1 // The Hidden Pathway

 

 

"Noona, welcome home!"

 

Yumi let out a shriek as she was tackled into a hug by a fluffy blue pom-pom.

 

*Wait a minute… that's HAIR, not a pom-pom!* She pulled back to take a good look at the boy's face.

 

"Choi Junhong! You dyed your hair again? And this time it's blue?! What if you get sent home again!"

 

Her younger brother just grinned. "It's the weekend now. I'll just dye it back if the teachers tell me off on Monday."

 

Yumi sighed. He was always like this, which is why he's always mistaken as a delinquent. If only people knew he was actually a cute little brother at home who liked to cling to his older sister like a baby koala to its mother. It's hard to believe that he's already in his final year of high school.

 

Junhong eyed the brown archery bow Yumi pulled from its holster on the wall. "You have archery practice again today, Noona?"

 

Yumi slung it over her shoulder alongside the quiver (A/N: arrow case/holder). "Yep. We've got a competition coming up next month, so the whole club needs to tone up on their skills to get the championship this time."

 

"And this time you guys will beat that Soho University in the finals, right Noona?"

 

Her eyes flamed with determination when she heard this. "You bet! We won't be beaten by the same team twice! I'll be back to make dinner, so be a good boy and don't cause any trouble while I'm gone."

 

"But I'm always good! ~~~ " she heard him protest, as she left the house chuckling.

 

Ever since their parents passed away in a car accident two years ago, it was just the two of them living together in their traditional-style house by the beach. Both of their parents were respected literary writers who decided to live in this peaceful small town in the outskirts to retain their creative inspirations. The schools and universities nearby were small and offered few choices, but Yumi and Junhong loved it here.

 

*And living by the beach is definitely a huge plus* she thought as she scanned the crystal blue sea from the pavement. *I think I'll take a little walk down at the beach before I go off to practice.*

 

Yumi skipped in the sand, while being careful not to get any of it into her shoes. She closed her eyes and felt the cool air breeze against her face. The sun was out, the weather was great, and the beach was empty.

 

Perfect.

 

The only thing was -- she had somewhere else to be right now.

 

She hurried towards the end of the beach where there were stairs back up to the pavement. Just as she had reached the first step, she was startled by something abnormally cold prickling at the skin where her necklace rested.

 

It was her sapphire pendant shaped as a water-drop, which was a family heirloom passed down to her from her mother's side of the family. Yumi pulled at the silver chain so that the pendant popped out from under her shirt. She stared at it in bewilderment as she watched it begin to frost over.

 

"What is going on?"

 

A bright, illuminating blue light suddenly shone from the pendant and momentarily blinded Yumi. Once she had recovered from the sudden exposure to the brightness, she looked up to see that the light emitting from the pendant had narrowed down to a thin line which led her towards a pathway into the opening of the…

 

 

… sea.

 

 

Yumi blinked twice, rubbed her eyes, then blinked a few times again.

 

But the opening in the water was still there. And the pathway was also still there.

 

She wasn't imagining any of this.

 

Again, the pendant frosted over and chilled at the skin of her palm.

 

"What in the--- WAAAH!"

 

She was cut off by her body being pulled abruptly into the opening, and then being thrown painfully onto the floor of the pathway.

 

"O-ow," she winced, as she got up off of her bruised knee. Yumi quickly looked behind her and was horrified to see that the water had enclosed around her, sealing off the entrance.

 

"You're kidding! Now how am I supposed to get back?!"

 

Yumi took off her necklace and stared at it in disbelief. "This is no ordinary pendant. What in the world is mother's family passing down to their children?"

 

Again, the line of light emitted from the blue stone and shone down the pathway. Strangely enough, it was still bright enough for her to see without any other source of light.

 

"Am I supposed to follow it?" she asked no one in particular.

 

Yumi had no choice but to do so anyway. And it wasn't long before she reached --

 

"An underwater cave?"

 

She continued to follow the light into the opening of the cave.

 

"This is just getting weirder and weirder," she remarked, when she caught sight of a small circular pool of water lined with round, white rocks. "Well, aren't I calm for someone stuck in an underwater cave."

 

The cave wasn't very big, so a quick scan of the interior already covered every corner of the enclosure. With the trail of light now gone, she didn't know where else to go. Her eyes flitted back to the eerily blue water. Was she led here because of this strange pool? After all, it was the only thing in the cave.

 

Crouching by the pool on her feet, Yumi cautiously reached forward and dipped her hand into the pool. There was nothing particularly weird about the water.

 

"It's just normal wa--"

 

She stopped and stared in shock as the water started swirling around her hand. It wasn't normal water at all. Yumi felt a force pulling at her hand so she tried pulling it back, but her efforts were useless.

 

Her entire body was being into the pool.

 

"N-NO!" she screamed as her entire body was engulfed by the water.

 

She was being pulled deeper and deeper down into the pool and she was running out of breath. Her hands desperately lashed out and fought to bring her body back to the surface.

 

*I refuse to die like this! I am NOT going to leave Junhong all by himself!*

 

Her body, filled with a new power, surged upwards with the determination to live. Yumi gasped as she finally broke the surface of the water and clung onto the sides to stop herself from sinking back down. She continued breathing heavily as she climbed out and took a look at her new surroundings.

 

She wasn't in the cave anymore. Instead, she was out in the night, sprawled all over the snow-covered ground of what seemed to be a forest. Snow-covered trees surrounded her, as everything in sight was blanketed in white except for the pool she had just climbed out of. It looked identical to the pool in the cave.

