CHAPTER I

The streets of Balseulk – a smaller city surrounded by fields where the farmers grew their wheat and corn – were lit up by bright red lanterns shining like bright red beacons in the evening dusk, and stands where people sold their goods and wares littered the crowded streets. The sounds of vendors bargaining with customers, people talking and laughing noisily with their companions and the sizzling sound of the firecrackers the children ran around with all blended together and created a sort of orchestrated cacophony which, in any other case, would’ve been bothersome according to Song Jieun’s sensitive hearing, but in this case she had to begrudgingly admit that it fit perfectly with the festive atmosphere. The delicious smells of exotic food and foreign delicacies coming from the various food stalls only helped reinforce it.

But that didn’t mean she actually enjoyed the Firefly Festival; the busy streets could easily make someone who weren’t familiar with the people they were surrounded by feel confined, almost as if they were slowly being asphyxiated by the sheer closeness, and Jieun was exactly one of those few people.

She had very recently turned 22 but hadn’t really thought very much about it since the Ascended measured the years of a living being in decades (thanks to their lengthy life-spans) instead of every single year like the short-lived humans did, and that meant that she was still only two years old and that her real birthday where she would turn three years still were eight years away. And she’d been totally fine with that, because she’d never found the Human traditions and ways very compelling in comparison to the Ascended ones and therefore not paid very much attention to them.

Also, the fact that the Ascended and the Humans were at war against each other kind of made it feel weird to follow their customs, if only for fun, and that was yet another reason behind Jieun’s aversion to call it a ‘birthday’.

Jeon Hyosung – Jieun’s best friend, mentor and protector, Jieun guessed was the correct description of her relationship with the other woman – had always been the complete opposite, though; she loved the humans and their traditions, their grand festivals and their events, and had always tried to make Jieun share her enthusiasm. Hyosung’s attempts had never succeeded of course, but that hadn’t deterred the older woman.

That was why Jieun had known that Hyosung wouldn’t leave her 22^nd Human birthday alone without any celebration. She’d even tried preparing herself with a multitude of reasons as to why this year Hyosung would have to respect Jieun’s wishes to not celebrate a completely useless day – because the year before this and the year before that year Hyosung had given her presents, had even baked her a cake (which had been disgusting, because none of the Ascended really knew how to cook anything from the Human cookery books.

And for a short while, Jieun had thought that she’d actually managed to get through to Hyosung, because she’d received to wrapped gifts or anything.

But then Hyosung had whipped out her Puppydog-eyes held what had practically been a speech about how she just wanted to make Jieun happy (completely ignoring the fact that she’d make Jieun very, very happy if she could just leave Jieun out of her useless Human-fixation).

And then, before Jieun had noticed, she’d been brought – no, lured – to Balseulk, a human city where all of its inhabitants hated her and Hyosung’s kind and would most definitely not be very happy if they found out about the two of them being there.

Not that said citizens would be any match against Jieun and Hyosung if they actually tried to hurt the two of them, because Jieun felt nothing towards Humans but a sort of dull dislike, and she’d killed before and had no qualms about adding to that list of lives taken by her if she’d have to.

No Human stood a chance against her Fire.

Except for the soldiers from Sword, perhaps, but Jieun had never really fought against one (or even seen one, for that matter), so she wasn’t sure if that special Human organization actually existed or had just been made up by some bored Ascendeds with too much time on their hands.

So really, there was nothing at all that could actually threaten her in Balseulk.

But… there was something about the Humans that rubbed her the wrong way, that made her feel a sort of vague nausea mixed with something that sometimes felt like fear. Which really made no sense, because what was there to fear about the Humans?

The Ascended were far superior than them both in terms of power and longevity, and Jieun knew that very well.

But still, despite that, she could not make those feelings go away, and the more time she spent in this Human city, Human people and their smells and sounds and their everything’s surrounding her, those feelings grew into what was a definite discomfort.

She wanted to get away from there, go back to the Headquarters and just… just read a book or something and forget about this disaster of a ‘birthday party’, as Hyosung had renamed the Firefly Festival into.

So, really, the fact that she hadn’t already suffered from an aneurysm from all of this close contact with the beings that unknowingly caused her so much distress was very remarkable in Jieun’s eyes, and she gave himself a mental pat on the shoulder.

Fighting, Jieun, fighti–

Her attempt at cheering herself up a little bit would have worked better if something (a young child, most likely) hadn’t barreled straight into her back the second she’d thought the words, and as she stumbled forward and into the back of the tall man that had been standing in front of her Jieun’s brain, somewhat detachedly, informed her that what had just transpired kind of reminded her of the chain reaction a fallen Domino brick set off. The fact that she had just practically mashed her face into the back of a Human – and a very foul smelling one, on top of that – was too much for the poor girl’s brain to handle without shutting down and pointing out irrelevant details.

