Wheein looked across the carriage to the beautiful, hooded girl, who was actually a century old witch, deftly playing with a crystal orb with the tips of her fingers. She was, in Wheein’s honest opinion, intimidating. Wheein hadn’t heard her speak unless it was to voice out her boredom, nor acknowledge anyone aside from the princess. Her face remained expressionless for most parts, with her piercing dark brown orbs holding a glint as if she knew something important that everyone else wasn’t privy to. It was discerning. But, however intimidating she was, at least she was a lot less dangerous as compared to the whimsically, psychotic elf.

The tall, silver-haired woman could be easily mistaken as a noble scholar with her handsome features (sharp eyes, husky tone, cocky smirk and all), until she starts hurling fireballs from her hands and cracking gleefully at the ensuing chaos. Who would have thought an elf was so violent? Wheein had heard of old wives tales about them, except in the stories they were elegant creatures, glowing ethereal beings with an affinity to hunting or worldly knowledge. Definitely not like the slim figure who likes to pull elaborate pranks and constantly setting things on fire. Wheein heaved a sigh of relief that this particular elf had seemed too engrossed in listening in on the princess’ endless rambles to set the whole carriage on fire from her boredom. Surely even the witch wouldn’t find being stuck in a burning carriage ‘entertaining’. Then again, the witch did seem to find the knight’s frantically hauling buckets of water to douse the fire tree the psychotic elf had set up near the castle amusing.

Sitting comfortably beside the elf, happily rambling on about one thing or another, was none other than the princess. The princess was beautiful as well. Graced by the Gods with a fair skin tone, shoulder-length chocolate brown hair, rosy, round cheeks, and dazzling smile which turned her eyes into upturned crescents and revealed two chin dimples when she was really having a good time. She was an epitome of beauty. No wonder the princess had a long line of suitors from the neighbouring countries. Prior to their meeting, Wheein had the mental image that the princess was this delicate, well mannered, bashful girl, who was sheltered inside the castle gates. The sheltered part she may have gotten right, though this particular princess was anything but meek. The moment they were introduced the girl had thrown herself onto a surprised Wheein and squealed in a pitch so high Wheein had thought she would be deaf in one ear. She had then talked a mile a minute about some prophecy a group of nuts had, well, prophesized centuries prior. That the prophesized time was now.

Wheein looked out the small window of the carriage, spotting the armoured frame of the knight that had led her to where she was now. Jeonghwa was her name. Agile and with such a youthful face that fits well with her cheery persona. Her steed trotted steadily beside the right side of the carriage, her armour making soft jangling noises at every trot of her steed. Flanking the other side was knight Hani, dressed in the same full body armour. Her steed was the grandest of the lot that accompanied them for some reason. Wheein couldn’t even come up with a single theory as to why that was. Hani wasn’t particularly tall, taller than Wheein, definitely, but not all that much taller than the psychotic elf or any of the other knights.

The last one Wheein couldn’t quite see her, but she knew the knight trailing not too far behind them was the jovial knight called Hyerin. She was as carefree as Jeonghwa, making cutesy voices at the other knights, even to the princess who looked appalled to hear the unbearably grating imitation. She seemed to be the only knight that would go against the princess’s orders, much to the princess’s chagrin and the amusement of the fellow knights.

And then, there was Wheein. The one caught in the middle. The clueless lamb being led to the slaughter. They needed a thief, they had told her. It was crucial that they get the right person for the job. And therein lays the problem. Wheein was a horrible thief.

“Hey, er… Jeonghwa,” Wheein began, uncomfortable to call the knight by her given name. She had no idea how to address knights as the first time she has actually came face to face with one was the day before when she was caught in the most humiliating time of less than a minute. From what she's gathered the three knights seem to prefer simply being called by their given name rather than with any form of honorifics.

Hearing her name being called the knight steered her horse, guiding it to trot closer to the carriage with confidence and ease. “What can I do for you, our clumsy thief?”

