Jongdae was sitting on the black ground, in the circle of trees, with the moonlight shining directly onto him, and candles lighted up around his form. His eyes were closed, and his lips were slowly moving, pronouncing inaudible prayers.

“No prayers will help you, my little witch,” a voice came, and Jongdae’s eyes shot open.

“Whoever you are, whatever you are, you certainly know enough about be, to know that one should not interrupt witches’ prayers,” Jongdae replied, glancing to his left, where Minseok was leaning against the tree.

“I guess the thought of you unleashing mythical forces on me turns me on,” he winked, his lips. A shiver ran down Jongdae’s spine.

“Or the idea of my soul out of my core,” the witch whispered, adverting his gaze to the burning flames, “I have one moon left to solve your riddle, but nothing to work with. You gave me nothing that could help me figure out what you are. No one knows,” he finished in a whisper, and sighed.

“No one?” Minseok asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I do not pray just for the sake of it, Minseok. I spent the last two nights praying to my ancestors for answers. They have none.”

“You must be really desperate to be bothering the dead,” the man hummed, nearing Jongdae. However, once he reached the circle of candles, he stopped. The witch smirked.

“Interesting,” he said, looking up at the moon. It was almost perfectly round.

“What is so interesting?”

“You, spirit,” Jongdae said, turning his head towards Minseok. The witches’s eye were shining, and the wind started blowing, disturbing his hair. He looked like a madman.

Minseok was taken aback, shocked by the younger.

“Look at you, little witch. So it’s true what they say about you on the other side. You are quite something,” Minseok laughed, leaning back against the tree, “so what, I cannot pass?”

“This circle protects me from many things, and the dead are one of them.”

“Look at you, nearly solving the riddle, I must say, I am impressed.”

“Nearly?!” Jongdae raised his voice, “I found the answer!”

“Give me my name, Jongdae. Give me the name, my beautiful witch,” the man said, and his eyes shone brighter than the moon.

“That is not fair! You wanted me to guess who you were! I did!”

“Not completely. You only guessed what I am. Time is ticking. But for now, you should take a rest. Tomorrow is the bloody moon. I believe you’ve got a show to put on,” Minseok smiled, disappearing in the darkness of the forest.

Jongdae sighed, irritated, his mind already connected with the other side, looking for answers.

 

“You’ve been on the edge, Jongdae, is everything alright?” Fanny asked the next morning, looking up from her oatmeal.

“Have you seen Minseok?” Jongdae whispered, looking toward an empty spot by the table.

“Not since he left yesterday night. He never came back for the night. Does it have something to do with him? Your nerves?”

Jongdae nodded, pushing his bowl away, “just as I’ll be collecting the souls of the sinners, he’ll be —“ and then he went quiet, realization drawing upon him. “That’s it!”

“What’s what?” Fanny looked at her nephew confused, raising her eyebrow.

“Oh, Fanny, tonight is gonna be such a great night! I gotta go, I won’t be back!” he exclaimed, standing up.

“But Jongdae, your breakfast! The sun has barely rose! The moon won’t be up for hours! What are you doing?!”

“Oh, Fanny,” he smiled, putting a black cloak on, “I wanna take the scenery in one last time. Tomorrow there’s gonna be nothing in here, but a field of red roses.”

 

 

Jongdae spent the whole day walking around the village, observing laughing children that were playing in the thin layer of snow, and panicking parents who knew exactly what the snow meant. He took his time to listen to conversations of troubled villagers, to fill his lungs with fear gathered in the air, pick up dying flowers from the ground, and bite into frozen apples. Although covered in frost, they were still as sweet as Jongdae remembered them from when he was a child. As the sun started nearing the horizon, and the silver moon started becoming brighter, Jongdae reached the house in the middle of the village. The place he once called home. He looked around, and he realized how little has changed since he fled the place years ago. As the last rays of sunshine were touching his face, he smiled from ear to ear, and taking a deep breath in, yelled out:

“Siwon! Come out, come out, wherever you are! The night has come, it’s time for payback! Come out, come out! The little witch is here, it’s time to start the hunt!”

