LACRIMOSA - Chapter 8
I know. I suck. T.T
As I recently quit my job, I have more free time on my hands so I hope to write more often.Please leave your thoughts and point out any spelling/grammatical mistakes I may have made. I think it's known by now I'm a terrible proof reader, haha.
RECAP: A lil' something I'm gonna start doing in cases where I update late. In the last chapters, the girls have set off into Seoul in search of the Key. Through amazing luck, Sunny and Shinyoung cross paths with the Key and are led to Hyomin whom Sunny has discovered to carry the key. She attempts to persuade to come with her but terrible fails. As Hyomin leaves, Sunny accidentally breaks her compass and thus is unable to chase after her. Shinyoung brings the rest of the girls back together but decided to resume their chase for Hyomin the next morning so that the girls may get some rest first. When Seohyun and Yoona were in the city by their own, Seohyun thinks she spotted a familiar face but believes to have seen wrong.
A lone rider braved through a wild storm, beckoning his steed to quicken its sprint as it rode through the city. Rainwater plastered his cloak to his body but he did not allow the rain to deter him as he made haste to his destination. He had travelled from across the country, all the way from Zhang bearing an important message for the King of Essinia. He had travelled with speed but as well caution, due to the ongoing danger. With the thought of possibly being followed or attacked at any single moment, he was left tense throughout his endeavor. He had heaved a huge sigh of relief once he had finally made it into the Emperial City of Essinia. His task was yet to be accomplished though and he only rode quicker to make it to the Palace where he was being awaited for.
-
In front of the Palace doors, above the numerous grand steps stood a servant of the King, Victoria Song, who eagerly waited for the arrival of the messenger from her home country Zhang. The messenger had left Essinia a few days ago by horse and was expected to return tonight. Victoria prayed he would make a safe return in this cold storm. She took shelter underneath the archway of the palace doors, looking over the front of the Palace as the rain heavily tumbled.
Victoria gasped when she saw the Palace gates from the distance slightly open, allowing a rider to pass through. She heaved a sigh for the return of messenger, letting her worries crumble and patiently waited for him to approach the Palace. As soon as he was within reach of the steps, he ceased his horse and immediately dismounted to scurry up the countless steps.
After a moment, he reached the top and immediately walked over to Victoria, taking cover from the rain. They both bowed their head in greeting but did not exchange any words as the messenger hastily pulled out a scroll from within his cloak and handed it to Victoria.
Victoria removed the scroll from its tube and quickly untied its knot, rolling it open to view the contents. The messenger watched as Victoria's eyes scanned over the document before coming to a complete halt as a gasped escaped her lips. She looked up at the messenger with terrified eyes before hurriedly making her way into the Palace.
-
"The people have the right to know!"
"What good would it do, other than throw them into a fit of panic?"
"Wouldn't it be best to best to evacuate the people?"
"Evacuate a whole nation? Where would we send them?!"
The King listened to his council argue among one another as he rest his head in his palm, rubbing his temple. Since the revelation of the Tyrant to his councilmen, they had been up in arms on the courses of action to take. Their views were divided and it seemed no consensus would be reached soon.
They sat in a large room, dimly lit by candles, further light being ignited from the lightning through the window at the end of the room. At the center of the room was a long table where the councilman sat deep in their discussions while the King was seated at the very end of the table across the room.
"Your Majesty,"
The King looked to his side to address Kangta, a war veteran and once his finest man on the battlefront.
"While I am not in agreement that we should have the people evacuated, I feel we should not simply sit back and wait for what is to come next," Kangta spoke.
"What is it you propose?" the King asked him.
"I suggest we prepare our military for possible confrontation as precautionary."
The King considerately gazed at Kangta momentarily before turning his head away. "It need not come to this. I am hopeful the girls will return to us soon."
"I place my trust in the girls as well but it may take them days. The Tyrant may meanwhile lay siege upon our entire nation."
"Could our military even stand the chance against the Tyrant? He is of no ordinary power."
"You are right. The only true way to defeat him would be send him back to his confinements. What we need to do is not defeat him, but to only survive against him."
The King heaved a deep sigh. Kangta was correct but the King was fearful of sending his men to fight against the Tyrant. So easily the lives of civilians were lost, his own men could fall victim next.
As the clamor in the council room continued, Victoria entered, going unnoticed by the others and jogged her way to the end of the table to the King's side. As soon as the King took note of the woman beside him, she bowed her head to him and handed him the scroll in her hands. The King accepted the scroll and unrolled it to read its contents. He felt his heart drop as his eyes scanned over the words of the document.
Upon reading the complete scroll, the King placed it down and looked up to his councilmen. "Council," he addressed them all. The advisors immediately seized their discussions and gave their King their full attention. King Lee Soo Man sighed and turned his eyes away from his councilmen momentarily. He couldn't bring himself to speak his next words.
"What is it your Majesty?" one of the consulates spoke. The King turned his head to face his advisors and held his head up.
"It seems the Tyrant has extended his attacks into Zhang. Two villages have been wiped out."
The room became filled with gasps and fretful eyes over the King's words.
"We may not be able to look forward to their aid anymore as they now have their own country to look after," The King solemnly relayed. His councilmen fell into hushed murmurs amongst themselves, speaking over the recent events and what effects it would have. "Kangta," the King address the veteran soldier, "how long would it take to prepare our military force?"
-
"So what does this Hyomin even look like?" Tiffany asked.
"She, um…" Sunny trailed off for a moment, looking over the crowd of students, thinking of the best way to describe the girl who carried the key. A thought suddenly occurred to Sunny and she looked over to Jessica. "Actually, she looked like Jessica at some angles."
"Me?" Jessica asked. "Please, no one looks fabulous as me," she said as she flipped her hair which ended up in Sooyoung's face beside her.
