Heads up! REALLY long chapter! Fifteen pages worth!

Stick through it!

( Please listen on repeat: Existence )

It was decades since Minji went out to find Daesung.

Her sense of direction failed her. She crossed the ocean quickly, but lands had different shapes and forms to them. They were not the same as before the creatures left the Land of Graveyards. She grew lost of where she could go—she may have even searched all over this world and only missed her destination.

She grew weary after the first year—she lost Jongdae immediately. No sign of him inside her anywhere. She wanted to hope he hadn’t died; she needed to at least feel that. She was scared that possibly after losing connection with him, he would be in this danger and she could only think of it.

 To this point, she wanted to give up, yet she kept trying to prove herself wrong. She would find Daesung. She would return to Jongdae, HaYi, and Kyungsoo.

Maybe it was selfish of her to keep going when it’d been so long away from her children. She grew so determined to find Daesung since she got the chance. She wanted to end her depressed nights. She wanted to end the sadness of looking at HaYi and thinking how Daesung would meet her. She wanted the land to be at peace. Daesung was the answer to every problem she had.

Minji grew weaker year by year, but now day by day, she felt she was debilitating. There were areas where she felt too weak in and others she felt better in. By the pattern, she grew to learn in these areas, she must’ve been closer to Daesung or even just the Land of Graveyards.

At one point, the debilitating grew so strong Minji had to stop traveling. She fell to her knees, trying to catch her breath. She was so close, she knew it. She was getting somewhere; she couldn’t stop no matter how much it hurt.

She forced herself on her feet, walking forward. The force to stop her grew stronger and despite the ominous feeling, she grew oddly excited. She found something. She most definitely found something.

The force pushed her back more and more and she struggled hard. She began to cry, but of something unknown. The tears fell behind her as she pushed against the force, seeing just beyond the trees she was enclosed in were flat lands and seemingly very old destroyed structures.

She started running, anxious to see of the land she missed all these years. She pushed past bushes and distraught branches, huffing against the air and making her way past the trees; and past the barrier of debilitation. It was all gone. All but this new feeling of despair.

Minji was horrified.

The land truly looked like a graveyard. The grass never grew again. It was dirt either piled up or missing on the level ground. Structures of old buildings were covered in moss and broken vines, crumbling. Many structures almost completely gone.

For miles.

Minji stared at her ancient home, now almost nothing. More tears fell and she began to sob. She walked through the old dirt roads she once knew and cried along the way. They were all gone. No one was living here in this barren land of nothing.

She covered , refraining from making too much noise. She felt as if she were disturbing the quiet, and yet, the quiet felt so wrong.

Minji came across a home she felt a connection with. It had no roof and was eroded to half her size. She was drawn to the inside and walked through the opening, seeing old tables stuck into the ground and old rock slabs sticking out of the ground by the walls.

She furrowed her brows, taking a few of the slabs and making her attempt to read them.

Minji and I went out for a meal, today. She has been incredibly distracted lately, I have observed. I fear her quarrel with herself is growing stronger. I cannot imagine how stressful it is to be Royal and unable to disconnect from the King. But I question, what if she does separate from the King? Will she be happy or will she find a shadow in her heart?

Minji dropped the first slab and went to the other.

I do not feel safe and fear for Minji. I have odd feelings, and to bring me further to my fright, Hyunja is seeing things in his mind. It is abnormal for us to have visions, but I do not treat Hyunja any different. He has a power giften from the Royals for a reason. And this vision I must warn the King about, but I cannot find him. I had seen him fiercly flying from the empire to north momentarily and was not given a chance. I need to find someone to help. I fear for Minji’s future.

I fear my own death.

Minji dropped the other slab on top of the other and used both hands to cover .

This was the home of Hyunja, the little boy Minji held before his passing. The home of his elder sister . . . one of her friends.

She shook her head, denying herself of the memory and staring at the slabs. She didn’t want to remember their faces of death. She couldn’t face that again.

Her eyes wandered hysterically before seeing four stick-crosses stuck into the ground with small rocks placed in front of them. She moved closer, trying to get a look before she saw the names of her old friends and their parents on the rocks.

