* Warning* This is an extremely dark story and not for everyone. It contains several dark themes that may trigger some readers; so please read with caution.
Also, for those who just want to get to what happens with Kagome, the chapter is called in the night. While I would love for you to give the whole story a chance I understand. However, please do not skip that chapter there is a lot of things revealed in it.
There he stood, looking down at the new souls as they lined up to be judged for their worst sins and cast into differing Hell realms.
Fire and brimstone cloaked the area that led to the gates, as those in purgatory ran by naked. Oozing blood, mixed with pus, from the wounds caused by the continuous stings of the hornets that eternally chased them. Grimaces graced their faces as they stepped on the maggots that littered the ground below them and feasted on the mixture, as it dripped from their bodies.
This was his domain.
His demonic helpers ambled through the extensive line, waiting for his signal of which soul went to what domain. He could see their sins, all of them. Though most had tried to hide them while in life, there was no hiding any sin from him.
For he was sin.
Once, he had been known as the angel of light and a general in God's army. He had been loved by all but secretly he had desired more. That desire led to a dispute between the other angels, himself, and God.
At the time, God had created man and, in his image, given them a soul. He placed them in Eden away from the darkness that still inhabited the earth. It was when one of those dark beings disguised himself as a serpent and lured Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge, that the dispute began.
In a compromise, Sesshomaru was given dominion over hell and all the dark beings were cast there. Without preparation, he was cast from heaven's light and the darkness slowly began to consume him. Until he became almost indistinguishable from the domain he reigned over.
How far he had fallen.
He would give anything to feel heaven's light again. Though he loved the power he held, and was not ashamed of the atrocities he had swayed mortals to commit, he still held regrets and anger.
It angered him that the story of his fall was cast from man's bible. Those chapters, and others, had been removed and hidden deep in a cave to be forever forgotten. He'd be the first to admit that he was evil but he desired for man to understand all of what led him down the path.
However, that didn't fit the narrative needed in the eternal battle between good and evil. He scoffed when he thought about how his part was reduced to simply, the ramifications of not abiding God's law. Though, while true, the tale man knows now still missed the mark just a little.
The world, to maintain, needed balance. True good could not exist without pure evil and vice versa. That was why God created man and brought light to the earth—to bring back the balance.
He was pulled from his reminiscing, by a tap to his broad shoulders. Turning, he was met with the soulless black stare of a subordinate.
Most in Hell were rotting souls or demons, except for Sesshomaru. He remained as he looked in Heaven with the exception of his wings. Despite being ruler over this plane and corrupted, he was not a demon. He was something more.
The creature next to him was no exception to the majority that resided there. His razor-sharp teeth glinted under the red light of Hell's fire. Only matched by the shimmer of his scaly black skin and the whites of his talons.
"Sir, it is time to open the hotels," the creature spoke, voice gravelly and unnaturally deep. "The demons grow restless for fresh souls to prey upon."
Sighing deeply, Sesshomaru commanded, "then cast out the flyers around the world, so that they may be fed in abundance."
With that, he decided, he'd had enough for the moment and made his way down the mountain to retire in his room.
It sat in the center of Hell. High above the gusts of the lust realm and the putrid sludge rains of gluttony. Beyond the wars of wrath and treachery's eternal icy Lake Cocytus. It sat there empty and hollow. Void of anything except him and the wall of flames that allowed him to look out into the world.
All eyes were glued to her as she continued her presentation.
Confidently, she clicked the next slide. The dim light of the projector screen cast a hazy shadow over the full classroom.
"In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. And earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep," she quoted the text exactly—never having to look down at the notes written on her index cards.
She knew the words by memory—each verse had become deeply rooted in her memory.
Kagome was in the middle of giving her dissertation on the missing chapters of the bible. She had done her research and had chosen this particular topic as her senior thesis.
It wasn't expected of her to be finished but the professor had wanted to see her progress before she went on spring break. He also sought to see if the rest of her class would engage with her, offer feedback, or at least have varying opinions on the topic.
