Chapter 49 Rui
Rui
Zizi.
Fear tightened its grip on Rui. What was he doing here? Did the Hybrids catch him on his way to his grandmother’s? His sweater
was shredded, revealing cuts and bruises on his arms and torso. Dried blood stained the side of his face. He looked dazed,
like he’d been drugged.
Blinking rapidly, he took in his surroundings. He saw her.
“Rui? Who did this to you?” Zizi demanded, glowering at her injuries. He was up on his feet at once, settling on Ten as the
likely suspect. “Was it you?”
Zizi ran a hand down the length of his arm. The black hilt of his spiritual weapon appeared.
Ten rolled his eyes.
Pain shot through Rui’s nerves. She cried out, staring at her hand in horror. Her index finger was bent wrong.
Zizi stopped in his tracks. He lowered his arm slowly, his spiritual weapon disappearing.
Ten quirked his head, observing the mage. “I see you are quick to pick up on things. All I need is a small favor. If you agree
to do it, nothing else will happen to her.”
“Who are you and what do you want?” Zizi said.
“You will soon know who I am. But first, re-create the separation spell for them.” Ten pointed at the Hybrids, not bothering
to hide his distaste for the creatures.
“No! Don’t you dare!” Rui shouted. “Don’t listen to Ten—”
Another finger twisted.
She clapped her uninjured hand over her mouth to stop her screams. Fury burned through her. One day, she would give this god a taste of his own medicine. One day, she would bring him to his knees.
As if he heard her thoughts, Ten smiled at her. A suffocating weight pressed down, and she whimpered.
Zizi roared, “Stop!”
Ten’s spiritual pressure lightened, just a little. “Yes?”
“The spell was a one-off thing. I can’t do it again,” Zizi said, his eyes never leaving Rui. She wanted to reassure him, but
she was in too much pain to speak.
“That is not what you told us, Your Majesty!” Green Jacket looked mutinous. “We know this is the mage who created a successful
separation spell, but we failed to capture him the first time because of her.” Green Jacket glared in Rui’s direction. “You came to us, Your Majesty. You told us you had leverage and a way to make this work. We made a deal, and now he’s saying he can’t do it?”
“Relax,” Ten said, looking almost bored by Green Jacket’s tirade. “I will hold up my end of our bargain. He can do it. He
just doesn’t know it yet.”
Ten pulled out a dried branch from his robes. He closed his fist, and the branch crumbled to dust. He went to Zizi. “Give
me your hand.”
Rui shook her head, but Zizi stuck his hand out and Ten poured the crushed remains into his palm.
“Perhaps you have tried to create the spell again and failed,” Ten said. “But you will not fail this time. The artifact you
hold,” he paused, nodding at the dust in Zizi’s palm, “it may not have the power it used to, but it will be enough.”
Zizi stared at the brown mound.
“You feel its power, do you not?”
Zizi nodded, looking both intrigued and repelled by what was in his hand.
“This time”—Ten tossed his ponytail—“make sure the spell can be cast an infinite number of times.”
Zizi’s jaw dropped in shock. He hesitated, fighting with himself.
“Don’t do it,” Rui pleaded. “You know what the Hybrids will do with that spell.”
“Oh, but you love her, don’t you?” Ten crooned. “And love is what makes you weak and pathetic, and a fool.”
He glanced in Rui’s direction, and she felt the weight of the god’s power again. It snaked into her, squeezing from the inside,
the pain radiating from her stomach and up her spine. She gasped, barely able to stop the scream rising in her throat.
“Stop hurting her!” Zizi shouted.
It was the first time Rui had seen him this afraid. And he was afraid—of losing her.
“I am impatient by nature,” Ten said, “and we are running out of time. She feels a little fragile at the moment. I am afraid
her spirit core is not doing so well. I suggest you act quickly before I slip and kill her by accident.”
Green Jacket threw a sheaf of yellow parchment at Zizi. “Hurry up. Any one of us would be happy to finish her off if we don’t
get what we want.”
No. Rui shook her head at him. He couldn’t re-create that cursed spell just to save her. One life was not more worthy than the
rest. She tried to speak, but the words jammed in her throat as Ten’s spiritual pressure crushed her.
Zizi cast her one last desperate look, and she heard his words from the night before echoing in her head.
I would give up this entire world for a single breath to leave your lips again.
And then she watched the boy she loved doom the world she had sworn to protect.