Chaewon POV

The neon lights blind you, making it difficult to navigate your way through the seas of people. The lights make the city thrive with energy, energy that never comes down from its high. Yimrell, the city that never sleeps, quite literally. You can only imagine that all forms of life inhabit the city, nocturnal and diurnal.

You listen to the footsteps around you, deciding when to move slightly to the right. Then a human toddler falls in front of you, and you bring yourself to a sudden stop. Looking down at the toddler, your eyes meet its green eyes that stare at you. You smile softly and lift it from the ground with your serapha. It looks at you with a face full of awe, or is it horror? The toddler bows when its mother nudges it softly, then the pair walk away, the mother holding her child’s hand.

“Did that girl use serapha to help me, Mama?” You hear the toddler questioning its mother.

“Yes, but you should be more careful next time. What if it was—“

And they’re out of earshot before you can hear the woman finish her sentence, except you know what she said.

What if it was a rogue seraph?

You sigh.

The amounts of people wary of rogue seraph humans are rising, and it doesn’t help that tensions with planet Raeix have been on the rise as well.

A select number of humans in the universe are born with the power of serapha, allowing them to use their mind to move anything at their will. Either they inherit the power from their parents, or they develop serapha over time. Although, humans that inherit serapha are far more powerful than the humans that develop the power throughout their childhood.

Along with the planets Raeix and Paridiy being significantly different, there are also differences on how seraph humans are perceived. Raeix humans with serapha are praised, looked up to for their achievements on behalf of their planet. They complete various missions, some that only the bravest seraph humans can complete, and that is more than enough for them to earn their fame. They get their pictures framed in the beautiful Hall of Heroes, surrounded by gold, silver, and other signs of riches. The Raeix government has no set budget for their so-called heroes, apparently.

On Paridiy, a planet with more poverty than anything else, seraph humans are feared. Only a couple hold spots in the planet’s government, and still they are talked over. With that in mind, seraph humans of Paridiy turn to follow a darker path, one with crime and substance abuse. And although some choose to not follow that path, they are still brought down because of the reputations of the others. Like yourself, Kim Chaewon, someone that has not committed a single felony in her life, is still feared and judged for being “gifted” with something not of her choice. A gift? No– to you, it is a curse.

You pull your hood up and lower your head, so you can ignore the stares you receive. You stuff your hands in your pockets and walk at a slightly faster pace than before, now impatient to meet your friends in a more secluded space rather than be in the open, where you are vulnerable and alone.

You thought that kids would be different. Maybe they could see that you are no different than the others. Of course, it all leads back to the parents of the children. If the parents fear the seraphs, then the children are likely to fear them as well.

It makes you wonder. What if their child was born with serapha? Would they fear their child too? Yes, most likely. Your parents hate you, so much that they kicked you out as soon as you did one little thing wrong.

They were itching to get rid of you.

You feel a surge of power in your head, and you instinctively lower your head more. Another side effect of having serapha is having color changing eyes, and you have no control over them. Your eyes turn red once your emotions are heightened.

You rush into an alleyway and force a deep breath in, then a deep breath out, except you feel the air become stuck in your throat. You cough, and you breathe, and cough some more, yet the feeling stays. You keep trying, and you wish you had better control of yourself. That’s when you feel a hand on your back, feeling it rubbing for comfort.

“Chaewon, take a deep breath with me.”

You could recognize her anywhere. You hear her take a deep breath, and you follow. She exhales, and you follow. She repeats, and you repeat with her until eventually, you calm down. She engulfs you in a hug so warm, you forget where you are for a second. You look around. It’s just you and your girlfriend in a small, dark alleyway.

“M-Minju,” You wrap your arms around her tightly, your hands clutching onto the fabric of her sweater. You take a deep breath, taking in her sweet scent. It’s a soft vanilla. You breathe in more. “I love you so, so much.”

You can hear Minju chuckle, and you can already imagine the goofy smile she has on her face. She hugs you tighter, almost as if she’s trying to say not to leave. You won’t leave her. You could never leave her. She is what keeps you alive in this terrible, terrible world. 

You won’t ever leave her.

Pulling your head away from under her chin, you lean up and kiss her jaw. Her face turns a bright pink, and now it’s your turn to chuckle. But she leaves you blushing when she says:

“I love you more, though.” 

You pull away completely, showing your girlfriend the scowl on your face, to which she throws her head back in laughter.

