Hot air kept blowing in Qri’s face right before she woke up. She opened her eyes to see a blurry image of what looked like gray fur but the pounding in Qri’s head made her close her eyes and reach for the sides of her head. Qri rubbed her eyes and opened them once more to see the clear sight of Sasha looking back at her. The wolf seemed to smile at the sight of the mage and opened to Qri’s face.

“Aah!” Qri screamed and pushed Sasha back. “Get away! Stop it!” Sasha put her front paws on the bed and kept reaching for Qri to continue her in a playful manner. The mage turned around to escape from the other side of the bed but her head bumped against a hard object in front of her.

“Ow!” Qri yelled out in pain and reached for her forehead. In front of her Boram woke up startled by the sudden hit she felt on the back of her head. “What the-”

Qri’s eyes shot wide open when she realized she was in the hunter’s room and bed. She jumped off the bed and turned to look at Boram and Sasha, who was now sitting on the bed on Qri’s previous spot. Boram rubbed the back of her head and sat up to look at her wolf and Qri. “Sasha! Off the bed now!”

The wolf obliged to her master’s request and got off the bed and sat next to it. Qri was trying to think back as to what happened the night before and how she ended up in Boram’s bed. The headache she was sporting from the hangover was not helping at all. Qri looked down at her body and noticed she was in her and bra.

“Ah! What happened to my clothes?” Qri looked at Boram and noticed the hunter was only wearing her shorts from the previous night. “Boram! Put a shirt on! What the hell?!”

Boram looked down at her chest and covered it with the blanket. “Sorry…” She looked at the mage scurry around the room looking for her dress from the night before. Qri found it under Boram’s bed.

“I really hope we didn’t sleep together last night! I’m not as easy as you might think Boram.” Qri said as she put her dress on.

“But what if we did? I wouldn’t think of you being that way.” Boram responded and lay back on her bed. She too was suffering from a headache due to the hangover.

“Shut up!” Qri yelled out and stormed out of the hunter’s room.

“Aish, women.” Boram commented and pulled her blanket over her head to go back to sleep.






Soyeon was picking at her food with her chopsticks when Qri approached her looking quite disheveled. While the mage was wearing the same clothes from the night before, her lipstick was smudge and almost faint on her lips, and her hair was also quite messy. 

“Soyeon, what happened last night after we got back? I need to know why I woke up in Boram’s room.” Qri asked after taking a seat. She conjured a cup of coffee and took a sip from it.

The priestess chuckled at the memory of the night before and Qri frowned. “What’s so funny?”

“Last night when we got back I had to wake up all four of you. Hwayoung and Hyomin helped each other make it to Hyomin’s room but you and Boram were really wasted.” Soyeon smiled at the thought and took a sip of her coffee as well. “Sasha had been waiting for us outside. Boram approached and jumped on Sasha’s back so that she could carry her up to Boram’s room. You just happened to do the same and Sasha happily carried the both of you back to Boram’s room. What happened after that, I can’t say. Did you two wake up in a compromising position?”

Soyeon giggled at her own question and Qri slammed her hand on the table. “No!”

The priestess burst into laughter and Qri balled up her fists. “I don’t know if something happened. I was hoping you would clarify that for me.”

“Like I said, I don’t know what happened after Sasha carried you guys to the room. You and Boram were all over each other last night after all those drinks so something might have happened.” Soyeon commented and Qri face palmed. Soyeon chuckled once again.

“It’s not funny!” Qri pouted but then decided to turn the tables on Soyeon. “But what about you huh?”

“Me?” Soyeon asked and Qri nodded.

“You and what’s her name…um…” Qri was trying to remember the name of the Shadow they had met last night.

“Jaehee?”

“Yes! You and Jaehee. I noticed how friendly you were Soyeonnie~ you liked her didn’t you?” Qri grinned.

Soyeon blushed and put her cup of coffee back down on the table. “I was trying to get to know her so I had to be friendly.” Soyeon defended and continued, “And you know that I have sworn off any type of romantic and physical relationship with someone, therefore; I had no interest in other than getting to know her and see if she’s worth trusting.”

“Psh…whatever you say.” Qri leaned back on her chair and took a sip of coffee.

