The Gifted (Txt x Itzy)

十

Taehyun flipped through the book. Neat handwriting, lined one page, another filled graceful cursive. There was an incredibly ugly scrawl of somebody's that made him cringe. Then, there it was. His page, with his handwriting, scribbled on the whole page. There was his name, his date of birth, his age. The writing describes a person, a gifted, as they called them. Brushing past the pages, he went back to the first page, where a riddle sat.

One who breaks the soul of others, another who changed the time of others. Third, a child that has no weight, fourth one who changes faith. Fith who takes the form of things, sixth that plays with puppet strings. Seventh one a girl of glass, eighth and ninth that reflect like brass. Nine gifted all in total, nine to find, all still mortal, found, and the world may see tomorrow.

On the second page, there was a line, with numbers written beside it. At the top, was three, then four, five, one, seven, eight and nine, two and six. A timeline, he realised. He would find them in order, starting from three. Well, that made it simpler, except for the fact that he literally didn't know anything except their power, and he doesn't suppose he could find someone who breathes fire on the streets. It made it sound so easy as if he could just casually slide into someone's house and be like, oh, hey, your kid's just like me, so I'm just gonna grab them and never come back, bye! That sounded like a nightmare. But back to the current situation.

-

The forest, it seemed, was calling to him. He saw a faint shimmering thread trailing through the trees, and he guessed that that could lead him to the next gifted. Taehyun went with his instincts. He took a deep breath and took a step into the forest. The forest was beautiful if that could describe its majesty.

Lush greenery inched around the leave-littered ground. Tall, tall trees, each enveloped with thick, flakey tree bark. The scents of grass and flowers filled his nostrils, clean and crisp, wet but cool.

For a moment, he stood there, completely unaware of his surroundings, breathing in the smell of the forest. He took one step forward, and an unfamiliar feel was under his foot, and the next thing he knew, with an unmanly squeal, leaves were flying and he was in a net of rope, hanging above the ground like a trussed-up turkey.

"W-What?" He spluttered, absolutely baffled (it seems that he says this a bit too often). A crunching sound was heard, along with panting.

He twisted his head as well as he could, and he saw a girl. She was pretty, dark hair, brown eyes like a mirror reflecting the surroundings and smooth skin.

She cocked her head to a side. "You're not a fox, who are you?" She asked curiously. Taehyun struggled. "Well, I'd be happy to tell you, if I could just-"

"Oh!" The girl said as if she just remembered that he was hanging a metre off the ground in an old rope net bound with strangely elaborate hooks and wires to make a trapping contraption.

The mysterious girl produced a knife from her pocket and sliced at the net. Taehyun fell to the floor with a dull thud.

"Ow..." Groaning, he stood, rubbing his sore backside.

"I apologise. My dad's chickens have been killed by foxes, so he was hoping that he could catch them. He didn't expect a human," The girl spoke.

"I'm Jisu, and you are?" Taehyun jerked his head up to meet her gaze, "Taehyun. I'm Taehyun."

But Jisu wasn't listening at all. In fact, she was staring, almost intrigued, at the vines and clumps of soil that were rising, as if about to assist Taehyun.

"Wait, are you doing this?" She asked, backing away slightly. "Um, it depends on how you want to look at it. Yes, technically, but if I see humans I'm supposed to say-''

Realisation dawned on Jisu and she nodded slowly. A rope was thrust into his hand. "Hold this. Tightly, please," Jisu requested.

"Uh, sure..."

The girl bent down, flipped the latches of her leather boots-no, they were...lead?

"Watch," She said with an impish grin.

And she floated up.

That was no joke.

She soared a few feet high, her limbs relaxed as if she was seated on a beach lounge chair.

She could have potentially flown higher, but the rope that Taehyun held with a steel grip held her down. He was grateful he didn't let go, because he had no idea what he would've done if she flew away.

"Could you uh, pull me down, please?" She asked politely. He reeled her in, a little shocked, and she landed perfectly in her shoes and hurried to latch herself properly into her shoes.

Taehyun stared at her, his brain couldn't fully compute. "You're like me. A gifted." He decided. Jisu looked confused. "A what?" Then, something clicked in his brain.

"You're the third one, the child that has no weight," He realised. And Jisu looked at him, amazed. "I...I had a dream. About a boy, who would come to me, and tell me he could bring me to a safe place. That's...that's you?"

Taehyun nodded solemnly. "Then, we better get going," Jisu said, almost eagerly.

They snuck into Jisu's house to grab a few essentials. Jisu assured him that firstly, her father wasn't at home, so they didn't have to worry, and secondly, he wouldn't miss her, in fact, he'd be glad.

"He'll be thankful," Jisu spat out bitterly. They grabbed a bunch of necessities: a first aid kit, some clothes, matches and food, small snacks and bottled water, all stuffed into two backpacks. They set off, both consulting the notebook as they went.