After that particularly.. arousing intimacy, Stephanie had gone through the days like nothing happened. She had never initiated another heated session, opting for gentle kisses, hand holding, and innocent cuddling. I, on the other hand, didn’t find it in me to be emboldened enough to do much but follow meekly along as she directed our time together. As far as I was concerned, getting to kiss her lips and slide right beside her in our tiny bed was enough. I was content.

I didn’t know one night was all it took to jar that content and shake my world upside down.

I was roughly awakened by a sharp, stinging pain to one of my fingers. I would have yelped, but the large hand pressing against my mouth muffled the sound. I in a breath, my eyes snapping at the silhouette hovering over the bed. Panicked, I was debating on pathetically flailing to awake the sleeping woman huddled beside me when my ears processed the hushed words from a familiar gruff voice.

“Quiet, Taeyeon. Leave her to sleep. Pick up your coat and book and come up. Be quick.”

The pressure from my mouth lifted, the master straightening up to his full height. His looming figure raised the hairs on the back of my neck and before I knew it I had risen halfway on my elbows, fists clenched, using my body to block the master from reaching Stephanie.

I knew, at the back of my mind, I would not have won if it came to a brawl with him. He was tall and wide shouldered, and compared to my short, scrawny build I was no match. But the urge to protect Stephanie gave me the courage to stand up to him. I would never let anyone lay a finger on my woman, not even the Master, not if I could help it.

I only relax after I watch the master’s back disappear up the stairs. I make a quick check on Stephanie, checking if I had somehow disturbed her sleep. I shouldn’t have, but I press a quick peck on her forehead anyway and slip out of the bed.

I was halfway up the stairs, struggling with my coat to find the right hole for my arms when I felt something dash past my leg. I let out a yelp, slapping my hand over my mouth to muffle the rest as my eyes follow the small black figure rush up to the top. It stops right at the top, looking like it had sat down. The soft light from the moon traced the outline of the black cat and I let my hand drop as I eagerly in the much-needed air to calm down. I look worriedly behind me, my mind torn in between returning to Stephanie’s side and following the master’s order.

A mewl had me searching for the cat as it trotted out of my sight.

I follow it.

I find the master a few paces away from the entrance, the orange glow of his stick brightly bobbing amidst the darkness. Fixing my coat I close the distance between us, noting that the cat was circling around his ankle, purring contentedly despite being ignored by the master.

“You’re here.” He said, pulling the stick from his mouth to blow out the smoke. I cough as the smoke blows right to my face. I cover my nose with the sleeve and trying to fan the smell away. He takes one more puff before discarding the stick, stomping the light out. The cat paused in its ministration, resuming its circling once the cigar was put out.

“You called me?” I asked, hesitantly, after an extended period of unsettling silence.

His chest puffs out as he takes a large inhale. “You look close with that woman.”

“Wo- Stephanie?” I ask, taken aback by his statement. Had he known? For how long? Why has he never spoken of this until now? Why even bring it up now? Dread began to fill me and I prayed hard that he was not going to say the words we have been trying our best to avoid.

“I never said anything about it before, but I’m afraid the longer I put it off the harder it’s going to be.”

“Harder it’s going to be.” I repeat numbly. My gut was clenching hard and I felt something pushing up my throat, threatening to spill from my mouth. I grimace as I swallow it back down

“Taeyeon..” He sighs.

“Please…” I say weakly. My extremities had gone cold, my legs rooted to the spot. My throat felt tight and my breathing haggard.

Please, don’t say what I think you’re going to say.

“It’s time. We have work to do.” It was not what I had expected. The pain in my chest eases I take in a lung full of cool air. My knees wobbled, but I somehow kept myself from crumbling to the ground.

“D-do I need to.. my shovel..”

“We won’t need that.” He says, starting his trek down the small hill, the cat at his feet.

