"Jet. The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."
The words ring in his ears painfully, and darkness covers his eyes. Terror seizes him as he fights the creeping emptiness that threatens to envelop his mind. He tries to hold on to who he is, what he is trying to accomplish, but he suddenly isn't sure anymore.
That bright light swishes past his face, beautiful, hypnotic.
Everything suddenly fades.
Flames dance before his eyes, painfully bright against the dark sky. Smoke clogs his nose and leaves an acrid taste in his mouth. Everything is burning, fire climbing higher above the rooftops of his home. He can see his mother through the flames, fighting her way towards him, screaming his name. He tries to run towards her but she waves him back, and he cries out as she trips and vanishes into the hellish blaze. People race around him in blind panic, but he is hardly aware of anything but the spot where his mother fell. Screams assault his ears from every direction, some in pain, some in fear.
He cannot tell which are his.
He can only watch everything and everyone he has ever loved turn to ash.
Pain sears through his heart as he fights to quell the traumatic memory, but he can't escape. A terrible pressure builds up in his head, pulsing angrily behind his unseeing eyes, but the tears refuse to fall. Just as he is certain he is about to die, Jet's eyes suddenly see again. He turns to the boy beside him, sees those blue eyes staring at him uncertainly.
A single, simple fact uncoils from the depths of his mind and whispers in his ear.
Kill him, and it will stop hurting.
"I am honored to accept his invitation."
The flames are back, egging him on as his twin hook-blades swing through the air, desperation in his every move.