She fell to her knees in front of her friend’s cross and sobbed. She couldn’t hide from the truth. She couldn’t deny their bodies now ash in the air.

She crawled out of the place, unable to keep herself in there as she mumbled ‘forgive me’ over and over again. When she managed to get to her feet and walk again, continuously wiping her eyes, she noticed that even on the streets, crosses with rocks engraved with a name were all around.

Wherever she looked, wherever she turned, there was always another after another, reminding her of all the deaths of her creatures she didn’t save; the creatures Daesung wouldn’t let her stay to attempt help or just watch become deceased.

She walked among all the names; and she knew every single one of them. All from their age to the size of their ring fingers, she knew every single thing about them. And they were all gone.

She walked on for miles upon the dirt graves, looking at each building that eroded over time and would never be redeemed. What she could never save.

A shadow suddenly cast over her and she looked up, seeing the largest structure blocking light from the sky.

This was the main part of the empire. Her castle. Her home.

The structure was eroded at many parts, some walls even missing, but it still stood and was all there. Minji rushed into the grand doors and into the large, open room. Nothing was touched.

She ran through the building and looked or any sign of life, any sign of Daesung. She went from floor to floor, north to south to east to west. Absolutely nothing.

She slumped, moving back to the first floor and into the courtyard to sit by the water-less fountain. She broke down once more, by herself. Daesung was gone. He was really gone and he hadn’t taken her with him. It was an impossible thing that was proven to actually be possible. Daesung was gone. And Minji was the only one left.

Minji cried into the fountain. It was all over. Nothing was able to be fixed or healed. The future of creatures was now only mass destruction.

She was never going to be able to fix anything. Who was she kidding to take on Daesung’s role? She did an awful job and there was no way to redeem herself or her creatures from their mistakes. Minji had to hide away forever. She could not go anywhere back near her second home or she’d be killed by creatures that held a grudge for decades now. She’d never see HaYi or Kyungsoo grow up to look like an elder. She’d never return to Jongdae’s arms for comfort.

The Queen had fallen.

She resigned herself to her spot and decided to wait for her death. She felt the weakness return to her as the day slowly passed on. She had no where to go and nothing to do. She failed everyone and herself. She needed to go away.

Minji fell into an uncomfortable sleep of black dreams, not bothering to rid herself of the dark nightmares.

Daesung spent all of his years looking all over for signs of survivors or others still in the midst of suffering. He bit so many creatures that some lived to help him in his task of saving others. Many of the people he tried to save died, and the people he bit grew sick and began dying.

Daesung always ended up alone again. He thought he would grow used to the feeling, but he couldn’t. Without Bom, he felt confused, but still felt the purpose of what he needed to do.

Without Minji, he didn’t feel himself. He lost who he was after being disconnected to her. He despised the feeling and wished he could just return to her side. It took all his might just to keep from leaving his duty.

He searched all over for an answer; within every survivor and every dead infected. But he couldn’t find it. Biting them wasn’t working anymore—there was always little poison left that grew and spread again. It would be a miracle to take out all the poison, but he didn’t have that time. There were too many creatures to risk just keeping time to one creature. And he hated that decision.

He began wandering the lands, even looking for the humans, but the only living sources he found were him and plants. He was all alone in this land and it never ended.

He’d visit Bom every so often and stand above the grave he marked when he had the chance. He’d talk to her out loud and sometimes in his head, hoping in her death, she could still hear him.

  “I miss you,” he shook his head, on his knees, hand pulling down the rough, dry dirt, “I want to badly to dig you up, but I fear it will disrupt your process of returning if I move you. . .

  “I want to see your face,” he began to tear up, “I want to watch you breathe the air I live in. I want you to live as much as I do. . .”

He wiped his eyes and stared at the rock with her name on it, “I will wait for the day you return to the empire. And that day, everyone will be saved.”

Daesung stood up again and went on his way to look for the answer to his problems.

It had been too many centuries for Daesung to count. But he did know it’d been almost forever since the epidemic. Too long away from Minji and Bom.

