Yonghwa hesitantly took small steps. "Wh-where am I?" He breathed, nervous of the unfamiliar surroundings he was in. A vast fog of red was all that was in his sight. He clutched his arm, feeling somewhat uneasy.

"Hello...?" Yonghwa called out. "Is anybody there?" His calls for help only meaninglessly echoed into the dark red. He was definitely alone.

From a distance he suddenly heard a demonic hiss. Although abrubt, he could stil hear it rattling in his skull. He groaned in pain, clutching his ears. "Arrghh....!" He clenched his eyes. "Make it stop!" For what seemed like forever, the hiss eventually faded away, relieving the ringing in his ears. Yonghwa cautiously opened his eyes, suddenly finding himself in another location. He was in what seemed like a dark, satanic, living room. He blinked, utterly confused.

Yonghwa gagged as something foul lingered into his nose. "Ugh!" Yonghwa covered his face with his sleeve. "What is this stench?!" As if it couldn't get anything worse, the terrible hissing noise had started to come back. Only this time, it was slightly easier to make out.

"Demon... demon... demon"

D-demon?! What is going on here?  He thought, warily glancing around. From afar, he noticed a cloaked figure, who appeared to be staring at a fireplace that was placed at the other end of this room.

He felt somewhat... strange. As if he was being lured there. Temptation wasn't the right word to describe it, but he felt as if he wanted  to go there. He slowly arose from his fetal position, and dragged his feet over to the figure.

The figure snapped around, startling Yonghwa. The 'figure' was what appeared to be a skeleton. It bent its upper jaw backwards, cackling a distorted laugh. Before Yonghwa could back away, the skeleton grabbed the back of his shirt. For a bunch of bones, he was quite strong.

He struggled to get out of its grasp- kicking and scratching. Unfortanately, it was all futile. The skeleton then proceeded to slowly drag his face closer, and closer to the fire. He whimpered, trying to stop him with all his might. But what could he do. What was he, a seventeen year old boy, suppose to do.

Yonghwa tightly shut his eyes, awaiting his doom. However, to his surprise, the skeleton stopped dragging him. Unaware of what was going on, he peeked an eye open. Something was odd. His face was definitely in the fire- but why wasn't he burning into a crisp?

"Look closer..." the skeleton demandingly hissed.

Obeying him, he squinted, looking deep into the scorching red and orange flames. He made out a few lines.

"The sacred flames

By the burning breath of it's evil whisper

This flame is now part of you."

Bewildered and utterly creeped out, Yonghwa tried kicking the skeleton. However, he had kicked nothing but air. Confused, he tried getting out of the fire. 

It was no use- something was definitely keeping ahold of him. But what? Panicking, Yonghwa started to twist and turn, trying to get out of the fire. Out of nowhere, he was suddenly pushed deeper into it. He screamed, flailing his arms. But, instead of finding a solid wall, he found himself falling down what seemed to be a cliff. As he fell, he could only see nothing but darkness- but eventually discovered land. He yelped as he was nearing the floor, expecting imact. Expecting.

Yonghwa awoke with a jerk. He blinked, clearing his vision until he noticed someone crouching over him. Was this all a dream?

"Are you finally awake?" A girl- roughly about his age, and strangely familiar, asked, her voice soft as if she was trying to awaken a toddler.

Yonghwa arose, sitting up as he clutched his throbbing head. "Where am I?" He asked, his voice hoarse.

"You're in the middle of the woods," she handed me a bookbag. "You dropped this a few feet ago." She pointed at my uniform. " I see you go to Kyungbok High as well?"

He nodded, brushing off some snow that was piled up on his body. "Who are you, anyways...?" He asked, cautiously.

"Seohyun," She replied. "Well, that's what some call me."

He tilted his head. "Weren't you the girl that won the award for being top student three times in a row?"

She nodded.

"I was really shocked to see someone passed out here- you could've died in this freezing weather... what were you doing here anyways?"

"Going home from school..."

"School?!" She asked, confirming my answer.

He nodded slowly, unaware why she was so amazed.

"That means you were here for about three hours!" She exclaimed. "Didn't you notice it was so dark?"

He blinked. "I thought it was from the trees covering the sky... it's usually dark here, anyways." Suddenly, his eyes went wide. "Did you say three hours?!"

She nodded. "Why so surprised?" She asked. "Then again, we do have a lot of homework... you'd probably have to stay up all night doing it!"

I violently shook my head. "No not that!" I grabbed my bookbag. "My little sister is still at home, I have to go!" He shot up, and darted downhill, before pausing abruptly.

"Oh, and, thanks for saving me, Seohyun!" He called from afar. "I'll be sure to thank you in some way!"