--

02

--

When you woke up, you were on something very soft and very luxurious. You almost didn’t want to open your eyes, just in case it was dream. You wanted it to last as long as possible, because you were never going to feel this comfortable ever again.

“I know you’re awake.” You squeezed your eyes together even harder.

“Come on, open up your eyes. I’ve got to get you ready before the High Mage punishes me for being useless, and I am absolutely not useless.” You opened up an eye to see a man leaning on the edge of the bed with a smile on his face. He looked good natured, and certainly not dangerous, but you were still wary of him as you sat up on the bed.

“Where am I? What happened? Who are you?” you asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at him. You figured if he hadn’t attacked you by now, he wasn’t going to.

“All good questions, which I’ll answer if you’ll be a good girl and change into these for me.” He pointed towards a black dress and some slippers on the other side of the bed. You looked from the clothes and back to the man, eyeing him with suspicion.

“How do I know you’ll answer my questions? How do I know you won’t just throw me in the dungeon or try to take advantage of me?” The two of you blinked blankly at each other until he broke out into laughter, laughing so hard he fell onto the floor.

Your eyebrows furrowed as you crawled towards the edge of the bed to peek over the edge. You yelped when he suddenly stood back up and stared at you.

“No, really. Please? Just change, and I’ll answer some of your questions. There’s a lot of things the High Mage has to explain to you.” You scooted back a bit on the bed before turning to look at the clothes on the other side of the bed.

“Are you going to stay in here while I’m changing?” you asked, giving him a mildly disgusted look.

“Don’t give me that look. I have to lace up the back of your dress for you. It’s my job to take care of you while you’re here. I’m your personal attendant.” You gave him another wary look.

“Why would I have a male personal attendant?” His expression immediately fell as he turned his eyes towards the ground. You suddenly felt bad, like you shouldn’t have asked him.

“I sort of have a reputation around here for messing up simple things and being sort of... dumb. But I’m not! I try really hard, but things just don’t always work out for me, and the High Mage gave me this job so I could prove myself, so please.” Your eyes softened at his expression, and you sighed before crawling over to the dress.

“At least turn around,” you said as his expression brightened.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” He turned around and crossed his arms, looking aimlessly around.

“So, do you have a name?” you asked, slipping your raggedy dress off and picking up the black one. You gasped and rubbed the fabric between your hands. It was so soft against your skin. You rubbed it a few more times in glee before pulling the dress on.

“Yeah. My name is Joon. Just call me whenever you need me, and I’ll be there. I have other duties around the castle, but my number one job is taking care of you, so no matter where I am, if you call, I’ll come running.” You laughed a little bit, fixing the sleeves on the dress.

“What if you’re on the other side of the castle? I don’t think you’ll be able to hear me.”

“Well, I have pretty good hearing. Are you decent? Can I lace up your dress?” He peeked over his shoulder and took a few steps towards you. You looked up at him and blinked a few times before turning around slowly so he could tie the laces for you.

He pulled at the laces and frowned when he saw the bottom was loose. You felt his fingers brush against the skin on your back, and you yelped, jumping away as it sent chills through your body.

“Oh. Sorry. My hands are cold. I’m not really used to take care of living things besides horses and- What’s that look for? I wasn’t trying to be indecent! I swear!” Joon said, eyes going wide as you stared at him with even wider eyes. You didn’t feel any of his life force drain into your body, and he didn’t look like he was in pain.

“You. You’re. What? I don’t understand.”

“Understand what?” Joon’s panic shifted to confusion.

“You’re... You’re not in pain, or anything?” He blinked at you a few times before rolling his eyes and reaching for your bare shoulders to turn you around. You stepped away from him again, afraid that the first time was just a fluke.

Joon rolled his eyes again and firmly gripped your shoulders and turned you around. “Stay,” he said as he grabbed the laces again. You blinked rapidly as Joon tied up the laces.

“That’s not too tight, is it?”

“No, I... I don’t understand.” Joon laughed before handing you your slippers. You stared at him in confusion as he pursed his lips.

“Done?” You nodded, still staring at him like he was an alien. He grabbed your hand and started to drag you out of the room, and you stared at your hand touching his, skin to skin before looking up at him.