 

"Wh… where am I-I? And h-how d-did I g-get here?"

 

Her teeth were chattering violently, which made talking difficult. Yumi hugged her shivering body. It was absolutely freezing in just her shirt and jeans -- and to make matters worse, she was drenched from head to toe. Her hand unintentionally touched the strap on her shoulder. She had totally forgotten about her bow and arrows, but she was glad she still had them.

 

*At least I have a weapon to defend myself with in case anything happens.*

 

Just as that thought crossed her mind, she heard rustling from the trees behind her. Instantly, she whipped her head around to see what it was.

 

There was nothing there. She sighed in relief.

 

*Must have been the wind.*

 

But her relief was cut short when she turned back around to see the shadowy outline of a creature lurking in the woods. Its eyes shone a bright red. Yumi's breath hitched in as fear spread throughout her entire body. She continued staring straight at the creature as it slowly crawled out into clearer view, taunting her like an animal stalking its prey.

 

Only that this thing was no animal -- it was a monster resembling a disfigured hound.

 

Yumi cautiously held the archery bow in her left hand and pulled back an arrow with her right. She aimed it steadily towards the creature. Without warning, it pounced towards her with a snarl. She panicked and hastily let go of the arrow, which only just barely grazed the creature's shoulder. Unfazed, it continued on its track towards her. Yumi quickly jumped out of the way and aimed another arrow at it.

 

She had never imagined that a day would come where she would have to use her archery skills to battle for her life. She would actually have to kill something. But the most important thing for her was to get back home alive and well to her little brother Junhong, so she was going to fight no matter what the obstacle was.

 

Aiming carefully this time, Yumi shot the arrow into the creature's torso. It howled in pain and crumpled into the snow. With its jaw, the creature hastily removed the arrow from its body and tossed it aside before immediately charging towards her again. There wasn't enough time for her to pull out another arrow.

 

The creature pounced onto her as she fell to the ground, her hands preoccupied with using her bow as a shield. Yumi struggled as she fought to push the monster away from her, but it was much too strong. It slowly overpowered her, as she watched its snarling jaw inch closer and closer towards her face.

 

"GET OFF ME!" she shrieked, with a voice that pierced straight through the icy wind.

 

The creature suddenly froze, as its eyes changed from a glowing red colour to a contrasting deep blue.

 

In a low, demonic voice, it uttered a single word.

 

Yumi stared up at it in shock. *W-what? These things can talk?!*

 

The sound of something whipping through the air past her face caused her to close her eyes in fear. She heard a whimpering sound that belonged to the creature, and felt its weight being removed from her body. Yumi opened her eyes to the sight of a handsome young man glancing down at her in concern. She glanced past his head and saw a blue moon shining down upon them from above in the night sky.

 

*A blue moon?*

 

She hadn't noticed it before.

 

The young man held onto her arm and effortlessly pulled her to her feet.

 

"Miss, are you okay?"

 

She looked up at him. "Y-yes, thank you."

 

He smiled. "That's a relief."

 

Yumi watched as he went over to the creature's dead body. It lay in the snow with a katana through its head. He removed the katana and re-sheathed it while watching the corpse disintegrate into nothing.

 

"W-what was that?" she asked.

 

The young man turned to look at her strangely. "You don't know? That was a low-grade demon." He stopped to study her appearance. "You're not from around here, are you?"

 

Yumi wanted to shake her head, but ended up sneezing from the cold instead. He took off his woolly outer cloak and draped it over her shoulders.

 

"What are you doing out here in the cold dressed like that? It's dangerous to be by yourself with all these demons around."

 

She didn't answer him, and finally took the time to take good look at this man who had saved her life.

 

He was clad in black, wearing the type of traditional Korean clothing that was easier to move around in. The katana from before hung from his waist in its sheathe. He wasn't wearing any headwear, which exposed his short black hair that was rustling in the wind.

 

"Miss?"

 

"Who are you?" she asked instead of answering him. "And where exactly am I?"

 

He looked at her oddly. "The name's Jung Daehyun and I'm a demon-slayer. Welcome to YoungNan, Land of the Snow Mountain."

 

Yumi blinked. "Land of the Snow Mountain?"

 

"You can just call it YoungNan."

 

She eyed the moon in the sky. "Is it normal for the moon to be blue?"

 

Daehyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What are you talking about?" He turned to look at it in the sky. "The moon's not--"

 

He stopped and stared with eyes as wide as saucers when he saw that the moon was indeed, blue. "This can't be good," she heard him mutter worriedly. He looked back at her with a solemn expression.

 

"Follow me. We should quickly head back somewhere safe."

 

Daehyun ran off into the woods as Yumi quickly hurried after him after retrieving her bow and arrows from the snow. She still had a million questions she had yet to receive answers to.

 

But above all else, one question worried her more than anything at the moment.

 

It was the word that the demon had said to her before it died.

 

She was sure she hadn't heard it wrong, but it made no sense. It couldn't be right.

 

It was a word that chilled her to the bones.

 

Especially when she remembered how it had stopped trying to kill her when it uttered the word.

 

No. She refused to believe that the demon had called her a...

 

 

 

… 'Comrade'.

 

 

 

---

 

 

And the first chapter is up! This story is different to any of my other stories, so hopefully all you fantasy and action lovers out there like this :)

 

Thank you all for reading and subscribing! Look forward to more of the story being revealed chapter by chapter.

 

--- Mistlea