We were passing through the forest with no actual direction. I mean, heading straight wasn’t a viable solution as far as I’m concerned. Daesung boasted with confidence and told me numerous times of his amazing tracking skills, so I let the idiot lead the way.

And that’s how we got lost in the middle of nowhere.

I wouldn’t be angry on the kid if I wasn’t thirsty and starving. Nobody told me that fighting bad guys can make one feel so tired. I had to find that on my own countless of times and sometimes, it’s hard to remember you also need to relax with a cocktail in hand and a frozen sun above. I was thankful of the way the world in Between warped things around us and some basic stuff weren’t working. As we stepped on the silent snow, I was also happy to see Daesung remained just as quiet.

But it was also driving me crazy. I had to hear something to make sure I was alive and that Daesung was Daesung. I could only see his back as we made our way between trees and shoved to the side low branches.

“You know,” my voice came out huskier than expected “what if I never lost my power?” Daesung stopped and turned around to give me a dumbfounded look. I giggled and took that chance to catch up with the blond. “What if I was just afraid to use them again?”

“Grandma,” he pointed behind me “reaper.”

“Eh?”

As he said, there she was. A smoldering woman with chestnut hair eyed us before she collapsed on her knees. A pair of black wings came out of her back and no matter how much she tried, they wouldn’t move. The woman fell on the snow and  I know we said we’d stay out of trouble until reuniting with Byung Hee, but we rushed anyway to her side and see if we could help – or if it was all a trap and we could take the stupid award of the century. It wasn’t the small flames that shocked us – you know, reapers should disappear if burnt.

Her right eye was pitch black and for some reason, that same black ink traced her cheek in the form of tears. Daesung risked it all when he touched the reaper. He took his hand away and yelped.

“Hot!” he exclaimed and blew air over his hand.

It was the same as Jung Min. Their usual fancy make-up looked like it was melting. I slowly touched her head and had the same reaction as Daesung. She was really burning hot and I should have expected that from someone on fire, but who thinks it further when curiosity’s the boss? The reaper tried to get up, but miserable ended up back on the snow. She stared at us with fear as her left eye wasn’t far from becoming completely black too.

“Who did this to you...?” it wasn’t right. It just wasn’t. Jung Min had the same symptoms and I supposed then it was because of other reasons, but I couldn’t exactly pinpoint a process I knew nothing about as the culprit. The woman tried to answer me. She moved in what seemed like words, but I couldn’t hear her. Daesung lowered his ear and shook his head. He couldn’t hear her either. When she saw both of our clueless faces, she planted her finger in the snow and traced the words she wanted to tell.

“Virus,” Daesung read loudly. The reaper closed her eyes and fainted. Before we could do anything, those flames become too strong for us to handle. I could swear that only a minute passed, but by the time the fire vanished, she did as well and left behind only a dark imprint on the snow.

“Virus...” I repeated. The words were marked with the reaper’s ash.  

“Aren’t they immortals?” Daesung’s tone didn’t change at all. Guess the time for jokes had long passed. “I mean, aren’t they only souls? They can’t...” he trailed off.

“Die,” I added. “At least, not like this.”

Clashing sounds came not far from us. We looked at each other, nodded and then bolted in that direction. From what I learned, that world changed from minute to minute, so whatever was happening, we had to see it with our own eyes. Byung Hee was surrounded by reapers in the middle of a glade. He bravely fought them, but there were more and more coming out of nowhere. It was an illusion from the way the reaper’s bodies became specks of dust in a second and materialized again afterwards. Byung Hee’s blue energy created a bubble which dispersed all reapers at once. He was panting heavily as he leaned against a tree. He slowly lifted his blade and waved at us.

“We need to get out of here,” he gasped and my eyebrows shot to the sky.

“Not , dude. Can’t we all just tap our shoes together and tornado ourselves out?”

The Keeper had to process that a lot more than usual.

“...excuse me?”

“Okay, you’re you.” I flipped my short hair and assured myself the happy gang was back. Daesung agreed it was the real Byung Hee with a flip of his own.

“What do you mean I’m me?”

“Long story,” I waved my hand. “Do you have any juice left in you?”

“Juice? What juice?”

“You know,” Daesung spoke before I could “the one you use when you need to create ba---” I covered his mouth and threatened the blond to send him to the Other World if he didn’t stop kidding around. Though, it was also nice to see his trickster heart never left.

“Create what?”

“Ba~lloons of hot hair that can get us out of here.”

“Alright,” he put both hands up front “this is getting absurd. Talk normal.”

“Can you create a portal thing to get out of here?” I asked and the Keeper sighed.

“I’m too weak,” he admitted and took a seat on the ground.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the most powerful sphere?” Daesung pulled my hand away and questioned.

“Not when I’ve been separated from any source of energy for so long...” Byung Hee frowned and forced the demon blade to vanish before it’d more out of him. “And what happened to our mental link? It suddenly got cut.”

I could have told him that Death might be the cause of that. Who would want to be spied on when you are having such a pleasant conversation with a lady? But we had more than enough time for explanations after we got out.

“Okay, what about this...” I squatted at his level and gave him my hand “take all the energy you need, just get us out of here.”

“I can’t,” he glared “there’s no way you have enough.”

“Then take mine too,” Daesung crouched near us and grabbed my hand “what about then?”

Byung Hee watched us, then our hands, before he took them and smirked.

“Let’s do it.”

Our joined red energy turned white and was swallowed by Byung Hee’s blue energy. The light produced was so strong, me and Daesung had to close our eyes while the Keeper fed on our life source.

I felt fatigue hit me right away and had to hold into Daesung who seemed to be doing better than me. It all lasted a few seconds. The Keeper rose from the ground with clear eyes. And for the first time, I saw all six of his wings shine brightly with pure energy. They flapped once at the same time and created a whirlwind which went straight into a pair of trees. The false image shattered. I couldn’t stand. Daesung pulled me to his chest and carried me like an exhausted bride to her matrimonial bed. Just that there was no bride and no bed and no way in hell was that ever happening. The shatters vibrated and formed a huge black hole similar to the one we saw when we entered.

It was time to go back home, back to Yuri and Jessica.

I smiled and closed my eyes as my fingers clutched to Daesung’s clothes.

But...

Something felt out of place.

Daesung smelled so sweet. Or I just never noticed it before.