“Good morning.” Eunjung greeted both girls and took a seat across from Qri. The mage sat straight up and tried to fix her hair.

“Good morning.” Both Qri and Soyeon greeted Eunjung at the same time.

“I’m going to go take a shower. I’ll see you guys later.” Qri said and took off towards her room. Eunjung looked at the mage walk away and then turned to Soyeon.

“What’s up with her?” Eunjung asked and Soyeon shook her head. “All kinds of things. You know Qri is kind of crazy.”

Eunjung nodded and took a bite of food. “Do you still want me to go pick up Jiyeon today?”

Soyeon nodded, “Yes, I want to give her a bit of an orientation and see if I can get her to learn a basic spell.”

“Okay. I’ll go pick her up later today then.” Eunjung said and both she and Soyeon continued to eat their breakfast.





There was a bit of hesitation in Jaehee as she turned the door knob on the door to her room. She let go of it and the knob returned to its natural position. After the confrontation with her mother the night before, Jaehee had done a lot of thinking before she had gone to sleep. Her father, grandfather and great grandmother had been rulers of the Shadows and had worked non stop to get the majority of Shadows they ruled to learn to live peacefully with humans. 

The greatest achievement had been on her grandfather’s part when Shadows had joined up with the humans to fight the Korean War. Ever since, Shadows were no longer required to go to their local temples and train in a certain class. They got to choose whether they wanted to train or live a normal life without worrying of being considered traitors to their kind. As the years went by, the communities made up solely of Shadows had begun to disappear and in the present, most Shadows lived and worked among humans.

In fact, it was becoming more common to hear that Shadows living as civilians were marrying humans and having children together. This was one of the reasons why Jaehee believed that there was nothing wrong with falling in love with a human, but her mother had reminded her of a rule she had forgotten about long ago. It was an ancient rule, but one that all heirs to the throne had abided to up to her father’s rule. Perhaps in the past Shadows might have married humans, but the bloodline of the royal family had always consisted of the same one from the very first king. 

King Daesung, Kyurhee, and Jaehee herself were all direct descendents of the very first Shadow King and every heir had married a Shadow, therefore; their blood was pure. Perhaps, somewhere down the line the rule had been created because someone did try to marry a human but that was the past where Shadows and humans did not mingle amongst each other.

Jaehee had come to the conclusion that her mother was perhaps just trying to look out for her and arranging a marriage was probably the best way to do it. It wasn’t; Jaehee didn’t want to marry Hyori because she had to. If she was going to marry Hyori, she had to do it because she was in love with her. Jaehee wasn’t blind to Hyori’s beauty and kindness towards her and others. When she had first met the young priestess at the temple, Jaehee had been instantly attracted to Hyori. 

Hyori had a captivating look with her bright red eyes and cute smile. Jaehee had courted Hyori for a short time. They went on one date but soon after that, Jaehee had to leave the country and head up to the northern reaches of Canada where she would begin her training as a Death Knight. As time went by, Jaehee became caught up in her training that she forgot all about her crush on the young priestess. When Jaehee finally returned to Korea, she was as cold as the place she had trained in. While she had greeted Hyori, she showed no interest in the priestess any more. All Jaehee was worried about was continuing her training because mastering the frost aspect of being a Death Knight did not make her one yet. She had two more parts to learn; blood and unholy.

After graduating top of her class, Jaehee had established herself as one of the most powerful Death Knights and her father had named her heir to the throne on that same day much to the shock of both her and Kyurhee. It would be soon after her graduation that King Daesung would disappear in the quest to find the original Book of Knowledge along with his men and Nobleman Kim Kwangsoo. In that time of uncertainty and up until now, Jaehee had no interest in finding a mate or liking anyone until the day she met Gyuri.

Jaehee sighed and reached for the door knob once more. Even if it’s awkward, you still have to face your mother if she’s here. Okay, here we go. She turned the door knob and opened the door. There was no one in the living room but from it Jaehee could see Kyurhee chow down on some kimchi fried rice. The smell of the kimchi fried rice wafted its way into the living room reminding Jaehee that she was hungry and that her mother was probably in the kitchen.

“Hey sis, when did you make it in?” Jaehee asked Kyurhee as she took a seat near the end of the table. Kyurhee was sitting at the end of the table where their father used to sit.

