Finally, dawn. The curves glistening in the horizon awoke horror on people’s faces. A ruin replaced the nationwide treasured Palace and started a riot inside their hearts. Their once secure and fruitful country had fallen to the hands of the supernatural and they blamed the recent rain of fire for it. Others spoke of neighboring forces taking their stand. Nobody could trust the system anymore, nobody could stay put and wait for reinforcements. People of all types grabbed their weapons and were ready to defend their property against criminals. Authority died alongside their mythical Queen, another of Death’s illusions, and the Capital City burned as the sun towered each passing minute above the chaos.

It was exactly what Sooyoung should have never experienced. Sure, we caught a couple of wars, but we had never been in their vicinity. Every time blood was about to be spilled, reapers announced the slaughter in time for us to evacuate the area and move our business in a better place. There were none surveilling the city. There were none picking the wandering spirits which left their hosts in a hurry. There were none to comfort the confused men and women, wipe their memory and give them a completely new identify with a brighter future, for the reapers had fallen as well.

There was no blood, only ashes and dirt, dust upon dust.

“Where are you going?”

Turning around, Yuri wrapped her arms over her chest and leaned on the doorframe. The house we temporarily relocated in was on top of a hill not far from the Capital City. The desert tanned women glowed. Her black hair and red dress moved with the morning breeze. Few wrinkles crested her skin – she had been aging those last four years. It’s nice to know she is still alive.

Yuri was beautiful. She has always been.

“Check the city, need to see the damage.”

I had no need to watch her smile drop or her eyes curiously fix on my side, for her thoughts never left me.

She said I'm a liar. I could not go against her words.

“We’re leaving in two hours, think you can make back by then?”

Her voice betrayed her the most. She was annoyed, pissed off on me for not taking good care of our daughter. At the same time, angry on herself for not joining us, angry she had not insisted and angry she had not seen it was all a trap designed to make us look like fools with no prior experience.

“I’ll catch up with you,” winking and walking closer, she pulled away from my attempt to hug her. She had been rejecting me more often since last year. I couldn’t blame her. Living with a dead person is hard, in any form he or she came.

“Just go already, Yoona will take us far away through one of those fairy tunnels.”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“What?” Yuri snapped and gave me an incredulous look, unsure if she should smack me over the head or slap that smirk off.

“She’s like how you used to be, isn’t she? She reminds you of your former self.”

“Everybody changes, Jung Min,” her bitter tone was better than that punch over my weakened spiritual body. She showed me her back as she got one foot back inside and grabbed the doorframe with her left hand. “Including you,” she murmured and disappeared into the darkness.

When I felt ready to retreat and transform into a golden eagle, something told me to close my eyes instead and breathe in the fresh air.

Pity there were no lungs for me to fill.

---

Cages filled the murky basement. Each contained a human with certain magical abilities. One could say they were the special bunch in a busy crowd crossing the streets. A part had been there for a couple of months and had come at peace with their destiny, silently judging my every step. The other half struggled against the cages, shouted and reminded of my official status as a Seeker or cursed my very existences. There were few who simply observed or had been too lost in meditation to care about their surroundings. Exiting through the stairs, the same rays that covered the Capital City shone between ancient columns. Vines twisted around and brought a splash of color.

In the middle, at a chess table, sat the winged creature with its indigo orbs, one leg propped against the chair and one hand underneath his chin. Attentively at the chess pieces, he sacrificed the Queen for a risky strategy. It perfectly mirrored what he had done and how impulsively his acts had seemed at first glance, only to later prove useful.

“Report,” he ordered and reassembled the pieces for a new game. Other blue-eyed reapers circled the commander, looked straight ahead and kept their ears opened for every unusual noise. Nothing else was of their interest.

“No survivors from the ritual,” it was the same every day since he had saved me from the blizzard, from losing my mind.

“The Rebels?”

“They are still considering if they should join our forces or remain neutral.”

“The rogue reapers?”

“They are hiding or have been eliminated, some surrended.”

His hand froze above a pawn, fingers twitching ever so slightly.

“What about the Other World?”

“Still locked, nobody can get in or out. We do not know how.”

Jaejoong left the game and focused on me.

“Guess Junsu prepared more tricks than I imagined,” he pondered aloud before he returned to the game and ignored once more my presence.

“Sir,” he moved his king over to the rook and exchanged positions. That, as Sooyoung taught me, is castling, one of the few moves that allows the player to use two pieces in the same turn. “What about Byung Hee’s team?”

“Annihilate them and then report back,” he said and frowned where multiple variables did not match what he had in mind.

Three steps forward, all the reaper eyes laid over me when I dared interfere with the game.

“Checkmate,” he did not spare me a look as I bowed and was ready to fulfil my new mission.

“Jung Min,” he called before I could go down the stairs “do not fail me.”

“I won’t.”

Shadows engulfed me.

Annnd finally, Jung Min's POV~
*prays laptop and life will be okay so I can update everyday* My deadline for Nirvana is 12th May T_T I can do it!!! >.<
Also realized how funny "curves glisten" sounds since "curve" is "" or "es" in Romanian /gets slapped/ ...I shouldn't be teaching you curse words ;__;