“Daesung-ah!!! Where have you been?! Why did it take you so long? You never take a week just to kill a demon! You know, if it was giving you some difficulty, you could have always asked me to help! I was so worried about you! If it had been another day I would’ve come down there myself!”  an hysterical Arch shouted at Daesung, while gripping him in a vice-like hug.

“Woah! Can’t…breathe,” Daesung gasped

“Sorry,” A sheepish look fell across his face as he released him.

“It’s ok,” Daesung smiled fondly, “anyway, whilst it’s true I’m here about my subject, what’s not true is that he is a demon.”

“What are you saying?”

“That my subject isn’t a demon, it’s quite simple really.”

“But the seekers-”

“Yes that’s why I’m here. I need to tell them that they’ve got it wrong.”

“But-”

“Look,” Daesung sighed exasperated, “I have been following this guy ever since the seekers got a reading from him and nothing has happened, nothing! Even when I was near him, all I could feel was normal human energy.”

“So you’re saying the seekers are wrong?”

“YES! And I need to see them now!” Daesung shouted, grasping his friend and pulling him to the gates of Caelum, where the seekers detect breakouts of dark energy.

“Alright alright, keep your wings on!” A deep laugh rumbled beside Daesung who just rolled his eyes.

But before they even crossed the threshold, two seekers flew out, their robes billowing out behind them as their shining wings beat strongly in the air. Their dark eyes widened in shock as they took in Daesung standing before them.

“Daesung! Thank God you’re here! We thought-”

“No time for that now,” a male with startling white hair shouted frantically,”the demon which we thought you had handled has just murdered two people about half an hour ago,” he turned to the male still holding on to Daesung’s hand, “ Seunghyun, we need you now to destroy it. It seems powerful, be sure to take a Gladius with you, and do it as quickly as possible, it has lived too long in the mortal world already.”

“Of course,” said Seunghyun, straightening his back and facial expressions, “I will be thoroughly prepared and I will take care of it as swiftly as angelically possible. Where does the creature reside?”

“In an apartment just outside of Seoul,” the female seeker said. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, her snowy hair falling over her face. “The apartment block is on Jangjisan road, about three quarters of the way down, it looks quite grotty.”

Seunghyun nodded his head, “Thankyou Ha Yin.”

His wings burst from his back, stretching out to their full width.  The velvet white feathers gleamed in the undying light, giving off a faint shimmer like the icy ground in winter.

He was preparing to take off when Daesung suddenly called out his name.

“Seunghyun! Be careful, ok?”

 Seunghyun saw the concerned look on Daesung’s face and smiled, “Don’t I always come back exactly the same that I left?”

Daesung nodded once, failing to return the smile.

“But this time I have a feeling you won’t” he silently whispered to himself.

Pain.

That was the first thing that registered in Jiyong’s mind. Every muscle was throbbing badly and his head was pounding , blocking out any other thought.

Darkness.

That was the first thing his eyes saw when he opened them, the streetlights outside casting looming shadows across his bedroom floor.

Silence.

That was the first thing he heard as he looked around the familiar gloom trying to find his only sun, but was met with a bleak eclipse emitting empty rays.

He choked back a sob, confused at why he felt so distressed and scrambled for the light switch. He was awashed with fake yellow beams of light that seemed to spotlight a folded piece of paper on his bedside table.

Jiyong hesitantly moved over and opened it with trembling fingers.

You said you always wanted more than what life offered

                                -From the memories of childhood

He read over the scrawled words in confusion, the only thing Jiyong knew was that it was Youngbae’s handwriting, but what the hell could he mean?

His mind suddenly took him back to the unwanted memories that surfaced with the mention of his childhood: the back-breaking beds; the exhausting early mornings, the searing slashes of whips meant to teach us a lesson. Then the exciting escape missions that he and Youngbae went on every night just to stare at the midnight sky and the freedom it promised, but only to trundle back knowing they had nowhere else to go.

Jiyong’s memories suddenly reared to the day when he turned 12. He hadn’t expected anything and nor was anyone expecting him to get gifts, but when he woke up there one was – wrapped in messy brown paper and tied with elastic bands. He knew immediately who it was from, it was just a wonder how Youngbae managed to get the money.