“Not long ago.” Kyurhee answered before taking a big mouthful of rice. TaeIn walked out of the kitchen with two plates and placed one in front of Jaehee and the other across from her. The priestess then walked back into the kitchen and brought out three small bowls filled with fruit. She placed one next to each of their plates and took her seat across from Jaehee.

“Good morning Jaehee.” TaeIn greeted her youngest daughter and dug into her food.

Jaehee stared at her mother momentarily but finally greeted her as well. “Good morning.”

Kyurhee shifted her eyes between her mother and sister while she took the last few bites of the kimchi fried rice. Even with the greetings, the atmosphere was filled with tension and the whole situation was just a very awkward one.

“Did something happen?” Kyurhee finally asked. The curiosity was killing her.

“No.” Both TaeIn and Jaehee responded at the same time.

“Awkward…” Kyurhee let the word drag on and reached for her bowl of fruit.

Jaehee sighed and put her chopsticks down. “I thought about what you said last night. I’m going to give Hyori a chance but I want you to know that I’m not giving up on Gyuri either.”

Kyurhee darted her eyes between both women and stuffed a few pieces of fruit in . TaeIn put her chopsticks down as well and swallowed her food. “I’m sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have done what I did, but I know you understand why I did it.”

Jaehee nodded and TaeIn let out a sigh and slightly smiled. “Thank you and I’m glad you’re willing to give Hyori a chance. I have a feeling you will really like her once you get to know her better. She’s never given up on you.”

“We’ll see.” Jaehee replied and then turned to Kyurhee. “Are you doing anything later?”

Kyurhee looked over at her sister and shook her head. “No, why?”

“I was hoping you would go with me to talk to Tablo. Hopefully you can persuade him for me. You were his favorite student.” Jaehee smiled and Kyurhee raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, but you have to explain why I need to do that.” Kyurhee answered.

“I’ll tell you on the way to the temple.”





Despite having a few drinks the night before, Jiyeon did not wake up with a hangover or feeling bad at all. She did not get drunk, but she was tipsy enough to get brave. Jiyeon remembered most of what had happened and her favorite moments had been dancing with Eunjung and then having the older girl carry her up all the way to her apartment. 

She remembered trying to kiss Eunjung and all of the sudden she felt disappointed once again. Eunjung had avoided kissing her and Jiyeon didn’t understand why. Could it be because of those restraints? Or does she just not want me? But last night it seemed like she did! Ham Eunjung, what is your problem?!

The sound of Sistar’s Push Push suddenly broke Jiyeon away from her thoughts. She knew it was Eunjung who was calling her because it was the ring tone she had set up for the older girl. Jiyeon leaned over to reach for her phone which was sitting on the night stand. She just happened to lean a little too much off the bed and ended up falling on the floor with the phone in her hand.

“Ow!” Jiyeon yelped and she heard Eunjung’s voice coming from the phone. She must have answered it while falling.

“Jiyeon?! What happened?! Are you okay?!”

“Ow…um…” Jiyeon sat up and rubbed the side of her face as best she could while holding the phone. “I’m okay Jungie, just fell out of my bed trying to reach for my phone.”

“You should be more careful. You had me worried for a second there.”

Jiyeon smiled at Eunjung’s words. “I’m fine Jungie. Good morning by the way.”

“Good morning. You remember what I told you last night right? I’ll be over to pick you up in about an hour or do you need more time?”

“Yes, Soyeon wanted to start my training right?” Jiyeon asked as she got up from the floor and sat on the edge of her bed. She wasn’t looking forward to whatever Soyeon wanted to teach her.

“You don’t sound very excited.”

“I…yeah, I’m sorry, but do I really have to?”

“It’s important Jiyeon. Look, if you do it I’ll treat you to anything you want.”

Jiyeon’s face suddenly lit up at Eunjung’s words. The older girl was not specific as to what she would treat Jiyeon to and this gave the younger girl all kinds of ideas. “Okay Jungie. I’ll do it. An hour is fine as well. I’m going to go get ready, see you later.”

“Good, see you in a bit.”

