they’re caught in a circle of wild inferno wielded by humans on strange animals with long legs, faces and large bodies. irene hasn’t seen seen horses before. no one inside has, but she thinks these are them with large, onyx eyes and manes brushed back. they neigh, move according to their rider’s beckon. and she thought they only existed in walls of texts of daydreamers and wanderlusts that fizzled to extinction. they left their life’s work behind for only her to appreciate. she hopes, staring the domineering black stallion in the face does them justice. 

“what did you say just now?”

irene sees the red. it isn’t blazing wildfire but with depth, almost blood drenched. the rider descends from her companion with ease, footsteps light on dead leaves and thin twigs. when she walks, there isn’t a sound. 

“our leader asked you a question. answer it!” someone holding a spear ed it forward, earning frightened screams from joy and yeri. the brute reinforcement is unnecessary when they come unarmed, only brandishing flashnights that can't knock anyone out.

the leader with hair of scarlet tied away from her face whips her head around. “baekhyun, it’s fine.” she lowered the dangerously sharp end down, then continued to circle them like a predator to its prey. “you’re not from around here, are you?”

irene and her friends exchange looks, all equally terrified of their doom, of what they might say that can lead to that. 

clearing his throat, chanyeol speaks in a tone less intimidating than normal. “what makes you say that?”

the group of... wildlings bark in laughter, almost mocking. 

their leader snickers. “no one from around here ventures into the forest so late at night. haven’t you heard of the ogres that feast on human flesh?”

a unified silence disembarks. only irene knows what an ogre is. 

“don’t they just live in swamps?” it’s a rather silly question, so everyone with weapons burst in rambunctious guffaws. but that's what irene read about in a children's book. should have known the truth is twisted as the trees' wooden limbs.

turning to her, the redheaded leader steps forward. there is a sword nearly as long as her legs attached to her hip. belts of brown keep it in place over plaid, ripped pants. the black top fits her torso like second skin, muscles flex when she nears. she’s taller than irene, a few inches, but irene feels much smaller; she glances away, disquiet grappling at her lungs. 

“swamps? well, i guess they do, but they do more than that. they ambush unsuspecting travellers and roast them over a bonfire so large, you can feel the heat miles away.” 

“are you an ogre, then?” yeri blurts, unable to restrain herself anymore. she’s clutched to joy like her life depends on it. “you came out of nowhere!”

irene reaches behind her, tries to find yeri’s hand to calm her down—to shut her up because she’s getting too loud. and whenever noises pitch upwards, irene notices the shifting gazes of the wildlings. the horses’ ears pick up, they thump at the ground and whistle a neigh.

another rider approaches on a horse of soft beige, it reminds irene of sand and beaches or the idea of it and the once great dessert with dunes and oasis. a golden shore met by the bluest of waters. under the sun, it glistens as birds caw and fly overheard, looking for food. looking for a new home. a new world. 

“seulgi.” he has large shoulders, pink hair and a shadow of a voice. he doesn’t strike fear like everyone else. “we should get going.” 

so that’s her name. irene tries it on her tongue: foreign but much less rough than she envisioned. then again, none of the names called were all too fearsome. they sounded... relatable, almost close to home. she’s sure she knows a couple of minho’s inside.

“right,” sighs seulgi, fingertips drumming on the blunt end of her sword. “tie up the prisoners. we’ll take them back to dad. see what he wants to do with them.” 

there is a roar of protest from irene’s end. not her, but everyone else. she is a little more observant, a little more in tune with their surroundings. she doesn’t fidget, doesn’t struggle when her wrists are bound by brown, itchy rope. in the chaos of screams and shouts, the horses start pacing and backing away. the riders that remain on are losing control, tugging on the reins that do nothing. 

thunderous beats get louder. 

“what’s that?” kai demands, ripping his arms from a small wildling, who topples onto his back. “what the hell is that sound?”

then it gets eerily quiet. swords and spears are drawn. the pink rider is formidable, a battle-axe held in a tight grip ready to be swung. seulgi’s hand hovers over her sword, not yet wielding it. the other arm extends behind her, motioning irene and the girls to stay out of sight. 

an animalistic howl shatters eardrums. 

“only one,” the pink rider announces. 

“good.” 

seulgi’s sword reflects the light from a flame nearby and the ones in her eyes. 

the ground quakes once more, horses throwing riders off their backs before making a made gallop through the underbrush. fire spreads in the dryness, and that’s when they see it. that’s when they see the ogre snarling towards them, vicious, thick arms clawing away branches to get to them. 

before irene can even scream, the pink rider hits the ogre off balance. spit and blood spew from its mouth. seulgi dashes in, slicing at the grey monster’s legs and arms, anything to hinder its mobility. 

“kyungsoo,” she hollers, “get them out of here!”

the tiny wildling kai knocked over, tries to gather their group away from the ferocious battle. it’s a messy scramble for cover, and as irene swivels to get away, she trips on the rope pooled around her ankles. she kicks at it but it only worsens the ordeal. her panicking, crying inwardly, makes it worse. 

“c’mon, c’mon,” small wildling mumbles, desperately trying to get her back on her feet, but the horse she’s tied to races away in a frenzy and drags her along. 

only then does irene scream. it’s shrill and bloodcurdling. the type of banshees are scripted to sound like: death or the idea of it—haunting, harrowing, the stuff of nightmares and waking up from it in cold sweat, catching breath. 

