Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Of Legendary Creatures and Mystical Beasts ❯ Prologue-The desert ( Prologue )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, bla, bla, bla...(Ah.You already
knew
that.Good)

Note: Be warned. It will include violence, some use of profane language, and will include, to some extent, sexually explicit content, so keep on reading at your own risk.
The story begins a few months before the events of Kyoto Arc, so it will include spoilers and some elements from it as well as from the Revenge
Arc too, although my fic will not follow either the anime or the manga, and I will break some canon rules. 
 I would like to express my gratitude to Mir, from the Tales from Meiji Era site, to Michaela, to Kamorgana, Julie, Midori, Citrus Rain, Chri, JML and many others. Thanks girls and guys, you encourage me to go on.
Mir has been helping me with this and the improvement in the vocabulary and grammar through this chapter is due to Mir's kindness and supervision.
Thanks, Mir! I hope there are more people like you around! 
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Of Legendary Creatures and Mystical Beasts 
By Firuze Khanume 
Prologue -- The Desert 
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"No!" 
The angered stubborn cry echoed against the sandy hills around him. The unforgiving desert sun fell mercilessly over his body, while the dancing shadows of the birds of prey hung over his head, waiting for him to surrender to his sealed fate. 
He couldn't die. He couldn't. He refused to die. It wasn't fair. 
'No.'
"Not yet! I have never bowed or prayed to you, but now... Gods and demons alike... Someone.. hear my plea! I have a mission to accomplish! Let me live until then, and after that... after that you can claim my life!" 
It was ironic that he had resorted to beg to creatures he knew that wouldn't listen anyway. He had seen so much during his life to know better than expect their compassion. But it was the last thing he hadn't done yet. 
He stumbled, but recovered the pace before falling over the boiling sands. His body was numb. He had blisters on his face, his back, his feet...
The injuries to his side were burning like hell... 
He wiped his brow, and in an act of pure desperation, sucked the few droplets of his own sweat. The salt made the blisters of his mouth to sting like hell... 
He had been lost in the desert for the past ten days, without any food or water for the last two of them, and all the rest of his supplies had disappeared long ago. His horse had died of sheer exhaustion on the fourth day, and he managed to feed himself from the flesh and blood until the eighth day, when he had run definitively out of luck. 
If some kind of miracle didn't happen soon, he knew he would become the vultures' dinner in a few hours.
He had cursed, cried in pure rage, crawled stubbornly upon the scorching sands, fighting the urge to giving up to inevitability.

 
His last resource was to beg. God, Demon, angel, whatever... he didn't care who answered... Just someone who allowed him to fulfill his goal would be good enough for him. He'd do anything, promise anything, as long as they granted him survival just until he reached his goal.
The mere thought of leaving this world knowing that the demon that had made a living hell of his loved one's life and his own was still untouched made his blood boil in his veins. 
No, dying there, in such meaningless way, wasn't an option; he had to achieve his long cherished goal.
'The demon has not paid for what he has done.'
His only purpose in life was to face the other man with justice. His justice.

 
Slowly, -- out of sheer determination or pure desperation, he didn't know or care anymore-- he took one step, two, three. 
He collapsed to the ground, facedown. Tenaciously, he managed to get up, leaving the mark of his hands and knees imprinted on the sand in blood.

 
It was a new invitation to predators to come to the feast.
'A feast with me as the main course,' he thought, ironically.
Another two steps? Once more he felt the ground hitting his face, as he fell again. 
One though hammered in his clouded mind. He couldn't stay down. He shouldn't. But he was so tired... so damn tired. He closed his eyes. Only for a moment -- he would stay there only for one moment. And then, he'd raise again, continuing his trek... 
Out of nowhere, he saw fog rising to engulf him. 
'Fog? In the middle of the desert?,' he wondered. 
Comprehension hit him full force suddenly. 
'So this is it.'
He was just dying.
 
He had always thought his death would be a quick, violent one, so fast that he'd would have no time to realize. The coldness of a blade piercing his flesh or perhaps the heat of a bullet piercing his heart, even the bitterness of poison on his lips... These were the things he had expected as his last experience of this world. But he had never expected fog. 
He would have laughed if he could have at the madness of this ending, so anticlimactical. 
It was useless to fight back now. 
That was it. The end. 
He closed his eyes, feeling remorse tightening his chest. 
"I'm so sorry, 'neesan. I failed to protect you then... I failed to make you happy... and at this instant, I'm doing it again, betraying my promise to you. I'm sorry... Could you ever forgive me, 'neesan ? Will you be there for me now?"
Those were his last words, full of bitterness and sadness, and resentment to his fate, his last thoughts before the thick whiteness enveloped his body
<hr>
The redheaded girl raised her head from her reading, surprised. 
The mirror on the wall of her room was glowing. 
'Quite strange,' she thought, approaching cautiously to it. 'It never did it this way before.'
Magical mirrors were unpredictable objects. They could even be dangerous. However, hers had never given troubles.
'Until now, that is.'
She tried to look through it from a safe distance.
 