Jiyeon hung up and jumped up excitedly. It didn’t matter if the whole training thing might be boring, but just thinking of what she was going to ask Eunjung for got her excited.






“So mom wants you to marry Hyori? But you like Gyuri? Why not just marry Hyori and bang Gyuri on the side? That’s what I would do if I were you.” Kyurhee said while looking out the window as Jaehee drove both of them towards the temple.

Jaehee rolled her eyes and shook her head at Kyurhee’s suggestion. “No, that’s not right. I’m not the type to play with people’s feelings like that.”

“Oh come on! That’s what people in your position do. Look at all those rich dudes in out there in positions of power; they have a wife and a mistress on the side. So you do just that; marry Hyori, give mom a grandkid so she’ll be happy, and have Gyuri be your mistress. That solves all your problems.” Kyurhee grinned at Jaehee and the younger woman shook her head again.

“You’re crazy.”

“I’m a genius; the question to all answers.” Kyurhee commented.

“Stop quoting Tablo.” Jaehee laughed and slightly pushed Kyurhee to the side. Kyurhee laughed and pushed her sister back. “He brought it upon himself with all those poetic talks.”

They both laughed and Kyurhee turned to look at her sister. “So what am I persuading him about?”

Jaehee was glad to have a change of topic now and gladly answered. “The Guardians have started to enlist some of their warriors in training to become rogues, but they don’t have an actual rogue teaching them.”

“When did you find this out?” Kyurhee asked.

“Last night after Jiyong did his toast. I spent sometime talking to Eunjung, Hyomin and Soyeon about it. Apparently Hyomin has been training them with what she’s learned about our rogues throughout the years but she’s no expert. Tablo is the best instructor we have and he can be trusted. I would like for him to train the Guardians.” Jaehee responded.

“We trust him, but I don’t know if your friends will. Look, personally I don’t think we really need the Guardians help, but you’re the boss. I will try my best, but I think you should talk to him about it first.” Kyurhee replied.

“Sounds like a plan to me. Thanks for supporting me though.”

“Always.”





As promised, Eunjung had picked up Jiyeon within an hour and after saying goodbye to her parents, Jiyeon and Eunjung had made their way to the Guardian’s headquarters. The two of them had been greeted by Soyeon when they got to the warehouses and the priestess had started her introduction of the place to Jiyeon right away.

Soyeon began leading Jiyeon through the training grounds with Eunjung following closely behind them. The first of the training grounds was the one for the warriors and a small section of it was dedicated to the rogues. Jiyeon stopped for a second to admire the line up of all the warriors and how synchronized they were in their movements. Both the arms and fury warriors were training with weapons and practicing the same movements with them.

After they left the warrior training grounds, the three of them made their way into the training ground of the mages. Unlike the warriors, the mages were not in line formation and practicing with weapons. Mages usually learned spells from books, so a lot of them studied different books and used the training grounds to cast and perfect their spells. There was a small group of mages sitting on the ground listening to Qri talk about a fire spell that had to do with a dragon head.

Jiyeon was amazed at the size of the fiery dragon head when Qri suddenly cast the spell for it. The mages sitting down clapped excitedly and Jiyeon tugged Eunjung’s arm and pointed at the dragon head. “Oh my God that is so cool! I want to do that!”

“You’re not a mage Jiyeon.” Soyeon told her and giggled at Jiyeon’s disappointed face. Jiyeon was pouting and both Eunjung and Soyeon found it cute. The two Guardians then led the young girl toward the next training area. This area belonged to the hunters and was much bigger than both the warrior’s grounds and the mage’s. It was due in part to the hunter’s need of long range in order to execute their attacks.

Currently there was a line up of about fifteen hunters all shooting at long range targets with either a crossbow, bow, or a rifle. There were also a few hunters training with their pets. One guy had a large brown bear with him, another guy had a mountain lion, and the two female hunters had owls with them. Boram, who was currently shooting arrows with her bow, had Sasha sitting next to her. The wolf started sniffing the air and then turned to look towards the three people looking at them.

Jiyeon was currently enthralled with the plethora of wild animals that seemed to have been domesticated by the hunters. She also found the idea of learning to shoot arrows with a bow fascinating and was hoping to at least be able to do that if she couldn’t be a mage. In her distraction, Jiyeon did not notice Sasha and Boram approaching the three of them. Sasha walked up to Jiyeon and started rubbing her head on Jiyeon’s leg.

