Welcome to Eterna

Deep in the high mountains, in a secluded forest was a thriving kingdom. This kingdom was enclosed in an ordinate circular stone wall with a high gate to ensure the safety of all its citizens.  Said kingdom was rumored to be the most prosperous kingdom of all the land. People far and wide flock towards the kingdom in hopes to share in its abundant wealth. It was known for its bustling marketplace, world renowned blacksmiths, and hearty crops. This kingdom was named Eterna in hopes that the kingdom would retain its prosperity for all of ETERNITY.

Eterna was also a very magical place. Unknown to a majority of the citizens of Eterna’s great prosperity was attributed to a certain tree in the center of the town square. This tree, despite being well over the several hundred years old does not bear any fruit or do the leaves ever wilt. It does on the other hand, purify and enchant the water that the villagers use to water the crops which results in hearty crops for export. It gives life to the land, thus it was called the Tree of Life. 

Sadly, to a majority of the citizens this tree is a waste of space and the only reason why it wasn’t cut down and used for kindling was that this tree was the princess’s favorite tree. She loved this tree so much; she decreed that no one is to harm the sacred tree.  This tree is indeed the reason for her kingdom’s success, but the reason why she loved the tree so much was that when she was a little girl the tree granted her wish.

As princess it was extremely hard to make friends considering how everyone treated you differently. So one day she decided to make a wish. The tree hearing the princess’s plea brought the four girls together and thus began their blossoming friendship. Those four girls were chosen to become the Tree of Life’s guardians.

The tree bestowed each girl a gift to use when necessary. Unfortunately the tree never mentioned when it was necessary to use it, thus they decided to improvise. The princess was given a pendant to ward away evil. It would later be known the princess’s signature accessory. The young orphan girl was given a sword. That sword would later belong to the strongest sword master of the land. Everyone would know her as “The Lady-Knight”.  The apothecary’s daughter was given a walking stick. She would later be known as the “Village Doctor”. The blind child was given the gift of foresight. Being clairvoyant, she was able to often predict when her friends needed help. She later became a nun at the church of Eterna.

And thus our story begins…

“Princess! Princess Hyorin! Where are you?” Called the young newly hired maid. She was scared out of her mind. She was supposed to summon the princess for breakfast and she was nowhere in sight. Unfortunately it seems that nobody informed her about how the princess is usually never in the castle. The princess loved to venture off and meet the town’s people on a daily basis.  Her desperate pleas could be heard all throughout the palace courtyard through the open balcony window in which the princess used to escape.  Said princess was standing happily under the balcony waiting for her ride to the town.

As a young female knight pulled up with a chestnut colored horse the princess began to wave enthusiastically. “Jagiya! What took you so long?”

The young girl being addressed nonchalantly shrugged. “In my defense I needed to shower. I just got back from jousting practice. I highly doubt you would like to ride with a stinky lady-knight your highness.” She smiled playfully to the pouting princess and offered her hand to help the princess mount the horse.

“Fine.  Thank you for taking me into consideration my fairest lady-knight.” Both girls began to laugh at their formal wordplay as they began riding off towards the town.

As they just cleared the palace gates the princess couldn’t help but point out. “Hey, do you like my commoner’s clothing? Isn’t it fantastically common?”

Lady-Knight Aejung turned around and took a quick glance at the garments the princess was wearing and nodded in approval. “This is an improvement, compared to last time.”

“Wait…WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!”Exclaimed the princess is disbelief. She honestly thought that she looked very like a very convincing commoner.

“Nothing!”

As the duo made their way towards the lively marketplace the princess couldn’t help but notice that there were so many fruits on sale.  As the benevolent princess she is she decided to purchase twelve big bushels full of assorted fruits to donate to the church, and well it wasn’t like she was carrying it herself right?

“Do you think this should be enough?” Asked Princess Hyorin as she pondered whether or not to return to the marketplace to hoard the watermelons she saw earlier.

“Enough for what?” Inquired the exhausted Lady-Knight. “I can’t believe you made me carry all twelve of those bushels all the way here.”

