Author: Haru Sky

PROLOGUE:

“Hurry!!! This way!!!” a man emerged from afar, one hand held a child while the other gript tightly his lover’s wrist to not lose each other. Two shadows rushed through the somber forest. They ran, ran and ran without even look back for once. Suddenly, the woman’s weak legs collapsed. She tried to catch her breath but the man desperately pulled her hard, urged her to run faster. They quarreled for a bit until noises from a group of people – who were hunting them – became clearer and clearer. Hurried on their tired feet again, the two kept running at full speed until the finally reached a spectacular waterfall.

“You have to jump…” he yelled at her due to loud noises came from all those water pouring down and hit on those mossy rocks, “Get out of here before they find you…”

“No, Sol! What about you?” she cried out in hopelessness.

Gave the child to his lover, the man shook his head then ran his thumb over her dried lips. He signed her to stay quiet and she did listen, “Diana, listen to what I’m about to say. What she wants is me, not you nor this child. Don’t cry! Please don’t cry! Go, live a happy peaceful life in that world. Bring this child a better life for my part as well.” He caressed that beautiful face of his lover, gently gave her a passionate kiss while constantly wiped away her tears – those seemed to never cease to be made. He wanted to end this bitter-sweet faster, yet how strange his body couldn’t do much. His lips couldn’t part with hers and he cried like a baby who just lost something precious. His tears kept flowing down, his heart then screamed in its most extreme despair, the pain that one hardly could tolerate. The noise came up again, this time even more clear that made him reluctantly loosened his hands.

The boy in Diana’s hand stirred in the warm of his parents. He grimaced, moved uncomfortably and the little mouth started to tremble, ready for a little cry. But before he could whimper out any sound, Diana had stopped him by her sweet lullaby. She looked at him dearly, crooned those familiar words those were his favorite. After a while, he once again be wrapped up in his mother’s chest and felt soundly asleep; not for one second he realized that his life from this moment would be turned upside down.

Sol smiled indulgently then slowly brought him back on his arms. He looked at his lover’s eyes while hand kept soothing the boy’s back, deepened his sleep so that he wouldn’t be woken up so easily if anything was to happen. “Sou… Ah no… My Young Saeng, forgive me that I can’t be with you when you grow up… I can’t give you what so-called fatherly love… But keep this thing…” he took off the cross-earring he was wearing on his left earlobe. As he gave it to Diana, the man wouldn’t stop talking as if his time was coming to an end, “Mom will give you once you’re ready to keep it safe… Treasure it… Let it be a part of you in place for me… So then one day when you return to this place… At least at that time I could recognize you…” then he gave Young Saeng back to his lover and hugged both of them for one last time.

Like he could understand about his parents’ feelings, Young Saeng didn’t cry out loud but sobbed quietly along their heartbeats. Afraid that he couldn’t hold back his feeling, Sol turned away after pushed the two most precious people of him down the violent current of instant death.

“Farewell, my family….” he whispered in deep down his throat then turned to face the crowd that had just arrived. He cared no more for anything that would happen to him. The fact that his son and Diana were now at least safer than to face these monsters made him felt relieved. He closed his, called back every bit of memories, happy ones and even sad ones. And when that last smile Young Saeng gave him returned to his heart, the man had already been devoured by the cruelest creature of this world, Victoria.