Chapter 2: The Forgotten Tale

“So, you’re saying that you purposely choose me to do this Literature task so that I can meet you all here?”

The five… people sitting in front of me nodded.

I sighed heavily as I took in all the information conveyed just now. Basically, I’m the chosen one by Mr. Kim or more accurately, Chen, to go to this underground library which he said, a sacred place to have a ‘meeting’.

He also said that he’s been watching me for a long time and his opportunity arrived when he was offered to be a teacher in my school.

But of all things…

“Warlocks? Are you kidding me??” I scoffed inwardly. Seriously though, are you expecting me to believe what he said? No way, man.

“Guessed as much. She will not believe us.” Krystal slumped her back into the chair and pouted slightly.

“Alright then. Watch this.” Kris then took off his glasses as he fixed his eyes at the book on the table and it…

FLOATED?!

“What the…” I rubbed my eyes in case it was tricking me but no. THE BOOK IS REALLY FLOATING!!!

“H-How did you do that?” I blurted out without realizing. And then, the book falls on the table. I stared in amazement.

“Not only that.” Adding more, Kris did the same thing to the table, sending it into the air before returning it to its normal position.

I exhaled loudly. “O…kay. So, I have no choice but to believe you guys, right?”

They nodded.

“Before that, let me tell you. Kris is a Magiza. Chanyeol and Tao are Sorstia. As for me and Krystal, we’re Wilsyph.” Chen explained.

Huh?

“…Pardon?”

What did he say? Wha- Magi…za? What’s that?

Chanyeol laughed at my confusion. “Well, first of all. Warlocks are divided into four kinds, that is; Magiza, Sorstia, Wilsyph and Arquila. Magiza has the ability to possess the molecules of an object like what Kris did just now. Which means, they don’t only make it float around, but can also change the shape of the object.”

Slowly, I nodded. “Then, what about… Wilsyph and Sor.. sor… sorsi-”

“Sorstia.” Tao said next, correcting my spelling. “Sorstia is the strongest kind of warlocks. Like me and Chanyeol, we can possess the nature which means we can stimulate wind, earth, fire and such. And also, we can turn ourselves into a certain animal.”

At the end of his sentence, Tao suddenly poofed out into a white smoke and turned into a fox. Then, in a split second, he turned back into a… human.

“But, we can turn ourselves into only one type of animal. Mine is fox and Chanyeol is dragon.”

I almost choked on my own saliva as I glanced at Chanyeol briefly. The creepy guy only grinned at me. Pssh…

“My turn! My turn!” Krystal beamed, gaining my attention. “As for Wilsyph, Chen and I can heal people. But… we’re the most dangerous kind of warlocks because…”

Poof!

Again, a white smoke covering the air, blinding my eyes and when it’s gone, a huge giant snake was on the table. I widened my eyes in shock and leaned back in my seat. When I closed my eyes and opened it again, it was gone.

“We can deceive people’s mind too.” Chen continued Krystal’s sentences, while the girl frowned at me unsatisfiedly.

Eh? What? What did I do?

“Why are you not afraid of snake? I thought you’ll scream or fall off your chair or something!” Krystal grunted or more like, complained.

I cracked a small smile at her outburst. “Yeah, yeah, I was so shocked to the point that I can’t say anything.”

“Aaaa~ my little sister is using sarcasm on me!” She whined at no one in particular. Who’s the little sister now, huh?

I shook my head at her antics and asked. “So then, what’s the purpose of me meeting you guys?”

“Alright, look.” This time, Chen leaned forward with a serious face on. “You’re already well aware that there are four kinds of warlocks and among all of them, there’s one POWERFUL kind of warlock. It possessed all of Magiza, Sorstia and Wilsyph’s powers.”

Seriously?

“They’re known as Arquila.”

“Whoa…” My eyes rounded in amazement. “So, Arquila tops the warlocks’ charts, huh?”

Chen nodded. “And you’re one of them.”

.

.

.

.

.

.

wha

EXCUSE ME?!

“…huh?”

“Yes, you’re an Arquila.” Chen said, still having the serious face on.

I can’t even tell whether this is a joke or not.

