There was a familiar choking air invading YongSun’s lungs. She laid still for a very long time, debating if she was dead or not. She managed to open one eye at a time, fire coloured sky above her, clouds mixing in an impending storm. Her fingers dug into the dead earth. She never thought that she would be in the SinTag again. 

YongSun managed to sit herself up, the ring of flames still burning like the first time she came here. She wondered why she had woken up here. YongSun watched as the Lunarous spirit walked through the flames to greet her once again, same emotionless face. “Welcome, Kim YongSun.” She said as she approached. 

YongSun drew her legs up so her knees were at her chest. “Why am I here, did I die?” She felt a slight surge of panic, she didn’t feel dead, but how do you feel dead? 

The girl offered her a hand. “You are not dead YongSun, only sleeping.” YongSun touched the girl, allowing her to lift her up, which was weird considering she is a child. “Your spirit was sent here to rest after harnessing so much power.” 

YongSun’s mind flashed back to the room, the black eyes of Henry, his body on the ground, everything fractured as if it was not her memories. “I killed him.” She said flatly, her heart stabbing.

The Lunarous remained emotionless. “You did what was necessary. It will not be the last life taken before this is all over.” 

YongSun was taken aback. “What do you mean before this is all over, it didn’t end with Henry? Byul is the Lunarous, that will set you free.”

The girl started to shake her head. “Nothing is that simple YongSun, this was but the first step, there is more to come.”

YongSun clenched her arms to her chest, what could possibly be worse than Henry? “What is to come?”

“That I can not tell you. It is for you to discover, you and the Lunarous, as soon as I am free.”

YongSun knew that Byul’s powers must be bound like hers was, as soon as they do the unbinding then the Lunarous will be free, that would be easy. There was something that bothered her though. “What about Jin?” 

The girl tilted her head. “I do not know this Jin you speak of.” 

YongSun sighed. “He was one of my guards at the castle, when we touched I saw you. I was so sure he was the Lunarous.” She was more than shocked when Henry said it was Byul.

The girl nodded. “He must be the Lunarous’ kin, a connection to the spirit.” 

“So Jin and Byul are related?” Did Byul have a brother that she didn’t know about? Perhaps her missing father sired another child if he was still alive. 

“They must be.” She said matter-of-factly. That was going to be something she was going to have to explore. “Perhaps he is the key to releasing my spirit.”

YongSun whipped her head in the girl’s direction. “What are you talking about? Byul needs to unbind the spirit as I did, that is how this works.” 

She shook her head. “It will not be as simple as with the Solarous spirit, I was severed from the last Lunarous, not passed on but ripped out of him. A piece of my soul passes on but the bulk of my power will remain here until that is healed.” She watched the Night War beyond them, the time the connection was severed, or so she told YongSun the last time.

“Then how do we heal the rift?” Did that mean Byul wouldn’t have powers, or just not full power like YongSun did when she killed Henry? 

“That is up to you and the Lunarous to find out.” 

YongSun grunted with frustration. “You are not much help.” 

She merely shrugged. “It is not my place to tell you, it is her journey to fix it.” YongSun felt a wave of wind wash over her, almost knocking her down. “It seems it is time for you to go.” YongSun reached a hand out to grab onto her, she wasn’t done talking yet. Her fingers went through her as if YongSun was a ghost. One more gust of wind knocked her off of her feet. 

YongSun felt like she broke every single bone in her body. She felt like every single muscle was on fire, burning bright like the sun. Her memories were in fragments as if she was in that room but wasn’t at the same time. She felt like something had taken her over, but it was her at the same time. 

It took a while for her to be able to move. For a long time, she was aware she was in a bed, a few different people hovered around, mumbling things to her, she couldn’t hear them, she was too far away. They would come and go with time. She was aware of Byul’s presence earlier, heard her voice not her words, felt her touch, her kiss. After that, she tried to make her way back to the surface but it was like she was weighted down. 

She felt Byul there again, her warmth at YongSun’s side, she was nearing the surface. The light in the room was dim, it had to be night, nothing but candles lit the room. Her eyes adjusted and the first thing she saw was Byul’s concerned face. It took a moment but she relaxed her face and managed a smile. “Welcome to the world of the living sleepy head.” She was speaking softly. Byul reached out and caressed her hair, her eyes rolled back into her head at the touch, so comforting and familiar. 

YongSun opened her eyes once again, seeing they were the only ones in the room, a smile rose on her lips. “I take it the mission was successful?” A jolt went through YongSun, a flash, Henry in front of her, eyes cracking with light.

“YongSun?” Byul sounded far again. 

YongSun closed her eyes hard and shook her head. “It’s fine, just…”

Byul’s face hardened a bit. “Don’t think about it now, we will talk about it in time.” YongSun could see the ghosts behind Byul’s eyes, wondering if she had them now too.

YongSun shifted so she was rolled onto her side, she was in the room in the house they shared in the Knight, she must have been out longer than she thought. YongSun reached out her hand, grabbing on to Byul and tugging her into the bed with her. The nightmare was over. They were so close she could feel Byul’s light breaths on her face. “Is this a dream?” She couldn’t help but whisper, she didn’t want to shatter the illusion. “Is this actually happening?” She knew she was crying but she couldn’t help it. 

Byul reached out to brush her tears away, a few of her own fell. “It is real, we are really here.” She scooped YongSun up in her arms and held her close, YongSun buried her face