My eyelids felt so heavy from my deep slumber, but immediately fluttered open when I felt the back of someone’s hand caress against my cheek. It was a man. I couldn’t see his face; my eyes were mesmerized by the cherry blossom petals that danced into the room decorating in my hair and the covers. It was early in the morning, just as when the sun was about to rise. I could feel all of my skin rub against the covers.

I was , but I wasn’t fazed by this.

His fingers slowly trailed down to my neck and under the covers as I writhed from his touch. A smile appeared on my face as I closed my eyes and listened to the soft chimes of bells from a distance. Everything felt warm.

Then he nuzzled against my shoulder to my ear as he whispered softly, “Haeun.”

It was so warm.

—————

I could hear the gongs ringing, forcing me to wake up from my dream.

It almost felt real.

Everything felt so cold and I turned my head towards the window to see it was snowing. Quickly, I crawled out of the covers and went up to the furnace to start a fire.

When I tried to get up, I fell back down from the pain in my knees and ankles. I looked at my bandaged body. I need to redo the gauze again, I sighed as I forced myself to get up, despite the sores and bruises. The past few years I’ve been getting injured from falling down the stairs, accidentally burning myself, the list goes on. And my immune system has been slowly failing me. I was always healthy since birth, but lately I’ve been feeling extremely exhausted and weak. It wasn’t like me.

Because of this sudden change in physicality, I was unable to fulfill my dream of exploring the world. Instead, I ended up residing near a temple with monks who have taken care of me ever since they found me in the woods when I was a little girl. The older monks stay away from me, say I'm cursed. I paid no attention to their words, I always knew I was born to be unloved. Perhaps that was what made me so weak.

Today marks the day I was found. Happy birthday, me, I thought to myself.

But I wasn’t going to give up so easily. I believed the universe was holding me back because it knew something great was going to happen to me—with that single thought keeping me still positive and alive today, every morning I would walk up to the local shrine to bow, to pray, and to wish for my life to begin. I couldn’t depend on the monks to care for me forever. Rather, I think they're waiting for me to be spirited away. 

I have to get better.

I warmed up the pot of porridge I made the night before and quietly ate before I dressed up to head to the shrine. Although I’m close with some of the monks, I’ve lived on my own. I never wanted to burden their time caring for me, and the elders didn't want me to stay in the temple, so I grew up quickly. I don’t ever remember having much of a childhood. I wasn’t sure how I ended up in the woods either. But I never really cared to find out. It was all in the past.

The snow was knee-deep as I struggled to walk through the powdered ice.

“As soon as I’m finished praying, I’m going to take a nice hot shower and just hibernate. I can’t let myself get hurt anymore, especially around this time of the year.” I told myself.

Finally, I arrived.

With my shivering hands, I brushed off the snow that was laid on top of the shrine. I brought out the incense from my pocket and lit them. Then I bowed three times before I clasped my hands together and prayed.

All I ask, I began, is that I get healthy again. I want to leave this place and live an exciting life. I don’t want to be held down to a place that carries so many lonely memories...

My eyebrows furrowed, digging my nails into my skin as I prayed harder. Then, all of a sudden, everything around me fell silent. It was eerily strange and I stopped my ritual, looking around me to see if anyone was around. I could hear snickering from behind the shrine, deep in the forest. Even with all this white snow, it was hard to see what was behind in the thickets.

And then, before I knew it, long, black claws reached out and scathed my arm when I dodged in surprise. Crying out in pain, I fell to the ground and watched the purity of the snow be tainted from my crimson blood.

“Ah,” I ached, holding onto my bloodied arm. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by monsters. An array of goblins, spirits, and beasts. “N-no way. Am I dreaming?”

They can’t be real, they just can’t. I shook my head, hoping I’d wake up soon. There's so such thing as... Stunned in fear, I didn’t notice the claws reach out for me again, this time, piercing my shoulder. I screamed from the excruciating pain.

“Look, look! It really is the forbidden fruit!”

"What a beauty."

"Hey, hey, forbidden fruit! Did you enjoy our little tricks these past few years?"

What?

They all cackled and howled in excitement.

I shivered. Why was this happening?

"Look at her bandages falling apart! We really weakened her. This was too easy."

“Her blood smells so sweet, just like God’s fruit should be.”

My vision began to blur, they all started to look like dark, hazy creatures with evil smiles smeared across their mouths. One of them dipped their finger into my pool of blood and tasted it. The creature reacted insanely, its aura growing heavily murky and foul.

"She's so ripe."

“Let me have a taste of her first,” one said.

“No, me. I should,” a riot began to form.

I’m going to die. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked all around me. Was there no one that can help me?

“N-no…no. Someone, please, anybody! Help me!” I shrieked as they all started to close in on me, laughing at my terrible agony.

“Look at her crying for help! Maybe we should let her run, have a fun chase before we eat her.” They thought this was funny. How can I see these creatures?

I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting to die.

But then suddenly, I was surrounded by warmth and a voice that whispered softly above me, “Are you alright?”

Warily, I opened my eyes to see a beautiful figure kneeling before me, almost like an angel. The figure had a mask on, but I could see his eyes; his shimmering, topaz eyes and gentle gaze nearly stopped my heart. I looked all around me to hear the wails of those creatures cry as they all turned into ashes. I was in a ring of blue fire, it almost looked like ice.

So beautiful. I breathed in a sigh of relief as I fell forward.

Without thinking, I held onto this man’s sleeve for support. He was wearing extravagantly embellished robes, embroidered in gold threads and dark blue silk. He arms became my support as he lifted me effortlessly from the ground and nimbly jumped high into the air. Perhaps it was from losing so much blood, but I returned my gaze to him as he focused on what was ahead of us.