“Right..” Wheein grimaced. “My name’s Wheein, you know.”

“Oh, I know, clumsy thief.” Jeonghwa replied, giving Wheein a teasing smile.

Wheein huffed softly. There was no point in fighting a losing match when there were more pressing questions to be asked. “Right. I.. How is it that I ended up sitting next to the… uh… princess, a century-old witch, and the pyromaniac elf? Because this honestly feels so surreal that I’m closer to believing that this is nothing but a weird dream… Wait, is this a dream?”

A surprising flick to her forehead has her hastily pulling her head back into the carriage where two pairs of eyes turned to stare curiously at her. She smiled embarrassedly at the two onlookers, waving her hand at them to indicate that everything was alright.

“Does that answer your question?” Jeonghwa’s voice carried over to her. She could tell from the tone that the knight found this highly amusing. She let her index and middle finger rub at the light red spot on her forehead, both mentally cursing the cheeky knight and fearing her expertise. Having been caught the other day had already given Wheein a little taste to the knight’s ability. Wheein didn’t initially follow willingly, she had put up a struggle when Jeonghwa had caught up to her and brought her down. But no matter how much she flailed about Jeonghwa had kept her down with a few practiced twists and locks. Her joints were pulled at unnatural angles that had her quickly lose her will to fight and submit to the knight, least she finds Wheein an annoyance and actually break something.

“Question?” The psychotic elf perked up. Her smile grew wider as she leaned towards Wheein, eyes glinting with delight. Wheein suppresses a whole body shiver. The others, the more experienced thieves, did say not to show weakness in front of anyone, lest they exploit it. The handsome elf may not be an enemy, but Wheein did not trust her not to try and singe her if she can get away with it.

“What question? Share with us! We’re a team, aren’t we? So, it should be fair that we share everything with everybody, right, princess Solar?” The elf turned to send a suggestive look to the giggling princess. Wheein couldn’t believe it when the princess actually started nodding her head in agreement.

“What Moonbyul says is true. From here on out, we are a team. And as a team, we shouldn’t keep things from either one of us. We must build trust between us, and what more can build trust than honesty and integrity? Isn’t that right, miss Hwasa?”

The witch lazily lifts her gaze from her translucent crystal ball. She looked between the smiling princess to the psychotic elf, who seems to have lost her confidence and began fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat, to the defeated looking clumsy thief.

“Right.” She said simply, returning to running her crystal ball over her dancing fingers.

The princess finds satisfaction in the short answer and switches her focus on Wheein. “So what was your question, Wheein?”

“It’s… already been answered so asking you would just be redundant.” Wheein carefully phrased. The last thing she wanted was to anger any one of the three. It was already bad enough that she was forced into going on a mission based on a prophecy made by nut job elders without a clear objective. Judging by how calm everyone else acted, Wheein was sure she was the only one not privy to exactly where they were going and what they were going to do once they get there.

Princess Solar and Moonbyul stared at her for a couple more seconds, making sure that Wheein definitely didn’t have anything else to say before losing themselves into another discussion that left the other two occupants out of the loop. Wheein sighed in relief and sunk into her seat. She surreptitiously glanced at the witch, Hwasa, who was now staring transfixed at the opaque orb in her clutches.

Wasn’t it clear just a few moments ago?

“I don’t suppose you can see my future in that ball?” Wheein asked, half in jest. “I bet it’ll look murky.” Wheein grimaced, shaking her head at her plight. The witch tore her eyes from the orb, lifting a critical brow as her piercing stare bore down at Wheein.

“.. I suppose I can tell you, but at a price.” She finally says.

Wheein pats at her empty pockets and shrugs her shoulder. “Ah, well.. I think I’m better off not knowing. I don’t even really know why I’m here with you girls, and that scares me enough.” Wheein laughs nervously.

Her laughter quickly dies down when she realizes that the hushed gossiping from the other end had stopped, throwing the carriage in awkward silence. She clears , turning her head to watch the view from outside the window. She gulps instead when she is met with Jeonghwa’s grinning face. There was no escape anywhere she looked.

