One years before Kikyo is ressurected

Death was never a good thing, Mathew knew that, and yet as he bled out against the large tree in the grove, he did not fight it. He was tired, a short but painful life had ensured that his willingness to fight the sweet release of death... So, naturally, he was not expecting to feel extreme warmth rush through him from the tree, startling his senses as darkness flooded his vision. The world swirled and shimmery constellation-looking energy swirled around him through the darkness before he popped out, out of the tree he was laying against.

"The hell?" he said, as he literally flew into the air, startled and terrified. "How am I ... am I ghost, where are the buildings?" He had been just outside of a town, and yet now around him all he saw was nothing but forest and a small mountain just nearby. There was an emptiness about the world, a quiet and absence of life that he could not entirely comprehend it.

Not that it matters as the strangest feeling overtook him. A sharp wordless pain hooked into his core and yanked him away, he flew through the air and into the sky, approaching a mountian with a thick smoke rising from it's core. It was not volcanic, but more like a kiln. He flew towards it, faster and faster until he flew through the mountain rock and into a firey torent of smoke and heat that even in his ghostly state he could feel. It sank into him, making him crave relief.

"What is that?" he saw a thing, vaguely human shaped and made of clay. "Is someone baking humans in here?" Absently, he reached out and touched the thing, only for his entire essence to be sucked into the damn thing, trapping him in a prison of clay and heat and shadow. "LET MET GO!" HE screamed, but his body would not move, it felt heavy as iron.

Time passed as he screamed, but nothing changed... and then, at some point, a rush of cold energy shot through him, and the heaviness started to wane. He gasped, shaking inside. Suddenly a burst Light and a sharp metal pierced above his head, and with it a energy washed through him, the heaviness lifted entirely and he managed to move. Cracks formed around his clay prison and he reached out as it crumbled, grabbing something instinctively, and only more energy shot through him.

The final parts of clay lifted and he saw the light of day, and a woman, a hag of great stature looking at him with anger. "What are you? You are not the vessel I crafted, nor are you even of this land."

Mathew shivered, holding tighter what he now knew to be a small herb in his hand. "My name is Mathew, I died a few... well I am not sure when. I flew through a tree, and something pulled me here." He kept quiet about where he was from, just in case. It felt right to hold that knowledge back. "I touched the thing, the clay creation and was sucked inside. I was stuck for a while, then you were here."

She nodded, sighing. "My magic is strong, it likely summoned your strong soul filled with strong Haku." She reached toward him, grabbing his face. "Your will must be extremely potent to overpower the magic, to mold the vessel to look like your original form instead of it's previous body... I think I will keep you. Tell me, child, what say you to work for the demoness, the sorceress Urasue?"

He shivered, standing up only to realize he was naked. "I... I... hey, wait, sorceress? As in magic?" He got excited, and she looked at him amused, nodding. "And demons... are there other demons?" She nodded and he kneeled. "I would be honored to serve you but please, I beg you, show me magic. I will do almost anything, even kill for you. Let me learn, I always wanted to learn magic. I never knew I could. The cost is irrelevant."

Urasue cackled. "Your greed for power, it might just be what molded you into the being you are. Very well, yes, I have a daughter that molds my clay, a son that fights for me, I could easily use an apprentice to help me cast my magics, make my potions. Rise, my son and welcome to your new family, free of your past and rising to a greater future than you could ever dream."

And so he did, his past was nothing to remember, he would strive toward this greater future with all he had, and never look back...

Even if he had to get over the rush of weird that it was.

If this was hell, he would welcome it... now and forever.

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was a joy to write, to make, to love.

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.