The young girl jumped away, clung to Eunjung and screamed. Sasha stepped closer and started sniffing Jiyeon in order to learn her scent. “Is it going to bite me?” Jiyeon asked worriedly.

“No, Sasha is really friendly and I think she likes you. Go ahead and pet her.” Boram told her. Jiyeon let go of Eunjung’s arm and slowly moved her hand to pat the wolf’s head. Sasha closed her eyes enjoying the slight ministrations from Jiyeon patting her. Jiyeon’s confidence grew when she noticed the wolf wagging her tail and leaning into her touch. She ran her hands down the side of Sasha’s face and eventually crouched down to come face to face with the wolf.

“She’s so beautiful unni. Did you tame her?” Jiyeon asked looking up at Boram who happily nodded. Sasha Jiyeon’s face and the young girl giggled at the tickly sensation.

“I think Sasha has a new favorite person. Qri will be relieved.” Soyeon commented and Boram chuckled at the priestess comment.

“Unni, can you teach me to use a bow and arrows? It looks really cool and fun.” Jiyeon asked Boram and looked at the older girl expectantly. Boram scratched the back of her head in an unsure manner. She didn’t mind teaching Jiyeon but it was up to Eunjung since the Chosen One’s training did not require her to learn to use any kind of melee or ranged weapon.

Soyeon looked over at Eunjung awaiting an answer from their leader. Eunjung looked all three girls and Jiyeon’s puppy eyes made her give in. “Boram can teach when she has time, but first you must learn the basics with Soyeon. Your magical powers are more important.”

Jiyeon jumped up excitedly and hugged Eunjung. She then turned to Soyeon and hugged her before going to Boram and hugging her as well. Sasha jumped up excitedly in circles as well while wagging her tail back and forth at a rapid pace.

“Are you going to train with me?” Jiyeon asked the excited wolf and Sasha her hand. Jiyeon giggled and turned to Boram. “I think she might decide to come with me after I learn.”

“I highly doubt it.” Boram answered and smiled at Jiyeon. The younger girl laughed and turned to the other two girls.

“Let’s head over to the temple Jiyeon. That’s where the priests train and where you will began your training as well.” Soyeon motioned towards the direction of the temple and started walking. Jiyeon waved goodbye to Boram and Sasha, and followed behind Soyeon with Eunjung trailing behind her.

The temple that Soyeon mentioned did not look anything like Jiyeon imagined it would. It was actually just another warehouse with a small training ground next to that had training dummies and a few priests casting spells on them. The inside of the warehouse was what defined it as a temple. It was decorated in the same way a church would be on the inside. There were two enclosed rooms with glass windows on the inside of the temple when you first walked in. One of the room’s was furnished with office furniture while the other one had a black board and a few tables and chairs.

Inside of that room, a female priest was teaching a few students what seemed to be first aid training. The hallway in between both rooms lead into what was the church. On each side of the walkway there were rows of benches and the temple was lit up by the rows of windows that allowed the sunshine to shine inside. At the end of the walk way was an altar and behind it a golden cross floated in the air and a ray of light shined brightly on it. Jiyeon was surprised to see it floating on it’s own but guessed it was held up like that by magical powers.

Soyeon walked up all the way to the altar and turned around to face both girls. Jiyeon looked up at Soyeon and then at Eunjung who had kneeled before the High Priestess. Soyeon motioned for Jiyeon to do the same. Once Jiyeon was kneeling before the altar and Soyeon alongside Eunjung, Soyeon began casting a spell. Light particles that shined a golden color floated down on both girls.

“A blessing from the light for both of you.” Soyeon said and then walked over to Jiyeon. Eunjung stood up and took a seat on the first bench to her right.

“Jiyeon please come up to the altar.” Jiyeon stood up and walked up to the altar with Soyeon beside her.

“Can you feel the power of the light beaming on you?” Soyeon asked and Jiyeon nodded. The priestess nodded and continued, “For all practitioners of the light, being near the altar and cross at a temple allows them to feel the light flowing directly through them. While you are not a priest, your powers are made up solely of the light itself.”