“You don’t know why,” Moonbyul began gleefully, entertained by the simple human. “and yet here you are, willingly traversing with us without a fight. Either you are adventurous or very stupid.”

“Now, now, that’s not nice, Moonbyul.” Princess Solar lightly berated, landing a slap on one side of the elf’s arm. The elf flinches at the contact, but the teasing grin stays.

“Only stating my opinion. Say, why are you here with us?” She asks, putting the focus back on Wheein, who was now twiddling her fingers nervously.

“Did I have an option?” She muttered softly, glancing warily at those present, plus Jeonghwa through the window.

It was Hwasa that answered curtly. “You don’t.”

“I’m sorry, Wheein. It must have come as a shock to suddenly be pulled out of your… business, and thrown into this madness.” Solar smiles apologetically at her.

“What madness?” Moonbyul interjects. “The fun is just getting started! We haven’t even done anything yet.” She said, her body shivering from her restricted excitement as her eyes lit up from whatever madness she was cooking up in her mind. Moonbyul only settled when Hwasa loudly cleared , letting her annoyance known. Wheein could have sworn the elf sent the witch the stink eye when she looked away.

“The prophecy said a clumsy thief was needed. I don’t know about you, but thieves are rarely clumsy enough to be captured less than a minute into the chase.” Jeonghwa helpfully supplied. “Our clumsy thief here fits the description quite well, if I may say so.”

“But can you really consider me a thief. It’s one thing to be clumsy, but you caught me and got me down within seconds!”

“Then why run when I called for you to stop? An innocent person would.” Wheein sighed, running a hand through her hair in frustration. Jeonghwa had a valid point.

“I’m not exactly a pro. I never really thought there would come a time when I would be forced to dirty my hands, but I was left with no other option... I was desperate.” Wheein turned to send Jeonghwa a tired look. “The only thing I ever stole was a single apple. And I lost it in the confusion when I was running after my friend.”

“You lost your first steal? And it was an apple?” Moonbyul threw her head back and crackled in delight.

Solar held up her hand in front of lips, trying to stop her squeaking laughter from the reddening Wheein, while Jeonghwa chuckled along with Moonbyul’s crackles. Even Hwasa, who was pretending that she wasn’t interested in the conversation, glanced briefly her way.

“I’d say you fit the description quite nicely. Oh, I hope you don’t find my words mean.” Solar smiled kindly at Wheein.

“Not at all.” Wheein replied in kind. “So, you see… er.. milady, I am a sad excuse for a thief. I fear I may be of no use to this… journey of yours.”

“Oh, quite the contrary Wheein, you are who we are looking for. Otherwise, this journey of ours wouldn’t have left off from the castle.” Solar confidently responded. She turned her sights to the witch, reaching to brush her fingers against Hwasa’s arm to catch her attention. “Isn’t that right, miss Hwasa?”

Hwasa moved her sights from Solar, locking eyes with Wheein. “Earlier you asked if I can see your future. I have, but I am not obliged to tell you full details, and not without a price. Though I assure you, you are part of this quest, whether you like it or not.”

Wheein swallowed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable by the unwavering stare the witch was giving her. She broke eye contact first, unconsciously chewing on her lower lip. “I have a feeling it doesn’t have a nice ending for me.”

The witch remained quiet. “I take your silence as a yes.” Wheein grinned wearily.

The witch looked away, subtly shifting further away from Wheein. With her trained, sharp eyes, Jeonghwa is the only one to take notice but wisely kept it to her own. She reaches in to playfully ruffle Wheein’s dark hair.

“Don’t think too much about it. Nothing is written in stone, the future can always change. Isn’t that right, witch?”

Hwasa gives her an almost begrudging nod of the head. Her eyes shift over to the defeated Wheein, then to the infuriating smirk across Jeonghwa’s face. Her eyes shift back to her crystal ball, her thumb tracing the smooth surface, still opaque with the constant churning of a thick white substance akin to clouds. An image of a smirking Wheein with blood dripping down from a gash in her hairline disrupts the clouds.

