o39

Prometheus
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“I swear she sabotaged the whole project,” I told Jongin. “Seriously.”

 

He eyed me with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure your partner did? I mean, you’re pretty bad at that subject too, so…was it really her who sabotaged you? Not the other way around?”

 

I shoved him hard. I ended up being the one stumbling back a couple of paces, but ignoring the embarrassment, I scowled at him. “You have absolutely no faith in my judgement,” I accused. “I worked hard on this project. I actually did. And she did literally nothing.”

 

Jongin patted me on the back. “Sure, Mira,” he said. “I’ll let you imagine for this one time.”

 

Chapter 39

 

When I had rushed downstairs, grabbed the first pair of shoes I could find (which, admittedly, weren’t very comfortable despite the fact that they were flats, but I ignored it because there seemed to be more important things at hand), and rushed out of the house. The door wasn’t locked, for some strange reason, and I hoped that it was on purpose and it was only so because Ignis was that safe. At any rate, I couldn’t lock it without keys, so, carefully, I opened it—thankfully it didn’t creak—and stepped outside cautiously. Then, making sure it was closed fully, half-rushed through the front garden.

 

One thing about Ignis’ lack of proper transportation that wasn’t biking or walking was that I didn’t have to check the street twice before crossing, because there was virtually nothing to hit me that would’ve been able to kill me. I could see the cafe Eunhae was talking about in front of me, and, still running in the uncomfortable flats, I made it across without getting myself killed (made a lot easier with the lack of cars) and managed to stumble into the shop.

 

I spotted Eunhae immediately, mostly because it was relatively empty. She had her back turned to me and was sipping quietly on a cup of coffee. She glanced up as I approached her, both excited and slightly nervous when I sat down.

 

“Hey,” I managed, still jittery. “It’s pretty early.”

 

Eunhae blinked. “Did I wake you up?” she asked. “I’m sorry. I kind of talked to my mom for most of the night, and we were trying to sort things out.”

 

“Oh.” I got a smile out. “I mean, it’s not that bad because I was up anyway—” Mostly because I’d been so anxious to hear from her that I couldn’t sleep, but I figured that piece of information could be easily exempt, “and everyone else is apparently still passed out, so…”

 

She smiled at that. If I felt tired, Eunhae looked more so, though I supposed that it made sense if she’d spent the whole time figuring out my situation with her mother. “Do you want something to drink?” she asked. “I wasn’t sure what to order for you because I don’t know what you like. Here, look at the menu.”

 

She pushed the book over to me, and I took it, mind barely on the drink. Unable to concentrate, I slid it back to Eunhae. “Pick something out for me?” I managed. “Something sweet, but not too much caffeine? You know Ignis better than I do.”

 

“Alright,” Eunhae smiled. “My treat.”

 

I didn’t have money, so even if I were to argue with that, I couldn’t. She waved the waiter over, mentioned something about a drink—I was pretty sure the name was in Latin, and while that normally would have set off warning signs, I wasn’t focused enough to care—and then something about cake before turning back to me.

 

“Right,” I said as the woman left with the order. “You said… you said that your mom agreed to not letting anyone know?”

 

“Yeah, that.” Eunhae took another sip of her coffee. “Yeah. She was going to tell the council, but then we figured that… well, something so big would only frighten everyone. We’ve been dealing with the Darkling fine the past couple of while, and we don’t need panic in Ignis or in any other Safehouse. She said that sending you back and pretending that nothing was wrong as long as we increased security measures would be fine, though her definition of increased security measures are pretty intense, so be ready for that.”

 

In all of the possible scenarios that could have happened, increased security measures felt like absolutely nothing. “That’s okay,” I said, then managed a nervous laugh. “She let us off so easily. I thought I’d be, like, jailed in Ignis or something.”

 

At that moment, the waitress brought up my cup of coffee (or warm drink, I had no idea what it was that Eunhae had ordered for me), along with two slices of cake.

 

“Mango,” Eunhae offered. “My personal favourite is their green tea cake, but mango is the most popular, and a lot of people love it, so try it. And the drink’s a latte—I don’t know what kind of coffee bean it is, but it’s native to Ignis—and I told them to make it sweet. Try it.”

 

In any other time, a sweet, hot latte and a slice of mango cake would’ve been heavenly, but part of me was still jittery despite the fact that everything was fine—literally, more fine than I imagined it to be—but to be polite, I took a small piece of the top of my cake. “It’s good,” I say, and it’s not a lie, except it would’ve been better if I hadn’t been thinking about something else.

 

“Yeah, it is,” Eunhae agrees. “Luhan also likes the mango one. Anyway, we were talking about…”

 

“It seemed really quick?” I offered. “Not complaining. Just didn’t think your mom would agree so easily and it would just be… well, going back.”

 

Eunhae propped her chin on her hands. “Mira, do you know what happened the last time there was a reincarnation of Life?”

 

“Uh…” I glanced at the waitress. She was out of earshot, or at least I was pretty sure she was. “No. I wasn’t born then.”

