Falling || Taejin

Chapter 1

The story was inspired by an art created by @/cheese_sso on twitter. I wish i could link it here but the artist went private. The art was posted on 5th September, 2021.

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As if his feet had become his wings, Taehyung sprinted through the dark, dense forest like his life depended on it, which was technically true. He had no moment to spare for rest even though his back was begging for it and desperately telling him that his efforts were vain. He tried not to listen. He knew where to go. He just needed to get to the other side of this forest, and then everything would become much smoother.

Taehyung urged his feet to run faster, not caring if his body was slowly growing numb because he couldn't die anyway; he wasn't sure if he felt fortunate about the not dying part.

He tripped on gnarly roots, got nicked with rouge branches and thorns, slipped over mud and scared half of the animal population in that forest. Every time his brain cried out for a second to catch his breath, he warned himself that every second he was motionless, the guards would get closer and closer. The rational part of him knew that he had put enough distance between him and his pursuers but he could not let go of the anxiety, could not stop himself from thinking that he would get dragged back to the castle ground again and...

Hot tears stung his eyes and his wounds burned with equal intensity. No, he could not dwell on what had happened. He knew how to fix his woes, and he was advancing towards it. If he stopped to drown in self-pity, he would be stuck in that forest for at least four more days and that would give the guards plenty of time to find him.

His head spun with exhaustion and agony, both physically and mentally. He wanted to collapse on the fallen leaves and hope the forest nymphs would conceal him. He wanted to leap into a creek and hope the gentle waters would wash his crime away. He wanted to run into a tree and hope he would be out long enough for people to forget him; then he could build a new identity and mesh into the land again.

But he saw light, moonlight to be exact, peeking from a little distance from between the trees. He was close. He couldn't slow his pace even if he wanted to because he knew his limbs would give up the moment he paused. He hasn't run since he was just a Lightling, before he had grown his wings, and that was centuries ago; he had always been reliant on his wings like everyone else.

As he drew nearer to the light, his vision began to glaze over. He blinked furiously and shook his head to chase away the blurriness. More tears streamed down his face as he was just a minute away from the light and-

Finally he burst out. As soon as his feet touched the solidness of the road, his body exploded with newly profound adrenaline and he shot along the length of the road. Suddenly, he felt invincible, as if he could do anything, but the feeling didn't last because he got reminded that it was the exact emotion that had gotten him into greed. No, he couldn't indulge that feeling a second time.

After what felt like another hour, Taehyung started to see what seemed like houses. He could not make out their exact details but they looked like cottages spread over a vast expanse of land.

"I know the path, I know the path," he chanted inside his head as he wove through the streets, trying to be as quiet as possible because who knew what lived in those houses?

Taehyung came to a stumbling halt in front of a cottage which had a massive willow tree towering over it, its branches and leaves kissing the roof and draping over the windows like curtains. Yes, it was just like in the book.

He peered at the moon and concluded that it was not that late at night yet, so he took a few contemplating steps before knocking on the door. He counted till twenty before knocking again, this time with heavier strokes.