The typical adventure always has the encounter of various challenges and the aftermath of happily ever after. But somehow, it becomes a different story in the kingdom of Silla.

"I got a deer!!"

Yoo Yeunjung cheered as she lifted the vermin up high for her fellow warriors to see. They cheered for their friend, who happened to be the next Empress of Silla.

Yeunjung was the daughter of Empress Nayoung and Queen Jieqiong and was the only hier to the throne. She was still training to be the next ruler but she always loved hunting with her fellow Hwarang. 

"Oh, great Yeunjung. You have suceeded again." Mina cheered and groveled.

"Reduce the formalities, Mina," said Yeunjung. "We're in the forest, not inside the capitol. I'm still your fellow Hwarang, you know."

"But hello? You're the Hwarang Head and the next Empress. We need to practice formalities for a change." Yoojung said.

Rustling stopped their conversation and Yeunjung's sense of curiosity grew. She saw a silhouette by the forests and wanted to see such a spectacle. She motions her fellow Hwarang to follow her. "I see something. Let's go check it out!"

"I hate to break the fun, great Yeunjung...but we must go back to the capitol. The Empress might search for you and our parents will too." Sohye said.

"Fine, go ahead." Yeunjung said as she got her sword. "I'll find it out myself."

"But we can't just leave you." Somi said.

"As the next hier, I command you to go back and let me have my fun." Yeunjung said again.

They all obeyed and left the hier. Yeunjung got herself ready and got on her horse and rode. With every gallop of her horse, the forest went foggy and looking back, the way was almost undetermined. Yeunjung sees the silhouette again and went after it, only to stop on a magical stone.

"Whoever you are, come out!" Yeunjung exclaimed as she got her sword.

It flew off of the hier's hand and she was stunned. Then, the silhouette revealed itself as a divine woman aboarding her white horse. Yeunjung was shocked, almost admiring the mysterious being in front of her.

"Who are you?" She asked.

The mysterious being in front of the hier looked typically like one of the people in Silla but she saw greater aesthetics. It was a tall woman, whose hair touched the back of her majestic white horse.

“I am Doyeon, a royal blood just like you.” The woman spoke as she lent a hand.

Yeunjung felt the jolt by her senses. It was seemingly abrupt for her but Doyeon was attractive. Doyeon even looked at Yeunjung and felt the same. Doyeon got closer, holding Yeunjung's hand. “Come with me.”

Yeunjung thought not. “But my family would be looking for me.”

“Fear not. They're alright. They know that the hier of Silla is in safe hands.”

Taken away by her beauty and the influence, Yeunjung agreed. She held Doyeon's hand back and boarded her horse. From there, Yeunjung held onto the reins as Doyeon guided her horse of their expedition.

+++

The two were riding far from any known land, getting themselves inside mysterious caves and meeting the field of foggy forests. It may seem foreign to Yeunjung but it seemed that she knew where she was going. And with Doyeon leaning affectionately towards her, all of those intuitions became clear.

“Doyeon, where are we?” Yeunjung asked.

“We are close to the sea. But fear not. We’re almost there.”

Yeunjung nodded and they continued to ride. The foggy forest turned into a field of golden haze. Yeunjung took some time to clear her vision off of the haze as the wind blew. She opened her eyes again and she wowed.

“This is…” Yeunjung gasped.

“It’s Gojoseon.” Doyeon said.

“It’s more beautiful than I imagined.” Yeunjung said.

“It is.” Doyeon answered. “Let’s go and see.”

Yeunjung agreed and she and Doyeon got to the palace. Inside, Yeunjung was fazed of Doyeon as the people bowed at her. They got to the capitol and there was an Empress and a Queen.

“Eommonim. Abeonim.” Doyeon bowed. “I have brought the hier of Silla.”

“She’s perfect, Doyeon.” The Queen Chungha spoke. “She’ll make a wonderful husband.”

Yeunjung maintained her bow but she was shocked of her words. A touch by her shoulder was felt and Yeunjung looked up to see the Empress. She looked intently at Yeunjung and the hier felt a little hazy. But then, she grinned and said, “This is the one.”

