chaptertwo

Crimson

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"Anything for him."

She whispered to the wind. Her long languid ebony eyes flashed golden and a tear of crimson blood rolled down her deathly pale face. Jin Hye gazed at the comatose figure beside her, holding the flint dagger with trembling hands.

"In the and between Slumber and Consciousness, I will always love you." She cried. His hair was dark, dark as the merciless night. His lips were crimson, red as blood flowing like tears. His breathing ragged, breaths sharp as a bloodstained blade.

She carved a grotesque sign, a blood rose, onto her fair wrists. Vermillion blood poured out, staining her pure, rippling snow-white hair, her flawless ivory wings. Dipping her slender fingers into a river of dark blood, she drew eerie, abstract symbols on her perfect, unsullied body.

"My life...for yours..." Jin Hye gasped, her pulse rapidly increasing. She started to dance, a strange, mysterious dance telling of death and doomed love. Soon,too soon, the dance ended.

She fell to the ground motionless. She gasped, fighting valiantly for every breath, every pulse. Her heart was beating, far too fast, far too strong.Her frail body quivered like a lifeless leaf. A ghostly smile spread across fer delicate face as she slept the Eternal sleep.

"Kai..."

She exclaimed, blood spurting from . The transfusion was complete. The night was past.

***

The blood-red Sun lit up the inky sky with its ghastly rays. Clouds of shredded silk cowered. His eyelids fluttered, his life returned. But with it came a sharp price.

Her life for his.

Yet, Kai's heart had turned to ice from the transfusion. He stared expressionlessly at her cold corpse and lifted it emotionlessly. He was now a mere marionette, a puppet. Carrying her, Kai walked, past the confines of Time itself.

Finally, finally, he gingerly let her down onto the cold ground. He stared at her, lost in the maze of thoughts. Then, a miracle occurred,a miracle born of love and death. From the blood rose on her wrist fell a crystal tear of Memory. He stared at it intently....then he remembered.

Sacrifice. Her sacrifice. Her ethereal beauty. He quivered as the tide of liquid memories hit him. It was her. She had given her life for him. 

"Anything for him." She had said. He remembered the girl who danced on the Wind who he loved. Kai let out a hoarse, anguish cry. He had failed her. She had killed herself, in the Land of Dreams, land between Slumber and Reality. His eyes burned with passion and pain.

Kai set fire to the desolate wasteland on which he stood. The tongues of fire blazed a bright gold. The fire danced on the wind, taunting him mercilessly. The fire scorched his gleaming silver wings, the burning fire melted his beating heart. The fire turned Jin Hye into ashes, ashes that danced forever of the Wind.

Then, he flew away on bruning wings, away from the vermillion sea of destruction. He cast one, last longing  look back to her and never turned back again. Onward Kai flew, alone, as the flames turned to embers. He whispered to the Wind dancer.

"In the land of Dreams, I will always love you"

Somewhere, a melancholy voice echoed.

"Anything for you."

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