12: Hope

   Jeongri awoke on the first day, feeling as though she was dying. The dehydration, combined with the limited area that she could move in, was taking a toll on her small body. Her handmaidens whimpered quietly by her side, both of them suffering just as much as she had. Jeongri’s power’s continued to evade her, ignoring all desperate calls for them to reawaken, and the wound on the back of her head continued to pound heavily.

   Jeongri awoke on the second to a loud gurgling noise followed by an ear-piercing scream and bone-crunching sounds. The metallic smell of blood hit her instantly. Alarmed, she opened her eyes to see a wild beast, a boar-bear hybrid, with its bloodied jaws clamped around the waist of one of her handmaidens. She had grown limp, her eyes glazed over, silently accepting the swift release of death. By her side, the other handmaiden continued screaming, covering her eyes from the grisly sight. Jeongri looked away, forcing back her instinct to vomit. She knew there was nothing that she could do.

   Jeongri awoke on the third day with her eyes sunken and her skin parched. She had never pined for water so much in her life. Her tongue felt fat and useless in . felt like sandpaper. The beast that had attacked the day before had already eaten the other handmaiden while she’d been asleep. As if to guard it’s next meal, the creature had fallen asleep beneath the shade of a nearby tree, occasionally grunting in its sleep. Jeongri felt herself sighing. Soon the beast would wake up and eat her too. This was it, she thought, tonight is when I pathetically say goodbye to this horrible world. She felt the urge to laugh again since it would certainly match the sorry state she was in, but she didn’t want to wake the sleeping beast. Her head lolled backwards, eyes squinting at the sun. The skies were clear and it was unusually warm for an autumn’s day, she wanted to enjoy the time she had left for just a little while longer.

   Suddenly, a small cracking noise broke the silence, catching her attention. Jeongri looked around, but everything was still. There wasn’t even an inkling of a breeze. Dismissing it as just another delusion caused by her dehydration, she closed her eyes again. She wondered if it was best for her to just try and sleep so she could pass away in peace.

   Then, another crack sounded out. Jeongri could feel her skin prickle in dread, there was definitely something here other than the beast. Desperately, she tried to look for the source of the noise. It couldn’t have been the beast, it was still asleep, lazily dreaming after its last meal.

   It was then when she saw a pair of wide and round eyes looking at her from