Higher than the fourteen skies, where the air thins into a cold, cosmic void, a shadow
sliced through the heavens. Jee-shahn's demonic wings, still tattered and bleeding
from the palace collapse, beat against the atmosphere with a rhythmic, hollow sound.
He was not truly flying; he was drifting, lost in an embassy of ghosts within his own
mind. The deep, dark memories of a past long buried had risen to the surface,
paralyzing his heart.
On his head, the Azure Lizard in its crown form shifted uneasily. "Master..." it
whispered, its snarky voice replaced by genuine worry. Even the Draco—the toothy
mouth upon his left palm—opened its eyes, its voice a gravelly murmur. "Master... the
flow is erratic. Speak to us."
Jee-shahn did not react. He was a statue of bone and shadow, soaring through the
silence.
Hours bled into a singular, numbing blur. Finally, gravity seemed to reclaim him. He
descended from the heights, his wings folding as he landed heavily at the crest of a
massive, thundering waterfall. The spray of the water was cold, but he felt nothing. He
knelt by the edge, cupping the mountain water in his hands and drinking with a
mechanical, soulless thirst.
The Lizard and the Draco continued to call out to him, but their voices were drowned
out by the roar of the falls and the louder silence in Jee-shahn's head.
Suddenly—THUD.
A solid weight slammed into Jee-shahn's side, a head colliding with his shoulder with
enough force to snap him out of his trance. He blinked, his eyes slowly regaining their
focus, and looked down at the "object" that had just headbutted him in the middle of a
current.
It was a lady, her clothes soaked and clinging to her, being swept away by the violent
flow of the river. She was struggling, her face pale, her lips moving as she tried to
shout over the crashing water. Jee-shahn leaned in, placing a hand to his ear with a
bored, distant expression.
"Help... me..." she screamed with the last of her strength, her eyes wide with terror as
the edge of the waterfall loomed inches away. "Why are you just standing there?! I'm
going to fall!"Jee-shahn gave her a weird, hollow glance. His voice was devoid of any warmth. "I
don't care," he said flatly. "This world is a cruel place, little girl. If you die here, it's
probably better for you. The noise finally stops at the bottom."
The lady's shock was so great she momentarily forgot she was drowning. "If I die,"
she shrieked, her voice cracking, "I'll curse you! I'll come back as a ghost and haunt
you forever!"
Jee-shahn didn't even flinch. He simply stretched his wounded wings, preparing to
take flight and leave her to the abyss. The lady turned, seeing the white mist of the
drop-of. She squeezed her eyes shut, a single tear lost in the river. "Mother... Father...
I love you all!"
She vanished over the edge.
A moment passed. The lady opened her eyes, expecting the cold embrace of death,
but instead felt the rough press of river stones. She was sitting at the base of the
waterfall, drenched and shivering, but alive. She coughed violently, hacking up water
and gasping for the sweet, mountain air.
Heh.
A dry, low chuckle drifted down from above. She looked up to see Jee-shahn perched
on the branch of a dead tree nearby, his tattered wings draped around him like a
funeral shroud. He wasn't looking at her with pity, but with a strange, amused irony.
The lady, still catching her breath, locked eyes with him. Her fear was gone, replaced
by a burning, death-filled glare that could have withered the very tree he sat upon.