She woke up in a deserted building. It seemed like she had opened her eyes for the very first time. As if she had only just seen the light of day. She did not know why exactly, but she could not remember anything anymore. She had no memories. Sandara slowly sat up and brushed her long red hair behind her ear. She cleared and got up. Who was she? Where was she?

The building was destroyed. Here and there the wallpapers were torn. The floors were scratched and irreparably damaged. Some spots were covered with dead blades of grass and other plants. The windows were also shattered, and the sun threw its bright light in all possible directions. Sandara covered her eyes and walked to the window. As she looked outside, she could not recognize anything. The light of the sun was too strong for her red eyes. She blinked several times and stepped back. What was this place?

Sandara heard a tap dripping somewhere nearby. was dry. With careful steps she went looking for it. She found the rusty sink with a broken mirror nailed on the filthy wall. Unfortunately, the water pump of the tap did no longer work. She formed a small bowl with her palms and held it under the tap, so that the drops slowly filled up her palms. Every single drop made a calming noise. After a while she took the first sip. The water went down softly. It was delicious. The taste of it was indescribable, a different way of sensation. It was clear, pleasantly cool and soothed her a lot. It worked like medicine. As if it contained magic. How could water make her feel so eased?  Sandara held her palms under the tap once again. It took a long time to fill up, but it was worth the wait. Was the cycle of water the same as the cycle of life? With a calm expression she watched the falling drops. She slowly raised her arms and drank the clear liquid. A little bit of it went down the corner of her lips and found its way on the cold ground. The sound of the drop was like a carillon. A single drop of water was the beginning of forming stones… Sandara knelt and touched the wet spot. She then looked at her own fingers. What a great sensation it was. So pure, so innocent…

Sandara got back up and plucked her dusty white dress. It was a beautifully embroidered cotton dress. She wore no shoes. She was totally barefoot. She noticed that her arms and legs were filthy. When she looked in the broken mirror, she noticed that her face was filthy too and covered with countless scars. She gently brushed over the scratches and took a close look on her wounds. Her red eyes sparkled. She felt no pain. What had happened to her? She had to find out.

Sandara walked from one wrecked room into another. It all looked the same. The rooms were furnished with the same pieces of furniture and decorated with the same wallpapers. The only difference was the destruction. The corridors stank of mold and sewage. The ceiling was leaky and covered with moss. After around three hours wandering through the huge, demolished building, she finally reached the front door. Unluckily, it was locked. So, she had to go look for another exit. What about the broken windows? Sandara went to a room from earlier and stood in front of the window. She lifted her hands again and protected her eyes from the extreme bright glare of the sunlight. Was it really the sun? Was this nirvana? The light was white, as bright as the wings of an angel. When she looked down, she could see nothing more than the outer wall of the huge building that reached infinitely into the depths. Jumping out was not an option. Sandara sighed and walked back to the front door. She kept trying to open it. How come everything was broken and demolished but this door was totally intact?

She covered her face with her hands and leaned on the wooden door, while she looked up to the mossy ceiling. She was all alone in this wrecked place. A tear appeared in her eye and went down her cheek. Why was she crying?

Suddenly she heard a crack behind her, coming from the wooden door. Before she could walk away it broke open. Instantly she reached her hand out but there was nothing she could hold onto. She fell backwards, meanwhile a wooden plank of the door pierced her side. She winced, closed her eyes in fear and immediately covered her wound, while she fell from the huge building into the white void. Some drops of black blood oozed from her wound and stained her white dress. She left a trace of black drops in the air from where she fell.

When she recovered, Sandara found herself in a forest. Was this the world of humans? The sun was about to set. It smelled like rain. The woody ground below her was wet. Her white dress was drenched too and had become dirty. She heard the rustling leaves of the trees and felt the cool wind blow through the forest. As light as she was dressed, she did not freeze. Her body heat went up automatically. Sandara heard various birds chirping. There was a river somewhere nearby. Once again, she became thirsty. She slowly got up and brushed her fiery red hair out of her face. She followed the sound of the flowing river. When she arrived there, she noticed that the forest was divided by it into two parts. There was a white bridge connecting both parts. She carefully approached the river and knelt to put her hand under water. So, this was how it felt. Water was clear, pure, and flexible, yet irresistible. It was strong when it flowed, yet still soft and painless when it ran through her fingers. Sandara looked at her own reflection. Her hair was blown by a soft breeze. The air became colder as it had turned dark. A full blue moon shone brightly and made the forest appear in blue patterns. With her palms she drew water from the river and drank it slowly. She drank more and more, washed up her face, and drank again. It made her feel free. When she had quenched her thirst, she got back up on her feet and slowly crossed the white bridge. In the middle she stopped and looked in the river. She noticed the full moon reflecting, making the surface of the river glitter as if it contained thousands of white stars. Sandara was amazed by the view. Never had she seen something like this before. She smiled and took a deep breath. Wherever this place was, whatever this place was, she already loved it! She noticed white fishes going with the flow of the river. They made her feel uneasy though. Something about these creatures felt wrong. She quickly left the bridge and sighed in relief.

