"O ben creato spirito, che a'rai di vita etterna la dolcezz senti che, non gutata, non s'intende mai

"O well-created spirit, who in the rays of life eternal dost the sweetness taste which being untasted ne'ev is comprehended

Legacy - Rise and Fall of the Western Land

Coming of Age

The ceremony was on a gloomy night, a night when no moon shown, yet the youkai knew it was a full moon. The clouds parted, creating a hole for the moon's light to shine through on the ground as it fell through the trees and covered the mountains with a luminous gleam.
Inutaisho, a young inu-youkai of the Western Lands, pulled his armor over his shoulders and tied his long white hair behind his head. He walked out of the building and turned right on the deck. Inutaisho, prince of the Western Lands, commenced to his Coming of Age ceremony. As he walked towards the main house, he realized that he was shaking. Stop, he told his body. He realized it was from excitement. The Coming of Age ceremony is evoked when the Inu no Taisho of the Western Lands, dies or is dying. The right to rule is passed down to the eldest son of the Inu no Taisho. An heirloom is passed to the son, an heirloom that no one is to know of, for safety of the eldest son.
He entered the main building of the castle and saw his father, the Inu no Taisho, whom had dressed up for this event, most uncharacteristic of the gangly Dai-youkai. He wore a fur over his shoulders and was held up by a cane of strong woven branches. He wasn't a very large man, given the spells to have the body of one, with thin arms covered by a large red kimono with gold flowers around the seams, most likely weighing as much as he. Inutaisho fought back tears of seeing his father so tired. His skin was pallid and sickly. His eyes were half closed as he lifted his head to see his young son enter the room. Though they were barely open and continuing to droop, he pierced Inutaisho's eyes with his large blue eyes.
Inutaisho smiled at the power still in his father's eyes and met his gaze with his bronze eyes. His skin was hot with excitement and had became more tan than it was. He flexed his muscles under his armor to relax and approached his decrepit father.
Candles lit the room and Inutaisho saw that his father's four closest adversaries and comrades had come to see the Coming of Age. One Inutaisho knew personally as Myouga, a smart flea youkai whom had served both his father and grandfather. He was a coward in battle, but a scribe in history. Through his father's stories, told when Inutaisho was but a young whelp, the ceremony was a most sacred event and was to be gazed upon by the father and eldest son. Even the Inu no Taisho's other children, if an Inu no Taisho were to have more than one, could not regard this, for fear they would kill the eldest son for domination.
Inutaisho was born an only child, son of Touga, the Inu no Taisho until this night, and another Dai-youkai of the East. Inutaisho never knew his mother; his mother had disappeared in combat alongside his father and was never found. But, that was over five hundred years ago.
Inutaisho knelt before his father and proceeded to kowtow. "My son," Touga, the Leader of the Dogs, announced with every bit of pride, "you are the heir to the great lands of the west. You have displayed your own strength and wisdom as you have gone to battle with my comrades and I.
"I have brought forth adversaries to help me give you your birthright, as I have not the strength to give it to you myself."
Inu no Taisho signaled for two of his adversaries to assist him. The wolf youkai, who – like Inutaisho and his father – had spells to give them the bodies of humans. Their long brown hair was tied up, like his own. They wore a formal black kimono.
Touga let go of his cane and stood on his own. The two wolves came up to his father. One of them held onto his father's torso as the other held the sides of his face. Inutaisho scrutinized this when he realized the wolf's – who was holding his father's face – other hand was clawing out his father's right eye.
"Chiche-ue!" Inutaisho screamed and stood up, running towards his father. The other wolf comrade, whom had been sitting with Myouga, had rose and tried grabbing Inutaisho's preternatural body. Inutaisho's eyes were now blood red. He thrust the heel of his hand into the youkai's lower jaw, sending him to the ground bleeding out of the mouth.
The wolf holding his father's body continued to lock on his body while the other had managed to dig out his father's eye without popping it with his claws. Blood from where his father's eye had been spilled onto the floor. Few drops were spilt as the wound began to heal. Inu no Taisho covered his right eye with his hand, and with his left hand, reached for the eye that the wolf held. Inutaisho watched with awe at his father's blank countenance. As his father held the eye, he let go of the gap in his head and brought his right hand over the eye.
