The cart hits a rock in the road, shaking the carriage and startling Seulgi awake. She blearily looks around the carriage that’s devoid of everything except for bales of hay and her. She wonders how long has she been riding in the back of this carriage. Has it been hours? Days? Knowing her sleeping habits, either option was a possibility. The cart slows to a stop, and Seulgi quickly wipes away the drool that was pooling at the corners of before the driver of the cart circles around to greet her.

    “Ma’am?” the driver calls out. “The kingdom walls are about one mile out, but the soldiers are not letting me through. I’m sorry, ma’am, but this is as far as I can take you.”

    “That’s fine,” Seulgi reassures, before stretching and getting out of the cart. She swings her pack over her shoulder before giving the farmer a few gold coins as a token of her gratitude. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.” She leaves before the man can say anything, leisurely walking down the path to the kingdom nestled in the distant horizon.

    Except she gets stopped immediately by the same soldiers who had stopped the farmer’s cart. She guesses she may have glazed over some of the stuff the farmer had said to her in her haze of having just been woken up. “Halt!” the soldiers command, placing their spears out to block her from continuing down the dirt path. “No civilians are allowed in or out of this kingdom at the moment.”

    Seulgi blinks. “But I’m not a civilian..?” she starts. The soldiers continue to stare at her unblinkingly. “Ah!” Seulgi suddenly remembers, reaching into the inner pocket of her thick uniform jacket. “I have permission to pass through,” she says, handing the crumpled document papers over to one of the soldiers.

    The soldier hesitantly reaches out to receive the documents before quickly skimming through it. Immediately, his eyes widen. “Special request for aid? Witch Hunter of the First Class, Kang Seulgi?” he mutters to himself as he reads bits and pieces of the documents. It’s only then that the soldiers notice the uniform she’s wearing - the thick white military uniform of the Witch Hunter Association, and the gold epaulettes indicating her rank as of the First Class. “You’re the aid that we have been waiting days for?” he asks, shocked eyes landing on Seulgi’s grinning face.

    “Yes!” she replies. The soldiers glance at each other, unsure of what to do until another soldier - a higher ranking soldier - steps up to greet her.

    “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Witch Hunter,” the soldier starts, hand outstretched for a handshake. “We have been waiting for your arrival.”

    “The pleasure is all mine,” Seulgi replies, smiling in response. “I apologize for the delay. A storm had forced me to stop and take shelter for a day.”

    “There is no need to apologize. What matters is that you are here now,” the soldier responds. “Please follow me. I will you to the king.”

.

    Outside the western wall of the kingdom of Valeria, an army is assembling. Hundreds of men are separated into phalanxes, carrying heavy broadswords and even heavier shields. They tremble in their armor as they prepare for their deaths.

Before them, a whirlwind of petals cover the battlefield, turbulent and tumultuous. The petals, a beautiful white and with razor sharp edges, flutter with the wind as if they were butterflies. The white of the petals are stained crimson red with the blood of the soldiers that had fallen before it. The king, dressed in royal regalia, sits tall and mighty on his warhorse. But underneath the gold plated armor and the royal title lies a man who also trembles before the might of the witch responsible for this terror. He scans his army and only sees terrified faces. If his men, trained to be soldiers since birth and weathered by war, are terrified, he can only imagine how his citizens must feel. And it’s with this thought that the king gives the order to attack. A volley of flaming arrows soar through the blue skies and war cries ring throughout the battlefield.

.

    Inside the kingdom, the people of the kingdom stare in awe and fear as petals rain from the sky, a part of the battle outside the walls that had managed to infiltrate the tall kingdom walls. They flutter from the sky, the white of the petals glistening in the sunlight. The sight is both beautiful and terrifying.

    Seulgi reaches out to touch a petal as it floats near her.

    “Ma’am!” the soldier escorting her urgently warns. “Please don’t touch that. It’s dangerous.”

    Seulgi decides to not heed his warning and extends out a finger to catch a petal as it falls. The moment the petal touches her finger, the skin slices open, blood trickling from the wound. The cut burns with a warmth that can only signify magic. “Ah,” Seulgi mumbles to herself. “I understand now.”

.

    The soldier escorting Seulgi leads her into the royal tent of the king on the battlefield and the moment they enter, all heads turn toward them. Seulgi glances around the tent, looking at the maps scattered across the table at the center of the tent and ignoring the hostile glares sent her way.

    “Call them off,” she immediately commands the king, not taking notice of the look of anger that had crossed his face.

    “Lieutenant,” the king starts in a warning tone, ignoring Seulgi and glaring at the soldier who had brought her in. “What is the meaning of this? Who is this woman you have brought to us?” His voice booms even within the canvas walls of the tent, and the grating arrogance in his voice irritates Seulgi immediately.

    “Forgive us for our intrusion, your majesty,” the lieutenant bows his head in apology. “But the aid you have requested has arrived. May I introduce you to Kang Seulgi, Witch Hunter of the First Class.”

    “The Witch Hunter,” the king whispers in awe. He makes a minute gesture with his hand and immediately, everyone who had been in the tent clears out. In the silence that follows, the king begins to speak. “My men are brave and strong,” the king starts, “but in the face of this dangerous threat to our kingdom, we stand helpless. We have no way of defeating this evil, no way of saving our kingdom. No matter how much I hate to acknowledge this, you are our only hope,” the king concludes, staring imploringly at Seulgi. “So please help us, witch hunter. Please save our kingdom.”