We arrive at the town a few minutes later. In the dark of the night, the town looked dead, almost frighteningly eerie. It looked nothing like the quaint small town I walk hand in hand with Stephanie. The market was empty of the usual string of people chattering and bargaining, the stalls looking like no one had touched them in years, the woods rotting in disuse. The houses were dark, occasionally creaking from the weight it had been carrying as it settles over the years. Overall, it was a very unsettling sight.

I wondered if this work had something to do with the master’s collecting. He has been disappearing for longer periods of time, but I had thought the collection was something he’d do before the whole town is in deep slumber. I’m sure not even the tavern is open at this time of the evening. I hasten my pace, keeping close to the master. He has not said anything since we left, so I was completely in the dark at what kind of work we were going to do.

“Do you have your book?” His voice startles me. I halt in my steps, my hand going to my coat pocket to trace the outline of the black book. I nod my head, then, realising he probably couldn’t see me, grunted my answer.

“What kind of work are we going to do?” I dare to ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

A soft thump startles me again, this time I make a small hop backward, my eyes falling on the large yellow eyes staring right at me. I blink at the cat, just now noting the flecks of green around its iris.

“Not now.” The master hisses, breaking my staring contest with the cat.

“N-n-wh-what?” I stutter, looking at the master and the cat.

“We’re close.” He says, disregarding my question. He pulls something from his coat, and dare I say, struggles in trying to take whatever it was out. He makes a soft grunt, his hands flying up as he frees whatever it was in his pocket. Before I could ask what it was he presses the object right into my palm.

“Do you have your book?” He asks again, his tone a little harsher.

I quickly fumble into my pocket, pulling the book out and hold it up for him to see. He doesn’t even look back at me and is instead focused on something in front of him.

“Are we.. going to collect something?” I ask hesitantly, all the while trying to sneak a glance around the master for whatever it was he was looking at. I don’t see anything unusual, just the empty cobblestoned road before us.

“We are collecting.” He answers.

“Couldn’t we do this.. in the morning?” I continue. I really rather be under the sheets and sleep than battling the cold in the middle of the deserted town. I’m sure by this time my skin is cool to the touch as I am only wearing an oversized shirt underneath. I hadn’t the foresight to put on my pants. I didn’t think I’d be walking around town at this ungodly hour.

“It’s time you learned the ropes.” I was getting a little irate at his vague answers. It was not like the master to dodge questions. He was usually straight to the point, the lesser the need to explain the better. Now he was barely making sense to me.

Who works at this hour, seriously? Anyone up at this hour is either crazy or up to no good. The former wasn't ideal but I really hope it’s not the latter. I know the war isn’t exactly making living easy, but anything is better than stealing. Being labeled as the gravedigger is troublesome enough, I do not want thief to be added to my already poor social status.

“There, you see that?” He whispers, moving slightly to the side to give me a clear view. I press closer, looking from one side of the street to the other.

“What am I looking…” the last of my words doesn't make it past my lips. I see it, the faint glow behind a tree. I squint, taking a careful step forward. I still can’t make heads or tails of what I’m looking at. “What is that?”

“What we’re here for. Get the babushka ready.” He says, moving out from the alleyway we’ve been hiding in.

“Babush-“ I look down to my hand, finally taking note of the painted face staring back at me. It was one of those dolls the master made, the ones hallowed within, cut in the middle and carved in a way that once the two pieces were together would easily close in place.

I don’t get it. Are we supposed to be playing with someone? Is this a gift? What is going on?

When I look up I was surprised to find the master already creeping behind the tree. I take off after him, careful not to make too much scuffling noise. When I’m close enough I hear his gruff voice muttering some sort of incantation, his hand already held out. I hazard a guess and pass him the doll. He looks back at me, not breaking his muttering and shoves the doll back into my hand, reaching for my wrist instead. He pulls me until I round the tree and what greets me is a sight that made me gasp. The faint glow had come from this translucent orb bobbing gently mid-air. It looks a lot like a floating whitish-blue ember rather than a firefly.

