HELLO EVERYONE!

Yeah, I know, it's me. I'm still alive. Surprise! You know, there are active authors with amazing stories (a.k.a Czar_Feline, I love her stories, seriously) and then, there is me. Updating after.....what a year? two? oh god. I should burn in hell!

Anyway, I manage to make a Christmas present for every. single. one. of. you that still has the patience and hasn't click the unsubscribe butten. Yet.

Also, I want to announce something important. 

This story will continue, don't worry, but it will probably take around another year or so because I want to write it and after I finish it, I will post it here. It's because I know very well how it feels to wait for story you like to be updated and I don't want to keep you guys waiting once I start posting this story. So if you can bear with me for a little longer, then I will finish this story and then upload it weekly ^.^

Thank you again, especially for your waiting and for your comments of wanting a sequel. 

Love,

Mirage

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Jackson doesn’t remember the sky being so bright in his kingdom. Maybe because the sky was never really blue or bright. What he does remember, it was more grey, dark grey. He laid on his floater, hands behind his head, just letting the water to take him whenever it was possible. His eyes were slowly closing as sleep wanted to take over his body.

He jolted awake when he heard someone shouting for help. He looked around and saw a boy around his age, dark hair and eyes wide he was drowning and hoping for someone to help him. Jackson got up quickly and grabbed a wooden stick that laid next to him.

“Hang there!” He quickly put it in the water as close to the boy as possible.  The boy grabbed it tightly and Jackson pulled him out of the water on his floater. He patted the boy’s back as he kept on coughing the water out.

“T-Thank you.” The young man said before breaking into a coughing fit.

“You’re welcome. How did you even get in there?” Jackson pointed to the water.

“I kind of don’t know myself. I was walking over there, when I saw your floater. I got curious because you seemed dead or at least unconscious and I wanted to help you but then I fell into the water.” Jackson was just watching him with amused expression but said nothing. He handed him a piece of fabric so he could use it as a towel and leaned back comfortably, his palm supporting his body weight as he sat on the wood floor of his, so called, boat.

“What’s your name?”

“Sungjae.” He stretched his hand to him. Jackson took his hand into his own and shook it.

“I’m Jackson. Do you want to join me? I was hoping I would find work in this kingdom.” Sungjae chuckled bitterly.

“I am not sure, if you will find anything here. Our people are leaving this country as fast as possible. Nobody wants to stay. Our king is obsessed with wars and he spent all of our money to pay for them. Unfortunately, he is not winning any of them. And if he is, the prize is not even worth the fight.” Jackson had hard time identifying Sungjae’s face expression. It was something between disgust and sadness. But Jackson wasn’t one to judge people based on what other people told him.  They fell into silence after that, both drowning in their own thoughts.

As the floater went further and further, Jackson noticed a cloud of black smoke above the forest.

“What’s that?” He pointed to it and Sungjae looked to that direction.

“Oh, that’s where the devils work. Nothing good comes out of it. We should speed up when we will sail around it. “

Jackson smirked.

“No. That is a perfect spot to land actually.” Sungjae widened his eyes but before he got the chance to protest, Jackson was already using a wooden stick to push the floater closer to the land. Sungjae seemed scared but Jackson was only focusing on what was happening in front of his eyes.

._._._._._.

They didn’t even step on the ground properly, when they already heard screams and the sound of a whip somewhere within short distance.  They were humans shouting out their offers and asking for mercy in return.  Jackson got chills just from the air that was hanging around them but that wasn’t going to stop him.

“Well, well. What do we have here?” A tall thin guy with red eyes and short black hair walked to them. Both looked his way and had to slightly tilt their head up because damn, this guy was tall. Not to mention the little horn peeking from his dark hair. Sungjae got paler and gulped nervously, while Jackson took a deep breath before speaking.

“I’m looking for someone, who would accept my service.”

“My name is Kunpimook and I am curious about what can you offer to us.”

Jackson nodded to his floater.

“It’s a floater from black pine. That tree is only in the Wang kingdom.”

“Oh really? I am surprised there is still something that is growing and alive. But that’s nothing special. Do you have something else?”

“Yes, this.” Jackson put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a tiny stick. The devil in front of him eyed it curiously, trying to sniff it.

“What is that?”

“A toothpick from black pine.” Jackson’s smug expression wasn’t probably something that would made the devil happy but the little thing in his hands really grabbed his attention. “If something is stuck between your teeth, this will help you to get it out.” The moment Jackson said it, Kunpimook tried to grab it as fast as possible but Jackson was faster and pulled it out of his reach. The other let out a frustrated whine.

“We baked a ram yesterday. Something got stuck between our teeth and we just can’t get it out. To Hell with it.” He angrily kicked a nearby rock with it. Then he turned his stare to Jackson.

“How much does it cost?”

Jackson smirked.

“A pouch of gold. Too expensive for you.” Jackson was about to shove it back to his pocket when Kunpimook stopped him.

“Do you have an idea who are you talking with? Kunpimook has as much money as he wants!” He threw a pouch of gold on Jackson and took the toothpick. While Jackson was checking the gold, Kunpimook turned his back to them and tried to pull out the meat out of his teeth.

“Oh! And it’s out!” He turned to them with pleased expression and a piece of meat on the toothpick.

“What am I supposed to do with it now?” He leaned to Jackson, curious. The latter just shrugged his shoulders.