Yeunjung got up and faced Doyeon. Doyeon held her hand and looked adoringly at her love.

“Love…shall we get married?”

Overwhelmed by the turn of events, she knelt and did the rites properly. “Doyeon, princess of Gojoseon…will you marry me?”

Doyeon nodded and everyone in the kingdom rejoiced.

+++

A wake of wonderful music greeted Yeunjung and she loved the tune, exactly as how she wished it. She blinked and got a view of herself in a bed with her sleeping bride. She remembered how she had gotten herself following a beautiful princess, to how she was welcome in Gojoseon, and to how she and Doyeon got married. It was abrupt. Her people might wonder to where the hier was but she was in pure bliss. She’d rather stay to where she is now.

“Love?” Doyeon woke up and hugged Yeunjung tight.

"Good morning, love." Yeunjung hugged back.

Doyeon adored her. "It's been a week since you stayed with me. Why don't we go and look around the kingdom?"

"That's a wonderful idea." Yeunjung agreed. "But shouldn't we eat?"

"Let me take care of that." Doyeon spoke and pecked Yeunjung's lips.

Doyeon got a bell and rang it. Not long after, two trays of bountiful food came inside the room. Yeunjung wowed and what really shocked was that she was having meat for breakfast, a specific food she wished.

"Doyeon...may I ask?" Yeunjung spoke. "Is it me or my wishes are coming true right before my eyes?"

"It's not you, my love. It's what we both deserve." Doyeon spoke and ate her plate of food. "Now, eat your meat."

Yeunjung nodded and joined her wife in eating.

+++

Yeunjung and Doyeon went around Gojoseon with a ride of the white horse. During their outing, Yeunjung counted the times on how Gojoseon made her happy in ways she can never conclude.

She married Doyeon, a beautiful princess with a beautiful heart, in a grand ceremony. She was also welcomed by the peple in the palace, especially the Empress and the Queen. When she wanted something, it was met and was in her hands. And just like when she and Doyeon got to the cliff to see the horizon, she felt joy. 

"Isn't it beautiful, Yeunjung?" Doyeon asked.

"It's beyond beautiful." Yeunjung spoke. "It's beauty with color that I had no name for."

"You're adorable, my baby bear." Doyeon spoke.

"Why a baby bear, love?" Yeunjung asked, smiling.

"You're adorable like one." Doyeon spoke as she cupped her cheek.

"Well...you're like my immortal and graceful swan." Yeunjung spoke.

"I love that." Doyeon giggled.

"Shall we go back?" Yeunjung asked and Doyeon nodded.

Yeunjung snapped the reins lightly and they rode back to the palace. Doyeon held onto Yeunjung's hands adoringly as she thought of one thing.

Yeunjung must never find out that Gojoseon was a place wherein time stood still and the people never aged.

+++

It was another morning and Yeunjung was early to go hunting. Doyeon woke up and looked adoringly as her husband. Yeunjung saw her and greeted with a hug and kiss.

"Love, I want to go hunting. Will it be okay?" Yeunjung asked.

"Yes. But promise me you'll come back before dusk." Doyeon said. 

Yeunjung nodded and Doyeon gave her a goodbye kiss. Yeunjung kissed back and broke to get her sword and crossbow. She got outside and rode onto their white horse heading towards the forest.

+++

Hunting was a hobby for Yeunjung as she walked around the forests in Gojoseon, just as much as she had done in Silla. But with her walks, she possessed a rage of invincibility. Like in her little hunts, she encountered with a giant beast. 

It was a challenge for Yeunjung and it fuelled her interest. With a swing of her sword and a prick of her arrows, she fought with the beast. She ended up defeating it but she had wounds. That always happened in her adventures, encountering a diversity of life.

And just as Doyeon always told her, she must always come back before dusk. As the sun sat and the two moons were almost visible, Yeunjung got inside the palace. She could hear the maid Yeoreum calling for the princess of her return and she would watch Doyeon run towards her.

"I missed you." Doyeon hugged her.