“Let’s play a game. No rules!” Moonbyul chirps, jumping enthusiastically out of the carriage. “The tallest knight with the awkward running waddle!” Moonbyul charged up at the unsuspecting Hani, forcing the knight to take a step back in order to avoid getting a head full of the elf. “Make a bet with me. If you win I’ll make it worth your while.”

Wheein shakes her head at the suspicious glare Hani was giving Moonbyul. If there was a lesson to be learned from all the wives tales it was that you should never trust ethereal beings. They were good at playing games and twisting words. Hell, if Wheein can live half of their life span she would have done the same. What was living a long life without throwing in some fun at the expense of others?

Hopping down the carriage she turned to offer her hand up at the descending princess, smiling toothily up at her.

“How very polite of you.” Solar remarks, daintily taking her hand and carefully stepping down the carriage.

Wheein shrugs nonchalantly. “My mother raised me to be polite, milady.”

She hears a snort from behind her and resists the urge to turn and glower at the source. It was most likely one of the knights anyway. She makes sure both of Solar’s feet are planted on solid ground before retracting her hand and turning to the last of their companion.

“Your turn, love.” She grinned right up at the hooded witch. Hwasa's crystal ball was tucked away in a special pouch by her hip, the first time Wheein has seen her without it in her hands. Her eyes fall onto the bulge of the pouch, but was quick to train her eyes back up to the guarded eyes of the witch.

Wheein had thought that the witch would either ignore or slap her hand away, so it took her by surprise when her dainty hand slipped over her own as she gracefully descended from the carriage. Once both her feet were on the ground Hwasa pulled her hand back, uttering her soft thanks without her expressionless façade changing.

Wheein’s eyes followed her back as Hwasa made her way beside Princess Solar mulling over a half folded up map in her hands. She clenched her hand and opened them a few times, unable to shake the tingling feeling from where the witch touched her. Her fingers had felt cool to the touch, but it feels like she had left sparks of electricity and the burn of a hot pot even after she’s let go. Wheein idly wondered if it was some sort of magic, she wouldn’t put it past the witch to do some silent enchantment on any one of them. She continued to stare at her fingers as the unusual feeling receded into nothingness, experimentally rubbing her thumb across all four fingers, trying to pick something out of the ordinary.

A shrill scream broke the trance she was in and her head swept to the source of the disturbance. Hani was kicking up dirt onto the small fire by her feet while Hyerin, standing some ways back from her, was doubled over in laughter.

“I swear it was an accident.” Moonbyul blurted as she too began scooping up dirt and throwing it over the dying flame. The wide grin on her face had the hairs on the back of Wheein’s neck stand.

Once the fire was put out Hani had lunged at the elf, grabbing the girl by the collar of her shirt and pulling her until they were face to face. The knight’s face was red and pinched in fury.  Wheein would have gone and tried to pacify the situation, but she recalled the glares she was subjected to as they were lugging her back to the castle. The crates she had disturbed during her pathetic escape had apparently fallen over the knight. Jeonghwa had warned her to stir clear of the knight as she was known to brood for a while and was no stranger to violence.

It was quite fortunate for the elf that Princess Solar was with them.

“Hani, let the girl down. She didn’t mean it. Right, Moonbyul?”

“I swear.” Moonbyul chirped, crossing her finger over the upper left quadrant of her chest. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. I was only going to juggle it. I just… slipped.” The last part sounded more like a happy chirp, and if Wheein wasn’t wary of the elf before now red flags were flying up everywhere in her mind.

Hani looked over to Solar, her features a cross between anger and disbelief. She does let Moonbyul go with a hard shove, sending the elf staggering backward. “You watch it elf. You hurt anyone here and I won’t take it easy on you the next time.”

Unperturbed by the warning Moonbyul made a mock salute to Hani before scampering away from her reach. If she thought it was funny she at least had the decency to keep her chuckles to herself.

