Gloaming Nexus | Lee Keonhee (ONEUS)

Unkown Land

Eunji's ears were ringing. She could only hear her own rapid breathing and, above all, her wildly pounding heart. She cautiously blinked. Above her was the bright blue sky, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she squeezed them shut again. Everything was spinning in her head, and she felt the pain gradually replacing the adrenaline in her body. She decided to stay lying down a bit longer; soon she would be able to get up and go home. There was no reason to rush.

But just as she started to relax, the memory flooded back. Images of her journey home, the reunion with Gunmin, and—

The stones.

Eunji's pulse accelerated again, this time to an unimaginable rate. The realization hit her like a blow. She opened her eyes wide and looked at the sky. It was bright. She reached out with her hands, expecting the sandy ground she had found next to the dolmens of her homeland, but there was no sand here. The ground felt soft, like grass, and the scent that filled her nose unmistakably reminded her of trees. She carefully propped herself up on her elbows and slowly sat up.

She found herself in a kind of clearing. Surrounded by purple flowers and pine trees, she looked around. She had never seen such a forest before, and whatever was happening, it was entirely beyond Eunji's comprehension. Gunmin was nowhere to be seen either, which increasingly unsettled her. What had happened?

She turned around further and suddenly flinched. Behind her loomed a large gray stone that had almost looked like a dark figure out of the corner of her eye.

"My goodness..." she whispered to herself, placing a hand on her chest to calm herself. As much as one could calm oneself. While she tried to grasp the situation rationally, her body knew well that it was hardly possible to explain how she had ended up in this place.

The feeling of unease crept deeper under her skin. Her breathing became faster and more irregular. Her hands felt cold and clammy. A queasy feeling spread in her stomach. She felt nauseous. Her thoughts were swirling in her head. Where was she? Why was she here? How did she end up in this place?

She tried to distract herself from her impending panic attack and turned to the stone. It almost resembled an obelisk, tapering at the top and standing nearly three meters tall. She looked at it again and for the first time noticed an inscription running vertically along the entire length of the stone. Unfortunately, she couldn't decipher the writing, nor had she ever seen such a script before. It vaguely reminded her of Viking runes, but the writing on the stone seemed more curved and rounded.

As she continued to examine the stone, Eunji reached into her pocket. Relieved, she found that her phone was still with her. Maybe she could call someone. Hope sprouted within her. With quick finger movements, she unlocked her smartphone, found Gunmin's number, and tapped the green call button. As her phone dialed his number, she looked around again. The clearing she was still in extended into a wide field, partially covered with white flowers. The field stretched over several small hills, but in the distance, a large mountain range with snow-capped peaks could be seen.

"None of this looks like Korea..." Eunji spoke to herself in desperation.

Her smartphone seemed to take forever to connect, but a glance at the display told her it was futile to try to reach anyone: she had no reception. It dawned on her that it was rather unlikely to reach Gunmin from her current location, but she didn't want to believe it. Not yet. Frustrated, she held her phone up high, hoping that maybe a signal bar would appear. She moved a bit towards the open field. The tall trees of the forest stretching behind her would certainly not help in getting a signal.

She looked at her display again, only to be disappointed that nothing had changed. Her thumb wandered to the emergency call button. This was her last hope.

Her hand, still gripping the device tightly, began to tremble. Eunji was surprised. Despite her panic attack, she couldn't remember trembling like this. Her legs also started to shake. She looked down at her feet to register what was happening. With a furrowed brow, she observed her limbs and realized it wasn't her body that was trembling. It was the ground beneath her that had started to shake. Soon, she didn't just feel the tremor under her feet; she could hear it too, growing louder with each passing second. She turned to the gray-marbled obelisk still towering behind her. It wasn't the source of the ground's trembling.

At that moment, she saw a herd of horses galloping over one of the many distant hills — with riders on their backs. At first, Eunji could barely make them out. They rode so closely together, on their black horses, and seemed to be dressed in black as well, making the group look like a shadow moving rapidly towards her. Were they heading into the forest behind her? There was no path around her, except for a small trail leading to the obelisk. Eunji's pulse accelerated again. She clutched her phone and ran behind the stone. Running into the forest would have been too risky. In the low grass, she would be spotted immediately. It wouldn't take long for the riders to reappear over the next hill and come within close proximity to the obelisk and Eunji.