Soyeon turned to look at Jiyeon, “As holy priests, we are granted skills of defense and healing by the light. Our holy attacks are minimal and enemies have no way of resisting them, but you, as the Chosen One, can use the holy powers that are within you in any manner you choose.”

“So I can heal or attack with them?” Jiyeon asked and Soyeon nodded.

“Are you familiar with the comic book hero The Green Lantern?” Soyeon asked and Jiyeon frowned in confusion. What did a comic book hero have to do with her learning her powers?

“I take it by your expression that you’re not. Let me explain; The Green Lantern’s powers are based off the ring he wears and how strong his will is. He can use the ring’s powers in anyway that he imagines. Your powers work similar to his. If you want to heal an ally, you can do so, but if you want to attack someone to defend yourself you can do so as well. There is no restriction on what you can do, therefore; you can manipulate the holy magic in any shape or form.” Soyeon explained.

“So you’re saying that I could create a dragon head like Qri unni?” Jiyeon asked.

Soyeon chuckled and nodded. “In a sense, yes. It would be made out of holy magic instead of fire. I cannot teach you everything that you can possibly do with your powers, but training like a priest will help you develop your powers and with your creativity and practice, you will surpass all us. You just have to be determined and committed to learning Jiyeon.”

“I understand.” Jiyeon answered and Soyeon smiled.

“Good. Before I teach you to cast any spell, you need to learn to meditate. Meditation will allow you to concentrate on all the holy energy that exists in you. Once you learn to do that, casting a spell shouldn’t be a problem. I think we should start with meditation today.” Soyeon took a seat on the floor in front of the altar and Jiyeon did the same.

“Now, close your eyes and relax your breathing. Concentrate on the power and energy you feel from being near the altar and cross.” Soyeon instructed and Jiyeon did as she asked.

Eunjung had been sitting quietly listening to everything that Soyeon had been telling Jiyeon. Being inside the temple always made Eunjung feel relaxed and at ease. It most likely had to do with the high concentration of holy energy.

Eunjung…you’ve done well by bringing Jiyeon to train. The sudden voice made Eunjung open her eyes and sit up straight.

Thank you… Eunjung replied mentally. She was surprised that He was not scolding her for other things that had been happening within her due to being with Jiyeon all the time.

Please continue to watch over her training and come see me tonight. Eunjung nodded but felt a cold chill down her back. Meetings with the Lord Himself were not the most pleasant ones. Even though He had praised just now, Eunjung knew that going to see him tonight was not about anything good she had done as of late.

The leader of the Guardians returned to looking over Jiyeon’s training and noticed that Jiyeon was fidgeting quite a bit while trying to meditate. If she did not stay still and concentrate like Soyeon had asked her to, then Jiyeon would not learn to use her powers. When Soyeon opened her eyes and scolded Jiyeon for moving around too much, Eunjung wished she could laugh at the sight of Jiyeon whining about how boring it was.

After trying a few more times to relax and began meditating, Jiyeon finally stopped moving in her seventh try. She relaxed her breathing, stopped listening to all the sounds around her, and concentrated solely on the great energy she felt around her and inside her. Jiyeon’s brow knit together in a frown but it disappeared when she finally felt a great force of holy energy flowing down her arms and into her hands. It was the flow she was hoping to get and she had achieved it.

She opened her eyes and saw that Soyeon was smiling brightly at her. “You managed to do it Jiyeon! Look at your hands.” Jiyeon gasped and looked down at her hands which were glowing brightly.

The glow started to fickle a bit and Soyeon asked Jiyeon to keep concentrating on it. Jiyeon nodded and did as the priestess asked her. The glow became even brighter and Soyeon smiled again. “Excellent Jiyeon! Now, think of what you would like to do with this magic.”

Jiyeon turned to face Eunjung who was staring at Jiyeon’s glowing hands. Jiyeon closed her eyes and pictured two hands made out of the light reaching out to grab Eunjung and bring her closer so that she could hug the older girl. Just as Jiyeon imagined, the glow in her hands turned into two hands made out of light and they moved to reach out for Eunjung. They wrapped themselves around Eunjung and quickly pulled her up to Jiyeon.

