Archive of Our Own

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A can skitters across the rough asphalt, startling the rats rummaging in the overflow of trash from the disposal area. They scatter, but a stray spark of flame catches the fattest one of the lot, charring it into cinder.

“You’ve gotten out of practice, Eunha.”

A young woman with dark brown hair was leaning against a wall, idly scuffing the ground with one boot. The leather of her jacket stood out proudly black against the grays of her surroundings, matching with the fitting leather pants that hugged her curves. Her smirk was lazy as she eyed her childhood friend and partner, who was pouting back at her.

“We haven’t had to roast rats in ages, SinB.”

The short bob of Eunha’s hair framed her doll-like face perfectly, and her cheeks were puffed out in mild indignation. She too was clad in practical darks, blending into the shadows of the alleyway they were in. In contrast to the lounge of the panther that SinB had perfected, Eunha paced idly instead, staring into her upturned hand as she waggled her fingers. Flames wisped into existence on each of her fingertips in quick succession, before winking out like blown out candles as she folded them one by one into her palm, smoke escaping from her clenched fist.

“Do you think they’ll be much longer?”

SinB pushed herself off the wall, backing up to take in the vertical angles crisscrossing the air above. This far down, the flashing neons of the greater city were a mere fairytale to those who lurked in the shadows between megastructures. The alley stank with rot, but she barely registered it. Even as advanced as the corps got, people still needed to shit and eat. And all that had to go somewhere.

Even in the dark, there was opportunity. They lived in between the cracks, taking what work the mega corporations wouldn’t -

couldn’t

- afford to advertise. Plausible deniability, with disposable assets. It was the best the SIN-less could do. It was either that or sell themselves and get high on the unregulated VR chips that so many people fell prey to, in order to escape the unpleasant reality of their lives.

A hand landed on SinB’s shoulder. Eunha came up to stand next to her, also eyeing the steel and concrete of the imposing structure they had been tasked with to crack. It was a hard life running the shadows, but they had a place to stay and a team they trusted. And they had enough to eat. That alone was more important than anything else.

“They’ll be fine.” Eunha said after a beat. “We might not even have anything to do tonight.”

SinB laughed. “Famous last words, Eunha. Bet you a chicken wing you get to fry something before dawn.”

“Synth or organic?” Eunha raised an eyebrow.

“Whatever’s more expensive, because I’ll probably win. As always.” SinB grinned, earning a punch on the arm.

It was just one more night for them. Deep in the bowels of the city, they might as well be all but rats scrambling in the dark for scraps to live. But live they did, and you could never burn them all.

“Yuju, left is

this

way.”

A young woman in a suit tugged at the arm of her taller companion. Their height difference was further emphasized by the fact that the shorter was in sensible flats, but the taller Yuju was in heels.

“Why do

I

have to wear heels?” Yuju sulked as she obediently allowed her companion to steer her in the right direction. Next to her, Yerin giggled mischievously.

“So I can do

this

of course.” She laid her head on Yuju’s shoulder, which was now the perfect distance with the added boost the heels provided, and looped her arm into the crook of Yuju’s arm.

“People are

looking

, Yerin.” Yuju muttered, but didn’t actually struggle very much. Yerin chuckled and leaned upwards to plant a peck on her puppy’s cheek.

“Relax, this is the residential area. We’re just coming back from a day at the office. Remember?”

The shorter girl tapped the nametag at her chest, which had already served well enough to grant them access into the building. The pair had already crossed a luxurious courtyard with its perfectly trimmed hedges and highly polished cobbles. There had even been a fountain whistling merrily at the center, the water dancing in a dazzling display of light.

“I don’t like it here.” Yuju had been stiff from the very moment they entered the complex, but you wouldn’t know it just looking at her. Yerin rubbed a thumb over the back of Yuju’s hand as her own hand slipped down to grasp the taller girl’s own.

“It won’t be much longer. Just up to the third floor, we get in then get out.”

Yerin’s lips were practically right at Yuju’s ear, her breath warm against the skin. Yuju twitched, but she relaxed, letting her senses flow into the artificial environment surrounding them. The marble clacking against her heels was actually the real thing, not that it surprised either of them. This was the VIP residential area for valued employees, and it was only the best for the best, of course.

Soft calfskin couches surrounded a richly embroidered carpet to one side of the lounge area they were currently crossing. A 3D display of some corporate logo spun intricately in midair, and a catchy jingle played on repeat in the background. It was all very lavish and opulent, but the attempt at taste was sadly sabotaged by the crass advertising that permeated every surface.

It disgusted Yuju. The entire place was a celebration of corporate culture, the palatial decor a stark contrast to the filth of the slums, where a majority lived. None of these people ever saw the outside of their comfortable existences, and the ones on the outside could never touch even the edges of this life, save through the chips. Augmented reality, inserting yourself into a pre-programmed existence and living a life in your own head. At least, for as long as the program ran. She had seen too many chipheads lost in fake lives, because it was better than whatever reality had to offer. And those chips came

from

these corps, money made off the misery of the masses.

Even the air here was carefully filtered to block out the stink of the streets. Once, Yuju had lived in a complex not unlike this. She too had been sheltered from the reality, living the carefully curated existence of a corp kid, until an incident made her parents disposable to company interests. She had survived, but her parents had not. The arm of the corporations was long indeed. There were few places they could not reach, and her parents had risked everything to burn all records of her from the system, just so she could run free. Now she was outside the system, SIN-less, and invisible to the corporate eye.

A soft touch to her knuckles. Yuju looked down. Yerin had lifted their joined hands to her lips, pressing a kiss to the lightly scarred skin. They were already in an elevator, which Yuju had no recollection of actually stepping into, but she had been lost in her own thoughts, allowing Yerin to lead her. It worked out, since Yuju could never find her way around anyway.

“You’re still pretty when you frown, but you’re prettier when you smile.” Yerin squeezed Yuju’s fingers, coaxing a half-smile from the younger girl. The subtle disguise on Yerin’s face shimmered lightly as Yuju lidded her eyes, but then again, the disguises never really worked on her. What other people saw on Yerin was very different from what she did.

“Looking at me again?” Yerin grinned, leaning in for another kiss. This time, Yuju

did

duck away to avoid the questing lips. Honestly, she didn’t know how to deal with the overwhelming affection half the time, but Yerin had worn down most of her usual defenses through sheer persistence.

“We’re here.” The ding of the elevator reaching the designated floor never sounded better. Yuju stepped out quickly, pulling free of Yerin’s grasp, then stopped at the split in paths. Yerin laughed as she caught up, tugging Yuju in the right direction.

The hallways were quiet. It was late, and most honest employees had already retired to bed. Their target though, was a known party-goer, and not expected to return until the wee hours of morning. Which was great, because they weren’t here for him. They were here for the contents of his safe.

Yerin slid the forged keycard against the lock, whistling triumphantly when the access turned green. Before she could step in, Yuju pulled her back, waving a quick hand at the entrance to scan for any anomalies. Fortunately, there were none.

They entered. According to their source, the safe was hidden behind a painting. Very cliched, but most people weren’t that imaginative. It took a few tries to locate the right painting, and Yerin stood back to allow Yuju to run another quick diagnostic. The soft glow around her hands never got old, and Yerin flicked her gaze up to take in Yuju’s serious expression and the unearthly shimmer in her eyes, now unhidden by the glasses that the younger girl had been wearing as a makeshift disguise earlier.

“Got the magical tripwire. All yours now.” The glow died down from her eyes, and Yuju flashed a quick smile of triumph. Yerin stepped forward, taking her tools out as she started cracking the safe. Behind her, Yuju circled the small apartment, her lips moving silently as energy pulsed unseen around her. There was nothing in the physical plane, but in the astral plane her guardians had spawned in response to her summons, alert sentinels with their tails wagging. Yuju smiled as she crouched down to pat the head of Dog spirit, sending it and its pack out to keep watch of the surroundings.

Her senses expanded, seeing through many eyes and ears. An untrained novice would be overwhelmed, but Yuju was very much

not

untrained. Perks of growing up with mages as parents. Her power had manifested early, but her mother had always warned her to keep it in check. She hadn’t understood why until after the incident. It was easier for an un-Awakened child to conveniently disappear off the radar. If the company had known about her powers, she would have been tagged like cattle, and more effort spent to reacquire her.

As if in response to her suddenly turbulent emotions, Dog growled. It reminded Yuju to calm herself, as the spirits were sensitive to her mood. She did not enslave these spirits, they were partners and friends, but she had to be more careful dealing with them as a result.

Wait

. Yuju zoned out as her senses were tugged on by one of her sentinels. She snapped back into the physical plane almost instantly.

“Yerin, we’ve got incoming. Time to go.”

“Got it!” The safe clicked open at the same time. Yerin hurriedly emptied everything into the briefcase she had been carrying, even making a point to close the safe and shove the painting back in place before hurrying to the door where Yuju was already waiting. The pair exited like ghosts, Yerin moving with swift purpose as they took the service stairway instead.

On the way down, Yerin discarded the thin gloves she had been wearing into one of the chutes. The unused maintenance hallway was dusty, but it would lead them straight out to where their team was waiting to extract them. The door at the end of the path was locked, but that wasn’t a problem for the resident stealth specialist, as Yerin liked to call herself. It certainly sounded better than “burglar”.

“About damn time!”

SinB waved at them from the top of the wall separating the compound from the street. Eunha was nowhere to be seen, but then again it was a bit unreasonable to expect her to jump a ten-foot wall. She could torch something from ten meters away, but she wasn’t exactly the athletic type otherwise.

“No alarms?” SinB seemed disappointed as she dropped off the wall, landing cat-like on the balls of her feet. She had a duffel bag held loosely in one hand.

“The point was

not

to have any alarms, SinB.” Yerin reminded, tossing the briefcase to her teammate. Next to her, Yuju was already loosening her tie and kicking off the heels that had been plaguing her throughout.

The duffle bag held practical footwear and clothing. The pair took all of 30 seconds to change out of the more uncomfortable parts of their earlier disguise, with an amused SinB keeping watch in the meantime.

“Need any help?” SinB offered casually as they approached the wall. There were cameras at that section, but their resident hacker had taken care of those. Before either of them could respond to her offer, SinB had started running straight at the wall, leaping entirely too high for normal human standards and proceeding to run almost vertically upwards. It took all of two seconds before she was back up on the top, saluting the other two mockingly.

“Show off.” Yerin scoffed. Yuju shrugged, raising a hand to bath Yerin with a brief shower of magic. The boost surged through her veins like the best adrenaline shot, and Yerin crouched low before jumping the full ten feet upwards without pause, landing lightly next to an unimpressed SinB.

“Cheater.” Yerin smirked back at her.

Yuju landed next to them a moment later. Her eyes were still glowing in the dark.

“Sowon’s already calling! Are you guys coming or what?”

Down by the bottom of the wall, Eunha was tapping her foot impatiently. Yuju was the first one down, with Yerin and SinB right after her, still squabbling about the ethics of needing magic to scale the wall. Eunha linked arms with her fellow mage, pulling her out of the alleyway to their nondescript getaway vehicle parked further down across the street.

Eunha interlaced her fingers with Yuju’s, allowing her own magic to trickle across their joined hands. Yuju smiled, coiling her more serene energy around the chaotic elemental tumble of Eunha’s power, a familiar game for them. Eunha laid her head against Yuju’s shoulder, idly tracing Yuju’s magical profile with the tendrils of her magic. It was calming for her to do so.

“Stop flirting with my Yuju oi.” Yerin’s voice called out from behind them. SinB snorted.

“Make me~” Eunha taunted, and a surprised yelp came from behind as a sudden flame licked at Yerin’s ankles.

“Be nice.” Yuju murmured. Eunha pouted.

“Don’t you love me?”

“I love all of you.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Oh god can you guys stop being so disgusting.” SinB interrupted, pushing right through the magic users and separating them as she approached their vehicle, pushing the door open.

“Oi Sowon, can you stop these unnies from being really gay I can’t take it anymore.”

Luscious blonde hair greeted them before Sowon turned, her features almost ethereal in the dim streetlights. SinB stumbled briefly, and she heard Yerin choke back a snicker behind her. The physical adept raised a middle finger behind her back to express her displeasure. The cackle only got louder, sadly.

“We have the info?” Sowon glanced at Yuju first, who nodded and pointed her thumb at Yerin holding the briefcase.

“Good, let’s move out then.”

“Aye ma’am!”

“SinB you owe me chicken.”

“Please tell me Umji is driving today.”

“It’s not over until we get back to base, Eunha!”

“Don’t be a sore loser SinB!”

Sowon massaged her temples. Next to her, Umji drove with an amused smile dancing on her lips. Her hands were, disturbingly, not on the wheel, but it was definitely turning on its own.

“Practicing?” Sowon glanced over at Umji, who had a distant look in her eyes.

“Yeah, the upgrades to the navigation systems are pretty easy to work with. Might need some fine-tuning though.” The youngest of the team was completely immersed in the digital link between her and the reinforced truck they were in. Perhaps the rest would be less assured by this sight if they had been paying attention to what was going on.

Then again, they had had to live with Sowon’s driving once. Not even SinB the thrillseeker wanted to relive

that

particular experience.

“Chicken for everyone after we get paid, people.” Sowon called out, settling the argument among the kids in the back instantly.

“Yay!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It is never fully light in the Underground.

Flickering lamps decades old sputter off stolen power, bathing cracked concrete with a washed out glow. Here and there flashing neon signs mark different entryways, branching off into a vast warren never truly mapped even by its most loyal denizens. Gangs marked territory like feral wolves, ripping into each other at the slightest provocation, and it took a brave person to traverse them.

There were many names for the Underground. Bunkertown, some called it. Slumcity, Rat Town, the Warrens…each describing an aspect of the burgeoning undercity that lay deep within the bowels of glittering technological advancement rising above. We shall call it the Underground, because that is the only constant for the vast congregation of people living out their lives as they were: nasty, brutish and short.

Even in the slums of the Underground, there was still neutral ground. People had to trade, live, eat. The gangers might have their disputes, but neutral spaces were still respected. It was on neutral ground where merchants hawked their smuggled wares, chop-shops practiced their gruesome trade, even as information was gathered and redistributed, providing opportunity and employment to the enterprising. Business was business, and everyone was just looking to live another day.

The concrete bunkers and the tunnels that linked them used to be narrower, once. Decades of human habitation, as a permanent underclass all but colonized the last bastions left to them after the chaos, had terraformed cold concrete and tile into a compressed version of the soaring city above. Ramshackle dwellings dug sideways, torn downwards to expand what little space there was available to them. Claustrophobia forced expansion, knocked down walls, though this led to the collapse of certain sectors when critical load bearing pillars were destroyed. No matter, the Underground was vast. They rebuilt, and a couple of generations later the descendants of those who had first settled could no longer imagine their world being anything else other than shadow among flickering lights.

Amidst the organized madness of the Underground, we draw close to one establishment in particular. Graffiti was scrawled crudely across the cracked grey seams, the entrance barely visible in shadow. It led

in

and

down

, a narrow throat swallowing all those willing to brave the depths.

An eerie glow activates with motion, flickering to life like so many angry red eyes welcoming you into the pits of Hell. Wild strokes not unlike calligraphy adorned the chill walls of the passage, and if one were to pay attention, the individual letters spelled out welcome and warnings both.

At the very base, pallid green letters flickered over the yawning maw of the dive bar like infected tonsils, deep within the depths of the Underground.

WELCOME TO SOURCE

The soft murmur of voices overlaid the electronic wheezing of Old World music, as clusters of humanoids indulged in either work or pleasure, sometimes both, but never neither. Weapons were carried openly here, even if they were not intended to be used in neutral territory. Fights

did

break out sometimes, but simple fisticuffs were merely ignored. As long as it was quick and quiet, someone would eventually take care of the aftermath.

More than one set of eyes were drawn to the bar, where a pair of women lounged easily in athletic grace. One was chromed up, the telltale silver of 2
nd
generation cybernetic implants barely concealed under a black glove. It made the circumference of her wrist and biceps bulkier, but not so much that it ruined the smooth lines of the figure. More plating crept up from the crook of her neck, melding seamlessly into the dark grey of her longcoat. An eyepatch covered her left eye, and tendrils of her long blonde hair drifted to cover part of her face, forcing her to tuck it back behind one ear, revealing the near-ethereal features of her side profile. She was not visibly armed, but she didn’t have to be; anyone carrying that much chrome could only be a runner, and one who had the credits to install and maintain it would be far from helpless.

Her companion was less striking in comparison, but that was no insult to her looks. Long brown hair wisped down to frame doll-like features, though if you were to ask two different people how she looked, neither would be able to give you the same account. Only the confident curve of her smile, the sultry pout of her lips, and her twinkling eyes of which colour was somehow indeterminate.

Unlike her heavily cybered up warrior friend, the brunette was in fact packing twin heavy pistols, but that disturbed no one at this particular establishment. In fact, it would be odd if anyone went about unarmed here. This was a hub for information brokers, and the mercenaries, or “runners” as they were often referred to, who worked off the the information that pulsed through this club. Even if the truce was respected here, it would be unreasonable to separate a runner from the tools of their trade.

“You’re scaring off everyone, Sowon-unnie.” The brunette, one Jung Yerin, drawled as she shifted one leg over another, exposing more thigh very deliberately through the high slit of her dress. Despite looking flimsy, the blue dress was in fact made out of a special type of memory fabric, able to change colours on command, and was at least partially slash-proof against ordinary blades, though little defense against the vibro-edges favored by the elite paramilitary Spartans. Yerin felt more than a pair of eyes follow her action, both male and female, and she smirked.

“Stop playing, Yerin. We’re here on business.” Sowon scowled as she downed her soju in a gulp. The mercenary sat ramrod straight on the bar stool, appearing somehow military despite her decidedly un-military outfit. The fingers of her gloved left hand tapped the counter impatiently, the dull thuds revealing if nothing else that the tips were still flesh. You never knew how far chromed warriors went sometimes.

“Our business also needs information, unnie.” Yerin checked her nails absently, blowing off an imaginary fleck of dust. “Always got to keep a ear on the ground.”

“Go do your thing then. I have to meet our contact.” Sowon waved Yerin off, and the younger woman slid off the stool as sinuous as a snake, making for the bathroom with a slow, deliberate swagger. Sowon pretended not to notice at least two different women unsubtly also getting up to follow.

And she wonders why Yuju doesn’t take her seriously

. Sowon shook her head with a sigh, draining the rest of her cup with a quick swig. She didn’t interfere in the private lives of her team, and they were free to leave at any time should they choose. It would be a loss if any of them did though. Not many runner teams had a full complement of mages and a hacker on top of the usual firepower.

At least Umji would never leave. Sowon allowed herself a small smile as she gestured to the morose bartender, receiving a curt nod in return. She had practically raised her baby hacker all these years, and if she could not trust Umji to be loyal, she would be better off running jobs solo instead. Ducking her head to avoid the low mantel, Sowon slipped into the backroom that the bartender left open for her. She had business to conduct.

