Everything was in ruins. Fire took over the sky, and the air reeked of blood and burning flesh.

He expected that. They’d been fighting for who knows how many years now, but the violence had multiplied intensely only within the last few months. Rather than isolated ambushes here and there, now they were launching full out raids even where there were civilians. They should’ve known it was only a matter of time before the rules of engagement would be broken.

Those were merely minor details in TaekWoon’s mind. Something much more pressing lay heavily in the pit of his stomach. Something that made his legs weak and his head feel like it was about to burst. So he kept running. Running along streets and through alleys, trying to get closer to the source even though he wanted to run from it. No, he was drawn to the feeling even more.

He knew why. But he didn’t want to know why. But he had to go there.

His other half. The balance.

“Lord! Our Lord!!”

TaekWoon whipped his head around to where the voice came from. Two kids, children from the school on the higher hill, stumbled in his direction on unsteady legs, their young faces streaked with grime and tears. From their hands to just past their wrists were stained with blood.

One grabbed a hold of TaekWoon’s cloak and yanked him in the direction they had come from. “Lord, please! This way!”

He didn’t even give it a second thought, easily overtaking them with his much longer strides. However, his steps were slow, much too slow. Not as if his legs or body were heavy with fatigue; his heart was pumping wildly enough to lift him off of the ground. No, he was just slow.

Time wasn’t moving forward enough.

He reached the crest of the hill, the kids gasping as they tried to catch up to him. There was no more physical threat left at the top, and the souls that remained were those of the students and maybe an adult or two. Their keens pierced straight through TaekWoon’s chest as he pushed his sluggish legs forward.

“Lord! Lord HakYeon!”

“Wake up! Wake up, please!!”

“A-ah! Lord TaekWoon!”

The children had formed a ring around a corpse. It was a corpse.

TaekWoon became oblivious to any other sound besides the steady churn of ice that seemed to roll through his veins. The crowd had pushed back to allow TaekWoon access.

Why was HakYeon laying on the ground?

Why was everyone crying all around him?

Why was there blood everywhere?

Why?

HakYeon…

He had already fallen to his knees and pulled HakYeon’s body into his arms. The warmth was already almost gone, the body much too heavy and still.

HakYeon…

TaekWoon’s head hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut and clutched HakYeon even closer to him.

No no no no…

He wasn’t even thinking as he began to pull at the power from deep within his body. He couldn’t let this happen. Even if he was smote for all eternity…

TaekWoon gasped, his eyes flying open.

Odd. The fires in the sky still seemed to burn through the window of his dorm. But one thing was for certain.

He couldn’t breathe.

The pain in his chest crushed his insides, seeming to press all of the air out of his lungs. TaekWoon gagged.

HakYeon…!

“TaekWoon?”

He was alive. He was alive. HakYeon suddenly stepped into view, a fearful expression on his face as he looked down at TaekWoon.

TaekWoon coughed. “HakYeon…”

He tried to reach for HakYeon, but his arms wouldn’t move. He couldn’t push himself up to a sitting position. He needed to touch him, had to. He was alive.

“TaekWoon-ah! Calm down!”

Yes. TaekWoon could feel as HakYeon frantically gripped one of TaekWoon’s hands in his own, the other pressing against TaekWoon’s forehead and then running down to cradle his cheek. He felt real. He could feel HakYeon’s hands. He felt real.

But so did the corpse.

That did TaekWoon in. He still couldn’t breathe, but suddenly he was sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming endlessly from his eyes and rolling down to his hairline, and HakYeon became even more frantic. TaekWoon finally managed to wrap his arms around HakYeon’s body, clinging tightly, his fingers twisting into HakYeon’s shirt. HakYeon did the same, and he slowly ran one hand up and down TaekWoon’s back, quietly murmuring words TaekWoon could barely hear between his own gasps.

He wasn’t sure of how long it took before he was breathing steadily again. The fiery light had dimmed to a dull sort of gray, but HakYeon still held him in the same position.

“Shh, it’s okay. Just keep breathing. Slowly.”

If he concentrated only on HakYeon’s words, TaekWoon could. His hiccups smoothed out to even breaths. His head didn’t feel like it was about to explode anymore.

“What’s wrong? Were you having a nightmare?”

The images came back to the front of his mind, and TaekWoon clutched HakYeon tightly again. “Yes… It was… the worst thing I’d ever seen…”

“What happened?” HakYeon pulled away just enough to look TaekWoon in the eyes. “Do you want to tell me?”

TaekWoon haltingly tried to recount every detail which was still burning vividly in his mind. When he got to the point when he had reached the top of the hill, when the kids broke the circle to let TaekWoon through, he stopped abruptly and squeezed his eyes shut. Never mind telling it out loud; he could barely stand to remember the image.

But HakYeon hovered over him with an incredibly disturbed expression on his face. He had frozen his soothing movements as TaekWoon recounted the nightmare, listening intently.

TaekWoon buried his face in HakYeon’s arm. “I was so scared… It just… I thought it was real. It felt so real, I didn’t even think it was a dream.”

HakYeon didn’t reply for a while, but when he did, his voice was strained, as if he was keeping himself from screaming.

“That’s… because it wasn’t a dream.”