Soyeon gasped and stared in awe at what Jiyeon was able to accomplish while Eunjung’s eyes grew wide in shock. Jiyeon opened her eyes and squealed at the sight of Eunjung standing in front of her. “I did it Jungie! I did it!”

Jiyeon wrapped her arms around Eunjung’s waist and hugged her tightly. Eunjung returned the hug and Soyeon clapped excitedly. “Congratulations! You managed to cast your first spell to sort of speak. If you continue doing what I’ve thought you, eventually you won’t have to meditate and will be able to use your powers whenever you feel like.”

“Thank you so much unni.” Jiyeon let go of Eunjung and bowed at Soyeon who bowed back.

“I knew you could do Jiyeon. I’m proud of you.” Eunjung mentioned and Jiyeon turned to face the older girl. “Thanks! So will you do as you promised now? I know what I want.”

“Yes, just tell me where you want to go or do and we’ll do it.” Eunjung replied. “Thanks for everything Soyeon.”

“It’s my pleasure. We will continue with your training next weekend Jiyeon. You guys have fun now.” Soyeon bowed at the two of them and then watched them walk out of the temple.

Eunjung led both of them back to her motorcycle and asked Jiyeon what she wanted before taking a seat on the bike. Jiyeon put her helmet on and climbed on the bike to sit behind Eunjung. “I want ice cream and I want to eat it at the park.”

“Okay, I know of the perfect place.” Eunjung replied and started her bike. She rode all the way back into the city and took Jiyeon to a small park that was situated along side the Han River. There was an ice cream vendor that had his cart located inside the park and sold some of the best ice cream Eunjung had ever eaten.

After buying a cone for Jiyeon and one for herself, Eunjung and Jiyeon started walking down the park to find a bench to sit on. Jiyeon started skipping happily towards a group of ducks that were floating about in the river. The mother duck had about eight ducklings following behind her.

“Wah! How cute! I wish I had some food to throw at them.” Jiyeon said while pointing at the ducks. 

“Maybe next time we come here we can bring them some food.” Eunjung mentioned. Jiyeon looked at Eunjung and nodded while her ice cream. She also noticed that there was an empty bench behind Eunjung and started walking towards it.

The two girls took a seat on the bench and began to look at all the birds flying around the river, the boats riding by and the cars driving around on the other side of the river. It was a lovely warm afternoon in the city and Jiyeon relaxed by eating her ice cream and resting her head on Eunjung’s shoulder. An older couple walked by them with some bird feed and Jiyeon swore she heard the lady mention something about how cute young love was. Her husband mentioned that the two of them made a cute couple.

Jiyeon smiled at the older man’s words and took her head off Eunjung’s shoulder to face the older girl. “There is something else I want Jungie.”

Eunjung turned to face her, “I said I would treat you to one thing.”

“No, you said you would treat me to anything I wanted.” Jiyeon responded. “This is part of that anything.”

Eunjung stared at her and replied. “Okay.”

Jiyeon grinned and quickly moved closer to Eunjung. This time, Eunjung did not react in time and Jiyeon’s lips caught hers full on. Eunjung’s eyes shot wide open in surprise and her lips reacted in a way she did not want them to. They were kissing Jiyeon back and the restraints on her body were doing nothing to stop it. Jiyeon pushed her body closer to Eunjung and deepened the kiss. It took all of Eunjung’s will power to push Jiyeon away from her.

Jiyeon was surprised by Eunjung pulling away from her. She was really enjoying the kiss but Eunjung’s shocked face said differently about how she felt. It was the first time she had seen an expression on Eunjung’s face and it was not the one she was expecting. Jiyeon hoped that after she had kissed Eunjung that the older girl would be happy about it, but it wasn’t the case.

“Jiyeon! What the heck was that?!” Eunjung shouted and crushed the ice cream cone in her right hand.

“What do you mean what was that?! I thought you felt the same way…” Tears began forming in Jiyeon’s eyes and she stood up and started running away from Eunjung. She felt her heart break into little pieces.

“Jiyeon! Jiyeon wait! Come back.” Eunjung wiped her hand on her jeans and ran after Jiyeon. By the time she caught up with Jiyeon, the younger girl was crying and constantly wiping away her tears.