The girls had gathered at Sungkyunkwan University where Sunny had discovered Hyomin, in hopes to confront the girl once again and persuade her to come with them. Upon arriving at the University, their compasses indicated Hyomin was already here. After searching inside for a moment and speaking with some other students, they discovered an examination was ongoing and that Hyomin was currently seated in one of the exam halls. After finding the specific hall, they were able to spot her through the window on the door. From what they had been told, the exam would go on for 3 hours, thus they were left to wait for her. They now sat in the front lawn on a bench table, awaiting for Hyomin to walk out of the building.
"Has she come out yet?" Hyoyeon, who was lying over the table, staring up at the sky, tiredly asked.
"Not yet," Tiffany said, looking through a pair of small binoculars at the mass of students. "There are some really cute guys in this school," Tiffany commented.
Taeyeon glared at Tiffany and grabbed the binoculars from her, "give me that! We're not here to look at boys," she reprimanded her. Out of curiosity, Taeyeon lifted the binoculars up to her eyes and looked into them. "…oh," she said after a moment of silence, "Earth boys are actually cute."
Shingyoung sighed and looked down at her watch. "It's been more than 3 hours. She should be out by now."
Seohyun took her compass out from her pocket and looked at the needle. "The compass still directs to the University so she has not left."
"We should take another look inside," Sunny said as she stood up from her seat. "Come on," she beckoned her friends.
"Just one moment," Taeyeon said, Yuri's head placed right beside hers as the two attempted to share the binoculars as the scouted over the crowd together.
"Come on you two," Sooyoung said as she snatched the binoculars away from them and trailed after the others as they made their way into the University.
-
After reaching the hall where Hyomin would be, they found the doors open and less people inside now. The exam seemed to have been over as the students were chatting amongst each other. It was a massive hall but thankfully due to the lesser amount of people now, Sunny was able to spot Hyomin towards the back speaking to someone.
"There she is!" Sunny pointed to the end of the hall, "come on," she said as she led the other girls to their target. As they made their way across the hall, Seohyun retrieved her compass again and observed the needle. It pointed dead straight and began to react as they got closer to Hyomin.
"It is indeed her," Seohyun said as she watched the compass break into a vibrant green glow.
After a short walk through the hall, they reached Hyomin just as she finished speaking to the other person and turned around. "Hello!" Sunny jollily greeted her.
"Oh," Hyomin slightly recoiled at the sudden appearance of the girl, "hello."
"You remember me right?" Sunny smiled.
"Um, yes," Hyomin scrunched her eyebrows as she thought, "Sunny was it?"
"That's right!" Sunny smiled, trying to appear friendly so as not to distraught her like she had done before. "I was wondering if we could have another talk."
Hyomin looked up to see the group of girls behind Sunny intently looking at her, making her feel rather uncomfortable. "About joining your occult club?"
"No, no, no," Sunny frantically shook her hands, "you misunderstood me before, there's no occult. We just really need your help."
"You wanted to me to save your world or something?"
"Uh..." Sunny trailed off, trying to find some other reasoning, "no, we-"
"Yep," Yoona spoke up, "from an evil warlord from hundreds of years ago." Sunny sighed, dropping her hands down as she gave an annoyed look to Yoona. Noticing her eyes, Yoona looked at the shorter girl with an innocent expression. "What?"
"Right," Hyomin chuckled. "Again, no thanks but good luck with that," she said as she was about to turn away.
"Hang on," Shinyoung called to her, stepping forward, "just listen for a moment."
"Everyone be seated, the exam will begin soon!" a voice boomed from the front of the hall. The girls turned around and noted students had begun crowding into the room.
Shinyoung turned back to Hyomin, "we need your help. If you would just come with us for a moment, we can explain everything to you."
"I don't know," Hyomin said looking at the short woman apprehensively.
"Take a seat, girls," a man, likely to be the supervisor in the hall, said as he passed by the girls. He abruptly stopped and looked at a Shinyoung, lowering his head so as to look above his glasses. "Are you a student here?" he asked Shinyoung who clearly did not seem to be a girl in her late teens or early twenties.
"Me?" Shinyoung asked pointing to herself, "uh, no actually, I'm just-"
"Leave right away. An exam is about to begin," the man instructed.
"If I could have-"
"OUT!" the man abruptly bellowed causing Shinyoung to flinch. Shingyoung did not waste another second and scurried away. She turned her head around and gestured for the other to continue speaking with Hyomin. The girls turned back to Hyomin who had walked away to one of the seats at the back.
'Wait," Sunny hurried after her with the others following behind, "I know what we said in the beginning seemed odd but if you just give us a moment we can-"
"Girls, be seated!" the supervisor yelled across the hall. There was an empty seat in front of Hyomin's so Sunny quickly sat herself down. "Just grab a seat for now," she said back to the others.
Tiffany looked around but saw that students had already begun to fill up the seats around them. However she was able to spot a few empty seats several rows up ahead. "Oh, over there," she informed the other girls and quickly moved to occupy the vacant seats.
"If you just allowed us to explain, we sincerely need your help!" Sunny said.
"With what though?" Hyomin asked as she leaned down to her bag beside her chair.
"Well…" Sunny trailed, unsure of how to answer next, "we have a problem and…well, we think you can fix it?"
"And what exactly is the problem again?" Hyomin asked as she then stood up from her seat, placing the strap of her bag over her shoulder.
"Uh…"
When Sunny was not able to provide an answer, Hyomin took that as the chance to turn away and leave. Sunny watched confusedly as she made her way to the back door of the hall. She had assumed Hyomin had seated herself for another exam but she was already making her way out through the doors.
"Wait!" Sunny called after her as she got out of her seat and ran after her.
Shinyoung leaned her back on the wall outside the hall, tapping her feet a she waited for the girls to show up. When a figure crossed by right in front of her, she looked up and noticed it was Hyomin. Shinyoung immediately stood straight and looked back through the hall doors to see where the girls were but ended up colliding into Sunny.
"Sorry!" Sunny said, "she's leaving!" she exclaimed before running after Hyomin again. Shinyoung ran after Sunny but then skid to a halt, looked behind her then spun back around.
