A rainy night with roaring thunder, a short young woman with brandy-colored short hair and yellow eyes sleeps on a metal operating table. Her name is Jenette. Her crimes are blasphemy and treason. Her punishment is up to a necromancer to decide. Her sleep is disturbed by needles injected into her legs, arms and head. Her eyes flutter open; a flash of lightning lights up the dark room and reveals multiple IV bags connected to her. Their contents varied between sedatives, antibiotics, and cow, sheep, dog and human blood. Around her stands a Taoist and a dozen prisoners of the state. Thunder claps in her earlobes. The Taoist grabs Jenette's head and sticks a yellow talisman to her forehead while murmuring spells in Cantonese. She tries to wiggle her body, but leather straps tied around her limbs nail her to the table.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, okay! I will take back my blasphemous words! I will write 10x more poems praising Rubix!"
The Taoist doesn't care for her plea. He jabs Jenette's philtrum with his index and middle finger. Her body becomes limp, and her skin turns white at the five injection sites, then white mutations spread across her body like mold. Her nails turn black and grow into short claws. Her pupils widen. The white in her eyes turns black, and her once-black irises turn red. She feels her chest beating weaker and weaker despite her anxiety. Crimson darkness creeps into her sights and spreads like bacteria on a petri dish. She descends into darkness.
Jenette stands up. Her head is ringing like church bells. She turns in the direction of the voice to a gallery and sees a man with black hair and no eyes playing around with the pictures. He is wearing the outfit of a puppetmaster and the accompanying white gloves.
"Hello, my harshest critic."
"What are you doing with my memories, Rubix?" Jenette tries to tackle the person but simply phases through him.
"Death's job is to snatch away everything, including your poems." Rubix takes out a lighter and burns the photo.
"Leave my creations alone, you vile demon!"
"That's a bit rude. I can offer compromises."
Rubix raises his hand, and silver strings blossom out of his fingers like vines. They wrap around Jenette's limb and lift her into the air. "Be my puppet, and I will let you access portions of your memory. I will even give you back all your memories when you die and grant you your wishes in the afterlife."
A slight nod is all he needs. The five silver strings burrow themselves inside Jenette from the five injection sites. She squirms, screams in agonizing pain and vomits out blood. Rubix watches from afar, laughing ominously.
When Jenette opens her eyes again, she is back in that laboratory, surrounded by empty IV bags and rotting corpses whose souls are yanked from their mouths while they are flayed alive. Jenette opens her mouth, producing an inhuman voice. She stares at the Taoist, who has black strings attached to him. In anger, she swings at the Taoist, but her arms are held back by Rubix's silver strings.
"You can test out your power later," Rubix's voice plays out in Jenette's head as he forces Jenette to kneel before the Taoist. The Taoist places another talisman on Jenette and lets Rubix walk her out of the lab. She hops on a truck headed straight for the front, thinking about death as she puts on her combat gear. She picks up an automatic shotgun the size of a heavy machine gun left for her and tosses it around like a cheap toy. An armorer walks into the armory and loads Jenette's gun for her. He, too, has black strings attached to him. In fact, everyone she has met so far has black strings attached to them.
"Spirit of this body, heed my call!"
Jenette screeches at the enemy emplacements as her mind enters into a violent trance. The silver strings yank her into the air before guiding her to leaps from building to building. A few shots strike her torso and make fist size holes. She coughs out some black-colored blood but doesn't slow down. At the desired range, she rains down lead pellets on the defenders before landing in the middle of them. She then tears into their flesh with her claws while Rubix laughs manically in her mind. She pries their bodies open with ease.
Bang! A soldier stands his ground and blasts a fist size hole where Jenette's heart once was. Jenette looks down, touches the hole, and then keels over.
"I didn't give you permission to die yet."
Her corpse flops on the ground. The invisible strings slowly lift her body up while regenerating the heart she lost. The soldier fired into the corpse. The flesh around the heart blossoms into white flowers, spilling out black tar. However, other than more spills, the heart is undamaged.
"KKKIIIAAA!" Jenette opens her mouth and lets out a high-pitched howl. The soldier stumbles backward, slipping in the process.
"No! I don't want to die yet! Mama!"
Jenette slowly stumbles towards the terrified soldier. She commands her legs to stop and attempts to dig them into the ground, but Rubix's strings override her orders. She aims her shotgun, but Rubix makes her throw it away.
"Aren't you thirsty after that fight?" Jenette shakes her head at the thought.
"No. Not like this." She murmurs to herself.
"It's important to stay hydrated." Jenette stares at the soldier one final time.
