Maybe… maybe you should ask what the ashes are for and run away. It’s not like Daehyun has any weapons or anything. ‘These ashes,’ you say roughly. ‘What are they?’ Immediately, Daehyun’s face brightens, like a child waiting for his parents to lay down his Christmas gifts.

‘Take a seat,’ he says, pointing to a log near you. You wearily walk towards it, expecting some kind of surprise attack from him or something. ‘These ashes,’ he smiles happily. ‘These ashes are the ashes of a phoenix.’ You stare at him. Is this guy stupid or something? Aren’t phoenixes immortal? And aren’t they super powerful?

‘I guess you don’t know the life cycle of a phoenix,’ he chuckles, talking to you as if you were a grade school student. He gets comfortable on the log and starts drawing a circle in the dirt with a stick, marking it into quarters. He points to the bottom mark: ‘Fully fledged phoenix,’ he says seriously. He drags the stick to the next mark: ‘Pretty old phoenix. It’s most likely to be near its death, you know?’ He brings it up to the top mark: ‘Ashes. It’s dead, well, kind of.’ He points to the next mark: ‘Baby phoenix. It is born from those ashes, get it? It’s growing to be…’ he drags it back to the bottom mark: ‘This beautiful phoenix…’

You keep staring at him. Was Daehyun a little… in the head? ‘Thanks for the advice,’ you tell him hastily, grabbing the ashes off his hands. ‘I’m sure we will meet again. I better get going now.’ And without a single backwards glance, you hurry off.

As you slow down, something dawns on you. You’ve been two days in this forest with only half a juicy rabbit as food. You haven’t even had a drink! No wonder you were getting slightly light-headed. You picture water in your mind: crystal clear water, just like liquid glass… Splash! You’re so dehydrated you can even imagine the sound of it! Splash! Splash! Splash! But why, did it sound so realistic? Why could you even unconsciously determine which way it was coming from? Without even realising, your legs were carrying you away, weaving through the forest maze.

Before you know it, you reach a small pond. The water was slightly brown but you don’t care. Splash! Splash! You hear the splashing sounds again but you simply ignore them. You shakily lower your calloused hands and scoop up the liquid for what seemed to be the first time. You’re about to pour it into your mouth luxuriously before it is knocked out of your hands.

You turn around angrily to see a young boy, probably 16 or 17, holding a kettle in his arms. ‘Dirty water just makes you sick,’ he says. ‘Let me boil some for you, I’m just about to boil some for myself.’

Yet another stranger that you meet in the wild forest, you may even make friends with him… and Daehyun may even kill him… ‘Zelo,’ he says smiling sweetly. ‘My name is Zelo. You can stay with me for a while if you want. I’ve been living here for a while so I don’t mind if you stay.’ He holds out a hand to you.

You’ve got the ashes. You know what they do… at least a bit of it… And you meet another stranger than Daehyun could kill… Do you shake his hand and become friends with him?

If so, please proceed by clicking here.

If you want to just leave him just in case Daehyun kills him, please click here.