"Sunny, where are the others?"
-
Taeyeon watched as the hall became full with the arrival of further students. There were perhaps close to hundred seats in the hall. She looked to her right where Yuri was seated.
"Can you see Sunny and Hyomin?" Taeyeon asked her.
Yuri twisted her neck around to look towards the back however there were simply too many students making it hard to search through them.
"I can't see them from here," Yuri said as she moved her head to and fro to try and spot them. Taeyeon, along with Yoona and Sooyoung from her other side, turned around as well to try and find the two. Taeyeon tried to look around the long line of students down her row but could simply not see Sunny or Hyomin.
"All eyes to the front!" the supervisor bellowed as he slammed down the exam paper on Taeyeon's table. Taeyeon and the others immediately turned back around in their seats at the man's strict tone. After he had walked past them, Taeyeon leaned back in her seat to speak to Tiffany who was seated behind her.
"Tiffany, can you see Sunny or Hyomin?" Taeyeon whispered to her.
Tiffany peaked over her should to search for the two in question but she was unable to look past all the other students. "There are too many people. I can see them at all," she whispered back to Taeyeon.
-
"Oh great," Shinyoung groaned as she looked through the small window of the hall doors. The other girls were still in the hall and had not realized Sunny and Hyomin had left. Shinyoung could not enter the hall anymore as someone had come a moment ago to lock the back doors.
"Shinyoung!" Sunny called to her as she ran to the short woman's side. "Come on, Hyomin hasn't left yet, we need to hurry!" she beckoned the short woman.
"Hang on, we've got a problem."
"What is it?"
"Take a look," Shinyoung gestured to the window. Sunny walked to the other side of the double door to look through the second small window. "Taeyeon and the other are still inside." Sunny immediately reached for the door handle and turned it but the door would not budge. "It's locked," Shinyoung said to her.
Sunny grunted and looked back through the window. "I doubt they'll be able to hear us."
"Don't think so."
Sunny then began tapping on the window lightly. It was unlikely it would attract the girl's attention considering how far down the hall they were but Sunny persisted and tapped louder only successfully attracting the attention of those nearer to the door.
"Taeyeon," Sunny called a little above a whisper.
"I don't think they'll be able to hear you," Shinyoung said. Sunny still persisted and continued to tap on the window. Suddenly the frightening face of the supervisor from earlier appeared in the window causing Sunny and Shinyoung to both flinch back and take a few steps away.
Sunny sighed and turned to Shinyoung, "I need to make sure Hyomin doesn't leave. Try to find some way to get them out and then catch up with me."
"Sure you go ahead. If she leaves, you just follow her," Shinyoung told Sunny before she headed off after Hyomin again.
-
"Hello!" Hyomin sang as she skipped into the café.
"Hey Hyominie," Boram greeted the girl from behind the counter, "how was your last exam?"
"I just got done with all my exams so I don't want to talk about them anymore," Hyomin said as she plopped down on to a seat in front of the counter. "I can finally just relax," Hyomin said with a smile as she closed her eyes and rested her head over her arms.
"Here," Boram leaned down to the glass case and pulled out a colorful cupcake, "just made a fresh batch," she said as she placed the cupcake in front of the girl.
"Thank you, unnie!" Hyomin brightly exclaimed as she grabbed the cupcake into her hand.
"You're still paying for it," Boram said. Hyomin pouted her lips and gave her most forlorn look to the elder girl. "Fine, fine," Boram chuckled. Hyomin blew the short girl a kiss before biting into the cupcake, the cream wiping onto her nose. Hyomin relaxed into her seat with her arms over the counter as she happily munched on the pastry. She had stressed herself out enough for her final examinations but now that they were dealt with and summer had begun, she wanted nothing more but this tranquil moment to enjoy for now.
Her tranquility was taken away from her when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Hello!"
Hyomin almost choked on the cupcake when she saw the familiar short brunette sitting next to her. She quickly swallowed and wiped her mouth with her hand.
"Are you following me?!" Hyomin exclaimed.
"No!" Sunny defended herself. "I...happen to come by here often actually," she smiled brightly.
Just then, Boram walked by and looked at the girl beside Hyomin."I haven't seen you here before," she said before continuing on with her business.
Sunny cleared her throat and nervously chuckled, "I usually sit towards the back."
"Look I'm not interested in joining your-"
"No, no," Sunny interrupted her, "there is no occult. Just forget that, that was a complete misunderstanding." Sunny then leaned forward in her chair to speak at a closer proximity. "I do desperately need your help though," she spoke in a quieter tone.
"With what?" Hyomin responded in the same hushed but more impatient tone.
"We have a certain problem and we think you…have the skills to help us."
"Well what exactly is the problem?"
"Someone is giving us trouble and we think you can help us against them."
"What trouble? You're going to have to be more specific than that!"
Sunny bit the corner of her lip and averted her eyes for a moment. In a world where magic was thought to be make-believe, it would be difficult to convince this girl of where she came from. She looked back at the girl but her eyes were pulled towards her nose. Sunny looked over to the counter, picked up a tissue and brought it to the girl's nose. Hyomin was taken back when the short girl used the tissue in her hand to wipe the cream she had not realized was on her nose.
Sunny placed the tissue away and turned to look back at the girl. She would not be able to convince this girl by her words but perhaps she could show for her own eyes to believe. They were advised to not use magic but Sunny was left with no choice.
"Ok so I am from a world, galaxies away from Earth," Sunny spoke. Hyomin groaned in response and turned away from her. "Wait listen," Sunny reached out and grabbed the girls arm, "I can prove this to you."
"How?" Hyomin questioned though disinterestedly.
"If you could come with me somewhere private, I could show you."
Hyomin raised an eyebrow at girl, "that sounds awfully suspicious. How do I know you won't rob or maybe even attack me?"
"Well…"
"Could I bring someone else along?"
"No!"
"Aha!" Hyomin exclaimed as she got up from her seat, "thought so." Hyomin grabbed her belongings and her cupcake and prepared to make her leave.