“Oh, are you okay, miss?”

The man’s voice was very deep as he spoke to her, and Jieun, pale and completely rigid, stiffly raised her head to look at the burly human. A thick, dark beard covered the nether half of his face, and above his brown eyes two equally bushy and dark eyebrows proudly showed off their splendor. She tried to answer him, because that was the automatic response any question directed at her elicited and Human or not, the man at least deserved a proper reply; Jieun wasn’t completely bereft of manners, after all. Hyosung had raised her very well.

But no sound came out no matter how many times she tried to make her vocal cords ober, so she ended up flapping like an idiot for a couple of seconds until deciding that nodding would have to suffice. That’d work as a good enough answer, right?

So without further ado, the (still) mortified Ascended quickly bobbed her head up and down, her brown and wavy hair wildly whipping around her face as her frantic nodding kind of got out of hand, but whatever. As long as it relayed the message her voice was unable to she was happy.

The second the bearded man kindly smiled at her in what looked like relief, Jieun decided that their short meeting was way past its expiration date, and she hastily put it out of its misery by swiftly slipping away into the crowd, doing her best (but failing miserably, because the only way to make her way through the throngs of partly drunk Humans was to push them aside) to avoid as much physical contact with the other Humans as possible as she tried to find a place where she could breathe without inhaling the overwhelming scent of Human.

And where exactly was Hyosung? Jieun scrunched up her nose, feeling a small spark of betrayal flicker to life inside of her. Hyosung knew how humans made Jieun feel, and not only had she disregarded that (like always) when she’d dragged Jieun to this festival but she’d also ditched her completely when they’d gotten there to do who knows what.

Jieun pouted. What a fantastic evening.

But at least she found a (mostly) quiet place – a decaying wooden bench in one of the more dark edges of the crowded street – to retreat to relatively quickly, and she promptly plopped down on it, a relieved expression settling on her face.

Finally; a reprieve from the onslaught of everything Human.

Breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes and counted to ten before reopening them again, looking at the crowd she’d been trapped in until just a few moments ago, wrinkling her nose at it. All those people crammed together on the streets like sardines stacked on top of each other. How… distasteful.

Leaning forward, Jieun put her elbows on her knees to support her upperbody as she examined her heeled sandals in a lack of anything better to do (she didn’t want to sit there and look at the concentrated mass of Humans, after all) before focusing on the discarded Firefly-toy resting on the ground right next to her right foot.

It still glowed, the embers inside of the cheap little toy still not having run out of fuel despite having been completely discarded and forgotten, and she pursed . It looked dirty, and the Human child who had played with it before throwing it away had probably been very dirty and disgusting like all of the Human children always were, and really, she should just leave it there lying on the ground.

But despite her endeavor to convince herself to not pick it up something inside of her urged her to do it anyways, something that found the little toy almost sad in its state of abandonment, and it was only a couple of thoughtful minutes later that she obeyed the irrational urge and picked it up to look at it more closely.

It really wasn’t anything special about the toy, she concluded after a more thorough examination of it. Nothing at all.

So why did she find it so intriguing? Was it the fact that the Humans were able to infuse a burning core into the small toy without making it burn up? Was it the fire inside of it that called out to her?

She twirled it between her fingers, considering the little thing, before bringing it up to her face again. This time she didn’t do it to look at it though, and after looking around quickly – checking that no one looked her way – she blew on it, commanding the fire within the toy to answer her call.

Immediately, the glow of the toy increased tremendously, the flames eager to obey the child of Fire, and she smiled sweetly at the little thing as it lit up.

The fire of the toy’s core weren’t near Jieun’s own Fire in neither power nor brilliance, but the way it didn’t hesitate to give her its all when she asked it to… she couldn’t help but like it.

A sudden flash of crimson red suddenly entered her line of sight, and her eyes immediately tore themselves from the little toy to look at the person who had, without a warning, attracted her full attention.

It was a man, standing on the edge of the crowd of Humans, looking straight at… her.

Their eyes met, and the Fire inside of Jieun stuttered as it analyzed him and whatever it was about him that had drawn her attention to him.

And then–

Enemy. Threat.

The change in Jieun was instantaneous; her earlier, easy-going demeanor changed into a guarded and battle-ready one, not unlike a coiled snake ready to attack and bite and kill, and she stared back at him unflinchingly.

He wasn’t one of the Ascended, because her Fire wouldn’t have declared him a threat if that had been the case, so that meant that he was a Human.