“You know that’s not true,” You speak through your blush as she reaches for your hand.

The two of you exit the alleyway and find yourselves back on the busy streets of Yimrell, hand in hand. Your girlfriend pulls you closer, and you let her hand go for a moment to wrap your arm around hers, reconnecting your hand with hers.

You look at the sky. The Moon and Luna are shining brightly tonight, although it would be brighter if there wasn’t so much light pollution in Yimrell. 

Now, you know that “Luna” is the word moon in some other language from the original world, but because Paridiy has two “moons”, it’s easier for Paridians to call one “Moon” and the other “Luna”.

“The sky is so pretty,” You speak just loud enough for Minju to hear.

“Yeah, very pretty,” Minju replies, except her eyes never leave you. You weakly punch her shoulder. “Ow!”

“I didn’t even punch you that hard.” 

“It still hurt, Chae,” She pouts, and you can’t resist the urge you get.

You stop walking and she stops walking with you. She’s still pouting when you lean up and kiss her on the lips. Your heart skips a beat, and you can feel the joy in your chest burst into flowers. She kisses you back and you can feel her smile into the kiss, which makes you smile too. The rest of the world disappears for a moment, and god you love her so much.

You won’t ever leave her.

Minju pulls away from your lips, her pout no longer there. 

“Okay, okay, enough with this disgusting lovey-dovey stuff.”

The two of you turn and are met with your friend, Yena, who has a frown on her face. She crosses her arms and attempts to walk in between you and Minju.

“Hey Yena,” You roll your eyes, a bit annoyed that your friend “ruined” the moment between you and Minju. Your girlfriend only nods her head with a glare at your mutual friend, not embarrassed to show her annoyance. 

“Damn, if you guys want to each other’s faces off that badly then skip today’s get together,” Yena raises her hands up in defense, and were the two of you really that annoyed?

“Excuse you,” You nudge Minju’s shoulder and she wipes the glare off her face, replacing it with a very noticeably forced grin. “We’re not that desperate, right Min?”

Minju looks at you, about to protest your words, except you pinch her arm and she begins to ramble. “Nope! Not desperate, not at all! We can keep our hands, and lips, to ourselves, yup!”

You smile at how funny Minju sounds, and while she said that the two of you could keep your hands to yourselves, Minju wraps an arm around your waist, squeezing it gently. You place a hand on top of hers, leaning into her side. Her warmth is so addicting, and you can’t get enough. 

Yena groans and turns on her heels. “Where’s my girlfriend? I miss her,” She whines as the three of you start walking.

“She’s probably waiting at the tavern. Hyewon’s already there too,” Minju speaks without letting you go.

“Hyewon alone with Yuri? I don’t know, Yena, she might be flirting with your girl right now,” You know that you’re instigating things right now, but what’s the fun in not? You smirk, trying to push back a laugh that’s threatening to come out. You look at Yena, and suddenly the laugh is so close to being let out.

Yena’s eyebrows crease into a frown, and her lips are in the biggest pout known to… well, ducks. “Hyewon? Alone with Yuri? …Now I trust Yuri with my life, but who I don’t trust is Hyewon! Come on, guys. We have to get there fast.”

Your friend speed walks away. Her arms swing dramatically as she tries to keep her balance from walking so fast. Her ponytail swings back and forth as her body disappears into the crowd of people.

The laugh that threatened to come out finally bursts out of your throat, and you have to lean farther into Minju to keep yourself up. You laugh so much, you have to gasp for air once you're done. There are tears in your eyes, and Minju wipes them away from your face with a smile. She, too, ended up giggling at your friend. 

Hyewon is known in your friend group to flirt with any breathing woman just for the fun of it. She, of course, knows that Yuri is dating Yena, but Yena still doesn’t trust Hyewon, in that aspect at least. Hyewon does it as a form of joking, though.

“Come on. Let’s get to the tavern,” Minju holds onto your waist and continues walking with a smile on her face. You walk along with her, still leaning onto her warmth.

The tavern is lit up in a soft, warm glow from old lanterns. The wood holding up the roof is almost gray in color and small pieces have been chipped away, and yet you still enter. Fear of the building falling apart never crossed your mind, and you don’t fear it now either. The wood from trees on Paridiy are abnormally strong, so strong that most buildings in Yimrell use Paridian wood as a form of support.

And so, no worries run through your