He lifted his hand and showed a light came from the eye that had formed under his fingers. A black pearl, with swirls of purple inside was evoked from his eye, which had begun to dissipate. It was the strangest pearl. Bits of red and white specks could be seen as he held the object.
The wolves and Myouga were in awe as the eye turned a deep purple and then black. The pearl seemed to lose it's luster and die. Inutaisho watched as his father brought his hand that held the pearl towards him. Inutaisho took the pearl with timidness. Myouga bowed his head and said a few words.
"This pearl was made by Housenki, a youkai with the power to omit worlds to us, the Inu no Taisho's of the West. This pearl gives you the power to go to the world beyond, where the Inu no Taisho goes when he dies."
Why would I want to visit my grave? The young inu-youkai thought with a tinge of disappointment on his face. Why couldn't it have been a sword or his telepathy? he thought.
"I hear your thoughts; when I can't hear them, then you will have my telepathy. You all may leave," Inu no Taisho told the wolves and Myouga, the wise flea. When they had left: "I gave you this gift because I love you. My father never told me that, mostly because he died when I was as old as you. I tell you this because... I know I'm dying. I'm supposed to die. I want you to visit me, when I die. I..." he coughed and a lone tear fell down his face.
"Chichi-ue, what do you mean you're supposed to die?"
"Come with me."
Inu no Taisho and he went to his father's room where relics from the old tai-youkai had slept. The Inu no Taisho went to the far wall on the right where stones had made it. Inu no Taisho went to the side of it and made to push it. It didn't budge. Inutaisho went to his father's side and helped push the stone wall. His father smiled and backed away as the stones gave way. A crimson light was emitted behind the wall. Inutaisho had fully moved the wall and stepped back.
So, another four thousand years, has it been? A new Inu no Taisho, another body... the vermillion light said.
"Sou'unga, my son is here to overpower you, perhaps destroy you," Inu no Taisho told it.
Fine... Inu no Taisho gestured for his son to step towards the red light. He did so and the red light turned to a purple, then blue. As the light receded, Inutaisho saw that the light was a sword. The end of it's hilt had something of an eye. This speaks? Inutaisho scrutinized as he stepped closer. His father put his right hand on his son's shoulder.
"Do not be tempted by it, my son. If you do trust in this, I will kill you," Inu no Taisho told him without a true countenance.
Inutaisho nodded and grabbed the hilt of the sword, Sou'unga. Kill him, kill them all, Inutaisho, rule with me, be my body... Inutaisho felt a tightening around his arm and realized he was giving in without a true fight. His eyes turned red and his mind blurred. Thoughts of blood and rape filled his head.
"Fight, Inutaisho!"
Inutaisho repressed his true form and with his other hand grabbed the hilt of Sou'unga. The sword turned a bright vermillion and let go of his mind. The thoughts of lust and death abandoned him and he dropped the sword. The sword changed to the deep blue and became silent.
"You did much better than I, I had no father to help me fight. I killed my own mother. It took Myouga an hour to drain me to the point of death to remove Sou'unga from me. Two thousand years later, you were born; now you are the heir to this kingdom; now you hold the grave of your forefathers; you alone have the power to wield Sou'unga."
"Where did Sou'unga come from?"
"No one knows. He is but a vengeful spirit, bent on destruction. Perhaps you will learn soon," Inu no Taisho bowed his head and sat on the floor.
"Now is the time to gain your title and your birthrights. Kill me Inutaisho, kill me to become the Leader of the Dogs."
Inutaisho became confused. "I... have to kill you?"
"It's the only way to gain my strength and wisdom. Through death, my blood will be passed onto you. Do it now, before my time runs out," he coughed again and this time blood spilt out of his mouth.
Inutaisho raised his right hand into a fist and waited for a moment, contemplating what he would gain through his death: The right to be Inu no Taisho; a pearl to the nether realm; and Sou'unga.
His fist came down in a sweep on the old Inu no Taisho's head. No blood was spilt, no sigh came from his lips as he died by his own son's hand. Inutaisho felt the blow of the death weigh him down. He sunk to the floor and held the corpse to his chest. Still warm, though not there. He let go of the body, already losing it's color and becoming more decrepit.
He left the body there, left Sou'unga on the floor, who had taken to laughing at his sorrow, a laugh with a passion for the demise it had seen since it's power, it's vengeful soul was locked into it. Though it had no countenance, it had a voice and was telling the Inu no Taisho that they could be one. Inutaisho held the pearl though and walked out into the castle to find Myouga, the wise.

Author's Note:

Major changes throughout... I realized I was typing too fast and not paying attention to grammarical and spelling errors... Here now, it's updated for you...