I look to the master for instructions, clueless and dumbfounded of this whole thing. I have never seen anything like this before and I was wary of what it can do to me. It looks calm enough, simply bobbing up and down, but it still looks more like some kind of fire. He meets my eyes, his set into a glare as if he couldn’t believe I was this stupid. His eyes fall on the doll, I follow his gaze.

A wooden doll versus a fiery orb. I don’t think my logic is skewed, fire beats wood every time. I look back up at him, hoping the confusion in my expression would get a reaction out of him. He doesn’t stop glaring, still muttering the incantation unmoving from behind the tree. How reassuring.

Taking a deep breath I move forward, uncapping the two pieces. Carefully, I ease the pieces above and below the orb, gradually closing the distance between the two until the two ends meet and I am thrown back into darkness. It doesn’t catch fire. My fingers are still numbing from the cold. I let the breath I held out in one quick whoosh.

“I thought you would never catch on.” The master’s approving voice takes me out of my relieved thoughts.

“I thought it was some kind of fire.” The babushka doesn’t exactly look fire resistant. “I was afraid it would catch fire as soon as it touched the wood.”

“I wouldn’t have made you do that if I had known. I wouldn’t put you in any danger.”

I didn’t know that. I turn the doll around my hand, marvelling at the fact that whatever it was wasn’t putting up a fight to get loose. “What is this anyway?”

“It’s the essence left behind.”

“Essence?”

“It’s the substance of something, like the core, the fire within.”

“I know what essence is.” I grumble, passing the babushka back to the master. He quickly pockets it, head already sweeping the empty street. “Essence of what?”

“Of the departed.”

“Departed? The dead?” I give him a wide-eyed look. What?

“Now you’re getting it.”

“What? Wait, what?” I asked in a louder voice. I know I should keep it down, but what the master had just said was completely absurd. I believed the dead left behind grief for those that are alive, but essence?

I must be dreaming. Yeah, I’m still in the hideaway, sleeping on my bed with Stephanie curled right beside me. This was all just a weird dream after a long day of work. Maybe I had a heat and didn’t know it and this is the result.

His nudging once again takes me out of my musing. He has his palm held out, his lips, from what I could make out, set in a tight frown. “Book.”

Numbly I take the book out of my pocket and pass it to the master. He takes it quickly, going through the pages until he settles somewhere down the middle and passes the book back to me.

“Read.”

“But it’s dark.” I weakly retort.

He shakes the book impatiently “Read. Quickly.”

I take it in my hand, letting my eyes roam over the page despite the lack of lighting. A few seconds of trying to figure out the words I look up to the master and shake my head. “It’s too dark.”

He sighs, wrapping his big hand around my wrist and drag me to out from under the shade of the tree. I could see now, but now I was sure this is a dream. The words that I had memorised through constant reading were replaced by inscriptions I have never seen in my whole existence. Just in case, I flip through the pages until I arrive at the front cover. The cover looked exactly like the book I have kept with me nearly 10 years, but the content was anything but the words I have lived by. Yet, despite the change, and to my utter surprise, I can still read and understand the inked sentences.

I did not like what I read one bit.

“What does it mean?”

“It means exactly what it says.”

“But… soul gathering..” I look up at him completely lost to this new, unbelievable information shoved into my face. He doesn’t answer, simply pressing another babushka in my palm.

“Ah.. this is one heck of a dream..” I press a palm against my forehead as I mutter under breath. I am slowly convincing myself that this was nothing more than a lucid dream. A dream fabricated by my delusional mind as an effect of overworking my body.

I hear a hiss, followed by pinpricks of sharp pain coursing through my nerves. I buck my shoulder to the side, letting out a surprised-pained yelp as the cat dislodges from my shoulder and drop the book and doll in the process. I stare after its silhouette as it calmly walks up to the master. If I didn’t know any better I’d say it was haughtily smirking at my face.

