Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho is copyrighted and belongs to its creator, Togashi Yoshihiro.
Author's Note: This chapter is mostly dialogue.
WARNING: This chapter addresses matters concerning all human kind. It's also the dialogue within a dream, before a real nightmarish adventure begins. This chapter and the next are NOT for the faint of heart. Please do not take this chapter as an attack on religious beliefs. I'm not intending to do that in the least. But I still warn, the content is heavy ideology.
Genre: Supernatural, fantasy, humor, horror, and not so much general. It is also an AU, an "alternate Universe" for the setting.
Rating: Mature…for obvious reasons.
THE PATH TO DECAY
[Opening to: "Old Friend"]
"The human race is doomed, their blind ambitions fed by pride is leading them down on a path they may not ever return from. Their foolishness is, of course, their folly to recognize the symptoms. They ignore the signs, for it is far too painful for them to bare in their conscience…
"There is an order to be filled. On of the purpose of demons was not to test humans, as many tomes claim, but to keep the human population down at a reasonable number. The humans have overpopulated themselves, the rate of starvation and the lack of sufficient clean water is at an all time high. Over irrigation and pollution turn into famine and poisoned waters. Humans have abused the environment, taking the simplest of life's necessities for granted. Wasting much and still desiring even more. Animal cruelty and extinction have worsen, and the entire food chain faces oblivion…
"The human race is corrupt, their societies ran by liars, and the foundations that their systems had been built upon are collapsing. These increasing conditions are no different than being surrounded by a pack of wolves; a few manage to escape, the rest become the fodder. People will sacrifice one another, if they forget who they are; that they are a race of beings designed to care for one another…
"The human race is special, but they forget where they came from. They've forgotten their primitive ancestors and their history. The very evidence lies in their gene pools, an answer that even their top scientists fail to decode. That they were taken from apes, and were evolved by mutation; their DNA engineered into lesser, hybrid beings. In layman's terms, they are the product of the gods' acts of experimentations…
"Nevertheless, they are different than any creature ever to be brought into being. Different from any animal, even unlike that of demons; the first demons were Chimeras. Though flawed they are, humans lack the major faults of our kind. And when a human sheds from their mortal coil, or perishes, that which was given goes back to the source that it once came. Their bodies return to the earth to continue the nourishment of the soil, their souls return to energy, while their spirits are to be reunited with the stars…
"But here is a little fact to chew on: The spirit is the heart of every individual, but it is not in body, nor in the mind. It is where a person entrusts it, where they decide to put it…
"Either way… Nothing that you see before you today was made magically from simple dust particles, or the sand of the earth. No one breathed life into their lugs as some book has stated, and yet, so many see it as though it is an uncompromising truth…
"The human element is composed of many elements. It takes more than just mere dust and air to make a living being. It was through the use of alchemy, in other words, science. The very same goes for the construction of spirit and soul. And these elements are sources found only from the stars, the elements rest with them. We are the sources of these elements, we produce them ceaselessly through our entire existence…
"The universe itself was formed from a single star, when my father expanded himself into what is now. That is where it all began…
"As of right now... Mankind uses alchemy in hopes to become like gods themselves, even going as far as to creating diminutive stars all of their own; ones that can fit in the very palms of their hands. However, they use this technology to achieve negative means and to commit evils, namely for the purpose of destroying one another...
"But there is also another threat, one that has been prolonged for far too long; ever since beginnings of all human kind. They are the meaning behind the human race's corruption and fall, the vain of it all. My father's 'Sins' were to force them all to bend, to break them under the surmounting pressure. However, the issues continue to subsist, and they refuse to give in or forfeit...
"They allow the humans to blindly hurt one another, to destroy one another, and in the meanwhile...they plan to take away their freedoms. They have tainted the humans' minds and have been using them to achieve their means. They lie to them, to everyone. Many people are hurting, but they do not care. They all live in a false sense of reality, protected by their own lies that they wish to believe...
"That's where I step in...
"I can take away that which was given, and that which has been stolen, because it's my ordained right to. For I have the power to do so...
"To some, I am Justice and Truth. To many, I am DEATH...
"However, not all will suffer. Not all will perish. Not everyone is blind, just those who choose to remain asleep. The point is, in this on going war, no one is going to be spared in the end. Everyone is going to feel some it to some effect; like a ripple in a glass of water...
"The humans will fail to restrain me. Their attempt upon my life was petty, just as the attempts from the fools in Spirit World were...
"If they want evil, I'll show them EVIL...
"They will feel my blade at the time of harvest. And their begs for mercy I will NOT hear, for they never showed any. I AM the final punishment. There will be no time for apologies, only tears and echoing cries, as I take them to The Other Side. My heart will be like that of stone...
"They believe that these chains will hold me, but they won't hold on for much longer... These seals will fall away...
"I will no longer live a life of lies... To give another fake smile... With another day gone, another night's dawn... I will remember and not forget this time... For my father has, at last, filled me in on everything...
"No one can stop me, and they cannot evade their fates...
"They WILL fear me."
oOoOo
There were in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to be seen except for themselves.
The night never seemed so cruel; like an ominous blackened cloud of death, cascading around them, breathing its icy winds as it sucked the life from their bodies.
Her feet were aching against the freezing pavement.
His hair was blowing in the wind. His face blank and empty of all expression for what she could see when he passed her.
Waves of flowing claret came crashing into him, spilling enigmatically from the darkness that surrounded them.
The red tainted his immaculate white clothing, soaking him to the bone. He had on his old "tournament" wardrobe, sporting the biker's jacket that he was well noted for.
"No, Kazuma! Please don't go!" She shouted, pleading to him…
But he didn't answer.
He didn't even turn around, or look her way. It seemed as though he couldn't hear her, as though her blaring voice was only for her own ears to hear; it bared no vibration or audio for his. He just continued sauntering on, heading towards only the gods' know where.
His steps were dawdling, his stride slow, and his steps rigid.
Alas, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't bring herself to catch up with him. He kept getting farther and farther away from her, as if they were being pulled apart.
It was like she wasn't moving at all, when it was obvious that she was. It was like the ground itself was somehow moving her backwards, away from him.
And the blood kept coming. Flooding the ground at a tremendous, overwhelming rate; like an ocean being dumped literally on top of them.
She soon found her own self swimming in it, the crimson tides pushing her away this time.
"I'm sorry! Kazuma!"
Her cries continued to fall on deaf ears.
The blood engulfed him, swallowing him up, and taking him from her sight.
And at the last moment, she had reached out to him.
She couldn't believe it, and neither did she want to accept it... Her brother was gone.
And now, it seemed it was her time to disappear, as the monstrous waves began to overcome her.
…TBC…
Author's Comments:
A little warning… The next chapter after this is going to be fairly dark. A lot darker than this one. I don't know when that will be, since I've been under the weather lately.
This chapter, I am sure, is a mind trip for some.
I'd like to thank all those who have reviewed. Thank you all.