    Seulgi stares at the king for a moment that seems to stretch for an eternity before looking out onto the battlefield with a light laugh. “I think I’ve made my response clear the moment I arrived,” Seulgi says. “Tell your men to retreat,” the witch hunter commands. “I will deal with the witch and I do not need them in my way.”

    The king humbly bows his head in gratitude before commanding for the signal of retreat to be sent. Seulgi surveys the situation and furrows her eyebrows at what she sees. “Has there been any fatalities so far?”

    “No, ma’am,” someone responds. His uniform indicates that he is a high-ranking officer among the medics. “The only casualties so far are injuries - mostly just flesh wounds and bruised egos. But if we stepped out any further,” the medic trails off, glancing out to the field where the storm of petals rages on. “This field would be a mass grave.” Seulgi only gives a contemplative hum in reply, crossing her arms as she surveys the situation.

    Once the soldiers are off the field, the whirlwind of petals die down to a soft breeze. All eyes are on Seulgi as she cuts her way through the mass of retreating soldiers and towards the battlefield. Once she nears the source of the magic and her presence is detected, the wind picks up and the petals return in a flurry. “Don’t come near me!” a distant voice screams in desperation from behind a formation of large rocks. The voice sounds young and innocent. (Seulgi pities the witch even more.) The petals bite at Seulgi’s cheek and slice a cut through her brow, causing blood to trail down into her eye. Despite it all, Seulgi continues to walk forward, calmly and steadily, not even taking notice of the dangers around her. There is no need to worry. She knows the witch does not want to kill her, does not want to kill anybody.

    Seulgi raises her arm outwards and an orange magic circle appears, marked with unfamiliar runes and characters. It swirls around her wrist and snakes its way up her arm. Chanting - no more than whispers in the distance - can be heard, getting louder and faster and more intense until it stops. In the silence, Seulgi’s calm voice rings out. “Agni, burn.” A spark ignites in the wind and in the blink of an eye - the swirling petals have all gone up in flames, every single one of them. From the south side of the field, the soldiers gape in amazement and freeze in awe. So this is the power of a witch hunter.

    The witch looks around her in panic. Her petals - they were all gone, burned up in a wave of an arm and a spark! Her heartbeat quickens as her breaths stutter out at an anxious pace. Her main defense is gone in an instance and she’s terrified of what’s going to happen now.  

    Seulgi upturns her palm and another - albeit smaller - orange magic circle appears closely above it, three layers of runes interlocking and separating with one another. “Alaz-Batyr,” Seulgi commands, looking upwards towards the sun, “light the sky.” The sky darkens with crimson clouds that come out of nowhere, and suddenly, it starts to rain fire. It pools onto the battlefield and eats at the thorny vines that had erupted from the earth during the army’s very first campaign against the witch. The witch curls up closer into herself, pressing her back against the large boulder she’s hiding behind, and tightly clenches her eyes shut. She prepares for the worst.

    “Vulcan,” Seulgi commands in a voice no louder than a whisper, “erupt.” A large, orange magic circle blossoms beneath Seulgi’s feet and opens upwards, revealing seven layers of a forgotten ancient language. The magic circles swirl and swirl, growing larger and larger until it surrounds the area, trapping in the witch, trapping in Seulgi. From a distance, the soldiers watch in terrified anticipation as the magic builds. Suddenly, a large pillar of fire erupts from the earth, standing tall where the circles once were, where Seulgi and the witch once stood. Silence blankets the land, leaving only the crackling of the fire and the shallow breaths of the soldiers.

.

    “Hi.” the witch’s eyes flutter open at the sound of the voice to see Seulgi standing in front of her. Her hand is outstretched and a friendly smile is on her face. The witch stares up at her with wide, fearful eyes. Her chest heaves up and down and Seulgi notes the blood flowing from the injuries on her shoulder and calf - places where the arrows had pierced her and are subsequently still embedded in. “Ah, sorry. Did all of this,” Seulgi asks, gesturing around her to all of the fire and destruction around them, “scare you?”

    The witch hesitantly nods, still weary of the hunter. “Sorry,” Seulgi apologizes again, warm smile never leaving her face. “It’s mostly all for show. Soldiers like them - they know nothing more and want nothing more than for the world to go up in flames,” Seulgi muses, looking in the direction of the army. “I’m just giving in to their desires at the moment,” she says, gesturing to the encircling wall of flames that seem to disappear into the heavens. “For a greater purpose of course,” she finishes, grinning down at the witch conspiratorially. The witch hunter crouches down, now eye level with the girl and once again stretches her hand in an expectant handshake. “I’m Seulgi, by the way,” she introduces herself, eyes twinkling as if the world wasn’t burning up around them.

    “Sooyoung,” the girl says quietly, hesitantly reaching up to shake Seulgi’s hand. “Wha- what are you going to do to me?”

    “Hm? Me?” Seulgi blinks before breaking out into another wide grin. “I’m going to save you.”

A/N: Hello all! This will probably be more of a oneshot collection set in the same universe rather than an actual story with a cohesive plot because I didn't have a plot in mind when I wrote this? And I'm not really sure if I can just pull one out of thin air and make it all fit LOL I wrote this mostly because I love fantasy and I love worldbuilding (and I love JoyGi). Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of this story and if you did, please comment, subscribe, or upvote! Or do all three! Thanks!