Post by Ventia on Sept 6, 2022 21:16:26 GMT -5
She was falling. Down deep into the murky darkness, the sensation of something invisible pulling down on her ankles was still there, weighing her down and dragging her even deeper into the void until she was met with her worst nightmare. No matter how much she tried to reach out and grab hold of something, to stop her descent into hell, her fingers only touched air. If it weren't for her fear and heartache, Jade would have found herself astonished by this eerie dimension of time and space, her human mind which had always been curious of the unknown, would have been rendered speechless that something like this could exist. But since it was happening to her, the very thing that her parents warned her of, all Jade could feel was this sinking depression that her parents had been right all along.
That she, Jade Chen, was never meant to live a life of her own.
The fall felt like it lasted a eternity in itself, and Jade wish it would have, she wished she could exist within this dark world and never have to meet the monster that was mentioned in the folktale. Her heart ached for one more moment with Jasper, with her best friend Hallie, with the Constantine’s, and with her little sister Hana. Even her parents flashed within her mind's eye, bittersweet as ever. She hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to any of them, the lone goodbye she had with Jasper had been too quick to even call it a proper farewell. She felt robbed of her future, now that it was coming true. Jade hadn't always believed it, would wish that it was just some silly story that had been started as a joke within her family's line, that the strange birthmark was just that, a strange birthmark. She had always wanted to be normal, and for four years and counting she had been with the Constantine's, with Hallie, and most importantly with Jasper...
Always front and centered in her thoughts, she could see him now. His hazel eyes always bright with her, turning even brighter in that strange way she had seen his whole family do with their eyes. She loved it, loved being under that stare. Loved seeing his smile, loved even more being the reason for it. The way he held her, making her feel warm and safe would always be a memory she would cherish. Jade loved Jasper so much, so thankful that she at least had a love worth a lifetime within those precious high school years and this last summer. At least for her, it would last a lifetime.
But she wanted better for him. There was no point in loving a dead woman and with how things stood, Jade very well was considered dead to his world. There was no more hope. She was being taken as a sacrifice to a death god. What kind of hope was there to have in this kind of situation. Jade bit her lip, a desperate laugh leaving her lips, she closed her eyes to the dark plane not wishing to see it anymore, and held onto Jasper's smile and his lovely face. He deserved better, she thought sadly as she watched him. Jasper deserved someone who didn't lie to him. Someone that didn't care enough to mention that there might come a day where they wouldn't be together anymore. That they could never have a future together. That he was only meant to be a dream to fondly look back on.
Jade hoped he wouldn't be in so much pain in her leaving, that one day he'd get over her, that he could continue on with his future and find true love. It killed her to even think of someone else by his side, a faceless outline of a woman holding onto his arm shot through her head, looking so perfect like she was meant for him and not Jade. Her eyes squeezed themselves tighter, making everything go white for a few breathless seconds. Her one selfish wish was that Jasper didn't come to hate her. That he would understand why she couldn't tell him about this. That he would look back on her as fondly as she looked back on him. Because even the thought of Jasper harboring such dark ugly thoughts for her sent her already crumbling heart into dust.
If she was truthful, if she were to hold onto some kind of hope, if she allowed herself to dream, Jade wanted to find her way back to him. No even more than that. She wanted Jasper to come and save her. To have a future together. To be the woman by his side until it was time to leave this earth the right way. Jade knew that was impossible of her to ask. That there was no way she could be saved. That this was her fate and Jasper's was to live on without her. She knew this and yet still felt like just maybe she'd have a chance because of who Jasper was. There was something always lurking and ready within his eyes, his devotion to her felt like it could rival that of a god's, and if fairy tales could come true, Jade could see Jasper as her Knight in shining armor, coming to rescue his damsel in distress from the scary monster.
No. She scolded herself, knowing the risks something like that entailed. That even if he could managed to find a way to her, that it was better for Jasper to stay where he was, safe with his family, where nothing that sounded like it came out of a horror movie would hurt him. If he got hurt because of her....Jade refused to even think such things. It was her one silver lining in this situation, knowing he would be safe. That no harm would befall him or his family. That they could continue on in their normal and happy ways. She smiled, cherishing each and every moment, every memory, that she had of them all.
