It was already dark by the time Himchan decided to leave the kitchen. He had an enjoyable time talking with the vampire over tea that he lost track of time. Feeling rather guilty, he grabbed some of the muffins to give the others. He just wished that the crown prince was awake because banana chocolate muffins were his favourite. A delightful smile spread across the younger werewolves’ faces upon noticing the delicious treats in his hands when he walked in.

Himchan was about to go next door to check on the alpha but the door was already opened before he could even reach for the knob. The latter seemed startled, like he didn’t expect to see him at all. But then his expression changed into a mixture of guilt and annoyance. Without a word, he closed the door behind him and shoved his way passed and towards the living room.

“Where are you going?” the other werewolf asked, both confused and worried.

“Out.”

Yongguk’s reply was short and straight to the point, and not a second later, he was already out the door. Himchan couldn’t help but worry about his friend. It’s pitch black outside and although they had good night vision, it’s still quite dangerous. Only god knew what kind of dangerous creatures were lurking around in the forest. The fact that they’re on a foreign land didn’t make him feel any better.

As soon as he was outside, Yongguk immediately transformed into his wolf form. It’s risky, he knew that, but he just felt so suffocated that he needed to have a run. He enjoyed having a run every time he felt distressed. A part of him felt rather bad, though. He knew that Himchan was worried. The latter had told him plenty of times to share his troubles with him but as the alpha, he couldn’t help but feel a bit prideful. He just didn’t want to be seen as weak.

His mind drifted away to the white wolf as he sped off deeper into the woods. Although its existence was rare, there were actually quite a few of them back in Grai. One of them even worked as one of the guards at the palace. So what made this particular white wolf the queen had asked them to search for so special? There were many questions lingering in his mind and the only way to get answers was to find the white wolf.

But… where should they even begin? Other than the possible location, which may or may not be precise, they weren’t given any other useful information about the said wolf. How it looked like, both in human and wolf forms, its age and gender, none. All the queen told them was, “You’ll know right away it’s the right wolf once you see it yourself.”

How was that helpful at all?

He didn’t know for how long he had been running, but judging from how heavily he was breathing, he must’ve been at it for quite some time. The cabin seemed very tiny from where he was, only the flicker of light from inside was visible. Yongguk decided to take a rest under a big oak tree.

He sniffed the air, expertly identifying all the different scents that lingered – from the smell of fresh leaves and soil, to the smell of a herd of nearby antelope. His body relaxed a bit when he couldn’t detect any danger and moved to lie down on his belly. The moon was big in the sky and the stars were out. It was beautiful. Within minutes, he fell asleep. It seemed that exhaustion had finally consumed his body.

“Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen… you better hide before I count to twenty-five!” a five-year-old Yongguk warned cheekily, peeking with one eye.

“No peeking, Gukkie! That’s cheating!” his mother scolded him with a chuckle, the boy just could never play fair.

He only laughed in return and continued counting. The cheeky little boy didn’t even reach twenty-five when he turned around, ready to find his mom. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” he taunted as he tiptoed carefully, studying his surrounding.

He checked the bushes, the slides and even the tree house his father built for him a couple years ago, but his mother was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t sure if the woman were really bad at hide and seek, or she was simply pretending, but either way, he would always find her in a matter of seconds. Today was different. Minutes passed and he could still not find her anywhere.

Pushing the uneasy feeling inside, Yongguk continued his search. He looked for her inside the house, making sure he didn’t miss every single corner, but all he got was a shrug from his father. The latter placed the newspaper he had been reading on the coffee table and walked towards his panic-stricken son. “Would you like me to help you find your mother?” he asked with a loving smile, “Did you check if she were hiding in the trunk in your tree house?”

The little boy only shook his head with a pout; he was on the verge of crying. “Then let’s go back to the tree house. I’m sure she’s in there somewhere, celebrating her win,” his father chuckled.

They were about to step outside when a painful scream could be heard in the distance. Alarmed, the older male pushed his son back inside, demanding him to hide in his bedroom and to never come out until he said so, but Yongguk refused. He was scared and worried. His mother was still out there and she could probably in danger. He wanted to help, too.

“No, son! You have to stay inside!” his father shouted, pushing the little boy with a bit more force this time, causing the latter to fall on his , “I’ll get your mother, I promise!”

That was what his father last said before he left in a rush. Crying, little Yongguk ran upstairs as fast as he could and into his room as instructed. He went straight to the windows, hoping to see his mother safe and sound in his father’s embrace. What he witnessed instead was nothing a littlie boy should ever witness in his entire life.

