The Rainlands: Grand Delusion

Chapter 61: Why?

Levi scrambled to her, falling onto his knees. He ripped the handkerchief out of her mouth. Grabbed her face. Shouted in her ear.

"Jasmine, Jasmine! Wake up! You need to run! I can't hold them long!" He called for her. "Please, please, fight! FIGHT IT!" She twisted and turned in her drug induced stupor, calling out for someone to help her. Levi knew she would not awaken like this. She needs more time! He turned around, watching as the men dashed across the sky pathway from the other building, almost reaching their side. I'll give her time. It's all I can do. A death fitting for an Emperor.

Levi rose, leaving the dagger behind in Jasmine's hand. He reached to her waist, drew her sword from its scabbard. Stood to his full height. Walked calmly over to the edge of the pathway. I'll hold them here. They didn't give him any more time to think, streaming over. He started with a bolt of lightning.

Krang!

It was weak, small, and it cost him dearly. His vision greyed at the edges, pulsating, and his gaze seemed to zoom in and out as his eyes failed to focus. The bolt hit the leading man on his black shirt and seared into him, causing him to twitch. Unlike the previous bolts, this one was not instantly fatal, indeed it may not have even knocked the man unconscious. But on the narrow sky pathway...it caused him to fall and that was a death sentence. The other men paused, hesitating when they saw him die. Levi's grin was like the stare of a cornered wolf. He stood there, facing them down, a lone reaper against a dozen men. More came from behind, so many that on the opposite building, Levi could see them lining up. Dear Raingods...too many. So many...

When Levi failed to launch another bolt or do anything more but stand there with his sword held loosely by his side, the men began to inch forward again. Looking at each other, they rushed across the pathway to him, and he had no strength to stop them. He ran onto the crossing as well, his sword flashing. Remembering how to fight, he felt like he was back on that little rocky path between the sea and the beasts, holding the line. But up on high, it was not the monsters of his dreams he was fighting, but real men, vicious men, and he was far weaker and tired much more quickly. Even still, he killed a few. Batted one off the pathway, dived in and swept another's legs out. Severed a limb which presented itself, but then lost his sword, somewhere in the fight. He backed away, raising both palms as if welcoming them in for an embrace. The men stopped, advancing slowly, warily glancing at each other, trying to determine who should go first. But they knew he was done, even if they feared him. He backed up and backed up. Felt Jasmine's body behind him.

"Damnit, Jasmine! Get up! Fight it! FIGHT!" He screamed, trying to awaken her. The men dashed across the last bit of the pathway, fanning out to surround him, none of them wanting to be the ones directly in front of his deadly outstretched palms. The confidence on their face was tempered with savagery, the desire for the revenge of their fallen comrades. I guess...this is it. Levi didn't take another step back. He stayed in front of Jasmine until the very end. He took one last look back at her, wanting to see her.

Froze.

Peirce was right.

Levi's hairs stood on end. He hadn't believed it. Had thought it was some sort of trick. But Jasmine's silver hair had turned blood red. It flickered in and out, switching between the silvery grey color of a wolf, to the crimson sheen of blood, and Levi thought he was imagining it, until he realized the men too were spellbound, watching this transformation before their very eyes. Finally, the flickering stopped. Jasmine's silver hair was now streaked with scarlet red, changed forever. She seemed a different person entirely, though nothing else was different. The men moved in to take him down, but Levi had already collapsed, the sword clattering to the ground. So, this is how I die.

He stared into Jasmine's mask, wondering what she truly looked like underneath. His fingers reached for it, touched the porcelain, but did not dare lift it. Even before death he would rather die than betray her trust. And I guess I shall.

"I tried Jasmine. I tried not to be useless. I tried to fight. I beat Peirce. I don't care who you are, I just wanted to be with you. But I guess I can't stay with you." He whispered quietly for her ears alone to hear in his final moments. The footsteps came near, just behind him. He felt the air shift as they raised their blades to cut him down. Then Jasmine's eyes opened. Levi's own eyes widened. She looked...different.

Jasmine was on her feet before Levi could even react. Neither the men nor he expected what came next. The knife he had placed in her left hand was joined by another hidden dagger in her right. Twin fangs swirled, her hair whirled as she sped with that inhuman grace of hers and downed the first man. Blood spilled out, flecks flying into the light and back into the shadow as they fell over the side of the building into the shadowy streets.

One.

Two.

Three.

Levi was spellbound, mesmerized. She slew the men with a rage he had never seen in her. I should be afraid. But I'm not. On and on it went. A dozen men died, their throats cut, their weapons covered in nothing but their own dripping blood. It was terrible, a massacre. Levi wanted to weep tears, but not for the misery of the men, but for Jasmine. He could see it under her mask when she spun around, the clear liquid tears streaming off her cheeks, the pain in her eyes. She doesn't want to do this. But then she would kill another man as they ran in trying to stop her without hurting her. She must.

Eventually, Levi became sure that they had forgotten all about taking her alive. That Peirce's last order had slipped away from their minds entirely and now they were driven by pure rage and frustration, vengeance their only goal in life. They found none of it, just death when they had their turn to dance with Jasmine. If Levi had been like a reaper, she was a goddess, passing her judgement over them and sending them to the underworld. The bodies were endless, more than Levi could count. He wanted to get up and help, terrified that she would slip up, and one of the soldiers would finally bury their blades in her fragile form, but no blood ever left her body, only tears. When it was over, Levi wept. She's crying. He wept because she wept. Jasmine stood at the edge of the sky paths like she might hurl herself off to join the men she had so brutally sent first. When she turned, all he saw was a terrible empty acceptance, a fear of what she had done, or perhaps what she was. Her hair.

What had been silver streaked with red, was now changed. Like a butterfly finished emerging from its chrysalis, Jasmine's hair had become completely crimson. It was like all the blood from the men she had killed had soaked into the strands, leaving an unerasable stain upon her body. She strode towards Levi slowly, far more slowly than she had moved in any of the last few minutes. Levi saw her hands were shaking, like leaves which didn't want to stay attached to their trees. He tried to get up, but when he moved, she knelt down on him lightning fast and placed a dripping dagger on his throat. He didn't move any more, waiting. She waited too. Levi felt the shivers ravaging her body, her dagger sliding across the skin on his throat, slicing ever so slightly into him. He opened his mouth even though it hurt.

"Why?" He asked simply. She didn't answer for a bit. And then.