Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha
Chapter 11: The Challenge
Glorious sunshine broke through the colorful fall foliage, dappling the earth in shades of red, yellow, and orange. An exuberant bird broke out into song to greet the morning, only to be rudely interrupted mid-chirp as a pebble sailed toward it, forcing it to abandon the branch it had been sitting on. "Stupid bird!" Squawked the grumpy toad, still feeling far too clean for his liking. Jaken set about preparing to leave, unconcerned that it was he, and not the sweet song of the bird, that woke the others.
Thryss awoke at the to find her younger self leaning over her, almost bursting with excitement. "Wake up! We are going into the village. We can even get a real rice ball if you want!"
"Village?" Thryss asked sleepily, cracking her eyes open cautiously against the brilliant sunlight streaming through the trees.
Rin seemed to have gotten over her fear of Kephren as she knelt down beside him and proceeded to vigorously shake him awake. Thryss smiled at his expression when he found the child so rudely awaking him. Looking around and seeing nothing amiss, he looked at her questioningly.
"We going into the village, we can get some real food!" She said excitedly.
"You get excited over food?" He asked, shading his sensitive eyes from the painfully bright light.
Rin nodded emphatically, oblivious to his discomfort.
"We are leaving" The demon lord suddenly announced, beginning to walk away from camp, the silvery-white hair swinging out behind him as he moved away.
"Hurry up!" Rin called gleefully as she ran to catch up.
"My Lord, wait don't leave me behind!" The toad cried, running as fast as his stubby legs would allow.
The large green dragon leisurely trailed behind them, not bothering to try and catch up as the others had.
Thryss and Kephren looked at each other mystified. Climbing to their feet and bushing off the leaves and twigs that had clung to them during the night, they proceeded to follow the small group to where ever and what ever a 'village' was.
The sun shone through the colorful leaves so that they glowed as they danced merrily in the fall breeze. The ones covering the ground, rustled under foot as they walked. As wind whispered through the trees, yet more leaves floated along its currents to join their fellow foliage in the brilliant dance. Sesshomaru glanced back, and found to his delight that the creature did not seem to be enjoying the glaringly bright sunlight of this beautiful day, as it squinted and tried to shade its eyes. The demon snorted, flipping the long hair over his shoulder arrogantly. The creature eyed him up, as it noticed the condescendingly expression. Abandoning the child that had been clinging to him tenaciously, Kephren made his way toward Sesshomaru.
As he neared the demon, Kephren smirked and trotted over to stroll along beside him. Sesshomaru's eyes slid sideways in displeasure at the uninvited company. Kephren looked up, blithely ignoring the unwelcoming expression that now graced the demon lords face, and smiled widely. The demon, as expected, responded with a suspicious glare.
Sesshomaru resolutely turned his attention from the creature to the dirt road they were following, in hopes that it would get bored and go away. The wind picked up, blowing the long pale hair away from his face, carrying with it the sounds of daily life from the village they would be approaching after they cleared the next hill. Sesshomaru felt the creature staring at him. He had just come to the decision that he was going to have to speak to it, when it made the unwise decision to hold his hand. Coming to abrupt halt, the demon shook the creature's grip off, flinging it away in indignation, causing it to tumble backwards into a patch of long grass.
The creature's face took on a surprised expression as something squeaked from underneath him. Reaching down he extracted a small furry animal with large ears. Kephren was busy examining the struggling ball of fur when Rin came racing over to 'rescue' it. Once he had been persuaded to put it down, the little ball of fur that Rin informed him was a 'bunny', hopped off at an impressive speed. Leaving the rather confused Talisian sitting on the ground, watching it make good it's escape.
Turning his attention back to the demon, "Here I am, going out of my way to be helpful, and look I get for my trouble." The creature complained, once again bringing its hand up to shade its eyes against the painful light.
"How exactly were you being helpful by holding onto my hand?" The demon asked in disbelief.
"I wanted to look at your armor of course. Why, did you desire something else?" The creature asked arching its silver brows meaningfully, as it climbed to its feet, checking to make sure there was nothing else in danger of being squished as he exited the tall grass.
Sesshomaru growled at the creature, wanting to cut it down for its insulting insinuation. His plans to maim, or better yet kill the creature, were cut short as Thryss walked up behind the annoying thing and propelled it away from him. Kephren looked back at him with an apologetic grin, "We can finish this later."
Rin's exuberant shout cut through tension. "There it is!" She exclaimed running over to grab Kephren's black arm. "Now you can see what families are!"
Sesshomaru smirked a little as Rin ruthlessly dragged the bewildered creature along with her. Paying no attention to the brightly colored leaves that covered the ground, on her quest to enlighten him as to the value of family. This most unusual sight, would have astounded any that knew him. The dark world warrior was not known for his kindness.
Sesshomaru walked over to where Thryss stood, "Come, the village lies over the next hill." He said. Thryss looked up, the normal emotionless expression back in place. She followed him in silence as they crested the hill and then stopped and stared, not knowing what to make of what she saw. At the bottom of the hill was cluster of rough shack-like dwellings, made of what appeared to be wood and perhaps grass. There were a few building that looked of slightly better construction, but even those were not properly cared for. An uneven dirt road wound through the buildings and disappeared at the base of the hill and then reappear a little further up, to continue on to where they stood. As she watched, a number of children ran together in a group laughing and shouting. An adult off to side, yelled and waved what looked like a cooking utensil at them. The children laughed in response and paid no further attention to the adult, as they skirted a four legged animal tied to a shabby wooden cart loaded with hay. The adult gave chase, catching up to the smallest who was lagging behind, and swatted the child on the rear with the cooking utensil. The child shrieked and giggled, speeding up to elude the adult.