It was all just a game, in the end.

Saying the right words, pushing the right buttons. The universal language of flesh, playing coy and drawing them ever closer into a honeyed trap. Teasing out precious detail from promises whispered in passion, on impulse.

Jung Yerin was good at the game. A master, in fact. It was what she was trained for. Everything she knew. A faceless Face, to charm the opposition into divulging their secrets. Most of the time, the mark never even knew it, and she would already be moving on with everything she needed.

Breath hot against her cheek. Close, perhaps too close, a mockery of a lover’s embrace, but Yerin never lost sight of the goal. She was always aware, always in control. And she always got exactly what she wanted.

Everyone always saw what they wanted to see, she mused. Lost in her eyes, they played out their deepest fantasies as she idly tugged at the strings to learn what she needed. The human mind was so

fragile

. It was almost pitiable.

You will not remember this

. Her final command, as always. They would remember a beautiful memory, their fantasy of her, yet not her. Never her.

Yerin patted the cheek of her fantasy lover, the glazed eyes slowly starting to come back into focus. She was already gone before they woke, the only tangible evidence of her passing perhaps the already fading scent of sweat and arousal.

Her smirk was firmly in place as she sauntered out with the lazy grace of a satisfied panther. Fewer eyes on her this time, and those that registered her presence however briefly found their gaze slipping away like oil on water, automatically dismissing her from their locus of awareness.

It was a skill, one she practiced regularly. She liked it better than the other one.

“Sowon-unnie.” She had to slide right next to the older woman to get her attention. The hardened mercenary had just exited the backroom, and all but jumped when Yerin startled her.

“...Yerin?” Sowon frowned as she eyed the calm operative. Her iris contracted visibly, as if analyzing the figure next to her. Yerin seemed oddly cheered by this.

“Do we have a job again or do we get a break?”

Sowon turned her gaze away from Yerin as they made their way out of the club.

“Got a milk run next, easy retrieval from a private estate, some kind of art piece. Pays pretty good.”

Yerin shrugged noncommittally. Work or not, she never lacked for funds. SinB and Umji, on the other hand, were always buying new toys. Eunha often kept herself stocked on alchemics and other magical gear to supplement her fire-slinging (though SinB did get her a pistol for backup in case of emergencies). And as for Yuju… Yerin smiled. Maybe she could finally afford that grimoire the young dog shaman had been eyeing for ages.

“Sounds good to me.”

The perpetual twilight of the Underground drew their shadows long as they navigated the maze, out of habit more than anything else to shake off anyone who could be following them. It wouldn’t do to lead anyone back to their den, even if they had backup safehouses elsewhere in the Warrens thanks to Sowon’s paranoia.

Then again, a little paranoia hurt no one when you lived in the shadows. The hobos and street scum were practically part of the landscape, but neither Sowon nor Yerin ignored their presence entirely. It was what made them professionals that stayed alive. They made a good team, all six of them.

Maybe we

do

need a vacation after this.

Sowon considered. Umji hadn’t been out of the Matrix in forever, and SinB was always restless. As team leader, she was responsible for their wellbeing. And she always took her responsibilities seriously.

Problematic or not, they were

her

kids. She would do anything for them. And heaven help anyone who tried to hurt them.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Getting back into base was always a trial.

First there were the mundane locks. State of the art, requiring keys both physical and digital, the whole nine yards with an added bonus of what was most likely Umji’s handiwork, if not the genius hacker herself behind the unseen cameras verifying their identity. Even the best programmed automated systems couldn’t really defeat an active human hand, as Umji often said, usually right before Sowon physically removed her from her comfort zone to eat actual meals that

weren’t

instant ramen or worse.

The magical wards were a lot trickier, and far more subtle than any of them gave credit for. Sowon only had a dim idea of just what she had lucked into, discovering the wandering Yuju (who came with a bonus Yerin) while out on a supply run. Eunha was a competent combat mage, but she was still street-raised and mostly self taught, so her grasp of magic was mostly instinctive and often reactive to a situation rather than a matter of forethought.

Yuju, on the other hand, came equipped with a formidable library of theoretical knowledge regarding wards, ritual magic, and astral perception. Odd for a shaman, who was more likely to be an instinctive practitioner, but Sowon wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The dog shaman was eccentric but effective, designing interlinked magical wards with multiple failsafes and essentially turning their headquarters into a shielded bunker that couldn’t be penetrated by astral eavesdropping.

Umji liked Yuju though, which was probably the main reason why Sowon decided to extend the invitation to join the team permanently instead of it just being a one off job. The two kids could often be seen muttering over elaborate diagrams that Sowon couldn’t understand, but according to a very grossly simplified explanation from Umji, it was an attempt to link the magical ward system to the security grid the genius hacker had cobbled together. Only an attempt though, because despite their best efforts, trying to integrate the two had had some very

interesting

results, if the sudden explosions and blackouts whenever they decided to fiddle with something was any indication.

That didn’t deter the pair at all, despite SinB’s complaints that they had blown up her room.

Again

. According to Umji though, SinB honestly shouldn’t have chosen the room closest to the auxiliary exit, because that was where some of the magical circuitry ran over the electronic ones. SinB wouldn’t be moved though, she liked having an easy way out.

“Then you just have to live with the consequences.”

The resulting squabble had only led to the experimenting pair grudgingly agreeing to limit their tinkering to times where SinB

wasn’t

in her room. Which, honestly, was quite a lot considering how often the restless young woman slipped out through the emergency exit. Still, Sowon did have to put her foot down regarding safety practices. It took a while, but eventually things blew up less and on a much smaller scale. Sowon still didn’t know how much of their project they had managed to accomplish since, but it was nice to see Umji

not

buried inside the Matrix 24/7 now that she had a new playmate.

“We’re home.”

Sowon called out, more out of habit than anything else. Of

course

Umji knew she was back, she had all the entry points under constant surveillance. Sowon couldn’t fault the girl. Umji had some severe anxiety and abandonment issues ever since she had rescued the younger from the lab. Her ‘gift’ of technomancy had manifested not long after that, and it became sort of a security blanket to constantly be aware of everything. Sowon had even consented to being chipped by an insecure Umji, who had thought that the older woman was going to leave just like everyone else. It was an act of trust, giving her geolocation away to someone else, but Sowon felt a strange kinship with the young girl Umji had been. Something about the girl brought her motherly instincts out; ironic, since she was as much machine as she was human now.

“Welcome back!”

A tiny flying drone swerved out of Umji’s den, doing a looping barrel roll around Sowon’s head like a mechanical puppy eager for attention. Sowon chuckled and booped the droid on its metaphorical nose. It was good to be home, such as it was.

“Is Yuju in there with you?” Yerin wandered over to the nerve center of humming machinery where Umji was currently tinkering with a mess of exposed circuitry. Wisely, the young woman stayed a safe distance away. She didn’t want to accidentally set off anything she shouldn’t. She had learned that the hard way the last time, though it did lead into a somewhat pleasant memory of Yuju panicking while trying to revive her. On hindsight, it was a pity that she couldn’t have faked needing CPR.

“Oh she left about a half hour ago for a walk.” Umji didn’t even look up. Yerin paled.

“And you

let

her?”

“Thirty three minutes ago to be exact, she said she needed some space to think.” Umji carefully closed the casing of the terminal she had been rewiring. With a free hand, she retrieved the leatherbound journal that Sowon had gifted for her 16
th
birthday (and one thereafter ever since), carefully penciling in some notes. Quaint, for a technological genius, but Umji found the physical act of writing calming, and Sowon would indulge her for anything.

“I’m going after her.” Yerin announced perfunctorily, already striding out before anyone else could react. Umji looked up, meeting an amused Sowon’s gaze.

“Should I have told her that I’ve hacked this zone’s cameras and know exactly where Yuju-unnie is up to about ten minutes ago, possibly less?”

Sowon snorted. “Yes, but she’s already gone so maybe try saying it right at the beginning next time.”

An impish grin. “But it’s

so

much easier to let Yerin-unnie fetch Yuju-unnie anyway.”

Sowon could not deny this. For someone so accomplished in the arcane arts, one would have expected Yuju to be able to somehow magic her way back to base. But no, apparently she could get lost crossing a street. Yerin’s worries were not exactly unfounded. According to her, she had found Yuju wandering in the wastelands accompanied by a pack of wild dogs several years ago, with nothing more than the clothes on her back. Somehow the young woman hadn’t starved, but then again she was practically untouchable out in the wild.

Whilst mundanes had to worry about any number of magically beefed up nasties, the shaman could call upon nature spirits to guard her at will, and in the same vein, serve her basic needs. It was just an inkling of how powerful the young woman could be, but Sowon could never tell for sure, since Yuju had never cast a combat spell in the year she had been with them. Sure, she could accelerate their reflexes and beef up their strength, even grant farsight on occasion, but she wasn’t the type to be throwing fire or even manabolts around. It made her seem almost like a peaceful hippie compared to the jacked up pyromaniac Eunha could end up turning into during a fight.

And speaking of Eunha, the combat mage of the team was currently shuffling out in her bunny pajamas while yawning widely.

“Morning.”

“It’s 4pm.” Sowon eyed the tiny mage critically. Where

had

she gotten those fluffy slippers?

“So, morning.” Eunha rubbed at her eyes groggily. “SinB’s out…and Yuju too?”

Sowon knew it was just the mage’s astral senses probing out to sense all of them, but she had never really gotten used to the mystic arts. She had a healthy respect for their abilities, but being so connected to another plane unnerved her. It felt too much like being out of control.

“Yerin-unnie just left too.” Umji added helpfully. Eunha nodded absently, her eyes still half closed as she reached out to cuddle something, anything, snagging Sowon’s arm as a result. The cyber samurai twitched, jerking abruptly as her coat was tugged loose by a still sleepy Eunha, who was left hugging the coat in confusion as her eyes finally opened properly.

The faded glimmer of blackened silver caught the mage’s eye, though in truth it was barely noticeable against the form fitting dark bodysuit Sowon was wearing. Eunha hadn’t turned off her astral perception yet, so it was a strange overlay of astral plane on top of her physical vision.

Off to one side, Umji registered like an electric flashpoint, sparks racing through her astral figure like blinking neural synapses, though more sedate now that she wasn’t actually actively working on her pet projects. There were still traces of Yuju’s aural signature near her, a testament to how much time the two spent together on whatever it was they were working on.

Sowon, on the other hand, was an interesting mishmash of vibrant kaleidoscopic frankensteined with dead grey patches representing the cyberware she had installed on her body. The brightest spot on her was an irregular patch over her heart, but Eunha had once whispered to Yuju that their dear leader probably had repressed magical gifts that would likely never manifest again thanks to all the hardware she was packing. Yuju simply shrugged, saying that everyone had their secrets.

It was the first time Eunha had seen the faded dog tags on the chain Sowon wore. Astral perception was limited by line of sight for her, though she knew Yuju could bypass it by sending her spirit watchers out to extend her range, something she never really had the focus to manage. Objects normally didn’t carry any astral signature, appearing “lifeless’ in her magical sight, unless they were imbued with power, or carried enough sentiment over a sufficiently long period of time to gain a passive aura -- or so Yuju had told her, in one of her many theory lessons to fill in the gaps of Eunha’s knowledge.

The dog tags were mostly dull with a touch of ambient life energy, which was normal for any personal item worn on a regular basis, but it was the corroded metal piece looped on the chain next to them that had caught the mage’s attention. It felt like a black hole in her astral sight, a sucking sense of loss and grief that radiated almost palpably. Her hands drooped, and Sowon moved quickly to rescue her coat from hitting the ground.

Eunha was snapped out of her reverie when the chain and its ornaments were hidden out of sight again. The mage shook her head, trying to shake the haunting reminder of pain from that reading. How could anyone walk around wearing something like

that

? Even a mundane could be negatively affected by the aura on such an object.

“What is…that?” Eunha finally managed to get out, pointing at the now-hidden chain.

Sowon placed a hand over the tags, feeling the cold metal underneath her coat. She had always been wearing them, for as long as she had memory, which was a lot less than she liked. Ever since waking up, she had been plagued by a sense of loss and confusion, even as she navigated what felt like an entirely foreign world. The tags and the metal piece she had been clutching in her hand were her only links to an unremembered past.

It was just too personal to share. Sowon turned away.

“It’s none of your business.”

Umji and Eunha didn’t so much as squeak until Sowon left the room. The two younger ones turned to look at each other.

“I think I made her mad.”

“I think you’re right.”

Pause.

“Do you think she hates me now?”

“I don’t think she’s ever liked you all that much, really.”

“Yah!”

“Hey hey, no fire in the common areas, Sowon-unnie said so!”

It could be night down here, or morning, but who knew?

Sneakers slid down the service shaft with practiced ease, puffs of dust billowing unseen as they landed soundlessly in an old alcove. The tunnels yawned a step forward, a perfect darkness broken only intermittently by aged emergency lights that were still somehow functional after decades of disrepair. Most were cracked and worn, with a faded glow more ominous than reassuring, but the rats were hardly going to complain.

Neither was SinB, who skulked like a wraith through the darkness, internally mapping the old subway system as she went.

The silence was loud down here, the sound of her shallow breaths and measured beats of her heart echoing like an intrusion in her own ears. A pervasive smell of mildew dogged her, like a distantly bad memory.

Her dark grey hoodie and sweatpants blended well into the shadows, the only bright spot being the faded off-white sneakers Eunha had given her as a gift. Hands shoved deep into pockets, SinB followed the curve of the tunnel as she counted her steps.

It was habit to explore her surroundings. That lesson had been drilled into her young, what with her parents being mercenaries themselves. She still carried the first pistol they gave her as a present for her 10
th
birthday, now heavily customized and more than a little worn down, but had saved her life more than once.

The mildew bothered her. SinB paused, raising her head to sniff cautiously as she approached a fork in the tunnels. This was as far as she had gotten the last time. She mentally flipped a coin, and went left.

No one really understood why she always needed to get out all the time. Maybe Eunha did, a little. They

had

grown up together, after all. Lost their family, gotten into bad company, done horrible things, all together in their time.

Fists clenched tightly in her pockets. The past never felt very far away, and alone in the darkness, SinB felt like she could think, unjudged and unbothered.

She couldn’t talk to Eunha about this. They had been in it together, and logically her best friend

should

be the one she could talk to about this, but SinB didn’t want to bring it up. Those memories were still too close, too personal for both of them.

They could joke about it occasionally, now, three years after the fact, but it was hard to erase some scars. SinB knew Eunha still couldn’t sleep at night, and would wake up with her hands on fire at times. It was better now, with the team all around them. People they could trust.

As for SinB herself? Well, she couldn’t sleep at all. Not without outside help, but drugs only went so far. She was loath to use them, and often chose to wear herself out by picking fights with Sowon instead. Sparring with someone so much stronger was a good experience, since SinB was more of a fragile speedster herself.

The darkness was a calming blanket for her. It sharpened all her other senses, forcing her to focus. It brought the world into clarity, and allowed her to confront her demons in peace.

The years after her parents died on a run had been…bad. There was no way around it. Without their protection, SinB found herself on the streets with Eunha, herself also orphaned by the crackdown. It was perhaps fortunate that Eunha hadn’t manifested any of the more defining traits of her metahuman mother, appearing more ordinary than anything else.

It wasn’t fair, but that was life in the South. The Purge killed anyone who exhibited

differences

, and forced the rest of the Awakened underground. In the decades following the resurgence of magic in the world, people…changed. Babies were born that were just a little

odd

, either slender with long tipped ears like elves, or short and squat like stereotypical dwarves. Magic came to people both regular and evolved, and not everyone took to it well.

The result was chaos. Magic was one thing, easy to hide from mundanes as long as you didn’t do anything obviously unnatural, but how did one born looking

other

cope? Badly, as it turned out.

Lynch mobs, witch hunts, the ugly side of human nature rearing its primitive head. Religious wingnuts preaching the ‘purity’ of the human race, sanctioning the killings of ‘mutants’. SinB didn’t know how it was like elsewhere in the world, but here in Korea, being born

other

was a death sentence.

There were whispers that enclaves of metahumans existed somewhere to the North, in the irradiated wastelands where radioactive beasts and magical wraiths roamed. But that was a distant dream to young SinB and Eunha, who were hungry, alone, and

afraid

.

When the fire first came to Eunha, it had terrified both of them. Eunha because she didn’t know how to control it, and SinB because she was afraid the inquisitors would find them. They lived like scurrying rats; always running, always hiding, never knowing when their next meal was, or whether they could wake up to see the sun.

So when someone promised them safety and a place they could belong, it hadn’t taken much to convince them, especially when they didn’t judge Eunha for the flames she bore. SinB herself too had felt a quickening as she had grown, getting faster and stronger once she had regular food and exercise. She never told anyone but Eunha, who was still trying to master her gift at the time. The two children trusted only each other, even in their new place.

They were valued in their new refuge, Eunha for her power, and SinB for her rapid mastery of hand-to-hand combat on top of marksmanship. The gang always needed new blood, and people to run ‘errands’, and both of them were

good

at what they did.

It was shockingly easy to normalize casual violence when it was ever present. Raiding for supplies, smuggling arms and drugs, peddling those to the downtrodden…SinB had blood on her hands, and she knew Eunha had gone even deeper down that particular rabbit hole at times. More than once she had embraced the older girl after Eunha had come back with a dead look in her eyes, smoke still hanging heavy around her. No matter what happened, they had each other. It was enough.

Everything had changed when Sowon came into their lives. In the light of day, like some kind of unstoppable avenging angel, the stoic street samurai had come in alone with nothing but heavy weaponry and a lot of guts. The gang had been celebrating the night before following a successful raid on a corp shipment, and the guards had been slacking. None of the automated sentries had sounded an alarm either, a feat that SinB later learned was attributed to Umji, after they had joined the team.

It had been a slaughter. Closing her eyes now, SinB could still hear the ratt-tat-tat of methodical gunfire, choked screams, and the smell of blood thick in her nostrils. She still didn’t understand why Sowon had spared them that day. Everyone else had died. They should have died too. It wasn’t like they were innocents either.

But Sowon had taken one look at them, and didn’t end them immediately. SinB smiled briefly. She had been ready to fight. Eunha had been magically drained and knocked out from the raid the night before, and she would never leave her best friend behind.

Whatever the reason, Sowon had held out a hand to her. It wasn’t hard to choose. Life was always better than death. When she grasped it, it felt

right

, like the universe agreeing on her action. SinB wasn’t attuned to the mystical arts the way Eunha was, but she trusted her instincts. Trusted Sowon, a complete stranger that had, just minutes ago, slaughtered an entire gang that had sheltered her for the better part of four years. It was completely ridiculous, and also turned out to have been the right decision so far.

SinB’s footsteps slowed as the source of the mildew made itself apparent to her. The distant trickle of water rushing past a cracked wall, perhaps part of an old sewer or drainage system. The tunnel widened into what seemed like an old train depot, the outlines of rusting metal hulks looming in neat rows. Emergency lights dotted a couple of the exits, lending a dim green glow to the area.