Sunny groaned and dropped her head over the counter. "Why is this so difficult?"
-
Victoria stared out the window of the library into the blue sky, a sky much clearer then last night's dark and ominous one. On any other day, one would've found enjoyment on such a bright morning but it would merely serve as a hollow pleasure amidst the turmoil that shook their country.
Victoria was left distressed now that the attacks had extended into her home country. She grew worrisome of her family and prayed they would remain safe. She was unable to visit her home country often due to her duties in Essinia; she especially could not now at this dire time where everyone's hands were needed.
"It seems the Tyrant had a family."
Victoria turned around to gaze over to the table in the center of the room where Ryewook, Kyuhyun and Yesung were hurdled over various piles of books and documents. Krystal sat amongst them as well, shuffling through all the documents but seemingly not understanding any of the ancient script.
"Really?" Yesung asked looking over the book in his hand.
"Apparently," Ryewook said, his eyes fixated over the records obtained from the Temple of Nagudis.
"What happened to them?" Krystal asked.
"After Wujin became lost to his malevolent ways, his wife committed suicide."
"Oh…that's kind of sad," Krystal frowned.
"Did he have any children?" Victoria asked as she walked over to the table.
"He had one son," Ryewook answered.
"What became of his son?" Kyuhyun asked.
"He was an infant when his mother committed suicide. He was taken to an orphanage; purposed to have lived an ordinary life and was never really heard of again."
"So he was once a normal man with a family?" Victoria asked.
"Until his lust for power took over," Ryewook said. "A true shame. A man once so admired became one so feared."
"…bummer," Krystal commented. At that instant, Captain Sungmin appeared through the shelves from behind them.
"There you are," he called as he made his way to them, "seems we have another issue at hand."
"What is it?" Yesung asked as he stood from his seat.
"It looks like the Tyrant already has its own cult," Sungmin said as he approached the table, several papers in his hands.
"What?" Ryewook asked, eyes widening in disbelief as he looked up to the captain.
"There have been several sightings of similarly cloaked figures in nearby towns to the City. All of them bore similar markings on their bodies," Sungmin explained.
"The mark of the Tyrant?" Victoria asked.
"Exactly," Sungmin laid down the papers over the table, "these are some illustrations by witnesses."
Ryewook picked up one of the pieces of paper and observed the drawing upon it.
"Great, just what we needed," Yesung sighed, resting his hands over the table, "a following deranged worshipers that are likely to be adding to the Tyrant's damages."
"Who are they? What do we know about them?" Ryewook asked, looking up to Sungmin.
"Not much at the moment aside from the various sightings. We are looking into it right now. Hopefully it’s nothing we would have to worry too much about," Sungmin said.
Ryewook looked back to the illustration in his hands. It depicted a man in a dark cloak, his attire was nothing out of the ordinary but what attracted his attention was the symbol upon the man's cloaked forehead. It was the exact emblem of the tyrant. The man's face was not depicted with that many details-his face may have not been clearly seen by the witnesses, but he was drawn with very piercing, soulless like eyes.
-
Hyomin walked peacefully in the direction of her apartment, the ear phones of her iPod placed in her ears, tuning out all other sounds around her. Hyomin continued to enjoy her music as she was nearing her building however a thought struck her and she immediately stopped in place. She stood still for a moment before she spun around and inspected the surrounding behind her. She found nothing out of the ordinary; merely a few people walking on the pavement. Hyomin shook the odd feeling in her as she turned back around and resumed walking. However, the feeling overwhelmed her once again and she peeked over her shoulder. Still nothing out of the ordinary but she didn't want to take any chance. Hyomin looked back to the front and pulled off her ear phones. A few steps ahead came a turn into an alleyway and as she approached it she immediately turned inwards. She stepped up to the wall and placed her back to it, intently watching each figure that walked by the alleyway.
A few people passed by no one of suspicious. After a moment when it seemed no one else would walk by, Hyomin pushed away from the wall and sighed.
'She wouldn't follow me all the way here. Nah…'
Hyomin decided not to leave the alleyway and simply take the back route to her apartment. She began walking down the alleyway but decided to take one last precautionary peak over her shoulder…and yelped in surprised.
"Oh hello, we meet again," Sunny, who suddenly appeared right behind the girl, smiled.
"You're stalking me!" Hyomin exclaimed as she took a step backwards.
"Oh no. I rather say desperately pursuing."
Hyomin whined and began to march away from the girl, "just leave me alone!"
"I can't leave you alone because I really need you!" Sunny proclaimed as she walked after the girl.
"Sorry but I'm not buying your fantasy world story," Hyomin shouted back at her as she kept walking.
"It's not fantasy, it's the truth!" Sunny insisted.
"Whatever!"
"I can prove it to you!"
"Don't bother!"
Sunny stopped in her track and took a deep breath. It was now or never. She pursed her lips and sped ahead of the girls, halting in front of her.
"Can you explain how I can do this then?" at that instance, Sunny lifted her hand and ignited a white ball of flame in her palm. Hyomin froze in her spot and observed the white glow in the girl's hand. She watched the white glow keenly with wide eyes, momentarily fascinated by the anomaly before tilting her head to look over the rest of Sunny's hand.
"What is that? Some sort of holograph?"
"What?" Sunny quirked an eyebrow at the girl.
"You've got some kind of device on your wrist don't you?"
"No! It's-"
"You can try all you want, you're not fooling me," Hyomin said as she walked past Sunny.
Sunny dissipated the flame from her hand and heaved a loud groan as she threw her head up. This was beginning to frustrate her as there seemed to be no way to make this girl believe her. She could not give up though; she needed Hyomin to believe her.
"I'm not trying to fool you!" Sunny exclaimed as she turned to chase after Hyomin again. "I'm telling you the-"
"Sunny?"
Sunny trailed off at the sudden voice that called her name and looked back. A gasp escaped her lips.
