HUNTERS || ENHA/LSFM || - A K-pop Ghost Hunting Story

54. Sacrifice

In the flash, she saw a long, winding gravel path between two tall bushes in front of them. The same one that was led up to their headquarters.

They were here.
It was time.

Jungwon, who was at the front, stopped.
He turned back to them, brushing his soaked hair out of his eyes.

He nodded, and pursed his lips.
"Get ready. We're here. And so is Eunchae."

...

Time: 21:41, October 23

Her heart bore an incredible ache, a hurt which surged deep within her arteries, like a strong convulse. It felt like the burning sensation was digging deep into her, as if a sharp knife was edging closer and closer to the frail tendons of her mortal soul. It sliced through it like paper.

It was completely suffocating, like the pain was doubling and tripling by the second. Her heart clenched and retracted, and yet she couldn't do anything about it.

She wanted to claw her heart right out of her body, to make it stop.
But, there was nothing she could do.

Not a hand to raise, not an eye to open.
She felt powerless, drained of all her humanity and strength, left like a shell.
A shell left to suffer for eternity.

It was like she was hefting a sheer weight upon herself, like the weight of death itself was gripping onto her.

There was nothing to see.
Everything was encased in darkness. Her conscience was lost in a place that seemed never-ending, windowless, a space that was a limitless cage.
Some force kept her rooted here, and she felt bound to it, like some kind of puppet.

After all, death's puppet was nothing more than a lifeless shell.

So, came the question:
Was this death?

A strong, suffocating sensation gripped upon her lungs. They felt like the air inside them was being sucked out, and her lungs were collapsing, sending a shockwave of pain and nausea down her body.
A constricted gasp escaped her throat, and, at that, it felt like her lungs had fully flattened, and her heart had bursted.

But then, came the splutter of coughs and the rattled breaths.
Sakura stirred, opening her eyes.

She inhaled deeply, taking in as much air as she could to soothe the ache which lingered in her lungs.
Every breath felt heavier, like there was an unknown denseness to it.
Or was she just too weary to cope?

Sakura took a few moments to recover, shutting her eyes tightly and closing her hands over her heart. A wave of relief rushed over her, as the convulsions in her muscles stopped.
She could still feel her heart thump heavily against her hands and rib cage. Her head pounded yet with the noise of it.

She felt like her body had been encased within a body of ice, and the coldness pricked her skin. Drops of cold sweat trickled down the side of her face, both from the temperature and from her mix of emotions.

Sakura leaned her weight on a shaky arm, propping herself up to stand.
Her movements were drowsy and slow, much to her surprise, but also her big concern; she had never felt this weak before while doing nothing but standing. It felt like every single movement took multiple times the effort, and at that, her strength was slowly being depleted the more she tried to do something.
Sakura attempted to take a step forward, but it was as if her legs were severed from her brain; she fell right to the ground. Her leg had seemed to have a mind of its own, and she was completely uncoordinated due to the rising amount of weariness.

Sakura let out a grunt, staring down at her hands.
What was happening?

As she stared at the ground, her eyes set upon a smoke like substance, almost seeming to emit from the ground itself, rising in a small cloud around her hands. In fact, the smoke was all around the floor.
Sakura looked onwards, into the distance.

It was hard to see anything, it was like she was trapped within a never, ending abyss. No matter which direction she looked, it was the same; the smoke covered ground, followed by the looming, seemingly endless darkness and shadows beyond.

Her head felt fuzzy, as if she had suffered a concussion.
But she didn't recall having one.

She could barely recall anything.
Where she was, and what had happened prior, she didn't know.

"Miyawaki Sakura, we meet at last..."

A raspy, demonic voice came from right behind her.
She felt pure fear run down the back of her spine. It was almost like her body had been bound, frozen and petrified.

She felt a weight come down upon the air, like the atmosphere had begun to try and suffocate her.
An aura of tingling, burning, inhuman hatred felt as if it were radiating down the back of her neck and shoulders, where she felt the entities' presence.
She had felt this aura before.

It had been not a long time back.
But she remembered broadly.
The last time she had felt this... she was dying.

So that could only mean-

"Such a nice, quick death... Perhaps by now you recall it all, Miyawaki Sakura?" said the creature.

Now she fully remembered.

Sakura was dead.
But what was this? Where was she?
And, more importantly, why was the monster here with her?

A gulp escaped her throat.
She had thought it had been over for her.
That everything was done.
That it had been the end of her struggles.
But, in reality, it was just the tip of the iceberg.

The spirit was cunning.
It had known it from the start.

Eunchae's body had been quickly deteriorating. Even more, it had barely been in a good enough condition to fight Sakura and Chaewon.
And so it had come up with a solution.

It needed someone stronger. Someone who the hunters would never expect.
To fill in the gap for Eunchae, and restore an unwavering amount of power.

And give the hunters one big loss.
To terminate one of their strongest.

And Sakura had been the perfect match; she was strong, and the opportunity had presented itself in broad daylight.
There had been loose seams within the hunters, and the spirit had stabbed right through it.

The monster had traded off Eunchae to take her, Sakura.
One thing had been accomplished, whereas she had given herself up to achieve it.

She was done for.
But she had done it in the end.

Eunchae was free from the monster, in trade for her.

...