A breath, no more than ten paces away from her. Reflexively, SinB drew her gun and aimed, her eyes taking on an ethereal glow perhaps she herself didn’t notice. When she noticed what, or rather

who

it was, she lowered her weapon with a puzzled frown.

Yuju sat with her feet dangling in the air, atop one of the rusty train cars. Clad all in black, she was near invisible in the dark. The dog shaman seemed to be spacing out as she stared into the distance, not even acknowledging SinB’s presence for the moment.

SinB coughed loudly to get her attention. It took about two seconds, but Yuju finally reacted, cocking her head as she looked down.

“Oh. You.”

SinB rolled her eyes. Magic users were always off in the own world, and Eunha was no exception, but Yuju was in a class of her own.

“I could have shot you just now.” SinB noted critically, hopping up the same train car with a couple of deft moves. Yuju shifted over so that the gunslinger could sit next to her, and SinB took the invitation without further ado.

“You wouldn’t have.” Yuju replied serenely. SinB raised an eyebrow.

“I felt a friend coming.” Pause. “And it was you, so there was no threat.”

SinB snorted. “I wish I had your confidence. What are you doing down here anyway?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“You got lost again, didn’t you?” SinB folded her arms smugly. Yuju shifted her gaze away.

“This was a good place to think. You’re here as well.”

SinB couldn’t deny that. It

was

a nice place to be alone with your thoughts.

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence, sitting side by side. Yuju never probed, and her presence was calming somehow. SinB might trust Eunha the most, but she had learned to grudgingly include others into her approved list. Yuju was one of them.

They didn’t talk much, generally speaking. But SinB could see how happy Eunha was when spending time with another magic user like herself. There were times when she felt a little left out, but Eunha always remembered to look back and include her, and Yuju was just genuinely a

nice

person. It felt almost impossible for anyone to be that nice, especially people like them who lived in the shadows, but the dog shaman just had a peace about her that was soothing.

Plus, she could be unexpectedly fun. SinB smirked at the memory of them pulling off the craziest stunt on a run once, nearly giving Sowon an aneurysm in the process, but it was oh so worth it. Ten out of ten, would totally jump off a skyscraper with no parachute again. Yerin had never quite forgiven her for

that

particular incident.

“Your nursemaid not here for you yet?” SinB looked over at Yuju, who seemed to be spacing out again. The shaman blinked slowly.

“Who?”

SinB sighed. “Yerin. Who else.”

“Oh.” Yuju stared at her hands. “I guess.”

SinB stared at her critically. Eventually Yuju looked up, their eyes meeting in the gloom.

“What?”

“Are you two like, dating.” SinB paused. “She seems to be awfully interested in you.”

Yuju cocked her head thoughtfully.

“She’s like that to everyone.”

SinB scratched at her chin. Yuju was not exactly wrong. Yerin flirted with girls all the time. But even dim as she was, SinB thought that Yerin’s behavior around Yuju was just a little different. As Eunha’s best friend, SinB felt obliged to suss out the circumstances. It was fairly obvious that her best friend had a crush on the taller mage, and SinB needed to know if she should crush Eunha’s hopes before it went too far.

“What about

you

, then? Do you like her?” SinB pressed unsubtly. Subtle was for other people.

Yuju hummed quietly under her breath, considering.

“Of course I do.” Pause. “I like everyone.”

That was too vague. SinB wondered if Yuju was doing this on purpose. Then again, this was

Yuju

. She talked to spirits and played with stray dogs that would have bitten the heads off anyone else. Even on missions, she only disabled the enemy, never drawing blood. All her magic seemed more defensive in nature, and SinB honestly hadn’t seen a more pure soul, except for maybe Umji. Maybe that was why those two got along so well, even with their crackpot schemes to blend magic with technology.

Time to drop the big guns. Eunha was going to kill her, if she ever found out, but SinB was never the patient type to probe for answers. Not that she was ever going to admit to Eunha this conversation happened of course.

“Eunha likes you. In a dating sort of way.” SinB had long since figured out that subtlety didn’t work on Yuju, and decided to just dive straight in.

“?”

SinB could practically sense the blinking question hanging over the shaman’s head. She sighed.

“She doesn’t know I’m asking, please don’t tell her, and I just want to know if you’re interested too, or I’ll just get her to give up.”

SinB explained as concisely as she could. Yuju blinked, doe-like, at her. It was almost like dunking a puppy in the river. SinB felt like she should feel bad, but she didn’t. Eunha was more important than any new friend.

Another long silence. This time, SinB didn’t interrupt, allowing the older girl to think it through.

“I…don’t know.” Yuju said finally. Her hands were wringing together in an unstated confusion. “Why would she like

me

?”

SinB sighed deeply. This was more difficult than she expected. Eunha had better appreciate her for this.

“You’re cute, funny, and good with magic. Why wouldn’t she like you?” SinB glowered at the dog shaman. “Plus she won’t shut up about how hot you are, which is annoying and I really want her to stop.”

“Oh.”

“Yes,

oh

.”

“But Eunha’s cuter.”

“So you

do

think she’s cute.” That was promising.

Yuju clammed up. Her face felt hot. This wasn’t like when Yerin flirted with her. Yerin flirted with everyone, and once Yuju accepted that fact, it was more just dealing with the daily affectionate gestures as a matter of course. This was the first time anyone had directly expressed interest in her, even though this was by proxy.

Eunha was also affectionate, which Yuju had experienced firsthand, but was never overly pushy about it, which was a relief. It was also

fun

exploring magic with someone else, something she hadn’t really gotten to do before. It was easy being with Eunha, but did she

like

her that way? Yuju needed time to think about it.

“Look, I didn’t want to push you about this.” SinB said gruffly. “But I don’t want Eunha to get too invested if you’re already unavailable or not interested. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“You’re a good friend.” Yuju murmured. SinB flushed, glad that the dark hid the colour on her cheeks.

“She’s my best friend.”

“Eunha is lucky to have you.” Yuju said sincerely, patting the young gunslinger on the shoulder. The shaman then lay back, staring at the distant ceiling of the depot. SinB shrugged, then did the same. Shoulder to shoulder, they didn’t speak for a good long while.

Finally, Yuju broke the silence.

“I don’t know if I like anyone that way yet, I’ve never really thought about it before?” She paused, thoughtfully.

“But I

do

think Eunha’s cute.” A slightly more embarrassed pause. “I never imagined she would like me that way.”

“So are you going to give her a chance?” SinB probed. Yuju breathed in deeply.

“I don’t know how it’ll turn out… I guess we just see where things go?”

SinB nodded to herself. That was better than a straight no, at least.

“You do know that if you hurt her in any way, I will murder you in your sleep.”

“That’s fair.”

“Good, I’m glad we have an understanding.”

They shook on it. All in all, that went pretty well, SinB thought. Eunha deserved a little happiness in her life, and if Yuju could make her smile, that was the best gift she could think of.

What else were best friends for?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Something, Umji decided, was definitely Up.

Enthroned in her favorite armchair, the young hacker was absently dismantling a defective droid for parts as the rest of her attention was neatly compartmentalized by the various programs she was currently running on the Matrix.

User Thumbelina has joined the session

AnarchistNet appeared to be in its usual state of chaos, which was perfectly normal. Umji compiled a quick program to sift for the usual keywords that would interest her, skimming the previous threads that had gotten her attention at the same time. Meanwhile, one of her avatars was engaged in a ferocious debate on the relative ethics of genetic manipulation as a personal stylistic choice versus genetic engineering of a foetus at conception. It was getting good, so Umji diverted a little more processing power to it to try and press her case more convincingly.

She poked a thumb on a pointy bit, making her wince. In her mental landscape, her avatar flinched, and it took her a moment to register that the pain was physical and not a neural feedback. That brought her back, if briefly, from also spying on illegal drift races through one of her hacked camera feeds.

It wasn’t deep enough to bleed, but Umji stuck it in her mouth for a bit, eyes wandering as she switched interfaces again, this time to the indoor cameras of their base. She had the entire place under surveillance inside and out, and would have put cameras inside the bathrooms as well, if Sowon hadn’t put her foot down on that particular suggestion.

Privacy, honey.

Umji decided not to tell her about the bugs she put in there to make her feel better.

She liked observing her unnies, even if she didn’t always spend a lot of time with them in meatspace. She was always watching, like their own personal cyber angel, making sure that everyone was okay and not in trouble. She couldn’t stand it if any one of them were hurt. Not on her watch.

This was her

family

, ragtag bunch of misfits all of them, and Umji would never let them out of her sight, for fear that they would be gone and never return. It was a deep seated fear, one that Sowon understood and tried to ease as much as she could, but Umji couldn’t help but need to monitor everyone constantly instead. It was the only way she could be certain.

And something was definitely Going On. Umji nibbled on her nails, heedless of the mess of electronics in her lap. Her hair was sloppily pulled back into a messy bun, and her socked feet rubbed restlessly against the fabric of her seat. Her overly large sweater and pants were folded at the hems, but still hung loosely on her petite frame. It wasn’t like Sowon hadn’t tried putting her in clothes that fit, but then Umji would raid her closet for spare training wear

anyway

, which made the point moot.

Things had gotten

interesting

since about two days ago, when SinB came back with Yuju

and

Yerin in tow. Umji hadn’t thought much of it at first, except Yuju-unnie suddenly became about twice as awkward around Eunha-unnie all of a sudden, and Umji didn’t believe in coincidences, especially not with SinB smirking in the background like a cat that had gotten the canary.

It wasn’t like Umji hadn’t tried to find out where they had disappeared to when they were out that day. However, SinB had a knack for finding abandoned passageways that were hidden from her electronic eyes, and Yuju had simply dropped off the radar after taking a few turns into the maze of the Underground. Umji didn’t even try tracking Yerin, because it was a pain trying to run recognition software on a professional chameleon. That and Yerin was somehow always slipping into blind spots of cameras and generally staying one step ahead of electronic surveillance. Pretty much all the data Umji had on her was literally gathered from when she was within the base with nowhere to hide. And even then, she still couldn’t figure out why she could recognize Yerin on camera but not when she was looking at her in person. It was as if her brain couldn’t parse the older girl’s face properly.

Yuju wasn’t much help either when she consulted the shaman on the subject, because apparently

she

didn’t have any problems recognizing Yerin at any given time. To confirm her hypothesis that it had something to do with magic, Umji had even interviewed Eunha on the matter, but the answer was…vague at best. Eunha

could

see Yerin, but identifying her took some effort. It apparently had something to do with astral sight and Umji learned a lot from that particular conversation (all recorded in Notebook No.3).

She supposed she could have asked Yerin directly, but where was the fun in that? But she was getting off track. Umji watched with amused fascination as SinB hauled Yerin off to spar, leaving Eunha and Yuju alone together once again. This was not the first time a similar scenario had played out, except rehashed in about a dozen different ways. Umji had it all figured out after the second time it happened.

SinB was clearly trying to set the two magic users of the team up. Umji had known months ago that Eunha was attracted to Yuju -- heart rate and infra-red temperature monitors never lied. Eunha might have been good at keeping a straight face, but her biometric readings had given her away. Do not question why Umji kept track of

that

as well, because it is for your own good…health. Yes. Health was important.

Yuju, on the other hand, had been blissfully oblivious the entire time. For someone so intelligent, the dog shaman was also remarkably dense.

That

had changed two days ago, and SinB was obviously to blame. If Umji were a betting kind of person, she would have staked her entire collection of gadgets on it, but alas Sowon would never take the bait. Pity, she could have used a new processor core for the prototype she was working on.

What Umji wouldn’t do for some popcorn right now. Unfortunately Sowon had confiscated her snacks as punishment for forgetting to eat proper meals on time. You would never know she was already almost 20 years old, what with Sowon insisting on treating her like she was twelve. Umji sighed dramatically to herself. At least she wasn’t like the two idiots out in the hall right now. In fact, she was disappointed SinB hadn’t asked her to help run interference, because she wanted to have fun…uh, help. Help those two out. Because they obviously weren’t of much use on their own.

Yuju was fidgeting like a three year old and Eunha’s heart rate was ridiculously elevated to the point where Umji had to check to make sure she wasn’t going to keel over suddenly from an aneurysm. Not that actually keeling over would be a problem, because Eunha was very comfortably ensconced in Yuju’s arms right now, courtesy of a suspiciously well timed electric shock that had made her trip about ten seconds ago. Umji took a sip from her water bottle.

You’re welcome, Eunha-unnie

.

Alas, her enjoyment of the ongoing drama was interrupted by the beeping alert of one of her many avatars, specifically the one she had set to retrieve the location details for their next mission. It was routine to pull up floor plans and security detail for any job, and Umji was the perfect person to do so. If it existed on the Matrix, she could get a hold of it, eventually.

Taking hold of the newly decrypted file in cyberspace, Umji adjusted her perspective with nary a blink, immersing herself into the virtual world where she was most at home. What she saw made her frown, and immediately ping their dear leader on her communicator.

Sowon wasn’t going to like this.

“You’re not coming in with us, Umji.”

“But

mooooom

, you know you need me.”

SinB snickered quietly as Umji pestered Sowon for the umpteenth time while they were prepping for the mission. She had stripped her guns for cleaning, and was calmly reassembling them while keeping an eye out for shenanigans; specifically, the trio behind her on the couch.

Yuju and Eunha were holding hands: progress. Yuju’s other hand, however, was also locked with Yerin’s: not that much progress after all. In fact, the dog shaman looked fairly resigned. It was probably a good thing that she didn’t actually need her hands to ready her spells, because in the next moment SinB felt a familiar feeling wash over her, her senses sharpening preternaturally. The same thing was happening across the room, Umji included. At least

someone

agreed with the hacker about her inclusion for the night’s mission.

“You got us the floor plans, Umji. You don’t have to follow us in for this, it’s not like a corp run or anything.” Sowon triple-checked her loadout and secured her gear. She spared a glance over at Yuju. “And you, save your strength for when we actually need it.”

“Actually, I agree with Umji and Yuju.” Yerin interjected. “None of us are hackers. I can disable simple electronic locks, but I won’t be able to do anything more complicated on the Matrix. We’re going in almost blind with just old floor plans, I don’t really like it.”

“The place is an old museum that’s off the grid. We’re lucky we even have floor plans from the construction phase at all. It hasn’t been open to the public since before the Purge. They won’t have updated their security since then.” Sowon retorted calmly, folding her arms. Next to her, Umji tugged at her sleeve pleadingly, trying her best puppy dog eyes. Sowon didn’t look. It would have been dangerous to.

“Hey if it’s supposed to be easy, maybe she

should

be joining us.” SinB clicked the last of her parts together, engaging the safety before holstering the gun. “She won’t get any practice in otherwise for when we actually need her to come along.”

Sowon scowled, and Umji looked hopeful.

“We can keep her safe, Sowon.” Eunha added helpfully. “Between the five of us, we could probably take down a Spartan unit, and you know it.”

That part was true. They were an incredibly balanced team, with Sowon and SinB focused on frontline combat, Sowon being very difficult to kill and SinB being very difficult to hit. Yerin was an opportunist, good at avoiding attention and shanking people when they least expected it. She was also uncommonly interested in rigging things to explode, a hobby shared by Umji. Given time to prepare, Umji and Yerin could booby trap an entire battlefield to murder a battalion.

And then there were the mages. They had two, which was rare enough in any unit. Most special unit forces employed by corps only had

one

mage attached per unit if they were lucky, because talented combat mages were hard to find and even harder to keep under control. Eunha was a gifted pyromancer, and with Yuju to give her a boost she could cast faster and further than normal. Everything burns, if the fire is strong enough.

Yuju specialized in countering enemy mages, defending her team from hostile arcane forces. Healing, buffing and scouting were all within her repertoire, and while she never attacked anyone directly, locking them down for someone else to finish them off was entirely within her principles.

Umji rarely joined them in the field, partially due to Sowon’s overprotectiveness, but no one underestimated her value to the team. Digital reconnaissance, hacking robotic sentries, disabling security and cameras; all of these were invaluable to any team wanting a quick in and out on a mission. She could do most of it remotely too, so long as the network had a link to the wider Matrix. Some systems were more difficult to penetrate than others, but so long as it was

connected

, it could be made vulnerable.

The exception was when a system was completely closed. If there were no external connections, any electronic security within the area ran independently and can only be penetrated by hacking an internal terminal that was hooked into the system. This was the case with either older buildings, or maximum security facilities with a network lockdown.

Clearly, a defunct museum holding old curios and other pieces of questionable interest was hardly a place to be classified as maximum security. From Umji’s research, the owner of the building was currently noted to be uncontactable, and his legal representatives were apparently unwilling to discuss the sale of what remained of the collection in the museum. This led to their employer resorting to more

unorthodox

means of acquiring his desired item; i.e., them.

Burglary wasn’t the most glamorous of jobs, but it paid the bills. It was certainly a lot less dangerous than breaking into corp buildings, and less stressful than being the hired muscle for some thug. They all occasionally took their own gigs on the side, but for bigger operations with more money involved, the whole team got involved.

And this run was

lucrative

. Enough for all of them to stop working for a few months and still have enough to eat and keep their base running. Sowon had been justifiably suspicious at first about the generosity of their employer, but the middleman was an old contact Sowon had been taking jobs off for ages. Their employer was anonymous, but what employer wasn’t these days? The point of hiring people like them was to bypass any existing laws and remain plausibly uninvolved and thus free of any consequences. They were disposable assets, and Sowon never forgot that.

There was very little actual trust in the transaction, but there were

rules

, and the universal language of cold, hard, credit. Reputation was everything as a runner; it affected the kind of jobs recommended to you, to the kind of payout you could expect to receive, if you were known to be effective and reliable.

And they

were

all those things. Fast, effective, and reliable. Her contact had described the employer as an “eccentric collector”, which translated to “too rich to know what to do with all that money”. Those were usually the best types to work for, because they could and would pay disgusting amounts to get what they wanted, no questions asked. The job asked for things to be quick and quiet, and they could do all that easily enough.

Which led to the present problem: to include Umji on the field team or not. Sowon could admit to herself that she would prefer to keep Umji out of harm’s way whenever possible, but SinB and Eunha had a point: Umji

did

need more field experience, and even if things went sideways they had the firepower to fight through a small army.

Perhaps sensing Sowon’s wavering on the issue, Umji glomped onto her mother figure like a giant koala. Sowon didn’t last very long under the close range assault of puppy eyes. Umji whooped and dived towards Eunha (and by proxy, Yuju and Yerin) for a hug. To the side, SinB pointed at herself, mouthing “no hug for me?”.

Umji stuck her tongue out at the other girl. Serves SinB right for not inviting her to play matchmaker. Grudges were made to held.

Sowon sighed and rolled her eyes.

“We leave in fifteen, people.”

“Is it always this boring?”

Umji was currently in the middle of a phalanx formation, with Yerin taking point and Sowon bringing up the rear.

