Sacrifices || Jackson Wang \ Han Sanghyuk au

• Chapter 11 •

Areum.

My finger nails drug against the dirt floor in small circles. There was no sunlight nor water to be found in the little underground cell, but with a slight motion of my hand, a flower grew tall and strong, it's bright pink petals reminding me of the happiness I used to bare. It's stem crunched in my hand and with a twist of my finger, the flower itself browned and died. No powers were allowed in the isolation chambers.

I'd lost count of the years I spent dwindling my existence here. I had kept track of the days by the reoccurrences of Jeongguk entering my little dirt cubicle and using my frail body as his pain capability training, but I quit after around a rough two hundred and eleven days, not even a full year into my never ending sentence.

The door creaked open and I cowered, hoping that today the young man would take pity on me. I could see the light through my tightly shut eyes and waited for the pain, but none came. "Areum, it's me." A soft, feminine voice whispered out, and my eyes opened.

Cheonsa walked silently over to me, shutting the gated door behind her. Or should I say, Princess Cheonsa, her golden tiara perched high on top of her light colored hair, indicating her marriage to Prince Namjoon. She held a cup full of red liquid, and my mouth instantly watered. Her feet folded underneath her, as she sat across from me on the dirty dungeon floor.

"Aren't you worried about getting your dress dirty?" I question, and she looked down, examining her light pink dress before looking up at me, shrugging her shoulders.

"Not particularly." She smiled and handed me the glass of blood gingerly, the heat of it radiating in my hands, causing my stomach to clench. I swallowed it all too quickly, feeling the devastation of the sight of the now empty glass before me. My tongue flicked over the roof of my mouth, tasting and savoring what was remaining there.

"Areum, I have good news." My eyes shot up to her bright blue ones.

Cheonsa was very much different than me, or anyone of my kind, her blue eyes being the first indicator. She didn't crave blood, nor did she have extreme senses. Cheonsa was the first and only witch I knew, and the only friend I had in many years locked in the castle's chambers.

Her pale lips parted as she spoke. "Jeongguk will be gone for a few days." She knew how the kid abused me, but there was nothing she could do about it. She had power in the system, but not that much.

"Gone?" It had been years and years, and countless amounts of torturing since I'd seen a time where Jeongguk was let to leave the castle barriers. Something had to be happening, something big.

"Yes. Lord N sent him to check on the Jung clan." My heart sank to my stomach, my mind blurring. Jung. Jung Leo.

"Leo's clan?" My voice squeaked in a mixture of excitement and worry. Not a day past that I didn't wish my veins would dry up and I'd quit breathing with the thought of never seeing him again. It was unbearable.

"Jung Hoseok, Jung Taekwoon, Jung Yue." She listed the names off and bit her lip, as if she was thinking she had disappointed me.

"Leo. Taekwoon goes by Leo." I whispered, my eyes falling to the floor. I didn't know what to think. Why were they in trouble with our authority again?

"Do you know them?" She asked. Cheonsa and I were friends in the way that she often came down after Jeongguk had me laying on the floor begging for death, bringing me my ration of blood. She'd talk to me and keep me company for awhile, but she never pried into any memories, nor did I offer them up randomly.

***

Though I had the ability to grow whole thriving rainforests with my mind, I restricted my powers to the garden in front of my early 30's home, and even then, I enjoyed the simplicity of watching the plants grow on their own opposed to speeding up the process. It was May, 18th, and somewhere along the line I'd sparked the idea of geraniums, and I refused to sprout them with my head.