Wait, pain? I rub my shoulder, the pain from its claws digging past fabric and into my skin linger far longer than I would like. “Wait. So, I’m not dreaming?”

The gears in my mind click into place. The carvings put up in a neat row above the woodworks, the master’s long absence. “Are you saying.. right now I’ve left Stephanie alone in a room full of these things?”

Then, a memory flashed in my mind, the eyes peering at me that one afternoon had my gut wrenching and heart pounding. “Are they dangerous?” The question barely leaves my lips, and I feel my whole body turning rigid.

His head shift ever so subtly. “No harm will come to that woman. Our job is to collect the lingering essence and bring the babushka to their resting place to grant them entry to the afterlife.”

“The ones back in the bunker?”

“Empty.” He says, bending to pick up the book and the doll. He brushes the back of his hand across the open page and the cover, dusting it off the dirt from the cobblestone road. “I won’t force the woman out of the bunker if you’re worried about that. But you and I will be away for the next few evenings. I will teach you what I know and you will be my successor after my time is up.”

“After your time? You- are you.. are you dying?”

“We’re all dying, Taeyeon. You know that.” He says calmly. He extends the book towards me but I backpedal away from it. I vehemently shake my head, hiding my hands behind my back like a child.

“But- but successor? Wh-what if I don’t want to do this?” I shake my head. “I don’t want to do this.”

“You will be my successor.” He sighs, letting his hand fall to his side. “We have trained you since we took you from the orphanage. It is part of your duty now.”

“I didn’t ask to be taken by you!” The words are out of my mouth before I could fully process them. The reaction was immediate. The master straightened to his full height, and in the eerie silence of the dead town he looked a lot more menacing. Less human.

“You were chosen! You will not defy me!” The master growled, advancing so fast that I stumble backward from fright, tripping over my own feet and falling on my bottom. A soon as I see his hand raised I squeezed my eyes shut, raising my arms over my head, preparing for the blow.

It doesn’t come. I can hear his ragged breaths close to where I sat. When I chance a peek from under my raised arms I see his pant leg just an arm’s reach away. He could have struck me for my insolence.

Have you ever seen him mad? Now I have.

He drops the book by my feet, making me jump and cower from the fright. To think, just before we left I was convinced I’d have to fight him.

I hear the cat meow, a bone-chilling deep meow that I couldn’t believe could come from that scraggly black cat. The master stalks over to the cat, ruffling his short hair in frustration.

“She’s not ready! Can’t you see?” Who is he talking to?

The cat meows again, the same rumbling sound that doesn’t sound cat-like at all.

“I’ll prepare her. But now is not the time.” Oh, God. Is he talking to the cat?

“You do not touch that woman. She is not part of this.” Woman?

Stephanie!

I shoot them both a wild look. Is Stephanie in danger? I push the weirdness of watching the master argue with a cat less than an eight of his size to the back of my mind. Without saying anything I crawl on my knees and attempt to sneak away. It isn’t until I get a clear view of the path that we entered through that I pushed up on my feet and made a mad dash for it.

“Taeyeon!” The master yells. I dare not look back.

When I burst out from the alleyway I wrack my brain for the route we had taken to get there. Looking to my right doesn’t give me much clue of my whereabouts and the left looked like a mirrored image of the other side. The houses remained still and dark as if the master’s shouting hadn’t even broken the sleep the people were in. I don’t dwell too much on the strangeness, the need to make it back to the bunker egging me to pick my choice.

Making a quick decision I take to the right. I couldn’t have made more than five strides when something pulled me by the scruff of my collar. My feet leave the ground and I am flying back to where I came, my back slamming against the ground and forcing the wind out of me. I grit my teeth at the pain exploding around my body, a strangled cry was all I managed to produce, not nearly loud enough to wake anyone up. Tears pooled in my eyes while I was fighting back the light-headedness and the nearly overpowering darkness. I can’t faint right now.

