Glass shattering and the sound of the violent contact of skin on skin. The voice of a woman screaming in pain, as she attempted to shield me from the grubby hands of a hooded man. Everything was a blur in the darkness of the Grand Hall. The palace was in a state of utter chaos.

I felt myself being lifted while the woman was flung to the floor with a crash.

“Omma! Ommaaaa!” I screamed, as loud as my seven-year old self would allow me to before I was thrown to the ground, littered with bodies of the royal guards that was taken down with a swift of the man’s staff. A sharp pain clouded my thoughts as my head hit the sharp edges of what was left of the marble statue, and soon covered in a pool of my own blood.

“Joo Hyun!! My child! Stop this! Stop!!!” the woman plead, believing that I was dead.

“I’ll give it to you, the scroll. You have killed enough! Please. Please let my people go.”

“Alright then, your Highness. The King and princess is dead anyways. No one with your power is left in this damned family but you. You know what to do. Give it to me or your mother and whatever is left of your kingdom and people will be destroyed.”

The hooded figure simply produced that hauntingly hysterical laugh as the woman handed him the scroll in which lies the secret of the Orchea, one which the Seo Kingdom has been endowed with the responsibility to protect among the Four Sacred Scrolls.

In my flitting state of consciousness, I saw the reflection of a sharp blade as the hooded figure aims it directly at the fallen woman’s heart. The man then laughed, basking in his victory, before he flew out of the window.

I gave a whimper, trying to reach out to my mother, but my body was too heavy. I tried to focus my powers on the retreating man, just like how omma had taught me, but my body was too weak.

“Ommaaa…” I whispered, tears blurring my already clouded vision.

I felt the touch of warm hands on me and the concerned and panicked eyes of one of the fallen guards, and the next thing I knew, everything went pitch black.