Chapter 4: Memories
"What's wrong with me?" My mind thought. "I can't move my mouth, and Sesshoumaru can't hear me when I yell for him…Why!" I looked around, nothing but darkness was there, nothing, but darkness… "What's…that?" My mind turned into mush, as a bright light appeared in front of me. "AAAAAAHHH!" I screamed. "Wha? Where, am I?" I asked, still dazed by the light. "WHAAAAA!" I fell back into what seemed to be, a river. "I'm—human! How can that be, a moment ago I was a demon, and now this!" I stammered, I looked at my hands, which were now human. My whole body was indeed human, but I was ten years of age. "How am I this young? Is this Sesshoumaru's trick?" I whispered. "Hey! Rafe!" a girl's voice called. She ran down the hill. She had long, wavy red hair, and vibrant blue eyes. She wore a navy colored kimono, which had a black dragon running along the sides. I remembered a name, her name, Tyra. "T-Tyra? What are you doing here?" I asked, still sitting in the muddy river. "I should ask ye the same!" Tyra replied, "What the hell are you doing sitting in the Dragon God's river?" "I—don't really know actually…Come to think of it, something startled me, could've been you of course." I remarked. She held out her hand and helped me stand up. I dried my hair on a towel she brought me, and we started to walk back to the Dragon Village. "Did you hear?" Tyra asked. "Hear what?" I replied. We were walking right along the river, which is the only way to find your way back to the village. "Today, Priestess Kayo is going to choose the next sacrifice." Tyra remarked. "Oh no, I completely forgot! I should go tell Oni—!" I started. "No! He said himself he doesn't want anything to do with our village's religious beings. So, he shall not be told about today's sacrifice!" Tyra interrupted. "It's not like he were a demon or anythin." I replied. "Well, I wish he were! Then I could murder him!" Tyra yelled angrily. "That's right, Tyra's a demon hunter…the best there ever were, er, was…" I thought. "Well, excuse me for being his sister!" I retorted, running ahead to the village. "Rafe, wait, I didn't mean to offend you!" Tyra yelled after me. I entered the village, now it's nothing but grain, sand, and tiny stones, but not now. The village was full of life, merchants selling everything to weapons, clothing, furniture, animals, demon jewelry, and food. "I wonder were he could be…" I said quietly. "Hey, girl!" One merchant said to me. "Huh?" I replied. "Wanna buy a dragon's tooth? Really rare, and it matches your eyes." He remarked. I looked in the mirror, my eyes weren't black anymore, and they were their normal emerald green. "Uh—sure, how much?" I answered. "Three silver dragon's bane coins, for ye lass." He remarked. I reached into my pocket, and surprisingly, there were five silver dragon's bane coins. (Worth about say, 5 dollars in USA money) "Thank ye, er, what's your name?" He asked. "Rafe." I replied. He nodded, "Thanks for doin business with ye Rafe." I ran off further into the large village, looking for my unnamed brother. "Damn this, I was just about to say his name, and then that wrench demon hunter had to cut me off!" I retorted, whispering. My old village was known for world-renown demon hunters, or God's aids. I sighed, "I'm never going to find him in this crowd…I don't even know what he looks like, god damn it." "Rafe! There you are, c'mon, Priestess Kayo is about to choose the next sacrifice!" Tyra shouted, grabbing my arm. She pulled me through the crowd, until finally we reached the village's square. In the middle stood a gigantic dragon's head, its eyes blazing with fire, and every villager wrote their name on parchment and placed it into the dragon. Then, Priestess Kayo would use her magic, and the dragon would spit up a parchment with a villager's name on it. Then, worse comes to worse, he or she would be sent off to the Demon's Mountain, were all the Dragon Demons reside. "C'mon Rafe, we didn't write our names yet!" Tyra said. "Yeah, that's going to be the death of me, writing…" I retorted. We reached the center, slowly we each wrote our names legibly, so that Priestess Kayo could read it. Tyra had already placed her parchment into the dragon. I hesitated, until finally I caught up with my courage, and threw mine into the dragon's mouth. About ten minutes later, Priestess Kayo appeared, she silenced the whole village. "Now, my friends, is the time we choose the sacrifice for the demons! Now," She paused, taking holy water and washing the dragon's eyes with it. "Great dragon, tell us, who will be the next sacrifice?" Suddenly, a wisp of smoke bellowed out of the dragon's snout, along with a piece of parchment. Priestess Kayo caught the paper and read it aloud, "The demons have chosen," She paused again, whipping away the ashes that covered the name, "Rafe."