Vivid | Lee Minho

•Scene 2•

You screamed, and it felt like the sound ripped your lungs apart.

"Guards!"

Stumbling, falling, you barely evaded the head of an axe falling down on you like a hammer as you crawled, tangled in your own skirts.

The heavy blade embedded itself into the floor when it missed your skull, shattering the marble, and its wielder dislodged it with ease. Eyes like fire, empty and ablaze, he regarded you like one would a measly, pesky roach.

The man who encroached on your safety was not the same Crown Prince you had known for fifteen years. His clothes were ragged, and so was his appearance. His gaze was hollow, and so were his proud cheeks. He seemed to care not if his face was recognized. Whatever happened to him since your last meeting had visibly taken a toll on him. He had become a man deranged. As though something wild had overtaken his body.

But it was still him. That idle thing inside of you stirred in recognition of the being fatefully intertwined with it. To seek and to be found.

Your knights barged in, and Seungmin's voice rose in the air like a thunderclap, "Intruder! Protect Her Ladyship!"

At the same moment, Ryujin swooped in beside you, pulling you to your feet and shouting over the clanking of armor, "We must get out of here, my lady!"

But you could hear none of them over the thrashing in your chest, deafening you to all but the Prince's presence. You were frozen in place when he lunged at you, chained by the memories of twenty other lifetimes, and the deaths that always followed.

At the hands of the Blood of the First. Always by his hand.

To seek and to be found.

He was met with your knights, a formidable shield that overwhelmed him easily with its numbers. They granted you the clearance to escape, and Ryujin snatched it, nearly dragging your limp body toward the door.

"Keep this with you!" she shoved a dagger into your hand as she continued her laboring trek, leaving the knights to their duty behind you. You barely registered her words, focused on the Prince's cursing and snarling as he tried and failed to break through them.

He was stuck, you noted with near relief.

As long as he stayed there, you could escape. You could hide. Your plan could succeed.

How naïve.

You gasped, and your surroundings suddenly came into sharp focus. Every sound and movement pierced your consciousness as though you had emerged out of dark water.

You turned around and shoved Ryujin with the most strength you could muster, narrowly missing the inked hands that reached for her throat.

The Renocault Order was here.

Materializing out of nothingness, your foe's army.

"Where are you going, demon?" the red-cloaked mage sneered, and you could almost feel the curse swelling in his ancient hands. Hands which he was stretching out toward you. "You must stay put—"

Your arm moved unthinkingly, swiping the dagger Ryujin gave you at him and backing away. With a wavering voice, you shouted, "Don't you touch me!"

Curses were rare and extremely dangerous. Being touched by those hands would mean immediate doom for you and your plan.

The Renocault Order was comprised of heretics and dark mages who used these curses at the cost of their own souls. Communicating with otherworldly beings and giving away their mortality as the price for tampering with the forbidden. Hence, curses were only used sparingly and on special occasions.