By nightfall, the group has not progressed too far. The princess, having studied multiple things in her vast library, maybe insightful of a lot of things. Unfortunately, reading maps and directing was not one of her skills set. The same was to be said for the three knights. After the “accident” it was a unanimous(silent) decision that the elf was not to be trusted with anything flammable. And the witch, well she couldn’t be bothered to use her skill to direct them in the right direction. Wheein had never even seen maps scrawled on paper and could only gasp at her first time seeing what was the lay of the land as far as the explorers have reached.

As dusk settled and having successfully getting a fire going, without the help of the elf, the group began to settle for the night. It was an executive decision of the Princess for the group to dig down for the night. It was right before she squealed in delight at the prospect of sleeping under nothing but the protection of nature. The knight’s had to quickly explain the idea of pitching up a tent for her safety, to which the Princess wasn’t keen on listening to. More so after the elf enticed her with stories of the forest, much to the three knight’s chagrin.

Wheein sat on a fallen trunk a little ways from the campsite, looking above the dense tree lines in hopes to gaze out to the vast dark night sky. She would catch a glimmer of white from in between small, unobstructed spaces, but not enough to fully enjoy the experience. Still, with her belly full and a thick cloth wrapped over her shoulder, it was one of the best nights she had in a while.

She sighed as she moved to lay fully on the grassy ground. It was far better than the hard flat of dusty ground where the tent was pitched, but nothing quite beats the heavenly softness of a mountain of hay. With no haystack in sight, she was more than happy to settle for the blanket of the grass.

“Nothing much to see there.”

“Holy mother of demigod’s!” Wheein instinctively rolled to one side, knees bending and ready to take off at a seconds notice.. until her wide eyes landed on Hwasa’s expressionless face. The witch had found a comfortable perch on the log Wheein had vacated, staring off into the distance with hooded eyes. Slapping a hand to her chest she rolled right onto her back. “You scared me.”

“Yes. I saw your reaction. Quick, but if I had any intent to kill you, you’d be dead.” She replies evenly as if she wasn’t just talking about killing anyone.

Wheein pulled a grimace, pushing back up to a sitting position. “You know, normal people don’t make it a habit to casually speak of killing other people.”

“I guess you’re in luck. I’m not normal people.”

“I don’t think you’re even people.” Wheein mutters under her breath. She slaps a hand over when Hwasa’s eyes move from staring out into the darkness over to her. A second later Wheein feels her heart speed up and her body slumping in total awe at the sight she was gifted.

“Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile at me?”

The witch has returned to her unfocused staring, the small upward curve of her lips falling back to her usual straight line.

“You should bundle up for the night. We’ll be leaving on the crack of dawn.” Hwasa mutters, nodding her head once before turning back to the small gathering around the animated elf, leaving an awestruck Wheein looking after her form.

Wheein wakes up to loud clatter of metal.. pots? She scrambles to her belly, flinging the warm blanket away from her, and peer over the fallen log that had somehow turned into her cover. Her stomach sinks deep into her gut at the sight of the large tent-half of it hanging onto dear life for the part that was still miraculously standing. The three knights had their swords drawn and surrounded a large bull-like beast eyeing the three challengingly. The head was very much like a hairy bull, yet it was standing on two goat-like legs, Wheein thinks it’s even a miracle how it can still stand upright. On the ends of its arms, instead of hooves, were hands tipped with long, pitch-black, sharp talons. Wheein shuddered at the thought of those talons coming in contact with delicate flesh. They’d stand no chance against that. The knights were absolutely daft for even trying.

Falling back, Wheein moved to crawl around the perimeter, hoping to find the rest of the girls. As easy as it was to make a break for it then Wheein had absolutely no idea how to get out of the forest. It would be a suicide mission trying, even more so if everyone survived and found her missing. She couldn’t even out manoeuvre one of the knights, she could only shudder at the possibilities of torture the witch and the elf could come up with.