I let out a dry laugh. “It’s not funny, Chen. I… I’m just a normal human.”

“Your eyes turned into aqua blue in the dark, am I right?”

SHOOT.

I blinked my eyes several times and found my tongue tied at Kris’ words. How did he know?

“That’s one of the features of an Arquila. And as for that bonus, they can see clearly in the dark.” Kris said afterwards.

He’s… actually right. Yes, I can see clearly in the dark but I don’t give a single care about that because I thought that’s just a random thing.

Hold on a sec.

“Wait, wait! But I-I don’t have any power. I can’t move things around, can’t produce fire and I can’t turn myself into an animal!”

“That’s because you haven’t seal a contract with your spirit guardian.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at Krystal’s sentence. “Spirit guardian?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Or, we can call them as spardian for short. Mine is Tao.”

And this time, I choked on my saliva FOR REAL.

“TAO?????!!!!!!!!”

I can’t believe it!

“But, you two are so…”

“Different. Right?” She finished my sentences. I nodded. “Well, unfortunately, I kissed him because I found him as a cute fox. But I never knew he can be this stubborn.”

Wait… what

“KISSED?!”

I heard a chuckle from my right and turned towards Chanyeol. “The only way to seal your contract with a spardian in order for your powers to awaken, is a kiss.”

I gulped hardly at the thought. Oh boy…

“And for your information, Chanyeol is Chen’s spardian.” Kris announced.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I widened my eyes even more. “That means, you k-k-kiss…”

“Wait! It was during his animal form, okay? You need to kiss your spardian in its animal form and only that, the contract can be seal!” Chen quickly corrected.

“Oh…”

“Geez! No way I’ll kiss him for real. Be logic, please.”

But…

“YOU KISSED A DRAGON?!”

Chen sighed helplessly. “Can you please not? One more from you guys and I’ll pray my whole life for your spardian to be a frog, Jiha.”

I cringed at the thought and automatically closed the topic. “Okay, okay. But, where’s yours?” I turned to Kris, asking about his spardian.

“Oh well. I made her run an errand for me so, she’s not here.”

Hold up.

“She?”

“Yeah. Fortunately, my spirit guardian is a female.” Kris smirked unknowingly. Chen just rolled his eyes, giving up on it.

“And if you may notice, all spirit guardians are Sorstia.” Tao added.

Yeah, that’s true.

I rubbed my chin, acting like a detective. “But how do we know whether it’s our spirit guardian or not?”

“Instinct.” Krystal answered this time. “It’s the same as love… I guess? Like, when you feel something tugging your heart, then it’s the one. Did I say it right?”

Tao chuckled absurdly at Krystal’s explanation. “I don’t know how to say it either. Well, sooner or later, you’ll know, Yoon Jiha.”

“That’s right. I can smell the scent of spirit guardian stuck on you already.” Chen lifted the corner of his lips as he looked at me amusedly.

They can even smell it? Hmm…

“Whatever.” I shrugged it off. “Alright. So, there’s no need for this Literature task then.”

“What makes you said that?”

Eh?

“Isn’t it just… a bluff? I mean, to use it as a ‘bait’ to make me come here.”

“No, it isn’t. That’s your REAL task.” Chen strongly opposed.

Alright. I’m confused even more.

“So, what’s the link of this task and my power?” I raised my eyebrows.

“That’s your homework.” My supposed-to-be Literature teacher then shoved me one of the books on the table and said.

“Read this when you get home.”

---

 

“Once upon a time, there was a village named Achlastia. There, lived many villagers originated from all kinds of warlocks. They all lived in peace and happily with each other. Until one day, the sacred village was suddenly attacked by a demon who just found out about their little hiding place.”

My eyebrows connected at the center when I traced the word ‘demon’. Just like Chen instructed, I’m now on the couch in my living room, reading the book he gave me.

Shrugging it off, I continued.

“Chaotic spreads all over the village. It was the strongest demon the villagers have ever encountered. Some of the villagers were running here and there, trying to save their life, while some were trying to fight off the demon.”

“But, the victory goes to the demon. And so, the magical village now turned into a devastated corpse field. The number of deaths was greatly overwhelming. No one can trace any living things left behind.”

