Hana of the Dusk | Akatsuki no Yona

Chapter 11: The Priest and His Caretaker.

"Hak! Yona!" Hana screamed desperately like she had been for the past two hours. She was looking for her friend and sister after she saw them fall into the cliff. The probability that they made it alive was next to zero, but Hana wouldn't easily give up without seeing the evidence that they were truly dead.

It was close to dawn now. Hana had searched everywhere for the whole night, but she couldn't find them— not even their bodies, if they were dead. Her throat was sore from screaming their names, and she was drained from energy; mainly because she was overtaken by her grief.

Hana was still scouting the forest. The sun was slowly rising in the east. She looked up to the sky. Its hue differed from red to pink to orange. Every day during her adventure, Hana would wake up before dawn, just so she could watch the breathtaking view of the red sunrise that always reminded her of Yona's hair. Hana lowered her gaze, only to catch a glimpse of a gleaming red crystal stuck in the bush.

She hastily scurried towards the bush, almost tripping over the roots of a tree. Hana grabbed the pendant. It was the necklace that she had given to Yona for her birthday.

So they must be nearby.

"Yona! Hak!" She shouted, frantically looking around, frightening the birds with her loud voice. "Please answer me! Please.." she trailed when she saw blood smeared on the leaves. She walked towards the spot near the river. The ground was uneven; it seemed as if a person— no, two people— had fallen on it. At that moment, Hana was more than sure that this was where Yona and Hak had landed after they fell from the cliff.

"No, no, no. Where are you?" She whispered, crawling to the edge of the stream, searching for any hint of Yona and Hak's whereabouts. Tears stung her eyes as she thought of how their bodies could possibly be carried away by the water current, and how she would never see them again.

Hana was tired of this. Only a week since she came back to the castle, and everything already turned into hell. Why was she the one chosen to bear this accursed fate? She should've been the one who died, not Yona, not Hak, not her father. Death would've been less painful than being alone in this world, knowing she was betrayed by the people she thought she could trust, by someone who she loved. If she were just a few seconds earlier to arrive at the cliff, she could've probably saved Yona and Hak.

Her sight was blurry as she stared down at the reflection of herself in the clear water. She looked like she had just aged 30 years older, with the wrinkles around her puffy eyes and messy hair. The life had perished from her eyes, like a bedridden woman who was just waiting for her death to come after watching all of her loved ones leave her.

You can be free of this pain. Just let go, a dark voice whispered in her head, tempting her to let herself drown in the river. Hana didn't fight back the conscience. She had lost her will to live in a world where everything seemed to have turned against her. Hana closed her eyes and let go of herself. Her body tumbled forward, into the river.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around her, holding her back from falling into the water. She opened her eyes again. She got rid of the arms and turned around. Her hand found the hilt of her dagger that she tucked under her belt. A man was kneeling in front of her. She could not see his eyes, as they were hidden behind his long yellow curly fringe.

"Careful there, you almost fell into the river," he warned her, his voice was calm and gentle.

"Who are you?" Hana gave him a skeptical look.

"Hello, I'm Ik-soo. Why are you crying?" The man who introduced himself as Ik-soo asked.

"It's none of your business," she snapped harshly. It was unlike her to speak in such discourtesy to someone she just met, but that's what happened to a person who had practically lost everything. She actually felt guilty, since he seemed like a good man, and he wasn't the one who caused this pain to her. It was wrong to treat him so badly.