The war that was going on between the two empires was a war between good and evil, a battle that is constantly being fought throughout the world. Everywhere there’s always a contrast. The cops vs. the criminals; the priest and his faith in God vs. the forces of the Devil; Democracy vs. Communism. There’s always contrasting in our society, not just in the royal world. With contradictions come discriminations. The rich and the poor, black and white. The world is unfair, so we must live with that fact and go on with our lives. We cannot have everything we want and sometimes, most of the time we have to lose something in order to realize our worth and full capabilities. We just have to roll with the punches and go where the wind takes us. We have to get hurt.

And getting hurt is just what this girl is good at!

She was on her bike racing towards her house. Pedaling fast with her small backpack hanging from her shoulders on her back, her thin legs working hard to make the bike move though her Chucks-clad feet were already in pain, her typical Korean schoolgirl uniform all muddy and pink from the soil and peach juice that were thrown at her at school earlier. That long, wavy black hair tied up in a messy ponytail and that frail frame could only describe one person: Choi Soo Young. Once she reached her house, she jumped off the bike and threw it to the ground. Adjusting her backpack, she rang the doorbell and waited for her mother to get the door. First ring didn’t work, ring again! Finally her mother heard the doorbell and opened for her daughter.

“Hello dear! Why you look like hell today! What happened to you?” she wanted ot put her arms around her daughter but Soo Young was just too caked in dirt to be hugged.

“Oh you know, we had a huge food fight that’s all. And some rough playing on the field.” Soo Young shrugged and avoided eye contact with her mother and entered the house. She dropped her bag on the floor and made her way to the stairs to get dressed.

“You still play on the field? Aren’t you a little too old to be playing on the field?”

“Eh we’re all a little childish sometimes.” Soo Young rushed up the stairs without looking at her mother. But why was she avoiding her mother in the first place?

When Soo Young got to her room, the first thing she did was take her clothes off and hit the showers. After around 10 to 15 minutes in the shower, she stepped out, dried herself with a towel and got dressed. Soo Young looked into the mirror in her room and examined her face. Why was she hiding from her mother? You guessed it! She had a really bad bruise on her upper right cheek. The bruise was red, not so deep but very much noticable. Soo Young tried covering it with her hair and her hand at times in order to avoid interrogation from her mother.

What did I do to deserve this? she would question herself each and every single day. Soo Young, like most kids, found going to school to be a grueling challenge not just in terms of academics but also social life because of bullying. Bullying was something this young lady of 17 had to put up with 5 days a week and had been putting up with it since she was 13. You’d think that by now she should’ve been used to it but as the years go by it just kept on getting worse and worse. When she was 13, the harshest was throwing paperballs at her and now that she was 17, they seemed to have accelerated in level as she did. The bullies had graduated from paperballs to actually throwing bigger things at her like books and harder things like pencil cases. The funny thing was, the bullies weren’t just the popular girls that you normally encounter in high school, rather a combination of the popular girls and the mean boys. Tongues like knives and fists of steel made her day complete. Throwing objects at her was the least dangerous thing they could do to her yet it was enough to slightly injure her. There were times wherein Soo Young summoned her inner fighter and called for a fight whenever they were getting the better of her and she already had enough but this only led to even worse cases. Sometimes she’d come home with a black eye or a bruise on her right arm or a broken arm, passing it off to her mom as just a clumsy accident.

“Soo Young! What’s the hold up?! Dinner’s getting cold!” So Hyung, her mother, called. Soo Young shook her head and turned the lights off in her bathroom. With a heavy heart, she rushed down the stairs and found her mother sitting alone at the table with the food prepared beautifully. Her mother was a retired chef so the meals that they’d have at home were often delicious, proof of her mother’s talent in cooking. Soo Young reached the dining table and sat far across her mother, hoping that the distance would make the scar less noticable and unsuspectible for questioning.

“Hey mom! Nice dinner! What are we having? Same thing as yesterday?” she poked sarcastic fun at her mother’s cooking though her mother didn’t laugh. She just stared at her daughter with a pokerface, trying hard to process the joke that she just made.

“Where’s your brother? He should be home by now, it’s getting dark.” So Hyung complained. Soo Young shrugged and drank the glass of water.

“I don’t know. Out chasing girls maybe?” Soo Young smirked.

“At least your brother has a social life.” So Hyung muttered under her breath. Soo Young seemed to have heard it and placed the glass down.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“I said dinner’s getting cold. Why is your brother still-”

DING! DONG!