“Nothing. Break it in half and throw away.” Kunpimook shrugged as well and did as he was told. Only then, he realized everything. He looked at Jackson with devilish look and smirked a little bit.

“That wasn’t exactly a good business for us, huh? You are pretty smart. If you want to work for us, we have some places free.” Jackson just smiled and shook his head.

“Sure. Why not?” Kunpimook straightened his back and looked into Jackson eyes daringly. Sungjae gasped and looked at Jackson like he was crazy,

“Very well. Follow me, then.” Kunpimook kept the smirk on his face and gestured them to follow him. They started walking up the hill into the woods.

As they went higher and higher, they heard a strange sound and screaming. They both frowned and started to walk faster, catching up to Kunpimook with his long steps.

They soon got near a cave, where they saw a man sitting and sharpening his knife,

“Fine, when you won’t listen, then you will die. You won’t listen so you will die.” He said in a sing-song voice. Next to him, there was a donkey, tied to a railing.

Kunpimook walked to the man and smacked him across the head.

“Hey, we brought you newbies. Do you have something for them?” he asked, the tone of his voice, like he was the Pride itself. The older man looked and them and snickered.

“There is not enough for me, why should I take in another two?”

“We will raise your payment.” After that being said, the man got up angrily a looked Kunpimook right into his red eyes.

“I would rather cut my tongue than this!” He grabbed his tongue and knife while trying to perform the act he described earlier.

“Okay okay, stop it. We don’t want to watch something that disgusting!” He pushed the older male shoulders, making him sit down and turning to Jackson afterwards.

“As you can see, there is nothing for you. Maybe next time.” He shrugged, starting to walk away.

“I thought you will offer me work in Hell.” Jackson raised his voice, feeling betrayed that he was misunderstood like that. That made Kunpimook stop in his tracks, turning to him with a smirk on his face, making him look even more evil.

“That’s a place, you shouldn’t hurry to. You will get your chance. All of you will.”  His voice seemed different and after he said that, he started laughing and disappeared into a thin smoke.  The oldest man in the cave just scoffed.

“What are you going to do with him?” Jackson asked the man. The man just looked at them and continued at sharpening his knife.

“Kill him.”

“Why?” asked Sungjae, probably the first word he uttered since they met devils.

“He doesn’t want to listen to me anymore, he is useless for me. So, I will skin him.” The man shrugged his shoulders.

“He wanted to rise your salary, why would you decline?” asked Sungjae once again.

“He would give me Lucifer’s old boots to , that’s all. I need to feed my wife and my kids somehow and Lucifer won’t help me with it. Not with his old shoes.” He scoffed again and got up, towards the donkey with a knife in his hand. Jackson tilted his head and sighed low.

“Leave him alive. I’ll pay you.” He threw the pouch at him. The man dropped his knife and started inspecting the gold.

“Oh my god! I am rich! Everybody, I’m rich!” he started shouting.

Jackson untied the donkey, patted its head and the animal started following him. Sungjae just stood there with his mouth open.

“Come on, Sungjae. We don’t want to lose you, do we?” Jackson called and continued walking, the old man completely forgotten except for the sounds of “I’m rich! I’m so rich now!”.

 Sungjae groaned and started cursing Jackson in his head. Well, who could blame him? Do you know how full their stomachs would be if they would use the money for food and not for a stupid donkey?

In the end, he decided he will be sulking for the rest of the journey and follow Jackson for now. Maybe they will get lucky again.

When they reached the gates of the royal city, they were completely stunned. It didn’t look like a city in a kingdom whose king cares more of wars than its people.

The people were chatting happily, being polite to each other while looking for the best vegetable at the market. They both walked around with awe on their faces. If the whole country was in despair, the royal city was blind to it.

“Wow. This is not what I expected.” Sungjae whispered.

“This is your first time here?” Jackson asked, a little surprised. Sungjae nodded his head.

“Yes, I came from a village near here but I never visited the royal city. That’s not something you get to see every other day. It looks like a place out of fairy tale.” He looked around in awe. Jackson watched few children play nearby when he noticed also a young man standing among them, watching them with smile on his lips and basket full of flowers and herbs in his hands. The way he smiled reminded Jackson of an animal, how his eyes cringed and the smile lines along his lips seemed like cat whiskers to him. He laughed silently at that. Suddenly, one of the kids crashed into said man, who threw the basket up and all the flowers were all over him and on the floor. He watched as the kids apologized, while the man only smiled with sad eyes and told them to go to their respective parents. Then he started to pick the flowers up from the floor and checked his clothing for any herbs left there. Jackson noticed one flower that was forgotten in his hair. He went to him and without thinking about it any further, he took the flower from his hair. He saw him whipping his head around as his eyes went wide.

“What-?”

“Hello, little daisy.” Jackson grinned and put the white flower in the basket lying next to him.  When he looked back to the boy, he was still staring at him with shocked expression.

“What did you just call me?” he nearly whispered as if he was scared of saying anything at that moment. Jackson smiled and helped him with lifting the basket.

“Don’t be said. You are probably the prettiest flower I’ve ever seen.” He winked at him. He did it just to cheer him up, but when he saw him blushing a little, he couldn’t help himself and think the boy was kind of cute, even though he looked around the same age as Jackson himself. Without waiting for any response, he turned around with last smile and went to Sungjae, who probably didn’t even notice his absence. If he would stay few second more, he would hear the words that left Jinyoung lips.

“Oh my god…my vision!.”