Like a prayer, our story goes on

Like a prayer, the memory of you will gently refrain again

The last refrain…

===

[Seungri POV]

            I opened my eyes. Grey cloudless sky, tall buildings which some of them has crumbled, filled my eyesight. Ah… I’m inside my inner world. I got up from my sleeping pose.

            ”Ah… you’ve got your consciousness back, Ri?”

            I looked up at the high building not far from my place soon after I heard that voice. She sat there, on the top of that building, crossed her hands on her chest while swung her foots back and forth. Her long indigo hair braided neatly, laid beautifully on her left shoulder.

            ”Why you bring me here?”

            She didn’t answer my question. Just like her usual manner, eyed me with her magenta orbs, then sent her smile. ”Because I feel a hesitation in your heart, Ri.” She answered, then came down to my place, walked closer to me. ”Something’s bothering you, am I right?”

            I didn’t answer her question immediately. She’s always straightforward. She knew all of me. ”I think you shouldn’t ask me those question, Kyu.”

            A chuckle came out from her thin pinkish lips. ”Is that so?” She stood right in front of me. ”But… this time, I can’t figure out what’s make you uncertain, Ri.”

            ”What do you mean?”

            Instead of answering my question, she chose to disappear. Even I can’t find her traces, a single tiny bit of her. A sigh came out from my lips. She left me with that unanswered question. She has left me, in this gloomy world that created from my mind and heart state. Grey sky, grey moon, crumbled building. My inner world even looked worse than the outer world where I lived in.

            ”Stop that stupid face, stupid Hyun.”

            I’d taken a back, by that harsh female voice. A girl with long white-silver hair, stood right behind of me. Soon, I felt cold-murdering aura crawled surrounded me.

            ”This world even looked worse than the first time I lived in. Your mind and emotion state must have collided in the worst situation, Hyun.” She said, then faced me eye to eye.

            The girl who stood in front of me right now was different…so different with the other girl I met earlier. Her charcoal orbs seemed colder than Kyuaran’s magenta orbs. Instead used a calm and friendly words and manner, the girl whom named Aimer in front of me chose to use cold demeanor towards me.

            ”Damn that stupid Kyuaran.” Aimer hissed as she walked away, then stopped ten steps away from me. She looked at the top of the building where Kyuaran stood there before. ”Kyu’s very sharp when it’s came to cut the enemy, but in front of you… she became weak. She’s actually knew what’s wrong with you, but she chose to lie.”

            ”Aimer…”

            ”Final release of black demon. You want to master it, right?” She questioned me with her sharps gaze.

            I got silent for a while. Never in my imagination, those question will asked to me, by her… the black demon that has lived with me for this recent ten years. ”Yes.” I answered shortly.

            ”Then master it.” She said lightly, still hold her sharp gaze upon mine. I didn’t see a hesitation in her charcoal eyes.

            ”But…”

            A frown created on her face as I voiced out those simple word to her. She must thought that those one word was the most stupid thing ever to be said to her. ”You’re afraid of death?”

            I couldn’t answer that question. Many things crowded my mind, burned my heart. ”Then… before I let you become the end of my life, tell me how to win this fight.” I looked at her eyes, still only coldness I could see throughout it. ”How to win this fight to save my life. I’ve been running for the answer, but the time is running out on me. The echo of the countdown is killing me.”

            Aimer turned around, her back faced me. Her long white-silver hair danced slowly, followed the wind which was blew it. The sky got darker, my inner world started raining. It felt so cold… it’s like agony. ”Look what you’ve done to this world, Hyun.” She still hid her face from me. She looked up at the dark sky. ”I still can bear with this silent grey world. But, drowned beneath the waves of your endless fear, it’s crushing me.” She faced me with the emotion that never I saw before. ”Final release, it isn’t the end of your life, Hyun.”

            ”Aimer…”

            ”Come here again…” She approached me, then whispered to me. ”When you’ve found the answer.”

            I left alone. As the dark seeps nearer, I look in the pool of water under me as the mirror. The vision I saw was the lifeless soul smiling back through my eyes. I closed my eyes as the sky grew dimmer. I could heard Kyuaran’s whisper, an everlasting vow.

            Have faith in your heart, when hope is forgotten.