“That doesn’t hurt?”

“What? Are you digging your nails into me or something?” He closed the door behind you and pulled you down another hallway. The hallways of this castle weren’t lit by any torches, which didn’t seem to bother the multitude of people going up and down.

You weren’t used to being around so many people at once and started to panic, running so you were closer to Joon and looking around. You could see very well in the dark, it’d always been that way. The torches back in the castle always hurt your eyes instead of helping you see.

“Whoa, calm down. What’s wrong?” Joon asked before greeting some other people and turning down another hallway.

“There’s... a lot of people. I’m not used to being around this many people and what if... what if...” What if I touch someone and accidentally kill them? you thought.

“Oh. Well. I think you’ll be okay. People here are generally nice, and I’m sure if you bumped into someone, they’d end up apologizing to you instead of the other way around.”

“Where am I?” you asked, looking around. This castle looked a lot nicer than the castle of Armalis, and there were some things you’d never seen before and tried to stop to look at them, but Joon pulled on your hand harder.

“The castle of Rivedon.” You stopped and yelled when Joon didn’t and almost made you fall. Joon doubled back and steadied you on your feet.

“You’ve got to stop doing that. If you end up with bumps and bruises by the time you get to the High Mage, he’s going to kill me!” Joon said with exasperation.

“Rivedon? I’m in Rivedon? In twenty years, I’d never left the castle of Armalis, and now I’m in Rivedon?” Joon opened his mouth to say something but thought against it, closed it again, and let out a sigh.

“I promise, the High Mage will tell you everything, okay? I only know the basics.”

“What basics?” you asked as Joon started walking again. You jogged to keep up with his long strides.

“Your name, where you were from, and that I have to take you to the High Mage.”

“Do you know why I don’t hurt you when you touch me?” Joon stopped in front of a pair of large double doors with intricate carvings and patterns on it. He raised an eyebrow.

“Do you know anything about Rivedon?” You shook your head.

“Nothing beyond the fact that monsters are supposed to live here.” Joon laughed and grabbed the heavy ring on the door and knocked three times.

“You can’t drain the life from something that’s already dead. Rivedon is the land of the dead. You won’t be able to hurt anyone here,” Joon said as your jaw dropped and your eyes went wide.

The doors opened, and Joon pushed you inside before gesturing towards the end of the room and closing the door behind you with a thud, making you wince.

“Make yourself comfortable,” a voice from the other side of the room said. The room was dimly lit, and you could see a man sitting at a desk littered with scrolls. You took a few cautious steps forward and saw that he was writing something on scrolls, his quill fluttering across the paper.

You made it to his desk and glanced at the armchairs in front of it before sinking down into one and placing your hands in your lap. The man radiated something that made you a little bit afraid of him. He was definitely someone to be respected, especially if he was the High Mage. If he was anything like the High Priest though, you were on the edge of your seat ready to run.

“You’ll be glad to know, then, that I’m nothing like the High Priest of Armalis,” he said as he looked up. He placed his quill into the inkwell, and with a wave of his hand, the scrolls rolled themselves up and floated into the air, organizing themselves on the shelves behind him.

You stared at him blankly as he leaned forward onto his desk, resting his head on laced fingers.

“I... didn’t say that out loud, did I?”

“No,” he said, grinning at you. You stared at him, feeling a little bit more scared, and a little bit more lost. He must’ve sensed your unease, because his expression softened as he leaned back into his chair.

“My name is Seungho. I’m the High Mage of Rivedon, and the person that rescued you from that god awful place.” You blinked a few times at him, remembering the armored man that grabbed you as your sister screamed your name.

“I... You’re the one that kidnapped me from Armalis?” Seungho pursed his lips.

“More like rescued you, from Armalis. I saw how they were treating you, making you live in that broom closet with those raggedy clothes. And I’m sorry that we at Rivedon didn’t learn of your existence sooner, so you wouldn’t have had to suffer that much.” You were so confused.

“My existence?”

“Yes. You. As a person. Existing in this world. We thought the Prophecy was wrong when you didn’t appear to use twenty years ago, but here you are.”

“Wait. The Prophecy? What does it have to do with me?” Seungho raised both of his eyebrows in mild surprise.