After hours of walk into the forest, she suddenly became weaker. The air in this part of the forest stung her lungs, but she was too afraid to go back and cross the bridge again. Sandara felt her energy being withdrawn from her. Was it the forest’s doing? She had no idea, but she had a feeling about it. She leaned against a thick tree. The tree seemed to be the oldest here in this forest. It was a gigantic sequoia. Sandara felt very tired and closed her eyes. She did not want to fall asleep on an open area like that, but she struggled against it and finally gave in to it.
Why was she in this world of humans? What happened to her memories about herself? The building earlier, was it somewhere up in the sky? She had fallen out of it and now was in a strange forest. She did not belong to this world. Had she been banished from her homeland? Was she sent to this world by punishment, where people murdered each other? Where only the strongest survived and the weaker ones died? This world, which had a huge gap between wealth and poverty… This world was not Sandara’s place to be. But why was she sent here?

She woke up gasping for air. Her breath caught. The air escaped her lungs. She curled up on the ground in pain. Was she destined to die here?
The next moment Sandara heard a loud growling in her back. It sounded angry. She kept gasping for air as she turned slowly to the direction of the growl. As her eyes met its, angst and shock embraced Sandara. A gigantic beast like she had never seen before stood in front of her. Its white fur glittered, in the blue moonlight. It had long fangs and fiery red eyes. It watched Sandara closely and breathed calmly. Every breathe of it softly brushed over her skin. Sandara was afraid. Great fear rose in her. She did not want to die here, she still needed to know the purpose about why she had fallen into this world. She had to act quick if she wanted to stay alive. Sandara was aware of her abilities. Even if she had no memory of herself, or where she came from, she still knew that she was special. Sandara concentrated the energy in her hands and felt the fire shooting through her veins to her palms. The heat that her heart produced overtook her. Flames as hot as hellfire appeared in her palms. The gigantic beast sensed danger and took a defensive position. It growled at Sandara and gnashed its teeth. Sandara acted with her instinct. She would kill anything if that would make her live. She was fast with her attack, but she only managed to injure the beast’s left paw. The beast howled in pain as it jumped into the sky. Its movement made the leaves go up in the air. Sandara’s flames went out very quick since her energy was already drained too much. Her red hair was blown by the power of the beast’s jump. As it landed back on the wet ground it growled even more threatening. Its eyes sparkled in anger. Was this the moment for her to die?
Half of its left paw was blown away, yet it did not struggle to stand on it. The beast stared aggressively at Sandara. She had made a huge mistake by hurting it like this. The beast slowly approached her with pounding steps. Sandara closed her eyes in tremendous fear. She covered her face with her arms protectively and waited for her end. Surprisingly the gigantic beast did not attack her. No, it only sniffed at her and sat up straight in front the scared woman. Did it spare her life? Did she not smell delicious?

“I smell black blood.”, the beast spoke to her, “Once again, your kind got lost in this world. Tell me, Dokkaebi, do you want to live?”

Dokkaebi? How did it know about her kind? How did it know about her black blood?
Its voice was rough and deep, yet very soothing. The beast did not move its mouth, it spoke through thoughts to Sandara. It was magical. Its fiery red eyes were fixed at her reassuringly. The atmosphere had changed. Sandara no longer felt threatened. She was no longer in danger. They were not rivals but strangers who met due to fate.
Of course, Sandara wanted to live. Why would she want to die?

“Very well then. If you meet a young man from the great kingdom of Gongju, stay away from him.”, the beast recommended and its injured paw.

It replied as if it read her mind. Sandara sat down on the cold forest ground and leaned against the sequoia. She shivered a little. She pressed her back firmly against the tree because she still felt insecure about the beast. Sandara did not want to be eaten. Not here. Not now.

“Do not worry, Dokkaebi. I will not hurt you. I am just the protector of this forest. Humans refer to me as a wolf, but I am bigger than their wolves.”, the beast informed her about itself, “I came here to warn you as I did with others of your kind. Every time a Dokkaebi comes here, I am the one to warn them about the humans. They loathe your kind. They kill your kind. You do not belong to this world, so stay away from them.”

Humans? So, she really fell into the world of imperfect beings. The place that was crowded with people who longed for more and more power. People, that killed and enslaved their own kind. People, that were hungry for wealth.
But why would Sandara interact with them? Who was the person she should stay away from? The beast warned her about humans, but could she really trust it? She had to.

“Good girl. Listen, I have warned a lot of your kind. Most of them died because they fell victim to their desires. Some survived. If you want to live, stay out of the kingdom.”, the beast told her and slowly got up, “So listen to me, wondrous Dokkaebi, because for humans you are none other than the devil. Stay away from the man. Do not be with him. Look for a safe place that will keep you away from these humans, Sandara.”

Sandara finally realized that it was her name that the beast had called out. How did it know her name? Why did it help her? Where was this safe place?
The beast told her about Dokkaebis that had survived. People of her kind… so, she needed to find them. She had to escape death. Humans… She was not allowed to cross their ways.

The beast nodded and howled satisfied with Sandara’s thoughts. It told her that she needed to go back and cross the bridge again, since this part of the forest was enchanted and would slowly but surely kill her. Then it turned away, looked up in the sky and dissolved in innumerable tiny blue sparkling lights in front of her eyes. The sight of it vanishing was breathtaking. The sparkling blue lights went up in the sky and disappeared into thin air. The leaves of the trees rustled again. The wind blew lightly through Sandara’s red hair. She was amazed by this moment. It was magical.

She gently pushed h