The doorbell rang and Soo Young knew for suer that it was her brother. She rolled her eyes and before her mother could even order her, she stood up and got the door. True enough, it was Minho with a backpack on his shoulders.

“Hey everyone!” he cheered. So Hyung’s face lightened up upon seeing her younger child arrive home. She stood up and ran to him, emrbaced him, kissed him on the head and ruffled his hair. Despite his cool state and his metroual teenage boy fashion, he found it cute and heartwarming that his mother still acted sweet to him. He in return acted sweet to her. The passive and sarcastic Soo Young went back to her seat and rolled her eyes at their cheekiness.

“How was your day, sweetie?” asked So Hyung sweetly. Minho seemed to be her favorite child, mainly because he was the younger one and the more vibrant child unlike Soo Young who was often withdrawn and cynical. Minho, unlike his sister, possessed a really active social life which grew and grew as he aged. Minho had many friends, girls and boys alike and was a part of several different organizations in school. He was also very talented and wasn’t afraid to show it to the world. A skilled singer, dancer, and actor, he never failed to wow his classmates with his talents. Minho wasn’t as good looking as the other guys in school but he definitely had charisma which was highlighted and brought out by his confidence and desire to enjoy and live life to the fullest. In short, Minho was the star student. Talented, confident, attractive. All the traits his older sister didn’t have.

Soo Young was quiet, withdrawn, sarcastic, and temperamental. Bullying made her this way and so was her belief that performing in front of a crowd was embarrassing. She didn’t like being around a lot of people as she had trust issues. Experience taught her that you really shouldn’t befriend anyone as anyone could be a traitor. An incident regarding betrayal haunted her and led her to keep only 2 close friends in school. Especially in their school where the popular and gossip-y people ruled the campus and anyone could be easily influenced to act like them. Soo Young also had a dislike for the opposite , save for her father, brother, and God as she saw them as douchebags who knew nothing but and making life miserable for others. Unlike most teenagers her age who loved hanging out with their friends, Soo Young would rather spend time in her room, locked up and sketching on her sketchpad. Yes, Soo Young was a sketch artist and a really good one at that. I guess that would explain her introverted behavior.

“I’m not really in the mood to eat…” she mumbled but her mother heard it.

“What do you mean you’re not in the mood?” So Hyung scolded her daughter. “Look at you! You’re as thin as a stick! Now sit back down and finish your meal.”

“Yeah! Finish your meal stick figure!” Minho laughed.

“What’s your problem this time? Why are you acting all immature again?” Soo Young grunted. Minho chuckled in between mouthfuls.

“It’s just that, you’re all emo there with no social life…and it…it just makes me laugh.”

“Laugh some more and I’ll mash this mashed potato all over your mashed face!” Soo Young threatened.

“Hahaha! See?”

“You shut your hole or I’m gonna shut it for-”

“STOP IT THE TWO OF YOU!” So Hyung scolded both her children. Soo Young and Minho stopped talking but darted dirty looks at each other. “Why can’t you be more like your brother, huh Soo Young? Less rebellious. Friendlier. More successful! You should have all these qualities since you’re older but why is it that your brother is better than you!” Soo Young’s eyes glinted at her mother. She hated it when her mother compared her to Minho. Any kid would hate being compared to her younger sibling.

“Yeah! Stop being so emo!”

“Mom, don’t feed his ego!” Soo Young complained. “It’ll only make me want to fight him more.” she grabebd her knife and clutched it tightly in her hand.

“Let go of that knife young lady! I know what’s going on inside your distrubed head!” Soo Young was greatly offended at the use of ‘disturbed head’.

“I am not disturbed!” she yelled. “I’ve had it with this! I’ve had it with you!” she pointed at her brother.

“What did I do? It’s not my fault that I was born better than you!” Soo Young stood up and stared him in the eyes sharply.

“ you.” she hissed under her breath and swiftly made her way up the stairs. She was having no more of his and her mother’s . Soo Young entered her room and locked herself in. Her room was a mess as it had always been with all the posters of her favorite badns and her sketches posted on the wall. Soo Young grabbed her sketchpad and pencil and began to draw a sentimental yet pretty picture of a girl sitting on the shore with the wind blowing her hair. Pictures like these relaxed Soo Young and helped her escape from the cruel life that she was living. She didn’t fit in, she often got into trouble, she was never the favorite. Soo Young was a teenager.

