Perplexed by Sooyoung’s revelation, Seulgi decided to asked her, “What do you mean she’s not exactly a reincarnation?”

“Seulgi, you do know that there’s no such thing as reincarnation, right?” Sooyoung deadpanned as she turned to look at Seulgi.

“Y-you're right, there’s no reincarnation. It’s all just a myth made up by humans.” Realisation dawned upon Seulgi as she stood there, shook by Sooyoung’s words.

Of course, how could she have forgotten. She had been so caught up by the idea that there was a chance, a chance for her to meet Irene again that she had forgotten all about the reason she even had her purplish flames.

If reincarnation was real then what was the point of Purgatorio? The Purgatorio was solely made for souls in the afterlife to cleanse themselves before they could enter the gates of Paradiso.

“Then what is Ahreum is supposed to be?” She asked, her confusion clearly shown through her tone of voice.

“Sigh, this is going to be hard to explain.” Sooyoung sighed, her sight going back to the sunset before them, “You see, there’s this thing called a ‘connection' between certain souls.”

“Connection?”

“Yes, a connection.” Sooyoung heaved another sigh before explaining, “And through this connection, some souls don’t get to Purgatorio after death. Instead, they stay and go through cycles of reincarnation until they have fulfilled the connection.”

“So, this connection thing is like those things we see on TV? Spirits not willing to move on?”

“Not really but close, you need to have the connection in order to stay. There’s no such thing as ghosts moving on, you’ve been a demon for centuries now but have you seen any ghost that is unwilling to move on?” Sooyoung asked, trying to get her point through.

“Hold on, you’re right. I’ve never seen such a thing before.”

“Exactly, all souls must either enter Purgatorio or Inferno unless there’s a connection. And you, you have a connection with Irene.”

“What connection then?” Seulgi asked, completely shocked by the revelation.

“I don’t know what’s the deal with the both of you but I can see it. When the both of you are far apart, the link isn’t really apparent. I can still see it but it just isn’t that visible compared to when the both of you are closer to each other, the link is very much apparent and bold.” Truth be told, Sooyoung never would’ve thought the two souls would be linked and connected but if she were to think about it, Seulgi and Irene sharing a connection wasn’t really a farfetched idea.

It was during the same night when she saw the link -Mystical Guardians can see the souls of other beings- between the both but she didn’t pay it any heed as she was too busy saving people and fighting off the mages and demons.

It was only when she had rescued Ahreum and escaped the hell hole of a place did she realise that her soul had a link and it was definitely connected to Seulgi’s.

“B-but why? Why are our souls connected?” Seulgi questioned Sooyoung.

“There’s a handful of ways souls can be connected to each other.” Sooyoung said before lifting a finger, “Curses, it can be between victims of the curse or between the person who casted the curse and their victim.”

“There could also be some unfinished business between two souls in their past life.” Sooyoung said as she raised a second finger before raising another,  "Or an oath and last but not least, a promise between souls.” Her fourth finger raised.

“A promise?”

“Yes, a promise.” Sooyoung answered, “Words are powerful, Seulgi. Be careful of what you say.”

******

“But this doesn’t explain why she would bring me back though and how do you even communicate with Ahreum anyways?” Seulgi questioned Sooyoung as they head their way back to the house, the sun has already set and the moon was glowing brightly above them.

“You do know that I can do telepathy, right?”

“Still doesn’t explain why she helped me; shouldn’t she be scared of demons? We almost ruined her life.”

“Well, about that… I… kind of erased her memories of the ritual…” Sooyoung admitted, her eyes looking at anything around them except for Seulgi’s.

“You what!” Seulgi yelled as she moved to stand in front of Sooyoung, her hand grabbing both of Sooyoung’s shoulders, “Look, I can explain!” Sooyoung defended herself, “I-I thought it might help with her trauma, that maybe she’d be able to talk again. Well turns out, it was useless so I returned her memories back.” She confessed as her eyes avoided Seulgi’s once again.

“What the hell were you thinking, Sooyoung! Altering someone’s memories should be taken seriously, you can’t just go around and erase her memories!”

“I know what I was doing, okay!” Sooyoung shouted in defense, flailing her arms to free herself from Seulgi’s hold, “At least something good came out of it!”

“Huh? What something good came out from it?” Seulgi said as she stopped trying to lock Sooyoung in her grip.

“She doesn’t freak out when she sees a demon anymore.” Sooyoung answered Seulgi, “When I first brought home a dead demon, she had freaked out and it was so bad that I didn’t dare to let a demon in her sight ever since.” Sooyoung cringed as she vividly remembered Ahreum freaking out, shouting and crouching on the floor at the sight of the demon, “It was the first time I’d ever heard her voice but after I wiped and returned her memories, it was as if she wasn’t afraid of them anymore. Well not exactly, but she doesn’t freak out anymore when she sees a demon and she even helped you! But then that could be because of the connection between the both of you though.” Sooyoung babbled.

“But… why?”

“I don’t know, Seulgi. I don’t know.”

*****

“So, what are you gonna do now?”

“What do you mean what I’m going to do now?” Seulgi asked her back, her eyes turning to her side to give Sooyoung a questioning look.

“I don’t know, maybe stay with her and shower her with love?” Sooyoung answered to which Seulgi only intensified her questioning look into a full on WTF.

“Sigh, I… I don’t think I can ever love another person that isn’t Irene.” Seulgi sighed as she answered Sooyoung, her sight no longer on Sooyoung as she looked to the front.

“But Ahreum is Irene, no?”

“No, they’re different Sooyoung.” Seulgi answered firmly as she turned back to look at Sooyoung, “They might share the same soul and face but they’re different people, Sooy-” but before she could say Sooyoung’s name, Seulgi was silenced by her.

“Something’s not right, your link with Ahreum should be going toward the house…” Sooyoung said when they both neared the house, “But it’s going toward there.” She pointed to the direction where the town was, “And I don’t smell her here either.”

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