A pair of hands curled under my armpits and I am roughly yanked up to my feet. My back hits a solid surface, the arm around me the only thing stopping me from falling to my knees and I manage to in a large breath. A low snarl coming from the front has my whole body tense and the hairs on the back of my neck standing. I look up from staring at the cobblestone road and wished I hadn’t.

The snarling had come from the massive, shadowy quadruped crouching down in a windup position. Its greenish-yellow eyes, glinting in the dark even without the help of the moon, instantly caught my attention. I was deathly afraid, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away as if I was spellbound. I feel my feet begin to move, taking a step forward without my consent. I wanted to scream but my jaws refuse to unhinge. I have lost control of my body. The light-headedness began to seep in along with the mortifying thought of being mauled to my death by this thing. What a bloody way to die.

It wasn’t until I felt myself being jerked to the side that I broke eye contact. My knees finally buckled under my weight and I crashed on all fours, the pain shocking my numbing body awake. Instantly I took a deep breath and fix my gaze on the ground.

“She is my successor. If you take her now, no one will take my place.” The master’s gruff voice boomed in the silence, making me wince and lower to the ground. “I have been dutiful to you as have the old man. Taeyeon will do the same, just give us time.”

Would I do the same? All my life I have never really thought of what my future could be. I was never given a reason to think that far ahead. I had no dreams or aspirations as the rest of my peers who had lived a normal life in the town. I worked, lived for the day and waited for what the next day brings. Then all of a sudden, I am told that my future has already been decided for me and that I have lost the right to choose the moment I was adopted. As if it wasn’t already unfair to me, but somehow I had dragged Stephanie into all of this. By caring for her I’ve put her life in danger, and that begins to fray the last rope of my sanity.

I in another shaky breath. Focusing my thoughts on Stephanie and the warm, fuzzy feeling I have whenever I’m with her. I needed to calm down, just enough to stop my trembling body. I needed to get back home. I needed to save Stephanie from whatever it is I’ve been pushed into. Just as I had eased the shaking I am once again yanked up to my feet, my arm protesting from the sudden strain. The master’s face comes into view, his brows knitted in a rare show of concern. Before I know it, I am pulled into his arms, one of his hands awkwardly patting the top of my head.

“It’s going to be okay. You’re safe.” His gruff voice carries over the stillness of the night, the warmth of his body helping in easing the wild thumping of my heart. My arms wound around his back and I clutch at the cloth of his coat. My body shakes as I take a deep breath in and the tears pricking at my eyes fall like a broken dam. He repeats those two sentences, wrapping me in his embrace, patiently waiting for me to get control over my emotions.

It’s hard. I have never felt so helpless, so terrified in my life. My tears continue their descent, my breathing choppy while my lips tremble and no matter how I try to stop them I can’t. All that has happened tonight, all the information I’ve gathered presses on my mind, and my jumbled up emotions only worsens my crying fit. I am bawling, like a newborn vying for attention yet unable to properly communicate their needs.

In a way, I am like a baby, barely alive for two decades in this old world. A world that has just opened a hidden truth that was hard to swallow. Of people’s essence left behind way after their death and demonic shadows- which I’m sure was the cat- that could manipulate minds and snuff the life out of their victims.

And I’m now in the middle of it, whether I liked it or not.

~~~

Are you surprised by the course this story has taken? Well, so am I. I don't know what had me decided to veer off my original plan but I think I like this way better. I hope you readers do too.

I know it has taken me a while to update, I've just been unable to sit still and focus on one task. Don't worry, I'm still writing. We're almost to the end of this story(at least that's what I planned), any thoughts on how TaeNy's future is going to be after Taeyeon's learned of the role that has been pushed to her?

Shout out to all those who commented, subscribed, and upvoted this story, you guys are awesome! To all you silent readers out there, pop down to the comment section and maybe let me know what you think of the story progression so far or say hello. Or not, no pressure.