Daesung was almost driven insane. He couldn’t find any solution to the poison. There were less survivors left as each year went by all the way to none at all. He was alone. He was tired. He hadn’t slept for centuries in hopes his efforts of being awake all the time wouldn’t be for nothing.

He hadn’t lost hope, though.

He figured to wait it out. If he couldn’t come to the answer, the answer would come to him.

He made his way back into the empire and decided to do a respectful deed. He gathered sticks and stones and first went into houses of creatures, placing stick-crosses into the ground and carving names into the rocks, placing them in front of the crosses. He went from houses, into his own home, to the places certain creatures liked to be, and many on the streets because of the lack of room in buildings.

All over the empire were crosses and stones. Wherever Daesung walked was a grave, reminding him of the creature and what he hadn’t done to save them.

Every day he would walk the entire land, watching structures collapse, erode, fall apart, grow green all over and within, and die spiritually.

Daesung hated his failures. He was not meant to fail; he was made to fix every wrong. But he couldn’t do it this time. His ancestors had to shame him and his name. He was not a Royal at all anymore. That was lost.

The King had fallen.

He couldn’t take the silence of the land and would shout all the time, hoping something would hear and come to him. But there was never a response. He was shouting to himself.

Then he’d start to talk out loud. Openly speak about the happy memories and his successful hardworking times. He’d manage to cheer up until the end of the day where the darkness clouded over him and brought him into living nightmares.

Some nights, Daesung would feel weird as he walked. He’d get an odd feeling of depression that he knew clearly wasn’t his own. And he was bewildered with who it could be, until he started hearing things.

Jongdae and I married today . . .

Harmony has never been so well, Daesung . . .

Jongdae and I are to bear a child, my brother . . .

I miss you so incredibly much. Where are you? Can you hear me within you? Do my words travel in the wind? Never? Brother, I cannot stand living. I feel so . . . lost. I am not right to rule . . .

Her name is HaYi. Your neice, Daesung . . .

The creatures are starting to lose harmony. I try and try, Daesung, but it seems my voice does not travel. . .

Daesung, please . . .

We are bearing another, Daesung. Yoona, if she is female. Kyungsoo, if he is male . . .

So faintly he could hear Minji’s voice in the back of his mind and each time he’d try to speak back, in his mind and aloud. But it seems it would never travel. He could never send his words to her. He began speaking every day in attempt to send Minji and message and hoped it would reach her just as she’d sometimes reach him.

Daesung would break down crying. He missed Minji marry. He has never met HaYi. He would never meet Yoona or Kyungsoo . . .

And Minji sounded so lost. She would cry in her messages and Daesung could feel it within him. Sometimes, he couldn’t even stand because it was such an impact. He wished he could be with her already and give her refuge.

But all Daesung could do was pray to his ancestors to give him an answer.

More time passed and Daesung knew hour by hour, he was withering away. But he knew the answer. He knew what he had to do. It was only a matter of time before his problems would be solved.

After finding the answer, Daesung’s health went odd. His body went back to normal; he no longer looked tired and so thin and ready to die. He looked well, but on the inside, he could feel himself slip.

Exhausted, Daesung walked into his home once more, his wings too weak and drooping for him to fly. He walked down below to a warm area with many iron doors within the dirt walls. On top of the doors was a carved stone slab with numbers on them and Daesung walked to the one labeled two-one-nine.

He opened the door to darkness, producing a very weak fire from his hand to light his way. He found the first stair and started to walk down the staircase to his destination. It took a long time with his energy so low, but he made it down to where he wanted.

He cast his fire out and slowly stepped forward into the place his wanted.

The Prophecy lay there in the ground quietly, the water too calm for noise. A light with no source shone down on it.

Daesung hadn’t visited the Prophecy for ages and sighed to how he should’ve sooner. He walked up to it and sat down by the edge, renewing the flame in his palm and putting his hand into the water.

The fire went out.

Daesung pulled his hand out and sighed again. Nothing was to set fire, yet.

