Chapter 1
It had happened during early morning meditations when all of the students of the Delphi Academy sat in a large circle around the ever-burning crystal fire. The air had been thick with the smells of lavender and body spray; the fire crackled pleasantly, lulling Kagome into a dream-like state. That was when the premonition stuck, so different because of its reality-like feel. Each word, each image had been imprinted in her mind and, even now, she could remember every detail.
Kagome wasn't aware of exactly when reality turned into prophesy, but she guessed it occurred a few minutes into the morning meditations. When the premonition started, she still sat in the circle, still mentally groped for that clear diamond window she had been taught to do for years. Everything seemed normal until a voice, or several in unison, started whispering. She looked up to see who the brave student was that dared to break the seemingly impenetrable silence of early morning meditation, but everyone's head was still bowed in concentration. Yet the voices kept on whispering, a little louder this time, enabling her to vaguely make out what they were saying, "Kag—Queen—of—Kag," and as she strained to listen, the voices grew even louder and chanted slowly, steadily, "Kagome, Queen of the World, Kagome, Queen of the World…" she looked around, trying to see if any one else heard the feathery, chanting voices; apparently not.
"Uh…yeah? Who are you? A-and what do you want?" she hesitantly asked.
For the first time the voices stopped their mantra and, instead, made a gurgling sound that might have been a chuckle. The sound caused her to smile in relief. It wasn't unflattering having her name paired with queen, but it was almost too appealing, and she suddenly felt she would do anything to have the world do the same.
"We do not wish any thing of you, rather the world is crying out for your aid." A high pitched voice squeaked in reply to her question. Puzzled, Kagome cocked her head to the side and stared blankly at the fire where the voice seemed to be coming from. A long, low cackle followed and, this time, a mellow soothing voice explained, "Kagome, you are aware of the state of the land, how evil traverses openly on our roads, but you don't know why or how life was like before."
As this was being said, Kagome's meditating classmates melted away and in their place were small squat stores and tall skyscrapers. The fire in the center of the room transformed into an especially tall, flame red building made out of some smooth crystal-like stone.
"Life back then was good. People knew what sunshine looked like and experienced the joy of walking down the street with a group of friends, unafraid of being kidnapped or raped."
Looking around, Kagome found herself wearing a strange uniform while walking down the street pass the tall, flame red building. Two girls, who appeared of be her age, were walking besides her, talking and laughing. One of them said something funny and, with out thinking, she laughed aloud with them. The atmosphere was friendly and, for once, the sun wasn't hidden behind clouds bloated with rain so Kagome didn't find it hard to allow her guard and tongue to loosen. While talking about some random boy named Hojo (who she didn't even know she knew), she felt a strange tingling sensation at the nape of her neck. Turning a little to the side she saw, out of the corner of her eyes, one of her new friends tumble to the ground, an expression of shock on her face. A dribble of blood dripped out of the corner of her mouth causing Kagome's panic to turn into hysteria. Her other companion didn't seem to notice until Kagome tugged on her arm and even then all she said was, "Oh," before pulling out a knife and smiling menacingly.
"People began turning on one another. A greater evil would whisper lies to them and in anger people began killing each other and fighting in the middle of the street. The especially spite-filled morphed into mutated minions of the Greater Evil. After the Riot of '38," an image of the great red building burning flashed into view, "life soon became what it is now. Dark, helpless, without light."
Kagome was running barefoot on cracked slabs of pavement, fiery red buildings flickerd by, melting into a coal black, smoke-filled sky. Ashes fell from the sky like snow and, once again in unison, the voices roared,
"You are the key, the light after the dark, the innocence. You MUST fulfill the mission, Kagome, Queen of the World, Kagome…"
Fire became ice and ash snow as the scene swirled and she rested at the base of an intimidating mountain.
"At the top of the mountain." A melodious, clearly male voice continued, "is and ancient alter. It is our will that you, Kagome, the purest of mikos, Queen of the World, Oracle of Elisia, find the jewel of four souls, the Shikon no Tama, that rests in the deepest nest of the Devil, and place it at the top of the altar. This will destroy Naraku, the Greatest of Evils, but will not put a stop to all evil."
During the explanation, a thousand questions erupted in Kagome's mind and, squinting through the whirling snow she asked, "What do you mean Queen? And where's this Nest of the Devil? How will putting some jewel an on altar change the world? What's up with all of those titles, any way? And…" she hesitated, "I-I think you've got the wrong person. I'm no oracle, just a student in training. I haven't even gotten my first premonition yet." At this comment the voices erupted into chuckles again until Kagome asked timidly, "What if I don't do this?" Immediately the voices sobered and a definite air of gloom befell her as the voices started chanting and felt a chill crawl up her spine…
She shuddered suddenly. No, she wasn't particularly fond of that part of the premonition.
"So, anyway, the Headmaster just smiled and let her go. Can you believe that Kagome? He just let her go! …Kagome?" Her friend's voice cut through her thoughts. Looking at her anxious face, Kagome smiled and apologized,
"Sorry Yuka, I just kind of fazed out there."
"Are you sure you're okay? Do you want some oden? They're your favorite food right?" she asked, pushing her chair back from the great dining hall table.
"It's okay, it's okay! What were we talking about before?" Kagome asked, waving her friend's concern away; everyone had been treating her with an unnerving amount of respect and concern these days and she found it annoying. Still unconvinced, Yuka chose not to pursue the matter and instead resumed her chatter, allowing Kagome to lose herself in thoughts of Devil's Nests and Shikon no Tamas.
All too soon another interruption came, this time in the form of a loud slam as the main doors were forcefully thrown open. There were several exclamations, and shouts as a scuffle broke out, which was followed by the patter of feet as the intruder fled into the dining hall. The man froze, seeming confused, until he saw the Headmaster.
"Sir," he said, his hoarse voice loud in the startled silence, "I have news of Naraku,"
His gold eyes suddenly locked with Kagome's and she saw a ghost of a smile on his lips. Shivering in surprise, she would have smiled back if he hadn't collapsed into a heap on the ground.
Wooot. I only had to go to school for one hour today so I finally managed to put up the first chapter. Soooo sorry for it being kinda boring, but I figure that I'll get the boring schtuff outta the way so I can jump into the juicy stuff un-interrupted. Standard disclaimers apply to fanfic, note the word fan. There's this really kewl song by the cars that I'm listening to that talks about living in cars. Or at least I think that's what they're talking about. ^_^* Not that, that was random or anything….