It was only until her knees hit solid earth that Jade was jerked out of her reminiscing haze, the impact itself made painful sensations crawl up and down her legs. Her hands that also stung were splayed on the stone floor, her head naturally bowed, as her body seemed to jump back into gear, that sinking sensation finally gone as well as the murky darkness. She had arrived. Oh God.
The air felt cold around her and eerily quiet, yet Jade could feel someone’s intense stare on her. Too afraid to look up, Jade stared down at her hands and knees tears still dripping from her eyes, her body already shaking from fear, she wanted to curl up right then and there, wanted to sob and beg, to plead her case with this demonic being to let her go home…and yet her lips stayed shut. Instinct told her that if she so much as made a big fuss, that the predator that was in front of her would treat her like the prey she was, and kill her before she even got the chance to go into a second plea.
The coldness began to creep into her skin, biting into her pores and settling deep within her bones. Jade had the strangest feeling that this place was changing her, making it so that she would forevermore be chained to its prison and thus never be able to escape. She bowed her head even more in fear, hugging herself to starve off the cold, and flinched when she felt something cold and bony brush against her cheek.
Before she could think, those cold skeleton fingers grasp her chin and forced her face up. Jade instinctively shut her eyes and a low chuckle filled her ears, just the laugh itself sounded sinister and mad, and she feared it would only get worse from there.
“Look at me girl. Or shall I gouge your disgraceful eyes out and permit you the gift to never see again.” Hagar’s voice was as bad as his laugh, low with evil dripping out with every hoarse word.
Jade threw open her eyes, afraid if she kept them closed even another second more he would do just that and she would never have the chance to see Jasper's face ever again. She wished she could close them right away but her eyes stayed open, big and full of fear, as she stared up at the hooded reaper, at first she could see nothing, with the samurai fashioned helmet blocking her view but then he lifted his face, and Jade could see the metallic nature of his bones, beyond the grotesque open nostril and sunken cheeks and teeth, were his empty eye sockets, a void of darkness that only had a strange blue flame lurking within them.
Fear clogged her throat, her heart thumping painfully against her chest, wanting to run away and be freed. There was nothing human about this creature in front of her, no shred of humanity either just cold death leaking out of him steadily and making her cheek where he still touched her feel like it was crawling in ugliness and ice. He was crouching in front of her, a huge wall blocking everything in her sight, Jade had no choice but to notice everything. The fact he had four arms with swords hanging mid air between each and every one of them, the closest blade next to her face by the hand that was grasping her, a silent threat that if she did anything he didn't like she could be dead in a matter of seconds.
The blue flame seemed to be emitting throughout his entire body, she caught glimpses of it through the gaps in his armor and something in her tried to shrink as far as she could from it. From him.
"Do you know who I am?" Was his first question.
Jade hesitated for a second before nodding, she opened her lips to say something and her voice croaked as she tried to tell him what the legends said. When no sound came and a moment passed, she tried again to speak but even as she was drawing the breath, the courage, a hard smack slapped her other cheek and leaving her head stunned. She would have been thrown aside with the slap had his other hand not still been holding on to her other cheek, instead she was struck between two hard places with nowhere to go. Dazed her body tried to crumple to the ground instead, but then those bony fingers wrapped around her throat and held her up in front of him.
"I am Hagar!" He boomed in anger, "The greatest Reaper to have lived!" He shook her, his grip cutting off her air supply as the blue fire in his eyes seemed to burn a path into her skull. Jade whimpered, her hands coming up to grip at his hold on her throat, her survival instincts kicking into gear. When he didn't budge she started to claw at the bones, her fingers touching the metallic skin and feeling like death was crawling up her arms.
"I should kill you!" He hissed in that ghostly voice, "To come to me violated and unpure. Is the oath your family took no more? Should I rise from this place and bring hell down upon earth? Should I take your lover's life as retribution for the crimes you've committed? Should I slay each and every man and woman who has been apart of your life, your family your friends even the poor souls to have walked by your side as mere strangers?" He squeezed her with every word, making sure to not break her neck however easy that would be, but enough to inflict the full capacity of pain a human's neck could tolerate.
Through the pain, through the dark spots already appearing in her line of vison, through the rush of tears escaping her eyes, through the feeling of having all her air stolen from her and fearing her neck was about to pop ending everything, Jade shook her head as much as she could, gasping trying to plea with him to let her death be the only one he would take, but alas all she could do was fail at everything. She failed at keeping to herself, failed at listening to her parents, failed in putting her trust in Jasper and telling him the truth, failed at being a sacrifice, and now would fail again-her mistakes causing all those she loved to die alongside with her.
