나의 수호 천사

"My Guardian Angel"

The story of the last Grigori

EFFUGIUM

“ESCAPE”

A touch…

A kiss…

Breathing…

Life…

“I feel alive…”, a voice from within her says. “Don’t fight it, Dara.”

Sandara wanted to ask back but she seemed to be ensnared in Utopia. Her power of speech, to think or process any thought at the moment, was limited. A myriad emotions she wouldn’t have fathomed to experience, begged for her surrender as every touch and kiss evoked deja vu. 

Why did all these seem so familiar?

From a distant memory, she hears a laugh… her laugh mixed with another…a voice…his voice.

“He is only fulfilling his promise…”, the voice was back and Dara wanted to scream but then, she could only bite her lip as she felt the touch of his lips to her neck. A vision of a bright room comes to her mind, then a body with the words “Forever young” tattooed on the side, a hand reaching out for her, then her senses recall a touch. His touch. And she’s back in the present but sensation lingered.

Jiyong runs his hand down her bare arm as his lips sought hers again, only to find her hand and hold it, their fingers laced together. He kisses her one last time; careful to commit to memory and revel in the moment before he stops.

A smile played on his lips. Their heavy breathing mixed between the little space between.

“Open your eyes…”, Dara whispers to him but Jiyong shakes his head to say no. “What are you afraid of?”

Jiyong seemed to have been robbed of the power of speech as he fights for air. The emotions Dara awakens in him were too much for him to bear at the moment. The beauty before him has awakened his heart in ways he couldn’t deem possible but then every kiss and touch all seemed familiar that he dared not question anything. Dara holds his face and her fingers wipe the tear that managed to escape Jiyong’s eyes. She pulls him down to kiss him again.

While one fights the inevitable oblivion the other resists the incredible longing.

To remember would mean the end, but to forget only kindles regret.

Will passion win over reason?

Can they ever fight fate?

But one has to win.

Kwon Jiyong opens his eyes was left breathless and speechless at the sight of the beauty before him. Although the only light in the room only came from the lightning outside, he knew that Dara has changed. He sees her wince and thinking that his weight was too much for her, he pushes himself off of her to sit. But his eyes never left her.

Dara’s white skin seemed to glow and it felt softer. He looked down to see that their hands were still entwined but though he wanted to let go, he couldn’t seem to move when she slowly sat down and the cloth of her dress tears at the back.

Dark black and white-feathered wings reveals themselves from behind her.

This time, it was Jiyong who finds himself warped to another place and time as memories bulldoze his mind until the terrible pain was back. His hands hold his head and he falls on the bed, screaming until he couldn’t bear it any longer. Left with no choice but to surrender to oblivion.

“Jiyong…”, Dara calls his name but he lay before her, almost lifeless if not for the rise and fall of his chest. “I’m so sorry…”

~~

“It has come to my knowledge that the pluma vitae isn’t the only means for memories to be remembered. With truth comes love. Then is it also true in reverse?”, the Keeper spoke. 

The wrath of the sky hasn’t abated and the winds and rains became stronger yet, here in the middle of the abandoned park, stood 3 celestials. Two of them, High Guards and one, was the Keeper of Memories. Despite the storm, these 3 men were dry, seemingly unaffected by the chaos around them. 

But all of that are highly superficial.

There was a constant panic in their minds at the events about to unfold. Fear engulfed their whole being as they await the inevitable.

“She doesn’t want these memories!”, Jinwoo argues. “You, yourself, have seen her desperation! Seungyoon, Dara does not want these memories!”

“But it isn’t in her or our control now, Jinwoo.”, Seungyoon shook his head at the mind reader. “Not even your power to grant oblivion can help her this time. We are all up against a stronger force that not even the heavens can defy.”

“What power?”, Mino inquired. “How can any power be stronger than God’s?”

“You don’t know?” Seungyoon asked and the High Guards shook their head to say no. He sighed. “Well, perhaps since it is foreign to you and to me as well but it isn’t a power stronger than the Almighty. It is a power that helped Him save humanity.”

“Love…”, Jinwoo’s voice came in a whisper but Seungyoon heard it and he nodded.

“I don’t understand. Is there any way…”, Mino forced himself to speak as his mind tries to find reason. Frustrated, he runs his hand through his hair to stop at his nape and ease his tensed muscles. “If we can’t make her forget this time, can we stop this from happening? This “love” will destroy everything she has protected! It will destroy her!”

“We can’t.” Seungyoon strikes the prongs of the tuning fork against his palm and a monotonous sound engulfs the surroundings. The waters flowing backwards moved even more slower, if possible, as if a spell has been casted on it. The dark skies lighten, as if to welcome a beautiful morn, yet they know better. Dread fills the hearts of the High Guards as Seungyoon uttered the next words.

“It is already happening.”