Drawn to the Light

By Eline

Rated PG-13 for swearing, violence and the like.

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The damp air was beginning to feel heavier by the minute. Sanzo could not place it as first, but he soon recognised the undercurrent of anticipation that was almost tangible.

Something was expecting them. Something really wanted them to continue along the path they were following.

Not that there was any other way to go. The appearance of other spectres along the path they were taking had led him to believe that they were on the right track. The mouldering piles of bones on the floor confirmed it.

When they reached an opening that resembled an archway, Sanzo had made up his mind.

"Goku."

"Eh--Sanzo?"

"Stay here," he ordered.

"But--"

"Stay put and watch the damn passage!"

Goku recoiled a little at the harshness in his tone, but in these kinds of situations, it was Sanzo who ultimately called the shots.

At Goku's reluctant nod, the priest readied his gun and stepped through the dark portal.

* * * * * * * * * *

They had barely even set off again when they heard the faintest noise in the subterranean gloom.

Scrape. Scrape.

Hakkai and Gojyo froze simultaneously.

And it came again. The faint scraping of claws or nails on stone. There was no way to tell how close or where the noise was coming from. Any sound down here got amplified and bounced around the passages.

Without exchanging a word, they were instantly on their guard. Gojyo had his shakujou out and Hakkai was primed to release his ki-blast.

A low moan vibrated through the air. It sounded like a foghorn gone feral.

Something was down here. Something alive.

They could barely sense it at first as it shambled into view from an opening just ahead of them.

Youkai, certainly. But there was definitely something wrong with it, not merely the madness caused by the Minus Wave. Most youkai did not have foot-long claws, nor did they move as though they had forgotten how to walk on two feet. Rags adorned the hulking frame that seemed to be more bone than flesh. And it carried with it the scent of mould and things long dead.

The youkai or whatever it was let out another mournful howl. Only at this range, it sounded like a full-fledged bellow.

It was inevitable that the youkai would see them and they waited, tensed for an attack.

They could not be sure if the youkai had seen them or caught wind of their scent before it sprang at them with astonishing speed.

It had sniffed the air and the ground like a hound and its eyes were frighteningly blank; perhaps the madness had interfered with its senses. But there was nothing hesitant or unsound about its attack. They were forced to separate as the youkai made a spirited attempt to disembowel them. Together, they provided far too large a target in the small space.

"Gojyo! This isn't like any youkai we've ever seen!"

Tumbling and rolling to avoid the lightning-swift approach of the crazed youkai who had chosen to follow him, Gojyo snorted. "You think?"

It would never win a prize in a beauty contest. And it did not appear to have a personality to speak of. Definitely a youkai that had lost all sense of self. And yet, there was nothing really malicious about it . . .

Yellowed talons flashed past where Gojyo's head had been. They were viciously sharp and none-too-clean nails at that. If he had been just a moment slower, there would have been a really nasty mess sitting on his shoulders. As it was, he managed to get away with some shallow scratches. Hakkai would fuss over them later if infection set in . . . but at the moment, he was busy trying to aim his ki-blast so that it would not hit Gojyo as well.

No such luck there. The youkai kept close, hindering his attempts at bringing his shakujou into play. The chain and blade were not effective in an enclosed space this small. If the youkai knew this, it was probably smarter than it looked. But it had not attempted to wrest the shakujou away from him. It behaved like a wild beast, lunging and rearing while trying to take a piece out of him. Animal cunning, not guile, was its strategy.

The one thing Gojyo *was* certain of at that point was that the youkai was very, very hungry indeed.

* * * * * * * * * *

There was just a short passage, utterly pitch black, that opened into a much larger space.

It was like stepping into a cold waterfall. Ice washed through his veins, under his skin and up his spine like electricity. He was vaguely surprised that he still standing up. The shock of all that power concentrated here could kill and he had only brushed against the very edges of it. It was an entirely alien sensation--not youkai or human. But it was not natural either.

A kind of wrongness in the air . . . He could feel it--the elemental force tangled up together with the unnatural energy, making his skin prickle and his hair stand on end. He had been right to leave Goku outside--whatever species he was. Hakkai would not have made it pass the threshold--the malignancy of the Minus Wave energies trapped here was far too strong.

Gritting his teeth, he stepped forwards carefully, testing the boundaries. The air crackled around him, but it was nothing more than the vast aura of leased power. All that energy was not contained here--this was merely an aggregation. It was like a pillar stretching from floor to ceiling, coiling and twisting the elemental force of the river around it. And tangled up in it all, like a stray thread in the weave, was the sleeper. It was a barely discernible spark balanced precariously atop the amalgam of power--the disembodied awareness that had waited for a very long time for this moment.

The body was still there--a barely discernible heap in a corner of the space that fairly thrummed with those weird energies. Youkai. Female. If the spectral memories were anything to go by, this youkai had been one of those seeking shelter from the initial chaos when the Minus Wave hit this area. But it had gone wrong somehow and they had been trapped by the ensuing landslide. Trapped here since the first Minus Wave had swept the land.

Sanzo supposed that the youkai had been unfortunate enough to be in the right place at the wrong time when the Minus Wave had reached the elemental source of the river, probably at its peak during the diurnal cycle, to create a mess like this. Instead of instant death, the youkai had most probably became the lynchpin of the dam that was holding in all that warped energy. And the elemental power was accumulating here like threads on a spindle, which was why the river had been receding--

Correct. I've been waiting for you . . .

His gun came up. "You. It was you in the damned dreams!" He recognised that voice in his head. The source of that truly annoying migraine.

Yes. It was hard to get through--you're remarkably resistant to prodding.

"You're projecting too loudly." And that projection of terror and grief had caused all the havoc down here, no doubt.

It is not something I can control. What I can control is limited. It's like knocking on a very thick door. I had to knock very hard to get your attention, priest.

"You've knocked too damn hard." Sanzo felt his temper fraying. "So you've managed to drag us here. What the hell do you want?"

Is it not obvious? End it, priest.

"I am not a fucking charity," Sanzo said levelly. That mental voice was calm. A little too calm. The disembodied youkai would have gone mad trapped as it was down here, Minus Wave notwithstanding.

I know. So I'll give you an incentive.

"And what might that be?"

You will have just time to get out of here when everything unbalances. I'm not promising much, but I know that the roof of the cavern will definitely cave in when the backlash hits.

"So why *should* I end it?" he asked sardonically.

Would you like to stay down here forever?

Ah, more threats. Even without the youkai's prodding, he knew that this particular problem needed resolution. It was like a bomb that needed diffusing before it went off by itself. By that time, the accumulated energies could probably take out a significant portion of the soon-to-be drought-ridden countryside. Sanzo simply hated it when problems like this landed up on his lap. He was actually expected to *solve* them. "I don't deal with youkai."

I don't think that's really a significant point here and now . . . Hurry--there is not much time.

"Oi, where are the other two morons?"

They will be all right as long as they do not run across Hanshio. Are you by any chance *worried* about them?

Sanzo could have sworn that the voice was poking fun at him. "Hanshio?"

My mate. He's woken up--you'll have to kill him.

"You both really have gone mad."

And you think that mad youkai should be put down like rabid dogs . . . Ah--too late. They're heading this way . . .

"What?" Sanzo demanded.

I couldn't get to you without disturbing all this energy that holds us here. If you got a headache, then my meddling would have been enough to wake him again.

There was a baying noise from the passages that echoed around the cavern.

I think they found him . . .

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End of Part 6