Centuries ago

    Seulgi groaned, opening her eyes. It was dark, but her eyes automatically adjusted to the lack of light. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, wincing when she felt a sharp pain pierce through her head. She realized that there was a wall behind her, and she carefully leaned against it. She became aware of something around her wrists, and she lifted her hands to see solid iron cuffs with chains attached to them. What was going on? The last thing she remembered was running through the forest, the sound of an explosion, and then nothing.

    “You are awake,” a soft voice said.

    Seulgi’s head jerked up towards the sound of the female voice. There were bars that she didn’t notice until now, and she realized that she was in captivity. Though her head was obviously not in the best of conditions, her senses were still sharp, and she managed to make out a small figure through the menacing, rusted iron bars - she could smell the pungent, metallic scent of them from miles away. She took a deep intake of breath through her nose and realized whoever this female was, she was human. “Who - .” Seulgi broke off with a rasping cough, only now realizing how parched was. She cleared before starting again. “Who are you? Where am I?”

    The sound of soft footsteps reached Seulgi’s ears, and she immediately stiffened. The figure neared the bars but didn’t come too close. “My name is Soojung. What is your name?”

    Seulgi could make out the girl’s face now. She was pretty. Undeniably. However, she was chained up behind bars in a musty cell, and she wasn’t about to admire a strange human girl’s beauty. “Where am I?”

    “Are you truly a man-eating monster?”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you the monster that has been taking away the villagers?”

“I do not understand what you are talking about.”

The girl shifted as her head tilted slightly, brows furrowing and eyes curious. “You really do not know. Then, what is taking away all of the villagers?”

“I do not understand what you are talking about. Why am I here? Where is this place?” When the girl didn’t answer, Seulgi pulled at the chains in frustration before letting out a deep breath and ripping the chains off of the wall. She stood up as the girl gave out a frightened yelp. She winced as blood rushed to her head, before walking towards the bars. “Please. I do not wish to hurt you. I just want to know where I am and why I am here.” The girl’s eyes were wide, fear obvious in them. She cowered away from Seulgi, trembling slightly. Seulgi furrowed her brows, more than frustrated now. She easily tore the iron cuffs around her wrists off before flexing her fingers.

“You are a monster.”

“I may not be human, but that does not mean that I am a monster,” Seulgi said, looking up slightly annoyed. She stood right in front of the bars, hands clasped behind her back in assurance that she wasn’t going to harm the girl - probably not too assuring after her show of inhuman strength just a minute before, but the best she could do all the same.

The girl - Soojung - seemed to calm a bit as Seulgi could see the tension in her body loosen ever so slightly, not cowering so much towards the cold stone wall anymore. “You are in our village dungeon.”

“There are such things as village dungeons?” Seulgi frowned, tilting her head in disbelief. “Humans are odd, very odd,” she murmured. She fixed her colored gaze back onto Soojung. “And I am here because your villagers believe that I am the monster?”

“Yes.” Soojung took a tentative step towards her before stopping once more, still a safe distance away from the iron bars that obviously could be destroyed by Seulgi in a matter of seconds.

“Why? I have not been near this village before this.” Seulgi now realized where she was. She remembered seeing the village that Soojung was talking about while she had been roaming the forest around it. She should have known that the humans would do something idiotic like this. Did they really believe that they could keep mystical beings in captivity with something as weak as iron? It was a mystery as to how they’d survived so long in this world. Perhaps it was the abundance of them - strength in numbers.

“Yes, but we were - are desperate. Everyone is afraid.”

Seulgi unclasped her hands and reached out to the bars, feeling the flimsy metal underneath her hand. She was becoming impatient. “Must I break the bars also, or would you save me the hardship and open it?”

Soojung looked frightened, but after seeming to come to the terms that Seulgi was going to get out either way, she neared the bars before pulling out a key from her sleeve and sliding it into the rusty lock, unlocking the door. She skittered backwards again as Seulgi opened the door and stepped out.

Seulgi let out a deep breath before feeling for the magical strength inside of her. It was there. She lifted her palm, turning it upward before channeling the healing magic into her hand. Her hand began to glow before a golden orb formed in her hand, spinning and swirling. Soojung gasped. Ignoring her, Seulgi lifted her palm to the painful area of her head before feeling the pain slowly dissipate and leave her only with relief. She did the same to other areas of pain in her body before straightening up and stretching.

“That feels much better. I will take my leave now.”

“W-What? No. You can’t!”

Seulgi’s brows knitted together, her eyes narrowing. Red beginning to spark inside of them like the beginning of a fire. “Excuse me?”

“T-The village people! They will blame me!”

“Blame you?” The flakes of red disappeared to be replaced with guarded silver. “Blame you for what? Being unable to keep a mystical being in captivity? Do not be absurd. Whether you were a grown man or a little girl, the result would have been the same.” Seulgi gave Soojung one final glance before turning to leave again.

“Then take me with you!”

Seulgi promptly froze. She scoffed, not bothering to turn around. “I do not fancy the thought of dragging a human around with me. I apologize.”

“Please? I - I do not want to live here. I do not have a reason to.” Soojung’s voice turned small, delicate as a flower and as fragile as glass.

Seulgi wasn’t an unfeeling being, and Soojung’s voice admittedly made her feel a twinge in her chest. She reluctantly turned around again, eyes glowing purple as she warred with herself. “What do you mean?”

Soojung looked up at her, dark eyes sad yet hopeful before looking away again. “I do not have a family. I am an orphan. I have worked here since I was young. I hate this life,” she said, spitting the last few words out bitterly.

Seulgi’s brow raised. “You worke