He hadn’t understood why the Prophecy would decide to set fire and potentially endanger the world of distinction, at first. But when the light of the answer shone down on him, he couldn’t believe his ancestors planned so far ahead into the future.

What was unpleasant for Daesung was the answer, itself. He could not fix it, but the future had to. His time was not the age to save the creatures from future calamity. Another Daegrent soul would. Daesung believed he should to leave his power to this Daegrent and save them. Daesung was destined to become the entity in the air to hover over his land and await this future Daegrent. The last Daegrent of the world.

What was also unpleasant was he needed Minji. Both of them had to pass on in order for the future to even come, otherwise, time was stuck, just as it was now. That is why the ground would never grow grass again. He hoped that soon Minji would realize the sunrise and sundown were not real; that days were not coming to pass.

And so, Daesung had to wait down in this place with the Prophecy.

Both he and his sister were condemned to this fate.

. . . I feel you . . .

Minji jolted awake, quickly twisting and turning to look around in the dark.

  “Dreams,” she reminded herself, “He is dead. It was just a dream.”

She looked up at the sky, seeing it was soon nearing dawn. She had slept the rest of yesterday and all night away. The first of many days.

She sighed, looking around her home. It was still so new to her. Maybe she should just walk around the entire empire just to give her something to do; to reminisce on the merry times.

Minji pushed herself to her feet and stretched before slowly leaving the courtyard.

. . . I feel you . . .

Minji stopped and looked around again hastily, “Where are you? Daesung?!”

When no answer replied, Minji shouted, “Daesung?!”

. . . I really do feel you . . . Come to the Prophecy, Minji . . .

Minji wasted no time and darted off to the room of warmth, beginning to fly across the long room and almost rip the specific door off its hinges, flying down the long flight of stairs down into the room of the Prophecy.

She landed on her feet, looking around behind setting eyes on the Prophecy, a figure standing before it.

Minji began choking up, her feet dragging forward of exhaustion, her hand extending feebly, her voice barely a whisper, “. . . My brother?”

Daesung turned around and looked at his sister, relief etched on to his face as he walked to her, “Minji!”

The two siblings reunited after a long time without another word. They hugged for what could’ve been an eternity. The connection between them felt as strong as ever and both of them couldn’t be any more elated about it. After wishing to part each other coming true, it was never worth losing in the first place. They were meant to be together. There was no other way to it.

  “More than centuries, it has passed, Daesung,” Minji cried against him, familiarizing herself of his being again, “And I finally find you.”

Daesung breathed, “I have waited so long for you, Minji . . .”

The two parted, Daesung pulling Minji’s hair behind her ears with a tired smile on his face. Minji gave in to his touch and laid her forehead against his chest. They both felt the utmost relief of their lives and could even share that together.

  “I have looked decades for this place,” Minji admitted, “I have been seeking to find you since forever ago. But now I have purpose in finding you . . .”

Daesung’s face straightened until it fell into regret, pulling Minji away, “What of this purpose?”

Minji grabbed on to Daesung’s hands, “We rebuilt our empire. It was beautiful, Daesung. So beautiful . . . we lived in harmony once more. Jongdae and I married and had our first, HaYi. But creatures were beside themselves about me ruling and not you,” she shook her head, “I was never meant to be in your position, brother, and I am sorry I condemn you to it to, but I was never made for it . . . creatures split up into groups about their ideals, but each side clashes with another until we see through to it. . .”

Daesung observed the terror in Minji’s eyes as she paused, “My sister?”

  “The empire . . . has fallen,” she admitted.

Daesung grabbed on to her, “How?”

  “Our own creatures,” she looked away, “These groups were not just of four to five creatures, Daesung. Half the empire was divided. The ones against my rules went against the Royals, too. The empire was engulfed in flame and no one bothered to put it out. They started battling and clashing . . . Kyungsoo, your nephew, almost died in it. . .” she paused and choked a little bit, “I do not know if he still lives. I do not know if HaYi or Jongdae live. The creatures were after me, and so I had to part from them and find you. . .