“Boring’s good.” Yerin commented, halting at a corner to peer cautiously around it. “I like boring. Exciting is what gets you killed.” Umji pouted.

To one side, SinB snorted, studying the covered paintings on the walls. Dust lined the canvases, and their footsteps echoed in the long hallway.

The cameras were mostly dead, even without Umji’s interference. Any remaining active security in the halls had been disabled when Umji jacked into the terminal at the reception area. Yuju had diverted the night watchman with a local spirit earlier. He wouldn’t be an issue until dawn.

“Why

do

we need all of us anyway? Yerin could have done this alone.” SinB went to examine an ornate vase on a pedestal. Sowon eyed some of the still existing displays with a critical eye.

“We have to hand over the prize before we get the money later, I figured we might as well all come along for that. I don’t trust them to not stiff us, it’s a big sum.”

“Fair. Wouldn’t be the first time some dipshit decided to gank the merch off honest runners.” SinB squinted at a jewel encrusted necklace. “Think this is worth something?”

“Hands off, SinB. You can loot whatever you like

after

we get our hands on the target.”

“You’re no fun.” SinB backed away from the display cases. “So what’s this thing we’re supposed to get anyway? Got a picture or something?”

Sowon shook her head. “Don’t you read the files I send? There’s just some crappy low-res image and a general description really. We’re looking for a statue of dragons wrapped around a giant ruby. It’s called ‘Heart of the Dragon’, apparently.”

SinB looked interested. “Giant ruby? How big?” Sowon made a fist. SinB whistled appreciatively. “No wonder they’re paying us so much to fetch it.”

“Yeah, Yerin steals it, we guard her. That’s the plan.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys.” Yerin was kneeling by the vault door. The mechanism wasn’t electronic, which left Umji out of the equation, and if necessary, Yerin still had a giant explosive (re: Eunha) as backup to blast it open. She preferred to at least try to crack it the old fashioned way though. For one thing, it was a lot quieter, and Yerin didn’t like unplanned explosions. If anything was going to blow up, it would be on her own terms.

“This place feels so…dead.” Yuju murmured, her eyes slightly unfocused as she watched the area on a different spectrum. The only living spots were on her own team.

“No people, no emotions, no mana.” Eunha agreed, walking close to the taller girl. Her fingers twitched reflexively. “Not sure if I can cast anything big here.”

“See, this is why guns are superior. I can always shoot someone.” SinB took a wide arc around the corner, making sure there wasn’t anything they had missed. Even if Yuju was monitoring the area magically, SinB felt more reassured to confirm things with her own two eyes. Nervous tic, but it had kept her alive thus far.

“Until you run out of bullets.” Eunha countered. SinB replied with a raised middle finger.

“I think I got it.” Yerin announced. Sowon pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning against, striding closer to where Yerin was carefully undoing the mechanism on the vault door. It clicked.

“Behold. I am the master of unlocking.”

The vault door swung slowly inwards. Sowon was about to step in when Yerin held up an arm to stop her. She complied. You left burglary to the experts; Sowon knew she was just really good at breaking things, and allowed Yerin to run this op. It was how they were so efficient, all of them had their strengths.

“Yuju, take a look first?” Yerin called out, while putting on a special pair of glasses to check for infra-red sensors. She had another pair of glasses for magical stuff, but it wasn’t as good as having an actual practitioner scan the zone.

The dog shaman ambled over, half guided by Eunha’s hand on her arm. The half open vault wasn’t particularly large, about the size of a bedroom, maybe slightly larger. Shelves lined the walls, and only some of it were occupied. It seemed entirely harmless at first glance, at least on the physical spectrum. Yerin didn’t get this far without being justifiably cynical though. When you live in a world where magic was real and quantifiable, you learned very quickly not to always trust your own eyes.

“It’s…warm.” Yuju cocked her head. Eunha mimicked the action, then sank into the astral plane herself to check it out. “Oh, you’re right.”

“I don’t speak mage, please explain.” SinB came back from her short patrol, pulling up a fair distance from the crew as she kept watch on the only known exit point. Umji was sitting at the opposite point of the hallway, fiddling with a tiny droid she had brought along for the mission.

“The rest of the place is cold. No life, no activity. Dead.” Yuju broke out of her trance, frowning at the vault. She pointed inside. “It’s warm inside.”

“Magic?” Sowon’s brow furrowed together. Eunha nodded, then shook her head.

“More like…ambient energy?” The smaller mage made a vague gesture with both hands. “Lots of people in a place makes it warm just by being around.”

“You’re telling me there are invisible people in there or something.” SinB raised an eyebrow.

Yuju shook her head decisively.

“No, this is…old.” The shaman struggled to express herself. “Not living energy.”

Sowon sniffed at the entrance, then sneezed. “Figures. Dust in there is thick, no one’s been in there for a long time for sure.”

“Are there traps or not? It’s clean on my end.” Yerin, as usual, went straight to the point. Yuju shook her head.

“No, but there might be magic items in there. Don’t touch anything.” Yuju turned to look at Eunha. “Keep the Sight on, we go in first.”

Eunha nodded. She trusted Yuju’s grasp of the astral. Eunha was never quite as sensitive on that plane, even though she could channel a lot more raw power through it than Yuju. It was the major difference between a hermetic mage like herself, who commanded the aether to do her bidding, as opposed to a shaman like Yuju, who coaxed it to assist her instead.

The room was warm with magical energy seeped into the walls and ceiling, even the floor. Eunha felt it the moment she stepped in, a sharp contrast to how the outside felt. Magically, it felt like a night at the club, power ready to respond just a short call away. It was basically the difference between dial-up internet outside and highspeed network in here.

Eunha felt the fire gather instinctively at her fingertips, and she had to work to suppress it. The tension eased slightly when Yuju took her hand, squeezing her fingers gently.

“I know the fire’s loud, but don’t be afraid of it.” Yuju lifted Eunha’s hand to her lips, her breath brushing the smaller mage’s skin. “Don’t fight it, it’s your gift.”

“I might burn you.” Eunha whispered, cringing back slightly. Yuju kept a firm grip on her hand.

“I can heal.” Yuju reminded her. Eunha did not seem entirely convinced. Her breath caught when Yuju leaned forward and embraced her.

“I’m not afraid. And you shouldn’t be too.”

Eunha buried her face into Yuju’s neck, inhaling the clean, earthy scent of the taller girl. Her magic calmed, though her heart raced. It excited her, almost as much as letting the fire out to play did. Yuju toyed with the strands of Eunha’s shoulder-length hair, humming a calming tune deep in her throat.

Behind them, Yerin coughed loudly, trying to remind the pair to get a move on. Sowon smirked, even as she scanned the vault from outside, trying to locate their mark for easy retrieval. Her eye zoomed in on a low shelf deep into the vault, where the coiled head of a carved serpent winked a jeweled eye at her.

“Guys, bottom right. Second row, third from the inside. That might be it.”

On hindsight, she

could

have gone in. Sowon would ask herself this later, but right now, she just didn’t want to step inside. Magic made her uncomfortable. It made her skin crawl, complete with inexplicable feelings of dread. Yet magic was also a powerful tool, but she preferred to leave it to the professionals. Much like SinB, she preferred to bust things up the old fashioned way, lasers and all.

The pair broke apart, even as Yerin shot Eunha the stink eye quietly, moving forward to check the shelves with her torch, careful not to touch anything. Yuju shook her head at Yerin, while Eunha shuffled forward to investigate the shelf Sowon had indicated.

The fire mage knelt down, carefully inspecting the area in her astral sight as she did. The soft, ambient glow of the environs made everything look radiant, like a filter was applied over the image. The statuette wasn’t particularly large, but substantial enough to need both hands to hold. Eunha switched back to regular sight to study the figurine, to make sure it was the thing they were sent to retrieve.

Gold dragons snaked around the central piece, their onyx eyes lifelike even in the gloom. The fist-sized ruby was an almost perfect orb, caged within the swirling dragons like a heart seen through sinuous ribs. The red surface was so smooth you wouldn’t believe it had been cut at all.

“This is it.” Eunha announced, picking up the statue gingerly. It was heavier than she expected, the cold weight of the dragons slippery in her hands.

“Eunha, wait--” Yuju interrupted from above, even as Eunha struggled to push herself up while holding on to the heavy statue with both hands. Her fingers slipped through the ‘ribs’ of the dragon cage, coming into contact with the inert ruby within.

There was no explosion, no flash of light. At the threshold, Sowon felt a cold rush, like a lump dropping to the very bottom of her stomach and weighing down like a thousand-ton weight. Her breath caught, and for a moment she felt like she was suffocating, before the world returned to reality.

Yuju caught Eunha before she hit the ground, moving faster than was thought possible. She had only caught a glimpse of the magically dark gem ensconced within the golden cage, but instinctively felt that something was

off

about it. When everything else was glowing, something that

wasn’t

was automatically suspicious.

She wasn’t fast enough to stop Eunha from touching it. The statue clanked onto the ground, denting one of the pure golden dragons. Yuju was trembling as she lowered Eunha to the ground to take a better look at her. She wasn’t moving. She wasn’t

breathing

.

Worst of all, she had gone dark in Yuju’s magical sight.

Yerin came up slowly from behind.

“Is she…”

“I don’t

know

.” Yuju’s voice was quavering, like a lost child. Yerin knelt by Eunha’s other side, taking her wrist professionally and feeling for a pulse.

“Weak, but still there. Barely. We’ll get her checked out when we get out of here.” Yerin reported briskly. She pointed at the abandoned statue. “Can I touch that?”

“Not the gem. The gold is safe.” Yuju mumbled, still in shock as she traced Eunha’s face with a trembling finger. Trying to reassure herself that Eunha was still there, and not

gone

.

“Okay.” Yerin scooped up the statue gingerly and tossed the entire thing into a sack. Out of sight, out of mind. She looked back at Yuju, who was still clinging on to Eunha as if her life depended on it.

“Do you need me to carry her?”

Yuju seemed to snap out of it, eyes coming back to focus.

“No…no I’ll do it.” The shaman carefully picked up the fire mage in a bridal carry, afraid to even jostle her. Sowon met them at the entrance.

“What

happened

?”

Yerin shook her head. Yuju’s head was bowed. Sowon met Yerin’s eyes, reading what she needed from them.

“We’ll settle this later. First, we get out.”

SinB stared at the unconscious Eunha in Yuju’s arms, levering a death glare at the already guilt-ridden dog shaman. Sowon grabbed SinB by the elbow, steering her towards the exit before unnecessary violence occurred.

“Not now.”

“Is Eunha…?” SinB looked over her shoulder.

“Yes, but she needs medical attention.” Yerin tapped Umji. “Fastest way out, now.”

Umji was also staring at Eunha disbelievingly. Yerin snapped her fingers in front of the hacker to get her attention. Umji blinked.

“On it.”

The team was grim and silent as they swept out of the building in about a third of the time it had taken them to get in in the first place. The mood was somber, compared to the light spirits with which they had begun. SinB was seething quietly, and the moment they were in the truck, she cornered Yuju, grabbing the shaman by the front of her shirt.

“This

is how you look after her?”

Yuju said nothing, her jaw clenched as she stared downwards. Umji was running a quick diagnostic over Eunha, and elbowed SinB to stop her from doing something foolish.

“Her vitals are weak, but stable. She’ll be fine.”

“No, she’s not.” Yuju’s voice was hoarse. Her eyes were reddened when she looked up.

SinB rounded on her. “The fuck do you mean.”

Yuju closed her eyes, trembling as she clawed at her own arms.

“I can’t

sense

her.” There was a quiet horror in her voice. SinB paled as she took in the implications of that. In the front seat, Yerin also stiffened. Sowon glanced over.

“Explain.”

“I can

feel

all of you. You’re alive and well and

present

.” Yuju clutched her head, her teeth grinding together. “All the time, as long as you are near enough, I can sense you.”

“That sounds really creepy, but okay.” Yerin joked weakly. Her gaze fell on Eunha’s unconscious form. “And she’s…?”

“Empty. Dark.” Yuju’s voice was hollow. She reached for Eunha’s hand, wrapping trembling fingers around the motionless digits.

“Here, but not

here.”

Her bottom lip trembled.

“I can’t sense her. I can’t

find

her.” Yuju squeezed her eyes shut.

“I keep trying, but she’s not here.”

A tear fell.

“Missing.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So what now?”

Back at base, Eunha was laid out on her bed, SinB scowling at Yuju from the foot of the bed, because Yuju had beat her to the spot by Eunha’s side. The shaman was still holding on to the unconscious mage’s hand, lips pressed together in a thin line. She hadn’t said a word since her earlier breakdown in the truck.

The room was too small to comfortably fit everyone, so Yerin and Sowon hung around the entrance while Umji planted herself at the floor next to the bed.

Yerin dangled the sack holding the statue that had caused all the trouble. Sowon frowned as Yerin continued.

“We still have some time before we have to turn that in.”

“Fuck the job.” SinB was still justifiably upset. “I’d sooner throw that thing into the sea.”

“Probably a bad idea.” Umji pointed out, her eyes distant as she linked into the Matrix. “We still don’t know what it did to Eunha-unnie. I wouldn’t throw it away so soon.”

“Let me look at it again.”

Yuju suddenly spoke up, making everyone turn to look at her. There was a constant, dim glow in the shaman’s eyes, making her seem almost otherworldly. Everyone automatically moved a little further away as Yerin stepped inside, trying to find a free space to unload the statue without actually touching it.

The gold hit the floor with a dull thud. Inside the twisted cage of dragons, the ruby orb within winked a deep rich red, not unlike congealed blood. SinB resisted the urge to kick the thing as far away as possible, even as Yerin backed up to give Yuju some space to look at it.

At the doorway, Sowon tensed when she got a better look at the statue. Behind her eyepatch, she felt a sudden burning sensation, like a hot knife through her eye. She clenched her teeth together, gripping the edge of the wall so hard that her fingers left indents in it.

Umji looked up at the cracking sound, and reached up to tug reassuringly at Sowon’s pant leg. The cybersamurai relaxed the tiniest bit, reaching down to ruffle Umji’s hair. Umji leaned in, slipping back into her online world once she was assured that Sowon was feeling better.

Yuju was silent as she studied the statue. As if dissatisfied with the distance, the shaman reached out with a free hand, and suddenly the statue was floating off the ground, moving slowly to eye level. No one said a thing, though they were all quietly impressed. Yuju rarely showed off her powers in a mundane way, and it was almost too easy to forget that she was capable of more than just supporting the rest with her magic.

The statue was turned around slowly as Yuju studied it. No one else in the room could see it, but it was her watcher spirits who were holding it up for her. To everyone’s surprise, the shaman suddenly reached out and grasped the statue, bringing it close to her face.

“I feel her. Just a trace.”

“Are you sure you should be touching that?” Yerin looked nervous. Meanwhile, SinB caught on to the more important fact.

“Is Eunha trapped inside that thing?”

Yuju paused, her eyes seeming to burn holes into the unassuming ruby.

“No. Her essence isn’t inside. Just a trace, leading somewhere.” A bead of sweat rolled down Yuju’s forehead. “I can’t follow it…too far.”

Yerin was almost instantly by Yuju’s side, quickly removing the statue from her hand and dropping it back into the sack she was still holding.

“Don’t push yourself. You know what it does to you.”

Yuju was pale and breathing shallowly, but her eyes still glowed with power. Her other hand remained glued to Eunha’s. She shook her head slowly, as if she was bearing a great weight.

“Can’t…stop. Need to keep her safe.”

Yerin bit her lip. “You’ve been channeling all night, you can’t keep this up forever.”

“Wait, what has she been doing.” SinB interrupted. Yerin turned to her crossly.

“Yuju’s been channeling into Eunha since earlier, I didn’t have time to ask just now.” She turned back to the stubborn dog shaman. “Is there anything I can get for you to help.”

Yuju closed her eyes slowly. “Need to seal the area. Not safe.”

“Okay, sealing ritual. Umji, can you run a search for the necessary ingredients?”

“What kind of sealing ritual are we talking about?”

“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” SinB tapped her foot on the ground impatiently.

“Something against spirits would be nice. Right, Yuju?” The shaman nodded without speaking. Yerin then turned to SinB.

“Your best friend’s essence is somehow missing at the moment. That leaves her vulnerable to astral attacks, and as a mage, she’s a high priority target for any wandering spirits looking for a body.” SinB looked ill at the implication. Yerin continued, almost ruthlessly.

“If not for Yuju channeling her own magic into Eunha to protect her, something else could possess her and take over. She’s been doing it since just now, you just haven’t noticed.”

SinB shut up at that. Sowon looked thoughtful.

“You seem to know a lot about these things, Yerin.”

Yerin deflated a little at that, looking worn and tired. She looked up at Yuju, who was completely focused on the task at hand, and sighed.

“I used to run with another mage. She taught me a lot of things.”

“Used to?”

“She died.” Yerin said flatly. Sowon winced.

“I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know.” Yerin waved it off. Meanwhile Umji rattled off a list of possible rituals, looking over to Yuju for confirmation after each one. When she finally hit on the correct one, Yerin nodded and indicated Umji to send it to her.

“I’ll go get what we need.” Sowon straightened.

“I’ll come with. We need to do something about the job if we’re not turning the statue in anytime soon.”

Yerin nodded.

“Good idea. We need to delay until we figure out what that thing did.”

Umji waved at them.

“I’ll look into it, stay safe out there.”

Sowon nodded, then jerked her head at the trio on the bed.

“Don’t let them get into trouble, alright?”

“I can hear that, you know.” SinB’s voice was sullen. “I’ll behave.”

The older pair left, leaving an awkward silence behind. Umji was the least affected, completely immersed in her virtual world as she diligently dug up everything she could regarding the ‘Heart of the Dragon’, the owners of the museum, and anything that could be even remotely related. Information was comforting. It was a way to make sense of things.

SinB stared at the unmoving form of her best friend. It was so strange to just watch her sleep like this, except this wasn’t really sleep, was it? Eunha had stopped letting SinB cuddle with her at night ever since her talent for fire had awoken. It was just too dangerous, because it was so hard to keep under control. Eunha had been so afraid, once. And there was nothing SinB could do for her then.

And nothing she could do for her now. SinB glanced at Yuju, who still had her eyes closed. Now that Yerin had pointed it out, SinB could see the minute signs of strain the shaman was under. For a moment, SinB resented Yuju for being able to do this for Eunha, while she could only stand by helpless. But it was a childish emotion, and she knew it.

“I’ll bring her back.” Yuju didn’t open her eyes, but SinB knew it was directed at her. Mages didn’t need physical sight to be open to the astral plane, that much she had learned by hanging out with magic users all the time.

“You can’t promise that.” SinB let out a long sigh. “Even

I

know that’s hard to do.”

Yuju opened her eyes with some effort. A bright corona ringed jet black irises tinged with red. SinB’s breath hitched, scooting backwards on instinct.