“You know of it?”

You shrunk back in the chair and looked down. “No, I don’t really know much of it.”

“What do you know then?”

You looked back up and bit your lip, trying to remember what you’d written in the ragtag journal you kept hidden in the shelves.

“Uh... Something about the lands of light and darkness. An Arch Priest and an Arch Mage will be born to help keep the balance between the worlds, but if their powers are abused then the world will start to fall apart.” You stared at Seungho as he waited for you to go on, but you just shook your head. That’s all you knew.

“Well, you have the gist of it. Do you know who the Arch Priest and the Arch Mage are?”

“No, I didn’t get that far. I could only go to the library at night, because the sun burns my skin, and the High Priest didn’t really like to see me, so I was only allowed out of my room at night anyway...”

Seungho let out an angry breath of air. Figures that the High Priest would treat you like an animal. The people of Armalis were never too friendly with the people from Rivedon, despite how polite and cordial the people of Rivedon tried to remain, even after mistreatment.

“The Arch Mage and the Arch Priest are two halves of a whole to balance out the life and death in the universe.” You took in his words and swallowed. There was no way. There was absolutely no way.

“The Arch Priest will lead the kingdom of Armalis, the kingdom of light, and the living. She has the power to heal, and even bring the dead back to life.” Your body turned cold.

“And the Arch Mage will lead the kingdom of Rivedon, the kingdom of darkness, and of the dead. She has the power to speed up death, or take away life instantly.” Seungho watched your body go still, and your eyes turn to the side as you thought.

“You are the Arch Mage,” Seungho said simply, “and your twin sister is the Arch Priest. If things went the way the Prophecy described, you would’ve been born to us and grown up with love and affection, as your sister has known in Armalis.”

You were silent. Your fingers were laced together in your lap, but you were gripping them so tight together that your knuckles were turning white.

“The High Priest shouldn’t have been able to hide you from us for that long. But I suspect it has something to do with your sister’s powers. We were searching for any sign of death in Armalis. But you. You’re alive.” You looked up, eyebrows furrowed as Seungho furrowed his own in thought.

“Though you didn’t need it to live, your sister must have inadvertently given you life.” Seungho watched a multitude of emotions and expression play themselves across your face before sighing loudly.

“I know this is a lot for you to take in, but please, take your time. As High Mage, my job is to take care of you, and make sure you’re comfortable and happy. I’ll also be taking care of your education and your training, but we’ll ease you into that.”

Education. Training. Arch Mage? you thought. Your sister didn’t mention anything about being the Arch Priest. Did she already know and not choose to share it with you? Or did she genuinely not know?

Your sister. You missed her already and wondered if she was okay back in Armalis.

“Your sister is fine. She misses you. She’s been crying since you left.” You looked up in alarm, and your expression immediately went sad.

“I’ll have the guards send a message to her, saying that you’re okay. It will give her some peace of mind. Did you have anything you wanted to include in the letter?” You blinked a few times.

“I... I can’t go back?”

Seungho gave you a look of disbelief.

“Do you want to go back? Would you be happier if you went back?” You didn’t know how to answer that question. On one hand, you missed your sister and missed her terribly. She was the only family you had. On the other hand, you were finally out of the castle of Armalis, and your curiosity was exploding about the world you were in now, and your place in that world.

“You’ll make friends here. And no doubt, there will be those people that you will consider family, whether you are directly related to them or not. I’ve given you a lot of information for today. We can talk more tomorrow, because I know you still have questions. I’ll have Joon show you around the castle.” Seungho waved his hand at the door, and it opened, making Joon yelp as he fell over. He was trying to eavesdrop on the conversation and managed to get the gist of it.

“Show her around, will you?” Joon bowed and walked up to you and grabbed your hand, muttering something to you that you didn’t quite hear. You followed him dumbly, trying to sort out the information in your head.

“And don’t worry. The people here are friendly. Don’t be afraid.” Seungho waved his hand again, and the doors closed behind you.

--

“You look like a ghost just walked right through you. Are you okay? Should I get you something to eat?” Your stomach growled a little bit as Joon led you down another hallway.