Her thesis on the surface seemed rather cut and dry but the deeper she investigated the matter the stranger it became. She was researching it as a historical document, which posed problems finding an intact copy with all its chapters. She had tried every synagogue and church within a hundred-mile radius, but the oldest known copy resided in Jerusalem, and even that was missing chapters.
She wanted to find those chapters to see if the story still read the same or if it would change some. Kagome wanted answers as to why after Cain killed Able, and he was forced to leave Eden, did he fear being killed by other men.
At the time the story had taken place, Cain was supposed to have been one of only three humans to inhabit the earth.
She was curious by nature and after having spent her life having people quote the book of Genesis at her, the shrine maiden desired to understand it all just a little better.
All these thoughts she expressed to the class in her presentation.
She even showed slides on her theories about what the missing chapters could possibly contain and where she hypothesized that they could be located.
Being an anthropology major, she wanted to take an expedition to Israel and try to uncover more about the one thing that intrigued her most.
That, however, would have to wait until she got back.
She had planned to spend her spring break with her two friends, in South Korea. They had been planning this trip for over a year. It was a way to celebrate the coming end of their undergraduate years before things got too hectic with graduation and then grad school.
It was their last hurrah.
Since they were all avid watchers of K-dramas, listened to Kpop, and had even gone to several concerts together; this just made sense. That the next logical step for the trio should be to go to South Korea.
Each of them had been so excited, when they finally booked their tickets, that they babbled on and on about it to all their mutual friends.
The teacher looked at the clock and saw the time. Shaking his head, he politely intervened as Kagome continued to present to the rest of the class.
"I'm sorry but it seems we are out of time," he stated sadly, fixing his glasses so that they sat once again on the bridge of his hooked nose. His beady eyes glistened with disappointment. He had been enjoying her thesis, so far, and all the research she had obviously done on the subject.
"Though, I'd like to say that I've thoroughly enjoyed what you have so far and look forward to your final thesis and research on the matter," he praised.
Then turning to face the rest of the students, he smiled. "Everyone please have fun and enjoy your spring break and I will see you all back here in three weeks."
With that, the class emptied out in no time at all. The college kids were all eager to begin their vacations.
Kagome took her time packing up her things and removing her USB, which contained her subject material, from the classroom's laptop and overhead projector.
Once done, she bid the professor farewell and headed off to her dorm, to grab her bags, and head for the airport. Her flight was in about 6 hours but with airport being so huge, she knew that to get through TSA and to check in her bags, it was going to take at least 4.
Once she reached her dorm, she quickly showered and put on comfy travel clothes. Having packed her things, the night before, all she really had to do now was wait for her Uber. Then, in less than 20 minutes, said Uber arrived and she excitedly rushed out the door. It took no time at all; her bags were placed in the trunk and soon they were on the highway that led to the massive airport.
Kikyo and Ayame had sent her a text to let her know that they had already arrived and the line for baggage check-in was long. Thanking them for the heads up, Kagome practically leaped out the door once her Uber pulled into LAX.
Quickly, she gathered her things and rushed to meet her friends in line.
However, by the time she had gotten to them, they were almost to the front of the rapidly growing check-in.
After checking their bags, and getting patted down by TSA, the trio quietly took a seat in the departing area and waited to board their flight.
Each of them daydreaming about what adventures they'd find in Korea.
Soon their flight number was called, and they boarded, beginning the long 15-hour flight from LA to Seoul.
After they landed, they found themselves unable to rent a car and no taxi would stop for them because they collectively had too many bags.
So, they opted to take the train to their Air B&B. Luckily, the train station wasn't too far.
Quickly, they walked up steep stairs, went down even steeper escalators, and slowly made their way to the train platform.
Desperately, they tried to avoid all the people that kept approaching them about religious cults. They were everywhere. No matter how they maneuvered and avoided one another seemed to be right behind them. Some of the cult solicitors had tried to be insistent, telling the girls that they needed to go with them, to God only knew where.