“But, it is said that before everything turned into ashes, a curse was casted on the village.”

I squinted my eyes to take a better look at the next words. “Let there be pain, but spare the wicked tail…?”

Wicked tail?

“The demon then disappears somewhere. No one knows what happen to the demon or what happens next.”

When I flipped to the next page, all I found is an empty page.

Huh?

“What?! IT ENDED JUST LIKE THAT???!!!!!!!” Unknowingly, I screamed in frustration. Gosh! Whoever create this tale deserve to be choked by me.

Closing the book, I sighed helplessly. “The Tale of the Wicked Tail, huh?”

Well, I’ll just go the library next time and demand for a BETTER explanation on what to do with this tale.

Stretching out lazily, I headed towards the kitchen and took out the rice cakes that I bought on the way home. With all those new information when I was at the underground library, I don’t think I can cook properly for dinner.

Right on time, I heard a meow behind me and instantly, I knew it’s those two.

“Hey, Sparkie~ Fluffy~”

Bending down, I patted their heads and in an instant, all my fatigue washed away at their cute antics. “I’m sorry I don’t cook anything for dinner. But, I bought rice cakes for you guys!”

Believe me or not, these two cats also eat rice cakes, you know?

“Wait!”

As something flashed my mind, I picked Sparkie up and stared intently into its eyes.

Tch. I must be crazy.

I put it down before sighing heavily. “It can’t be, right? I think I’ll really lose my mind.”

Spirit guardian, huh?

The proverb ‘curiosity kills the cat’ fits well with this situation right now.

Silence engulfed every corner of the kitchen as I was contemplating whether to test it on the cats or not. Yes, I want to test the truth about the spirit guardian thingy.

“Fine! Once is enough. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?” I said to myself and nodded determinedly.

I picked up Sparkie again and closed my eyes. Hoping that the cat will not scratch my face, I leaned in slowly and kiss…

“Wait! Where do I suppose to kiss it?” I stopped leaning in and with my eyes still closed, I tilted my head to the right side.

“On the lips.”

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

…huh?

As I opened my eyes, a familiar pair of dark brown eyes was staring back at me.

“You’re supposed to kiss on the lips.” The… guy in front of me blurted out in his deep, husky voice.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT???!!!!!!!!!!!!

I blinked my eyes again and that’s when I realized it’s the same guy as my dream last night!

Wait! DON’T TELL ME IT’S NOT A DREAM!

I only noticed how close we are when my eyes travelled down and saw my hands cupping his cheek.

Eh?

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I let go of his face rather harshly and stepped back from the unknown guy until my back hit the kitchen counter.

Oh noes.

“W-Who are you? What are you doing in my house?!” I tried to sound brave but my voice came out shaky because the guy was stepping closer towards me.

And now, he’s trapping me in between both his hands as he stared down at me with an unreadable expression.

Is he a serial killer?

I gulped unknowingly and stared back at those pair of beautiful eyes empowering me to the point that I can’t move my mouth. Silently, my hands roamed behind around the kitchen counter to find for anything to be used as a weapon.

God, please spare my life. I don’t want to die this young! I HAVEN’T EVEN FINISHED WATCHING LAST NIGHT’S ANIME!!!!

“Is this what you’re looking for?”

Hearing another soft voice interrupting my thoughts, I turned to my right and saw the fair-skin boy also from last night, holding a knife while tilting his head cutely.

Wait! Did I just say cute?

Wait, wait!

KNIFE?!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!! THAT’S WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR!!!!!!

That guy smiled at me, flashing off the same crescent eyes, and put the knife properly in my hand.

“There you go.”

What the heck?!

WHY IS HE KINDLY HANDING ME THE WEAPON??!!!!!

Raising the knife up, I screamed my lungs out and kick the guy in front of me in the guts. He bent over and that’s when I get the chance to escape from him.

Standing 1987794857290 kilometres away from those strangers, I pointed the knife at them and shouted. “Get out of my house or else!”

Whatever happen please just save me!

Mustering up my courage, I shut my eyes tightly and threw the knife forward with shivering hands.

OH NO

I’M A MURDERER NOW!