He screamed, he hit the glass window multiple times, hoping that the commotion he made could distract the bad people from hurting his parents. But all his attempts were fruitless. When he saw their limp bodies lying on the ground, unmoving, he knew that they were dead. For a brief moment, he was mad at his father, for he had broken his promise.

When the mean looking men were gone, he immediately ran downstairs and headed towards the backyard. His steps faltered as soon as he saw blood, lots and lots of blood pooling around his parents’ bodies. Slowly and hesitantly, he took a few steps closer until his legs gave out and he fell on his knees.

“Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!” the little boy cried out in pain, “Mommy, I promise I’ll be a good boy and eat all of my veges. Daddy, I promise I’ll take that taekwondo class you told me the other day with you. Please, just wake up already!”

Unbeknownst to the little boy, there was another person joining him. She, too, had witnessed the brutal murder of the boys’ parents, and everything was all her fault. If she hadn’t run into the kind lady, the latter wouldn’t have insisted on helping her. She wouldn’t have been killed so mercilessly. And the boy would still have his parents alive and healthy.

“I’m sorry,” the little girl choked, “I really am sorry.”

Yongguk almost jumped in shock, what with the weird cloak she was wearing that covered almost her entire face, but he was just too heartbroken to react. Instead, he looked at her with a confused expression, still hiccupping from so much crying. He wanted to ask her who she was and why she was sorry, but the sound of hurried footsteps prevented him from doing so. And before he knew it, the little girl had run off.

“Are you okay, son?” a man suddenly appeared beside him, a worried expression on his face, “It’s okay, you’re safe now. No one’s going to hurt you.”

You’re safe now. No one’s going to hurt you.

Yongguk woke up from his nightmare with a heavy heart. It had been going on for a while now. It’d always been the same nightmare every night. He didn’t really know why he had such dreams, though. He would understand if it were snippets from his memories haunting him, but they weren’t. As far as he was concerned, his parents weren’t murdered, they’re killed in a car accident. So it irked him to no end that the nightmare came to him every time he slept.

Heaving a sigh, he moved to stand and stretched his aching body. He looked up and the sky was still dark. He must’ve only slept for a bit. Yongguk decided to take a walk and study the new surrounding more. If they were going to stay here for a while, he needed to get familiar with the place as soon asp possible. It’d definitely help if they were ever going to be deceived by a bunch of bandits again.

As he continued his inspection, he began to realise the little differences about the forest. At first glance, the plants and animals looked completely normal, but when you looked more closely, they weren’t. There was something different about them that separated them from other ordinary living things. Like the trees, for example, although the leaves were green like other regular trees, their trunks and branches were a dark shade of blue instead of brown. He could only imagine what other unique creatures lived here.

After a while, he reached a stream. Even the stream looked rather unique here. The water was clear but it was the colour that made it stand out, it was blue. Like that river in Greenland that he saw in one of those travel documentaries on TV. And then was when he realised something – almost everything that was different in the forest had something to do with the colour blue. He wondered why.

A part of Yongguk regretted not joining Himchan and the vampire for tea just now because he felt really thirsty all of a sudden. He looked at the blue water in front of him, contemplating drinking from it. Would it be safe? It wasn’t poisonous, was it? Hesitantly, he leaned forward and took a sniff of the water. It didn’t smell bad. In fact, it didn’t have a smell at all. Then he dipped his right paw into the water slightly, just to check for any weird reactions or something. Surprisingly, the water was warm and nothing else seemed to be out of ordinary.

After deciding that it was, in fact, safe to drink from it, he leaned forward once again and had a few , before taking several huge sips of the water. And then, all of a sudden, the face of that little girl from his nightmare appeared on the water in front of him, startling the hell out of him. He turned around and looked right and left, up and down, but there was no one else around. He was alone.

He must’ve gone insane, he’d started seeing things now. Shaking his head slightly, he turned back around and continued drinking. However, he couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching him. Looking around once again, that was when he noticed a huge boulder at the other end of the stream. That wasn’t what had caught his attention, though.

There, standing tall on the rock, staring at him with fiery eyes, was a magnificent white wolf.

Author's Note

The title of this chapter is inspired by Pokemon Go haha! Sorry, just couldn't help it. XD I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave some comments below. I accept constructive criticisms, but please be polite and respectful with your words. :)

See you in the next hapter!

Love, A.

Poster and Background by: ＣＨＩＮＧ Ａ ＬＩＮＧ