chapter one

Eunjung’s last memory was her village being burned down before someone had thrown a bag over her head and knocked her out.

It wasn’t the most pleasant thing to think about, but as her surroundings came into view, she was pretty sure she preferred that unconsciousness over the fact that she was most likely suffering from a mild concussion in a room so crowded that she could barely breathe properly. At least there had been another dream when she’d been out; that had been useful, and Eunjung would’ve chosen that over the place she was in anytime. Taking a deep breath, she scanned her surroundings again, trying to fight down the distracting pounding in her head.

Squinting through minimal light really wasn’t helping with the cause either. Groaning, Eunjung pushed herself to her feet unsteadily—it seemed that someone had dumped her unceremoniously in the corner, and she thought that it was a miracle that she hadn’t been trampled by everyone else in the room already.

There was nothing recognizable that struck a chord, nor could she spot anything useful or anything that stood out. The only thing that was prevalent was  the fact that the place was packed full of people, leaving barely enough breathing space. It took her a second to realize that every single person in the dark, windowless room were women, accompanied occasionally by smaller figures—children. Some were old enough to stand on their own (there was no older than that, though, and from where she was, the oldest child in view couldn’t have been over four years old) and some were barely infants.

Bile rose to at that sight. The whole place was wrapped in an uncomfortable sort of silence, forced by fear, something that felt all too familiar. She could feel the tension underneath—every one of them probably wanted to express that terror one way or another, and seeking comfort with another would’ve been ideal—but the fear kept them silent. Even the children clung onto their mother’s skirts, eyes wide, but still mute.

Attack. That had been obvious—the last thing Eunjung had seen was the village burning, people attempting to flee, the flag of a guild, but she hadn’t seen the design of it yet to know which one it had been. Either way, it was bad news.

She shook her head, pushing back the pain. If the guild had taken so many people—there should’ve been at least a hundred crowded in just that room, though it was hard to estimate without light—and from what Eunjung had seen, smaller guilds slaughtered and pillaged. To take so many captives…

There still had to be a way. It wasn’t the first time her luck had ended up terribly—a day before she wanted to leave the village and it had gotten attacked—but getting out of the camp of a large guild was going to be hard. Besides, so minimal information was dangerous to work with.

Eunjung turned to the woman closest to her. She was holding a child to her chest, someone most likely less than a year old, who had somehow managed to slip into a fitful slumber. The mother looked worried, eyes constantly flitting around, on guard for something that wasn’t visible.

She turned towards the woman. “Hey,” she started, voice hoarse from the lack of speaking, and every single person around her seemed to turn towards her. The woman stepped back, hands tightening around the child in her arms.

Eunjung raised her hands, hoping the gesture was placating enough. No visible exits. Packed full of people. All prisoners. There were probably guards outside. No wonder every single person was terrified and unwilling to talk to her. Besides, even if some of them were from the same village, she was just a traveller, a stranger’s face.

Don’t think I’ve actually faced worse, she thought drily. But I’ve been through enough for this to not be… that scary.

“Sorry,” she said, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Do you know where we are?”

She shook her head and pressed her index finger to her lips and made a motion that Eunjung could only translate as not being able to talk.

Eunjung swallowed her frustration. “Look.” She forced back the impatience from her voice. “I know you’re afraid, but I’ve been out the whole time and I need to know at least who runs this guild.”

Dead silence followed her words. Quietness meant something: they were too afraid to talk, which just reiterated that the guild was that powerful.

Before she could do anything else, the girl next to her tugged on her sleeve. Eunjung turned towards her. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen, maybe younger. “Kim Hajoon,” she said, so quietly that Eunjung had to lean closer to actually hear her words. “He’s the head of the guild.”

Kim Hajoon. That name struck a bell and also made the situation worse. He was one of the sixth that were specifically chosen by the deities, and, from what she’d heard, he was one of the worst. The guild was huge, too, well guarded, with at least hundreds of active guards, many of which had probably made minor deals with deities too. The village she had grown up in was invaded by one of the other guilds, which was the last time she had seen her family. That had been eight months ago. And also nine villages ago.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Eunjung muttered a thanks to the girl. She leaned against the wall, head whirring as she tried to think of anyway to escape. Kim Hajoon—there wasn’t a single person that didn’t know of him—he’d made a deal with Lydr, deity of lust. She’d seen the destruction he’d left, villages she’d planned to stop at razed to the ground when she finally passed by. Bodies strewn everywhere—but most of the murdered were older men, sometimes children too old to be taken with mothers but too young to do anything of use. Most of the women were taken.

She contemplated asking the girl for more information, but she had moved back into the crowd, disappearing into the mass of people. No one else around was willing to talk.

Eunjung glanced at the cracks in the building. They were too high for her to reach, and even if she could, the minimal sunlight streaming from it wasn’t a crack big enough for her to break through. She had a army knife left in her pocket, which wasn’t nearly enough to do anything. The metal walls couldn’t be cut through.

Out of options, Eunjung turned to another woman. “You don’t have to talk,” she started, “But how long has it been?”

She glanced around nervously. Then, as if she seemed to make sure that nobody was watching, held up a single finger.

“A day,” she guessed.

A frightened nod. It was all she was going to get out of them. Restless, she turned away again. It was no doubt that every single one of them was terrified—even for someone who’d been in a similar situation before might’ve been nervous, and a majority of the village hadn’t come in contact with guilds yet. No doubt this was new for all of them. And, the thought heavy, there was little doubt that none of them would ever leave the confinement of the guild. Alive.

Seeing that they’d most likely been locked in the same place for a day, she figured it was only a matter of time before a guard came to get them. Kim Hajoon wasn’t gathering them for no reason. It had only been rumors, but there was whispers about his powers getting worse, more unstable. He mostly stayed in the back lines, caving into the sin that Lydr had cursed him with, never able to satisify the thirst.

It would’ve been pitiful if she hadn’t been stuck there and turned into a potential victim. Eunjung nearly kicked the wall in frustration, but she was pretty certain every single person in the crowded room wouldn’t have appreciated that. They already looked irritated enough at her for talking.

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