"Soyeon?"
Read on Soshified.
As I recently quit my job, I have more free time on my hands so I hope to write more often.Please leave your thoughts and point out any spelling/grammatical mistakes I may have made. I think it's known by now I'm a terrible proof reader, haha.
RECAP: A lil' something I'm gonna start doing in cases where I update late. In the last chapters, the girls have set off into Seoul in search of the Key. Through amazing luck, Sunny and Shinyoung cross paths with the Key and are led to Hyomin whom Sunny has discovered to carry the key. She attempts to persuade to come with her but terrible fails. As Hyomin leaves, Sunny accidentally breaks her compass and thus is unable to chase after her. Shinyoung brings the rest of the girls back together but decided to resume their chase for Hyomin the next morning so that the girls may get some rest first. When Seohyun and Yoona were in the city by their own, Seohyun thinks she spotted a familiar face but believes to have seen wrong.
A lone rider braved through a wild storm, beckoning his steed to quicken its sprint as it rode through the city. Rainwater plastered his cloak to his body but he did not allow the rain to deter him as he made haste to his destination. He had travelled from across the country, all the way from Zhang bearing an important message for the King of Essinia. He had travelled with speed but as well caution, due to the ongoing danger. With the thought of possibly being followed or attacked at any single moment, he was left tense throughout his endeavor. He had heaved a huge sigh of relief once he had finally made it into the Emperial City of Essinia. His task was yet to be accomplished though and he only rode quicker to make it to the Palace where he was being awaited for.
-
In front of the Palace doors, above the numerous grand steps stood a servant of the King, Victoria Song, who eagerly waited for the arrival of the messenger from her home country Zhang. The messenger had left Essinia a few days ago by horse and was expected to return tonight. Victoria prayed he would make a safe return in this cold storm. She took shelter underneath the archway of the palace doors, looking over the front of the Palace as the rain heavily tumbled.
Victoria gasped when she saw the Palace gates from the distance slightly open, allowing a rider to pass through. She heaved a sigh for the return of messenger, letting her worries crumble and patiently waited for him to approach the Palace. As soon as he was within reach of the steps, he ceased his horse and immediately dismounted to scurry up the countless steps.
After a moment, he reached the top and immediately walked over to Victoria, taking cover from the rain. They both bowed their head in greeting but did not exchange any words as the messenger hastily pulled out a scroll from within his cloak and handed it to Victoria.
Victoria removed the scroll from its tube and quickly untied its knot, rolling it open to view the contents. The messenger watched as Victoria's eyes scanned over the document before coming to a complete halt as a gasped escaped her lips. She looked up at the messenger with terrified eyes before hurriedly making her way into the Palace.
-
"The people have the right to know!"
"What good would it do, other than throw them into a fit of panic?"
"Wouldn't it be best to best to evacuate the people?"
"Evacuate a whole nation? Where would we send them?!"
The King listened to his council argue among one another as he rest his head in his palm, rubbing his temple. Since the revelation of the Tyrant to his councilmen, they had been up in arms on the courses of action to take. Their views were divided and it seemed no consensus would be reached soon.
They sat in a large room, dimly lit by candles, further light being ignited from the lightning through the window at the end of the room. At the center of the room was a long table where the councilman sat deep in their discussions while the King was seated at the very end of the table across the room.
"Your Majesty,"
The King looked to his side to address Kangta, a war veteran and once his finest man on the battlefront.
"While I am not in agreement that we should have the people evacuated, I feel we should not simply sit back and wait for what is to come next," Kangta spoke.
"What is it you propose?" the King asked him.
"I suggest we prepare our military for possible confrontation as precautionary."
The King considerately gazed at Kangta momentarily before turning his head away. "It need not come to this. I am hopeful the girls will return to us soon."
"I place my trust in the girls as well but it may take them days. The Tyrant may meanwhile lay siege upon our entire nation."
"Could our military even stand the chance against the Tyrant? He is of no ordinary power."
"You are right. The only true way to defeat him would be send him back to his confinements. What we need to do is not defeat him, but to only survive against him."
The King heaved a deep sigh. Kangta was correct but the King was fearful of sending his men to fight against the Tyrant. So easily the lives of civilians were lost, his own men could fall victim next.
As the clamor in the council room continued, Victoria entered, going unnoticed by the others and jogged her way to the end of the table to the King's side. As soon as the King took note of the woman beside him, she bowed her head to him and handed him the scroll in her hands. The King accepted the scroll and unrolled it to read its contents. He felt his heart drop as his eyes scanned over the words of the document.
Upon reading the complete scroll, the King placed it down and looked up to his councilmen. "Council," he addressed them all. The advisors immediately seized their discussions and gave their King their full attention. King Lee Soo Man sighed and turned his eyes away from his councilmen momentarily. He couldn't bring himself to speak his next words.
"What is it your Majesty?" one of the consulates spoke. The King turned his head to face his advisors and held his head up.
"It seems the Tyrant has extended his attacks into Zhang. Two villages have been wiped out."
The room became filled with gasps and fretful eyes over the King's words.
"We may not be able to look forward to their aid anymore as they now have their own country to look after," The King solemnly relayed. His councilmen fell into hushed murmurs amongst themselves, speaking over the recent events and what effects it would have. "Kangta," the King address the veteran soldier, "how long would it take to prepare our military force?"
-
"So what does this Hyomin even look like?" Tiffany asked.
"She, um…" Sunny trailed off for a moment, looking over the crowd of students, thinking of the best way to describe the girl who carried the key. A thought suddenly occurred to Sunny and she looked over to Jessica. "Actually, she looked like Jessica at some angles."
"Me?" Jessica asked. "Please, no one looks fabulous as me," she said as she flipped her hair which ended up in Sooyoung's face beside her.
