The village was in flames. The knight watched them burn, brighter and higher, watched as one after another, the houses fell in incinerated bits. 

   There were dozens, perhaps a few hundred bodies that lay unanimated on the ground, their lives stolen by the swords of the mighty kingdom of Jaezin, where the knight had come from. When the inquiry of how the bodies should be disposed of was voiced, they were told to set aflame everything that they had just destroyed. Then there would be no corpses to take care of.

   The knight and a few troops from Jaezin's army had been sent to this village for one purpose: to send a message to King Seunghun of Araesia. There would be no more peacetime; King Myung Seol of Jaezin was declaring war. And there was one reason. 

   Araesia's people had magic. 

   Magic was powerful,  and strong. It was mysterious and full of wonders. But to King Myung Seol, all he saw was their power. Araesia was not only mighty, but they were more prosperous, more compelling. Many would say the King was frightened they would rise up in dominance in comparison with Jaezin, and his kingdom would merely be in their shadow. 

   But they did not know what had occurred in the chambers of the King's castle, in which King Myung Seol called upon a healer to assist his wife in childbirth. The Queen had always been a weak woman, born with a sort of bone illness one could only abide by rarely carrying out large actions and strenuous movements. She was slight, delicate - certainly not the sort of woman who could bear the  suffering that came from childbirth. Her death was inevitable, and the healer failed to even recover her child. 

   For the knight was a close follower of the King and had been present during the event, he remembered everything that had gone on. 

   "The Queen's death was imminent, Sire," the healer had said when she had passed. He was old, with long wrinkles along his face and a long, wooden cane held his feeble body up. "She was bound to die, as was the child she held inside of her. I cannot provoke destiny, it is not and never will be my place. The babe had not even finished developing inside of her womb; even if I were to carry out the operation, the child would not even have had the proper bodily necessities to live on - "

   "Enough!" the King had yelled. He pointed an angry, accusatory finger at the healer. "You...it is your fault that my wife is dead. It is your fault that my son and only heir has died, not even having the chance to live." He stepped forward, standing over the old man like an avenging demon. For your deed, I will reign chaos amongst your people. It will not only be you who must pay the price of your failures, but all who are like you. You...you are all a curse on mankind."

   The knight still could not drill his words out of his mind. A curse. Magic, a curse! Magic was what had united the kingdoms for all this time! It was magic that brought peace, that brought ends  to horrible disputes! And the King planned to destroy all of that, based on his inner conflictions and sufferings. And tonight had been the start of all of it.

   The knight couldn't help but feel horribly sickened in taking the lives of all these villagers as they slept unknowingly in their beds. And when they had woken, they undoubtedly wielded their magic. The knight had seen powers incomparable to anything he had seen before in his lifetime. Colors he hadn't known existed, pain he hadn't known one could experience. 

   But their number was far larger than that of the people that inhabited the small village, and inevitably, they'd killed every last one of them. 

   And the conflict he felt inside of him was not only from the fact that he was now a murderer of the innocent. It was also because he had a secret regarding his birth, a secret that he could never reveal to anyone so long as he wished to stay alive.

   "Are you going to stay here until sunrise and wait for Araesia's nights to come and smite you down?"

   The knight looked at his fellow soldier. His black armor was dented and blood was smeared across his shield and sword. He looked like a punishing ghost in the shadows of the night. 

   "The thought is tempting, however it is incorrect," he answered, giving him a grim smile. "I will stay for a while longer, Jaekyung. The deeds I have carried out this night have not quite sunk in as of yet."

   Jaekyung nodded in morose understanding. "They have not for me either. But I suspect the King will make us do things much more vile in the future." 

   The thought made the knight's stomach lurch. 

   "I am heading back with the rest of us now.  Are you sure you wish to stay behind? You would not be travelling with the rest of us, and it is far easier to be ambushed when you are alone." When he didn't answer back, Jaekyung sighed. "You should not dwell for too long; your wounds must be tended to."

   He nodded, and when he did not respond, Jaekyung turned and walked away. 

   The knight continued to watch the fire as it consumed more and more of the village. He imagined his eyes were burning as bright as the scene before him, as the flames reflected upon his irises. He must look like a monster, one who would stay behind and marvel at the destruction he created. 

   He did not know how much time had passed when he decided to start heading back towards Jaezin. The sky had brightened to a dark purple, and still the flames continued to burn. He suspected enemy knights would soon come to inspect the disastrous event that happened hours before. 

   He stood, wincing as multiple wounds opened up once more. He felt hot blood trickle down his legs and arms, but turned nonetheless, stepping forward to begin the long trek home. Just what would he tell his wife...

   A sudden wail stopped him in his tracks. He froze and strained his ear to listen harder. It was the cry of an infant, no doubt about it. 

