It was dark when my eyes finally managed to open. I didn't know where I was nor did it smell familiar. Then again, I hadn't been outside of the Northern Lands in such a long time. Unlike most youkai, dragons didn't have a prolonged memory of smells unless it was a place they'd been to multiple times. It was both a blessing and a curse. Groaning, I pushed myself into a sitting position, regretting it instantly. I couldn't determine how many injuries I had, but judging from the amount of pain coursing through my body, I'd guess it was a lot; way more than I'd ever had before.

"Ah, you're finally awake!" a little voice exclaimed in glee. "Master will be most pleased!"

"And you are…?" I asked into the darkness. I couldn't even sense the being the voice belonged to and that scared me more than anything. Not only was I in unfamiliar territory, I was also completely vulnerable and I did NOT like that. At all.

"Oh, right!"

With a flash of light, the room was illuminated by an array of candles. I closed my eyes in pain for a brief second before reopening them. In front of me was something very terrifying: a little spider youkai. Her glowing yellow eyes were fixed on me and the joyful grin on her face showed off the four pairs of fangs in her mouth; two pairs on each side located at the top and bottom. She stood on two legs, but had six arms; six long, black, disgusting arms. A shiver wracked my frame as I struggled to maintain my composure. Father always told me never to show your enemy that you feared them. Screw you, Father. She thought, swallowing hard. You weren't the one terrified of spiders.

"So… What's going on?" I asked, breaking the heavy silence. "Why am I here? Where exactly is here?"

"Oh, well, you were captured by my clan and taken to our territory. I can't tell you where that is, seeing as though you're a prisoner—" I looked around the room at her words. I was in a cell which looked to be in a dungeon. It had three ways of hard, heavy stone. The other wall wasn't a wall, but rather large vertical bars of hard metal. She was a prisoner indeed. "—and you might run off and have someone kill us. We wouldn't want that. We don't really want to die, you know, but—"

"Why am I here?" I hissed, glaring.

She was shocked if her face was any indication. Apparently, the prisoners never talked back. Well, I wasn't just any prisoner, damn it! I was a Lady! And I'd be damned if I allowed anyone to walk over me! Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Ayame.

"W-Well, I—we… Um…" she stuttered, fidgeting under the weight of my glare. I'd heard it was pretty scary, but nowhere near as scary as Lord Sesshomaru's. Speaking of Lord Sesshomaru, I really hoped I made it out of here. Alive, preferably.

"Spit it out already!" I yelled, the ground shaking from the force.

"Hmm, interesting," a voice mused from above me. My head snapped towards the voice and I had to stifle a spider youkai. Unlike the girl in front of me, this one was more spider than man. The string of web coming out of his ass was proof of that. Where the hell did he come from?! I was starting to panic! "Your youki is returning to you. I thought it would have taken you at least a full day to regain it. You must be stronger than we originally thought."

I opened my mouth to speak, a snarky comment at the tip of my tongue. Unfortunately, all that came out was a hoarse, high-pitched squeak. The great Lady Ayame of the Northern Lands was speechless and terrified. That was a first. The demon chuckled.

"Speechless, I see. Good," he sneered, lowering himself to right above my head. Another embarrassing squeak left my mouth as I scrambled to get away, my back colliding with the wall behind me. "I was growing quite tiresome of your voice. Now, down to business… You are the Elemental, correct?" All I could do was nod. "Excellent. To answer your question of why you are here, you will be the one to guide us into our succession. For so long, we have been looked down upon and treated as scum. For so long, we have been inferior! But now, NOW, we have you. YOU will lead us to our rightful placed and YOU will destroy anyone that gets in our way!" The maniacal laughter that followed really made me question his sanity.

"Right," I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "There's no way in hell I'm doing that."

"Ah, but you don't have a choice, my dear Lady Ayame. For you see, the same venom that caused your youki to temporarily disappear will also send your youki to spiral out of control. And the potion that the venom was placed into will enable me to devour your very essence. I will become just. Like. You! And no one will be able to stop me!" More maniacal laughter. If his words weren't enough to send me running for the hills, then his laughter was.

I was screwed. So very screwed.


A/N: I apologize for taking so long, but I was out of town and then I got a horrible sunburn and I feel absolutely miserable. I have little to no energy and I just want to sleep. However, I figured that since I love you guys and that I just started this story, I should suck it up and keep it moving! But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was fun to write. I was able to get all evil and stuff.

Also, I apologize for the length. I promise that my chapters will no longer be this short, but I had to cut it off to leave you guys in suspense. I will try to post the next chapter tonight. If not, then it will be up either tomorrow or Thursday.

Don't forget to review, please! I LOVE feedback!