“The kitchens are this way, towards the end of the castle. It’s not really used for cooking since many of the people here don’t really eat. It’s mainly used as a storage room for raw meat and blood.” Joon stopped and opened up a pair of double doors.

You immediately felt tears well up in your eyes as a pungent smell hit you, and you forced yourself not to lose your stomach contents as you covered your nose and mouth and turned away. Joon turned to look at you in alarm as you took a couple steps away and squatted down.

“Is it that bad? Uh... I don’t really... Uh... Oh! There are some people in town that bake human food for a hobby. Maybe we should employ them for you. I guess no one really thought about- Okay, let me just close this...” Joon shut the doors as you coughed, trying not to throw up.

Joon shifted from side to side nervously before helping you to your feet and pulling you away from the kitchen.

“Oh my god. I think I just lost five years of my life,” you said with a gasp, wiping away tears from your eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize the smell would be so strong. I haven’t had to breathe for a few centuries now, so...” You leaned against the wall and fanned your face for a second.

“What are you, exactly?” you asked, turning your eyes towards Joon as he muttered some things to himself.

“Oh. Me? I’m a low level demon. High on physical strength, a little bit lower on the internal energy power. The higher the level, the more powerful the energy is, but physical strength decreases by a lot. Are you ready? There’s still a lot to see,” Joon said, grabbing your hand and pulling you along again.

“Oh... I read that in a book in Armalis. I guess I didn’t expect demons to look so... normal.”

Joon laughed and led you down another path, back towards the clearing you saw earlier with the two people fighting. “I’m not surprised. They’re quite prejudiced against us in Armalis. I’m a little bit surprised you’re not kicking and screaming.”

You pursed your lips as Joon opened another door for you, and you walked into very large circular room where pairs of people were practicing against each other. One man was walking through and giving pointers, scolding for bad technique, and giving compliments.

“Byunghee!” Joon yelled, waving his arms at the man. The man stopped and looked up at Joon before ignoring him and continuing with what he was doing. Joon sighed and rolled his eyes.

“He’s always like that to me. Come on. After I introduce you to him, we can go into the town and get food for you.” You followed Joon and yelped, jumping away from a fireball that almost hit you.

“Hey, hey, hey. Myungsoo, watch where you’re aiming,” Byunghee called, shaking his head. The man he yelled to shrugged his shoulders and smirked.

“My bad.”

You turned and caught his eyes. He stopped and stared at you for a moment until you felt a blush rise to your face and turned away, running after Joon.

“Byunghee, this is the Arch Mage. Seungho just got done dumping a load of information on her and wanted me to show her around.” Joon turned to you and gestured towards the other man.

“This is Byunghee. He’s in charge of training and power development around here. He’ll be the one teaching you when Seungho is too busy.” You bowed to him, making him blink rapidly before bowing even lower to you.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I didn’t think you’d be so cute,” he said with a grin on his face. Joon scowled and rolled his eyes. You stuttered for a moment before looking away with a blush on your face. You somehow caught eyes with Myungsoo again, and he smiled at you before you turned in another direction. At this rate, your face was going to stay a permanent shade of red.

“I hope to see you in training soon. I’m curious to see what kind of powers you have.”

“I... I don’t think I really have any powers. And the one I do have is useless since everyone’s dead already.” Byunghee shook his head and clicked his tongue at you.

“You have much to learn. But all in due time. It was a pleasure to meet you, but I have to get back to training. And you. Don’t think you can skip out on training just because you have other duties,” he said, flicking Joon in the forehead.

“Ow, okay, okay, calm down. I have to go take her to get some food, so I’ll see you later!” Joon picked you up unceremoniously and ran outside of the training room.

“Who’s that? Do you know?” Myungsoo asked one of the other guys in the training room. He just shrugged and threw a fireball at Myungsoo that he blocked before sending a barrage of energy balls at him, laughing as it singed his armor.

Myungsoo had never seen someone with eyes as blue as yours. Your skin looked impossibly pale, even for someone living in Rivedon. What surprised him even more was the blush on your face after you caught him staring at you. Dead people didn’t blush.

