The Jade City

Chapter 48: The Shadow Knight

"Please, Rumi. This way, nobody gets hurt. I don't want to have to fight you."

I don't want to have to fight you, either.

Normally, if someone were to impersonate anyone close to me I would lash out at them in rage for having the guts to even try to deceive me, but somehow I couldn't channel my feelings into anger. I knew for a fact that the Shadow Knight was just trying to weaken me with emotional torment, but I still couldn't bring myself to fight. It was selfish of me; everyone had risked so much to help me with this mission, and we'd gotten so far and I would fail them if I couldn't defeat this monster. And yet, despite repeatedly reminding myself of my purpose, I was unable to strike.

Or maybe I wouldn't have to.

I silently said I was sorry, then dropped onto the platform with a plop and lay down, letting my shirt soak up the puddle of blood.

As soon as Ruby realized what I was doing, she screeched and lunged towards me. I rolled over to dodge the blow, looking anywhere but her face and feeling my backside getting wet while swinging my sword to knock the Crystal Blade out of her hand and rolling back to absorb more of the viscous liquid. My entire backside was sticky and warm, and when I got another glimpse of the Shadow Knight's face I felt something in the back of my eyes, demanding to be let out.

Jumping out of the way and wobbling back onto my feet, I leaned back against a pillar to regain my balance as Ruby frantically scraped what was left of the puddle of blood with the blade of her sword, her quickening breaths making me just as nervous as she was. As I watched her, I began prodding at the clouds surrounding the tower with my sword, hoping to make a hole big enough for me to jump through.

She roared, and the sound of this otherworldly screech temporarily froze me in place. Then my eyes met hers, or more accurately, his dark green eyes, which had a sort of deranged look that I'd never seen in him before, not even when he almost killed me.

The Shadow Knight's eyes were in slits as several black, cloudy tendrils shot out from behind her then snaked around my arms faster than I could react, and suddenly it felt as if needles having just been soaked in liquid nitrogen were sinking into my skin. I almost screamed before biting down on my tongue, trying to reassure myself through the pain that everything was okay and she was just creating this sensation, not that it helped much with mitigating the agony.

"Someone get me the body!" she ordered, her voice thundering through the air, so loud that it upset my eardrums.

I winced, and the tentacles only tightened their grip on me, rapidly sending a fresh wave of pain through my entire body. The sword slipped from my hand, tumbling through the clouds and disappearing from view. I found myself completely helpless against her wrath, and since I was unable to look away, every second I spent staring at that face seemed to only further shatter the already broken pieces I was composed of.

Or maybe she already had completely crushed every last fragment, and the notion that I needed to defeat her for him was the only thing holding me together at the moment.

The sounds of Shadow Riders grew louder, and my heart jumped into my throat as I braced myself for what was coming, not yet ready to see the sight of his mangled corpse. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep my emotions under control if they brought it up, and just the idea of seeing such a sight formed a lump in my throat. There were already so many things I was struggling to do; I didn't need to add breathing to that list.

How could she?

I found myself wondering that again, as obvious as the answer was. He had always been there... almost like an eternal presence, only a call away. Even though we had a brief period of separation, he came back. Slowly looking up again, I almost expected him to burst through the cloud barrier, grinning from ear to ear the way he did... only last night.