Scene 3

My eyes continue to look forward at my papa’s warrior garb, trying to distract myself as I step over the older man’s body. My eyes catch a glimpse of his white sclera rolling to the back of his head.

His throat was no longer bloody from his former attack due to cleansing effects of the rain. However, my eyes could not avert from the pinkish torn flesh collecting water in his open gouge, as if it was a bucket.

A piece of meat then falls through his cleft, causing the collection of water to tunnel down his throat and through his mouth, now red as if the water had been turned to wine.

I hear my breaths seep through my mouth as the white around my eyes become ever more clear.

My father looks back behind him as he’s made it to the other side of the houses. 「Eunmi! Come before you’re spotted!」

Barely understanding his words, all that was adherent to me was the fast beating of my heart pummeling within my eardrums.

The road was filled with dozens of corpses, their bodies somewhat being buried within the soggy dirt as if the rain was digging a grave for them. Men, women, and children laid with their heads soiled deep, or their eyes looking into the sky.

I attempt to take a step forward, but I almost trip over a foreign object sticking out of the ground. My dirt foot print on the article is washed away from the rain, revealing a childlike leg with the back of it’s ankle having a wide cut.

My eyes then move up their body, pinning out their wavy blue dress then looking into the little girl’s eyes. Her exquisite light-gray pupils and long black hair were somewhat familiar.

「… Hae-Won…?」 A name beckons from my lips.

Though her face was halfway visible being implanted in the dirt, her shown eyelid twitches, her pupil then listlessly moves to the corner of her eye.

「…Hrgh…」

She attempts to speak but I’m unable to make out what she says with her mouth being covered in the dirt.

My arm is then tugged forward, looking at my father racing to the alleyway of houses as I look back at the young girl.

「Papa! Stop! I-It’s Haewon! She was alive I saw her move!」

He doesn’t stop, a crackle of thunder from above casts a white light onto his broad backside.

「I-If we don’t get here then her parents will worry!」

「We have much bigger problems, Eunmi.」

「She’s my friend, I can’t just leave her there!」

His shoes slide in the dirt as he turns around with a furious stare. I’m reminded of the eyes of the warrior man who attacked us before and attempt to tug myself away from his grasp, but his grip is much to strong.

He looks down to my trembling hand then loosens his grip on my wrist and bends down with a sigh.

「Her parents… Do not have the will to worry, as they’re deceased as well. They’ll soon be together in a place more peaceful, and less destructive than this.」

I feel my knees tremble before I give into my own weight and collapse to the floor. I snatch my hand away from papa and grip them into the ground, feeling the dirt enter under my nails.

「I don’t understand… Why must this all happen…? Did we- Did I …Do something wrong?」

Papa places Beommi onto her feet and then takes both my hands from the mud and places them within his. They feel rough and jagged with multiple healed scars between his palm and fingers. Yet, the warmth protruding from them allowed my mind become blank. With a short inhale then exhale I open my eyes and nod.

「Ok, I’m ready.」

Papa nods his hand and helps me from the ground. He then grabs both mine and Beommi’s hand and joins them together, squeezing it tightly.

「You are to never to let go of eachother, no matter what happens. Whether it be physically or spiritually, you’ll always have a hand that gives you strength. Remember that when you feel lost or defeated.」

He then turns around and treads down the alleyway, looking down the next adjacent dirt road in front of a downwards slopping hill. I look over to Beommi, gazing up at me with fear-ridden yet fixed violet eyes.

「I’m sorry for what I did back there Beommi, that was incredibly selfish of me. I’ll never let go of you again, all of our battles shall be fought and won together. We will get out of here safe with papa, 」

I feel Beommi strengthen her grip onto my palm as she shows me a warm smile. 「Thank you… Unnie…」

Another crack of thunder creates an echo of abrasive rumbling, followed by a dense white light filling the sky above. Papa looks over to us and beckons with two of his fingers; We sprint over to his side and pin or backs to the side of the house, watching as a squadron of four soldiers ran down the road.

They were fixed with black-scaled armor plates around their body, all laced together with golden threads. Stretching below their hip to their thighs and reaching down their lower arms were bronze leather plates that jingled with their every step. Perhaps the most daunting of their outfit were their large outward curved helmets masking a bit of their face, with lengthy horns and a crest sitting atop of it.

I could feel my sister’s hand tremble as they ran past us, I too felt my heart sank as I saw their long pikes and long yet slender swords coated in blood resting in their palms. I shook my head to wither away my fear and watched as my father gave a quick two-finger signal that we were about to move.

Another flash of lightning coats the air, however I notice a strange shadow, much bigger than Beommi’s overcasting us on the ground.

「Ah!—」

. . .