  “You are the answer, Daesung,” she grasped him desperately, “If you are brought to our kingdom, we will all rejoice!”

Daesung pulled Minji to him again, the guilt washing over him completely. Because time wasn’t moving on, creatures were forced to overthink and become hostile over something that could’ve been forgotten with time. Because time wasn’t moving, another massacre occurred.

And with two children who must be motherless. . .

  “I am the answer,” Daesung spoke softly, “But as are you.”

Minji felt the relief leave her completely. Daesung was rigid and stressed and even guilty; she felt all of it. Something was not according to plan. She pulled away and shook her head with confusion, “What?”

  “Over these long years, I have only found the answer recently,” he told her, “I have walked this land countless times. I have been trying to find the answer, but I learned I was not to look for it, it was to find me.”

Daesung walked them to the edge of the pond and gestured to it, “With the first epidemic, time had stopped completely. The sun may rise and fall, but time never moved forward a single minute. Believe me, or do not, but today is the day after the poisoning. The tragedy has worked up the Royal nature so far enough to cause strain on the workings of time. So time has never come to pass, but looks like it has.”

Minji looked at the Prophecy in confusion, “Royals have the power to stop time?”

  “In order to fix something that would otherwise take millenniums—such as how it would be now if time hadn’t stopped.”

Minji took in the gravity of the power a Royal in strain may have. Never would she have thought time had stopped. The sun would raise and fall like any other day. How could she have known?

  “But, what may be the answer, then?” she asked.

Daesung looked at her saddeningly, “The answer to the elimination of the poisoning and preventing further problems as such is to happen in the future. If we strike now, the human race is through, and we are forbidden to do so. The human race will grow increasingly diverse throughout this world. And only a small portion of them will know of all of this and continue it. The last Royal in the future will save us all. Harmony will recreate.”

Minji widened her eyes, looking back to the Prophecy, “That means my children live on. . .”

Daesung pursed his lips, “Possibly one of them.”

Minji snapped her head back to Daesung, desperately shaking her head, “No. No, no, no . . .”

  “I do not know if it is future generations that perish, or one of them now,” Daesung urgently grabbed on to her, “Kyungsoo may still live, do not worry, Minji!”

Minji broke down crying once more, “I cannot take the thought of any of my children deceased.”

  “This is for the future, Minji. We must accept it as we were accepting everything else as before,” Daesung hugged, “And part of this acceptance . . . is our own departure.”

Minji wiped her tears away, trying to grasp back on to the Royal nature, “How so?”

Daesung himself began to tear up, “The creatures will remain in chaos and imbalance for centuries, maybe even millenniums to come. But in the future, the savior will change it all. He will destroy the humans who have done this to us and return harmony. He may be of Royal descent, but not fully; for generations Daegrents began intertwining with other creatures, therefore even though his parents are both Daegrents does not make him a full blood. He needs the Royal power to set fire to the Prophecy.”

Minji was about to object to the dangers of the Prophecy’s wrath until Daesung hushed her, “The Prophecy will decide the range it will go. It will not destroy everything.

  “We must pass. For me to give him power, I leave my wings behind. Yours are not needed. If we live, time will not move on and he will not be born. We must leave this world for the hero to save it. . . And of course, we are one, Minji. You . . . must go on with me. I was stuck in this land and could not leave its borders. I have waited your arrival . . . to this unfair fate. I must linger in spirit for this hero and you may fully pass . . .”

Minji wanted to deny this fate. She was scared to depart from life; depart from her family. But time was stopped. Chaos would ensue if they both lived. The worst would never pass if she didn’t do this.

  “Will I separate from you?” she asked.

Daesung his lips, “That I have no knowledge of.”

  “Are you sure this boy, I assume as you use the pronoun he, will do as you say?” she lifted her brows.

Daesung nodded.

Minji sighed. She regretted having children so late. If they grew to a respectable age, she would do alright with passing. But they were both so young . . . they would truly be motherless.

HaYi loved to play in the courtyards with her, and they would almost every day until the girl tired herself out. They communicated all the time and so well. HaYi was so charming and so strong. But how strong would she be, knowing her mother was never returning?