Something, no. someone was out there, crawling on the sands stubbornly
'A human?,' she wondered.
But why was the mirror showing her that image? 
Humans died all the time alone out on the desert sands; it was nothing out of the ordinary, something to be expected from those weak beings, something as common as the sound of the singing glass flowers outside, in her garden. 
'If they can't stand the heat of the desert, why do they defy it? They are silly, silly creatures...' 

What made that human so special that the mirror was showing him to her in such a way? 
She drew near the glowing image, her eyes narrowing to slits, her body tense in expectation, studying the reflection before her gaze with thorough concentration.
And then, realization dawned on her like the shinning golden skies in the middle of a summer day. 
The being showed by the mirror was not an ordinary human.
The young female studied him closely. He was a young male, despite the shock of white hair crowning his head, and even with his miserable guise, covered in caked blood and wounds, he looked quite strong yet. 
However, her attention was caught by what was not apparent to the eye: his hidden nature. 
 'A half-breed warrior?!, Could it be true? ' She thought, widening her eyes in wonder, looking at the tall, well-built man stumbling through the burning sands.
 Astonishment was the first word that crossed her mind to describe her state.
'A human with a mixed heritage!?Amazing!!'
 When she was younger, she had heard the stories, as everybody else. 
The Mystical Beasts... those ancient Guardians of the golden ages created to protect the Key of the Worlds, Earth, and the creatures inhabiting it. 
For the delicate nature of
their spirits, they usually didn't act by themselves to do so, except in dire situations. 
They chose, more often than not, producing outstanding beings by coupling with ordinary humans. They made it in order to fulfill their duty, when hardships was about to befall any particular place and people within the Human Realm. 
The half breed creatures produced by these unions were capable of a rightful, wise leadership, or exceptional acts of heroism to inspire future generations, if they were raised in the right way.
 
But, as every coin had two sides, they were, as the very beings that engendered those half-breed, sextremely sensible to their environment and the events surrounding them. 
Any bad influence, a a fortuite incident that lead them to the wrong companies, a misfortune in their personal lives, any of these simple things could turn a being meant to be a beneficial one into a wicked slave of darkness. 
Pondering about this, the young woman wondered whom he was serving. 
She would go to the Elders. They had to be warned.

And they'd surely knew hat should be done with him. 
There was no doubt in the course of action that should be followed: the half-breed had to be rescued; they needed to uncover who he was and what he was doing, but most importantly, who were the powers behind him... if he was already bound to someone, of course. 
'I hope he isn't...' 
She was excited.
Probably she would be rewarded, but the only reward she was interested in was to be allowed to be the half-breed's guardian. Humans had always captivated her, but in addition this being had not only a human part, but also a magical one. 

'It would be, no doubt at all, a fascinating experience!' She grinned widely. 
Giving a last glance to the glowing mirror, she smiled, and with an elegant wave of her hand she disappeared, to gain an audience with the Elders. She was in a hurry, who knew how mmuch more the human could endure such harsh conditions.
<hr>
Two shapes, human in appearance, were watching the scenes developing on the surface a waving pond beside them, hidden in darkness.
"It has just started, and there is no turning back from this road." a short red-haired male said, his voice full of concern. "If your perception is wrong, both might be destroyed, and worst, the cosmic balance would be shaken to the core." 
"Be confident"
The soft, calm voice of a female answered him. She was dressed in white and a purple shawl hung loosely from her arms. 
"I know deeply in my heart that she will fail. That man was never her destiny,"the redhead shook his head, pessimistic.

 
"Destiny is not written on stone.-the lady's voice conveyed a sad feeling "You know that. It's a universal truth." 
"
Maybe. But still there are things that shouldn't be played with," her companion affirmed, stubbornly.
 
"Won't we meet again?" 
The female sighed, as if she were already used to the male's antics. 

"Only if it's completely necessary." 
"All right then. I'm sorry for the many annoyances I put in your path."
 The woman in white bowing ceremoniously, in an apologetic gesture. 
"Maybe we needed to be annoyed"- he chuckled, conceding at last- "Good bye... and good luck with your protégé." 
"Goodbye," answered her, "...and good luck with yours too." 
"We all will need it"
 The last words of the man, though barely above a whisper, sounded like a ill-fated prediction.

 
The female melted slowly amid the shadows, until he had the absolute certainty that he was alone again. 
He sighed, wishing with all his heart that the woman was right and her ploy give the results she hoped for.

Because if her plan failed, they all would be doomed. 
<hr>
Okaaaay... I bet you've recognized at least one of the two RK characters that shows up in this chapter. 
And what's that with red haired people here and there? Mmmm... who are they? 
Well, definitely, this is a story involving the supernatural, and a few canon characters that aren?t exactly the most popular. BTW, this fic focuses in their side of the story. So, no, Kenshin is not the main character here. He will eventually show up, since he is pivotal for the action, but this is definitely not your usual take on him. So beware, if you are expecting some Kenshin worship here, stop reading, now. There won't be Kenshin bashing at all, but he is not the main hero here.
There are a few OC, but I like to think they aren't Mary Sues or their male counterparts. I like to make my OC people with good and bad sides, more than a few flaws, and a whole background. Judge for yourselves. Feedback is much appreciated.