The Time It Takes To Fall

The Winding Path of Death

England, 1665 A.D.

The streets were gray— that color of dust and hazy smoke. The buildings around matched the streets with near perfection, with only a bit more texture to the hard stones; the sky was only a few shades lighter with its storm clouds. Everything felt dismal in the alleyway as the dying added to the gray with their rotting skin and empty eyes.

Kai treaded carefully throughout the streets, making sure not to step on any poor abandoned soul. Hands reached out to him, the skin cracked and bleeding with oozing purple sores. The sight triggered his gag reflexes, but Kai forced himself not to fall to the ground and retch. He was on a mission, and he could not stop now.

He'd found Selene's reincarnation for the very first time; well, he knew where she was at the very least, which was an enormous leap from her only other reincarnation in which Kai had stumbled cluelessly throughout Asia without finding a hint of Chun Ming.

But when Kai had caught wind of the incredibly talented Chinese mechanic in London, he'd known that it was her. She'd always had a knack for fixing broken things— it was one of her talented that he admired most about her.

Kai had scoured the streets of London for three days now, but to no avail. Those that had known of the talented young girl told him to look for her in the streets, as they were her home. So he searched and searched, but it was hard to find anyone amongst the mass of dying. He prayed only that she would not be among them— that she had withstood the plague.

A hand latched onto Kai's ankle, startling him so bad he nearly toppled over. He leaned down to look into the face of a dying woman. She had green eyes and mouse-brown hair that lay in clumps around her shoulders. Her fingers were freezing and somehow more cold than the December air. Kai shivered, but knelt down beside her.

He grasped her hand and stared into those sad green eyes rimmed with red. Her eyes were that of a young girl, though the sores upon her face and the illness had aged her into looking like an ancient woman. She opened her mouth as if to say something but nothing but haggard rasps came out.

"Shhh," Kai hushed, putting a hand upon her cheek while using his other to clutch her delicate and bleeding fingers. "Shhhh," he hummed, "it will be alright. Let death take hold of you, young one. She is kind; she shall wrap you in her loving arms like a babe and carry you tenderly into a world without suffering."

The girl continued to make disgusting choking noises, her lashes fluttering as she continued to stare at Kai. She seemed to be struggling to get something out, but all attempts at any form of communication on her part failed.

"Fear not," Kai swallowed, smoothing down the girl's hair. "For soon you shall be in a place that is not here— and for that," Kai closed his eyes for a moment, allowing for a tear to slip past his lashes. "I envy you greatly."

The girl stopped trying to say whatever she wanted to tell Kai; her breathing evened out, as if she had fallen into a comfortable sleep. But her eyes remained focused on Kai, deep green and piercing in spite of their imminent death. Then she let out a final sigh, and her eyes glossed over in a way that Kai had only seen one other time in his life.

Kai allowed for a single tear to slide down his face and onto the girl's cheek as he ran his fingers over her eyelids. He hadn't even known this girl— had never seen her until minutes before. But he had witnessed her death and watched as the light faded from her eyes. He prayed to the Blue Koi that she had an afterlife more blessed than her mortal life had been.

He stood and dusted his frock off. He wiped at his eyes and continued down the winding path of death. More hands reached out to him, but Kai closed his eyes and skirted around them. He couldn't waste any more time; he had to find Selene.