“I swear I will bring Eunha back, on my life and magic.” Every word punched out like a hammer striking a nail, and the room grew still, as if

something

was witnessing the scene. Umji squeaked in the background.

“Yuju-unnie you can’t say things like that you know that’ll just…oh, Yerin-unnie is going to kill me.”

SinB felt a familiar wash of magic when Yuju finished, her eyes widening.

“That was…what was that.”

Umji covered her eyes with her arm. Her voice was very small when she replied.

“

That

, SinB, was a magical pact. Now Yuju-unnie is going to either have to bring Eunha-unnie back, or die trying.” Umji heaved a sigh. “Was that really necessary? You were going to do it anyway!”

Yuju breathed out long and deeply, lowering her head.

“I couldn’t keep her safe. This is the least I can do.”

Umji massaged her temples. “Okay, more research it is. SinB, could you make me some coffee, I don’t think I’ll be sleeping any time soon…”

“You don’t trust me.”

Yerin stopped at a cul-de-sac just outside one of the exits to their base, her face expressionless as she turned to look at Sowon trailing behind her.

“You would have left Eunha, wouldn’t you?” Sowon dropped her earlier amiability, her lone eye cold as she folded her arms. “You wanted to earlier, I saw it.”

Yerin shifted her gaze to a wall. “Yuju made a choice. I won’t hurt her like that.”

Sowon pressed her lips together, a mounting headache throbbing at her temple. It shouldn’t be like this. She

wanted

to trust Yerin, and yet…

“I won’t abandon anyone on this team, Yerin.” Sowon started, then placed a hand on the other woman’s shoulder.

“Not even you, so long as you are with us.”

Under her grip, Sowon felt Yerin shudder, a flash of pain whisking through dark eyes. Yerin jerked out of Sowon’s hold, backing up like a wounded animal. Sowon focused on her eyes, because that was the only thing she could center on. The rest was a scrambled mess, though it rapidly smoothed out into an emotionless mask.

Yerin didn’t speak for a moment, her jaw clenched tight in suppressed emotion. Sowon was blocking her only path out, and she felt trapped. Trapped, and

alone

. Just like before.

Nails dug deep into her palms, deep enough to draw blood. For a moment, she saw

through

Sowon, a not so distant memory catching up to her like a persistent shadow. There was the alley, light drawing long shadows over her. Blood pooling at her feet, on her face, on her hands, and…

I love you, Yennie.

She slammed that door shut. Let the past stay where it was. She was here

now

, and there was no going back. She couldn’t ever go back. Not after

that

.

“Yerin, are you…” Sowon stepped forward. Yerin took a step back, eyes wary.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Sowon backed up as well, slouching a little to make herself look less threatening. This was the first time she had seen Yerin in full fight or flight mode. The young woman had always projected a sense of insouciant joie de vivre, as if she were dancing through life without a care. Even in a fight, she never seemed fully serious, as if everything was just a game to her.

The only thing she consistently gave a damn about was Yuju, something even Sowon noticed right away. There was a genuine tenderness when she dealt with the shaman, even if Yuju dismissed it as more of the same kind of flirting Yerin did on a daily basis as protective camouflage.

Among all of Sowon’s recruits, she had always kept an extra eye on Yerin, mostly because the woman was still an enigma despite their year of working together. From her skills, Sowon could tell she was a professional, and no stranger to working in coordinated operations.

Out in the shadows, no one asked about your past. All of them had things they were running from, or things they had to hide. In Sowon’s own case, she had a past she didn’t remember, and right up until she met Umji, she didn’t even have much of a purpose in life. Sowon fully understood if Yerin didn’t want to discuss her previous experiences, but it didn’t stop her from keeping an eye on the runner. It was her responsibility to keep her team safe, and any uncertain elements needed to be watched.

“I’m not one of your strays for rescue, Sowon.” Yerin said flatly, her eyes glittering dangerously. Bit by bit she regained control, straightening as she wiped what remained of her earlier distress away, locking it behind her usual languid pose. Armored, once more, into the fray.

“Perhaps not.” Sowon noted, studying Yerin cautiously. “But you’re going to have to trust us at some point, Yerin.”

Yerin shoved past the taller mercenary, slipping out into the wider street. Before she vanished into the crowd, Sowon’s enhanced hearing caught her muttered answer.

“I’m still here, aren’t I?”

Sowon sighed. This was one additional complication she didn’t need right now. One problem at a time though. The tall mercenary strode out, purposeful.

No one was going to die on her watch.

Umji was

very

disappointed that she didn’t get to observe the ritual taking place, but Yuju was insistent and Yerin enforced that decision, literally picking Umji up by the scruff of her neck and dropping her outside before the hacker could protest. The older woman then planted herself at the door to make sure no one could disturb the shaman.

And no, the cameras didn’t work. Apparently, whatever Yuju was doing in there had enough feedback to short out her surveillance. Umji made a mental note to upgrade the rest of her gear to resist active magical feedback. Most of her stuff was already reinforced against ambient magic, but apparently she would need more heavy-duty shielding for the real thing.

Distractedly, Umji sorted out the data she had managed to compile thus far. The museum owner was a dead end for now, because it led to a string of shell corporations. Which was suspicious in itself, and she would need more time to dig up more links, though Umji wasn’t too hopeful on that end. Whoever owned that place clearly did not wish to be identified, but therein lay the challenge, did it not?

The Heart of the Dragon artifact ran up

slightly

more results, but it all dated to a few decades ago when it was first unveiled. There was precious little regarding its origins, with only mentions of how the ruby that centered the piece was a natural, uncut stone. Fat lot of good

that

information was. Umji was incredibly annoyed when she couldn’t even find out who created the statue. It was making her doubt her abilities to scour information off the Matrix.

She also needed to search for information regarding things that could potentially suck someone’s soul or essence out, but she didn’t have enough technical knowledge to sort out fluff from the real thing. There were too many wild theories and crackpot assumptions about magic floating around, and Umji vividly recalled that one time when Yuju-unnie had been browsing a few forums online with her. The shaman hadn’t been able to stop laughing at about ninety percent of what people

thought

was magic, but was really just a product of paranoid imagination, or could be explained away by mundane means.

Frustrated by her own lack of progress, Umji got diverted by a different search term instead: dragons. Sometimes it helped to look at things from a different angle? When she couldn’t find anything more related to the Heart of the Dragon, Umji decided she might as well expand her search. The number of search results was…staggering. It also made Umji very happy, but that’s probably not the point.

So it was while she was still comparing the differences between Western dragons and Eastern dragons when Yuju staggered out of Eunha’s room, supported by a worried-looking Yerin. The shaman was pale as a sheet, visibly drained by her efforts. The two were quietly arguing about something under their breaths, and Umji pretended not to notice, all while cranking up the volume of her listening devices in the room.

“You need to rest.”

“Need to check the statue again.”

“Sleep first.”

“Need to figure it out, Eunha can’t stay like this for too long.”

“You’re no use to anyone like this. You can spare a few hours to recharge.”

“I can still…”

Yuju abruptly cut off, and Umji looked up in time to see the taller girl slump bonelessly onto Yerin, who had a hand at the shaman’s neck, her thumb hidden by Yuju’s hair. Umji blinked as Yerin effortlessly shifted the unconscious shaman onto her back. The hacker opened her mouth, then shut it quickly again when Yerin placed a finger to her lips, indicating the sleeping Yuju on her back.

Yerin-unnie is scary

… Umji concluded as Yerin piggybacked Yuju to her own room. Good thing Yuju had made them all promise not to tell regarding the magical pact earlier. Umji shivered. She wouldn’t want to be the one to tell Yerin that Yuju’s life was on the line here as well.

Out of nervous habit, Umji checked on everyone again. SinB was pacing in her own room like a caged tiger, clearly itching to go out but restraining herself with some effort. She peeked through the open door of Eunha’s room, but obviously there had been no visible change, unless you count the candle stubs on the floor around the bed. There was a queer static field emanating from the room, which made Umji back off instinctively. Whatever it was that Yuju did, it was powerful, and Umji wasn’t about to mess with the unknown. At least not without being prepared first.

Her eyes grew distant again as she synced into the cameras in Yuju’s room. It was dark, but infrared was a thing. Umji watched as Yerin tucked Yuju in gently, brushing stray locks of hair from the sleeping girl’s face. The older girl ran a thumb around the curve of the younger’s face, tracing the outline as if to mark every angle to herself.

“I see you.” Yerin murmured, as if to herself. She leaned down and pressed her lips to Yuju’s forehead, lingering for a moment before lifting herself back up. She cupped a gentle hand to Yuju’s face.

“This time, let me protect you.”

Umji was so engrossed that she completely failed to notice the hand clapping down on her shoulder. She jumped, startled. The culprit, a SinB who had finally wandered out, looked amused for a moment.

“They done?”

Umji nodded wordlessly, pointing at the open door. SinB walked over to Eunha’s room, stopping sensibly at the entrance as she checked in on her best friend.

“Say, isn’t Sowon taking a really long time?” SinB said suddenly, without turning around. Umji twitched visibly, already in the midst of locating her surrogate mother figure. The blinking dot representing Sowon’s location was just outside the base, moving slowly in.

“She’s back.” Umji heaved a sigh of relief, switching over to her electronic eyes to observe Sowon in the flesh. She gasped aloud, dropping the gadget she was holding.

“What?” SinB turned around to find Umji scrambling towards the entrance, where Sowon was just emerging. The adept’s eyes widened.

Sowon had been through a fight. Streaks of blood were smeared on her arms and face, and not a few splatters stained her long blonde hair. Her eyepatch was torn and frayed, revealing an unearthly red glow behind the black leather. Her lips were twisted in a grim frown as she patted Umji on the head. The hacker looked terrified, glued to Sowon’s side as if to make sure she was real and still alive.

“Someone really wants that statue. Took me a while to shake them off.” Sowon said by way of explanation. SinB quietly fetched a medkit, tossing it over to the older woman, who caught it with a nod of thanks.

“They were watching us then.” Yerin concluded as she came out of Yuju’s room. “They must have followed you, because you’re easy to spot.”

Sowon didn’t disagree. She

was

the most recognizable on the team. SinB and Yerin were good at laying low, and Umji rarely went out to begin with. The two mages were better known by reputation for what they could do, rather than how they looked. If anyone wanted to find them, spotting Sowon was their best choice.

“We might not have much time.” Sowon said grimly, peeling her duster off and frowning at the damage on the material. She didn’t seem particularly harmed, and had to assure Umji that the blood belonged to other people. Mostly.

“We’ll need to find out who else was eyeing that statue. And why they were willing to ambush you.” Yerin folded her arms, leaning against the wall. Sowon smirked briefly.

“Actually I just got tired of them following me so I took them out.”

“Mom!” Umji scolded. Sowon chuckled, accepting the reprimand.

SinB cracked her knuckles ominously. “If they want a fight, they’ve got one.”

“SinB.” Yerin shot her a look. She turned to look at Sowon seriously.

“You found something then.”

Sowon inclined her head, reaching for her duster and rummaging from an inner pocket. A tiny medallion sparkled dully in her palm, the black metal oiled and glossy. Enclosed in a ring of metal, an inverted triangle spun in the middle, with the forked tongue of a serpent bisecting the piece.

“Found this on the best dressed one. The rest were just hired chummers.” Sowon tossed the piece to SinB, who caught it reflexively. “Look familiar?”

SinB had already gone white when she first saw the symbol. Nervously, she unclasped her fingers and studied the medallion gingerly, looking sick. She nodded, then tossed it back quickly, as if it was a hot coal.

“Mireu.

What are they doing so far up north, this is Tristar and Spartan territory.” SinB hissed, clenching her fists. “I thought we left that behind when you moved us here.”

“What’s that?” Yerin came in closer to study the medallion. Umji replied, quietly.

“Dragon cult. They’re fanatics who believe that the personification of Korean spirit was reborn as the dragon that resurfaced at the site of Awakening almost 50 years ago.”

“Those lunatics killed Eunha’s parents. The Purge…that was them and their supporters.” SinB spat. Her eyes had reddened. “They all but rule everything south of Daegu.”

Umji reached over sympathetically, clasping SinB’s hand. Yerin looked thoughtful.

“A dragon cult, looking for a dragon themed item? At least that’s on brand?”

“We’re not giving it to them. I’ll give them

nothing.”

SinB growled. Sowon nodded pensively.

“We don’t know if it was them anonymously posting the job, or if they’re just opportunists who happened to be artifact-hunting. I don’t believe in coincidences though.” Sowon smiled grimly. Umji nodded at her, already slipping into the Matrix to narrow her search with their new findings. Yerin reached forward and tapped the medallion.

“This area is still recognized as under Tristar’s protection, even if it’s not quite legally state sovereign land.” Yerin backed up, pacing as she analyzed the situation. Sowon listened attentively. Yerin was the one who was already active around Ansan when they moved in. She knew the area and its local power politics better than they did. If nothing else, Yerin still had a stake in helping them out. Sowon chose to trust her, even if most others would have kicked her out of their team by now. She believed Yerin would at least choose to be loyal to Yuju, if no one else. And the loyalty of dog shamans was legendary, at least once they had chosen their pack to protect.

“This…Mireu…might be able to move small forces into Ansan, but any more would be taken as a hostile move. I haven’t heard anything about overt tensions between Tristar and Hyeongdae of the south, so it’s likely just a few agents operating independently here.” Yerin concluded, folding her arms behind her back.

“And they want the statue for some reason, so it must be important to them.” Sowon surmised. “If they can’t bring in their own people, they just have to hire the local runner community to get it for them.”

“Lucky us.” SinB snarked. “Of all the jobs, it’d have to be them.”

“The real problem though, if we don’t turn the statue in, we’d be reneging on the contract.” Yerin’s brows were knitted together. “And that gives them a free hand to hunt us with the whole community on their side.”

SinB smiled grimly, cracking her joints one by one.

“Bring it on then.” She turned back to look at Eunha’s room, still dark and quiet.

“I’m not running away anymore.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Yerin watched Yuju like a hawk, albeit a very gentle one, as the now awake shaman fixated over the golden cage of dragons with the focus of a surgeon at work.

They had not spoken in almost two hours. Or rather,

Yuju

hadn’t spoken to her in two hours. Yerin bit the inside of her cheek as her teeth ground together soundlessly. The shaman had gotten the rest she needed, but the look Yuju had given her upon waking up…

Yerin didn’t regret it. She would do it again, if faced with the same choice. Yuju was horrible at taking care of herself, devoting all her energy to looking after others instead. It was as if she was incapable of not helping people; caring for strays was practically second nature. Yerin had been a direct recipient of that care once, three years ago. That would stay with her forever, and even though Yuju had never claimed any debt for it, Yerin knew she owed her life to the shaman.

Was it gratitude that kept her with Yuju? Perhaps it was, at the beginning. But she had always been curious about Yuju even before that, when they had crossed paths by chance. Yuju

always

saw her, waved at her in greeting, no matter what glamour or disguise she wove. It was infuriating. It was also fascinating. She wanted to know why.

Part of it was the challenge of the unknown, Yerin could admit that much to herself. Her skill was unique. People

weren’t

supposed to notice her, that was the whole point. They only saw what she wanted them to see. But not Yuju, no. She always recognized Yerin, called her a pretty unnie the first time they met, and the nickname stuck on subsequent run-ins. Yerin had flirted right back, naturally. Yuju had been cute even as an awkward gangly teen, all limbs with doe eyes. The shaman had been shy then though, running off if Yerin got too forward. Good times.

Yerin shifted her gaze back to Yuju, who was most definitely ignoring her on purpose by now. The older woman sighed, toying with a lock of her own hair as she considered how to make peace with her partner. They had been working together for the better part of three years, and although Yerin hadn’t yet broken that fragile wall between them, it wasn’t like she didn’t

want

to. Seeing Yuju bond with other people sometimes made her irrationally jealous, but she hadn’t felt as threatened with Umji when compared to Eunha.

Umji and Yuju together felt like puppies playing with their toys together, and it had pleased Yerin to see Yuju happily messing with something she liked to do. She just wanted Yuju to be happy. It wasn’t complicated then.

But with Eunha, there was a bond between the magic users Yerin couldn’t quite intrude on. The two practitioners could often be saying nothing at all, just looking at each other, but Yerin knew enough about mages and their ilk to know that they could be communicating on the astral plane. It made her feel like an outsider. She had some minor gifts in body magic, not unlike SinB did with her enhanced speed and reflexes, but she was not astrally sensitive the way Eunha and Yuju were. It was the difference between physical adepts like herself and SinB, and true mages like Eunha and Yuju.

And Yerin knew Eunha was attracted to Yuju. Who wouldn’t be? Yuju had grown from cute teenager to beautiful young woman in the years they had been together. Lean and athletic, the shaman was skilled in the arcane arts and yet, a complete puppy when it came to dealing with people she considered friends. Which was a lot of people.

Yerin had been quietly making sure no one else made any moves on Yuju in the last three years. Yuju was

hers

. She wasn’t going to give up on the girl so easily. The bond of trust they had developed over time would not be so easily undermined by some other girl they had barely known for a year.

“I’m sorry.” Yerin caved first. Of course she would, Yuju was the one ignoring her now. She needed a peace offering.

“...” Yuju didn’t even look up. Yerin shifted, a mixture of frustrated annoyance rippling over her aura. She hated this, yet craved it all the same. It was like a drug, the push-and-pull of their relationship. Yuju was

nice

, but not a pushover. She had learned that the hard way over the years.

“Yeah, I’m not sorry. You needed the rest, Yuju. I made sure you got it.”

The truth always worked. Especially when you were dealing with an astrally sensitive mage who was constantly reading you on a passive level. It made Yerin feel naked in front of Yuju. Not that she actually

minded

, mind you. They had been together long enough that Yuju was always sensitive to her, and Yerin was irrationally proud of the fact even though it sometimes proved to be inconvenient.

The grip the dog shaman had on the small tablet she had been taking notes on tightened. Yerin felt a flash of guilt at the tightening of the other girl’s jaw. The look of hurt betrayal Yuju had given her earlier pricked

hard

. Yuju had trusted her, but she had used that trust to disable the shaman when she was weak, even if it was with good intentions.

“You could have asked first.” Yuju said softly. Dark eyes finally looked up, meeting Yerin’s slightly uncomfortable gaze. Yuju looked disappointed. Yerin dug her fingers into her lap.

“Would you have listened?” Yerin countered, digging in her heels stubbornly. She stared right back, their eyes locking. It was always dangerous to do that, for either of them. Yuju, because she was a mage and astral sight could see much more with eye contact. Not for nothing were the eyes called the windows to the soul.

On the other hand, Yerin’s own gift for illusions was always triggered by eye contact. She never actually tried actively using it on Yuju, not ever since finding out she was Awakened, and she didn’t want to start now. She had already bruised the trust between them earlier, she wasn’t about to make it worse by trying something stupid right now.

