‘Finally!’ Hakyeon reached the end of his road to finally find the place he was hoping to find,’ this is the place huh?’

After walking around town for awhile, Hakyeon didn’t feel safe staying in one spot for too long. So instead, he decided to go to another place to hide for the time being away from his lifelong friend. He didn’t think he would eventually end up finding the place but somewhere in his heart, told him that this was the best place to be for the time being.

This was the place where everything began.

The little secret base known for meetings and reunions.

‘Now then, how to unlock you?’

Hakyeon said to the door that stood in front of him. He knew that this door was once a door that connected the different worlds together, so he had hoped that the same thing would happen if he were to come back to this same place. He searched and searched around the base for a clue on how to unlock the door without a handle but he couldn’t find anything aside from many scratches and drawings of children on the walls.

Hakyeon giggled as he saw the drawings. He knew instantly who might have drawn them.

Jung Taekwoon.

Though it might not have been the same lifelong friend that Hakyeon has known these years, it seems that the very first Taekwoon was exactly the same when it comes to his abstract and questionable drawing skills.

‘I guess he was never going to be an artist since the beginning huh?’

Hakyeon sat around to observe the drawings and they were all too adoring.

I wonder if I knew Taekwoon when he was a child, what would we be like? The same as our previous life?

Just as Hakyeon was about to leave the tree to search outside again, he saw Taekwoon coming from a distance.

Shoot!

Hakyeon panicked and hid himself immediately back inside the tree out of instinct before the latter could see him.

What to do? What to do? I can’t let him catch me yet!

Hakyeon felt really anxious as he has yet to find any ways to leaving Dreamscape or escaping. He can’t afford to be caught and locked up again in that prison. He was at a dead end as he looked back and forth at Taekwoon slowly approaching the tree. Hakyeon still had so much to do and so many answers to be found that he just can’t go back to that mansion again. Not yet.

Please someone, anyone! Get me out of here!

Hakyeon closed his eyes and prayed. Just then, the mirror that he kept safely in his pocket in which he took from the Chapel began to glow. He felt the mirror begin to heat up in response to his prays and released a tremendous amount of energy from it. Suddenly, he could feel light emerging from behind him as well.

Before he could turn around to see what it was, Hakyeon had already fallen inside.

The door finally opened.

‘Hakyeon?’

Taekwoon who saw the light coming from within the tree, immediately ran towards the light to see what it was but it vanished even before he could reach it.

~

Where am I?

Hakyeon woke up finally after falling through the door. He found himself inside a narrowed darkness as his body laid down in who knows where. He didn’t know where he was but he was definitely trapped inside of something like a box.

It was dark and cramped.

He couldn’t see a single thing around him and started to feel rather uneasy with his position.

But he could smell something next to him. A sweet scent of flowers that lay around him inside of the wooden box. The smell of Magnolia flowers.

Hakyeon started to kick and bang with all his might as he continued to be trapped laying down. He fussed and kicked even harder as he struggle to be released. After one more hard to the front, the lid flew off.

‘Finally! Now where…’

Hakyeon’s jaws dropped and so did those that watched the box break open from within.

Many people were watching him as he emerged from the box and they backed away in horror.

‘Um… sorry to intrude?’ Hakyeon was dumbfounded at the situation.

The people started to murmur amongst themselves with rather obvious horror in their faces but why are they so afraid?

‘I-it’s a ghost!’ One of them finally shouted and pointed at Hakyeon in panic.

‘Hey! That’s rude! I’m quite alive.’ Hakyeon got up from his spot and as he turned around to see what he was trapped in, he too, was terrified.

A coffin.

‘What the hell? Why am I in this thing?’

He looked back and forth between the people and the coffin he was sitting in, he had no idea what was going on. Where is he and why did he come out of a coffin rather than the other side of that door he fell into?

The people’s fear was obvious and looked as if they were about to attack the ‘ghost’ that emerged with their torches.

‘W-wait! I’m human!’ Hakyeon was completely lost for words and panicked with the situation.

‘He’s lying!’

‘Yeah! He came out of the coffin!’

‘He’s a witch!’

‘Huh? No! No! I’m human! I don’t have any powers okay? See?’ Hakyeon flickered his finger tips and he did not expect to see light still coming from it. To his surprise and to the people’s surprise, he was in trouble. ‘Um… I can explain?’

Am I still inside of Dreamscape?

The people were scared after witnessing the strange light that came from the boy. They grabbed their torches even tighter and stakes as if they were about to hunt down a witch. They started to approach Hakyeon with caution and Hakyeon got up from his coffin and slowly backed away. He has to escape.

‘Wait!’ An old man appeared just in time from behind the crowd of people.

‘Father?’ One of the men called the old man.

‘He is not a witch. Are you my boy?’ He asked Hakyeon.

‘I’m not!’ Hakyeon nodded frantically.

‘But sir, he’s got those strange powers! He’s got to be a witch!’ Someone else insisted. ‘He’s the cause for our drought!’

‘No. He is no witch. He wields the light in his hands. He is our savior.’ The Father told them and walked up to Hakyeon to defend him from the people.