People around gasped, and seconds later the door to the king’s house opened, and a small army of armored soldiers ran out, circling Jongdae.

The sun disappeared behind the horizon, darkness fell above the village, and as Jongdae’s eyes turned red, so did the moon.

“Welcome to the hunt,” he mumbled, and everyone took a step back.

But it didn’t help them, as the next moment Jongdae opened his arms and a terrible win came, disturbing fire in torches, which caught onto wood and set fire to the surrounding them houses. People begin screaming, trying to run towards the gates, but whenever the were nearing an exit from the village, there was a rain of lightnings coming from the start, cutting their way out off. After only a few moments, the whole village was surrounded by fire. There was no escape.

“Kill him!” Someone yelled, but before any of the soldiers managed to move, Jongade had them all lying dead on the ground, stopping their hearts with electric shocks.

“I will be the only one standing by the end of the night!” Jongdae yelled, looking at some people gathered around, “bring me your king! Give me Siwon!”

“Jongdae!” the witch heard a familiar voice, and once he looked up, he saw his oppressor standing at the top of the stairs, gold crown on his head.

“You finally showed up.”

“What do you want?” Siwon asked, “why are you doing this?! You are angering the spirits!”

“Oh no. I am doing this for the spirits, for my ancestors! You messed so bad, Siwon. You and your people. You are the ones who brought it upon yourselves!” he laughed, and the laugh froze blood in veins.

“We haven’t done anything wrong! We only did what they wanted!”

“You killed an innocent!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, “you slaughtered my family!”

“You mother was a witch! And you are its best proof!”

“My mother was you queen. And my sister was an innocent soul that stained the grounds of this village. My father’s blood was blood of an innocent that stained this place. My mother was a witch sent by the spirits to guard this place. You killed the very pact that kept this place what it was. You angered the ancestors, and it is time to pay for that.”

 

The village full of abundance was no longer.

 

As Siwon made his way towards the witch, his knees gave up on him, and he fell to the ground, kneeling in front of Jongdae, “what are you doing to me?!”

“I am killing you,” the younger whispered, smiling at the king, “you, and all the others responsible for my family’s deaths. And with you, and them, I will let the blood of this whole rotten village stain the ground and serve as water to roses that will cover the sins of your souls.”

“Jongdae —“

“U huhu, no more talking. There is not going to be anything heroic about your death,” the witch said, taking out a dagger, “I will kill you in one swift movement, I will let your blood stain my hands and robes, and then I will make the earth shake from my lightnings,” he explained, constantly smiling, and after enjoying the fear in the other’s eyes, he slit the king’s throat, letting the blood flow. A maniacal laugh ripped from his lungs, and as the body in his hands stopped moving, he kicked it to the ground, grabbed the king’s sword, chopped his head off, and putting it up in the air, he yelled:

“Your king is dead! And with him, all of you!”

As he laughed, a rain of lightnings fell to the ground, hitting everything and everyone on its way, either setting it on fire, or killing it.

Before the sun rose, Jongdae was sitting on a pile of corpse, watching the fire consume whatever was left from the village.

“Do you have the name?” he heard a whisper next his ear, and as he turned around, he saw Minseok sitting right beside him.

“I do, actually,” he smirked, “Death.”

“You’ve done your job well, Jongdae,” Minseok said, standing up. “Now it’s my turn to collect what is mine.”

“Be my guest,” the witch replied, ready to jump to the ground. But before he did that, he felt a cold touch on his elbow, and a second later he was pulled up.

“The sun, the moon, and all of the stars shall be yours,” Minseok whisper, pulling the witch in for a kiss.

But this time, instead of fear, Jongdae felt a fire ignite inside of him.

---

[the end]

please, check the rest of my stories <3