Prisoner. That was how Rein would best describe his condition. Handcuffed, surrounded by armed men in military equipment, escorted inside an armored vehicle. After being questioned by Arthur - he didn’t think interrogated is the right word - they told him that to keep him safe they had to move him to a safe house near the edge of the city. Letting him free wasn’t a choice because the Dollmaker might target him.
”Just normal procedure.” That was what they said, but Rein knew they weren’t treating him as a guest but a criminal. It made sense though, he committed crimes and doomed a woman a few days ago. Normally, he wouldn’t mind this kind of treatment. But now wasn’t the time. It wasn’t about himself, but the safety and life of his escort.
Death.
The smell of death hung close to him. There was a disaster coming, an incident about to happen. There was no way he could forget after experiencing it so many times before. He could see the shadow tendrils reaching out to his surrounding and gripping the neck of everyone around him. It didn’t yet close the grip, but it soon will.
There’s no way they’d listen even if he explained it to them, but at least he will try on the off chance.
”Please, let me leave.” He pleaded. He had kept his silence from the beginning, so his voice came as a surprise to the six people sitting around him.
”What? Wanna take a piss?” One of them replied, and the rest laughed. Clearly, they harbored no respect for him. Just another escort mission. Another work they have to get done, but he didn’t blame them.
”Please, we all will be in danger.” He wished to the gods, to any gods, that they’d listen to him.
The escort stopped their laugh, and all turned towards him. ”Are you threatening us?”
”No, you don’t understand I’m, Please! I’m-” Rein closed his eyes. How and why he didn’t know. Flash of light brighter than the sun pierced his eyelids and burned his eyes. Banging sound assaulted his ears and threatened to rupture his eardrums.
He felt no pain. His eyes refused to open and his ears couldn’t hear anything. His body might separate and his innards thrown all over the sideway and there’s no way for him to confirm until his sight returned. Strange thought filled his heart and mind as he waited for the ringing and flashing to stop.
Rein opened his eyes.
He was kneeling on the asphalt road, unscathed. There was a burning frame of an armored vehicle behind him, cracked open by the explosion. He saw four men inside the frame, burning and unmoving. Two others laid on the ground, peppered by shrapnel that went through their jacket and protective clothing. None were breathing.
He did this. He did this. He did this.
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Rein wanted to scream, to shout, to cry for help and forgiveness. Eight more were added to the soul he took.
He didn’t know them, but they didn’t deserve this. They weren’t kind to him, but they didn’t deserve this. This was a risk of their job, but they didn’t deserve this. They were a son or daughter, husband or wife, father or mother, they had their loved ones; they have people waiting for them. Or if not, at least they had something they looked forward to. And now he took everything from them.
He opened his trembling jaw. ”AHHHHHHHHH!!!” What came out was a primal cry of fury, a curse towards himself.
”You bastard!!!” Her on his shoulder. ”Where are you?!” She caused this, of everything. ”Come out you piece of shit!” Soon she would show herself. ”I know you will! Come out and get me!” But even after he shouted everything he had, after he exhausted every curse he knew, after he waited for eternity, she never showed herself.
He was alone. With tears and blood, in a dark street in the middle of nowhere. ”Why? Why? Why?” He smashed his fist to the asphalt road, yet even after everything was dyed red, there was no pain to give him some form of penance.
”You can still save them, your two friends.” A soothing voice came behind him.
He turned towards the voice. A golden-haired man stood there, with shining golden eyes and appearance that defy belief. ”Arthur? Wha-” He was at lost of words. Where did he come from?
”What I’m doing here or how I’m getting here isn’t important.” Arthur wasn’t looking at him, but gazing far to the distance. ”As much as I wish otherwise, if this goes on, Rose mission will not end up how you want it to end. She’ll fulfill her mission, but will fail to rescue the woman you loved. She’ll get to the Dollmaker, she’s very powerful, but not before the Dollmaker sacrifice your loved, Iris. The Dollmaker knows Rose is coming the moment she took you under her custody.”
”What are you saying?” everything was so confusing. The certainty and confidence of his tone was unmistakable. As if speaking from memories.
Arthur turned towards him, his golden eyes gleaming in the dark. ”I’m giving you a choice. There’re two things you can do now. You can turn away and return to the city. You’ll sleep and wake up better than ever before. All your anomalies, all the emptiness in your heart, the numbness, gone from your life. Forget about Rose, the Dollmaker, the anomalies, and magic, and Iris. You will be reborn a new man and start your life fresh. Unburdened by your past.”
Arthur extended his arm out. On it was a phone. ”Or you can take this. It will lead you to where the Dollmaker and Iris are. With your help, she might be able to escape death.” With little thought Rein reached for the phone. ”But,” Arthur interrupted. ”The future that awaits you on this path will be worse than death. You will suffer, endlessly, repeatedly… but maybe there will be light at the end of the tunnel waiting for you.”
Rein paused for a moment. There was no telling what Arthur said was the truth, but the matter-of-fact way he delivered it would make anyone believed him, no matter how insane and outlandish the content actually is. And with the last few days of Rein life had been nothing but insane, there was no reason not to believe Arthur.
He grabbed the phone.
”There‘s never a choice.” Arthur said with a smile.
With the phone in his hand, a sense of calmness and focus returned to Rein’s body. Finally, his mind felt right and normal. ”You‘re right, there‘s never a choice.If I let Iris die, I can never forgive myself.”
”Though this result is inevitable, I have to thank you, Rein Constantine, for choosing this path. For the future you provide.” Arthur closed his eyes and smiled. A smile so serene and peaceful and genuine and calming it drove Rein to blush. ”Godspeed.”
”Thank you.” With that, Rein turned and walked away, taking each step towards the place shown on the phone. He’ll save Iris even if he has to kill himself for it.
Yet even with confidence and goodwill he headed there, what greeted him was pure terror and nightmare. As Arthur promised.