And Kyungsoo . . . He never knew his mother at all. And even know she barely got to look at him. What would he look like now? More like Jongdae or her? Was he alright? Did he have a condition at all?

But she couldn’t help it, now. If the future of the creatures were ensured to become peaceful, bother her and her brother must stop falling.

They must rise to the sacrifice.

  “Can I have this last moment with you, Daesung?” she begged him, “It has been so long, and I have only seen you for minutes . . .”

Daesung smiled and nodded, sitting them both down on the grass, “Tell me. How was the new empire before its fall?”

  “We must be ready,” Daesung said after a while of Minji lying against him, “Time needs to move.”

Minji opened her eyes and sighed, looking at the Prophecy with upset eyes, “I understand.”

Daesung pushed them both to their feet. The two of them welcomed their true forms, eyes flashing white, marks crawling, and wings outstretched.

Daesung looked at his sister’s face once more, “Beauty I will never forget,” he pushed her hair back again.

Minji smiled and placed her hands to his face, “The face that will never fade.”

Daesung held out his hand for her to take, and she took. He lead them both into the Prophecy; the deepness that went up to their knees. They stood in the middle, and before Daesung would do anything, he pointed to something behind Minji.

  “Do you see that large stone?” he gestured to the stone with almost a rectangular shape, yet a trapezoid shape, “There is an epitaph on it. For absolute, I know I will fade instantly, but you, you will take time. Write as you want on there, I beg you. It is in memory of you and I.”

Minji looked at the large stone and nodded a little before returning her gaze to Daesung, “I will.”

Daesung smiled a little and let go of her, looking up to the light above the Prophecy, slowly holding his arms out and welcoming the acestors beyond to take him.

  “I grant myself hibernation and leave behind thy own authority. Take us as a whole and preserve our living legacy.”

Minji started feeling an odd tingle within herself and held a hand over her chest and another over her stomach. There was radiant energy within her as the light grew intense and dizzying. She grabbed on to one of Daesung’s hands and joined with him.

Daesung welcomed in the force that his power from his body, the feeling of withering away intensifying. It was going to be worth it, he knew it. He couldn’t take it back now.

Minji watched with the saddening nature returning. She watched as Daesung’s outstretched wings faded into nothing, and only left were the markings down his shoulder blades. The wings appeared in above in front of him, outstretched completely and flapping. The world seemed to shake below them so hard that the land of the earth could even split apart.

  “Daesung,” Minji yelled out, wind picking up severely, “Daesung, I change my mind! I do not want you to go!” She held on to him.

Daesung wrapped his arms around her, securing her to him with his lips to her ear, “We must face it, my Sister. All is not lost, remember that.”

  “Daesung, please .  . .” she wished.

  “Reserve thy power for the one. May he seek the power he was born into.”

The voices of their ancestors swirled around them. Shouts, prayers, screams, and laughs all around the two of them, guided by the heavy winds.

The shaking grew even more intense than the last that the two were about to fall over. The voices spoke faster and grew louder. Daesung’s wings flapped heavily in the midst of it all and spun around maddeningly in its place.

Everything was frightening and intense. Until everything suddenly stopped.

The voices and wind grew silent and Minji moved away from Daesung’s chest.

The wings kept suspended above the Prophecy, pulled together and still in the light. Daesung really no longer had his wings anymore.

She looked at Daesung and he was looking at his wings himself, not sure how to feel with his detatchment.

Minji lightly gasped and held on to Daesung’s face, watching as he slowly withered away into light, fading from her, “No! No!”

Daesung took her hand and shook his head again, “It will be alright, I told you.”

Minji grasped on to him desperately, hoping his fading was all a lie, “Please.”

  “We will meet soon,” Daesung reassured her, “You are not the only one suffering, Minji. Remember that.”

  “Daesung . . . I love you,” she told him, hugging him one last time.

  “I love you, too.”

When Minji pulled from her hug, Daesung disappeared into little specks of light slowly traveling behind her. She turned around and watched as the lights of her brother found refuse into his wings.