“That, Myungsoo, is the Arch Mage. Now, I know she’s pretty, but don’t let that distract you. I’m sure with some proper training, she’ll be sending all of you guys into the ground. Pay attention,” Byunghee said as he walked by Myungsoo and smacked him in the back of the head.

Myungsoo winced slightly and rubbed the back of his head before turning his attention back to his sparring partner. His attacks intensified. He definitely didn’t want to look bad in front of you when you started training.

--

Joon took you through the castle, pointing out various important places. He pointed out the library, where you would start your education lessons on the history of Rivedon and the people that lived there, along with the theories of magic.

You were very excited to learn how to use magic. You wondered if you would be able to do the things that Seungho did, or throw fireballs at people, but at the same time, you were scared. What if you couldn’t do it? What if they got the wrong person?

People glanced at you in curiosity and whispered with smiles whenever they saw you. Joon greeted people politely, and you bowed, too scared to say anything. A few of the older women in town smiled at you fondly and asked you questions that you answered politely in a small voice.

“The blacksmith is over here. Best weapons forged in both of the lands here,” Joon said, pointing towards the smithy.

“And over here are where the merchants like to sell their merchandise. There’s lots of cute things out there, so if you ever have any free time and some spare change, it’s a nice place to visit. And here we are! This place caters to the werewolves a lot, so the portions might be a bit bigger than you can finish since you’re so small... but come on.”

You stared at the small building and peeked inside to see a flurry of men and women cooking and baking and shouting at each other. The door opened as someone left, and the smells from inside wafted outside. You took one deep breath in before pushing past Joon and walking inside with your stomach growling.

“Hello, welcome to- Oh! Who do we have here?” a woman asked, turning to you with a smile. Joon walked in behind you and greeted them politely.

“This is the Arch Mage. She just arrived today. We have a shortage of uh... her kind of food in the castle, so I brought her here.”

“Good thing you did! Look at her, she’s barely skin and bone. Sit down here, sweety, and we’ll get some nice, hot food out for you.”

You sat down dumbly and watched them cook. You’d never seen someone else actually cooking before, and so many people all at once. It was a wonder they didn’t trip over each other or bump into each other. You tore your eyes away from the cooks and glanced around the place.

There were tables everywhere, and all of them were full of people eating and talking, laughing with each other while enjoying their food. Was this what it was like in Armalis during the day?

Joon watched your look around at everything before grinning at you as your eyes landed on him. “So. How do you like Rivedon so far?”

“Everyone seems nice,” you said slowly, “but I think it’s too early for me to really have an opinion yet.”

“Here you go, honey. Made just for you.” You turned and saw one of the cooks lay a huge plate of steaming hot food down in front of you. Joon shifted nervously in his chair before looking from you to the cook.

“I don’t think she can finish all of that,” he said, eyeing the food. You picked up your eating utensils and covered your lap with a napkin.

“I don’t know,” you said, “I’m kind of hungry.”

--

“You’re kidding me," Joon said as you finished off the last of your food and sat back with a sigh, pushing the empty plate away from you before wiping your mouth off. It’d been so long since you could just eat as much as you wanted, and you got a little bit carried away.

“For a small person, she sure does have a healthy appetite. Please, come down whenever you’re hungry, and any one of us would love to make something for you.” You thanked the cook and smiled, patting your stomach.

“It’s starting to get light out. You should probably get back to the castle,” another one of the cooks called. You glanced outside and could see the sky starting to lighten.

“Right. Let’s go.”

--

You and Joon made it back safely to the castle, and you could see that the hallways were starting to empty.

“People sleep during the day here?”

“Well, most of the population can’t really go outside in the sunlight, save for the werewolves and warlocks. Vampires will burst into flame, and it burns us demons pretty bad. The High Mage said you burn, too?” You nodded as Joon led you back to your room. You were going to have to explore on your own before you could remember where everything was.

“I’ll be back when the sun sets. Get some rest. If anything happens, just call for me, and I’ll be there.” You smiled at Joon and thanked him.

“We really want you to like it here. So... yeah. I’ll be back later.” Joon bid you goodbye, leaving you alone in your room.

Your gigantic room with a super comfy bed and luxurious sheets. You stared at your bed before running at it and jumping onto it, sinking into the sheets.

This wasn’t a dream, was it?