   He whirled back around and began following the sound. The stench of death was heavy in the air; every breath felt as if he were breathing in something solid. He stepped over dozens of scorched corpses, not daring to look at their faces. All he thought about was the sorrowful noise as the babe howled. It was coming from one of the houses in which the flames had died down; it stood now in charred chunks, fragments of a past life. 

   The crying grew louder as he stepped inside, and he whipped his head around, eyes searching vigorously for where the noise originated. Finally, his eyes settled upon an eerily motionless figure.

   A woman lay motionless on the ground. Her face was dark and blackened with soot, as was the rest of her body. He noticed darkly that her legs were badly burned, almost to the point of complete disfiguration. 

   And in her arms rested a baby, wrapped in dirtied cloths. 

   It was still crying, its tears making tracks down its ashy face. It was unharmed - how could that be? How had a mere infant escaped the onslaught of their mass murder?

   He watched the baby cry for another moment, a profound sort of sorrow registering inside his chest. He was part of this. He had done this. 

   Slowly, he knelt down in front of the child. What would he do with it? Should he even do anything with it? 

   If it was any other knight that had found the baby.....he shuddered at the mere thought. The child would have been silenced where it lay immediately. 

   Why was he not doing so? 

   But this was a baby! How cruel could a man be to smite a newborn on sight? 

   But he was cruel. There were so many women, even children he had smote down earlier. He had been taught to act first, then think later. He could not get distracted by his emotions or internal conflicts during a battle. It might cost him his life. And he had a responsibility to his marriage.

   His wife was pregnant. He would soon have a family...and now this baby could not. And it was his fault. Partly, but his fault nonetheless. 

   Without thinking, he gently extricated the woman's arms from the infant, picking it up and holding it in his arms. Strangely, it stopped crying right when he touched it. 

   It looked up at him with large, innnocent baby eyes. They almost looked...trusting. To his surprise, the baby's lips suddenly quirked up at their sides, forming a small smile. Then it closed its eyes and snuggled further into his embrace, and after a few moments, the knight realized it had gone to sleep. 

   How peculiar! How could any creature look upon a large, dirty, bloodstained man and fall asleep in his arms? 

   He was suddenly startled by a sudden grasp at his ankle. Eyes widening, he glanced down and saw the woman looking at him with drooping, tired eyes. Her irises were an indescribable golden hue. 

   "Please..." she whispered through cracked lips. 

   The woman was still alive! How could she be, when she was as battered and wounded as she was? 

   "Please..." she said again. A tear fell from one golden eye, making a clear trail down her dirtied face.

   The knight's breath hitched, his hold on the babe tightening. Then, slowly, he untangled her hand from his ankle and grasped it with his own,his expression softening. 

   "What is it you need, my lady?" he asked her softly, his words coming out on a single breath. 

   "Take...take care of him," she croaked out. Every word seemed like it took a great effort. 

   The knight was deeply sorrowed. How could he come back to Jaezin with a baby in his arms? People would know instantly that it was not his. The baby would not survive in his kingdom, not under the circumstances their two monarchies were under.

    But the woman's gaze held his firmly. She must have noticed that his mind was unsure for her grip tightened in his.

   "You...you take care of him," she said more urgently. Her golden eyes sent him a gaze that was almost piercing. "You....it was you...you and your men...you did this. You...owe it to him. You owe it to my baby." 

   Her words were like a strike to his heart.

   She went on. "His name...is Jongin. Kim...Jongin. Will you care for him?"

   They looked at each other for a long while. Then, finally, 

   "I will look after him, my lady," he told her. "I will raise him. But I cannot tell you that he will have a happy upbringing. He will not have the sort of life he would have had he been in your care. He will merely have the priveledge of living." 

   Another tear slid down the woman's face and her grip loosened. 

   "That is all I ask," she whispered. 

   Suddenly, a jolt of euphoria flooded through his entire body, starting from his hand which held hers. He closed his eyes and saw nothing but white, feeling his veins sing and his skin tingle with strength and rejuvenation. He had never before experienced such a feeling. It was as if heaven itself was embracing him.

   And then the feeling disappeared as swiftly as it had come. Bewildered and startled at what had just occurred, the knight looked back down at the woman and watched with sorrow and bewilderment as the last of her tears fell down her face and the gold disappeared from her eyes, altering their hue to a dull brown. 

   She was dead.

   The knight felt around his face and stretched out his arm. There was no more pain, no existing marks whatsoever. He now knew that the woman had been a healer, no doubt about it, and she had used the very last bits of her strength to heal him. 

   Dolefully, he looked back down at the baby. 

   "Jongin," he said, and as if on cue, the babe opened his little eyes and looked at him sleepily. The man gave him a sad smile. "My name is Kim Junmyeon. And I promise you, I will take care of you  to the best of my capabilties."

A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter! (>w<) I hope it wasn't too boring, haha! This is mainly an introduction though, it will all make sense later on in the future chapters :) Please subscribe if you've enjoyed it and leave a comment if you will! Thank you again~