Sesshomaru stood close by observing Thryss' reaction to the scene below. Once again she wasn't acting as one would expect. She stood motionless, her face revealing no emotion what so ever. She must feel a need to hide her reaction, but why would she feel that was necessary? The demon had no idea how accurate his surmise was.
Thryss stared incredulously at the chaos of daily life that was playing out below. There was no discipline, no order, no sense to the commotion, so different from life on Talis, which demanded order and structure of its people! Turning to look at Sesshomaru, she inquired, "These are my people?"
"Indeed."
"I don't understand what they are doing." She said softly, starting down the hill to get a closer look. Following the uneven dirt road that led to the village, she was unaware of the commotion that their arrival was causing.
"It is doubtful any understand the human race." The demon snorted as he moved to follow her, curious to see what she would do next.
As she approached the village, the smell of cooking wafted to her. It wasn't appetizing. The food smelled of oil and unfamiliar herbs. She glanced over to Kephren and saw he had same look of distaste on his face that she was feeling.
The villagers became alert as they neared. They seemed wary and distrustful. Most interesting was that the fear was directed at the demon, and not her dark world companion. She was finding it hard to believe that she came from this race, they reminded her of the small frightened creature that Kephren had inadvertently sat on. The fear coming from them was the same as the animal. A blind, paralyzing fear, that had kept little creature frozen in place afraid to move. You could see it in the way their eyes darted toward the demon and then away, as if they were afraid to draw his attention. How was it possible for a race to openly show such fear? They had to aware of the consequences such an obvious show of fear would surely bring about.
Sesshomaru headed in the direction of a clothing shop, putting some distance between himself and Thryss. He was curious to see her reaction. At the moment she had a disgusted look on her face, like she stepped in a pile of manure.
As Thryss moved away from the others, the people seemed watchful, but more relaxed. They murmured quietly amongst themselves as she passed, remarking on her strange clothes, the disrespectful way she looked at them, and the company she kept. Some of the men began to approach her. They were taller than her, and certainly dirtier than she was. The clothes were odd. A bit like Sesshomaru's silk clothing, but the cloth was rougher, poorer looking. One of them stood in her path menacingly.
"Why did you bring those demons here? We don't want their kind around here." He snarled, while the others closed in around her. Thryss had no way knowing that the humans had very valid reason for being distrustful of demons. A demon had laid waste to the village last year, killing nearly half of its inhabitants. Those that had survived that attack had a developed a deep rooted hatred for all things demonic."Did you think you would be safe because you travel with demons?" He asked menacingly.
Thryss realized in surprise that they thought Kephren was a demon. They were truly foolish if they confused a demon with a denizen of the dark world.
"Why do you fear the demons?" She asked.
"Are you a fool. They may look human but they aren't. They are just savage beasts." He said, spitting in disgust. His eyes roamed her form with a predatory expression. "We don't like demon's whores either. Filthy creatures." He said moving toward her threateningly.
Thryss realized he was actually considering attacking her.
"Your fear is misplaced." She said, as the brown of her eyes spread out, eclipsing the iris and pupil until only darkness remained. Her human self had fallen silent, leaving only the Talisian destroyer in its place. The villager hesitated, but did not recognize the peril he was in. Leering at her with a cruel smirk on his lips, "That demon must have addled your brains, not that it will matter." He said, reaching out to grab her. She met his eyes and muttered , "Insect, it is not possible that you are my race." Holding his gaze with her eyes, she reached into his mind.
Sesshomaru had been inspecting some replacement silk, much to the dismay of the frightened merchant, when he heard the scream. A sound of such primal horror, he could only assume it came from a human. Deciding to investigate, he followed the horrific sound. A group of humans had gathered at the center of the village, in their midst stood Thryss. On the ground in front of her, was a human. He writhed on the ground, clawing at his eyes. Blood streaming down his face as he attempted to gouge out them out. He shook convulsively, then curled in a fetal position. Laying there, he began a high pitched keening. The tortured sound making making the hair of those who watched stand on end.
Thryss looked at the men who stood near by, watching their fellow human die from what the Talisian's called 'The Nightmare'. A psionic weapon that prayed on a persons deepest fear, driving them to madness. Once trapped in this nightmare, the only escape was death.
Stretching out her hand, she swept it horizontally around her, cutting the air with a blade of energy. The blade parted the air, effectively separating everything in its path, cutting it in two. The men surrounding Thryss fell to the ground, their torso's falling one way, their lower bodies falling the other. Women who peeked out from the rough wooden windows stared in speechless horror as the men began to scream. Looking down at their severed bodies, some of the men tried to frantically push the entrails back into their stomachs or simply held them in their hands, staring in incomprehension at this puzzling situation. Some begged for help, while others stared wordlessly at their legs, which were laying parallel to them. Blood flowed along the ground like a river, running over Thryss' feet. She looked down at the crimson stream without interest, and stepped over the villagers who lay moaning in agony.
Moving further into the village, she waved her hand at the huts on either side of her, with what looked to be an unthinking gesture. The powerful waves of energy easily leveled the fragile structures, killing all of those inside. Regardless of whether it was men, women or children, they had challenged her, so they would die. Indifferent and emotionless she continued on her path of destruction until the demon lord blocked her path.