Taeyeon was silently making his way inside the enemy fortress, hoping that he would not face anymore guards. The night had covered his entrance but as soon as his comrades commenced their attack, the fortress defenses were alerted and he had no choice but to fight his way through. He searched every room, looking for his target but luck was not on his side. After one wrong turn, a dozen armor-clad men confronted him. He observed and analyzed the situation carefully, figuring out how he would take them down. One of the men rushed towards him, sword at the ready but his armor had slowed him down and Taeyeon jumped up, landing a precise blow to the man’s head, splitting it right down the middle. The rest of the warriors charged but were too careless. Each of them fell with a single swipe of Taeyeon’s blade. He heard heaving breaths coming from one of them. He moved closer and held the dying man a little off the floor.

“Where is your emperor?” The man did not answer. “You are dying, my friend. Use these last moments of your life and be useful to someone for a change. Where is your emperor?” The man pulled Taeyeon by ear’s reach and whispered.

“Go *cough* To *cough* Hell…”

The man breathed his last as he cursed Taeyeon. “May your soul find peace.” He closed the dead man’s eyes and continued on his way.

Taeyeon still had no luck in finding the emperor’s quarters. He stood still, feeling the air currents, listening to the miniscule sounds. He put his new abilities to use and searched for his objective. He kneeled and placed his ear on the floor, hearing hard footsteps coming from the east. Taeyeon assumed it to be the right way and followed his hunch. He carefully ran along the corridors, keeping himself alert if ever a guard would surprise him. Another dead end. He needed help but it would mean he would have to wait for one of his comrades and risk getting caught by one of the enemies. Taeyeon could not risk staying still as it would give the emperor time to escape, jeopardizing his mission. He speculated that the throne room would be at the highest floor of the fortress. He went out a window and started to climb. There was an opening and Taeyeon made his way towards it. He finally reached his destination, but his target was nowhere to be seen.

“So, you are the prodigy of the Dragon Ninja clan. The great Kim Taeyeon.” A deep voice came from the darkest corner of the room. “To be honest with you, I expected more than this.”

“Show yourself that you may see why they call me a prodigy.” Taeyeon kept his weapon up, prepared for any kind of attack. “I promise you, your end will be swift if you do not choose to fight.”

The emperor eventually came out of the darkness, laughing. “You? Kill me? I am afraid you are mistaken, boy.” He was a large man, in his sixties and had an equally large sword in his hand. “Only you will die tonight. RAAAAAH!” The emperor swung his sword, trying to crush Taeyeon with it’s weight, but the young man was too agile and dodged the strike.

“You are slow, old man. You will never be able to hit me with that blade of yours.” Taeyeon retaliated with a swing of his own, leaving a deep cut on the emperor’s leg. He forced the old man on one knee and held him at sword-point. “Give up so that I may reprieve you of your suffering.”

“Tch. Never!” The emperor swung again but only hit empty air. Taeyeon gave him another wound on his shoulder. “Ugh!” The old man dropped his weapon and held his bleeding shoulder.

“You have lost, old man. It was a great honor to have fought with you.” Taeyeon was about to his sword into the back of the emperor’s neck when a shuriken was thrown towards him. He looked to where it was thrown and saw a familiar face. “You?! Why are you here? Where are our brothers?” The man did not speak and charged him. Both of them were equal in strength and ability. The fight would not seem to end until Taeyeon’s opponent used a flash bomb. He was blinded by the bright light and he felt a sharp pain on his side. “AAAGH!” The man landed a blow on him. Taeyeon dropped to his knees and looked at his soon to be killer. “Why? Why did you betray us?” He only saw sly smile on the man’s face.

“No. This is not the way it is supposed to end. I refuse to die here.”

Taeyeon threw one of his own flash bombs, distracting his enemy enough, allowing him to jump out of the window, falling into the river. The strong current led him away from the battle until he ended up on the riverbank. Taeyeon regained his consciousness and slowly got up. Luckily, his sword was still with him as he was a sitting duck in his current condition. He traversed through the long road, clutching his side as blood trailed from his wound. A torrentious rain had started to pour and thunderclaps echoed throughout the land. There was no light, no moon, no stars, only lightning illuminated the night sky. Taeyeon was gradually losing the rest of his strength. He needed to find shelter and when all hope seemed to be lost, he saw a light flickering at the end of the road. He ran towards it, ignoring his injury. He arrived at a small house and weakly knocked on the door before he fell from exhaustion.

“Who could be walking out at this hour and this rain?” A young woman opened the door and was shocked at what she saw. “Omo! Yah, gwaenchanayo?! Umma!”

“De!” The girl’s mother shouted from the kitchen. She felt a tugging from her skirt and looked back at the wounded man.

“Help… Me…” Taeyeon was on the verge of losing his consciousness yet again. The girl helped him up and brought him inside their house.

“What is it, Miyoung-ah—*GASP* What happened to him, my daughter?” The middle-aged woman helped her daughter and lay Taeyeon down on one of the beds. She removed his clothing and saw a rather large slash wound on the left side of his body. “Miyoung-ah, get the medicinal plants and bandages. Palli!” Miyoung did what she was told and quickly came back with what her mother asked for.

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