The girls had gathered at Sungkyunkwan University where Sunny had discovered Hyomin, in hopes to confront the girl once again and persuade her to come with them. Upon arriving at the University, their compasses indicated Hyomin was already here. After searching inside for a moment and speaking with some other students, they discovered an examination was ongoing and that Hyomin was currently seated in one of the exam halls. After finding the specific hall, they were able to spot her through the window on the door. From what they had been told, the exam would go on for 3 hours, thus they were left to wait for her. They now sat in the front lawn on a bench table, awaiting for Hyomin to walk out of the building.
"Has she come out yet?" Hyoyeon, who was lying over the table, staring up at the sky, tiredly asked.
"Not yet," Tiffany said, looking through a pair of small binoculars at the mass of students. "There are some really cute guys in this school," Tiffany commented.
Taeyeon glared at Tiffany and grabbed the binoculars from her, "give me that! We're not here to look at boys," she reprimanded her. Out of curiosity, Taeyeon lifted the binoculars up to her eyes and looked into them. "…oh," she said after a moment of silence, "Earth boys are actually cute."
Shingyoung sighed and looked down at her watch. "It's been more than 3 hours. She should be out by now."
Seohyun took her compass out from her pocket and looked at the needle. "The compass still directs to the University so she has not left."
"We should take another look inside," Sunny said as she stood up from her seat. "Come on," she beckoned her friends.
"Just one moment," Taeyeon said, Yuri's head placed right beside hers as the two attempted to share the binoculars as the scouted over the crowd together.
"Come on you two," Sooyoung said as she snatched the binoculars away from them and trailed after the others as they made their way into the University.
-
After reaching the hall where Hyomin would be, they found the doors open and less people inside now. The exam seemed to have been over as the students were chatting amongst each other. It was a massive hall but thankfully due to the lesser amount of people now, Sunny was able to spot Hyomin towards the back speaking to someone.
"There she is!" Sunny pointed to the end of the hall, "come on," she said as she led the other girls to their target. As they made their way across the hall, Seohyun retrieved her compass again and observed the needle. It pointed dead straight and began to react as they got closer to Hyomin.
"It is indeed her," Seohyun said as she watched the compass break into a vibrant green glow.
After a short walk through the hall, they reached Hyomin just as she finished speaking to the other person and turned around. "Hello!" Sunny jollily greeted her.
"Oh," Hyomin slightly recoiled at the sudden appearance of the girl, "hello."
"You remember me right?" Sunny smiled.
"Um, yes," Hyomin scrunched her eyebrows as she thought, "Sunny was it?"
"That's right!" Sunny smiled, trying to appear friendly so as not to distraught her like she had done before. "I was wondering if we could have another talk."
Hyomin looked up to see the group of girls behind Sunny intently looking at her, making her feel rather uncomfortable. "About joining your occult club?"
"No, no, no," Sunny frantically shook her hands, "you misunderstood me before, there's no occult. We just really need your help."
"You wanted to me to save your world or something?"
"Uh..." Sunny trailed off, trying to find some other reasoning, "no, we-"
"Yep," Yoona spoke up, "from an evil warlord from hundreds of years ago." Sunny sighed, dropping her hands down as she gave an annoyed look to Yoona. Noticing her eyes, Yoona looked at the shorter girl with an innocent expression. "What?"
"Right," Hyomin chuckled. "Again, no thanks but good luck with that," she said as she was about to turn away.
"Hang on," Shinyoung called to her, stepping forward, "just listen for a moment."
"Everyone be seated, the exam will begin soon!" a voice boomed from the front of the hall. The girls turned around and noted students had begun crowding into the room.
Shinyoung turned back to Hyomin, "we need your help. If you would just come with us for a moment, we can explain everything to you."
"I don't know," Hyomin said looking at the short woman apprehensively.
"Take a seat, girls," a man, likely to be the supervisor in the hall, said as he passed by the girls. He abruptly stopped and looked at a Shinyoung, lowering his head so as to look above his glasses. "Are you a student here?" he asked Shinyoung who clearly did not seem to be a girl in her late teens or early twenties.
"Me?" Shinyoung asked pointing to herself, "uh, no actually, I'm just-"
"Leave right away. An exam is about to begin," the man instructed.
"If I could have-"
"OUT!" the man abruptly bellowed causing Shinyoung to flinch. Shingyoung did not waste another second and scurried away. She turned her head around and gestured for the other to continue speaking with Hyomin. The girls turned back to Hyomin who had walked away to one of the seats at the back.
'Wait," Sunny hurried after her with the others following behind, "I know what we said in the beginning seemed odd but if you just give us a moment we can-"
"Girls, be seated!" the supervisor yelled across the hall. There was an empty seat in front of Hyomin's so Sunny quickly sat herself down. "Just grab a seat for now," she said back to the others.
Tiffany looked around but saw that students had already begun to fill up the seats around them. However she was able to spot a few empty seats several rows up ahead. "Oh, over there," she informed the other girls and quickly moved to occupy the vacant seats.
"If you just allowed us to explain, we sincerely need your help!" Sunny said.
"With what though?" Hyomin asked as she leaned down to her bag beside her chair.
"Well…" Sunny trailed, unsure of how to answer next, "we have a problem and…well, we think you can fix it?"
"And what exactly is the problem again?" Hyomin asked as she then stood up from her seat, placing the strap of her bag over her shoulder.
"Uh…"
When Sunny was not able to provide an answer, Hyomin took that as the chance to turn away and leave. Sunny watched confusedly as she made her way to the back door of the hall. She had assumed Hyomin had seated herself for another exam but she was already making her way out through the doors.
"Wait!" Sunny called after her as she got out of her seat and ran after her.
Shinyoung leaned her back on the wall outside the hall, tapping her feet a she waited for the girls to show up. When a figure crossed by right in front of her, she looked up and noticed it was Hyomin. Shinyoung immediately stood straight and looked back through the hall doors to see where the girls were but ended up colliding into Sunny.
"Sorry!" Sunny said, "she's leaving!" she exclaimed before running after Hyomin again. Shinyoung ran after Sunny but then skid to a halt, looked behind her then spun back around.