===

Crystalise, 03.17 a.m, October, 22nd 2135 M

At certain building…

            ”Oh… you’ve woken up?”

            That’s the first thing I heard after I opened my eyes. My head’s hurt, my vision’s still blurry. I tried to sit and rested my back on the wall. After I focused my eyesight, I could saw clearly the man who greeted me earlier, Mithra hyung.

            ”You must have drained your energy. You lied unconscious right after you finished on putting the final spell on the magic barrier.” He kept speaking even I still didn’t remember what have happened before I lied in this strange place. ”Here.” Mithra hyung offered a cup of dark liquid to me. I didn’t accept it, instead gave him a question look. A sigh escaped from his mouth. ”Tukutz gave me this before I go to the meeting yesterday night. He knew that you will drained your energy, so he gave me this strange drink to get back your energy.”

            Finally I accepted that cup, and looked at the drink. ”He… didn’t has an intention of poisoning me, right?”

            ”Hahaha… you’re really afraid of him?”

            ”Aniyo. I just fed up with him. He kept using me as his experiment object.” I drank the strange liquid in heartbeat. A strange sensation appeared as I finished the drink.

            Mithra hyung just showed his amusement as he heard my compliment about his old buddy. ”Since the first time I met him, he already has the title as “crazy scientist”. But, after you joined us, he became beyond that. Maybe, he’s turned into “mad scientist” now, because he has found the irreplaceable experiment object, and it’s you, Ri.” Mithra hyung drank his own coffee. ”Ah… I almost forgot. Ri, something happened when you’re unconscious.”

            ”Mwo?” I asked lazily. Instead of getting back my energy, I felt like my energy got . It’s about the time until I got unconscious again.

            ”Your hair got longer, and its color turned into indigo with some silver color at the tip of it. The air around your body turned thicker and colder. I felt a strong mana around you. Could you explain it to me?”

            ”I can’t explain it to you, Hyung. Just… don’t approach me when I’m in that state. I don’t know what I’ve done in that state.”

            Soon, after I said those sentence, I closed my eyes. Drowned into the dreamland.

===

Crystalise, 05.46 a.m, October 22nd 2135 M,

Branch Office of National Force Military, 8th Room

[Chaerin POV]

            I stood silent in front of the wide windows of the room where I and my teammates spent our time discussed there. The gray cloud’s still unwilling to leave the morning sky. The sun crept up to the sky slowly, sometimes it’s got covered with the cloud. From my place, I could see the panorama of the city where I stayed at. Tall buildings, facilities, parks, etc. It’s looked so beautiful, but soon… maybe it’ll turned into ashes.

            ”Leader Lee, it’s time to go.” I could heard Jennie’s voice behind me. I turned around just to face my member.

            ”Kajja.” I walked out from the room and met Chaeyoung who still busy with her gadget. ”You found something, Rosé?” I asked her.

            ”Nothing’s wrong in here, Leader. There’s no abnormalities in the governor’s system.”

            ”What about the CCTV?” Jennie asked her, while the three of us started walking out of the office.

            ”Nothing’s strange with the people in the CCTV. The economic and business activities still run like usual. Just like what’ve happened in Osiris, we found nothing notable here.”

            I stopped my step, as Rosé finished her explanation. “The sleepwalkers” movement is really beware. They didn’t aim to rummage the management system in the two cities, but they chose those cities as their target. What’s their intention then?

            ”Leader Lee, Leader Lee?”

            I got back after heard Jennie called my name. ”Mwo?”

            ”It’s time to go to the port.”

            ”Ah, geurae…”

===

Crystalise, 06.06 a.m, October 22nd 2135 M,

Paraiso Port

            Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the Paraiso Port, Crystalise. There, stood two members of VIP team who got the task to investigate in Crystalise, together with us.

            ”Leader Lee, welcome.” Said Song Minho followed by his and Lee Seunghoon’s salute towards me which was I replied back with salute too.

            ”What about your result, boys?” I asked them.

            ”The military and security system here didn’t got hacked by them. We also didn’t find abnormalities at magic system in here. We just found an old magic circuit that has been sealed for years. The result’s just same as Osiris’s.” Song Minho explained.

