Previously…

Arriving in Luves, the girls are greeted with a person resembling Chaewon who disappeared as fast as she made her appearance. On the other hand, both Chaewon and Yena had their own adversity for them to overcome…

***

The girl grunted as she opened her eyes upon feeling something dripping on her skin. Her eyes fluttered open as an oddly familiar looking place greeted her peripheral view. There’s a pair of tall, cylindrical glass buildings a few hundred meters from her. Minjoo turned around, searching for something as she could smell a certain relaxing aroma as soon as she awakened in this blossoming garden.

“Why aren’t you coming and helping me?”

As she is about to stand up from the wooden bench with floral carving, Minjoo is startled by a small voice chimes in together with the passing breeze. The gentle girl can feel her fingers turned stone-cold as her brain finally registering this favorite scent of hers in this instance.

“Chaewon…”

Her voice trembles as this person standing in front of her looks awfully scrawny, having nothing but bones wrapping around her bones. The radiant shine within Chaewon’s eyes is gone from the pair of dazzling hazelnut orbs, replaced with swirling dark, hopeless stares. Visible cuts and fresh scars can be seen throughout Chaewon’s whole body, accompanied with those weird black inscriptions which somehow already spread throughout this certain girl with a haggard look.

Minjoo tried reaching out towards the girl but her hands were swatted away, accompanied with a burning gaze filled with something undesirable within Chaewon’s eyes. Minjoo can definitely say that she is afraid of this Chaewon. No, this isn’t her Chaewon, Minjoo told herself as she tried recovering from the shock.

Even so, she couldn’t just let this girl go away. Not when those pair of eyes bear so much pain. She knows, of course. That exactly looks like Chaewon’s eyes when they meet for the first time, back in White Realm. Maybe that’s why, instead of turning her head and running away, Minjoo held out her hands and grabbed Chaewon who was slightly smaller than her.

“Don’t touch me!”

For the second time, Chaewon harshly pushed away Minjoo’s touch while cowering in fear. There’s something hidden by the girl who looks like being cornered by a fearsome predator when Minjoo tried approaching her which put the taller girl in utter confusion.

“Chaewon, please…”

She tried begging for Chaewon to at least listen to her explanation but the girl just kept on stepping back, distancing both of them from each other.

“You lied to me!”

Hearing Chaewon scream at her makes Minjoo heart break. No, she didn’t want to see Chaewon in such anguish without a proper word with her.

“No, I’m not. Listen, Chaewon…”

“I hate you!”

She couldn’t hold back her tears upon listening to Chaewon’s words.

No, this isn’t Chaewon.

Minjoo tells herself as she wipes away her tears using the back of her hands.

“Chaewon…”

Her voice cracked as well as the space around her, throwing Minjoo off balance, letting the girl drown into infinite darkness. She can feel her consciousness is drifting away as countless ear-piercing shrieks can be heard coming from countless directions. She couldn’t handle it, hearing heart-breaking cries pleading for someone to save them as it drives her going crazy. She dislikes this, her newfound power after being hit by an unknown curse that puts Minjoo’s life on the line.

“Minjoo…”

That voice which is softer than any sound in the world suddenly calling out her name. Minjoo knows the owner of this voice. The one that she misses the most. The very person that going through countless hardships just to ensure Minjoo is still breathing right at this moment. A kinder soul more than anyone she ever knows. A person known as Chaewon.

“Chaewon…”

She yearned to hear that voice again after Chaewon suddenly went missing for more than three months, leaving Minjoo all alone without any words. She wants to embrace Chaewon who looks tattered for some reasons, causing Minjoo’s heart to ache as she sees battered Chaewon try touching Minjoo just to be separated by a thick, invisible barrier.

“Run, run away, Minjoo!”

The panicked voice of Chaewon makes Minjoo baffled. She couldn’t just ignore Chaewon and run away when the girl asked her to do so.

“Why, what’s wrong Chaewon?”

“Minjoo, run away!”

“Tell me why-”

“It’s dangerous over here! Run away! Take everyone with you!”

“No, come with me Chaewon!”

“Someone must stop this madness from spreading all over this land and that’s me! I’m sorry, Minjoo.”

“What are you sorry for-”

“Take care, Minjoo. Please be happy without me.”

Before she can ask more, Minjoo can feel herself being away from Chaewon who seems determined in doing whatever she plans, without Minjoo or their sisters. Minjoo tried fighting this unseen force from separating her and Chaewon again but her ability to move is like being siphoned away from her as Minjoo can only see the image of Chaewon slowly dispersed within the darkness.

Chaewon!

***

“Captain! We need your assistance right this instance!”

A hurried voice suddenly breaks Yena’s serenity as she is busy whispering to Yuri which is sealed inside the glass box. Of course, the captain is greatly annoyed by her vice-captain, Sof, who often knows where Yena headed to.

Yena scowled at Sof as she growled at the girl for disturbing her time. However, when she sees panic is written all over Sof’s face, Yena knows that something urgent must have emerged to cause the ever calm Sof out of her character.

“What is it this time? I thought I have at least a week off after our latest mission.”

“I’m sorry but the Dark Spot is spreading faster than before, tainting most of the land and turning it into wasteland. At this rate, Luves will be infected and it might-”

Sof stopped talking as she took a big gulp while staring at the object containing a certain beautiful girl with red hair within it. Noticing what kind of thing that Sof trying to explain to her, Yena hissed in annoyance as she stomped her feet on the ground.

“If I do this, will Yuri come back to me?”

“That, I couldn’t say for sure, captain but the church for sure confirms that Miss Yuri shows improvement when we clear off the Dark Spot across the land.”

Yena clenched the hilt of her sword, Solar Jaune as she threw her glance briefly towards Yuri who seemed to sleep like a sleeping beauty inside that glass box. Considering what Sof told her, Yena wouldn’t hesitate to offer her body and soul if that means for Yuri to wake up.

It all happened three months ago when Yena was wandering across the land, searching for any possible clues that will help them get Eunbi back. Yes, she vividly remembers that moment of desperation from back then.

***

[Flashback]

“I think I got scammed again.”

Yena sighed heavily as she took a brief rest by the bark of a shady spot tree. Her sweats are trickling from her skin as the weather has been acting weird as of late. Even though it’s been quite windy just now, out of sudden a surge of heat wave makes its way in the area, forcing Yena to move her hood and tie it to her waist. She brings out a magical leather pouch which serves as a water bottle with an endless supply of drinking water for Yena. Of course, she had this item after facing much difficulty in assisting a snobbish princess from faraway land to navigate her ways in Wizland. For sure, this pouch had saved Yena countless times from dying out of dehydration.

“Told you that information broker is a sham.”

“Shut it, Rei. Everything seems bogus in your view.”

“Of course! How come you just easily trust those people when you barely know them? Come on, Yena. Have some suspicion in your head, will you?”

“Nag, nag, nag. You sounds like my grandma, y’know?”