~* Arcana *~

Chapter 4 ~ The Emperor, Dominating Reality


Black faded to white and it seemed to Jenny as if the white just got brighter and brighter. She felt sick to her stomach, like she could vomit at any moment. Her head was splitting with pain. All around her she could hear the sounds of insane laughter and the shrill of a bow being pulled across violin strings. What bothered her the most was the pain in her arms and fact that she couldn’t feel the ground under her feet.

Cerulean blue eyes floated into the path of her vision. She forced her eyes to open more, to try to comprehend her surroundings. Jarith stood in front of her. He swayed fast and hard in time to the piece he was playing on a violin that was the color of maple leaves in autumn. His laughter had become almost as high pitched as the notes he played.

She tried to move her head and found she couldn’t. She focused on the feeling and discovered that her hair was somehow pulled together above her head. It seemed to be tied or pinned to the wall behind her, allowing her head minimal movement before pain started to spread across her scalp. Trying to move her feet she found that those too were bound. She was tied at the knees and ankles, keeping her legs tightly closed. Her arms felt the worst though. The pain she felt there was almost unbearable.

She craned her head as far as she could the see what was holding her arms and why they hurt so bad. Large iron stakes had been driven into the fleshy part of her shoulders, just below the joint. The same type of spikes had been driven into her forearms, between the two major bones there. As the reality of this set in, she began to scream in pain, fear, and frustration.

The violin music stopped and a cold hand came to rest at her throat. Jarith stood before her smiling. “You awoke much faster than I thought you would my dear. Maybe you are made out of more than just fluff after all.”

Jenny tried to speak but her words came out choked and cracked. She began coughing, the spasms rocking her body and inflicting more damage to her already speared arms. Finally she was able to speak in soft, gasping tones, “Why?” was all she asked.

“Why?” Jarith laughed. “Because I can. Because you are my brother’s new toy. His whore. Because you are young and breakable. I have a million reasons, but none that truly concern you.”

Anger rose in her and the pain subsided a little, the hand at her throat felt strangely warmer too. Her vision was clearing and she found that the room that she was in was white and made mostly of windows. Bright daylight poured in through those windows. As her vision cleared she noticed the man in front of her was no longer wearing the black kimono. His skin was almost as white as the room around them.

He was a moving, shining, alabaster statue with clear blue eyes. Slowly she began to realize why he appeared to be glowing. His skin was starting to burn, the same way a piece of paper will if you hold a cigarette to it. Very slowly, starting at a few pin point spots with white/yellow sparks moving outward to consume him.

Staring at him she decided not to tell him that he was burning. Surely he knew. Surely if he didn’t do anything about it he would die. She would be free of this. She could feel herself panicking, trying to figure a way out of this situation. She tried to struggle but the pain was so intense that she had no choice but to stop.

“What does Miguel have to do with me?” She choked out.

The white haired man smiled. “I already explained that to you. You belong to him. He belongs to me, in turn that means that you are my toy. I believe I am entitled to play as I like with my toys.”

Anger cleared her mind more. “I do not belong to Miguel!” she spat.

“Ah, but child, you do. You bear his mark. You signed his contract. Which if you don’t mind my asking, what was so important to you that you felt that your soul was a fair exchange?”

Jenny blinked. “You mean that I really did sign over my soul?”

Jarith’s smile faded for a moment. “Did my dear brother not tell you what you were signing and what the terms were?”

“Well... yeah. But I thought all of this was just a dream and that nothing I did here mattered.”

He reached up to caress the smooth skin for the girls face. He ran a finger down to the hollow of her neck, placing the sharp tip of his nail lightly into her skin. “What about now child? Do you understand that this world can be just as real for you as your waking reality?”

Jenny tried to lift her head up, swallowing to try to keep his clawed hand away from her throat. The more she tried to move away, the more he pressed the offending digit closer. Finally she stopped trying to move and after taking a shaky breath, she replied, “I... I’m beginning to see that, um, this world does seem very real. I had a, um, mark from Miguel in my reality after he bit me here.”

Jarith smiled again. “So you have wounds in your waking state, but for no reason, other than the fact that you don’t want to believe in this world, you think that your soul is safe and that you are not truly bound by contract to my brother?”

Tears formed in Jenny’s eyes. *I must be strong!* she thought to herself. *This not real! It just a dream! I need to wake up!*

Jarith frowned and moved his finger absently across Jenny’s skin, causing the girl to flinch. “There you go again denying the existence of anything outside your realm of comprehension. Though I do have to congratulate you in your efforts to break my hold on you. Your will does seem strong, but maybe that was part of your bargain with my brother? A child such as yourself very rarely is able to exert that amount of control.”

The brown haired girl glared at him. “Stay out of my head! You don’t know anything!”

“Little girl, don’t you realize that there is so much more to the world around you? Haven’t you ever felt disconnected? Like something was missing?”

Jenny closed her eyes trying not to feel the truth of his words. She couldn’t help it though what he had just said felt like a weight tied to her soul. *something is missing.* she thought. The more she thought about it, the more her grandmothers death came to mind. She felt alone and hurt, both emotionally and physically.

The platinum haired man smiled and tilted her head up with his hand. “So you admit it then, child? You don’t know everything. You feel there is something missing. ” he paused and waited for her to open her eyes before speaking again. “Well then, I have a proposition for you.” he said, smile widening.

She fought to keep the fear out of her eyes as she answered her voice shaking. “And... w-what do you propose?”