With blood-red hair.

… Is it natural?

Jieun promptly bit her tongue (it didn’t matter if the hair was dyed or not), scolding herself for thinking about unimportant things in a situation that, depending on the foreign Human male’s next course of action, could very well turn bloody any second now.

Slowly dropping her hands to rest them on her thighs, the fabric of her dress soft beneath her palms, Jieun continued staring at the male as he stared back at her. Analyzing.

Jieun didn’t even notice the way she – no, the Fire within her – begun growling in warning, not unlike a cornered beast.

Did he see me when I called the toy’s fire? Did he figure me out? Does he know I’m not one of them? If he attacks, where is his weak spot?

If he calls for help, I’ll burn this village down, turn their bodies to ashes–

“Jieun!” Hyosung, coming from out of nowhere, abruptly threw her arms around Jieun’s neck in an uncomfortable hug, her voice boisterous and her lips curved upwards in a happy grin. “Where have you been? I’ve looked everywhere! Isn’t this festival amazing? I love it!”

Jieun, completely caught off-guard by Hyosung’s sudden unexpected appearance, yelped in surprise and would have fallen off the bench if Hyosung hadn’t ha her arms around her.

“Hyosung?” Jieun’s voice was shrill, her brain having stuttered into a halt due to her complete surprise and momentarily at a loss about what the hell was going on, until she remembered crimson hair.

Almost shoving Hyosung aside (“Hey!” Hyosung yelped indignantly), Jieun flew up from the bench, ready for the attack that had surely been aimed in her direction the moment she’d been distracted –

But the man with the blood-red hair was gone without a trace.

Jieun frowned, hanging open in uncomprehending shock. Where had he gone?

“What’s wrong?” Hyosung, who had finally managed to sense Jieun’s currently very grave mood, knitted her brows as well.

“I’m… not sure,” Jieun replied, slowly, eyes still searching the crowd for the crimson man but to no avail. “I think that someone might’ve figured me out.”

The sound of crackling energy tore through the space around the two Ascended, and when Jieun finally turned her eyes to look at her best friend, Hyosung’s eyes had gone from the usual chestnut brown to poison green as her powers had awoken.

Hyosung had always been very protective of Jieun, and the fact that Jieun had become very strong didn’t matter; Hyosung was, and had always been, her wolf mother.

“What? Who?” Hyosung hissed, baring her teeth, and Jieun quickly looked towards the mass of people to make sure no one noticed the way Hyosung had turned from looking Human to the Ascended she really was.

“I’m not sure about that either,” Jieun replied vaguely, still reeling, before raising a hand to point. “He stood over there and just… looked. And then, when you came, he just disappeared.”

Hyosung paused. A couple of second passed. Then Hyosung suddenly threw her head up, laughing like a madman, before ruffling Jieun’s hair.

“Oh my god,” Hyosung wheezed, her grin almost threatening to split her face in two. “I thought you – we – were in danger with the way you acted, and it was only a man looking at you? Oh Jieun, you’re so adorable!”

Jieun gaped at Hyosung. “What?”

“Jieunnie, I don’t know if you’ve seen yourself in a mirror lately, but,” Hyosung smiled a fox’s grin, “you don’t exactly look bad. If a male looks at you, Human or Ascended alike, it doesn’t have to be just because he’s planning to kill you!”

Opening to question Hyosung again, because Jieun did not see what was so funny about this situation, the words died in . Wait… did Hyosung mean…?

Turning a furious shade of red (which just made Hyosung laugh even more), Jieun squawked in embarrassment and indignation. “Hyosung, I–  wha–  no, this is serious, stop laughing! I swear, he was dangerous! I could feel it!”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re so cute and innocent, Jieun,” Hyosung just grinned, her laugh finally subsiding into giggling. “Anyways, let’s go get some candy-floss, I’ve been told it tastes very good.”

Grabbing Jieun’s (who was still pouting but made no protests against Hyosung’s proposal) hand, Hyosung began leading the younger woman away from the bench and into the confining crowd of Humans again.

The firefly toy lying atop the rotting wood, forgotten once again, still burning the same searing light the Child of Fire had commanded it to.

: : : : : :

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hellooo again! :) was it confusing with the ages, or did I make no sense? Yes? No? As always, if there is anything you're wondering, don't hesitate to message me your questions and I'll answer them! :)

Like it? Hate? Feel free to leave a comment or subscribe to let me know what you think! :):)

oh, and cookies to all of you subscribers! I love you guys, you're amaazing!!! <33

Love and a million hugs,

Elysionista

13/08 2013