Flinching at the sound of steel clashing against something Wheein redoubled her speed. She doesn’t forget to look over the battle from time to time, making sure she was well out of the cross-fire, and also to make sure the knights still had somewhat of a handle over the situation.

“Over here.” A hiss startles Wheein. She pushes up to all fours at the sight of the nearest tree roots moving apart, ready to make a blind run in case something crawls out after her. Her skittishness lowers when she sees the witch’s beautiful face glaring at her, waving her over like a child. “Hurry.”

Wheein didn’t need to be told twice. Scrambling over she slid into the hole feet first, the roots closing up after her descent, to the outside it would seem as if nothing had happened. With her heart thundering, Wheein looked around their small surroundings. To one side, Hwasa was crouched, facing the small hole that granted her an unobstructed view of the fight going on between the beast and the brave knights. Wheein was sitting flat on her bottom, legs spread apart, crouching slightly when she feels the small tendrils of the roots brushing against the back of her neck.

“Where are the others?” she whispers, carefully moving to a better position and rubbing her palm over the tingling of her skin.

“The elf has the princess safe in another alcove.” Hwasa replies monotonously, not even sparing her a glance.

Wheein looks through the gaps worriedly. “Is it alright to leave princess Solar alone with Moonbyul?”

The question finally gets the witch to tear her eyes away from the battle long enough to give Wheein a raised-browed look. “There’s nowhere safer for the princess to be.” She says simply as if this was general knowledge and was surprised that Wheein had somehow missed the memo.

“What do you mean by that?”

Hwasa’s feature scrunches, waving her off like a child butting into adult conversation. “Never mind that for now. Those three won’t stand a chance against that hybrid.” Reminded of the knights, Wheein peeks through the gaps. She gasps when she sees Jeonghwa’s sword knocked out of her hand, followed by the beast large hand backhanding her torso. The force of the hit sends the knight flying a good few metres from her spot, landing ungracefully on the hard ground.  The two knights instantly leave their post, both simultaneously moving to guard their fallen comrade.

“Those three should have listened to me.” Hwasa hisses, turning to glare at Wheein way.

“You.” Wheein gulps, feeling her whole body turning cold when the witch digs out a dagger from her pouch. She grabs Wheein’s hand, pressing the intricately designed weapon into her palm. “I have never seen a hybrid like that before, but if I’m correct at guessing what exactly created that then there might be a possible weak spot we can take advantage of.”

“And when you say we..” Wheein voice wavers, softening at the end when she feels the dread crawl at her skin when the roots begin to part.

“I meant you.”  Hwasa replies curtly, eyeing the fight calculatingly. “Listen, there’s a tender spot at the back of its neck.” She pulls off her hood, pushing back her long, wavy black hair to the side to press her fingers against the back of her neck. For a second, Wheein stares at the way the thick stands fell down one shoulder, the uncovered part of her slender neck making things in Wheein’s stomach roll in waves. She only snaps out of it when Hwasa turns to her, dark eyes piercing hers. “Plunge the dagger point first, put all your effort into it, and it’ll come down without a fight.”

“And if I miss?” Wheein dares to ask.

Hwasa pauses at the entrance, now wide enough to let them pass. Her emotionless façade doesn’t give Wheein any answer. She crawls out, Wheein, more fearing that she’d be trap under the tree, scramble after her.

As soon as she gets up to her knees the witch grabs her wrist, tugging her to get her attention. “You’re the only one I trust to do this.”

“You’ve barely known me for no more than a day.” Wheein points out, pulling her hand away so she could clutch her hair in frustration. She hisses in pain when the sheathed dagger hit the side of her head. She had forgotten about that.

“Just do it.” Hwasa seethed, raising up to her full height and coming into direct view of the monster. “I’ll buy you time. Go!”

“You’re crazy!” Wheein hisses at her as she looks past the brush she was hidden in to see the creature had seen Hwasa and was gearing up to charge towards her. “I’m going crazy.” She slips the dagger into the side of her trousers, muttering obscenities to herself as she hurriedly crawls to safety.