“irene!” wendy cries, trying to go after her, but xiumin’s arm winds around her middle to prevent it.

like a rag-doll, irene is hauled through forest dirt and terrain, crashing into stumps and sharp rocks. she’s being beaten, taste iron prominent in . her body burns as the friction mounts, the rope digging into her wrist. blood soaks the knot until it snaps, and she’s free, face scraping on rough land. pain comes a little too suddenly. she clutches onto her arms, presses them to her gut to subdue the acid in her veins. every cry is soundless. but she shrieks and swats whoever touched her back. 

seulgi gapes, concerned but angry. she grabs her elbow and hauls her to her feet. 

“you gotta get out of here! this isn’t safe!”

looking around, irene is a lot farther from her friends, the horse lugging her on the outskirts of the ferocious battle with the ogre. the massive beast is outnumbered, three to one, but somehow it manages to send the tall wildling, minho up into the air. the one carrying the spear lunges, stabs the ogre’s gut as revenge only for his weapon to snap. he, too, is sent flying. they pile on one another, groaning. pink rider remains unscathed. he spins his battle-axe, making sure he is in the ogre’s line of sight and not seulgi and irene. 

but irene smells of blood. 

its nostrils pick up the sent, snarling and thumping its chest before shooting forward. pink rider tries to knock it away again, it easily shoves him and his cream stallion aside. 

“run!” seulgi pushes at irene. “run!” she charges, daring to meet the ogre halfway. her reach is doubled thanks to the sword, she catches its sprawled out fingers and cuts a few through bone. the monster wails in agony. 

irene takes the opportunity to try to reach her friends, hopping over upturned roots and fallen branches but the fire from earlier grows, and she’s caught in the thicket, no where to turn to. all see she’s is orange, and now she understands what seulgi said earlier about feeling the heat; she feels it. like her skin is melting and scorching at the same time, and she wants to rip it off her body. 

yet that doesn’t stop seulgi. she leaps through the fire, collecting irene in her arms. 

“this will hurt for a moment, but trust me.”

“trust you?” it’s the first incredulous thing irene said all day. 

“just do it!” before irene can react, seulgi throws them through the gate of flames in such a way she received most damage. 

irene witnessed it—witnessed the redheaded leader flexing her body to act as a shield, to protect her so she wouldn’t be hurt. she tucked irene’s face towards her chest, cradled her so not a single wisp of fire could touch her. 

they fall to the ground with a thud. 

“irene, irene!” wendy rolls irene away from seulgi, patting out the flames that caught on irene’s coat. “are you okay? are you all right? look at your hands!”

with the help of small wildling, seulgi is back onto her feet. patches of her cheek are marred, but she’s unfazed. 

“my dad is a doctor. he can heal her.” she faces her henchman. “kyungsoo, make sure she stops bleeding. daniel and i got this.” 

beyond the wall of dancing, frolicking orange flames, pink rider is back on his steed and challenging the heavily injured ogre to a duel. he’s back to waving his battle-axe around and around, all to serve as a distraction: keep your eyes on me and not them. it works. the raging creature tries to grab at daniel, and that’s when seulgi rejoins the match. daniel makes the ogre spin so its back is turned. using a fallen tree trunk to her advantage, seulgi jumps from it and lands the tip of her sword straight through the ogre’s head. the fall is a huge clamour that trembles entire land. and from the cloud of dust, seulgi and daniel emerge from the wreckage. 

the rest of them watches in equal parts fright and awe. kyungsoo bandages irene up in the meantime, tying gauze around her wounds. it hurts, and she flinches from time to time, but it doesn’t bother irene. too focused is she on the seulgi wiping black ogre blood on daniel’s tunic as she sees how minho and baekhyun are doing. 

“amazing, isn’t she?” like kyungsoo read her thoughts with a kind smile. 

irene flushes, not noticing her staring is obvious. “they both are,” she corrects. 

“they are the daughter and son of our town’s chief. we call them the kang wunderkids. one of the best fighters we have. and some of the youngest we have, too,” kyungsoo goes on to say. unlike minho and baekhyun, he’s calming. probably why he’s the medic. “seulgi is our team leader.”

conversation dies when seulgi and daniel stand before them. cheeky smiles grace their lips after a well-fought victory despite the gashes and bruises. 

“how’s she doing?” inquires seulgi, gaze focused on the blood stained bandages around irene’s arms. 

kyungsoo gets up. “this should hold until we get home, but we have no proper ointment to treat for infection.” 

shadow of guilt seems to dawn in seulgi’s eyes when she looks at the others, shrivelled up and crying. just as quickly, she looks away. 

“daniel, untie them.”

“what? why?”

“because i said so. they won’t go running off into the woods now that they’ve seen what’s out there.”

without further debate, daniel obeys and kyungsoo joins him. 

irene pulls her knees to her chest when seulgi regards her again, crouching until their sights are level. 

“tell me again,” begins the redheaded warrior, burnt and covered in ogre blood, “you’re not from around here, are you?”

“no.” head shaking, irene gulps.

“where are you from?”

“the... the inside.”

//

author's note: this is a quick update aint it? i just wanted to rush this chapter out bc i had stuck in my mind for ageees and before i lose inspiration might as well write it out. it's shorter than the others bc it's basically only action. i hope to add more length in future chapters but we'll see. again thank you so much for reading!