ITHE SECOND STRIKE

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As soon as Misun entered the maze her heart calmed, and her legs slowed to a crawl. Night had fallen a while ago, and the air had chilled with a soft wind.

Closing her eyes, the fairy embraced the wind swaying the sunflower stalks around her. She moved through them as if she too were just another sunflower. As if she also lived such a simple life of growing, and being something beautiful for people to look upon or even to be plucked into something useful for another. It sounded so much nicer then what she currently was going through.

The remembrance of what was waiting for her back at court suddenly had her mood dampening.  Opening her eyes, she continued to move through the maze. She had lost sight of the path intentionally crushed through the flowers, and panic began to set in.

All around her were the flowers, and while just a second ago they were calming and inviting, they now felt like prickly hands that scratched at her arms and face. They pulled on her hair, and the air from her lungs.

Scared, Misun turned this way and that, running in a random direction. Still, all in front of her she saw green and yellow, but that soon turned to haze that transformed into her father. He was just as she remembered, handsome with peppered hair, but he was sprinting away from her. Every now and then he would turn to her with a fearful look, but he never seemed to recognize her. Even when she called for him he only ran faster.

Out of the corner of her eye Misun saw another figure. Turning that way she saw a petite woman with long dark hair in a silk dress. She recognized the lazy detailing and beading up the back. it looked just like the wedding dress tucked away in her father’s closet.

“Mother?” she breathed.

Misun began to run after the woman call out for a woman she couldn’t remember. Unlike her father, the woman never turned around, only kept running, her long locks bouncing erratically as her slim shoulders glinted in the moonlight.

Again, Misun’s attention was diverted. Laughter sounded behind her causing the girl to stumble and turn around. “Who’s there?” The only reply she got was more laughter.

“D-don’t play with me. I’m dangerous,” Misun trembled. The laughter grew louder, and closer.

Some sunflowers moved in the opposite direction of the wind and a shadow grew within their stalks. The person laughed again. The sound was high and familiar. Misun could place it as female, and familiar, but could not put a face to it.

“Who are you?” she yelled. The shadow came into focus as the person neared. A blonde bob and pale skin flitted through the flowers, and Misun stumbled back. “Who are you?” she asked again, this time timidly.

The last of the flowers were moved out of the way and out walked Misun. No, she was Misun, the person in front of her…she had no idea who she was, but she did look frighteningly similar.

“Who ar