As the seconds ticked by, turning into minutes, as she tried and tried again to get him to loosen his grip only to fail, Jade found herself slipping, her eyes rolling back, seeing white after so much dark, until finally her body shut down, passing out in a last ditch effort to survive, she slumped in his hands, her body going slack her arms falling to her sides, Hagar kept squeezing counting the seconds knowing his limit with all the prior years of experiments he had. When he had enough he threw her away, watching with content as her body collided with the floor, crumbling at his feet as they were supposed to.
He wouldn't kill her, at first he would kill his sacrifices still hungry for death and blood, but it didn't take Hagar long to realize how boring that was. Having to wait another thousand years only to kill the sacrifice in one day? Then have to wait another thousand years? If he let the humans lived, he would have at least a hundred years of excitement, a hundred years to slowly torture the women and satisfy his cravings. Yes he liked it that way better. Still, he glared down at the passed out woman, Jade, he had heard her lover say, and felt his anger rising to know that she was already pregnant, the second soul she was holding within her stomach was fragile barely alive, but Hagar, a caretaker of souls, could see it developing faster than ever, trying to take hold and make a home within his sacrifice's body.
He would have to wait until she gave birth before he could impregnate her himself, having learnt he could and that his descendants could leave this prison, Hagar had been steadily building a army of reapers loyal to him. Some died, hunted down by his maker, but Hagar was sure that there was those that lived and raised chaos in his stead. It was a shame he couldn't kill the fetus without killing Jade, or he would have surely done it already, instead he watched as she magically levitated off the floor, her body moving deeper into the castle with him following closely behind.
She was placed in his bed, her pale skin seeming even whiter within his dark room, he brushed back her hair from her face, her body revolting away from him, her face flinching back even in its sleep. He ripped her shirt off, exposing her front and mainly his mark carved under her chest and belly. He touched it, feeling a old power rising up to meet him, both as a gift and a curse, gritting his teeth, his fingers digging into the soft skin, he watched with glee as blood pooled from under his touch, swirling around dancing above the birthmark like a bloody echo.
His chest swelled with laughter, he finally had a toy to play with, these last nine hundred years seemed to have hit him the hardest, his sanity no more, he would enjoy these next couple of years like he did no other. He almost felt sad for the poor girl lying on his bed-almost. Knowing at least he would have the time of his life. And that was all that mattered in the end, for this Reaper to be content with the sacrifice that was rightly his.
That she, Jade Chen, was never meant to live a life of her own.
The fall felt like it lasted a eternity in itself, and Jade wish it would have, she wished she could exist within this dark world and never have to meet the monster that was mentioned in the folktale. Her heart ached for one more moment with Jasper, with her best friend Hallie, with the Constantine’s, and with her little sister Hana. Even her parents flashed within her mind's eye, bittersweet as ever. She hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to any of them, the lone goodbye she had with Jasper had been too quick to even call it a proper farewell. She felt robbed of her future, now that it was coming true. Jade hadn't always believed it, would wish that it was just some silly story that had been started as a joke within her family's line, that the strange birthmark was just that, a strange birthmark. She had always wanted to be normal, and for four years and counting she had been with the Constantine's, with Hallie, and most importantly with Jasper...
Always front and centered in her thoughts, she could see him now. His hazel eyes always bright with her, turning even brighter in that strange way she had seen his whole family do with their eyes. She loved it, loved being under that stare. Loved seeing his smile, loved even more being the reason for it. The way he held her, making her feel warm and safe would always be a memory she would cherish. Jade loved Jasper so much, so thankful that she at least had a love worth a lifetime within those precious high school years and this last summer. At least for her, it would last a lifetime.
But she wanted better for him. There was no point in loving a dead woman and with how things stood, Jade very well was considered dead to his world. There was no more hope. She was being taken as a sacrifice to a death god. What kind of hope was there to have in this kind of situation. Jade bit her lip, a desperate laugh leaving her lips, she closed her eyes to the dark plane not wishing to see it anymore, and held onto Jasper's smile and his lovely face. He deserved better, she thought sadly as she watched him. Jasper deserved someone who didn't lie to him. Someone that didn't care enough to mention that there might come a day where they wouldn't be together anymore. That they could never have a future together. That he was only meant to be a dream to fondly look back on.
