“I’m finished,” Yuri sighed, clapping her hands to congratulate her new achievement. “I’ll have to sleep for an entire year if I want to get my strength back.”

Yoona, who had witnessed everything, nodded in approval. She had no idea the Priestess could curse in so many metaphors and bring profanities upon any race. Though she had never heard of desert vampires, it was safe to say Yoona had found that one  reference rather amusing.

In front of them was the strongest barrier Yuri had ever crafted with her glowing red hands. It took away almost all of her energy and some more.

After the fall of the Capital City, all demons from every direction hurried to the new source of power, namely the new breed of demons. Yuri closed them all behind the dense barrier. There were no demons left in the entire land. Yoona was not so sure about those mysterious places over the Three Oceans, yet she was sure they were out of danger as long as the barrier wouldn’t be broken.

With what Yuri had put up, you’d have to be marvelous to manage that. Reapers wouldn’t be as foolish, fairies had no such abilities and there wasn’t a stronger special human than Yuri.

“What are you going to do now?” the fairy asked when Yuri sat on the ground and punched her chest. It was difficult to breathe and it will take one more week until her lungs functioned right away. It surely took her everything to assure the safety of generations to come.

“Heard the Other World opened again and reapers are cleaning things around, erasing memories, fixing the they’ve ed up…” the woman mused for a few seconds before a sly smile crossed her features “Guess I'm out of business.”

“Want to come live with me?” Yoona stooped with her hands over her knees, watching the Priestess pondering her offer. “The Azure Palace welcomes you, great Red Priestess.”

“A fire wielder like me in a kingdom of water…” she tilted her head sideways. It was too ironic not to accept.

“We also have youth fountains!”

“So I’m old?”

“Not at all!” The fairy gave a huge grin “You’re rather stunning and I wish to admire you for a long while.”

Yuri clasped the fairy in delight. She let go after and rubbed her hands together before doing the same with Yoona’s cheeks.

“Aren’t you the cutest~?” The fairy laughed and held her hand for Yuri to take and get back on her feet. “It’s a deal.”

It could be another adventure for Yuri. Her life had never been boring for she didn’t let herself slack.

Yet, for the first time, she was willing to take it slow and enjoy Yoona’s friendship. Always on the run left her oblivious to the beautiful things in front of her.

---

“Is she,” Jessica swallowed hard “dead?”

“No,” a man with grizzled hair tied in an intricate braid and with a single earring answered her. His resentful eyes were on the Black Ocean, searching for any speck of purple painting the horizon. “She merely returned to where she belongs.”

“Death,” his white eyes faded to black.

“Call me Ji Yong. We are after all close.”

twitched from the name. The snake she carried around had been the reaper in front of her all along.

“What now…?”

“Lost sheep look for their shepherd,” he spoke in the same ridiculous riddles that irked her “that’s not what you need to do.”

“Then?” he came closer, petted her head and left a small kiss over her forehead. A black mark blinked between her eyes. It disappeared in thick smoke.

“You’re released from under my command,” Death caressed her hair “free to search for your past, for your memories. You are no longer in our duty or a rogue reaper.” He let go of the girl and strolled by her side. “You are free.” He repeated one last time.

Sounds of flapping wings echoed from one ear to the other.

Jessica watched the Black Ocean’s glittering surface and smiled.

She was truly free.

---

“How’s the kid?” Byung Hee munched on a strawberry coated pocky and drowned in barley tea. The combination made Daesung scrunch his nose and furiously shake his head in denial. He was so not seeing a former stiff Keeper eating everything he could get his hands on, even if he couldn’t taste a thing because they were reapers after all.

“Still sleeping,” he replied with agony present in his voice. He finally took some courage and banned Byung Hee from ever touching his food. The blue-eyed creature tried to reason with a pout and some other manners uncharacteristic of him, only to draw Daesung’s infamous ‘are you kidding me?’  partially confused glare.

A week passed since Sooyoung and Jung Min left for the Black Ocean while Daesung ran East with Changmin. They sailed over the grand Pearlescent Sea and Daesung often wondered why Sooyoung avoided that part of their continent. Cities bursting in luxury filled the Eastern side. True, it was full of ghosts, but that’s it. No reapers, no demons, no fairies, no nothing, only ghosts that stole some of Daesung’s energy and then bid him goodbye or told him how to easily get around.

Finally, he decided to settle in the city of Eyren where he waited for Sooyoung.

Changmin had been sleeping for six out of that week's seven days and Daesung had no idea why. What he least expected was for Byung Hee to eventually tracked them down. Also, for him to stay.

“I believe it’s time.”

Two months later, Changmin was still sleeping and Sooyoung never came.

“Time for what?”

Byung Hee finally told him the truth.

Ever since then, Daesung had been staring at the sunset, biting his nails and waiting. He didn’t believe she was gone.

Sooyoung wouldn’t break her promise.

Three months after their departure, Changmin finally woke up. He couldn’t remember a single thing, including his name. Also, all of his abilities were gone. He could no longer heal or bend his surroundings to his liking. He couldn’t even see Byung Hee goofily dancing in front him, accusing only a foul smell present in the room.

Daesung’s heart hurt too much to tell him the truth. Instead, he lied about everything.

And while the blond waited for Sooyoung’s return, he’d have to raise the child on his own with their new identity. There were no more demons, no more reapers, no more ghosts and certainty, no more journeys other than the fantasy lands in books.

There was only Daesung holding his child’s hand and watching the sunset together, both waiting for something to happen.

If there was a tiny hope, the tiniest of them all, Sooyoung did return one day, Daesung had only one thing to tell her: that he loves her exactly the way she loved him then, now and forever.

Bonus chapter coming next (─‿‿─)✌