 

Eunhae nodded. “Neither was I. Nor anyone in Ignis. But actually, around eighty five years ago, we thought that there was another reincarnation of Life. Her name was Kim Jooyeon. Needless to say, the whole of Ignis blew up—they thought she was apparently the only person who would be able to combat the Darkling and actually stand a chance against him after everything he’d done, and even more people wanted to use her—because they believed she could defeat him—for revenge. Poor Jooyeon didn’t have it really easy, as you can probably imagine. You know what they did to her? They tried to lure the Darkling out with a group of Athanatoi—Jooyeon included—and he killed all of them. Didn’t leave a single survivor. And in the end, it turned out she was just an extremely talented healer. Not Life.”

 

I nodded slowly. “But Kai was dead that time?”

 

“Oh, undoubtedly. What I’m saying is that something big like that would, firstly, alarm everyone, and secondly, it would be extremely hard on you. We don’t know what the Darkling wants with you, but for now, you see why it’s a good idea not to let everyone know?”

 

I nodded again. “Yeah.”

 

“I think we also figured that it’s most likely that the Darkling would lay low,” she continued. “After what just happened, from what we know of him, it’s not typically something he’d do to just waltz out again unless he wants to get caught, and we’re also installing a safety system around Seoul that monitors any sort of magical activity. It’ll take quite a couple of Spellcasters, but it’ll mean that he virtually can’t enter Ignis for long before he’d be cornered in minutes, maximum. So everything should be fine.”

 

The more she spoke, the more relieved I felt. By the time Eunhae was halfway through her explanation, my appetite had returned and I finished the mango cake (which, by then, I had discovered was extremely delicious and beat every other cake I’d eaten in my life), more and more people were beginning to file into the cafe.

 

Eunhae finished the last of her drink. “I have to get going,” she said. “I think we’ll also be going back to Seoul in one or two more days?”

 

I blinked. My latte had cooled down enough for me to drink quickly, so, despite there being more than half a cup left, I downed it. “Yeah. I should probably get back too.”

 

She gave me a small nod, then, eyes flickering across the rest of the customers in the cafe, nodded at me. “Thanks for coming at such a short notice. And one last thing, Mira?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

Shouldering her bag, she started moving, and I hurried after her. “Try to tell as little people as possible,” she said. “Especially right now in Ignis—don’t even talk about it. In such a small place, rumors spread fast, and as soon as the Council catches ear of those rumors, we’ll all be brought back here for questioning. Alright?”
 

That definitely wasn’t on my agenda. “Got it,” I told Eunhae.

 

She gave me one small smile. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll go now. See you, Mira.”

“See you,” I echoed.

 

***

 

The Byun’s manor still looked empty when I got to the door, so I figured that everyone was still sleeping. Which meant that I could creep inside without being noticed that I snuck outside in the first place, which sounded like a great idea until I reached the door, attempted to turn the knob, and then discovered it was locked.

 

That made the problem a lot bigger, because someone had obviously gotten up after I left. I was pretty sure it hadn’t been that long that I had talked to Eunhae in the cafe, though it was also true that I’d completely lost track of time, so it wouldn’t have been too surprising if a lot of time did pass.

 

I was standing at the door still, trying to figure out what exactly was the best course of action that didn’t have to end in me having to tell everyone where I went.

 

“Hey,” someone said behind me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin before spinning around and seeing Kai, leaning against the railing at the bottom of the steps, arms crossed in front of his chest.

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Emilieee
[5/31/2017] I'M SORRY FOR THE EXTRA LATE UPDATE PLEASE EXCUSE ME

Comments

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JinxRanger
#1
Chapter 35: I love this story.💘 keep up the good work 🌟
Multifanstan
#2
Hmm...this looks interesting but the fact that this story is incomplete and hasn't been updated for over an year is holding me back. I really can't hold the curiosity which is why I usually only read complete fics.
Does anybody have a suggestion...should I just start reading?...or does this end with a cliffhanger?
MultiStanK
#3
Chapter 29: Trying to avoid the comments because I'm still only on Ch 28, hehe but seriously, this fic, damn. It's so captivating! You captured my attention from the get go. It's honestly so rare to find genuinely good mythology themed or I guess fantasy themed fanfics on asianfanfics, that too one with EXO. (Now that I think about it, that might just be me lol.)

I love how this fic reminds me so much of Mortal Instruments, it's been ages since I read the series so this has been a nice reminder of that. I haven't till date actually found a good MI fanfic so I guess this is as good as it's gonna get, no complaints tho!

[Sorry if this comment seems a bit out of place or random, I just really wanted to comment but didn't really know how to put it all together.]
Jiminniesweaterpaws
#4
Chapter 45: this is still my favorite story of yours!! hope I can read more of your work in the future
Pxnellyxq #5
Chapter 35: A WHAT? BOY- JWNENDNENDND A DATE??
seyeol125
#6
Chapter 45: did I just read 43 chapters in less than 2 days? I love love this story so far ? so much character development & well thought out plot with deep details. I love the characters interactions. You bring so much life to each individual. I feel they all have their own back story. I am so hooked and can't wait for more to unfold!
seyeol125
#7
Chapter 37: their moments are so real, love the different play of tensions in the scenes & GOSH their romance is so ADORABLE gahhhh my heart cant take avdjfmmgmf
seyeol125
#8
Chapter 35: GOSH FINALLY! YES KAI YES
teenfinite123
#9
Chapter 2: i'm reading this again because quarantine, it's been a while too.