            The investigation was going nowhere. We didn’t find something has could be used as their weakness. I looked at the members who looked defeated, but Lee Seunghoon.

            ”What’s wrong, Sergeant Lee?” I asked Lee Seunghoon who looked like thought about something seriously.

            ”Leader Lee, may I ask you something?” he asked me back which got a question look from me.

            ”Mwo?”

            ”The previous member of VIP team, he’s 2nd Lieutenant Lee Seunghyun, right?”

            I shocked as I heard that question got out from his mouth. I nodded slowly as my answer, then he seemed in deep thought again.

            ”As I remembered him, he has specialization in hacking system, and it included in magic too. He’s so pro in that area, even the enemy didn’t realize that their system and magic security has been hacked by him. He’s also good at released the sealed magic circuit, what if…”

            ”Chamkaman!” Song Minho cut Seunghoon’s prediction.

Actually, I didn’t think that possibilities until what’s Seunghoon has predicted. I forgot that little Seunghyun has turned his back against us, he has joined the enemy. He’s the kind of man that could calculated many kind of things to reveal his enemy’s weaknesses, even for the things that never crossed our mind.

”You mean… he has unsealed that old magic circuit without got detected by the security?” Song Minho asked Lee Seunghoon in disbelief voice. Shock gasps came out from Jennie and Rosé. I only could lower my eyesight. Suddenly my hands trembled.

”Even that magic circuit has unsealed by him, we still didn’t know what the usefulness of that magic circuit to them. That magic circuit wasn’t the kind of circuit that could improve someone’s magic ability, also it needed a huge mass of magic energy to activate it.”

”And that magic circuit was also not the destructive type. Argh… it’s so confusing!” Song Minho cried out his stress towards the sea.

None of us uttered a single word. It’s like a puzzle, the sleepwalker’s goal behind the upcoming war. It’s when we decided to head to the ship, I stopped my track. I looked back, but just found many strange faces that passed one by one, walked toward the ship. It’s so faint, but I still recognized it clearly, his spiritual energy. I walked, to somewhere I didn’t know where I’ll go.

”Leader Lee, where are you going?” Hayi asked me, stopped me for a while.

”Just go back first and report the result to Leader Kwon. I have to go somewhere first, and I’ll go back when my business’s finished. Be careful.”

I run as fast as I could, afraid to lose track of him. It’s my first time I felt it again, since the five years ago. It felt so nostalgic. I gasped for air, as I stopped for a while. Several minutes ago, he’s here, stood between the dense cargos. He’s still around here.

===

Crystalise, 06.46 a.m, October 22nd 2135 M,

Paraiso Cargo Terminal, Paraiso Port

[Seungri POV]

            My head’s still felt a bit dizzy, but I have to move to the next city, Quell. Wrapped in khaki colored hoodie, I walked silently and carefully behind Mithra hyung’s lead. The info about some of the Zero Division’s members went to Osiris and Crystalise was true. Bumped into them was the last thing I wished for. The ocean wind hit my face as I stepped my foot at the entrance of the cargo terminal.

            ”Could we rid another kind of transportation, Hyung? Suddenly, I have bad intuition about riding the ship.” I said to Mithra hyung in low intonation.

            ”Lisa has check it, we won’t be in the same ship as them, Ri. Also, we aimed Quell, not going back to Seoulite. Don’t worry too much.” Mithra hyung kept walking in front of me without worry.

            It was when I wanted to say something to him, I felt it. I felt her spiritual energy, so clearly. Automatically, I pulled Mithra hyung to stand beside me, hid in between the dense cargos.

            ”What’s wrong, Ri?”

            ”They’re here.” I said while my eyes looked at the five, two males and three females, clothed in Seleas’s military uniform, stood at the place near the departing ship area. ”Cih… those two joined them?”

            ”You know them?”

            ”Just a little bit. Those two males, they’re still freshmen when I still there, but their intuition about something is really something. They’re… the pain in the , especially the one who carried his gun on his back.”

            Actually, it’s not the urgent concern that I have to face now. Soon, she will find me, even I have suppressed my own spiritual energy into its lowest level, she still able to feel it. ”You move first, Hyung. I will go after I finished something.” I started walking away from the dense cargos and left Mithra hyung.