The Time It Takes To Fall

Fractured Soul

USA, 2019 A.D.

Foamy water seeped out of the white marble floor, somehow deep in color despite the lightness of the room. It rushed with the sound of great waves and quickly lapped up Kai's body, consuming him in its darkness. There were no fish within the salty ocean water this time, but somehow life still emanated from the dark depths.

Kai clutched at Cinder's body, allowing for his tears to fall like rain upon her face as the room around them flooded. He would never relinquish his hold upon her— the Blue Koi would have to tear him from her. He had meant it when he said he never wished to be parted from her; he loved her with a love that was unconquerable, no matter how many deaths she died. He had promised her that he would lay down with her in eternal sleep, and he wished to never break that promise.

A wail sounded above the rush of waves, filling the flooding train station with a murderous echo. At first Kai wondered if the sound had come from him— if he had been the one to cry out so— but with one glance at his only other living companion in the room, Kai could tell that it was not indeed him who had shrieked.

The Blue Koi stood mere feet away from Kai, but her attention was no longer upon him. She stared at her feet, sobbing as she took them in— they were shriveling as the water rushed up against her legs.

Kai blinked rapidly, wondering if his tears had distorted his vision, but indeed the Blue Koi was withering away into nothingness, just as every one of Selene's reincarnations had done hours after her passing. Kai squeezed Cinder's body tight against him, making sure that she wasn't turning into dust as well, but she was still there.

Unable to tear his eyes away, Kai stared as his companion— his greatest enemy— deteriorated. It was a gradual process, with every part of her flaking away in its own due time. She screamed for a time, until she collapsed to the ground and her mouth and tongue no longer existed. Then she sat stock still, her body like a reverse snow storm as the ashes of her form flew skyward.

By the time she had dissipated, the water was up to Kai's chest, just tickling his neck. Kai let out a gasp at this realization, then he shivered. The water was astonishingly cold; it ate at his body with a ferocity that couldn't be named. He felt as if every piece of him was both numb and on fire at the same time and it hurt.

Kai let out a moan as the agony of it all sunk in. It did not matter if the Blue Koi had mysteriously vanished into nothingness— Cinder was dead, and Kai no longer had a chance to be with his dearest love. He had lost it all.

Taking her up into his arms, Kai stood from his place upon the floor. The water swiftly met him, bearing most of Cinder's weight upon its slippery shoulders. It danced about them, colored with hues of purple and green and black. If Kai had not been so terrified of whatever was happening, he would have been in awe of the soft waves.

Kai glanced up toward the ceiling and saw that the light fixtures were no longer the fluorescents of the train station, but rather the high ceilings of his palace home in Beijing. Small animals were carved into the wood and painted in various colors, though it all somehow tied into something beautiful. It wasn't until that movement that Kai saw the artistry and he realized how he had missed the beauty of his home.

The water rapidly reached his jaw, and began to fill his mouth and tickle his earlobes. Kai tried to hold Cinder up above the steady stream of water, but it was to no avail. The water would consume them no matter what Kai did. So Kai swallowed one last breath of air before he allowed for his head to fall beneath the oceanic waters that filled that train station.

Immediately after his submersion, Kai longed to be back above the water where his chest and face did not hurt from the cold. But to swim above the tide was to release Cinder into the inky depths, and that was not a price that Kai was ever willing to pay.