However, the women managed to get most of the religious enthusiast to leave them alone, and after threatening the last extremely persistent one, she too had finally left.
Sighing in relief, the girls tiredly stood on the platform and waited for their train to come.
Each elated to be in Korea but beginning to feel the effects of jet-lag setting in.
Keeping her eyes on the passing trains, Kagome felt herself shudder. She wasn't cold or sick. It felt more like eyes were on her and it was beginning to creep her out. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck begin to rise.
Carefully, she turned her head slightly to see who had been staring at her.
A little old lady stood within arm's length of her, just staring. She looked like she was in a coma. She didn't blink or move at all. She just stared at Kagome almost as if in a trance.
Her clothes were baggy, faded, and well worn. The elderly woman's hair was a mess of grey and white curls. It looked unkempt, even knotted in certain spots. Her skin was sallow and loose. She had only slight wrinkles around her eyes and just below her gaunt cheeks.
In her slightly withering hand, she held a small book, and when Kagome really looked at it, she saw that it was a bible.
Uneasily, the shrine maiden shifted her head back in the direction of the train tracks. Hoping, that if she didn't make eye contact with the lady, she could avoid any unnecessary creepiness or religious babble.
It wasn't that she didn't enjoy debating about the Bible, and its content. It was simply, the sometimes cultist following that came with it, and after a 15-hour flight, she just wasn't in the mood to entertain anything other than sleep.
After what felt like forever, the little old woman began to walk away, and Kagome breathed a deep sigh of relief.
However, that brief relief was shattered abruptly when strong but slim fingers firmly gripped her by the arm. Turning around hesitantly, she came face to face with the creepy little old woman.
"You have the mark of the chosen," she croaked out in a raspy voice. "Angels will come for you," she laughed creepily, showing off a mouth full of rotten teeth and dark purple gums.
Ayame and Kikyo turned around at that and took in the traumatizing scene. Horrified and slightly alarmed, Kagome tried in vain to pull her arm away from the old woman. However, her grip was like a vice and the more she tried to pull away, the harder the old lady seemed to squeeze.
Intervening swiftly, Ayame and Kikyo roughly pulled Kagome away from the insane old crone and together, the trio practically ran to board their approaching train.
Only breathing a sigh of relief when they noticed that the insane elderly woman hadn't followed them. Instead, she remained where she was pointing at them from the platform.
"They will come for you!" Screamed the old woman, as she laughed maniacally.
Disturbed, they all sat down and watched as the doors closed and the train began to pull off. Relieved, they could no longer hear her, they breathed a collective sigh of relief.
However, as their eyes drifted towards the windows of the train, they could see that the creepy old woman continued to shout nonsense from her place on the platform, eyes locked on their train.
It was only three stops later when they had finally made it to their Air B&B. After checking in, they briefly went over their plans for adventure and then got some rest.
The train incident had been the only halfway exciting thing that had happened to them since they had landed in Seoul, and that had been almost a week ago.
Since that day, they had gone to all the tourist spots, went sightseeing at temples and traipsing through tea farms.
They had visited countless museums and beaches but only found other tourists, hardly any locals, and definitely not an adventure.
It had seemed that their trip was quickly turning into a bust.
At this point, a local took pity on them. Informing them, that about a local hangout called "Hands," where they could mingle with local college kids.
So, after giving them the address, she wished them good luck and went about her way.
Since it was Saturday, they hurried to make their way to the club. Only, for the bouncer to take one look at them and tell them that they couldn't get in with what they were wearing.
There was a strict dress code and nothing the girls were wearing was even remotely club attire. They had been in such a hurry to get there, that they hadn't even bothered to actually get dressed up.
Nonetheless, the bouncer was nice enough to give them a copy of the dress code—with assurances that they could try again next Saturday.
So, they kept themselves busy until that day.
