Title: Beyond the Sunset
Author: landofthekwt
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Sunset (The Wilted Rose #35)
Genre: Dying of the Light
Word Count:297
Warning: None
Summary: Kikyou's battles
They had always been warned by the master to pick their ground. The time of day was always a part of their ground. Demons drew their power from the darkness just as mikos drew their power from the light. Sunset was the edge of darkness.
. She depended upon the greed and selfishness of the demons. Demons normally could not resist the lure of the Jewel. It maddened them and made them lose the blood of ice. She never lost her calm. That was her advantage. The demons must never see beyond her steel veneer.
Today had been different. Lured into the forest, she had been ambushed. The attacks started as soon as she was deep enough into the forest to cut off the light. It had rained throughout the fight. The sky had been dark and foreboding. The darkness had only been pierced by the aura of purity from her arrows.
They came in waves. Not afraid to die just to allow their compatriots the opportunity to strike down the miko and take the Jewel. In the end she had been victorious because her resolve was greater than theirs. She simply refused to give up and die.
She looked at her handiwork through eyes blinded by rain. Demon corpses were everywhere. Her clothes were wet, dirty and covered with blood. The consolation was that the blood was not her own.
She sighed. The days were blending together. Every day brought attacks worse than the last. She was tired, wet and cold. Someday she would not be so lucky. On that day she would die a horrible death knowing that all her efforts to protect the Jewel had been in vain. Luckily, that day had not been today and she would live to see another sunrise.