"To Belong"

Prologue

What was this dizziness that so consumed her very breath and thought and sense?

Eryth trembled and shook as she knelt on the ground that seemed almost too far away, but now so very close, yet so cold. What was she doing here in the first place? How did she end up on this dark and downtrodden forest pathway to nowhere? Gasping, she tried to look for something or someone to reach out to. The gigantic moon that towered over her seemed to offer no sympathy. Oh, how she wished and pleaded with herself that she could simply lie horizontally on the filthy dirt with her knees tucked under her chin so she could rest forever. There was no recourse. Eryth was alone.

Her frail voice quivered in the silent forest clearing. "Help me..."

A footstep awakened her every emotion. She jolted up, glancing about wildly. "Hello?"

There was no response to her timid greeting. A chill materialized down Eryth's back, sending yet another wave of nausea through her consciousness. "What is happening to me...?" she whispered, unaware of the shadow in the trees that kept careful watch over the girl.

She was far too confused to be angry. She was far too afraid to cry. She had no earthly idea where she was or how she had made it there at all. Trying to remember didn't help. Her head swam as her raven-colored hair fell before her eyes as she stared at the ground she was slowly becoming accustomed to. She could have cursed at it then, though she normally cherished its thick, curly strands. There was now yet another disturbance to her composure as they threatened to interfere with her queasiness. Again and again she attempted to stand and move forth to try and find her way back to where she truly belonged, but her body would not grant her permission to do so. She collapsed into the dust.

A shadow above her half-opened eyelids was a shock to her, yet she was unable to express her feelings. Instead she lied there in a bland stupor, indolent and breathing languidly.

"What a shame a pretty girl like her has to go," another shadow wandered up and hovered over her body.

"I agree," said the first shadow. "What's say we take her back to our humble abode and make her feel right at home?"

"You will not," a voice suddenly sounded through the crisp midsummer air.

The voice which seemed to defy the two shadows above her was not like their harsh, grating tones. She could sense the coldness within his soul even with those three words he had spoken aloud. Despairingly, she tried to move yet again.

"Be still!" commanded the defiant one.

Eryth did as she was told, not moving an inch when the defiant one's shadow was cast upon her as his figure blocked the great moon from her vision. She no longer saw the moon glowing, but a much brighter object that the figure seemed to be emitting. What strange ray of light was this that beckoned upon her so? She stared deep into the abyss, a tunnel of seemingly endless wonders all placed superficially on this defiant one's forehead. What could it have been?

"Why does she not lapse into unconsciousness, Hiei?" the second shadow curiously asked.

"Damn you, girl," spat the defiant one. "You should know that you don't belong in this world. Now rest!"

Eryth's mind snapped. Every fragment of sensibility and awareness was shattered, and she could feel herself fading. Faster and faster it seemed she fell down the ethereal stairs of her own existence, unable to remain on a single floor of her liking. She wanted to climb, she certainly did, but now it would be impossible. Whatever that defiant one, that "Hiei" had done to cause her to feel so estranged to her own self, she had no will for any sort of motion.

All Eryth could do was fall.