You know what I hate about big cities?

Everything.

Not only are they the Empire’s garbage dump, but they are also filled with people from every corner who soon get lost in the city’s dirty lifestyle. So when Byung Hee suggested we hide in the Capital City before we could actually go up hill and enter the Grand Palace, I protested. He also proposed we’d fly there on top of some of his reaper buddies.

Fortunately, Yoona knew a shortcut through the fairy portals. I had no idea those things existed. She explained they were established to kidnap humans from one side of the planet and then thrown to the other where royalties lived. I didn’t want to use them after that explanation because I didn’t fully trust Yoona back then. The downside was that no reaper or ghost could pass, so we said our goodbyes to Jung Min and promised to meet later. Byung Hee gave Changmin one last skeptical look before he and Jung Min turned in their golden eagle forms and flew away.

As promised, Byung Hee’s team cleared the sky and everything else. They also put off the fire consuming our house and I was sad to find out nothing could be salvaged. Since there wasn't anything holding us there, I let Changmin fall asleep on Daesung’s back as we followed Yoona to the portal. Yuri didn’t speak at all during the walk, continuously keeping a watchful eye on our new companion.

We needed clothes and shelter, food and drinks and in the end, some knifes or any other sharp weapons. We left through a cave similar with the one hidden behind the waterfall and when we got to the other side, we were inside the woods surrounding the Capital City. Yoona explained while we headed to the city gates that those portals used rips from the World in Between the same way reapers do when they need to capture ghosts. 

Speaking of ghosts, they were everywhere.

Faint shapes trembled between trees. Whispers echoed throughout each branch and I swear that they touched me a couple of times. Their memories flashed in and out of my head. I almost confused the path ahead with the edge of a cliff.

Were there cliffs around anyway?

Wonder how ghosts that died in different other areas ended up in those fields. Daesung mumbled about some ghosts gambling in a corner with cigarettes in their mouths and another pair cuddling with their ghost cat. I grabbed Changmin from his back and held him to my chest.

The little thing slept away and I was thankful. Yuri on the other hand looked rather nervous. Those ghosts weren’t scared a little bit by her. Actually, if I were to compare everything that happened in those woods to the city we were going to enter, they had their own large community built between roots and evergreen leaves.

It at our energy.

We looked exhausted when we finally asked for entrance at the gate. At least Yoona chirped happily and waved from time to time at the undead public. Good thing the ghosts were peaceful. We would have been dead if they took too much energy.

That aside, we presented our IDs. Except for Yoona who turned invisible to the human eye, everybody else fabricated theirs since we lost them in the fire. When we answered the guard whose child Changmin was, she muffled her laughter and shook her head in front of Daesung.

Alright, I get it, nobody expected us to end up together, but it was becoming annoying. Finally, we were free to roam that awful city.

Really, I hope the Palace was cleaner. The desert looked cleaner than those streets.

Jung Min motioned at us not far from the gate. We hurried in his direction and then continued around the corner and right to a fairly small inn. Jung Min had already booked all available rooms.

He was really handsome in his human form. He wore some kind of clothes which reminded me of high generals that fought in some wars we caught during our adventures. Buttoned up and with his hair loosely pulled back, I was one proud daughter. Yuri also got a new dress, red as blood, and she looked rather satisfied with the expensive materials. I and Daesung were the same as ever, while Changmin did get a new pair of black shoes. Yoona couldn’t change clothes, even if she wanted to. Her body only allowed fairy products to be applied, so anything made by humans crumbled if she tried to wrap around them.

It was the rules of natures as she called them. A nature I didn’t care much about, really.

The real question remained the Palace. We had to enter, no matter what... but we could also try to lure Death out and what not.

Then again, I was becoming increasingly unsure if I should take any more risks.

We stayed in the city for three days and I had seen various children running around in circles and chanting something about falling stars hanging in the sky. Also, a few suspicious looking fellows who kept their head down low talked about the end of the world and something about joining the Fiery Cult.

I snickered.

That sounded like something Yuri could become a member of in a split of a second.

Amused, I headed back to the hotel with the goods – dirty city or not, you can find ANYTHING at their market. At least our bellies shall fulfill their duties easily.

I stopped in front of the building.

A man dressed in a black coat and with a sword strangled at his hip turned his head in my direction. He bowed with his white gloved hand over his chest. His face was covered with a silver mask decorated with flower ornaments. I had an eerie feeling. His attire was exactly the same as that of Death’s illusion. Moreover, the red eyes directed right at me brought shivers down my spine. It couldn’t be another of his tricks and it couldn’t be Death. From the inscription on the sword’s sheath, he was one of the Imperial Warders. 

Those guys are murderers – they kill whoever dares to go against the Empire and nobody questioned their motives. I couldn’t help notice his sweet perfume – that Warder was definitely a reaper.

He pulled out a letter from his chest, handed it to me, bowed once more and then walked away to the dark blue carriage parked on the other side of the road. The carriage’s curtains fluttered slightly when the Warder climbed up front and commanded the two cinnamon colored horses to ride away.

Frowning and with the goods still in my grasp, I abandoned them on the nearest table and tore open the envelope.

“What’s that?” Daesung asked with half-a-mouth, too busy to keep Changmin steady. The kid – actual kid, not Daesung – didn’t want to get dressed and when he escaped from Daesung’s grasp, he ran in circles around me, jofully . I ignored Daesung doing the same, going round and round after Changmin. The letter was much more fascinating.

“It’s an invitation from the Queen.” My hands were shaking. “She wants us to participate at tomorrow’s Royal gathering.”

“But that’s great, right?” Daesung finally caught Changmin and forced those pants up his wiggling feet.

“...there’s a dress code.” I whined “Dresses and suits only,” and whined some more “no female shall be present in pants.”

Goddamnit. I hadn’t worn a dress in years.

Everybody is talking about SNSD or 2NE1 and here I am going all Like a motorcycle, ride me on the highway... OTL thanks EunHae.