“Jiyeon! Please listen to me!” Eunjung turned Jiyeon around to face her and placed her hands around Jiyeon’s face. “I do feel the same way.”

Jiyeon sniffled and took Eunjung’s hands off her face. “Then why are you mad? Why don’t you want to kiss me?!”

Eunjung sighed and looked down at the ground. “It’s complicated Jiyeon.”

“Explain.” Jiyeon requested while wiping away more tears.

“I’m not supposed to have feelings for you Jiyeon. I’m just supposed to protect you, but you do things to me! Things that I’ve never experienced or felt and they’re wrong. Not because we’re both girls but because neither I nor anybody should touch you. You are sacred Jiyeon and having feelings for you is forbidden and wrong of me. I’m sorry.” Eunjung kept her eyes on the ground because she could not bear to see Jiyeon’s broken hearted face.

Jiyeon didn’t understand. If Eunjung was not meant to have feelings for her, then why did she? Who was the one to say that Jiyeon couldn’t be touched by anyone? She was her own person and she was going to like and love whoever she wanted and right now that person was Eunjung.

“Eunjung…I don’t understand…but I really like you. And now I know that you like me too. Forget about all that and just give into this.” Jiyeon stepped closer to Eunjung and hugged her.

“I can’t Jiyeon. Please, don’t make this harder then it already is. I will always be by your side, but I just can’t okay? One day you will see why we can’t be together, but until that day, I just ask that we keep our relationship to that of Guardian and Chosen One. We can be friends, nothing more.” Eunjung told her while rubbing the back of Jiyeon’s head.

Jiyeon pulled away and nodded. “Because I love you, I will do as you ask Eunjung.” Jiyeon wiped away the last of her tears and sniffled again. She would do as Eunjung asked of her for now, but she was not going to give up on Eunjung. Jiyeon was determined to prove to whoever said that she and Eunjung could not be together that they were actually meant to be.

“Thank you. I have something I need to do so is it okay if I take you back home?” Eunjung took Jiyeon’s hand in hers and looked over to where she had parked her bike. Jiyeon nodded and the two of them made their way to the motorcycle.

The ride to Jiyeon’s apartment was a silent one. When they said their goodbyes, Eunjung could see the sadness in Jiyeon’s face and she felt bad but there wasn’t anything Eunjung could do. It was clear to her that Jiyeon’s powers and own feelings had affected Eunjung in the way they had. Jiyeon was proving to be stronger than any of the restraints in her body.

After watching Jiyeon enter the elevators, Eunjung pulled away and made her way towards the mountain where she would meet with God himself. The Guardian knew that He had seen the entire scene that had happened with Jiyeon at the park. Her thoughts were confirmed when she entered the hidden chamber and was flung across the small space into the wall.

The straps on her body started moving on their own again, restricting her body and causing great pain. The ones around her neck wrapped around the tightest and breathing became hard. Eunjung tried to fight them back but this caused her to be slammed against another wall and then onto the ground right in front of the altar. The straps around her neck loosened their grip and Eunjung took in a huge breath of air.

WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT LETTING SOMEONE TOUCH HER?! DO YOU TAKE MY WORD FOR GRANTED?! YOU FOOL!!!

“Please…forgive…me…” Eunjung breathed out. 

SILENCE! The words thundered around the small chamber and Eunjung was again doubling over in pain because of the strap around her body.

YOU HAVE FAILED ME GREATLY EUNJUNG. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE.

“She’s…” Eunjung tried to speak.

SHE WHAT?! SPIT IT OUT!

“She’s stronger than my restraints!” Eunjung managed to shout out. The straps loosened their grips once again and Eunjung found herself breathing in for air again and chocking.

I’ve noticed…I will fix that. Light suddenly enveloped Eunjung and she felt a bolt of electricity flow up to her head. It shocked her with great strength and Eunjung felt like her head was going to blow up. The light had lifted her into the air and it suddenly disappeared and she dropped to the ground.

Tell me Eunjung…how do you feel about Jiyeon now?

Eunjung moved to kneel before the altar and hung her head low. “She’s the Chosen One and the person I must protect. Nothing more.” She lifted her head and looked up at the altar and glowing light well.

Good…