“I may have argued the point.” Yuju admitted, dropping the gaze faster than Yerin expected. It was always like this, Yerin thought, not for the first time. She would drop her defenses for Yuju, but the younger girl would back off without intruding further. Yuju didn’t push her away, but she didn’t let her come any closer either. It was infuriating.

“I would never hurt you. You

know

that.” Yerin reached forward, clasping her fingers around Yuju’s wrist. The shaman didn’t resist, which was a good sign. Encouraged, Yerin scooted around the corner of the table that separated the short distance between them, planting herself closer to the younger’s side. The older woman wrapped both hands around Yuju’s, making her put down the tablet. She brought the shaman’s hand to her chest, forcing Yuju to turn her body slightly to face hers in the process. The shaman blinked owlishly at her, and Yerin smiled at that, reaching up with one hand to cup Yuju’s puzzled face.

“Look at me.” It was a command, not a request. Yuju obeyed, somewhat hesitantly. Her eyes were clear and sincere, never confused when she gazed at Yerin. Yerin liked that. Too many others took a second to try and figure her out, but Yuju always saw her directly. No tricks, no illusions. Yerin could be herself and not

someone else.

It wasn’t like she could turn off her skill, only modify it to different means. When Yuju looked at her, she was certain Yuju saw

her

, and not what she wanted to see.

This close, Yerin could count the individual eyelashes framing Yuju’s soft eyes, feel the quickening of her own pulse as her fingers caressed silky skin. She felt Yuju lean into her touch almost unconsciously, and Yerin felt her own lips curl in satisfaction.

She could fall into Yuju’s eyes forever.

Look at me.

See

me.

Was this what it was like for her victims? Yerin mused. It felt like drowning, but she was willing. She didn’t push further, allowing Yuju to sink into her eyes even as she got lost in return. She felt Yuju’s breath hitch, clear eyes darkening as the irises contracted minutely. The hand she held against her chest crept upwards, moving to grip her shoulder. Yerin relaxed, smiling like a satisfied cat when Yuju automatically adjusted her hold to support her.

“Yerin, I…” Yuju sounded confused, even a little frightened. The dog shaman shut her eyes, closing off the contact. Yerin sighed, leaning forward and snuggling into Yuju’s neck, her hand on Yuju’s face falling down into a loose embrace around the shoulders.

“It’s okay, puppy. I’ll wait.” Yerin breathed into Yuju’s ear, smirking as the skin went pink. Not one to miss an opportunity, Yerin nipped at Yuju’s earlobe, drawing a startled yelp from the latter. Yerin giggled, burying her face into the taller girl’s neck again. She didn’t want to scare Yuju off, but it was just so hard sometimes…

When had it all changed? It had just been a simple physical attraction at first, a natural curiosity about the girl who could see her true face. A cute girl, which definitely helped maintain the interest. Yerin purposefully skipped the yawning chasm in her memories, focusing instead of what happened

after

.

Recovery had taken a while, but the soothing presence of the dog shaman had been a comforting constant. Someone who didn’t judge, who didn’t ask any uncomfortable questions -- that was exactly what Yerin had needed at the time. Yuju filled a gaping hole in her life when she was most vulnerable, so was it any real mystery how deep she had fallen? It had been so gradual that she hadn’t even noticed it, at least not until Yuju found other people to save. The shock of not being the

only

one really woke Yerin up to the state of her own feelings. It wasn’t just like any other casual fling where the physical attraction was shallow and fleeting. She wanted

more

, but she didn’t know how.

Jung Yerin had spent most of her life making superficial attachments. How did one go about making a serious attempt? She had no context for it. Do

you

know what it’s like to forever be someone’s fantasy, but never yourself? She was navigating unknown territory, with someone who had no concept of anything beyond friendship. Yerin treasured what they had; she didn’t want to mess it up.

Meanwhile, Yuju rubbed at her cheeks, feeling the fading warmth on them. Yerin was still latched onto her, but she had gotten used to it over the years. It was almost comforting to know the older would always be there; to tease her, comfort her, and catch her if necessary.

She still hadn’t told Yerin about the pact. Guilt rolled in the pit of Yuju’s stomach. She hadn’t been able to stop herself again, and she didn’t want Yerin to worry. She could deal with this.

Yuju tried not to think about what she had caught a glimpse of within Yerin’s dark eyes earlier. The lazy confidence had melted into a seriousness she rarely saw the older woman exhibit. It was almost overwhelming, the intensity she had felt in that moment, and her body had reacted almost instinctively. Yuju shifted awkwardly, feeling oddly embarrassed. She wasn’t supposed to react like this. She trusted Yerin with her

life

, and that was the long and short of it. It shouldn’t have to get more complicated. They were friends and partners, nothing more.

If hanging out with Eunha was like a comforting breeze, that brief glimpse into Yerin had scorched her like a forest fire. Ironic, since Yerin was not the fire mage in this equation.

Eunha

. Yuju shook herself. She needed to focus. All this

feeling

was throwing her off.

Her eyes fell back on the statue. It was shaped like a rearing dragon, and the ‘ribcage’ was formed with multiple writhing gold serpents. The offending ruby that had caused all these problems lay within, though one side of the cage was dented in. Gold was soft, and they did drop it pretty hard that time.

The deformity allowed her to better see the tiny inscriptions within. She hadn’t noticed it before, but the past two hours had allowed her to try and reconstruct the algorithm that lay within. It was a fascinating, if archaic, form of a containment circle. There were more efficient ways to do it that Yuju could think of, but she supposed that was why the gem was also surrounded by gold. The precious metal could absorb any leaks and diffuse it, which explained the state of the vault where they found it.

If this thing had been in there for as long as Umji’s research had implied, that was a

lot

of energy diffused. The ruby might

seem

inert now, but Yuju wasn’t too sure about that. Something that could output that much energy was not something to be taken lightly.

And there was still the matter of Eunha. Letting herself sink deep into the Astral plane, Yuju’s consciousness fell into a mirrored realm that represented the cage holding the ruby. On this dimension, the ruby was less a ruby, dimly aglow with a pulsing energy deep within its core, not unlike a throbbing heart.

Heart of the Dragon

, indeed. Eunha’s trail led into the core, but the core itself opened into another path that Yuju didn’t dare to follow. She wasn’t sure if she was capable of coming back on her own power if she chased that particular bunny.

Vaguely, on the physical plane, she felt Yerin press against her, the proximity grounding her. They had never discussed it before, but Yuju knew that Yerin always made sure that she came back intact. She had seen Yerin with her old crew before, and one of them had seethed with primal energies as well. Certainly nothing like what she wielded, and maybe more akin to the fire that had chosen Eunha, except far more volatile and dangerous. Yerin had never spoken of them after she had found the older girl collapsed in the wastelands, charred by a toxic energy that had made a nature mage like herself ill to be in contact with. It was weeks before Yerin resembled anything like the cheerful young woman she used to encounter on the streets, and even then the haunted look in her eyes would return for many a night. Yuju never asked, and Yerin seemed more grateful for it.

There had to be a way to get Eunha back. Yuju considered several options. She could go after her, but there was no guarantee of being able to snap back into her physical body if the way was too far. With no other mages around to guide her back, she could easily lose herself on the farplanes.

The other option was to summon her back. That was more doable, especially since they had Eunha’s physical body still with them. Blood and bone could call to the lost essence more effectively than other mediums. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been trying small scale versions of that already though, but it had been like yelling into a void. Clearly, the way was long, and the signal had to be amplified before it could succeed. Yuju made a mental note to check with Umji on that. She needed references, and what else was a hacker good for if not to retrieve information for her needs?

The clock was ticking though. Even with the seals placed around Eunha, the longer her essence was separated from her body, the risk of it being permanently severed grew higher. Shoving a lost soul back into a body was a lot harder than calling them home. There were too many things that could go wrong with

that

. Yuju shuddered, remembering the grimoires she had read regarding summonings gone awry. She didn’t want to bring Eunha back

wrong

.

Time was the key. She needed a summoning ritual, enough power to amplify the signal, and a focus. The glowing ruby caught her eye. What focus would be better than the one that had been responsible for sending her away in the first place? The link already there would help.

Yuju was barely aware of the passage of time as she studied her target and made plans. In the real world, Yerin quietly braided the shaman’s hair out of boredom, always keeping skin on skin contact with the younger to keep her from drifting too far. Yuju had a habit of doing that all too often, losing herself in the spirit world and forgetting the needs of her physical self. It had been a happy, if oddly depressing discovery when Yerin realized that she could “remind” Yuju to come back, simply by being herself.

I can feel you always.

Yuju had told her very seriously that one time, and Yerin

almost

thought the younger girl was flirting with her then, an impression not helped by Yuju continuing with

You’re very distracting.

Yerin smiled fondly at that memory. She had

definitely

startled Yuju that day by stealing her first kiss, if the subsequent reaction was any indication. Yuju looked positively adorable when she was shocked, Yerin mused, her eyes lingering on Yuju’s lips as she edged closer.

“Yerin, not now.” Yuju’s eyes snapped open, with Yerin’s face right in front of hers. Yes, apparently Yuju could definitely sense when she wanted to try anything, Yerin sighed inwardly.

That

had been an interesting discovery after the first time. The older woman eyed the tempting lips before her wistfully. One day…

“I’ll get you something to eat.” Yerin unwrapped herself from her prey-- I mean, partner. Yuju eyed her suspiciously for a moment, but when Yerin really just walked out without making any further moves, the shaman felt…disappointed? She wasn’t sure. It could have been feedback from Yerin herself, but then what would that disappointment have been about? Yuju shook her head.

She had more important things to do right now.

SinB rubbed at her jaw gingerly as she ghosted out of the auxiliary exit directly connected to her room. Sowon didn’t

have

to slam her that hard into the ground, but SinB appreciated not being treated with kid gloves. It was definitely going to bruise, but the workout had loosened the kinks in her body.

She had needed that. SinB had fallen asleep earlier outside of Eunha’s room, slumped against the wall. It was the least she could do, keeping her best friend company like this. Sowon had found her somewhat later, and hauled her up for sparring practice after shoveling food into her.

The sparring cleared her head. There was something

clean

about fighting hand-to-hand, like she was having a sort of conversation with her fists. Words were all well and good, but there was an honesty in the controlled violence she particularly appreciated in her sessions with Sowon.

The older woman fought like something out of a textbook, all blocks and counters with intent to disable rather than kill. Which made sense, since they weren’t in a life and death situation, but SinB never had the same kind of formal training, fighting like a stray cat raised on the streets. She was fast and instinctive and fought dirty, but Sowon still managed to outfox her regularly. SinB learned a lot from their sessions, and her admiration for the blonde had only grown since the day Sowon had taken them in.

There had always been an

expectation

back in the gang.

We took you in, so earn your keep

, so to speak. It was never formally stated, but it had been the unspoken rule. There was safety in the gang, but that safety had been hedged against the misery of others. There had been no peace in that sort of life, looking back. SinB and Eunha at least had each other then, but there had been so little they could do to make things change.

Sowon asked nothing of them. She took them in, kept them safe, and always offered them a choice whether or not to join her on her jobs. Her favor was never contingent on them accepting, and they had always been free to leave. SinB had been cautious at the beginning, as had Eunha, but as time passed, it was clear that Sowon had no ulterior motives regarding them. She had simply picked them up because she wanted to. That was it.

Case in point: Umji. SinB often hung out with the hacker, finding a new hobby in dismantling electronics and putting them back together. Umji was a pure soul, a little jittery thanks to being constantly connected to the Matrix, but a good person nevertheless. From what little the other girl had divulged, SinB had pieced together the fact that Umji had been yet another rescue Sowon made while out on a mission. It seemed like the blonde runner had a habit of doing that.

SinB wasn’t one to voice her squishier feelings. She could tear you a new one verbally, and snark with the best, but praise? Eunha had always jokingly compared SinB to a cat. A very haughty one. It was an apt description.

Even more apt now, as she slunk like a grungy feline through a dark tunnel. She had discovered this old shaft while exploring, and had expanded on it with Eunha’s help. Having a mage that could blast things was more effective than having to manually dig it herself.

Eunha

. SinB punched the wall next to her. Yuju had already been working on the statue with Umji’s help when she had awoken earlier, but SinB hadn’t been able to offer any concrete assistance. That had been exactly when Sowon decided to haul her into their makeshift training area to let off some steam. Which was good, since she would only have gotten underfoot with the ones actually capable of doing research.

It irked her to be so useless though. It wasn’t like she could physically go out to find Eunha. She couldn’t destroy the statue that caused the problem. She

could

go out to pick fights with the lurking Mireu cultists, but Sowon had very specifically told her not to do anything stupid earlier. They didn’t need to draw any attention to their location, at least not before they were finished with the statue.

Personally, SinB wanted to just destroy the bloody thing once they got Eunha back, but Yerin (and to a lesser extent Sowon) had been in favor of delaying until they could turn it in and avoid breaking the unspoken rules of the runner community. SinB didn’t particularly care about those rules though. Following the rules hadn’t stopped her parents from getting liquidated by their employers once their usefulness had run out. Life was incredibly unfair when you were low on the food chain.

There had to be something she could do. SinB straightened, shoulders set. A smirk crept up her lips as she cracked her knuckles, ready to stalk. They were in the dark, but what else was there beyond shadow in the twilight? SinB had grown up in this life. There was none better suited for the hunt.

Rules had never suited her anyway. Besides, why did Sowon get to have all the fun?

Sowon winced as she touched the fading bruise on her eye. SinB was getting better at this. The younger girl was smart, and learned fast. Impulsive still, which gave the more experienced Sowon all the edge she needed. Not enough to avoid the one good hit SinB managed to land on her, but nevertheless.

It was a good thing she healed fast. Sowon stared critically at the mirror. She had stripped down to shorts and a tank top for the session earlier, and that had definitely seemed to throw the normally cocky SinB off a little. It wasn’t like Sowon didn’t notice SinB staring at her sometimes. She didn’t normally encourage it, but she wasn’t above playing dirty when they were sparring. Sowon

did

like to win.

The blonde mercenary slipped off the eyepatch, the mechanical eye staring impassively back at her. It was

old

, though it had been revolutionary for its time. Newer cybernetic eyes mimicked regular human pupils a lot better. Sowon didn’t begrudge this one though.

It had been her first augmentation. Reborn into a world she knew nothing about, with no memories to guide her, she hadn’t even known her own name. The voices in her head were a constant ache, and she kept

seeing

things she knew couldn’t be there. It was terrifying and disorientating, and had nearly gotten her killed in her first fight.

That she only lost an eye had been a blessing in disguise. The surgeon that had picked her up off the street had kindly installed a replacement at his own expense, a favor Sowon had repaid later by running errands for him, her first taste of life as a runner in the shadows. But it was also that first installation that had given her respite in a world that didn’t make sense.

The world was flat and sharp and in focus through that eye.

This is how things are supposed to be

, a small voice echoed within her. The real, the tangible, the things she could touch and feel and taste. Things she could fight with her fists, or avoid where necessary. Not like the strange colors and shapes that followed her other real eye, always in her peripheral vision, but just out of reach.

Sowon didn’t trust the spirit world. Even after seeing what mages could do and knowing how powerful the Awakened were, a part of her couldn’t shake off how

unnatural

it was. She preferred the cold steel of blade and bullet, feeling a familiarity with weapons that grounded her to a past she couldn’t recall. She

knew

how to fight, knew how to plan an operation, how to be discreet and get things done. It had served her well as a runner.

Sometimes, she wondered. Who had she been? The dog tags that hung from her neck were her only connection to that unremembered history. They had been so badly scratched that she couldn’t even make out the words, but for a single letter. On that single letter she had come up with a new alias: Sowon, a wish to remember.

Feeling at the cold metal of her tags, Sowon’s fingers brushed across the other piece there, vaguely circular and corroded. Something about it made her sad, as if she had lost something important. She kept all this close to her heart, literally and figuratively.

Her heart

. Fingers strayed down her chest to that spot, covered by her tank top. She didn’t have to expose it to know it intimately, since it had been there since she had first woken up. It had been but one more of the unusual things that she had experienced since she regained consciousness.

The cool chrome over part of her torso might have been deliberate, the scales over her heart were most definitely

not

. They were cool to the touch, smooth even, but an irregularity compared to the human flesh that surrounded it. The only reason she hadn’t paid to have it surgically removed was because it had inadvertently saved her life once when someone tried to knife her in the chest. The blade had broken instead. She had made her peace with that particular peculiarity ever since.

Still. The scales had reacted earlier. The dragon statue made her uncomfortable in more ways than one. Everything about this whole incident kept her on edge. Dragons, she never trusted them. It wasn’t just the conventional wisdom of never making a deal with a dragon, but something deeper, more visceral. Sowon had a feeling it was yet another part of her hidden memories, but try as she might, they remained elusive.

Bending over to splash water on her face, Sowon closed her eyes. There was no point in pursuing the matter now. She had had enough time to learn patience. And right now, there were more important things to do. Like saving Eunha, whom she had failed before. She could not let it happen again.

She wouldn’t lose anyone again. Not this time.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

A bop to the head brought Umji back to meatspace, or as Sowon liked to put it, ‘the real world’. Umji didn’t agree though, the Matrix was just as real to her as the things she could touch in the physical plane. It wasn’t her fault Sowon-unnie was an antique, as much as she loved the woman.

“Did you sleep?” As always, Sowon was being a mother hen. Umji rubbed at her eyes, hiding a yawn with her wrists. Stims kept her going far beyond normal physical endurance limits, and she had nicked a sizable supply from SinB previously. She hadn’t expected to be using it for something as serious as this though; it had mostly been in anticipation of data jams with her community, where they could go as long as 72 hours with no sleep trying to outdo each other with the coolest new Complex Forms they could dream up in the Resonance Realms.

“Some.” The technomancer left it vague, toying nervously with a half-built droid out of habit. Sowon sighed.

“I guess that’s a no then.”

Umji grinned weakly. “I got distracted trying to track down a clue.”

“What have you got then?” Sowon pulled up a stool and parked herself next to Umji’s workstation. It was a neatly organized mess of electronics. Some were even labeled. Sowon managed to resist the urge to put things away. Umji didn’t like it when her things were moved.

“Well since you mentioned Mireu the other day I started looking them up, and cross-referenced them to any dragon related things just in case. They’re pretty much right-wing nutcases and I think they’re in bed with the Central Busan Republic. Hyeongdae also seems to allow them free movement around Ulsan, from what I found of their recruitment drives.” Umji paused to take a sip of her very spiked energy drink. Her eyelids fluttered, and her toes started tapping against the floor unconsciously. A firm hand removed the bottle from her twitchy hands, and Sowon’s scowling face was very much disapproving as she unscrewed the lid and sniffed its contents.

“What did I tell you about stims, young lady?”

Umji giggled, the effects of the drug starting to kick in.

“That you’ll cut me off from the Matrix if I went longer than 48 hours without sleep but unnie I still have 2 hours before that deadline.”