Jarith moved his hand away and Jenny let out a breath that she didn’t even know she had been holding. Then he spoke, “I could break your contract with my brother. I could give you everything you have ever wanted, free of charge. If,” his smile deepened. “If, you were to stay with me and keep me entertained. I do get so bored.”

The girls eyes widened as he spoke. She found herself wanting to spit words at him. Cruel words that might harm him somehow but she found she could say nothing. She had no words for this man, she didn’t know him and therefore she couldn’t harm him.

Suddenly, the man turned away from her as if someone had called his name. She stared at him as he began to move, walking further from her. It seemed almost as if he had lost interest in her, or maybe that he was seeing something that she couldn’t. Either way Jenny began to struggle once more, trying to ignore the pain, aghast at the thought of having to live the rest of her life with a psychopath. Crying and biting her lip till it bled she pulled against whatever it was that was holding her hair in place. Finally, with great effort her hair came lose and fell, messily around her shoulders. She was still panting from the efforts of her small victory when Jarith turned back to her.

“Ah, I see you have freed yourself from one restraint,” He smiled and laughed, seemingly truly happy that she had pulled her hair lose, “I wonder how you will fair against the others. Go ahead,” he coxed as his smile deepened, “keep trying, your are a wonderfully willful child and I shall happily stand watch as you slowly and painfully pull yourself free of each restraint I have placed on you. When you are free, I shall hold you and pet your hair as you die gasping from loss of blood on my nice, clean, white, floor.” His smile suddenly faded. “I suppose I’ll have to call someone to come clean your blood up, seeing as how I wouldn’t want it to stain everything, but it will be beautiful for awhile. So please, by all means continue... amuse me.”

She was staring again her mouth slightly open. She shut it and swallowed to moisten her throat. “Is that really all you think of?” she asked quietly. “Is that all people are worth to you?”

“But you feel the same way. Do you not?” he replied tilting his head a bit.

“I... I don’t... I would never do what you are doing to someone! Never!” the brown haired girl spat.

Another smile threatened to pull at the corners of Jariths mouth. “But you do... and you’ll admit to it someday. And besides, your small sacrifice would never be forgotten. I am immortal and I would carry the beauty of your death with me forever.”

“No!” Jenny screamed. “Never! I’ll never do anything to ~please~ you! You can’t have the memory of my death! Even if I do die here, I’ll come back... I’ll follow you... I’ll make you life a living hell!”

Jarith laughed and took a small step back. His eyes seemed warm for a moment as he stood there eyeing her. The skin of his shoulders was beginning to blacken and crack, but he payed it no mind as he spoke again.

“Ah, well then,” he said as he motioned towards a glass door at the opposite wall. “It would seem that we will have to test whether you can follow through with what you say later. Your prince is here to save you.”

The girl quickly looked to the same place Jarith had motioned towards, hoping to see the man from earlier. But the Raven haired beauty was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in the now opened doorway stood Miguel. He walked forward, towards Jarith, his strides long and full of purpose. As the red head moved closer, Jenny could see the anger on his face. His green eyes were narrowed and his mouth set in a hard line, a murderous energy radiated from him. It wasn’t until he was within touching distance that she saw that the sun was having an effect on him as well. Slowly starting to burn whatever skin his long trench coat didn’t cover.

As Miguel walked past Jarith, his eyes darted over to glare at her captor. Once he reached the brown haired girl, he touched her face gently, his sun warmed hand moving a lock of hair out of her eyes. Miguel’s other hand moved across her wrists and shoulders. As he did this the hard, metal spikes melted. They dripped like honey onto the floor below her. He did the same for the restraints on her legs and ankles. All the while he lifted her so as to not cause her more pain. Jenny was so focused on the red head and his arms that encircled her waist that she never even noticed that her white haired tormentor had left.

Once she was freed, Miguel lifted the her into his arms. She fell against him, her head lolling onto his shoulder. She was bleeding and in pain, but was thankful beyond words that she was free. She brought one bloody arm up to hug the man that had saved her. They stood like that for awhile. She felt safe, calm.

As Jenny pulled her arm away, she looked up at the alabaster face of the man who held her close, and saw that he was indeed burning. The fire burning his skin was spreading slowly and she did the only thing she could think of to help. She brought her wrist up to his mouth in a silent offer. Miguel raised one eyebrow his green eyes searching her face. Seeming to find the answer he needed in her eyes his mouth latched onto her wrist and he started to drink.

As Miguel fed a numbing sensation crept through her arm and into her shoulder, dulling the pain of her wounds. She watched in fascination as his skin healed and color bled into his cheeks. As he pulled his mouth away she smiled at him.

“Thank you.” Jenny said as her eyelids started to close. “I’m safe now, right?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, you’re safe.” Miguel whispered.

He began to walk towards the glass door and then out into the sun. There was a moment when they were surrounded by light and the smell of lavender. She saw the bright colors of blooming flowers and glimpses of silver. Then it was dark. The smell of lavender was replaced by the smell of wet moss and fall leaves. The air was crisp and cool, and as the brown haired girl fought to stay conscious, she saw maple trees of red and gold and a midnight blue sky over head.

“Sleep now.” A voice told her, and she stopped fighting as darkness encased her. She felt a kiss pressed to her forehead by warm lips. Then the same voice spoke once more before she drifted off to a deep sleep, it said, “I’m sorry. I won’t let that happen again.”


***********I'm still working on this chapter. More to come ASAP.***********