A zapping sound, followed by an angered howl has all the muscles in Wheein’s body tense. Shuffling to hide behind a bark of a large tree she carefully peered around the corner, just in time to see the beasts’ rampage toward the witch halted by a fireball slamming against its face. A manic crackle echoes around the clearing and Wheein catches sight of white moving from tree to tree.

It seems to have been hit with something while it was distracted as it flies backward, staggering to find its footing and howling in rage. Hwasa doesn’t seem to be too bothered as she pulls back her outstretched hand, rubbing her fingers against her thumb and down her palm.

Wheein redoubles her efforts, scrambling to get around the fight. She stops short at the sight of the three knights huddled close together, wisely getting to safety now that the witch and the elf had engaged the beast in combat. One of the knights seemed to have been knocked unconscious, the others, aside from a few scratches here and there and the laboured breathing, seemed to be faring well. Wheein doesn’t spare them any greeting, quickly moving to get into a good position.

Getting behind the fight, she looks over the towering form of the beast’s back. She gulps, heart hammering in her chest and her mind screaming at her to get away. It was a lot bigger up close, she didn’t need to stand to know it would still tower over her. Wheein wasn’t even the tallest of their group, how did Hwasa expect her to land a blow behind its neck when she can hardly even reach its chest level. She groaned, retreating back to the shadows to look for a way around her predicament.

She could feel the witch’s impatience with her zapping around her like invisible energy. Or maybe it was an aftershock from a defensive attack. She peered around the tree she was hiding in, slapping a hand over at the sight of the beast staggering back towards her.

She pauses, looking from the hunched over form of the beast, then to the top of the tree. An idea bloomed in her mind, one she didn’t like, but with their current situation, she couldn’t think of one better.

Stepping out from the shadows she waves over Hwasa’s attention. She feels the gaze land on her even though to anyone else it looks like the witch was focused on the recovering beast. Wheein frantically motions to the top of the tree, hoping the witch would understand. She hadn’t motioned for more than a second when the beast turned to her, its red eye falling on her frozen body.

Blood drains from Wheein’s face as the thing snorts, arm rising for a killing strike. Too close, Wheein thinks frantically. She wouldn’t be able to evade in time, her joints locking in place in the classic prey instinct to freeze when cornered- don’t move and maybe it’ll think you’re dead.

A fiery blast to the back of its head has its hand falling to catch its weight, refocusing its attention and rage at the cockily smirking elf in the middle of the clearing. It throws its head back, howling as it begins to charge at the rapidly escaping elf.

Wheein’s limbs unlock and she stumbles to rest at a sturdy trunk. Heat creeps right up to her neck and she breaks out in cold sweat at the close call. She needed to move quickly, they wouldn’t be as lucky next time.

Gritting her teeth she starts her ascent.

It takes her a while. Climbing trees, as much as she enjoyed doing it in her younger years, was a lot harder than she remembered. It took a couple of times before she managed to haul herself up to the first branch, breathing heavily from the effort and strain from the random stray energy blast from whatever magic Hwasa was throwing at the beast to keep it at bay. Climbing the next few branches was a lot less of a hassle and it takes a significantly less amount of time to get herself situated. Her legs clung to the sturdier part of the branch, not liking in the least the way the branch creaked under the addition of her weight. Carefully arranging herself Wheein pulled out the dagger from its sheath, switching her hold from one hand to the other. She wasn’t quite sure how to go at it now that the time came for action.

“What now?” she mumbles, looking down at the fight. Whatever Moonbyul and Hwasa throw at the beast it still comes right back up, looking unscathed and all the more outraged. She begins to double think the plan. If their magic couldn’t do damage to this big feral thing, what could a measly blade do?

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Wheein mutters, eyes shooting to Hwasa’s direction. This was a suicide mission.

She was already regretting this.