What was inside was quite a battered copy of Oliver Twist which is quite ironic if you consider the situation they were in. Jiyong treasured it though. He hid it under his bed so that the staff could never find it, then reading it as often as he could whether that be under the covers in torchlight or sitting on the concrete steps in the backyard. When he had read to that one iconic bit, he remembered being lying on his bed with Youngbae curled up next to him, a growing frustration building in his stomach. He had eventually turned to him and murmured;

“Never mind food or that fatass Mr.Bumble, I would’ve been like ‘Hey God, no way are you giving me this crappy serving of Life, I’d like some more please if that’s not too much to ask.’”

Youngbae had laughed loudly before quickly trying to smother it behind his hand, declaring that to be their new motto. After which came a sarcastic reply of ‘God, what next, our own coat of arms?’

Youngbae had laughed again but said seriously, “Always ask for more than what life offers. You said it yourself Ji.”

Jiyong suddenly bounded off the bed and ran over to his poorly stocked bookcase. He reached up and carefully took out the lone book, perched on the top shelf. He ran his hand over the dusty leather cover, smiling to himself faintly. He opened the heavy volume and there, resting against the title page, was a letter addressed to him, again in Youngbae’s handwriting.

 He felt the dents in the thin paper from crossings out and where the pen was dug in too harshly, sometimes even breaking the delicate material. He knew deep down that what was written here would break him, but he couldn’t stop himself from reading anyway.

Dear Jiyong,

And I know I am speaking to only Jiyong since only he knows the meaning behind that note and so only he would be reading this letter. Or at least I hope so. I don’t really know whether that thing can read your mind or not, though I sincerely hope it’s the latter.

I have no idea either when you may be reading this, but sooner or later you will realise that I’m gone.

I just don’t think I can handle   It’s not you Ji, never think that I’d blame you for anything,  and never think for one second that this is your fault. Please, if you can’t ever forgive me, just please remember that.

But Ji, there’s a murderer insi   Look, I’m not sure how this works or anything so I don’t know if you remember, but on the night that we went out to Scarlet Moon,  you   that monster took you over again but this time it killed two people.

Ji, two people are dead. I saw it with my own eyes. I saw your body squeeze the life out of these people like it meant nothing.

But do you know what the craziest thing is? That the first thing I thought of when you crashed to the ground was not the  bodies on the floor, nor the sticky trails of blood that stuck to my shoes, no, it was you Ji. It was you whom I ran over to first, it was your pulse that I made sure was beating; it was you that scared me the most.

But then I finally saw.

Once I had checked that you were ok, then I had looked around and saw what that thing had done. It’s beyond explainable and that image will be forever branded on my mind.

When I close my eyes, I see Chaerin not smiling and actually excited for every new day, but with her eyes rolled back and a necklace of blood circling .

Before, I didn’t know what are you, but now I don’t even know who you are. If perhaps your letting this monster take you over or

I’m sorry, I know you can’t control it, but perhaps you’re not doing enough to stop it.

When I’m with you it could turn any second and I would be dead in an instant. So, with that in mind, I have gone away, far from here.

However, Ji, I’ve not given up on you, I’ve decided to search for what has happened to you and for the possibility of a cure too. I just hope that if I’m successful, I won’t be too late when I come back.

Even now I miss you and I want to be with you and I’m sorry that I am not wasn’t there when you woke up, I just didn’t know who I would be looking at when you opened your eyes.

I still love you Ji, just remember that whatever it is, it’s not you. Fight back! Don’t settle for what life offers!

I hope to see you again, but until then I guess it’s goodbye.

                                - Youngbae

With every word, Jiyong felt his feelings slowly ebb away, until he was nothing but a hollow shell. He didn’t even feel a lone tear escape from his eye and run down his cheek, nor did he feel the pain when his legs finally gave way and he crumpled to the ground beside his bed. He didn’t even know what was happening when he suddenly found it difficult to breathe and all that was coming out of his throat were wheezing gasps. His eyes went blurry and his hearing muffled so he didn’t even question why a shimmering column of light started to materialise at the corner of his bedroom.

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