Dawn of a New World - Akatsuki no Yona

Chapter 35

While we were walking around, Hak seemed to notice something important causing him to stop. "Hey." He suddenly spoke up, causing us all to stop walking and turn to look at him. "I'm going off on my own. Look after he princess." He then rushed off before any of us could mutter a single word. Yoon blinked in shock, "Huh? Wait, Thunder Beast!" It was no use, Hak having already run off and was now out of sight. Yoon sighed as he stared off to where Hak disappeared too. "What's gotten into him?"

As Yona turned around, she gasped, which in turn made us all turn as well to see what she was looking at. Yoon, Ki-Ja and I gasped in shock at the sight of a wanted poster, seemingly with Hak's face on it. It was quite hard to tell, the drawing being terribly drawn and not really looking like him in even the slightest. The sight of it made me burst out into hysterics, Ki-Ja following shortly after. "Amaya!" Yona scolded, her lips pursed as she attempted to hold in her own laughter. "He looks so ugly!" I managed to exclaim, wheezing from loss of breath after laughing so hard. Yona then let out a small giggle, although she tried to hide it. I spun around, pointing at her "Aha! Caught ya!" Yona's eyes widened before she pouted at the ground.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We had gotten all of the supplies that we had needed for now, and we were now searching for Hak who had still not returned. Ki-Ja and I had also regained the feeling of the Green Dragon's presence, and so we were searching for the both of them. As we turned a corner, I saw Hak running in our direction, seemingly away from a man standing behind him. The man had long, forest green hair tied up into a ponytail. He adorned a long dark blue robe with yellow hemlines and cuffs. He appeared to be well built, and from what I could tell, he knew that he was rather easy on the eyes. As I caught sight of the man, I stiffened. Instantly, I felt the presence of the Green Dragon become more intense than before.

Hak's eyes widened at the sight of us, "Princess, what are you doing here?" Hak asked confusedly. "Ki-Ja and I sensed the Green Dragon in this area." I explained, not taking my eyes off of the man standing there watching us. For some reason, the man then disappeared, as if he had vanished into thin air.

"What?" Hak mumbled, Ki-Ja then ran off, eager to find the next dragon. "I'm going to search over there!" I contemplated going after him, but then decided it was better to stay with Yona. "Hak, what were you doing?" Yona asked curiously. Hak turned his gaze to her eyes. "I was being chased by a pervert." Yoon and I deadpanned our expressions, while Yona raised her hand to her chin "A pervert?" she mumbled, not quite understanding. "Yeah, you know like Hak when he saw you-" Hak slapped his hand over my mouth to prevent me from finishing my sentence. I smirked, narrowing my eyes at him to which he glared. He glanced back up at Yona, who was looking at us in utter confusion, "You don't need to know the details, Princess." He then let go of me, albeit casting a stern glare in my direction, and pointed in the direction behind us. "Let's go, Princess." Yona agreed, "Yeah." I cast a quick glance over my shoulder, still concerned about where that man had run off too.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As we came across yet another of the wanted signs with Hak's face on them, Hak hastily ripped his off of the board before crunching it up in his hands and ripping it to shreds. Yona stared at the one that was next to his. "This is the man who saved that woman from the officials?" she asked, gazing at the terrible drawing. Hak let the shredded paper go and allowed it to fall to the ground below. "Yeah, though he's not someone I want anything to do with." Yona turned to him with a gleeful smile, "I'd like to meet him." Hak narrowed his eyes, "You shouldn't."

The sound of loud whimpering caught all of our attention and we hastily made our way to where it source had to be. We came to stand just outside of the store that we had seen earlier being trashed by the officials. The whimpering was coming from inside of the building. Yona ran inside, wanting to see what was wrong. Hak tried to stop her, but she was already making her way inside. As Yona opened the doors, she stiffened. As I came to stand beside her, I saw what had made her halt in her movements. A man and a woman, I'm assuming they were lovers, were holding onto the lifeless body of a young boy. The poor child had blood seeping from his forehead.

We all slowly walked towards them, stopping just short of a few feet away. "Excuse me..." The man raised his head slightly, "He won't move. This child was struck when he stood up to the officials... And since then... he hasn't moved." My eyes narrowed, fists clenched by my side as I struggled to contain my anger. Yona was the same, she was biting her lip harshly, tears threatening to spill out over her cheeks. Yoon walked over to them, bending down and picking up the boy's limp arm. He was checking for a pulse, and by the looks of it, the child didn't have one. As Yoon shook his head, Yona clamped her hand tightly around my wrist. Glancing to my right, I saw the look of dread covering her expression. She was feeling guilty for not helping them earlier.

As Yona stared at the sobbing forms of the couple, she latched her other hand onto Hak's robe. "Hak... How... How can we help those people?" Hak cast his gaze to the ground, not sure how to answer her question. Yoon piped in from the ground where he still knelt in front of the woman who still held onto the body of the young boy. "Yona, we're powerless right now." He then stood up, not being able to help them anymore. "I know, Yoon. But I can't keep using my powerlessness as an excuse. If this town has been twisted since my father's reign, I must do something." I flinched as she mentioned our late father, Hak sent me a concerned look as Yona sent me an apologetic one.

One thing was for sure, we were going to save these people. No matter what it took.

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