While sketching the image that she had in mind, thoughts began to ran wildly in her head. With her mother and brother talking about social life, she started to think if she even had one. Nope, she didn’t. That word never existed in her dictionary and it never would. Soo Young continued to draw when she remembered that today was only Monday and she had 4 more days in Hell before finally getting a 2 day break.

Why does it have to be so darn long? I hate Mondays! she thought. The young sketch artist picked up the pace and drew faster. The picture was starting to come together and thoughts of her in school, she and CL being bullied, getting slammed to the lockers and pushed to the ground by the mean kids, and getting called names crammed up in her head. The pressure was just too much that Soo Young had to drop her pencil and stop drawing. She just felt the tears coming and since she was alone in her room, there was no pressure for her to appear strong so she just let the tears roll. Soo Young covered her face with the sheets and cried and in her emotional moment, she felt something hard underneath her pillow. Soo Young lifted the pillow and discovered her diary.

I’ve not updated this in days. The diary was a plain brown one with the words ‘DIARY’ engraved on the cover. It was sealed by a lock that could be opened by a special, small key that had a heart. Soo Young unlocked her diary and out fell a picture. Soo Young noticed this and picked it up. The picture was of her father in his military uniform, taken on the day he left, back when Soo Young was 12 years old. It had been 5 years since she last saw her father. She looked at his picture and imagined that he was still by her side, talking to her and giving her words of encouragement whenever she felt down. Despite being a commander in the military, her father Choi Jun Hyuk was never the least bit strict to her and Minho. Her mother was even more uptight than her father was, thus making it hard for her to get along with So Hyung. When Soo Young was a very little child, she recalled how her father would protect her from little boys and girls who tried to hurt her and from her mother whenever she tried to hit her. To Jun Hyuk, children didn’t need to be spanked to be disciplined. And that caring, humane philosophy came from a father who worked as a commander in the army.

“Never give up. Whatever dream you have, princess. Don’t give up on it!” his words echoed in Soo Young’s head, making her tear up even more. How she wished her father was still by her side to protect her from the bullies and speak words of wisdom and lift her spirits. With her jerk of a brother and strict, biased mother, there was no chance she would survive. She didn’t have anyone on her side.

“Daddy why did you have to go?!” Soo Young sobbed silently while cluthcing her father’s picture in her hand. She buried her face in the pillow and cried freely, her breathing interrupted and her entire body shaking. She turned to face her father’s picture with messy hair and a red, cried-out face.

“Oh daddy if you could only see what these kids are doing to me! These kids that hurt me aren’t like the kids that used to pick on me when I was a kid. They do things that hurt not just physically but emotionally, too. Daddy when are you coming back home? Please! Daddy I’m so scared!” Soo Young sat up and covered herself with the comforters. “I don’t want to go to school anymore. I’m so afraid of them…” she placed the photo close to her heart and sobbed with it, calling her dad’s name.

Minho, who was making his way up, heard her cries and stopped for a while. He leaned on the wall outside of her room to listen to what she was saying. Soo Young said nothing but cried buckets and Minho felt bad for her. Admittedly, he was indeed a jerk to her at the dinner table and now that his big sister was crying, he felt solely responsible.

“Hello…” Minho knocked on her door. Soo Young heard this and wanted to send him away for the arrogant behavior that he displayed towards her.

“ off!” she yelled. She didn’t second-guess it. She just spat it. In her world up here, Minho and her mother were strangers. Minho was taken aback by her behavior but decided not to react violently. He knew he had to understand his sister’s condition.

It’s not easy being a loser… he teased in his mind, leaving him with a grin on his face.

That night, Soo Young cried so much that she fell asleep with her diary open and her father’s picture in her hand. She even left the sketchpad and pencil on her bed, together with other school stuff. So Hyung entered her daughter’s room and saw the mess on her bed. She had no idea that Soo Young spent a whole hour crying.

[AT THE RAVEN EMPIRE]

Emperor Kangta and the Raven Prince were rejoicing for the Pearl was already in their hands and the Korean mafia had the Butterfly Empire’s beloved ruler in their hands, about to die any minute. With the Temple of the Empress in ruins, they could only expect greater damage for the city.

“Finally son! We have now in our hands the precious Pearl that we have always wanted. I wish I knew how it worked, though.”

“I don’t want to work my magic on it yet, father.” said the Raven Prince. “I would rather wait for the right time.” he said with a smirk. The emperor was once again pleased with his son’s intelligent strategies. He was starting to blossom into a young evil.

