Jongdae knew the moment he saw his mother’s corpse what he had to do. He had told Jiyoung, “If it means I get to kill them, then I’ll help you. But I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for my mom.” He was vulnerable at the time, and was still in shock from the events.

So now that he was miles away from his destroyed home and mother’s grave (that he had made and put her body in before saying his final goodbye) it finally dawned on him what had happened. It only took about six hours for him to fall to the ground and start sobbing as Jiyoung could only awkwardly watch him and try to give him words of comfort.

After that he was like a walking corpse. He didn’t even reply when Jiyoung shot a few insults to try and rile him up; he instead looked at the rock with large bags under his eyes, chapped lips and swollen eyes, and then continued to walk on without a word.

This same behavior continued for a few weeks until Jiyoung couldn’t take it anymore.

Jiyoung finally snapped, “I get that you’re sad. And I won’t try and say I understand what you’re going through because my parents died when I was asleep, as a rock. But just because you’re depressed doesn’t mean you can continue to live like this!”

Jongdae stared lifelessly at the fire, his arms were wrapped around his legs and his chin was set on his knees. His cheeks were sunken in and his bones were defined, as he hadn’t been eating properly over the weeks.

“Jongdae, eat the stupid food or I’ll cast a spell on you – maybe even an illusion if you don’t get up already!”

He switched his gaze to the squirrel that Jiyoung had caught using her magic. He felt nausea start to shake him as he stared at the flames and the meat that was starting to burn, leaving an all-too-familiar scent in the air. Taking a shaky breath, his toes curled as he struggled to keep a blank mind.

He slowly unwrapped his arms, grabbing the stick that held the meat before gagging when he smelt it. He covered his mouth and nose with his other hand, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt bile travel up his throat.

He knew what he needed to do, but it was just so hard to forget the past. How was he just supposed to move on when he had lost the most important person in his life? He needed time, but he knew from the moment he agreed to this journey that there wasn’t going to be any of that.

So he shoved the squirrel’s meat in his mouth, chewing quickly before swallowing. He grew teary-eyed as he suppressed the tempting urge to hurl, and he tried to push away the memories that were beginning to drive him insane.

“It’s alright.” Jiyoung sighed heavily. 

He leaned into the being that hugged him from behind, bangs covering his eyes as he sobbed. His stomach was still growling for more food, and he realized just how much he had neglected himself over the three weeks he had been travelling. He wanted nothing more than to lie into his mother’s side after eating some of her cold and bland porridge, and then tell her horrible jokes that she would laugh at anyways, even if they weren’t funny.

“She’s in a better place now.” Jiyoung chuckled nervously. She was never the greatest at comforting people with words.

Her powers were beginning to waver, and the being made completely of aura was starting to lose its warmth. She grunted as she forced herself to keep up the spell. “I know it’s hard right now, but it’s better than her dying from illness, right?”

Jongdae nodded meekly, sniffling as he felt the warmth along with the being that was behind him disappear. He watched the glow that was surrounding him slowly fade away, but a feeling of security was left in its place.

Staring at the moon in the sky, a sense of understanding washed over him as he saw the lack of stars surrounding it. You’re probably alone up there, aren’t you? At one point, I think, I understood what you felt, but I realize now that I was never alone. Mother may have left me but Jiyoung is here now.

Jongdae shut his eyes as Jiyoung hummed an unfamiliar tune, and he soon snoozed to her lullaby.

**

Jongdae scratched his head, staring at the map with a puzzled expression. The weather was hot out so instead of wearing his cloak it was hung over his shoulder. Jiyoung’s rock form sat inside the basket that was sitting on the ground, and she sighed when she saw the sweat that was covering his form. They were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dirt and there was no sign of life – trees nor people. Now that they were away from civilization, it seemed that the West was a completely barren desert.

“Maybe we should take a little break,” Jiyoung suggested. She was glad he was no longer starving and sulking all day after their talk from the week before, but quickly grew worried when all he did was focus on reaching his goal. He barely slept now because he was so intent on finding the Guardians. And though he was working very hard to find the second Guardian, their search was leading to nowhere.