"I'm sorry,"
"AAAAAAAA!!"
Even the moon looks dark compared to the corpse.
"Not enough."
"No more…" Jenette stares at the other enemy combatant running for their lives
Chomp.
"AAAAAAA!"
"Another one."
Chomp.
"GAAHHHH!"
"Please…"
"You must still be thirsty."
Chomp.
"AAAAAAA!"
"Someone kill me…."
Chomp.
"NO! NO! AAAAAA!"
Rubix makes Jenette wipe her mouth after drinking the last hostile combatant's blood, then twists her head 180 degrees. Behind her, dozens of white corpses lay face up with their twisted, horrified expressions. He twists Jenette's head towards the ground and forces her to witness Rubix's hand cast a shadow that envelops Jenette's insignificant body.
"...... You demon."
The hand becomes invisible again. Jenette bites off one of her fingers and writes on her chest. Once again, Rubix toys with her brain. Instead of writing the poem that got her in trouble, she writes a poem praising Rubix as a benevolent god using the same title as the previous poem.
Rubix raises his hand up and walks Jenette back to the forward headquarters, his snickers echoing inside Jenette's empty head.
Another battle, another death, another drink, another cycle. Many times she tried to join the dead, undone with a simple twirl of Rubix's fingers. Whether it be gunshots, artillery, or bayonets, all Jenette did was shave off more of her flesh. She stumbles up and down the frontline at Rubix's command. Today she drinks from terrified conscripts. Yesterday, she ripped open a family. Tomorrow she might feast on unborn life. To remember how many people she's killed, she carved lines on her arm. The last time she checked, no space was left on her left arm. The poem on her chest changes with each resuscitation. In fact, the poor little girl doesn't even remember her poems anymore.
"You are killing it out there, girl."
"You think I feel great?" Jenette's voice drags on as she stares at a cherry blossom.
"You don't have to feel anything, oh withering flower." Jenette feels a hand patting her head, "You don't have to remember anything. Just give yourself up to me."
"I'm missing half my face and smell like decay."
"You are even more beautiful when you rot away."
"... How much more of this horseplay?"
"...You can pray.."
She covers her eyes and weeps in silence. "Cherry blossoms are most beautiful when they die." A female voice whispers in Jenette's ears. She raises her head, catching a glimpse of a white humanoid figure standing underneath the tree. It waves back at her before disappearing.
"You can interact with her." Rubix's voice enters Jenette's brain one final time.
Jenette leaps towards the tree. The girl waving at her has long pink hair and purple eyes. She wears white-colored clothing with black ribbons draped across her torso.
"You are?"
"Someone you forgot."
"Why are you here?" The few remaining brain cells try to put a name on the girl and her familiar voice. However, nothing comes to fruition.
"You." She smiles back at Jenette, "I'm here for you."
"What does that mean?"
No response. The girl walks behind the tree, then disappears into thin air. Alarms ring out behind her. Another raid. She leaps into battle, shredding any competition. Until… The pink-haired girl appears again, holding a Ji made from peach wood. Jenette lunges at her, but the girl smacks her in the face with her weapon. The area struck by the Ji crumbles away, unable to regenerate.
"Finally. A worthy opponent." Rubix orders Jenette to attack again, and yet again, this 'mere mortal' beats Jenette in reflex and strength. Jenette raises her arms in a defensive stance. Her claws extend out by half a meter. The girl dashes forwards, evading Jenette's claws. She swings above Jenette's head, cutting all of the strings attached to her.
"Blasphemy…" Rubix slams his hand down on the girl, who dodges it with ease. Without wasting a second, she impales Jenette with the Ji. Jenette spats out crimson-colored blood. Her voice returns to normal.
"Bai Wu Chang?"
"Shhh. Close your eyes, Jenette. You suffered enough." Wu Chang gently pats Jenette's head with her tender hands. Jenette's black hair turns white, then falls off like feathers. The straight line on Jenette's face bends into a wide smile.
"Who said death gods can't be so lovely?"
"Let me escort you back to Meng Po, just like before," Bai Wu Chang presses a detonator on her vest.
A violent explosion followed by a gentle breeze. Cherry blossoms gently float around Jenette's rotting corpse. The red in her eyes finally dies down. Rubix's hand reaches down and picks her up. He takes her away from her world, a large set piece on stage. He shows Jenette to his audience, takes a bow and pulls out a lighter.
Click… The crowd claps and whistles as he sets Jenette free. She is free from Rubix but trapped in a dozen reenactments from different necromancers.