“I wanted to ask the Head Nun if I could borrow Hyunjae for the day. This is to appease her! You know how she gets.” After a quick second of mildly pondering the idea of sprinting back to the marketplace for the watermelons she decided that since she was already at the church (and that she wasn’t going to take no as an answer) she will demand for a day with Hyunjae whether or not the cranky head nun liked it. She pushed open the doors to reveal an amused looking nun sitting in a chair right in front of the doorway. 

“You were waiting for us huh?” chirped Hyorin happily.

“Yep. Thank you for attempting to buy me off with twelve bushels of fruit. I am very touched. Oh by the way don’t buy the watermelons. The Head Nun lady is out of town today.” Said Hyunjae confidently.

“Drat! Now what am I supposed to do with all of this fruit?” Whined Hyorin.

“Wait so you are saying I carried all of this for nothing?” Aejung crossed her arms and huffed. “Well I am not carrying it back so I say you donate this now and next time you sent the Royal Guard with gifts.”

“True…Okay then! Let’s go visit Saebaby! She would be delighted to see us! Come now my loyal subjects.” Beckoned the lively princess.

“Sure, let me get my horse.” Replied the nun happily. After what seemed to be a short amount of time, but in reality several hours the three young ladies set off on their journey to visit their friend Saehyun. Saehyun the Village Doctor, lived in the tiny little hut close to the river that flows through the kingdom. Their reason for taking so long was that they were faced with a three people to two horse situation. In the end after much squabbling it was decided that one girl must be voted off the island, but the question was who? 

“Why am I the one that has to walk?” Asked Aejung as she held the reigns for both horses, guiding them through the streets.

“Because if you look at things in a social perspective I am blind and Hyorin Unnie is a princess so by default you had to walk.” Answered Hyunjae in a matter of fact tone, Hyorin nodded in agreement to what the Hyunjae said.

“You shouldn’t even be considered blind! All you have to do is see one second into the future then BAM you can see.” Whined the lady-knight. “Why is the world so unfair? If Saehyun was here she would agree with me.”

“But she isn’t here because she lives so far away!” Complained the impatient princess. “Are we there yet? Dude, I swear by royal decree I am going to move her little hermit hut closer to the palace.”

“Well if you think about it Yeobo, her tiny little hut can fit in your backyard easily.”

“That is a great idea! It is settled then! By royal decree I shall move her hermit hut to the palace backyard. Oooh! I should have the imperial gardeners plant herbs so she doesn’t have to leave to go get them. Problem solved!” declared the princess triumphantly.

“Hannie Unnie is going to be so pissed!”

As the group of girls arrived at the tiny hut down by the river they noticed something was strange. Instead of seeing the usual bright little village doctor girl drying herbs in an open field they saw a multitude people laying around the hut unconscious with a frantic looking girl fanning people with a huge leaf.

“Saebaby what happened?” inquired the princess.

The distressed girl turned around and smiled. “Oh my god guys it is so good to see you!” She dropped her huge leaf and ran over to hug everybody. “I have no idea. Earlier people came to my hut and told me people started to fall asleep in the streets, and I was like ‘oh well okay bring them to me’. I thought that there would be one or two people passed out from exhaustion or something then BAM I have like over twenty sleeping people in front of my hut!”

“Are you sure they are not dead?” Asked Hyunjae as she causally began to poke one of the people sleeping in front of the hut.

“Yes I am sure they are not dead. DUDE IF ALL OF THE PEOPLE DIED IN FRONT OF MY HUT I WOULD…” Saehyun began to hyperventilate.

Aejung gave her a pat on the back. “It is okay. We can handle it. We are the chosen ones remember?”

“But what were we chosen for? The tree didn’t give us any form of instruction! I got a stick; I have no idea what to do my stick. At least your sword is self explanatory.” Saehyun sighed and slumped to the ground in an ungraceful heap. “Aejungie what are we going to do?” She began to sob. “I mean I tried everything from poking them to banging pots and pans together! Nothing will wake them up!”