"Sunny, where are the others?"
-
Taeyeon watched as the hall became full with the arrival of further students. There were perhaps close to hundred seats in the hall. She looked to her right where Yuri was seated.
"Can you see Sunny and Hyomin?" Taeyeon asked her.
Yuri twisted her neck around to look towards the back however there were simply too many students making it hard to search through them.
"I can't see them from here," Yuri said as she moved her head to and fro to try and spot them. Taeyeon, along with Yoona and Sooyoung from her other side, turned around as well to try and find the two. Taeyeon tried to look around the long line of students down her row but could simply not see Sunny or Hyomin.
"All eyes to the front!" the supervisor bellowed as he slammed down the exam paper on Taeyeon's table. Taeyeon and the others immediately turned back around in their seats at the man's strict tone. After he had walked past them, Taeyeon leaned back in her seat to speak to Tiffany who was seated behind her.
"Tiffany, can you see Sunny or Hyomin?" Taeyeon whispered to her.
Tiffany peaked over her should to search for the two in question but she was unable to look past all the other students. "There are too many people. I can see them at all," she whispered back to Taeyeon.
-
"Oh great," Shinyoung groaned as she looked through the small window of the hall doors. The other girls were still in the hall and had not realized Sunny and Hyomin had left. Shinyoung could not enter the hall anymore as someone had come a moment ago to lock the back doors.
"Shinyoung!" Sunny called to her as she ran to the short woman's side. "Come on, Hyomin hasn't left yet, we need to hurry!" she beckoned the short woman.
"Hang on, we've got a problem."
"What is it?"
"Take a look," Shinyoung gestured to the window. Sunny walked to the other side of the double door to look through the second small window. "Taeyeon and the other are still inside." Sunny immediately reached for the door handle and turned it but the door would not budge. "It's locked," Shinyoung said to her.
Sunny grunted and looked back through the window. "I doubt they'll be able to hear us."
"Don't think so."
Sunny then began tapping on the window lightly. It was unlikely it would attract the girl's attention considering how far down the hall they were but Sunny persisted and tapped louder only successfully attracting the attention of those nearer to the door.
"Taeyeon," Sunny called a little above a whisper.
"I don't think they'll be able to hear you," Shinyoung said. Sunny still persisted and continued to tap on the window. Suddenly the frightening face of the supervisor from earlier appeared in the window causing Sunny and Shinyoung to both flinch back and take a few steps away.
Sunny sighed and turned to Shinyoung, "I need to make sure Hyomin doesn't leave. Try to find some way to get them out and then catch up with me."
"Sure you go ahead. If she leaves, you just follow her," Shinyoung told Sunny before she headed off after Hyomin again.
-
"Hello!" Hyomin sang as she skipped into the café.
"Hey Hyominie," Boram greeted the girl from behind the counter, "how was your last exam?"
"I just got done with all my exams so I don't want to talk about them anymore," Hyomin said as she plopped down on to a seat in front of the counter. "I can finally just relax," Hyomin said with a smile as she closed her eyes and rested her head over her arms.
"Here," Boram leaned down to the glass case and pulled out a colorful cupcake, "just made a fresh batch," she said as she placed the cupcake in front of the girl.
"Thank you, unnie!" Hyomin brightly exclaimed as she grabbed the cupcake into her hand.
"You're still paying for it," Boram said. Hyomin pouted her lips and gave her most forlorn look to the elder girl. "Fine, fine," Boram chuckled. Hyomin blew the short girl a kiss before biting into the cupcake, the cream wiping onto her nose. Hyomin relaxed into her seat with her arms over the counter as she happily munched on the pastry. She had stressed herself out enough for her final examinations but now that they were dealt with and summer had begun, she wanted nothing more but this tranquil moment to enjoy for now.
Her tranquility was taken away from her when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Hello!"
Hyomin almost choked on the cupcake when she saw the familiar short brunette sitting next to her. She quickly swallowed and wiped her mouth with her hand.
"Are you following me?!" Hyomin exclaimed.
"No!" Sunny defended herself. "I...happen to come by here often actually," she smiled brightly.
Just then, Boram walked by and looked at the girl beside Hyomin."I haven't seen you here before," she said before continuing on with her business.
Sunny cleared her throat and nervously chuckled, "I usually sit towards the back."
"Look I'm not interested in joining your-"
"No, no," Sunny interrupted her, "there is no occult. Just forget that, that was a complete misunderstanding." Sunny then leaned forward in her chair to speak at a closer proximity. "I do desperately need your help though," she spoke in a quieter tone.
"With what?" Hyomin responded in the same hushed but more impatient tone.
"We have a certain problem and we think you…have the skills to help us."
"Well what exactly is the problem?"
"Someone is giving us trouble and we think you can help us against them."
"What trouble? You're going to have to be more specific than that!"
Sunny bit the corner of her lip and averted her eyes for a moment. In a world where magic was thought to be make-believe, it would be difficult to convince this girl of where she came from. She looked back at the girl but her eyes were pulled towards her nose. Sunny looked over to the counter, picked up a tissue and brought it to the girl's nose. Hyomin was taken back when the short girl used the tissue in her hand to wipe the cream she had not realized was on her nose.
Sunny placed the tissue away and turned to look back at the girl. She would not be able to convince this girl by her words but perhaps she could show for her own eyes to believe. They were advised to not use magic but Sunny was left with no choice.
"Ok so I am from a world, galaxies away from Earth," Sunny spoke. Hyomin groaned in response and turned away from her. "Wait listen," Sunny reached out and grabbed the girls arm, "I can prove this to you."
"How?" Hyomin questioned though disinterestedly.
"If you could come with me somewhere private, I could show you."
Hyomin raised an eyebrow at girl, "that sounds awfully suspicious. How do I know you won't rob or maybe even attack me?"
"Well…"
"Could I bring someone else along?"
"No!"
"Aha!" Hyomin exclaimed as she got up from her seat, "thought so." Hyomin grabbed her belongings and her cupcake and prepared to make her leave.