A sudden jolt to the tree has Wheein clutching desperately at the bark. She would have screamed if she had not accidentally hit her chin on the bark and bitten her tongue, or the following beast’s howl that had her gritting her teeth from the pain inflicted to her ears.

The following sequence of events felt like a blur to her. It may have something to do with her finally losing her balance and her mind switched to self-preservation. Or maybe it was Hwasa’s magic surrounding her that messed with her head. Either way, when she thought back on it, it was for the best.

Firstly, she had tilted to one side way too far, not even her legs wrapped around the branch could hold her steady. Secondly, she was clutching the blade, falling fast on her right side towards the ground. She shut her eyes, teeth gritted when her body collided on solid ground.

Or at least, what she thought was ground.

She immediately began to slip, this time she clutches at the rough strands that felt like coarse horse hair, the other hand, the one holding onto the dagger, plunging the dagger onto the surface in hopes that it would stop her sudden descent. She was roughly jerked back and she screamed, clutching tightly when her lower half was flung about.

And then the second fall.

The landing was rougher, definitely more jarring than the first. The wind gets knocked out of her as her back hit the rough terrain, nearly causing her to blackout. Pain shot out through her body, flowing like rough currents all the way through her limbs to the tips of her fingers and toes. She could do no more than groan and wheeze and feel the pain coursing through her nerves, so she opted to stay as still as she could, ride out the waves of pain until it ebbed into the numbing sensation.

The cold fingers to her cheek finally draw a groan from . She shuffled some, mostly her arms to a better position, turning her face away from the cold fingers.

“I thought you were dead.” Moonbyul laughs in relief and Wheein feels herself being pushed up to a sitting position. Fortunately, the worst of the pain had gone and all that was left was the strain on her muscles. She frowns, peeling her eyelids to send her frustration to the elf currently messing up her hair.

Wheein groans deeper and mentally cusses when someone grabs her by her armpits and heft her back up to her feet. A shoulder props her up as she gathers her bearing between getting crushed by bodies in body armour. Words were thrown all around and Wheein could barely catch up with the words tossed around by the three excited knights.

“Are you crazy?”

“You could’ve been killed.”

“Absolutely crazy.”

“Did you see how huge that thing was?”

“That was quite the spectacle. Didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Did you see what she did?”

“I was right there. Of course, I saw, idiot.”

And on and on.

Wheein receives multiple pats all over her body, even one hard slap to her bottom that has her yelping in pain and surprise. Her hands protectively go to her as she shuffles out of the small circle around her. Fortunately, the three knights begin teasing and shoving at each other, even Hani grudgingly shakes an accomplished looking Byulyi’s hand.

“I knew I could count on you.” Wheein jumps, her neck snapping towards the soft husky voice. A robeless Hwasa stood behind her, something resembling a smirk pulling one side of her lips up. Wheein blinked, not quite believing the site of the witch’s hip-hugging, mahogany dress to be as it was without the cover of her drab robe, plus the smirk that just seems to fit the witch’s personality well. So transfixed on the witch Wheein takes a moment too long to notice the beaming princess beside Hwasa, clutching at the missing robe around herself. Wheein guessed the surprise guest gave her little time to dress up properly.

“That was very brave miss Wheein. Very admirable of you to do such a dangerous stunt. I’m impressed at the teamwork the three of you did to take the beast down. I’m just sorry I wasn’t of any help at all.” Solar looks beyond the small congregation of their comrades her smile falling at the sight of the fallen beast that lay motionless on the ground.

Her soft features becoming burdened with worry for the first time since Wheein has been with their little group. Her apologetic gaze fixes back on Wheein and she softly sighs. “Before we left, I thought this would not be an easy journey. But I didn’t think it would be this bad.” She turns to Hwasa, a hopeful, almost pleading look on her face. “I hope the rest of the journey wouldn’t be as perilous?” she asks more than states, worriedly eyeing Hwasa’s reaction.

If Hwasa knew the future of their journey she wasn’t easily going to give any sort of confirmation and kept silent.