“Pots and Pans…Really Saebaby?”

Aejung gave her a hug. “Everything will be alright.”

Suddenly Hyunjae froze, which can only mean that something very important is about to happen. “Hyorin Unnie, you have to get back to the palace. There is an official council meeting with your parents happening soon. You have to be there.”

“Oh no Jagiya, let’s go. We can come back later to help.” The princess and her Lady-Knight quickly mounted the horse and sped off without looking back.

“Hannie Unnie I have an idea, I will be right back.” Hyunjae decided that maybe something in the church library would be able to cure these people and thus she mounted her horse and galloped off into the distance as well.

“Great…now what am I supposed to do?” Saehyun was about to pick up her big leaf again until she noticed something weird on the one of the victim’s arm. It was a strange looking black swirl which could only mean one thing. “Black magic…”

Back at the palace where the council meeting was already taking place, Princess Hyorin was diligently listening to the councilmen bicker about the probable causes for the sleeping pandemic. Nothing caught her attention as the probable cause until the guard standing by the door suggested something.

“Your highness, if I may, can I suggest something?”

The king, who was annoyed at all the unreasonable previous suggestion from the councilmen, silenced the bickering by raising his hand and clearing his throat. “You may speak.”

“I believe that is was witchcraft what put the townspeople to sleep.” As those words were spoken the councilmen started to nod in agreement. It sounded plausible considering how everything they couldn’t explain was always the work of witchcraft and well this situation fit the criteria perfectly.

 The king pondered the thought, “Hm…it is a possibility, but all witchcraft has to have a source. Do you know who could probably be the witch behind this magic?”

The knight nodded gravely. “Yes sir. Yes I do.”

“And you do know that whomever you accuse of the heinous crime can possibly be sentenced to death if he or she is proven guilty.” The knight nodded apprehensively. Hyorin noticed that he seemed rather confident in his accusation. Maybe this guy knows what he is talking about. “Very well. Who do you believe is the witch casting this terrible spell?”

“Your highness, I believe the girl that lives in the hut on the far side of the river is the witch.”

The princess slammed her hands on the table in outrage. “Blasphemy! She is the doctor trying to save all those people down by the river.”

“And if I may princess, how do you know that? How do you know she isn’t enchanting them rather than saving them? She is probably casting her spell on more people as we speak.” A murmur of unanimous agreement began to arise amongst the councilmen.

“Oh the hermit girl, she is a questionable one.”

“Indeed. She is a strange one.”

“I knew there was something wrong with that child.”

“Let’s burn her to death!”

Unable to contain her anger the princess yelled. “Silence!” The entire courtroom was stunned at her outburst.  “Simple minded knight what is your name?! I will annihilate your descendants and banish your ungrateful little…”

“Hyorin…that is enough.” Spoke the king.

“B-But daddy! Saehyun isn’t a witch. She is a doctor. I demand for her to have a fair trial.” Begged Hyorin desperately.

“I will visit the girl who lives in the hut personally with my guardsmen, and I will see whether or not she is indeed the witch.”

“Okay, I will come with you!”

“No, you are to go to your room young lady. I will not let you visit her just in case she is the witch.”

“B-B-but daddy!”

“Go. To. Your. Room. NOW!”

“Fine! I will!” The princess sprinted through the halls and up to her room. Once she was up in her room she opened the window and swiftly climbed out. She made her way to the Knight’s living quarters and burst through the door. “Lady-Knight Lee Aejung, prepare to ride. We have to save Saebaby!”

“What happened?” Asked Aejung as she strapped her sword in place.

“I will tell you on the way.” And with that they sprinted off towards the stables leaving all the other male knights baffled.

Meanwhile at the church’s library Hyunjae was flipping through countless books for a remedy. Unfortunately all the books were absolutely useless. She sighed in exasperation, it was hopeless. There was nothing in these old books about a mass of people falling asleep…at once. Just then she received a vision. She foresaw Saehyun figuring out how to save the people.