Sunny groaned and dropped her head over the counter. "Why is this so difficult?"
-
Victoria stared out the window of the library into the blue sky, a sky much clearer then last night's dark and ominous one. On any other day, one would've found enjoyment on such a bright morning but it would merely serve as a hollow pleasure amidst the turmoil that shook their country.
Victoria was left distressed now that the attacks had extended into her home country. She grew worrisome of her family and prayed they would remain safe. She was unable to visit her home country often due to her duties in Essinia; she especially could not now at this dire time where everyone's hands were needed.
"It seems the Tyrant had a family."
Victoria turned around to gaze over to the table in the center of the room where Ryewook, Kyuhyun and Yesung were hurdled over various piles of books and documents. Krystal sat amongst them as well, shuffling through all the documents but seemingly not understanding any of the ancient script.
"Really?" Yesung asked looking over the book in his hand.
"Apparently," Ryewook said, his eyes fixated over the records obtained from the Temple of Nagudis.
"What happened to them?" Krystal asked.
"After Wujin became lost to his malevolent ways, his wife committed suicide."
"Oh…that's kind of sad," Krystal frowned.
"Did he have any children?" Victoria asked as she walked over to the table.
"He had one son," Ryewook answered.
"What became of his son?" Kyuhyun asked.
"He was an infant when his mother committed suicide. He was taken to an orphanage; purposed to have lived an ordinary life and was never really heard of again."
"So he was once a normal man with a family?" Victoria asked.
"Until his lust for power took over," Ryewook said. "A true shame. A man once so admired became one so feared."
"…bummer," Krystal commented. At that instant, Captain Sungmin appeared through the shelves from behind them.
"There you are," he called as he made his way to them, "seems we have another issue at hand."
"What is it?" Yesung asked as he stood from his seat.
"It looks like the Tyrant already has its own cult," Sungmin said as he approached the table, several papers in his hands.
"What?" Ryewook asked, eyes widening in disbelief as he looked up to the captain.
"There have been several sightings of similarly cloaked figures in nearby towns to the City. All of them bore similar markings on their bodies," Sungmin explained.
"The mark of the Tyrant?" Victoria asked.
"Exactly," Sungmin laid down the papers over the table, "these are some illustrations by witnesses."
Ryewook picked up one of the pieces of paper and observed the drawing upon it.
"Great, just what we needed," Yesung sighed, resting his hands over the table, "a following deranged worshipers that are likely to be adding to the Tyrant's damages."
"Who are they? What do we know about them?" Ryewook asked, looking up to Sungmin.
"Not much at the moment aside from the various sightings. We are looking into it right now. Hopefully it’s nothing we would have to worry too much about," Sungmin said.
Ryewook looked back to the illustration in his hands. It depicted a man in a dark cloak, his attire was nothing out of the ordinary but what attracted his attention was the symbol upon the man's cloaked forehead. It was the exact emblem of the tyrant. The man's face was not depicted with that many details-his face may have not been clearly seen by the witnesses, but he was drawn with very piercing, soulless like eyes.
-
Hyomin walked peacefully in the direction of her apartment, the ear phones of her iPod placed in her ears, tuning out all other sounds around her. Hyomin continued to enjoy her music as she was nearing her building however a thought struck her and she immediately stopped in place. She stood still for a moment before she spun around and inspected the surrounding behind her. She found nothing out of the ordinary; merely a few people walking on the pavement. Hyomin shook the odd feeling in her as she turned back around and resumed walking. However, the feeling overwhelmed her once again and she peeked over her shoulder. Still nothing out of the ordinary but she didn't want to take any chance. Hyomin looked back to the front and pulled off her ear phones. A few steps ahead came a turn into an alleyway and as she approached it she immediately turned inwards. She stepped up to the wall and placed her back to it, intently watching each figure that walked by the alleyway.
A few people passed by no one of suspicious. After a moment when it seemed no one else would walk by, Hyomin pushed away from the wall and sighed.
'She wouldn't follow me all the way here. Nah…'
Hyomin decided not to leave the alleyway and simply take the back route to her apartment. She began walking down the alleyway but decided to take one last precautionary peak over her shoulder…and yelped in surprised.
"Oh hello, we meet again," Sunny, who suddenly appeared right behind the girl, smiled.
"You're stalking me!" Hyomin exclaimed as she took a step backwards.
"Oh no. I rather say desperately pursuing."
Hyomin whined and began to march away from the girl, "just leave me alone!"
"I can't leave you alone because I really need you!" Sunny proclaimed as she walked after the girl.
"Sorry but I'm not buying your fantasy world story," Hyomin shouted back at her as she kept walking.
"It's not fantasy, it's the truth!" Sunny insisted.
"Whatever!"
"I can prove it to you!"
"Don't bother!"
Sunny stopped in her track and took a deep breath. It was now or never. She pursed her lips and sped ahead of the girls, halting in front of her.
"Can you explain how I can do this then?" at that instance, Sunny lifted her hand and ignited a white ball of flame in her palm. Hyomin froze in her spot and observed the white glow in the girl's hand. She watched the white glow keenly with wide eyes, momentarily fascinated by the anomaly before tilting her head to look over the rest of Sunny's hand.
"What is that? Some sort of holograph?"
"What?" Sunny quirked an eyebrow at the girl.
"You've got some kind of device on your wrist don't you?"
"No! It's-"
"You can try all you want, you're not fooling me," Hyomin said as she walked past Sunny.
Sunny dissipated the flame from her hand and heaved a loud groan as she threw her head up. This was beginning to frustrate her as there seemed to be no way to make this girl believe her. She could not give up though; she needed Hyomin to believe her.
"I'm not trying to fool you!" Sunny exclaimed as she turned to chase after Hyomin again. "I'm telling you the-"
"Sunny?"
Sunny trailed off at the sudden voice that called her name and looked back. A gasp escaped her lips.
"Soyeon?"
Read on Soshified.