Empress Sandara woke up in a hostel. That hostel was where the Korean Mafia, a group closely associated with Emperor Kangta. They were in that room playing cards, smoking, doing drugs.

“Where am I? Where have you taken me?” the mob boss, Yunho, stood up and confronted her.

“You are here in the hostel, in our empire. In a place where you have absolutely no power and are just a mere citizen!” he hissed at her. The other boys looked at Sandara who was powerlessly lying on the dirty mattress.

“You men are a disgrace to the gods! You should be punished for your wrongdoings!” she hissed at them. Yunho stepped forward and pushed her back on the bed. The mob boss buried his nails deep into the Empress’ skin, making her scream out loud in pain. She clawed him back but it was undeniable that Yunho was stronger than the petite Empress.

“We destroyed your temple. We killed your men. We got your Pearl. Now, it is time for us to be the almighty.” Yunho then slowly began to lean forward to Sandara, about to give her a kiss. Sandara helplessly screamed for someone to save her but no one came. This wasn’t her city, she had no allies. Everyone in this place was an enemy and yearned for nothing but the defeat of her powerful kingdom. Her once powerful territory. With Empress Sandara pinned on the bed by Yunho, he pursed his lips against hers and climbed on top of her, proceeding to her.

Back at the Dark Temple, Emperor Kangta and the Raven Prince contemplated on how they were going to get the Pearl to work.

“This is a gift from the gods, she said?” Emperor Kangta asked his son. The Raven Prince continued to marvel at the beauty of the Pearl. The way it shone and sparkled with such majesty and the illusion that it created with the colors that it had. Truly, it was a powerful jewel that could control an entire civilization.

“Yes. The gods must be responsible for its powers. Therefore, we must say a prayer to the gods for our land to be blessed.”

“You are right son. Come, to the shrine we shall head.” Emperor Kangta put his arm around his son and led him and the Pearl to the grand temple of the gods which they had in their own Temple. A temple within a temple, the serene room had statues and portraits of the gods they worshipped. In there, Emperor Kangta and the Raven Prince grabbed incense sticks and together lit them before the shrines. They placed the Pearl on a throw pillow and positioned it right at the foot of the biggest statue, beside the incense bowls. Father and son knelt down and closed their eyes to calmly say a prayer to their most revered gods. The Raven Prince closed his eyes tightly, trying to feel the power and to focus on his goal-to achieve enlightenment and power. Together, they uttered a chant to the gods, with emphasis and within a matter of minutes, their prayers began to work.

“Father…” the Raven Prince started. “I can feel it. It’s working.” Emperor Kangta smiled with his eyes closed , felt ultimate fulfillment.

“Yes. Yes I feel it too. It’s rushing through my veins. I can feel it! I’m becoming a god!” he declared.

Strong winds filled the room. Rays of light dashed from left to right. The windows swung open and a great glow came about the statues of the gods in the worship shrine. The Pearl, that they had positioned before the god, also glowed. The room was a whirlwind of magic that father and son were so sure that their prayers were being answered. It went on like this for about 20 minutes and when they opened their eyes, they saw that everything was still the way it was.

“What happened?” asked the Raven Prince.

“The Pearl worked its magic.”

“But everything feels the way it did before we prayed to the gods.”

“Things as such do not work overnight, my boy.” advised the wise Emperor. “Wait and see. Those who are patient will get what they want and deserve. You shall see tomorrow, son. Everything will start falling into place for us and falling to pieces for them.”

In the Butterfly Empire, things weren’t going so well. First, the Pearl that was the key to their prosperity was stolen. Second, the Temple of the Empress was in ruins and left everyone except for Jaejoong dead. Third, their Empress was in the hands of the Korean Mafia. And God knows what could be happening to her! So being the only surviving member of the Royal Council, Hero Jaejoong decided to take over and do the people of his city good by announcing the bad news. Word of mouth and media did their work and made sure not a single soul in the empire didn’t know about it.

“Ladies and gentlemen. It is with deep sadness and fear that I, Hero Jaejoong of the Royal Council, inform you that our city is under attack. With the Pearl of the Gods stolen and our beloved Empress held in captivity, we advise everyone to stay safe as an invasion is not impossible. We shall be sending in the army and the Royal Batallion to safeguard our nation.” was his message.

Hearing this, the men in the army, under the command of Choi Jun Hyuk began to prepare their arms and train for battle. It was all for the honor of their land and the Empress. Local police and spies began to execute search missions. The Butterfly Empire was under attack and these brave men knew they had to defend it.