"Bleeding Out" | Jade

Written by Dark Matter, Cover art by Da Wind King

Wind shrieked past Jade's ear and she caught the blur of a blade out of the corner of her eye. Trap, slash, and a blossom of red emptied itself from her opponent. No time to check if it lived or not - clash - Too close for comfort but she had one objective in mind. Kashi was captured; who knew what they were going to do to her - counter, slash, stab - Whirling around quickly, she caught a blur of the battlefield and the sound of battle cries, yelling, and deafening clashing of weapons that drowned her senses.
One leg buckled under her and she looked down to see it drenched in blood. Gritting her teeth, she pushed back to her feet, flashing a quick, fierce smile at the fact that she couldn't even feel it.
The wound on her leg was quickly repaid tenfold to the ghostly inflictor of the wound, and Jade pressed further into the fray. The spectral beings around her thickened as she struggled to plow a line through their ranks. She would find Kashi and save her.
-Black spots danced across her vision and the trampled grass of the battlefield seemed to swim like the waves in the rivers back home. It rose up to meet her and she fell hard against the ground. - ...block....slash - the battlefield noises faded to a backdrop as the blood pounded a war drum in her ears. She pulled herself to her knees quickly, spinning around. Surrounded, eerie faces looming around her. A yell of defiance ripped from her throat and she stumbled to her feet - slash, stab, slice stab, slash, slash, kick, stab - No time for blocks or counters. No time....
Blood stained the grass in front of her face; the smell of earth and sweat filled her nose. On her knees again. Alone.
"Guiscard! Kash - "
Something slammed into her back and suddenly she couldn't force herself to stay upright any longer. Is this what death feels like? Am I dead?
But no more blows came. The phantoms left her to bleed out...The world slowly faded into grey.
Then, above the raging sound of battle, there filtered a voice and it was singing. The words blurred in Jade's hearing too much to be made out but, for her, it was a song of hope - a reminder of beauty even in the pain and destruction all around her. "Creator," she thought, as her world turned black, "save me. If there is beauty in such destruction, then there must be life in all this death...I can't see it, though. I can't see and my world is only darkening. Please would you find it...Would you..."
She was still and unmoving when Squire found her.