She abruptly ran out of the library and towards the little hut by the river. Hyunjae is usually very confident in her abilities to see into the future, but why is do she have a bad feeling that something is going to happen? Saehyun found a cure that she was sure of, but how was that bad?

Hyunjae was the first to reach Saehyun’s hut due to her future seeing abilities. “Unnie! Did you find a cure?”

Saehyun, who was holding a naturally pale wooden walking stick quickly ran across the field and accosted her friend in a barrage of questions one of which answered Hyunjae’s previous question. “Hyunjae! Did you find anything useful in the library?”

“Uh…you are supposed to be the one with the cure not me.”

“Wait does that mean you saw me with the cure? So my idea worked?” chirped a happy village doctor.

“I saw you with the cure, but I have no idea what it is.” Replied the nun curtly.

“I actually have an idea.” Exclaimed Saehyun enthusiastically. “This has to be the work of black magic. The citizens all have the black swirly thing on their arm which can only mean this is the work of something evil and magical because honestly who has time to draw one on every single victim’s forearm unless they are evil and magical?”

“...How did you come up with that?”

“Wait, I am not done yet. You know how the tree each gave us a gift? So we can…well it didn’t really give us instructions, but for the moment disregard that. Well since it pick us that probably means the tree is good right? I mean look at it. Eterna is blossoming beautifully because of the tree’s good magic which means that the tree is good, we are good, and this” Saehyun gestured to the sleeping people. “Is bad. Which means our gifts should be able to do something about it.”

“So that is why you brought out the walking stick.”

“Indeed! Now…enchanted walking stick, do your thing!” Saehyun lifted the stick high up into the air and it began to glow a color between sea foam and teal. (Since that is the magical color nowadays.) The …tealfoam light shown bright and purified the people who have fallen under the dark spell. All the people whom were previously snoozing on the ground stood up and decided that it was best to venture back in town rather than hang out with the little village doctor and blind nun girl.

“Hey! No thank you?! Rude.” Saehyun pouted.

Hyunjae on the other hand felt that it was too early to celebrate. Something was wrong, horribly wrong, and now she understood why. The king and his company whom of which were located on the other side of the field clearly saw what happened. Before she could even react, the king’s company surrounded them.

Hyorin and Aejung who were closely tailing the king’s company also saw what happened. “NOW OF ALL TIMES YOU FIGURE HOW TO USE THE STICK?!” They both exclaimed in unison.

“Tis the witch! GET HER!” Commanded the king.  His loyal cavaliers quickly apprehended the little hut girl and tied her up.

“She will burn to death for her sorcery! Take her to town square. This will be a public execution.” The king decreed. The king and his men left as quickly as they came. They completely disregarded the other three girls. Hyunjae picked up Saehyun’s magical stick and quickly ran to regroup with the others.

“I can’t believe that knight. Once we go and save Saebaby we are going to burn him alive. He seems like the culprit anyways! Accusing poor innocent Saebaby! I will annihilate him!” The raging princess and her loyal subjects began devising a plan to save the innocent village doctor.

After a considerable amount of time the king’s men began preparations to burn the witch. In town square Saehyun was being tied to a wooden pole in the middle of a mass of extremely flammable kindling. Ironically the place where she would be burned was right in front of the tree of life. All of the citizens of Eterna gathered to witness the death of the witch. “Um…king sir…will I be read my rights as a citizen of Eterna?”

“Slience witch!”

“I am not the witch! If you haven’t noticed I saved those people! YOU SHOULD ME MAKING A CHURCH IN MY HONOR NOT BURNING ME ALIVE!” Excailmed Saehyun indignantly.

“Nice try witch. Burn and disappear!”

“Can I get a lawyer please?”

“Daddy, how could you?!” The crowds parted to reveal a very clearly upset princess. “She saved those people!”

“This girl is a witch! Why are you even out of your room?”

“When am I ever in my room dad?”

“YOU HAVE BEEN SNEAKING OUT?!” As the king and princess began to make a huge scene, the Aejung who stealthily made her way to Saehyun without being noticed started to untie her.

