9/15/11

Please help me with my predicament!! http://www.asianfanfics.com/blog/view/36624

            Bom and Chaerin arrived back at the inn during dinner time, and it seemed like they were the last ones to come back. To Bom, one of the best things about the inns in Terra is that they offer complimentary dining services. They even set up a dining table, cooked the food, and provided utensils for the six of them, and it was all for free (to an extent, of course)! While waiting for dinner to be ready, the two girls looked around at the faces of their friends, and they felt they had missed something terribly important. So once the group of six was settled in their seats and dinner was served, Chaerin asked, “Did something happen while Bom and I were gone?”

            Seungri, Jiyong, and Dara looked at each other while Youngbae answered, “There was an attempted assassination today.”

            Bom and Chaerin furrowed their eyebrows.

            “Attempted assassination?” Bom asked. “By whom? To whom?”

            “To me,” Jiyong spoke, although barely audible. It was as if he was embarrassed. “While I was out shopping for more supplies, a random person next to me caught me off guard and used a knife to slit my stomach open.

            “Luckily Seungri was spotted me just a few seconds before it happened, and he was able to bring me back to the inn.”

            “And that’s where the amazing part starts,” Seungri interjected. One corner of his mouth lifted. “Jiyong was deeply wounded when I brought him back to the inn. There was so much blood that I was drowning in it!”

            “Now’s not the time to exaggerate,” Dara said while keeping her gaze on her bowl.

            “Well, anyways,” Seungri continued. “Jiyong had a very small chance of survival, that’s for sure. I mean—”

            “Long story short, Dara has healing powers, and she saved me,” Jiyong interrupted while kicking Seungri’s leg under the table. He gave a sideways glance at Seungri and muttered, “No need to be so descriptive.”

            Meanwhile, Bom and Chaerin had their mouths open. Catching herself, Chaerin closed and cleared , “Oh, wow! We definitely missed a lot. So, it was really just a random person who walked by and injured Jiyong?”

            “Well, random to us,” Youngbae answered. “But most likely not random to the Vidle.”

            Silence filled the room.

            “You mean the Vidle was behind the incident?” Bom asked, although already knowing the answer.

            “At least that’s what I think,” Youngbae said. “The people of Wun, although outwardly rough and violent, are a pretty sophisticated and peaceful group. They are hospitable toward visitors and welcome them warmly. A regular citizen of Wun would have no reason to kill a visitor.”

            “Meaning that the person who attacked Jiyong was not a regular citizen,” Seungri filled in. “But instead some kind of assassin who was ordered to kill by the Vidle.”

            Youngbae nodded. “That’s my hypothesis.”

            Everyone tensed up, and Chaerin voiced out everyone’s concern, “That means we have to keep our guard up all the time. Anyone can be our enemy.”

            “Well, the inns of Terra are actually quite safe,” Youngbae reasoned. “Take this room for example. While dinner was being prepared, we all had to wait outside this room until everything was set up and put on the table. The maids who helped bring everything into this room then go out and call us in. After we all are inside the room, the door is locked and no one besides the six of us can walk in and out of the room.”

            “Are the walls sound-proof as well?” Bom considered. After seeing Youngbae nod, she added. “How about food poisoning?”

            “There are strict food regulations as well as strict worker regulations,” Youngbae answered. “In fact, workers at inns get paid quite a lot due to the lengthy and difficult job interviews.”

Staying silent for a few more seconds, Bom processed the new information. Then, she realized something, “So, if Dara can heal Jiyong’s wound, she can heal any of our wounds too, right?”

            “I guess,” Dara replied. “I mean, I haven’t tried on anybody else yet, but I’m sure that the power works the same way. “

            “How about try on Youngbae’s knee?” Bom suggested. “Because if that’s the case, we have another method of protection against the Vidle’s advances.”

            Dara turned to Youngbae and waited for him to roll up his pant leg. After Youngbae finished, she closed her eyes and tried to recreate the same feeling she had when healing Jiyong’s wound. A few seconds later, her pendant started glowing, and she felt the light flow through her arms and to Youngbae’s knee.

            Opening her eyes, Dara saw Youngbae flexing his leg and smiling. He looked at her and confirmed, “Good as new.”

            With that, Dara smiled and looked at Jiyong, who smiled back at her and reached out for her hand.

            Witnessing the tender moment between the couple, Bom choked on her rice and tried to distract Chaerin from the sight, “So, *cough*, Chaerin, *cough*, what do you think of the food today?”

            “It’s alright,” Chaerin replied, playing with her food. “At least it’s better than the food in Ton. Gosh, the food there was awful.”

          “Have to agree with you on that,” Bom nodded. “Maybe the food in the next region will be better.”

