[-]

  Dara had done some exploring around the huge residence for a while now, and it is her fourth day stuck in this foreign land. The residence reminded her of a mansion, but not quite. Instead it is more like a traditional korean house of an official, with a courtyard, a garden and even the servant's quarters. 

  Something had been nudging at Dara's mind for the past few days, urging her that whatever that Kwon Jiyong- or the Ice Lord- or even everyone that are around her had said is the truth, that she is far from home. But that seems almost impossible to believe. If she had been rescued from the Han River, that must means that she is still somewhere in Korea. But in this world that seemed to be frozen in Joseon Korea, how do they expect her to process the claim that she is living in a land that is 300 years later than where she used to live?

  I have to see it for myself, Dara thought determinedly. 

[Dara]

  I swing my legs off the bed quietly and surveyed my surroundings. The dying flame of the candle is fickling, ready to blow out any moment now that there's no more wax to burn after a whole night. The wooden frama of the bed let out a soft creak in protest as I stood up gingerly, holding my breath, waiting for any "servants" or maidens, as I would prefer to call them to come rushing in. There is none, phew, thankgod. I slipped my feet into the straw woven shoes that everyone wears and pulled the door open. 

  It is still the break of dawn, the sky is a dimly lit, pastel blue and the courtyard was filled with nothing but the melodies of insects and the occasional, long, chirps of the early risen birds. I throw my room a backward glance, and hurried out of the residence.

  I broke into a run as soon as I am a distance away from the manor, all the way past the city's market, which I know will be soon filled with hustle and bustle in a few hours as people traded. All around me houses were built in such a olden fashion, like the scenery one would see from a periodic drama. How can I ever be at a place like this? This is ridiculous, time travel is not even possible even when technology was so advance, like in my time! I wonder what would they think to see me missing back at home. They'd probably think I had drowned.

  I miss everything about home. I miss my brother Cheondong. I miss my cat and hell, I even miss Park Bom.

  The landscape outside the more well out inner side of the city started to change. Instead of brick and wooden houses and two storeys, straw huts and mud houses now dotted the view. I slowed down with a stabbing pain in my ribs as I struggled to take my breaths. Skinny, starving dogs are chained to fences and they doesn't bark when I passed them. The clothes hung on the drying lines were no longer the vivid colours back in town, but either white, or straw coloured, with tatters and small holes here and there. I guess the poor will always exist no matter where and when we are living in.

  The sky slowly turned brighter as the sun tore the dawn apart to give way to the morning. The huts became sparser and sparser as I go, and eventually I'm infront of a sinister bamboo forest. I gulped at the silence ahead of me. What if there are carnivores in there? It looks pretty scary and deterring, but if I don't cross it, I would never know if the civillisation I know is ahead of me, right?

  "Amen." I squeaked aloud, before edging into the awaiting forest.

[-]

  Dara padded carefully, the rustlings from the fallen leaves on the ground startling her here and then as she ventured deeper through the forest. 

  The trees aren't densely packed, hence allowing the forest to be pretty well lit, but it is easy to see why people may get lost in this area. There is no footpaths of whatsoever. Are they no explorers or hikers in the futuristic world? 

  She continued down, and for a split moment she felt her foot kicked something, almost like a string or a thread among the leaves, and before she could react, something pulled her to the ground.

  "Get down!" Someone hissed by he ear, a hand instintively pressing on her lips to silence the bewildered scream that escaped. An arrow shot out from a bamboo tree standing directly infront of where Dara was, ledging itself onto the tree behind her before another followed, and buried itself deep somewhere above the first.

  Dara, with her heart thumping wildly and her breath hicked in fear, realised that the two death instruments would be in her stomach and her neck if she wasn't on the floor now.

  After a moment of nothing but the sound of Dara's unconsolable heartbeats, her assailant, or savior, released his gloved hand from Dara's mouth and got up, brushing the leaves off himself. Dara shifted her still trembling eyes up, and was met with a man clad entirely in black, a mask covering half of his face and a hood pulled up. 

  A stray strand of red hair was still visible.

  Dara wanted to ask what the hell is such a death trap doing in a forest and why would anyone want to kill her. She also wanted to thank the guy- although she might have some rough idea of who he is already- for saving her life but remained frozen and hanging, unable to produce a single sound.