She stared at the last of Daesung for a good while before she felt herself withering away. She turned away from his wings and saw a group of light specks departing from the Prophecy and away from Daesung’s wings, “Wait!” she cried, unsure if that would effect the power within the wings, “Do not part!”

The light specks disappeared and Minji gave up. There was a reason the lights went elsewhere, she shouldn’t worry.

She took a big breath, realizing she was withering quickly than she thought. She looked at the large stone to the side of the Prophecy and made way over to it. She got out and turned to look at the carvings on the stone.

She read it and started tearing up once more, taking her nail to carve what she wanted to say below Daesung’s symbols.

She spent her time carefully deciding her words before inscripting them, trying to convey to her future child what she wanted.

It wasn’t until the last symbol she began feeling she was dying. She felt her own heartrate slow and felt herself cripple. She held on to the stone with the rest of her life, the tears slow on her face.

She fell asleep.

  “. . . My Queen?”

Minji slowly turned her head and looked at the familiar women she had once known.

  “My Queen . . . is that you?”

Minji laid her face on top of the stone, “Yes,” she replied with a shriveled, feeble voice, “Yes, Bom.”

Bom rushed to her, falling to her knees, her hand hovering over the Queen’s face, “You . . . you have . . . you have become elderly . . . My Queen . . . I do not understand.”

  “It seems . . . I have taken longer . . . to pass than I should . . .” she slowly spoke in such a high pitched, fragile voice. He shakily held up her hand, now lost of elaciticy and youth, “Maybe . . . for you.”

Bom carefully held up Minji from the stone and cradled her in her arms, “I . . . I can heal you, Minji!”

Minji slowly shook her head, now observing her slate gray hair falling on her face, “I am not sick. I am not pained. I am passing on of sacrifice. Three hundred years of withering . . .”

  “I do not understand!” Bom began to cry, pulling the hair from her Queen’s face.

Minji began telling Bom what had happened during her death period and what it all came down to. From the fall of the first empire, to Minji’s own life, to the fall of the second empire, all the way to now. Bom listened intently and shook her head here and there, not wanting to accept any of it.

  “You have been sleeping for longer than you think,” she reached for Bom’s hand, “If time had not stopped, you would have awakened long ago . . .”

Bom began rocking Minji as her eyes started drooping, “That is of no matter. I understand, now. All of this, I understand. I will guide the future Royal, I swear to you and Daesung.”

Minji smiled again, nodding slightly, “I owe you so much, Bom. So much.”

  “Forget owing anyone, Minji,” Bom cried a little, “We all owe you and Daesung.”

Minji’s head grew heavier on Bom’s arm as she began letting go, “You know, Bom, most times . . . Daesung is unable to keep secrets from me . . . I can see right into his head . . .

  “I would have been . . . so happy . . . to see you two marry,” Minji last said before her grip on Bom’s hand let go and she closed her eyes.

Bom shook her head and began crying, slightly trying to shake Minji to wake up, “Minji, please, no! I cannot accept both of you departing!”

Minji kept still and Bom continued begging for her to wake up. Soon enough Minji’s being turned to white, glowing ash and descended from Bom to the light of where Daesung’s wings kept suspended. She twirled around into the light and moved upward into the distance where the unknown source of light began.

Bom covered with one hand and reached out with another, staring at Daesung’s wings. The Royals were gone and all that was left were Minji’s children, whom she’d never know. She would have to wait for this hero to be born and that could be far from now.

Staring at Daesung’s wings she pulled a watery smile, “Hello, love. Soon, we can all be together.”

Bom looked at the stone she sat by, noticing the words carved in by both Royals, pulling her hand over again and crying once more.

Everything was a sacrifice.

----Note~-----

So, I didn't have a note for the last one but that was because I was getting this done.

I have stared at the computer for seven hours now trying to get this part and the last part written and dear god, I'm done for today.

Like I said, I'm trying to get all the BTS done and up before I get further done with the real story so I can sort of line up which stories come out when according to the actual story. After this there should be... five or six chapter of BTS. Six if I feel like making an actual chapter about why Minho's parents passed away.

