Poison

Urban fantasy AU; Characters: Lee Soyeon, Kim Taehyung

He is the one that lives in the realm of Akumn. She is the one that lives in the realm of Tanus. One who comes from either realm shall not enter the other, or they shall get the consequences by the Uran Gods and disappear to never return to their own realm again.

[WAKE UP.][WAKE UP.][WAKE UP.]

I groaned, sitting up from my bed. I turned off the alarm clock and gazed out the window. Gray skies, rain drops snaking down the glass.

. It’s raining. I grabbed my ankle boots and slipped on my equipment before heading out the door, making sure my cat had enough food stocked up in her bowl before heading out for the day. The path to work was hardly busy, most likely because residents were probably still fast asleep. I managed to call my friend and asked her to meet up with me at a local coffee shop. “So, you’re actually going? You’re heading to-“ she leaned closer on the table between us as her voice lowered, “Akumn?”

“Yes, I am. And no one’s going to stop me. Not even you.” I pointed out. She sighed and gave me that hopeless look. I explained to her many times that I was going to head to that realm. There was some important business I had to take care of and as a hunter I couldn’t leave it uncompleted. For my friend she was scared less – she hated me doing these life-threatening missions, let alone by myself. I would bring her along, but this mission I was currently on would be something she can’t handle, and I don’t want to risk her life. As much as it is risking my own. “I’ll be fine. If I’m not back by the Sun’s slumber address Miko to announce my farewell.” Miko is the name of my cat, who is also my messenger to the entire Tanus realm. My friend couldn’t tell if I was joking or not, but as soon as we made our way to the Gate she was a sobbing mess and clung unto me like a child.

By the time I calmed her down I said goodbye and we had a small intimate moment before I pulled my cloak up, hiding my clothes underneath as I slipped past the Uran Gods watching from above the Clock tower. The travel between the two realms did feel too long, but that’s how it tricks you. One step would feel like an eternity when it only has been a second pass. The more I wandered the greens of Tanus have now gone and I was standing in ashen ground, olden buildings peeking out the fog with lamp posts standing tall and shadowed like ghastly creatures and waiting for more innocent residents to come by.

Tugging the hood of my cloak I continued walking, not one sound coming from my own steps. I managed to walk even further until I saw just not too far of a distance another building, one much taller than the ones I past. With a deep breath I closed my eyes, and counted to three. 1..2..3. opening my eyes the building did not shift position. Nor did anything happen to me.

I’m in the right place then.

The front of the house had a peculiar Victorian style design, with the whites of the wood peeled back or chipped giving it an overall old look. I reached out and knocked on the door. Twice. No answer. I did it again, and the same results came. But finally after waiting for another two minutes or so the door did open…but no one was there to greet me from the other side. I stepped inside, only to be enveloped by the darkness. There was a single purple flame coming from a candle off the far left, illuminating some things in the room.

From what I can tell, it seemed to be just an empty room, with a few furniture set up. I called out, but to no prevail there was no sound, besides my own heartbeat and breathing.

“You’re already here?” the voice lingered to be close to me. I almost shrieked and when I turned around the purple flame blew off, and the lights . It was still dark, but the chandelier from above the ceiling gave a glow to the overall room and enough to shine down on the boy right in front of me. He smiled, his hazel eyes fixated to me. “Taehyung. Pleasant to see you,” I bowed respectfully. He laughed some more and combed back his blonde hair back.

“Want anything? I have some leftover tea biscuits if you want.” I refused his offer and already went straight to the reasons why I came to visit him. He decided to sit us both down for now while he waited for my answer, cross-legged and all.

“You know I shouldn’t be here,” I began slowly. “and I would have killed you now too, but I can’t.”

He rose his eyebrows, almost nonchalantly. Pursing his lips I gave that an indication that he wanted more to my answer; so I whipped out a couple of letters stuffed from my cloak and threw them across the floor to near his feet. He picked up one of them into his fingers and looked down at the contents of it. I waited until his eyes made it to what seemed to be the end of the letter before I continued, “Taehyung. Do you want to hear something interesting? The other day I found a small rock in the grass. But what I thought was a rock turned out to be a completely different thing. Do you want to know what it was, Taehyung? It was a skull. A skull of a baby bird.” I tried to level my voice but I knew I was getting angrier by each second. And his calm expression did not help at all.

Taehyung stared at me, his cheek resting on the palm of his hand. Then soon his mouth quirked up in a little smile. A smile that showed neither snarky nor joy. It was that of sadness. Yet his eyes remained a cold distant to mine. “So…I’m assuming you didn’t like my letters.” The piece of paper he held was now on the ground, along with it’s other lifeless companions. I took a deep breath and slowly unraveled my fists formed at my sides. It was every week he sent me one. Each letter started off with a simple greeting, though it was much more complicated than that. There was a pattern after each one, as if he wasn’t addressing to me, but rather to something else.

No – he was writing to someone else. All along he was writing to himself. A journal entry of the sort. What I couldn’t figure out was why me, out of all people to be the target of the letters.

“Answer this question at least: are you still angry about what my sister has done to your brother?”

“Oh, you mean kill Hyung?” I froze upon the hardness in his tone; his smile faded to be a permanent frown. I closed my mouth and retracted back to my seat, but Taehyung just laughed. “Of course not! That happened ages ago – I moved on from it.”

What a liar.