  The man tilted his head, almost like he's waiting for the flabbergasted girl to say something, but instead she stared at him transfixed, parted in shock, her eyes blinking in confusion. He sighs, shaking his head slightly. She would never survive in a place like this. 

  He lowered his hood, confirming Dara's suspicion with the appearance of his bright, scarlet hair, and pulled his mask down, revealing a slight frown. 

  "This is the second time I saved your life." He commented grudgingly.

  Dara stared, dumbfounded. Her heart start thumping in a crazy alarm.

  "Get up." Said the ice lord.

  Dara gulped at the authority in his voice and pressed her shaky hand on the tree. Jiyong exhaled sharply and extended his hand to her.

  Dara shot a hesitant glance at his hand. "I- I'm sorry, I-"

  "Can you walk?"

  "..No." Dara chewed on the inside of her cheek guiltily. It doesn't feel as if her legs had any strength in them at the moment.

  The Ice Lord bend down, his back facing her as she slung her arms over his back apologetically before he got up with her on his back with ease, silently aghast at how light this girl weighs. 

  "What was that?" Dara asked after a moment, breaking the silence between them as Jiyong treaded quietly out of the forest.

  "Walk further down where you were and you'll be in the territory of Taeyang. These are roadblocks to prevent trespassers." Jiyong replied calmly.

  So he wasn't lying about the fact that Korea- or wherever it had became is now the homes of three kingdoms. Dara thought silently, her heart sinking with every evidence posed that seemed to confirm the reality- the impossible reality of the circumstances she is now in.

  "How did you know I was here?" Dara asked, "Did you stalked me?" She added, sounding suspicious.

  "Thanks for your gratitute towards me saving your life for the second time, really." Jiyong said smoothly, turning his face slightly behind, and was met accidently with her cheek.

  Dara gasped softly and Jiyong jerked his head back to the front, suddenly very aware of the way her body is pressed to his back. Never had he allowed any woman to be this close with him before.

  Dara swallowed, and a certain something in her chest that's got nothing to do with the long ebbing away scare from her earlier near-death experience is causing her cardiac activities to increase again. 

  Oh my god Dara Park! You're hyperventilating! You're suffocating me! Dara's lungs screamed at her.

  "Uh, why are you dressed like this?" Dara spoke in attempt to break the tense awkwardness among them.

  "Like what?"

  "Like you've sneaked out and can't be seen?"

  Jiyong didn't reply Dara for a moment. He continued to brisk through the forest and Dara wondered how he is able to achieve such a speed with no footsteps heard at all. A stallion loomed into view- the same one that he rode on when he rescued Dara out of the water that day- and the Ice Lord set Dara swifly onto the back before mounting the horse with ease.

  "You're asking too much." He said flatly.

  "I need to look for ways to get back to my world, Jiyong." Dara sighed.

  The Ice Lord almost halt the horse in surprise, not because of the fact that she just declare that she's going to attempt to lose her life in more ways, but because of the way his name slipped off . 

  This is the first time someone is addressing him like that, other than his mother.

  No one dared to ever get close to him.

  "I can't be there to save your life everytime, you know." Jiyong replied.

  Dara nodded, now knowing the full dangers that she may face in this world, this dimension where everything may be life threatening to someone like her. 

  "What are you busy with, anyway?" Dara asked casually. The horse slows down. They are almost back in town now.

  "Wars. Driving enermies out of our land. Guarding the boarders." Jiyong shrugged.

  "Isn't that dangerous?"

  "If I don't do it, who will guard these people?" He said, looking back at the commoners who had rosen and are beggining at their daily chores in the slumps behind them. 

  "I wonder why they called you Ice Lord, you seem to be a warm leader." Dara thought aloud pointedly. 

  Infront of her where it is out of her vision, Jiyong smiled underneath that pulled up mask. 

  "I'll find you a historian you can talk to. I don't really believe that you can time travel as you claimed either," The ice lord said, and continued before Dara could protest "but I find it just as confusing as how you're dressed the day we found you. And the way you speak, you really do not sound like someone from our era, as unbelievable as that sounds." He mutters the last 5 words. 

  Dara nodded, sincerely hoping that she can find anything useful about what happened to her world in the past. On top of that, she wonders if she could figure out the cold complexity of Kwon Jiyong.