I am? Hakyeon has no idea what to make sense of the situation anymore. Where the heck am I?

‘Our savior?’ Another asked as the people slowly lowered their torches.

‘Finally, you have come to save our town from salvation.’ The Father walked up to Hakyeon and kneeled before him.

‘Woah! Wait! Get up please!’ Hakyeon jumped down from his coffin to help the old man back up.

The people from behind watched the Father kneel before Hakyeon and decided it was the right thing to do. In an instant, dozens and dozens of people were kneeling before the boy who came out of the coffin.

‘After so many years of waiting, the Heavens have finally answered our prayers. They have finally send us their God.’ The Father said.

God? Me? What? Hakyeon was too confused. The situation was quite a headache and he just wanted to go home already.

‘Finally. Pinewood is safe again.’

~

After all the chaos that Hakyeon found himself in, he was eventually brought into the Father’s home in a small town called ‘Pinewoods.’

‘Please, make yourself at home,’ the Father welcomed him kindly.

‘Um, thanks. But where am I?’ Hakyeon asked.

‘This is our town called Pinewoods. We used to localize in trades and fishery for many centuries until… well until a decade ago.’

‘I see…’ Hakyeon scratched his head at the seemingly troubled old man. ‘So um, what do you mean by me being a savior? Why do you need a God to help you guys so badly?’

‘Our town have been suffering from drought these past couple of years as you can see,’ the Father led him to the window and showed him the dried up fields on the outside. ‘The river no longer runs and our water supplies have been at the lowest. We have been exporting water from local towns and cities as much as we could but our citizens are growing too tired to keep this up. They’re hungry, thirsty, and tried everything they could to survive. We used to be a place where our neighbors would rely on our resources to survive but now, we must rely on them instead. Because of this drought, jobs have become scarce and many of our youngsters have moved out to nearby towns in order to find jobs.’

‘And those towns are okay?’

‘Yes. Which is rather strange. But many of us were born and raised in this town for many generations ever since the beginning. Moving away from this place means running away from our home and our history.’

‘I see.’ Hakyeon debated for a bit since he wasn’t sure what he could do but he definitely sympathized with the town’s situation. ‘What can I do to help?’

‘Anything!’ The Father was desperate,’ you are a Heaven-sent God. Finally here to help us after all.’

‘Huh? Well, I’m not really Heaven sent or a Go-… hmmm, wait a moment.’

Hakyeon suddenly thought of something. His powers still works in this place. The only explanation for that would be possibly because this place is still within Dreamscape. This town and its people are part of the world of dreams and memories.

‘Wait here Father,’ Hakyeon told the old man.

Hakyeon went outside and looked up at the night sky. He took a deep breath and started to focus. He relaxed his entire body and mind towards the sky. Then, cloud started to form from above and eventually covered the stars and the moon. The wind grew humid and cold. Then, a drop of water fell from above.

In an instant, rain began to fall.

Hakyeon opened his eyes to see the miracle he had created.

‘T-this is a miracle!’ The Father ran out of the Chapel to see the rain finally falling from the sky after so many years. All the villagers rushed out from their homes to see the rain as well. ‘You have saved us all! How can we ever repay you!’

‘Huh? It’s nothing really…’ Hakyeon was trying to be as modest as he could since he really didn’t think it was possible. But this was his dream after all.

But why would he have such a dream and memory of these people and this town in which he’s never been before?

The village smiled happily and cheered loudly. The dimmed and tired town of Pinewoods suddenly became the center of festivities again. One by one, late at night, the villagers brought out the most of their stocks in order to prepare a feast in order to welcome the God who saved their village. Hakyeon wasn’t a God at all but he really couldn’t bring himself to tell these happy villagers the truth.

‘Here you go,’ the Father brought Hakyeon a plate of food.

‘Thank you,’ Hakyeon said.

‘To think the Heaven’s have heard our prayers again after so long. We really thought it was time to give up our town.’

‘After so long?’ Hakyeon was rather curious of the Father’s use of words,’ did they used to help you guys before?’

‘Yes. But that was a very, very long time ago. Our town isn’t very well-known except for our usual trades with our neighbors. However, our town have brought up some of the most amazing people we could ever hope for. Pinewoods was once saved long time ago by a group of Gods as well.’

‘Really?’ Hakyeon became intrigued.

‘Yes, at least that’s what our great grandfather used to tell us. We all grew up here listening to those stories of the Gods and Heavens from our ancestors. Though none of us have actually seen a God… tonight is the first.’

‘How did those Gods save the village, if you don’t mind me asking?’

‘We were always a very simple and peaceful town ever since the town was built. Until one day, darkness shrouded our lands. Demons and evil started to find their way here from Hell and tried to destroy our village. Many were taken away into the shadows during that time and our ancestors also thought that our town was doomed. But then, to our surprise, a boy that grew up in this village saved us all.’

‘How?’

‘He was a Demigod. Half human and half a God. He and his friends, who were also the descendants of the Gods, saved us from the darkness.’

Demigod? Descendants? It can’t be… that they’re talking about my previous life are they? Then… could this be a memory of the past?

‘Please tell me more,’ Hakyeon asked.