That morning they hit the local mall in Gangnam, to look for something to wear. None of them had packed heels or any sort of club dress. So, shop after shop, they looked and tried on clothes, but nothing fit.
Either their hips were too big, or the bust was too small.
Even Ayame's petite and slightly boyish frame had been too big to fit any of the clothing comfortably. Disappointed, they decided to grab something from the food court. Deciding it was best, for the moment, to regroup then they would try and devise a new plan.
If it hadn't been for Ayame and Kikiyo's persistence, Kagome would have abandoned this whole operation a long time ago. She, however, didn't want to be the one to bring down the group's vibe, so she played along.
Acting as if she had been really disappointed not getting to go to the club. When in reality, she could have cared less.
After getting their food, they sat down at an empty table and Kagome began to tune out the other girls' idle chatter. She instead, chose to look around absentmindedly. Looking but not really seeing anything.
She watched as people passed by their table.
Back and forth. To and from.
Shoppers going to some shop or just coming from one. Some carrying bags so heavy that it hunched their backs. While others quickly ushered their pouting children away from kiosks carrying the latest sweets.
Nevertheless, they were all in a hurry to get to where ever it was that they were going.
Bored, Kagome's mind only barely registered the mall scene, as she continued to inattentively people watch.
However, a tingle began to race up her spine and it put her on edge. It was that same feeling she had the day on the train platform. An uncomfortable sensation that she was being watched. Now alert, she scanned the mass of mall patriots. Trying to uncover who it was that caused the disturbing new awareness to enshroud her in discomfort.
Soon there was a break in the crowd and her eyes found themselves looking clear across the mall. Horrified, and more than slightly alarmed, her eyes fell upon that of the old lady from the train station.
She looked more haggard than last time. Her skin was practically melting from her bones, as it draped loosely below her sickly carcass. With hair wild and even more matted than from that frightful day, the elder woman lifted her arm and pointed a shaky finger right at Kagome. While the other hand still clung tightly to the small worn bible that she carried.
Opening her mouth, and letting her black gums and rotten teeth show, she tried to speak.
However, whether it was the distance or some unseen force, no sound came from the woman's lips.
Instead, the creepy old lady's mouth began to widen, far beyond what was humanly possible. It twisted and turned as it broadened, looking almost as if caught in an eerie shriek.
When it seemed, her mouth could stretch no more and her tar ridden tongue was also now on display with her blackened gum and rotten teeth, scorpions began to pour from her mouth.
They emptied from beyond her lips like a rushing river, engulfing her sickly frame as they pooled at her feet in swarms of inky black danger. Leaving only her face visible to the horrified girl's shell-shocked gaze.
With soulless eyes, she stared lifelessly at Kagome.
Slowly, the creepy elder's eyes began to bleed. Sluggishly, trickling down her chin, in treacly crimson rivulets, to mingle with the scorpions at her feet.
Snapping out of her trauma-induced trance, Kagome began to scream.
Pointing, she panicked. "Look it's the woman from the train but her eyes, they're—"
However, after receiving dubious looks from the shoppers and confused looks from her friends, she didn't finish the sentence.
Instead, she looked back to the area she had been pointing to and found no trace of the woman, the blood, or the scorpions.
They had all just vanished as if they had never been there, at all.
Confused and more than slightly embarrassed, she shifted her gaze to look at the table. Away from the shaking heads and pitying stares she was now getting from any who passed by their table.
Concerned for her friend's sudden shift in behavior, Ayame patted her on the back comfortingly. while an embarrassed Kikyo looked around to make sure no one else was paying too much attention to her friend's mental breakdown.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Asked Ayame worriedly.
Sighing, Kagome nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm fine," she reassured. "I think maybe I'm just tired, that's all."
Running her hands through her hair, she laid her forehead down on the table and looked down at her feet.
It was then that she noticed a piece of paper stuck to her shoe. Bending down, she picked it up and looked at it.
It was a flyer.