“Thank god you guys came!” chirped Saehyun. “I thought I was going to die!”

 Aejung smiled “We got your back girl.” Once Saehyun was untied they both decided to make a run for the getaway horse Hyunjae was taking care of.

As they were about to reach Hyunjae, an enormous black cloud dark magic began to engulf the city.

“God damn we never get a break do we?!” cursed Hyunjae.

Aejung looked at Hyunjae with a horrified expression“…Hey I thought nun’s can’t curse.”

“Oh…yeah….”

“Hey you did it aga-”

“No time for manners guys!” Saehyun raised her hand in a fist. “Let’s fight evil! Hyunjae give me my stick!” Hyunjae mounted the horse and tossed Saehyun her enchanted walking stick. “The darkness won’t go into the forest. I will lead the townspeople there. I will be back.”

Hyunjae rode closer to the mass of screaming civilians in order for them to hear. “IF YOU WANT TO LIVE FOLLOW ME!” The frantic crowd obediently began to chase after the nun in hopes of finding shelter.

“Funny how so long as she sound like she know what she is doing people will completely disregard the fact that she is a blind nun riding a horse leading them to safety.”

“Yep.”

Shortly after Hyunjae left Princess Hyorin returned from distracting the townspeople. “Okay guys I don’t know if you were paying attention but there is this huge darkness thing that is attacking the town. MY TOWN in matter of fact and I need it gone. The tree gave us something right? Let’s use it! If all else fails we can just get on the getaway horse and flee.”

Saehyun started to uncomfortably shift around. “Um…Hyunjae took the getaway horse to evacuate the villagers.”

“…She isn’t coming back is she?”

“Nope.”

“Oh well…FOR THE TREE” Exclaimed the Princess.

“FOR THE TREE” echoed Saehyun and Aejung.

And with that the trio began to battle the darkness. Saehyun began to swing her glowing walking stick around to ward off the evil. Hyorin’s magic pendant began allowed her to blast tealfoam light from her hands to push back the darkness. Aejung’s sword; Excalibur began to illuminate similarly to the previous weapons allowing her to cut the darkness easily. The three girls were standing in a triangular formation around the tree in hopes to protect the tree from the darkness.  They later switched to a square formation once Hyunjae came back.

“Jaestar-ie! I am so glad you came back! To be honest…I didn’t think you would.” Admitted the princess.

“So much for having faith in me.”

“Let’s combine our powers guys. I WANNA WIN! I DID NOT JUST ESCAPE DEATH BY FIRE TO DIE AT THE HANDS OF THIS THING!” wailed an unhappy hut girl.

Everyone nodded and raised their weapons high. (And in Hyunjae’s case looked up) The sword, stick, necklace, and Hyunjae’s eyes glowed brightly. When their powers combined it created a shockwave that blew the darkness away. Unfortunately at the cost of using all their powers they started to turn to stone.

Aejung was the first to speak. “I did not sign up for this. Just saying.” Looking at her stone legs and her rapidly petrifying hands.

“Same!” Agreed Hyunjae who was unhappily chiseling  at her feet.

“At least we managed to protect Eterna.” Chirped Saehyun positively.

“Yep. We saved my Kingdom. Now let’s all combine our powers again to send this tree out of here. If it is still here the dark cloud thing may come back. I like my kingdom in one piece thank you very much.”

“Fine we are going to be stone anyways.”

“Okay.”

“Sure!”

As a last attempt to protect the kingdom the four girls decided to split the tree in half and send them both to a different dimension for good measure. As they fulfilled their final task they were turned to stone.

After the battle and the sending of the tree the townspeople quickly regretted what they had done and made the statues of their saviors into a monument where the Tree of Life once resided. They all lived happily ever after…well except for the four girls. They are still statues till this very day.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Tree of Life also got a lot smarter after the whole incident.

Instead of 4 little girls, the tree upgraded to 12 good looking young men. Go figure!

-XP