The clopping of hooves grew clearer in her ears. She could make out different voices. They sounded deep, leading Eunji to assume that the group of riders consisted of men. She had never seen men ride horses, not even in Korea — something like that only existed in movies for her. Yet these men strongly reminded her of warriors, like those typically seen in fantasy films. Whatever was going on, Eunji wanted it to stop so she could just go back home to her parents. Had they already noticed she was missing? They must have been beside themselves with worry.

The horses came to a stop. Right behind her. She heard the stomping so clearly; they were no more than five meters away from her.

Eunji shook her head, hoping to shake off the chaos of her thoughts, and squeezed her eyes shut, praying that the riders would quickly move on. Why had they come to the obelisk? Was the stone some kind of meeting point?

Or had they come to the stone because of her?

As soon as she had finished the thought, a sinking feeling spread through her stomach and she felt quite uneasy. In her desperation, seconds turned into hours as she listened to the men behind her. The grass rustled a few times, so some of the men must have dismounted from their horses. Then footsteps. Voices rang out, but Eunji couldn't understand the language they were speaking.

The rustling of the grass suddenly grew louder. Someone seemed to be approaching the stone. Eunji hugged her legs tightly and buried her face in her knees. She was completely at their mercy and didn't know how to handle the situation. For a moment, she considered just standing up and stepping out from behind the stone before they did, but it was already too late.

The rustling stopped. The voices fell silent. Eunji slowly opened her eyes and raised her head.

She saw black boots next to her. This was the end. Shit.

Her gaze wandered slowly upward. A young man, maybe 30 years old, looked down at her. He was dressed entirely in black, but his skin was almost as pale as ivory. His brown hair was tied back tightly into a ponytail, adorned with silver ornaments, and his ears tapered to a point. His dark eyes couldn't hide the surprise at seeing Eunji crouched behind the obelisk, yet he still held his sword pointed at her. At first, Eunji hardly noticed it, partly because she had never seen such a sword before. The shape resembled a classic longsword, but the material looked like crystal and sparkled in the light.

The surprise in the man's eyes lasted only a moment before his eyebrows knitted together again, and his mouth opened. He was clearly speaking to Eunji, but she couldn't understand a word.

"Please don't hurt me," she said hesitantly, raising both arms to show she was unarmed. And above all, powerless.

The man seemed to understand and sheathed his sword in the silver scabbard at his waist. He looked to his left, said something, and nodded in her direction. A few seconds later, two more men in black robes appeared behind him. Both looked surprised, but they quickly composed themselves. They seemed younger than the first man, yet they were just as pale, and they too had pointed ears.

They also both carried swords. Eunji guessed they must be soldiers, or some kind of police. She couldn't explain otherwise why they were armed and looked so grim. She was still sitting in the grass, wondering what was happening before her eyes and how she had ended up in this place, while the men in front of her began to discuss. At least, it looked that way because they were gesturing wildly — especially the younger man in the middle, who occasionally raised his voice above the other two and repeatedly looked in her direction.

They seemed unsure why Eunji was there and how they should deal with her. Their brief discussion was interrupted by a deep voice from farther away. The three young men fell silent and stepped aside as another man approached. He looked at Eunji with dark eyes, showing no expression, then turned his gaze back to the other soldiers and grumbled something towards them. He didn't seem much older than the first guy, but he appeared to have a higher rank. He's probably setting the tone here.

And Eunji was right. The other men seemed to reluctantly comply and proceeded to act after the former walked off through the grass toward his horse. The soldier in the middle, who had been arguing earlier, walked over to her, pulled her up by the arm, and dragged her out from behind the stone. Eunji initially wanted to resist and tried to pull away from his grip, but she quickly realized it was unavailing. Why resist? She didn't even know where she was and couldn't reach Gunmin or her family. Whether the men intended to sacrifice her or do something else, she had little choice but to surrender and follow them — at least until she found a way to get back home. Until then, she hoped for the strangers' benevolence and decided to behave.

His fingers tightened around her upper arm, and the young soldier only gave her an annoyed glance as he led Eunji to his horse.