Jade hoped he wouldn't be in so much pain in her leaving, that one day he'd get over her, that he could continue on with his future and find true love. It killed her to even think of someone else by his side, a faceless outline of a woman holding onto his arm shot through her head, looking so perfect like she was meant for him and not Jade. Her eyes squeezed themselves tighter, making everything go white for a few breathless seconds. Her one selfish wish was that Jasper didn't come to hate her. That he would understand why she couldn't tell him about this. That he would look back on her as fondly as she looked back on him. Because even the thought of Jasper harboring such dark ugly thoughts for her sent her already crumbling heart into dust.
If she was truthful, if she were to hold onto some kind of hope, if she allowed herself to dream, Jade wanted to find her way back to him. No even more than that. She wanted Jasper to come and save her. To have a future together. To be the woman by his side until it was time to leave this earth the right way. Jade knew that was impossible of her to ask. That there was no way she could be saved. That this was her fate and Jasper's was to live on without her. She knew this and yet still felt like just maybe she'd have a chance because of who Jasper was. There was something always lurking and ready within his eyes, his devotion to her felt like it could rival that of a god's, and if fairy tales could come true, Jade could see Jasper as her Knight in shining armor, coming to rescue his damsel in distress from the scary monster.
No. She scolded herself, knowing the risks something like that entailed. That even if he could managed to find a way to her, that it was better for Jasper to stay where he was, safe with his family, where nothing that sounded like it came out of a horror movie would hurt him. If he got hurt because of her....Jade refused to even think such things. It was her one silver lining in this situation, knowing he would be safe. That no harm would befall him or his family. That they could continue on in their normal and happy ways. She smiled, cherishing each and every moment, every memory, that she had of them all.
It was only until her knees hit solid earth that Jade was jerked out of her reminiscing haze, the impact itself made painful sensations crawl up and down her legs. Her hands that also stung were splayed on the stone floor, her head naturally bowed, as her body seemed to jump back into gear, that sinking sensation finally gone as well as the murky darkness. She had arrived. Oh God.
The air felt cold around her and eerily quiet, yet Jade could feel someone’s intense stare on her. Too afraid to look up, Jade stared down at her hands and knees tears still dripping from her eyes, her body already shaking from fear, she wanted to curl up right then and there, wanted to sob and beg, to plead her case with this demonic being to let her go home…and yet her lips stayed shut. Instinct told her that if she so much as made a big fuss, that the predator that was in front of her would treat her like the prey she was, and kill her before she even got the chance to go into a second plea.
The coldness began to creep into her skin, biting into her pores and settling deep within her bones. Jade had the strangest feeling that this place was changing her, making it so that she would forevermore be chained to its prison and thus never be able to escape. She bowed her head even more in fear, hugging herself to starve off the cold, and flinched when she felt something cold and bony brush against her cheek.
Before she could think, those cold skeleton fingers grasp her chin and forced her face up. Jade instinctively shut her eyes and a low chuckle filled her ears, just the laugh itself sounded sinister and mad, and she feared it would only get worse from there.
“Look at me girl. Or shall I gouge your disgraceful eyes out and permit you the gift to never see again.” Hagar’s voice was as bad as his laugh, low with evil dripping out with every hoarse word.
Jade threw open her eyes, afraid if she kept them closed even another second more he would do just that and she would never have the chance to see Jasper's face ever again. She wished she could close them right away but her eyes stayed open, big and full of fear, as she stared up at the hooded reaper, at first she could see nothing, with the samurai fashioned helmet blocking her view but then he lifted his face, and Jade could see the metallic nature of his bones, beyond the grotesque open nostril and sunken cheeks and teeth, were his empty eye sockets, a void of darkness that only had a strange blue flame lurking within them.
Fear clogged her throat, her heart thumping painfully against her chest, wanting to run away and be freed. There was nothing human about this creature in front of her, no shred of humanity either just cold death leaking out of him steadily and making her cheek where he still touched her feel like it was crawling in ugliness and ice. He was crouching in front of her, a huge wall blocking everything in her sight, Jade had no choice but to notice everything. The fact he had four arms with swords hanging mid air between each and every one of them, the closest blade next to her face by the hand that was grasping her, a silent threat that if she did anything he didn't like she could be dead in a matter of seconds.
The blue flame seemed to be emitting throughout his entire body, she caught glimpses of it through the gaps in his armor and something in her tried to shrink as far as she could from it. From him.