"I miss you too, love...but I'm dirty and wounded." Yeunjung spoke.

"That's alright." Doyeon held her hand. "Come with me to the room."

Yeunjung nodded and followed her wife inside. She felt sleepy but she wanted to clean herself up first. She went to the bathroom when Doyeon stopped her. She then reached to cup Yeunjung's cheek, feeling the blood by her fingers because of a gash.

"Just sleep with me." Doyeon said.

"But I'm dirty. I could mess the bed." Yeunjung spoke.

"Fear not, my love. It's okay. We can have them replaced in the morning." Doyeon reasoned.

"What about you?" Yeunjung asked.

"I'll be okay." Doyeon said as she hugged Yeunjung. "I miss my baby bear. Despite of how you look, I want to hold you in my arms when we sleep."

Yeunjung listened to her wife and they got to bed together. Doyeon then held Yeunjung close to her as her baby bear slept. Doyeon pecked her forehead and caressed her head lightly. Then slowly, Yeunjung's wounds healed themselves.

"Sleep now, my love." Doyeon whispered and she joined her.

+++

It had been two years since Yeunjung stayed in Gojoseon. She had a wonderful time as glory and pleasure came to her easily in abundance. But as she looked at the horizon, she had struck herself with a yearning for home.

She missed Silla. She missed her parents, her friends, especially the Hwarang, and her people. She couldn't go back before because of the overwhelmed feeling of getting a lot of things she wished but it was about time that she goes back.

Yeunjung made the decision and went to Doyeon's study room. She knocked a couple of times and Doyeon went to greet her baby bear.

"What is it, love?" Doyeon asked.

"Can we talk? Just the two of us?" Yeunjung asked back.

Doyeon didn't hesitate and she and Yeunjung went outside. Doyeon wondered as Yeunjung daced her and held her hands. "Doyeon, I want to go back to Silla."

"Go back? You're not staying?" Doyeon grew worried.

"I'll stay for a bit, talk things through, and then come back. I promise." Yeunjung spoke.

Doyeon was still concerned. But she saw Yeunjung's sense of yearning. She loved her. She couldn't say no. "Okay. But you must remember one thing."

"What is it?" Yeunjung asked.

"Do not alight from your horse to touch the ground with your own feet." Doyeon spoke, almost pleading.

"But why?" Yeunjung asked.

"Trust me, my love. It's important." Doyeon spoke and cupped Yeunjung's face. "Come back, okay?"

Yeunjung didn't want Doyeon to worry any longer. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind."

"I love you." Doyeon mumbled as she hugged Yeunjung.

"I love you too." Yeunjung spoke back.

+++

It was the day of Yeunjung's return to Silla. The people, the Empress, the Queen, and Doyeon, all said their prayers and wishes of luck to Yeunjung and they hoped for her return. Doyeon took it the most as she hugged Yeunjung before she boarded her horse.

"Here is the map back to Silla." Doyeon said. "Please...remember what I told you."

"Yes, love." Yeunjung nodded. "I shall go back now."

Yeunjung snapped the reins and she rode out of the palace. Doyeon grew worried the moment Yeunjung left.

"Don't fret, my child. She'll return." Chungha said.

"I hope so, Eommonim." Doyeon added.

+++

Yeunjung rode to where the map lead her, only to find that she got back to whence she found Doyeon. She was overwhelmed and rode faster, excitement rising up towards her chest as she wss finally back in Silla.

As Yeunjung got to the capital, it felt like the shadows have fallen on the edge of the skies towards their kingdom. On the place where the happy people lived was an abandoned area with looks of pity from the people. She saw the palace with the colors replaced, from the vibrant majestic colors to pitch black.

"Eommonim! Abeonim! My fellow Hwarang!" She called.

But those calls only echoed through derelict walls and was getting whispers from the people. Yeunjung started to fear when they gathered around her like monsters. She rode faster away from the crowd until she got to another secluded part of Silla. There, she saw peasants struggling to move a boulder. Yeunjung approached them.

"Do you need help?" Yeunjung asked.