But anyway, a lot of this chapter (including the last one) can be confusing. Honestly, I doubt ANYONE would fully understand. If you don't care, skip the lined section. If you do, because a lot also pertains to the actual story, read on:

--The empire Minji created is called the second empire.

--Everything was alright at that point. A long time later, she married Jongdae and had their first child, HaYi (named after LeeHi).

--Over time "Politics" were created, therefore parties/a division were/was created.

--Everything was decent by the time Jongdae and Minji decided to have another child.

--The day of Kyungsoo's (I had no idea what to name him) birth was the day chaos broke out.

--One party is for the Royals, the other side is against them, therefore attacking.

--Kyungsoo almost died due to suffocation of being underneath the nurse. HaYi was a decent child age to immediately understand he could die.

--Jongdae and Minji had to part out of fear that if the children were with Minji, they would die.

--Minji was set out to find Daesung in hopes that his return would stop hostility and create harmony again.

--Minji finds the first empire, where the poison occurred.

--Hyunja and his sister are mentioned in BTS chapter 17.

--All crosses on the ground were graves made by Daesung of all the people that died.

--The answer found Daesung with a calling from above ("The light that shone down on him. . .").

--Daesung was told since the day of the poisoning, the strain of the Royals had gone underway and threatened them, therefore, they stopped time in hopes the future is not plagued and life was not desolate.

--Therefore, the decades and centuries passed are documented in time as one day, when it really wasn't.

--Daesung was also told the last Daegrent with slight Royal blood (Minho) was the future hero of the creatures being rid of hostility towards another and the people who plague them. So, because Minji and Daesung are Royal, they are the strain that is stopping time and preventing Minho's birth.

--Through the generations, the Royal(s) mingled with other creatures instead of their own, the blood of a Royal lessening. Daesung leaves his wings and power behind so when Minho takes it, he becomes a full blood Royal. The Prophecy can only be lit by a full Royal.

--Daesung fades immediately because he is the one mainly giving up his life. His light goes to his wings, but also the group of specks go into Bom (Hence why Daesung becomes a part of Minho by Ch.25).

--Minji takes slower to fade because even though she gives up her life, Daesung is to remain an entity to guide Minho. Minji was to actually die.

--After Daesung disappears, time started again because little by little, Minji was dying every moment, therefore allowing time to continue.

--Minji takes three hundred years to die because she was meant to explain to Bom what has happened and what she must do.

--Becoming an elder takes a lot more than three hundred years, but because Minji sacrificed herself, she aged quickly.

--This also explains why Minho has healing abilities; because he has Warrant (Jongdae to the least) blood in him.

--The fate of Kyungsoo and HaYi is up to you.

--(Btw, in the last chapter, that lady who spat at Minji remind you of someone??)

Yes, it's a lot. I really hate the way I write because it ends up confusing and creates mystery and meanings that not everyone can figure out. So here's most of it from this chapter.

And what is written on the tombstone?

Gotta wait for ETR CH. 33!

More mystery, amiright. :|

I apologize for this long chapter and how much clarifying it really needed. If you need so with other chapters, let me know!

Anyhow, this chapter really broke my heart multiple times, coupled with the song. I spent time looking for the right one and I felt it with this one, so I hope many listened.

But yeah, I never wrote about someone crying so much, but I thought about how I'd be in the sitatuation and hell yeah, I'd be bawling. I cried a little rereading it.

But yes, this is the final The Royal Falls chapter! History is over! Literally, no more history chapters! From now on, it's going to be chapters that are either paired up with a certain chapter aaaaaaaaand after the end of ETR! So if you hate these chapters, don't unsub, the "aftermath" of the official ending is posted here!

Okay, I'm done with being on the computer. My brain is mush and I've written too much for the chapter and on here.

Hope it wasn't waay too much!

I love everyone one of you whether you just view the forward, a chapter, and/ or comment. Sorry I haven't replied!

~FlaMinhoe

/Sorry for anyone getting multiple update spam. I keep seeing mistakes and I want to fix them. >.>