Sowon resisted the urge to smack the girl. Trust Umji to really cut it close. Then again, from what she had heard from Yuju earlier, time was indeed of the essence, and Umji had done a great deal of research on Yuju’s behalf while the shaman was modelling algorithms for some kind of ritual. Apparently magic and math were somehow related. It hadn’t escaped Sowon how gleeful Umji had been at learning that. The blonde fully anticipated more experiment-related explosions once the current crisis was over.

“Right, tell me what you’ve got, and then I’m knocking you out for at least 6 hours.” Sowon folded her arms calmly. She had tranquilizers for this purpose. Do not ask her when or why she prepared it. It was difficult to make sure a technomancer like Umji was actually asleep short of knocking them out cold completely, since they did

not

require any equipment to interface with the Matrix. It was almost like a form of magic, except digital. Sowon had had to resort to extreme measures to keep teenage Umji out of trouble, and she would not hesitate to bring those out again to make sure her baby stayed in line.

Umji made a face, then started tapping a beat on the table of her workstation almost involuntarily. Stims did that sometimes.

“So yes. Mireu. Bad people. Dragon cult. No one knows how they really got started but all their origin myths come from that dragon from the Gyeongju incident.” Umji cocked her head. “Funny thing, that. All we got was a 10 second blurry clip of some snakey thing flying into the air and getting bombed. I tracked the digital footprint of that clip but it’s been pretty well masked. Led me interesting places though, I still can’t crack through that secure datavault. I’ll do that later.”

“Umji…” Sowon started, but the hacker held up a hand.

“I know I

know

gimme a sec…” The young technomancer screwed her face together tightly, as if reordering her thoughts.

“Their higher ranks are called the Chosen, elite circle, don’t think you can just get promoted into it. Some kind of ritual implied from the rumors I skimmed off DarkNet. They’ve been after dragon-related paraphernalia for the last 40 years or so, even clashed with the Spartans a few times over some of it. Spartans

really

don’t like Mireu, by the way. ‘splains why Mireu never made it much further than Daegu really.” Umji took a breath after her stream of consciousness rant. Her eyes were bloodshot. Sowon frowned, about to interrupt, but Umji was already moving on.

“So like, huge dragon worship going on. Rankers get dragon tattoos to show off their status. Mid level guys at most get that medallion thing you found. Their religious tenets are a bit weird, something like a living God?” Umji paused thoughtfully, then shook her head. “I don’t know, they speak of their Dragon in present tense. I’ll figure it out after I crack that node, something something Operation Snakehunt, had to jump through so many hoops to even get that name.”

Sowon caught Umji as she shimmied a little too far off her chair in her rant, and then calmly jammed a tranq into the side of the younger’s neck at the same time. Umji flopped instantly. The older woman sighed, lifting the young hacker in her arms as if she weighed nothing, creaking as she stood.

“You’ve done well, now rest.”

SinB slipped back in without a sound, expecting to be unnoticed. That part went pretty well, considering her favorite way in came up inside her own room. She hit a snag pretty quickly when she decided to tiptoe over to check on Eunha though.

The lights in the hallway were off. It was late, and she had been out since the afternoon. It was quiet in the base, but for the distinct hum of machines coming from Umji’s room. SinB was expecting to just slip over to the doorway and take a look at Eunha before going to wash up, but she didn’t count on nearly tripping over a very silent Yuju sitting by the doorway.

“Ffff…what are you doing?” SinB caught herself before she stepped on the shaman.

Yuju didn’t respond, still facing inwards into Eunha’s room. It was the third day since they had brought Eunha back in her comatose state, and SinB had seen how Yuju, and to a lesser extent, Umji, had run themselves down to the bone in their efforts to bring her back. If not for Yerin and Sowon making sure the two got some sort of rest in between, it was entirely likely that they would simply force themselves past their limits.

SinB felt guilty, as one of the only ones to know exactly why those two were working round the clock. She had done what she could, doing resupply runs for them in the meantime, as well as getting the increasing esoteric materials Yuju started requesting. SinB didn’t know why Yuju asked her to get it, because Yerin would have been a better choice for it, but the shaman had simply given her a Look.

SinB understood that look. It was the kind of look they exchanged before one of them did something that could be seen either as recklessly stupid or completely brilliant, possibly both at the same time. The last time that look happened, SinB had dived off the roof of a 30
th
floor building without knowing exactly how she was going to land. Good thing Yuju

understood

that look, otherwise she would have been a very inglorious splat on the street.

So SinB got Yuju her toys without asking what they were for. Creepy magical shit was creepy, but SinB understood some of what she was being asked to get thanks to hanging out with Eunha. A lot of it was stuff to replenish mana, as well as a few other potentially dangerous drugs that allowed a mage to function above capacity for a short time. She didn’t recognize a good half of the rest of the items, and some of it had had to be sealed in special cases before transport. And no, she had not felt comfortable holding those even with gloves on. It was a miracle they managed to sneak it past Yerin’s watchful eye in the first place.

“You smell of blood.”

SinB twitched, quickly checking her hands. She was so sure she hadn’t gotten anything on herself earlier…

Yuju’s gaze flicked upwards at last, a hint of red in her irises. SinB took a step back. The shaman closed her eyes, the muscles of her jaw rippling faintly before she relaxed. She was breathing shallowly, her nose crinkling as if the scent made her ill.

“You must have gotten quite a few.”

SinB twitched harder. Was this a dog shaman thing? She hadn’t expected Yuju’s nose to be that keen. She backed up a bit more to give the other girl some space. Yuju looked pale even in the dark. SinB didn’t quite have night vision, but she could see better than mundanes in low light.

“You can’t possibly know that.” SinB replied defensively. She was

definitely

sure she hadn’t gotten any blood splashed onto her. Strangling someone was usually relatively bloodless, though a few had necessitated a little knife work. SinB had been a busy little bee for the last couple of days. Since she couldn’t help with any of the research or the magic, she had decided to take more

direct

steps.

Hunting down Mireu operatives in the upper city, as well as the few that had infiltrated the Underground, had been a satisfying pastime. It felt good to be the hunter for once, on home territory. She had grown up under their terrifying aegis, been too small and powerless to do anything when others were beaten and murdered for the sin of being different. She knew how their people looked like, how they moved and talked, and she knew their habits. It hadn’t been too difficult to track them once she had known what to look for. Mireu was a childhood terror she felt a need to conquer. That they were definitely the enemy this time was a great excuse. She didn’t feel like examining her own personal reasons any further.

A hint of a smile crooked Yuju’s lips. The shaman shifted, then rose fluidly off the ground, dusting herself off almost absently.

“Playtime’s over SinB, I’m almost ready.”

A flash of hope rose in SinB’s eyes. Yuju nodded, turning back to look at Eunha.

“I’ll bring her back for sure.” She paused. “But I’ll need all of you to be ready.”

“Ready for what?” SinB couldn’t help herself, stepping closer. Yuju moved away, her nose crinkling again. The fighter mouthed a quick sorry and moved backwards again. She hadn’t thought that Yuju would be this sensitive over the smell of blood.

“Once I remove the ruby from the statue, it won’t be contained anymore. If someone’s tracking its magical signature, we can expect company before long.”

“There aren’t any of them left nearby though.” SinB blurted impulsively. Yuju raised an eyebrow. The gunslinger grinned sheepishly. “I may have uh, taken care of things.”

“The ritual will take hours. That’s more than enough time for reinforcements to come in.” Yuju sighed, rubbing at her temples. “I can’t stop once it starts. No interruptions. If something goes wrong, Eunha might die.

I

might die.”

SinB straightened, looking the weary Yuju in the eye.

“Count on us. We won’t fail you.”

Yuju smiled wanly. “Didn’t think you would. We move once Yerin comes back with the last thing I need.”

SinB saluted smartly, coaxing a short bark of laughter from the shaman.

“Go shower, you stink. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Sowon what you’ve done.”

SinB stuck her tongue out impudently before skipping off. Eunha was going to be fine. They were going to get her back, then kick Mireu’s ass for getting them in trouble in the first place.

Everything was going to work out just fine.

It felt like a very long dream, wandering on the edge of wakefulness. A whole lifetime through the eyes of another, in vague flashes and skipped sequences. A story already written, and her a passenger along for the ride.

The skin off a scraped knee, the thrill of a swing into the sky. The loss of a dear friend, and the joy of reunion. Falling in love with kind eyes and a gentle smile, laughing and crying with the ones dear to her heart. Whispers of voices and fears, fingers entwined across tangled sheets as they sought comfort in a dark time. Time and again, through fire and flame. Smoothing away the tears of her lover, with soft touches and murmured promises.

She got to know every last one of them, friends and family to her and yet

wasn’t

. Learned to love them all over again, through the life of the her that wasn’t her. For all that they shared the same face, they were not quite the same. Similar, but just different enough for her to remember it was a life that didn’t belong to her.

She felt like she might sleep forever in that waking dream, but was brought to sharp clarity as her view turned on its axis, so close to the surface that she felt like she could reach out and touch the familiar face before her. She could not speak, trapped behind the glass of awareness, even as events played out as they should. Could not warn clearly of the growing danger she felt running up the arms of not-her, though their souls resonated ever more with her distress.

The other her

knew

, somehow. They were one, but not the same. But it was too little, too late. Fire, it was always fire. Of course it had to be. The fire she so feared, for good reason.

She couldn’t be dead. Couldn’t be. In this both her and other-her were in agreement, synchronized in grief and denial. They spoke together, in madness and fury and pain. A portrait painted in red.

The darkness threatened to swallow her whole. It was like being caught in a howling maelstrom as the fury from within tore itself apart, for all that she was still behind the looking glass. And yet, at the eye of the storm, a single determined girl, who could have been her, striving for the impossible. And it was impossible,

should have been impossible

, and yet…

The dragon had to be lying. But she wanted to believe. Or was it the other her that did? She was finding it hard to tell the difference. The deep red of the orb winked at her, almost knowingly. If she had a voice with which to scream, she would.

Contact, and a familiar rush of power.

Once again, we meet

. An instant that lasted forever; trapped in the blink of an eye, between heartbeats, before a breath sharply taken. A moment, that was

waiting

, but for what?

Someone was calling for her. Who was it? Who was she? She had almost forgotten, trapped in another life that could have been hers.

Eunha…

Is that who she was?

Come back…

I...who am I?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Boots crunched in unison against grimy tile, scaring away rats and vagrants alike. Perhaps sensing trouble in the air, the streets of the Underground in this sector were eerily clear, save for a spider or two weaving their webs unseen.

“This is the place.”

A stocky man in grey combat fatigues paused in mid-stride, coming to an abrupt halt. He was staring at his watch, which was glowing ominously with a red light shaped like an eye hovering over it. Said eye was currently pivoted in a certain direction, blinking steadily as the center turned a light orange. The man waved the squad of ten to stand ready, even as a single hooded figure came out of the formation to stand next to him.

“Wards are up. Counting on you to break them, Brother.”

The hooded man inclined his head, stretching tattooed hands out as he held a talisman before him. The squad leader stepped back as the mage began to glow, gesturing to his armed men to fan out by the entrance.

Energy rippled across the glowing talisman, now an angry yellow. It burst suddenly, spraying the pavement with heated fragments. The mage staggered back, taking out a second talisman to protect himself even as the first shattered. The eye on the captain’s watch turned to green.

“Well done, Brother.”

The mage spat on the ground. The liquid was flecked with red, sizzling on contact with one of the still glowing fragments embedded into the tile.

“Strong wards. Strong mage.” The tattooed mage warned. He wiped at the corner of his mouth, and it came away bloody. The captain acknowledged it with a curt nod.

“Drones in first. Get the thermo grenades ready, ultrasound after if necessary. We go in hot.”

A pair of drones hovered up even as two of the squad attached charges to the now revealed doorway that had been cleverly disguised with wards of unsight earlier. A short countdown later, the door disintegrated as the charges detonated inward. The drones swept in, their operator hanging back to monitor their progress on his visor.

Gunfire tore through the drones, who returned it at what turned out to be fixed turrets hidden in the walls. The cameras caught a glimpse of blonde just as an explosive round smashed the view into smithereens. The operator cursed and swivelled his other drone to fire at the blur, but the elusive figure had already ducked into a different blind spot out of the drone’s line of fire.

“01 and 02, ward up and bust in. Light the zone as soon as you can, we don’t have eyes on the mage yet. We head in once smokes are ready.”

Intermittent gunfire continued below as the squad readied themselves to enter. The drone operator cursed when his remaining drone was taken down in another barrage from yet another angle. The captain glanced over.

“How many did you spot?”

“At least two, maybe three bogeys. A lot of automated defenses. No eyes on the mage still.” The operator still looked upset. He had been

attached

to those drones, dammit.

Consecutive blasts went off as the vanguard tossed their grenades in. The squad was forced into single file in the narrow passageway, but at least the wall turrets had been destroyed by the first few explosions. It would have been a massacre had they gone in without knowing about the trapped walls.

“Can you find the enemy mage?” The captain questioned his own mage, who was still breathing heavily from earlier. The tattooed mage concentrated with some effort.

“Deeper in. More wards. Power source.” The mage hesitated, before pulling out a vial and downing the neon contents with a grunt. The liquid seemed to energize him, and he straightened to his full height, which wasn’t very much to begin with.

The captain nodded, raising his own assault rifle. “We go in to reinforce. If the mage is on the field, neutralize them first. We need to extract our target.”

Tattooed mage cracked his knuckles, the inked serpents coiled around his wrists and snaking up his arms seeming to writhe as they glowed with power. He led the way in, surrounding himself and the captain with a force field that shimmered as they moved.

Drone operator covered the rear, pistol out. He wasn’t of much use without his toys, but with their resident mage all revved up, he wasn’t too worried. As far as he was concerned, the scrubs who were holding their target were walking deaders. Mages were scary, and none more than one of the Initiated. The moving tattoos were

freaky

, man.

All in all, it promised to be a quick and dirty job. He hoped they got overtime pay though. Flying in from Ulsan via helicopter thanks to the sudden deployment had come as a surprise. Not that he knew why they were being called in, but he supposed someone higher up owed a favor. It didn’t matter though. They were called in, and they would finish the job. That was what professionals

do

.

Above, the heated shards from the exploded talisman cooled, leaving behind melted gobs of molten metal on the tile. A spider spun lazily on an axis, scattered dust raining past glistening strands. Distantly, the web vibrates, as the hunter readies to tighten the net around unsuspecting prey.

The night was still young. Who knew what it would bring?

Broad lines slashed across rough concrete, vivid crimson on dull grey. There was a symmetry in the chaos, all wide strokes and sharp angles, precisely calculated to within a millimeter.

Candle stubs flickered with blue flames, lending an ethereal glow to the area. In the very center, Eunha lay motionless, like Snow White in slumber. The apple that had landed her in this state lay cradled over her heart, held in place by steepled fingers. A soft red glow emanated from within, contrasting against the milk white of her skin.

Fingers brushed across pale skin, brushing away stray strands of hair from her face. A thumb slid across plump lips, tracing the outline with a lingering touch. An exhale, and a quick flash of obsidian. Fingertips now stained red drawing arcane symbols on skin, gentle but firm.

Yuju straightened, her face tight with concentration. Two hours since breaking the seal around the ruby, and her preparations were almost complete. The external containment circle she had drawn before that isolated her within a bubble of utter silence, but for the measured beats of her own heart.

Outside, she knew the others were roaming, ensuring that no one would interrupt her. She needed all the time they could give her.

Time. The unseen moon above was waxing, but they could not have afforded to wait for it to reach fullness. Other factors would have to compensate.

Yuju carefully paced to her own spot, feeling the nexus beneath her feet as she began to draw on the dormant leyline to power the circle. All around her, the candles flickered and went out, extinguished by an unseen wind.

It mattered little. The pattern on the ground began to glow, intricate lines coming to life like a vast circulation system kicking into gear. A dull throb, like that of a beating heart, began its inaudible rhythm as the light pulsed in time to it.

The door was opening. Yuju needed to widen it, and hold it open. And this was only the beginning. She had a long way to go before the night was over.

Eunha, be safe.

“So you think this will all be necessary?”

SinB attached a charge in the precise spot Umji had marked in the digital overlay of her shades, then started following the marker leading to the next one. A chuckle crackled over her comms.

“Better to be prepared.” Umji’s reply was quick, if slightly distracted. SinB didn’t blame her. No doubt their resident hacker was dividing her attention between all three of the roaming members of their team. They had no direct link to Yuju unfortunately, not with the concentration of magic in that sealed chamber. The interference was too strong even with the best shielding Umji could come up with. Fortunately, the shaman had given all of them something else to communicate with, but it was only to be used in emergencies.

SinB touched the little wood carving suspended around her neck. She wasn’t sure how it worked, but Yuju assured her that she would be able to speak with them through it if necessary, as long as they were not too far out of range. When asked to define ‘out of range’, the shaman had smiled with her eyes.

“As long as you’re still in the city, I can reach you.”

Which, as far as SinB was aware of, was a monstrous range. While magical communications powered with ritual arrays could reach across continents easily, this was a makeshift network powered by one person. Most mages couldn’t reach that far without help, and here was Yuju calmly asserting that she could communicate long distances without any external foci boosting her range.

SinB was glad she never really got on Yuju’s bad side. Eunha was scary enough with her fire, but somehow knowing that someone could hunt you down wherever you ran was a lot more terrifying. Even Umji with her drones and hacked cameras wasn’t quite as omniscient.

“I’m done over here.” Sowon’s voice came over the channel. They had a shared channel for the moment, though switching to private comms was possible. It just wasn’t necessary at the time. Yerin had been suspiciously quiet the entire time, but SinB wasn’t surprised. Yerin had gotten into an argument with Yuju prior to the setup for the ritual, but they had somehow managed to keep it down enough for SinB to be unable to catch they were saying. Not even Umji could fill her in on all the details afterwards, but from what little they had managed to piece together, Yerin had been worried for Yuju. But then again, when was she not?

The shaman had won the argument though. SinB most definitely hadn’t been peeking through a crack in the door to try and figure out what they were doing at the time. Not at all. She definitely hadn’t seen the hug Yuju had given Yerin to comfort her.

It was always those little moments that made SinB wonder how the two hadn’t already been dating when she confronted Yuju that time. They were close,

too

close at times. There was a casual intimacy in their interactions that made SinB wonder. But at the same time, it wasn’t like Yuju didn’t have chemistry with Eunha. It was a mess, and SinB once again considered if it would be a better idea to just talk Eunha out of it. Surely at this stage of the crush things were still salvageable?

But first they had to bring Eunha back. SinB shimmied up a narrow shaft, climbing spider-like and dangling halfway off a ceiling to reach the marked spot. This was the last one she had to get to, then she would rendezvous with Sowon and Yerin closer to where Yuju was. Umji was safely barricaded out of harm’s way, but her electronic reach allowed her to defend Yuju remotely while the rest were out and about. Amazing what a small army of drones and turrets could do, really. Umji had been

very

busy the last few days.