"Yes, my friend." A very old woman spoke. "Will it be okay?"

Yeunjung nodded and forgetting Doyeon's warning, she got down and pushed the boulder off with her super strength.

The two cheered but it turned into shrieks. Yeunjung was happy to help but she collapsed. She looked at her hands and they wrinkled. She felt her legs and they turned to jelly. She saw her hair and it was white, the strands touching the ground.

What replaced the youthful and mighty Yeunjung was the old aged Yeunjung, whose hair swept the ground and whose legs buckled under her. She continued to cry our for her parents and the Hwarang and one of them almost nudged her to death.

"Great Yeunjung, is that you?!" The old woman asked. "It's me! Somi!"

It hit Yeunjung. She was overwhelmed to see her fellow Hwarang as Somi called for her great grandson and told him to help her friend out.

+++

Yeunjung was welcomed inside an old shack and they groveled in front of her. Somi got up first and helped her great grandson up. "This is my great grandson, Guanlin."

"Great Yeunjung." Guanlin bowed again.

"It's nice meeting you, little one." Yeunjung spoke, her voice weak and old.

Guanlin decided to leave them in peace. Somi faced Yeunjung with a sad look. "Who knew you never aged at that point, Yeunjung?"

"I didn't understand, Somi. What happened?" Yeunjung asked.

"Great Yeunjung, you were gone for 300 years." Somi spoke. "I could thank the stars that I've lived long to experience the great changes since you disappeared and as the kingdom suffered mourning for the loss on an hier."

"What do you mean?" Yeunjung asked.

"I told them of my theory but they didn't believe me until their deaths. During the course of 300 years, you had lost yourself during the expedition. The Empress and the Queen mourned and so did Silla. When Empress Nayoung and Queen Jieqiong died, the course of ruling changed. A new hier was upholded a position as Queen and her line of descendants destroyed Silla. As you see of the people...we have suffered under the tyranny of a cruel ruler. I, myself, have been stripped off of my rank and lived throughout the years, seeing my children and my grandchildren die. Now I have my great grandson left whose as old as a century." Somi explained.

"How couldn't I..." Yeunjung was shocked.

"I could recognize you too, great Yeunjung. You were so young." Somi said.

"Somi, what about your theory?" Yeunjung asked.

"Your sudden disapearance led you to follow a silhouette, right? But it was no ordinary silhouette. It was the immortal princess of Gojoseon." Somi spoke.

"How did you know of Gojoseon?" Yeunjung asked again.

"It's one of our legends, remember? Gojoseon is a mystical place, Yeunjung. The legends say that it was a place of abundance." Somi added.

"That's true." Yeunjung spoke. "I've witnessed it myself. I was there for three years but why do you say I was gone for 300 years?" 

"Yeunjung, Gojoseon is not only a place of abundance but it is also a place of eternal youth." Somi spoke. "Time stands still on that place and the people never age. I reckoned that the immortal princess found you and took you to stay there. I told the Hwarang to go there to get you but they didn't believe me. They ended up searching for nothing and created a lead to cease everything."

"So...they had to say that I died, huh?" Yeunjung asked and Somi nodded. "I was young then I aged as an old woman..."

"Time has betrayed you, great Yeunjung. Time betrays all of us. Your return here has aged you irreversibly." Somi spoke.

Yeunjung now knows why Doyeon warned her. But what's done is done. 

"You can always stay here with me and Guanlin, great Yeunjung." Somi said.

"That would be wonderful." Yeunjung smiled.

The friends shared their hugs. Yeunjung was a little sad, though.

She broke Doyeon's promise. She can never return again.

+++

"Great Doyeon." Yeoreum spoke. "It's been ten years."

Doyeon didn't answer back and continued to sit by the veranda to look in the horizon. Yeoreum couldn't do anything more and left her.

Yeoreum was right. It has been ten years and Yeunjung never returned. Her fear came true but something in her ignited her patience.

Hope was lost for Yeunjung but for Doyeon, she was still on the same spot, sometimes riding onto her white horse, waiting for the return of her doomed love.