"Do you know who I am?" Was his first question.
Jade hesitated for a second before nodding, she opened her lips to say something and her voice croaked as she tried to tell him what the legends said. When no sound came and a moment passed, she tried again to speak but even as she was drawing the breath, the courage, a hard smack slapped her other cheek and leaving her head stunned. She would have been thrown aside with the slap had his other hand not still been holding on to her other cheek, instead she was struck between two hard places with nowhere to go. Dazed her body tried to crumple to the ground instead, but then those bony fingers wrapped around her throat and held her up in front of him.
"I am Hagar!" He boomed in anger, "The greatest Reaper to have lived!" He shook her, his grip cutting off her air supply as the blue fire in his eyes seemed to burn a path into her skull. Jade whimpered, her hands coming up to grip at his hold on her throat, her survival instincts kicking into gear. When he didn't budge she started to claw at the bones, her fingers touching the metallic skin and feeling like death was crawling up her arms.
"I should kill you!" He hissed in that ghostly voice, "To come to me violated and unpure. Is the oath your family took no more? Should I rise from this place and bring hell down upon earth? Should I take your lover's life as retribution for the crimes you've committed? Should I slay each and every man and woman who has been apart of your life, your family your friends even the poor souls to have walked by your side as mere strangers?" He squeezed her with every word, making sure to not break her neck however easy that would be, but enough to inflict the full capacity of pain a human's neck could tolerate.
Through the pain, through the dark spots already appearing in her line of vison, through the rush of tears escaping her eyes, through the feeling of having all her air stolen from her and fearing her neck was about to pop ending everything, Jade shook her head as much as she could, gasping trying to plea with him to let her death be the only one he would take, but alas all she could do was fail at everything. She failed at keeping to herself, failed at listening to her parents, failed in putting her trust in Jasper and telling him the truth, failed at being a sacrifice, and now would fail again-her mistakes causing all those she loved to die alongside with her.
As the seconds ticked by, turning into minutes, as she tried and tried again to get him to loosen his grip only to fail, Jade found herself slipping, her eyes rolling back, seeing white after so much dark, until finally her body shut down, passing out in a last ditch effort to survive, she slumped in his hands, her body going slack her arms falling to her sides, Hagar kept squeezing counting the seconds knowing his limit with all the prior years of experiments he had. When he had enough he threw her away, watching with content as her body collided with the floor, crumbling at his feet as they were supposed to.
He wouldn't kill her, at first he would kill his sacrifices still hungry for death and blood, but it didn't take Hagar long to realize how boring that was. Having to wait another thousand years only to kill the sacrifice in one day? Then have to wait another thousand years? If he let the humans lived, he would have at least a hundred years of excitement, a hundred years to slowly torture the women and satisfy his cravings. Yes he liked it that way better. Still, he glared down at the passed out woman, Jade, he had heard her lover say, and felt his anger rising to know that she was already pregnant, the second soul she was holding within her stomach was fragile barely alive, but Hagar, a caretaker of souls, could see it developing faster than ever, trying to take hold and make a home within his sacrifice's body.
He would have to wait until she gave birth before he could impregnate her himself, having learnt he could and that his descendants could leave this prison, Hagar had been steadily building a army of reapers loyal to him. Some died, hunted down by his maker, but Hagar was sure that there was those that lived and raised chaos in his stead. It was a shame he couldn't kill the fetus without killing Jade, or he would have surely done it already, instead he watched as she magically levitated off the floor, her body moving deeper into the castle with him following closely behind.
She was placed in his bed, her pale skin seeming even whiter within his dark room, he brushed back her hair from her face, her body revolting away from him, her face flinching back even in its sleep. He ripped her shirt off, exposing her front and mainly his mark carved under her chest and belly. He touched it, feeling a old power rising up to meet him, both as a gift and a curse, gritting his teeth, his fingers digging into the soft skin, he watched with glee as blood pooled from under his touch, swirling around dancing above the birthmark like a bloody echo.
His chest swelled with laughter, he finally had a toy to play with, these last nine hundred years seemed to have hit him the hardest, his sanity no more, he would enjoy these next couple of years like he did no other. He almost felt sad for the poor girl lying on his bed-almost. Knowing at least he would have the time of his life. And that was all that mattered in the end, for this Reaper to be content with the sacrifice that was rightly his.