I landed in Korea, already feeling nervous. A small part of me wondered if I went completely nuts, and just imagined all the things I remembered. I mean, how likely was it that Ji was my soulmate? Didn’t every other fangirl think that?

Well, I was aware that I couldn’t just approach the man and say: “Hi, you are my soulmate!” I could see that ending badly. I just hoped that he would see me, and recognize me the same way I recognized him the first time I saw him. I hoped he would remember me.

That was the key word here: hope. Hope was also a traitorous .

I dropped my bags on the hotel bed and flopped next to them, thinking how I never ever wanted to fly in a plane again. My eyelids closed, and before I knew it I was floating in the darkness of my mind.

I'm so scared. I don't want to do it. I don't want to. But my master said I have to. My family...my family will suffer if I can't do this.

We are walking down a beautifully decorated hallway, the walls and floors covered in small specks of gold. To calm myself I look down to my arms which now have intricate details painted on them. Spells.

My black hair falls down to my waist, and I know that soon my hair will be the only thing covering my body. But for right now I have a simple golden cloth wrapped around me.

It is a warm summer night, and I can already hear their chanting. It travels through the humid air, wrapping around me, enveloping me, hypnotizing me.

We are getting closer.

In old Egypt, the high priests had a secret ritual with which a new member would be welcomed. For the ritual they needed s born in August. 8 of us. And even from what little experience I had, I knew that s were either killed, or, well deflowered in rituals. I disliked both options.

I saw movement in the corner of my eye, and saw that all the girls were gathered now. We were led into a room that served as lobby for the ritual room. The chanting got louder, and I wanted to puke. Why, oh why, were my parents ing ecstatic when the king’s guards came for me? Why didn’t they say no? They just gave me away, happy that I would serve a greater purpose. But…I just wanted to live my life as a simple girl, I didn’t want to be a part of a ritual…I didn’t want anything to do with it.

We were instructed to disrobe, and now all 8 of us were shivering slightly underneath the moonlight.

And then we were blindfolded. Great.

I felt a rush of cold air as the doors to the ritual room opened, and the chanting intensified. I guessed that 8 new members were being welcomed and that each girl was for a member. I just hoped that I wouldn’t leave this room in parts. And I knew that happened more often than I cared to believe.

We were led into the room, and I could feel the warm floor underneath my feet. I had a second to wonder why it was warm when a pair of hand embraced me. I was pulled to the floor.

Biting my lip to not scream, I made my body relax. Deep breaths.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stop the tears, when I felt a gentle touch.

“Sssh, I won’t do anything to you. Just play the role and you’ll get out of this alive.” His voice was low and husky, but somehow I knew I had to trust him.

He went back to chanting, and I sat on my heels behind him. Then I heard it.

A scream. Then another one. And another one.

So this was that kind of a ritual. Lucky me. Suddenly the mystery man whispered into my ear:

“Scream, my little flower, scream.” I obeyed, and let all my fear and horror out with that scream.

Then I screamed even more realistically when I felt small droplets of something warm on my body. With horror I realized it was blood.

So their ritual was actually a massacre?

And then…and then I heard more screaming, if that was even possible. But this time male screaming.

What was happening? I stayed still, not daring to move, hoping that they wouldn’t notice me, but when I felt an arm touch me, the arm that I noticed wasn’t attached to a body, I passed out. Thankfully, in the blackness there was no more screaming. But I wasn’t alone. Even in all my fear, I knew the stranger was with me, I knew that he would protect me.

 I woke up shaking, and ran to the bathroom, falling on my knees in front of the toilet. This nightmare…it felt too real.

I tried to make myself believe I was just nervous about tomorrow but I had a sinking feeling this had actually happened. Oh God, the screaming…the blood. I dry heaved over the toilet, feeling the fear slither down my body.

My hotel room suddenly seemed even more foreign and cold, and I just wanted somebody to hold me, to make me feel like everything would be alright.

Ji’s POV

The sheets were sticking to my sweat covered body. The nightmare…it felt too real. And the girl. Oh God. She was so fragile and innocent, and in my dream I had an overpowering urge to protect her, comfort her. This urge still persisted, even as I laid awake.

But she wasn’t real. Right?

The truth is, I have been having this strange dreams about a girl… she was many things, wore many faces, but I could always recognize her. Her eyes betrayed her. They always had that special glint in them that would make my heart tingle, and make me doubt my sanity. Because I missed her. I missed somebody that only existed after I closed my eyes.

A/N This is more of an intro chapter…I have no idea where I was going with this chapter, sorry if it seems strange :(

And I didn’t proofread…sorry. Bad author! –covers in shame-