!"

For some reason, he ignored the voice this time, transfixed on a certain door, which stood out from the rest.

A name was engraved into it, why couldn't he read it?

His hand moved on it's own toward the knob, not knowing what was on the other side or even if the door was unlocked. But, his hand still moved to the knob, slowly moving closer, inches, centimeters, millimeters, and then, his hand clasped around the knob.

As soon as he grasped the knob, his body began to shake slowly, he was unsure if he was nervous or afraid. Even so, his body seemed to have a mind of it's own.

Slowly, Miroku's hand turned the knob. With each click the knob made, it rang loudly in his ears and in his mind.

The uncertainty was growing, but so was his curiosity, to know what was beyond this door. This door that stood out from the rest.

Miroku could tell there were other slight differences in this door than the others. The knob was slightly rusted and had more of a bronze tint to it than the other golden knobs. The door looked older than the others; paint slightly chipped at the edges of the door, and small cracks around the frame.

Miroku turned the knob completely over; he started to become hesitant, should he open the door? Is it safe? What could be on the other side? But most of all, why this door? It felt like his head was spinning.

His uncertainty started to slip away. As the curiosity started to grow, he was becoming anxious. He needed to know, no, he had to know, what was so special about this door?

"Please! Don't! Miroku!"

That voice. Miroku's hand let go and backed away slightly from the door. He looked around for the voice. It sounded so close and it somehow broke through and brought him out of his daze. Who was that? It didn't make any sense. Why did this person sound so desperate? But, the big question was, could he trust this person?

But, before he could even decide, his hand went back to gripping the doorknob and turning it again.

"No! Don't! I beg you!"

Miroku's mind wanted to believe the voice and back off, but his body refused to listen to the pleading voice, even his own.

This time, with the knob once again fully turned over, his hand pushed the door open slightly.

Miroku could see nothing within the crack of the door, the room appeared to be shrouded in darkness.

He placed his palm on the door and pushed on it lightly, revealing more of the darkness within.

"MIROKU! STOP!"

The voice grew fainter, along with all the pleas, as Miroku slowly walked into the room. He wanted to turn around and keep going down the hall and not come back. But, his body still refused to listen to what he wanted to do.

It felt like an hour had passed and Miroku was only inches away from the doorway. Why? What was so special about this room that his body needed to be here?

Miroku's eyes were adjusting to the darkness; things within the room were becoming more visible, even though there really wasn't much of anything. The dust was piled on the oak wood floors, some of the boards cracked and broken, and bits of scrap papers.

Then Miroku's eyes landed on the sight of a book. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, what was in it?

Miroku's feet dragged across the dusted floors, collecting bits of it at the bottom of his feet. Inching closer and leaning forward, arm extended, his hand grabbed hold of the book firmly. He slowly brought it up towards his face to see if he could read it. But, the dust covered every inch of the book, except from where his hand had grabbed it. He slowly lifted his other hand and started to dust the book off with the sleeve of his robes.

He quickly finished, wiping away any remaining dust that was once on the cover. He looked at the cover again, seeing if he was able to read it. Miroku could see some of the words, but was still unable to read it all. He backed up toward the doorway, where most of the light came from.

The light crept up the cover, slowly revealing the contents on the cover. Miroku's eyes widened as the whole cover was revealed to him.

He whispered almost breathlessly, "Oh my… this is-"

"HEY, MIROKU! WAKE UP!"

Miroku's eyes shot open as he fell off the bed and on to the floor from the sudden shout. He grumbled and started to lightly rub his now bruised forehead. He looked around his room to find the source of his rude awakening.

"Come on, Miroku! Hurry up already! We aint got all day ya know!"

Miroku sighed in annoyance as he recognized the voice as none other than Inuyasha.

Miroku looked toward the window and stared at the half-demon, who was sitting on the windowsill, staring at him with a smirk.

"Inuyasha, did you really have to wake me up like that? You could have just knocked," Miroku said with annoyance clearly present in his voice.

"Did you already forget? Today we have to go to Dahr castle and see if we are qualified to become knights! So get off your lazy ass and get ready!"

Miroku's eyes widened at both his outburst and realization.

"What?" Miroku quickly looked at the time. "Half past 7! Already? Damn!" He quickly got up and ran to the closet and forcefully opened it as it slammed into the wall loudly. That might have left a mark, but there was no time to waste! He quickly grabbed his robes and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Inuyasha watched in amusement, the smirk on his face growing slightly more with each passing minute.

"You do know we have an hour, right?"

Miroku sighed in frustration. Of course he knew they had an hour! But, the walk there takes at least a little over half an hour, so they can't waste time!

Of course, most of Miroku's days are usually like this. Inuyasha usually sneaks in through the window, why he doesn't use the door? Who knows? It must be something with Inuyasha's demon instincts.

But other than that, this is Miroku's life, his life as an eighteen-year-old monk, now wanting to be more than that. Today, he was going to become a new person. Today was the beginning of something new, a new adventure.