Chapter 54 In the Dragon's Court
Above them, the heavens split open like a curtain being spread wide and brilliance of impossible intensity flooded out, forcing Sesshoumaru to shield his eyes with his hand. In a way that he could not describe, Sesshoumaru felt reality flex, as though it was sagging under some impossible weight. The atmosphere became heavier and his breathing became labored, each breath an effort for his lungs.
His senses became meaningless, his vision was nothing but blinding light; either there was nothing to hear or he was now deaf, he floated in nothingness and he could not even catch his own scent. The world had dropped away and he was but a mote of dust on the floor of eternity. Insignificant and powerless, he had never felt so vulnerable, as though he were naked and standing ready for a judgment of an inconceivable magnitude.
A presence entered into his awareness. It was titanic, immeasurable on any scale; cosmic would be the only word he could think of to describe it. Sesshouamru knew then the depths of Wei's insanity for daring to draw the attention of whatever it was that he had called on; it was not a dragon. That term was something used by humans to try define the indefinable. It was beyond any mortal's comprehension and Wei was tampering with forces he couldn't possibly understand.
A voice of such power that volume did not matter spoke.
"YOU WHO HOLD THE SEAL OF HEAVEN, YOU HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO SUMMON ME."
The voice paused.
"YOU ARE NOT A GOD THOUGH, AND THUS, CANNOT COMMAND."
Sesshoumaru detected a tremble in Wei's voice as he began to realize how far out of his league he was. He was Wei though, and would not stop for anything.
"THEN I WILL BEG! THE JAPANESE HAVE WRONGED OUR PEOPLE, COMMITTED INNUMERABLE CRIMES. THE DEPTHS OF THEIR SINS KNOW NO LIMIT! I BESEECH YOU, HELP OUR PEOPLE CLAIM VENGEANCE, DESTROY THEIR ISLAND. REMOVE THEIR TAINT FROM THE WORLD."
For a moment, the blackest and most terrible horror filled Sesshoumaru's heart as he felt the entity consider Wei's request. Then, there was something like a resigned sigh.
"YOUR MIND REVEALS ALL THE JAPANESE HAVE DONE, IT HAS HAPPENED, IT IS HAPPENING, IT WILL HAPPEN. TO DO AS YOU REQUEST WOULD HAVE CONSEQUENCES MORE SEVERE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE. TIME IS A KEYSTONE IN REALITY. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE JAPANESE, THE ALTERATION OF HISTORY, WOULD PULL OUT THAT KEYSTONE AND ALL THAT IS WOULD COLLAPSE INTO THE COSMIC ABYSS THAT SURROUNDS US. CHINA, JAPAN, THE ENTIRE EARTH AND REALITY ITSELF WOULD CEASE TO EXIST."
"YOUR TRAVELS THROUGH TIME ARE MORE PERILOUS THAN YOU CAN CONCEIVE AND YOU ENDANGER MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE."
There was a pause, and a sensation of the universe measuring Wei; weighing him, dissecting him, examining him with such an intensity that the terror it sparked in Wei could be felt across the nothingness and the everything surrounding them.
" I WILL RELIEVE YOU OF THAT SEAL. I CANNOT FATHOM WHY IT WOULD BE DELIVERED TO YOU, BUT IT DOES NOT BELONG IN MORTAL HANDS."
The voice took on a softer, more paternalistic tone.
"WEI, IF YOU TRULY LOVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR PEOPLE, YOU MUST RETURN TO YOUR OWN TIME. NOW GO."
Sesshoumaru felt something like a gale force wind catch them all in its grasp, or perhaps he was in the palm of the entity Wei had summoned. Whichever the case, he felt himself accelerating towards a dark orb in the distance. An instant passed and it was no longer a dark orb, it was the tear in the sky created by Wei's summoning and seen from the opposite side. He could see the tiny tops of the buildings growing larger by the second. An instant more and Sesshoumaru felt as though he had been shoved through a door or barrier of some sort.
His awareness blurred and he saw Kouga's face with impossible relief written on it, then he saw Wei staring at him with dead eyes and a stony countenance. His enemy's face split apart in crimson streams and then...there was nothing.