            “Oh, speaking of the next region,” Seungri turned to Youngbae. “Where will we be going next?”

            Youngbae finished up his water and brought out a map from his back pocket. “I’m thinking about finishing up with all the rivers in the Sulonar before moving to the Mulonar, since we will have to get used to the time difference once we’re in the Mulonar.”

            “There’s a time change?” Chaerin asked.

            “Yeah. Unlike Earth, the suns in Terra all rise at the same time. There’s no ‘rising in the east and setting in the west’. It just rises and sets,” Youngbae explained. “But since the suns are so bright in the Mulonar, the region wakes up and sleeps at times opposite of the ones in the Sulonar in order to avoid the glare of the sun.”

            “So, basically, the times to wake up and sleep are completely flipped,” Bom inferred.

            Youngbae nodded. “So my plan is to walk northwest to the corner of Wun, and deal with both the River of Change and the River of Cur at the same time. Afterwards, we cross the River of Cur to the Fos nation and walk east to lakes Sire and Contra. Since Yul is a nation with five suns, we will avoid that nation and cross Lake Contra to get to Hes.”

            “But isn’t Lake Contra kind of big?” Bom worried. “I’m not sure if I can freeze that much water.”

            “If all else fails, we can probably find a ferry of some sort to get across,” Seungri reasoned. He smiled at her. “No big deal.”

            Youngbae paused for a moment as he thought something over. Then, he looked up and smiled slightly. “Yeah, we’ll get by somehow.”

            “What next?” Chaerin asked after there was a short silence.

            “Oh! Yeah,” Youngbae started. He then apologized and continued. “Once we’re in Hes, we will walk eastward toward the River of Space, and from then on, we’ll be in the Mulonar. Since we already took care of all the latitudinal rivers, we’ll just be focusing only longitudinal river left, the River of Undead. Since we’ll be in the land of Gin, we’ll walk eastward to the River of Undead, cross the river, and arrive at Rhi as our last destination.”

            “Then, what happens after that?” Dara asked.

            “Then, we wait,” Youngbae said tersely. “Casting dispelling charms on every single water source in Terra is a pretty big feat, but in all honesty, I don’t know if it will do any good. I mean, the theory seems to work, but this is the first time that anybody has tried out that theory. The only signs that tell us we’re going in the right direction are the Vidle’s hostility toward us and the monsters that she sends to defeat us.”

            “What if nothing happens?” Chaerin asked.

            “Then our last resort is to seek the Mahro for help,” Youngbae answered.

            “Mahro? You mean Terra’s version of heaven?” Bom asked.

            “Yeah,” Youngbae confirmed. “If we alone are not able to complete the task of bringing us back home and overthrowing the Vidle, then we will seek help from them.”

            “Why didn’t we seek help from them in the first place?” Jiyong wondered.

            Youngbae took a bit longer to answer this question. “Well, to tell you the truth, nobody really knows where the Mahro and the Ryerauve are. It is common assumption that the Mahro is in the north and the Ryerauve is in the south, but no one has ever been to either place.”

            “How about during the elections?” Seungri asked.

            “The people of the Mahro and the Ryerauve go to Nid and Fos, respectively, and they set their camps there,” Youngbae replied.

            “So, even if we wanted to confront the Vidle, there’s no sure fire way to do it?” Jiyong asked.

            “Unfortunately, that’s correct,” Youngbae answered.

            After Youngbae’s answer, there were no more questions. Everyone in the room was thinking about the plan that Youngbae gave and the possibilities of how well that plan will work out for them. In the end, they concluded that they will just have to wait and see.

            “Well, here’s to Jiyong’s escape from death and the fact that we’re all together and alive,” Seungri rose up his glass of water.

            Everyone smiled at Seungri’s foolish action and rose their glasses of water as well. “Cheers!”

            Even though there was no guarantee of succeeding, the only thing the six friends could do was continue trying and moving forward. As long as they were all together, there will be a way.

BigBang_VIP: Lol, thanks for the support!! Although this chapter is sort of a filler chapter, I hope you like it! Another chapter will come up soon :P And I'm out of summer school!!! (But real school is coming in a week... D:)

Starlightshine: hehe, I guess Dara doesn't really have an 'element' per se. She is more like a white mage (yay for game references XD) since she has the power to dispel and heal. But if she did have an element, it would probably be holy. lol, she definitely got the long end of the stick :P

celestetsm: :D I'm glad my imagination is of some use to me XD. Thanks for your love <3!!

SuperJ13: Hehe, I hope this chapter explains things for you (although it was released really late)!! But yeah, I promise to have more chapters coming up!

bigbangdonut: Welcome!! lol, although I hope I don't disturb your work life too much, I'm glad that I'm helping you relax and have fun! Thanks for the interest :D