Gold hair.

Unconsciously, I reached up and touched it. It was so soft and velvety. He whipped his head back to me, looking surprised when I touched him. My hand retreated to my chest as I mumbled, “Sorry.” He was so beautiful with his mask on, I wondered what he would look like without it. He almost seemed unreal. “I just wanted to see if you were real.”

He composed himself again briefly before I felt his arm tense up when I looked over my shoulder to see what he was staring at. The glint in his eyes sparked when we noticed a dark figure in the air with great, big, black wings.

“A crow?” I questioned to myself.

His face was covered in armor that resembled like a crow’s beak. Much like the man that saved me, his attire was noble-like. Heavily decorated with intricate gold details and dark green silk. His jet black hair feathered beautifully against the winter wind. And much like this masked man, this man with wings had black eyes that drew me in. I was almost mesmerized by his mysteriously dark beauty.

“Hand over the forbidden fruit,” the beaked man said calmly.

The masked man crouched, his arms still around me. My face was touching his neck as I inhaled his scent. He smelled like the earth—like the soil beneath our feet, so fresh. It was welcoming as I nestled against the nook of his neck. He stiffened slightly, but held me close, burying me in his warmth.

“No,” he said, I could feel everything move around all too fast. I could hear others beside me, in front of me—just around me—fighting alongside with the masked man. I could hear arrows being shot at, but the masked man dodged them all so easily. And in the midst of all this chaos, he softly whispered to me, “I’ll keep you safe.”

Holding me in one arm, I could hear him draw his sword out as it clashed with another. My ears were ringing. I could sense him, the beaked man as he repeated himself again. “Hand over the forbidden fruit or you will die by my hands.”

I should be afraid right now, I said to myself. But I was too tired to think straight. I was losing so much blood. I had no strength to run away or fight. Am I going to die?

Everything started to quiet down and I opened my eyes once more to see where I was. Staring up at the sky, I could see more beaked men fighting against more masked men. It was still snowing heavily as I felt the snowflakes kiss my face. And that’s when I noticed these masked men looked much like foxes.

A bloodstained hand touched my face.

It belonged to the masked man that saved me. My eyes trailed from his mask to his head where I saw a pair of pointed ears. I hadn’t noticed before because of his tangled locks that hid them so well. Then my eyes trailed down to the ground where I saw his luscious, golden tail whip around.

“You’re a fox,” I smiled a little, thinking I was becoming insane.

We were hiding in the forest as the noise above us started to quiet down. I was going to black out.

“You could say that,” he answered, clearly amused by my reaction. He leaned forward, over where my shoulder was injured. In my peripheral vision, I could see he took off his mask as he tore off my clothes. From the burst of adrenaline, in an instant, I tried to push him away.

“N-no, stop,” I weakly begged. “I don’t want to be eaten, please.”

“I’m not going to eat you, Haeun.” How did he know my name?

He reassured me, bringing his face up for me to see. Behind the mask, I became a witness to his ethereal beauty. His pale, porcelain skin and soft eyes hypnotized me. “I’m going to heal you so you don’t lose any more blood. It would cause us some trouble if more creatures showed up.”

“L-like those monsters before?” I forced myself to stay awake. My head felt so heavy as I begin to feel flushed.

He gave me a small, tender smile before he nodded. “Yes. If I don't heal your injury, your fever will get worse.”

“H-how do you know my name? What’s your name?” I wasn’t sure which answer I wanted to know more. He answered the latter question.

“My name is Daehyun.” This left me with more questions that needed to be answered. 

Who are you?

Why am I being chased?

How can I see these creatures all of a sudden?

Why am I being called the forbidden fruit?

But before I could ask any more, he leaned back down again. I could feel his tongue against my wound as I shivered in response. I held onto his beautiful robes, staining them with my blood as he placed his hands on my back and cradled me. For someone who looked so delicate, he had the strength of a powerful beast.

It wasn’t long before I could feel the pain in my shoulder subside. He moved his head from my shoulder to my arm and latched his mouth onto my skin again. I've never been intimate with a man before. To be touched like this, from a stranger no less, I felt paifully shy. It was hard to admit to myself that even though he was healing me, I wanted more. He pulled away as I looked at his mouth dripping with my blood. 

"T-thank you." 

He his lips before sitting me up against a tree. He took of his many robes and helped me put them on. Something about his demeanor changed after he healed me; he appeared stronger. I was puzzled by this change. But I was distracted by his eyes again. I could see specks of blue in his pool of topaz irises.

Then he patted my head gingerly and said, “Rest. You’re safe.”

The last thing I saw was the beaked man flying down towards us with his sword ready to swing as Daehyun leaned in to my cheek and breathed out, "Happy birthday."

I fell into a bottomless sleep before I could warn him.

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▌10:13PM
—Author's Note: Ahhh, finally! I was super excited to start this story. I don't know if I'm COMPLETELY satisfied with this first chapter, but it's definitely a strong start. Don't you think so? I hope you all like enough to upvote, subscribe, and comment! I seriously appreciate any feedback, it's what gets me motivated to start on the next chapter. I'm halfway through my semester so it's only going to get busier from here on out, but I will try to update as often as I can in my free time. I'd like to point out that little portion in the beginning is a dream Haeun has, like a foreshadowing. I never point out who the man is though! I'm still deciding who it should be, but I like to please everyone, so I'm probably going ot write alternate endings. Anyways, again, I'm really excited about this fanfiction. This is my first time writing a fantasy-genre-like story, so I hope you all like it. Thank you for reading!