Reaching down to pick up the papers he soon got up and made his way over to where I sat. While doing so he rolled them up carefully and once he was hovering over me he stuck them out for me to get back. I stared up at him. Suddenly a cold shiver ran down my back and I felt as if there were whispers surrounding me; as if Taehyung and I weren’t the only ones in the room. Not only that, but his eyes glowed darker, his expression gone to a much menacing state.

He crouched down at eye level and I can smell his fragrance: cinnamon. And rotten flesh. His breath warmed up my now cold cheeks as he whispered: “You probably think I’m lying, don’t you?” I gnawed on my bottom lip, hard enough that I thought it would have been bleeding. With shaking fingers I grabbed the papers, but just then I felt some sort of invisible force knocking my chest and pinning me down on my seat. Gasping I reached for anything to hold, only for the force to be stronger each time I moved a muscle. The whispers in my ear grew louder and harsher as if they were shouting; I tried to scream but I had no energy to. My eyes stung in pain and tears rolled down my cheeks, the pain growing towards my abdomen as if I’m being stabbed numerous times.

Taehyung was standing there. He wasn’t smiling, nor was he laughing. He held my hand in his before I out.

He was crying too.

{God, I’m sorry Soyeon-ah. I’m so, so sorry.}

--

When I woke up I was lying in my bed, my cat at my side curled up. When I looked out the window it was a clear sky, the sun beaming down.

Am I alive?

The door of my room bustled open and I see my friend coming in with a tray of bottles of medicines and herbs. “Drink these. You must feel sore,” with a grunt of agreeing I sat up and she came over with it. After taking them I rested for another five minutes and she came back again to see how I was. Apparently I looked like a ghost and she thought I was dead.

“Wait – what actually happened?” I say. My friend sighed and my cat; whom purred and cuddled closer in contact.

“The Necromancer prince snuck you back here. Scared me less actually – thought he was going to kill me or something. When I found out you were suffering from a Atlas’ Curse and I had to treat you right away. Apparently he got caught by the Uran Gods the moment he stepped out the Gate of his realm but dropped you here before getting dragged away for trial.” I was quiet the entire time she explained to me what happened.

After I actually got my muscles to function I got out of bed and grabbed my cloak. When my friend asked where I was going I just ran straight out the house and to the main square. By the time I reached it the crowd of people have already dispersed, leaving hushed tones in the tense air. In the middle of the square was a particular blonde haired figure, sitting at the edge of the fountain.

I was out of breath by the time I reached him, but even so he looked up just in time to see me. “Soyeon. What-“

“Don’t.” I held a hand out. “What was the verdict?” he didn’t say anything. He kept on staring at me. My patience was running low and I clenching my jaw I said through again the same question. “What. Was. The. Verdict?”

Taehyung smirked. “Guilty.” He said it as if it was nothing. My heart felt heavy in my chest. After so long I finally realized what Kim Taehyung really wanted this entire time.

It wasn’t revenge. He wasn’t lying when he said that the past of my sister killing his brother was a past for him. The letters he sent me were of that of his own life; that part’s true.

He wanted help. He wanted a saviour from the darkness of his own world. Ever since his brother’s death the world he lived in turned chaotic. He couldn’t control it anymore. The creatures fell out of his grasp and gave me the Atlas’ Curse…not Taehyung. That wasn’t his own doing.

His punishment was going to happen as soon as the Sun was in slumber, so I had no choice but to let it happen. I’ve broken a rule already, let alone that Taehyung was going to sacrifice not just his life but mine too. “Before I go there’s this small box I put in your mailbox. I want you to go to the realm of Akumn and go to the back of my garden. Pour the contents of that box into the soil and water it. Come back after a day or so.” I never questioned as to why he wanted me to do so. Half the time I was crying and the other time he just held me close to his chest, soothing the back of my hair. I stayed with him until the sun has set and the Gods came back. They surrounded Taehyung. He didn’t look scared. He looked just as fearless as he always has been. Low hums of chanting tunes came about as a bright flame came down. The chants became louder and soon the Gods morphed as if becoming a larger shadowed figure itself. The flames sparked and grew to a light much brighter to the point it was almost blinding to look at.

I closed my eyes and counted to three. 1..2..3. I opened my eyes again.

He was gone. Forever.

--

A week after the incident the Uran Gods did not guard the Gate for that short period, so going through the realms was no problem at all. I held the small box in my hands that Taehyung did indeed sent me and went to his house, straight for the garden. It was beautiful to say the least: because if you imagine those sort of mystical nature-like plants and buds of flowers from Alice in Wonderland it was just like that.

I managed to find an empty spot where no plant was occupying the grassy patch and began to open the box. There were mini skulls of animals, ranging from birds to rodents. I poured the entire content into a small hole I dug up into the soil and covered it up before grabbing a water bottle from my bag and watered it thoroughly. At the bottom of the box was taped a small piece of paper with elegant font:

This is needed to grow Spirit Sprites. They’re poisonous. If one touches or smell even a single white petal from it they will suffer from the poison and die. These sprites would only kill those who did not share a connection with the owner. If one who did share a connection with the owner: a connection that involves trust, care, and love, the poison would not affect them.

There was a 50/50 chance it could be either or. But as Taehyung said…I had to give it a day or so. And I did.

When I came back to visit already the flower bloomed into a glorious bud that lavished with soft white petals. I plucked one out and smelled it.

They smelled of cinnamon.

{I never wanted to kill you Kim Taehyung. And you never wanted to kill me either. Because I was your saviour after all.}

A/N

Drabble I have been working on that somehow became longer than I thought it would be. Oh well.

-B.B