Jongdae shook his head, pointing forward before grabbing the basket and heading off. “The map says we’re close to town. Hopefully we can find a place to stay before noon and be able to rest. Then we can continue our search.”

“You sure? You’re not exactly in the best state right now.”

“Trust me, I’m feeling fine and dandy,” he murmured as he raised a hand to block the sunlight, relieving his squinted eyes.

Jiyoung sighed. “I haven’t asked you about it because I didn’t want to pester you, but now I’m curious - what are your abilities?”

“What? Well, I can fight, I guess? I did kill a bear with a blade once, but it was taken away by officers-“

“No.” Jiyoung would have slapped him if she could. “I meant your powers. You know, the magical ones that each Guardian is supposed to possess.”

Jongdae his dry lips. “Powers? I have none. Only if you mean intelligence, then I guess I have that, but I have no magical abilities.”

“What?” Jiyoung exclaimed. “What do you mean you have no powers?”

“Exactly as you said it. I have none. Never had and never will.”

Jiyoung was growing agitated by this point. “You’re a Guardian! All twelve of them are supposed to have-!”

“I think your little prophecy has a few flaws in it,” he said.

“No way! The grand sorcerer was the one who had the vision! There’s no way he was wrong, he was never wrong!”

Jongdae let out a scoff. “I think you’re little head sorcerer was a little loopy, if you know what I mean.”

“How dare you! I’ll have you know that the head sorcerer-!”

Jongdae squinted his eyes as a gust of wind picked up and sand flew into his eyes. Then he saw something in the distance. His eyes widened and the sides of his lips threatened to raise, though it quickly formed back into his usual frown.

“-and the headmaster was like my-!”

“Jiyoung! We’re almost there!” he yelled, sprinting towards the village.

“You weren’t even listening to me, you ,” she grumbled in response.

When he arrived to the entrance of the village, there was a sign that stood tall with the words ‘Sector Three’ and then houses – some made of brick and some of wood – this could only mean that the people living in this part of the village were of middle and lower class. Villages were also labeled as Sectors and each Sector included a number. Jongdae happened to be born in Sector Two. Interesting. Here in Sector Three they have a variety of people from different social classes. That’s way different than Sector Two. I wonder what Sector One is like.

Jongdae put his cloak on, despite the fact that he was overheating because of the number of officers that were walking around. He decided to take the risk of getting heat when he saw the many wanted posters with his face and many others on them. It was strange to see ‘Wanted: Kim Jongdae Reward: 150,000 slips’ across a wanted poster. Another man caught his attention, mostly because his identity and name were unknown. The photo was of a man with a cloth over his head, and he was wearing clothing that were tattered but not bad enough to where they looked as if they hadn’t been taken off in years (like Jongdae’s clothing).

He pulled the hood over his head, put the map in his basket and walked down the street, observing how the middle and lower class citizens conversed with each other.

There were stands set up on the sides of the long road, and multiple people tried to get Jongdae and other citizens into buying their products.

“Only five slips for deer jerky!”

“Ain’t nothing as amazing as this, buy fresh mermaid tail for two hundred slips!”

“Buy some hot furries for ‘bout three slips!”

Jongdae gagged at the last one. He hadn’t seen a furry in so long (mostly because most furries these days were strays and had no owners), and to think that they were eating them now was enough for him to throw up.

Jiyoung whispered curiously, “What’s a furry?”

“I think people of the upper classes call them… dogs?”

“Oh God.” Jiyoung was shocked at this discovery. Before she was put in her century long coma, dogs and other animals were greatly respected and loved. So to find out that people were eating them now was making her quite sick to her nonexistent stomach.

The dirt road was incredibly dry and scorching hot, and Jongdae began to wince when the sun seemed to grow larger and larger, along with its heat.

“Go to that pub right there,” Jiyoung suggested and he looked down to his basket in shock.

“I don’t drink!” he shouted a little too loudly, and bowed apologetically as people stared at him like he belonged to the loony bin.

“I know, you idiot. But you may be able to get some information – maybe not about a Guardian but about you. You’re not exactly some random peasant now, especially with a reward as large as yours.”

He nodded. Making sure to keep his head down as he walked into the pub, he obse