[243 AD | 1769 years ago]

Jong In stood beside the practice area as he watched the young couple. It had been two years since he had brought the young Lady Cao Yi Yun back to Goguryeo. He watched as she practiced the sword with Jun Hoe - her betrothed – with a bright smile on her face. A smile that he wished was directed toward him and not Jun Hoe.

He clenched his fist around the shaft of his long shafted spear-blade. She was not his to claim, that beautiful smile does not belong to him. She was to be married to Jun Hoe in a month from now.

When Yi Yun arrived she was only fifteen years of age. Jun Hoe was only ten. Seeing how awkward their first meeting was the Elders had decided to let the young betrothed couple to grow up a bit more before they were to be married. This will also allow them to be more familiar with each other.

Jong In knew that she was forbidden from him, even if she was not betrothed to Jun Hoe she was still forbidden to him. However, he had let his guard down with her during their journey from Wei to Goguryeo and she had found a way into his heart.

The reason that she was forbidden to him was because he was not from this mortal realm.

He was an immortal, one of the gods.

Jong In had been banished from his realm, the undersea kingdom where is father, one of the sea gods resided. He had refused to be married to one of the goddess his father had chosen for him. She was filled with vanity and the greed for power. He was not going to let her use him to get what she wanted.

However, her father was one of the most powerful gods and by rejecting her Jong In had dishonoured his father. The punishment was to be banished to the mortal realm until his father is satisfied with his punishment. It had been over thirty mortal years now. His father was a stubborn old man. 

There was a time when Yi Yun had asked him, “How old are you, Jong In? You look way too young to be a commander.”

“I’m much older than I look,” was the only answer he could give her. He was much older than he looked. He must be over a thousand years old now. There is no point in counting when time is infinite to you.

 Yi Yun had noticed him and sent a smile his way. The smile knocked the breath out of him. All the years that he had been on earth he had never laid eyes on a mortal. Mortals were just a simple being. They are filled with all kinds of emotions that he found bothersome.

Then he laid his eyes on Yi Yun and the infinite time of his had stopped. Nothing mattered but the two of them, the sound of her rapid heartbeat