“Looks like Yuju was right.” Yerin spoke up for the first time, sounding tense. Umji’s voice cut in.

“Yerin-unnie what are you…”

“I’ve got this.”
The transmission cut off abruptly. Umji almost swore, remembered Sowon was on the channel, and wisely PG-13’d it at the last second. Sowon’s voice echoed in at the next moment.

“Where is Yerin?”

A pause as SinB and Sowon both heard Umji moving stuff around for a second. The hacker didn’t let them down.

“Halfway across town, she got done before you two.” Umji seemed harried. SinB scowled.

“What is she doing?”

“Something dumb.” Umji muttered, connecting to the relevant eyes she needed. “I didn’t think we were seriously going to do this.”

“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Sowon sounded extraordinarily calm. Which was probably more dangerous than her sounding mad. SinB had experienced that firsthand before.

“We ah, had a backup plan. Yuju’s idea. Yerin volunteered to do it. I um, helped a bit.” Umji sounded sheepish. Sowon grunted.

“Details.”

“We were just going to...ohshit.”

“What!?” Sowon and SinB echoed in unison. Umji sounded a little stressed.

“Uh, later. Yerin-unnie needs backup. Can you two fall back to where Yuju-unnie is first, I’ve got to help her out.”

“This isn’t over, young lady.” Sowon threatened. Umji responded by cutting off her end of the transmission. SinB laughed, switching to direct with Sowon.

“Never thought I’d see that happen.”

Sowon only growled in response. The pair agreed to meet at the pre-arranged spot. Protecting Yuju was still priority. They could only trust that Umji and Yerin knew what they were doing.

It was going to be a long night.

Yerin ducked into a different room as she played hide and seek with her pursuers. All of them were blind to some degree, with the smoke grenades from earlier. But that was okay, Yerin still had Umji, who was better than actually having eyes sometimes.

Her glamour shifted as she crossed over to a different area, brown melting into blonde to project the illusion of more than one adversary. Umji’s mini drones reinforced the illusion with intermittent gunfire from her last seen location as a brunette.

Twelve men. At least two were dead. There was an enemy mage, but the smoke hid Yerin from any direct line of sight, and she was careful to maintain that. She could run rings around mundanes all day, but the Awakened were a different breed.

She wasn’t here to kill them all on her own though. She was here to buy time.

Almost three hours since she had last seen Yuju. Yerin squeezed off a couple more shots, wounding someone in the thigh before disappearing into another hidden passage. This safehouse had been remodeled into a deadly labyrinth with the combined efforts of herself and Umji. They hadn’t had much time, but the effect was decent enough.

Return fire whizzed past her last location, and Yerin chuckled, shifting to a dark brunette not unlike SinB before tossing a flashbang out into the corridor as she crossed it again. Umji’s updates flashed on her shades, marking the locations of her prey in real time.

She almost paid for her overconfidence when a spectral serpent’s yawning maw almost bit her head off, had she not ducked and rolled by instinct the moment she sensed danger.

The mage

. She cursed quietly, tossing another flashbang as she scrambled to safety.

She couldn’t keep playing like this. A conjurer of this caliber would kill her the moment she made a mistake. Yerin calculated her odds, moving further inward to lure them towards the beacon Yuju had handed her previously. A decoy, to lure anyone tracking the orb.

Even with the containment field Yuju had planned, the shaman knew that the ritual and its immense drain would eventually reveal her location. It was just a matter of time. And for now, every enemy drawn to a different location was one less to look for the actual thing.

The beacon was keyed to the orb’s signature, allowing the proxy to broadcast the correct signal from the wrong location. Yerin’s only task was to keep them here as long as possible, without letting them find the beacon. A competent mage would realize what was going on the moment they laid eyes on the decoy, Yuju had warned.

Yerin smirked to herself. She had plans for when that happened.

Just a little bit more, she promised herself. Hold out a bit longer, for Yuju’s sake. She could do this. She

had

to do this.

Yuju was counting on her. She would never disappoint her puppy. Ever.

Umji resisted the urge to bite her fingernails as she coordinated her attacks with Yerin’s moves, all while constantly keeping track of the men in the maze they had created. All this, and she still had to keep an eye on Sowon and SinB in case something happened there while she wasn’t watching.

Umji hoped Sowon wouldn’t get

too

mad about her cutting off the transmission earlier. She was still secretly eavesdropping on SinB and Sowon’s conversation, not that she would ever let them know, of course. She wasn’t

that

bold.

The young hacker winced when an acid spray narrowly missed Yerin’s face, nicking part of her hair and searing into the skin of her shoulder. The enemy mage had conjured up a second serpent, which was the source of the acidic spit. Umji immediately redirected more firepower in his direction, hoping to ease the pressure on Yerin. She could hear the normally sassy woman’s breaths coming in shallow gasps over their comms channel.

“Yerin-unnie, shouldn’t this be enough?” Umji asked tentatively. Yerin exhaled explosively as she slapped a quick medpatch on her shoulder. Blood trickled down the side of her face where a stray bullet had nicked her in the temple earlier.

“Soon. Just a bit more.”

Between the two of them, they had held the enemy for more than thirty minutes within their death trap. Two more had died since, leaving eight alive, unfortunately with the mage being one of those still standing. Yerin was battered and bruised, but still moving like a lethal shadow despite her injuries. Her eyes were intent and determined.

The enemy was starting to cotton on to their tricks, but she wasn’t out of options yet. Yerin ghosted further inward, leading them towards the beacon. She would have loved to play some more, but that acid had been her last straw. No one messed with her hair and got away with it, dammit. Her shoulder throbbed despite the numbing effect from the patch.

Boots pounded after her, and she grinned recklessly, signalling to Umji. The hacker complied, slowing down the pursuit with a number of booby traps, giving Yerin time to slip into the final chamber with the decoy. It was glowing steadily, which reassured Yerin. That meant that Yuju was still holding on strong on the other end.

The wards around the door pulsed, struggling against the onslaught from the other side. Unhurried, Yerin checked her setup. She was just in time. No more, no less.

When the enemy burst into the chamber, guns blazing, they were confronted with naught but a glowing beacon and a recorded message playing back on their entry.

“Surprise! I hope you like my little present~”

They didn’t even have enough time to scream before the entire place exploded into white light.

A discarded vial joined its abandoned siblings on the floor, clinking softly as it rolled to a stop. Vivid orange set the backdrop to a hellish glow, emphasizing the gaunt look on Yuju’s face. Shadows flickered under her eyes, as a trickle of sweat eased its way down her cheek.

Even with the leyline lending her extra power, opening a gateway on the astral plane as a shortcut to summon Eunha’s soul back was no mean feat. Really, a stunt like this usually took a whole cabal of mages working in unison, and not just because of the power drain.

No, it was the mental acrobatics needed to maintain the gateway. The otherworld was always shifting, and nothing was actually permanent. A practitioner was a self contained node floating in a turbulent ocean, and while most of them were able to coast the waves of the fluctuating planes when astral projecting, the natural link one had to one’s own body allowed a mage to triangulate back to their start point without needing a reference...usually. Going

too

far could still be a problem, and it took skill to navigate back with all the white noise in the background.

In Eunha’s case, her essence was clearly “lost” in the aether at the moment, and before Yuju could call her back, she needed to fix a reference point to call her home to her own body. That was what all the symbols she had drawn on and around Eunha were for. But all that was useless without constantly recalculating the point of reference relative to the volatile ocean of the spirit world.

It was basically doing

n

-dimensional math while maintaining an active portal, while

also

repelling any hostile spirits attempting to hijack the empty vessel, and on top of all that, Yuju had to keep calling out for Eunha at regular intervals.

This was where prolonged association with Umji had actually sort of helped. On hindsight, she had already been subconsciously doing something like it

before

having an actual concept of macros. Yuju was able to mentally delegate repetitive tasks to a corner of her consciousness with something not unlike a macro function. Unfortunately, the

n-

dimensional math needed her constant attention, and she always needed to keep an eye on the portal that was projecting through the dragon ruby currently placed on Eunha’s body at the moment.

Yuju didn’t quite trust the ruby, but she had no other choice. It was the best way to amplify the summons. Thus far, the ruby had seemed quite docile. Small mercies at best, but Yuju had her guard up. It was almost too many variables to control, but she was managing thus far. Not without help from some chemicals, and she was probably going to regret it when the crash came, but she could hold out still. Just a little more. For now.

Resonance. Like a distant echo, vibrating across the line she had cast deep and far into the other side. A part of her was curious, but not so curious as to follow the trail. Someone still needed to anchor this end of things, for all that she wanted to investigate the echo. But this was promising. It was a positive response, rather than the void she had been casting into.

Eunha?

Yuju tried tentatively, magnifying her call into the aether. Beneath her, the red glow of the ruby pulsed in response, the light seeming to contract into itself, coalescing into a deeper crimson not unlike blood. Yuju channeled another flare of her own magic into the ruby, striving to keep it under control. Her face paled by a shade, but still she held steady.

The resonance grew, and with it, the response from the ruby. Yuju gritted her teeth, focusing her power through the ruby while trying to stabilize it. A reflection shot up from the astral version of the ruby, like a ghost from long past. Frozen for a moment, translucent, before dissipating like smoke.

It was enough for Yuju to hiss in surprise, biting deep into her own lip. A frozen frame of Eunha crying? Why was she crying? The shaman’s heart clenched. She had to bring Eunha back, before the girl was hurt even worse.

Be safe.

The ruby was clearly the key. Buoyed by the connection, Yuju started feeding more energy through it, straining visibly as her cells screamed at the abuse. No one was supposed to be able to channel so much for this amount of time, but she was doing it. No one had told her before that she couldn’t, but who was going to stop her now?

The ritual circle flared, going from weak orange to a deeper vermillion. The hairs on Yuju’s arms were standing on end as static gathered around her. Her aura was invisible on the physical plane, but on the astral, she was aglow, more lightshow than recognizably human.

The orb is the key

. A moment of sudden clarity, and Yuju found her astral self diving right towards the pulsing ruby, which was already starting to shudder and shake from the immense energies being fed into it. Spectral hands closed around the trembling glow.

Eunha!

It was like falling forever, with no sense of time or distance or space. Yuju focused inwardly, yelling with all her might for Eunha to hear her. And through the glowing red of the ruby, she suddenly caught sight of Eunha’s face coming into focus, muddied and bloodied, but recognizably her face regardless.

The image was faltering, sputtering and flickering as if the connection was too weak. Yuju despaired as it started to fade, but she was reaching the limits of what she could safely channel without imploding herself in the process. She needed to do something, anything.

The taste of metal on her lips, from where the skin had broken earlier. The flow of power from beneath, burning her from within. She needed

more

, but how? There was no way she could draw more of the primal forces from the leyline without burning up like a candle.

Blood

. The image was breaking up, Eunha’s face starting to fracture within the ruby’s glow. Something red dripped to the floor, as crimson tears overflowed. It ran down the slight incline, feeding into the circle.

A sudden jolt as it stabilized for a second. Yuju froze for a second, mind whirling. Already, the effect was fading, but she connected the dots in that split second.

Blood is life is power. Nothing came without sacrifice. The thought triggered a shudder, her fists clenching futilely as her fingers dug into her own skin.

Weak. Can’t save anyone. Everyone died. Except you. WEAK.

Old horrors like a distant nightmare. A body hitting the ground. The blood...in her hair her hands her eyes and…

I need power.

Grimly, Yuju raised the obsidian knife she had sheathed earlier.

Red, beautiful red, entwining like a lost lover into the ruby glow. Power bloomed like a flower in spring, craning towards the sun. Yuju smiled, reaching into the glow, where Eunha was also reaching out towards her.

Eunha....

Their fingers touched, and everything froze for that one magical second. Before it could end, Yuju yanked, and it fractured into a million pieces, every shard a tiny razor. A thousand, thousand cuts, each an indelible mark, but Yuju was smiling.

She could

feel

Eunha again, faint and a little weak, but coming ever closer. On her knees -- when and how did she end up on the ground again? -- Yuju crawled closer to Eunha’s body, raising a shaky hand to grasp the sleeping girl’s hand.

I won’t leave anyone behind again.

She squeezed, and then her world shattered in an explosion of black light, taking her with it. An inaudible screech ripped through the area, the ritual circle winking out in an instant, red light sinking back into painted red lines with a sigh. The air trembled, as if frightened of what was to come. The moment was still, and silent. Waiting.

Beneath the bloody grip, a pale finger twitched.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Something’s not right here.”Sowon muttered as she crouched in the abandoned ruins of an old shop. The flickering lights lent long shadows to the old station platform, and the blonde mercenary took advantage of that to observe her surroundings. SinB’s response sounded thoughtful over the comms.“Now that you mention it, it seems awfully quiet…”More than quiet. It was the silence of the grave. As if sensing the coming storm, the street rats who usually slept on the old counters or congregated near open zones like this were conspicuously missing. Even if it was late at night, you don’t generally dislodge the homeless vagrants who took shelter around here. Unless they knew it was not safe. The people on the street did have a very well honed sense of self preservation.The sound of movement perked her ears, and Sowon quietly removed the eyepatch over her electronic eye. She might as well take advantage of the night vision and thermal imaging on it for now, even if she normally didn’t rely on it since it was not as aesthetically pleasing to reveal. Sowon had standards.“People moving towards Tunnel 42.” Sowon reported, updating SinB who was still on her way here. She heard the younger girl swear lightly, and was inclined to agree. That was one of the routes leading to where Yuju was. Sowon thought quickly, scanning the area to make a quick battle plan.“I’ll cut them off, you swing around from the other side, make sure no one slips past.”“How many?” SinB’s breathing picked up as she evidently started moving faster. Sowon squinted, thumbing at the grip of her rifle.“Six, maybe seven. Mostly locals we know, and one weirdo in a cloak.” Sowon didn’t feel too worried now that she had eyes on the situation. She could handle this. The blonde runner detached the safety on her heavy rifle, the gauge releasing with a satisfying hiss.They had no business heading down that tunnel, and she would stop them with maximum force. Was it rude to gun down fellow mercenaries without warning? Maybe, but Sowon was short on scruples and out of patience. She had been grounded within base for the last few days to avoid being tracked, and now that she was out, there was no way mere acquaintances would stop her from protecting her own team.Stealth might not be her biggest strength, but she was still undetected in the shadows behind them for now. Now that her eyepatch was off, her electronic eye could zoom in through the dim light to study the group making its way to the tunnel in question.Six local mercs, and one unknown. Sowon mentally ran through the strengths and weaknesses of the ones she knew, and decided to take out the skinny spellcaster first. Mages were always a priority target, and she had heard of this guy before. Disgusting habits, drug addict, but a mean hand with his manabolts when hyped up on speed. Definitely someone she wanted off the field right off the bat.She calculated her odds. She could probably gun down a maximum of two before they could respond to her. Five on one odds were not great, but she could deal. Besides, she did have SinB coming in as backup, even if it was probably quite unnecessary.The roar of automatic fire tore unannounced through the upper half of the unfortunate mage’s torso, turning it into a gory version of Swiss cheese. Her second salvo was slightly less successful, though she did clip the second guy pretty bad. Short of having a mage heal him on the spot, he wasn’t going to be much of a threat.To the credit of the mercs, they responded to the unexpected attack by instantly ducking towards cover. The lone cloaked figure stood in the middle of the tunnel, staring quizzically in her direction. Sowon had some cover behind a pillar, but she wouldn’t be hiding behind it forever. She grinned ferally, slamming the adrenaline pump at her neck for a quick boost.The world seemed to slow as she dashed out, evading a flurry of thrown knives from the nearest merc. One-handed, she pulled out a shotgun and filled him with lead as she closed the distance between them with terrifying speed. Teeth bared, she barely flinched as bullets whizzed past her torso, already bounding towards her next target.Panic was written all over the gunman’s face as a hundred and twenty pounds of steel and fury landed on him, his shots pinging harmlessly off Sowon’s shielded torso. She was fully armored tonight, and that wasn’t even counting the dermal plating under her skin. Fingers closed around a vulnerable throat, and squeezed. One crushed windpipe and a partially dented skull later, Sowon was already leaping away to avoid the gunfire haplessly trying to track her.Her passage was as swift as it was terrible, and she almost casually blew the face off the second merc she had downed earlier as she charged directly at the remaining two runners and their employer. One of them dropped his guns and tried to run, but his escape was terminated by an unfortunate case of decapitation. The terrified expression frozen on his face was almost comical as it rolled to a stop at Sowon’s feet, where she was just withdrawing her arm from the last man’s face. Her face scrunched up in disgust as she tried to flick eyeball goo from her fingers.“Messy.” Sowon commented drily as she assessed the tall cloaked figure and his unsheathed sword. She hadn’t even seen him draw that thing. They were less than twenty feet apart at this point, but that was fine. Guns were still faster than a sword.The sharp report of her shotgun sliced through the air, but the cloaked figure was already on the move, closing the distance between them with speed not much slower than her own. Sowon bared her teeth as she abandoned her gun, catching the downward swing of the blade with her gloved hands.Adrenaline continued to race through her veins as she twisted, attempting to disarm her opponent. He retaliated with a punch at her throat as he loosened his grip to roll with her momentum, changing his hold on the weapon and switching from slice to stab. Sowon narrowly avoided being impaled as she jerked out of the way, dropping with a sweepkick to try and unbalance her opponent.The swordsman leaped backwards, and Sowon took the opportunity to snag her dropped shotgun earlier, pumping it right at his exposed stomach from close range.The fight should have ended then, but the blast only staggered the figure, driving him several steps backward before he regained himself. The shells plinked off as if they had hit something solid, falling harmlessly to the ground.Sowon scowled. She hadn’t run into someone who was as bulletproof as her in awhile. This was going to be inconvenient.“Shit.” SinB’s voice suddenly rang over her comms. The younger girl sounded breathless. “Why are there CorpSec teams here?!”Distracted, Sowon almost had her face bisected by another side slash, but she managed to step backward in time so that only her fringe suffered. She countered with a flurry of punches, her heavy gloves whooshing as she forced her opponent back.“Are they…?” Sowon managed to get half a question out before having to block yet another riposte. Thankfully, SinB seemed to understand it.“Not towards Yuju, I think they’re coming towards you, Unnie.”Sowon growled as she blocked again. It was a good thing the blade was just normal steel and not some kind of funky shit like the Spartans used. All the chrome in the world wouldn’t hold up against their vibro-blades. She was at a distinct disadvantage with the swordsman having a longer reach with his weapon. She needed to get inside his range to force the encounter.And her opponent knew it. He never let up, weaving a dizzying web of attacks to keep her on her toes. Sowon had never had to fight like this in a long time, and truth be told, she was enjoying every second of it. She would regret having to choke the bastard to death later, just a little.“Let them come.” Sowon breathed out heavily, her heels digging into gravel as she grabbed the blade again, forcing it back as she lunged forward like a pouncing tiger.She needed to finish this, and quickly.
An arm punched through the rubble, dust caking the faded tattoos as the rest of the bloodied mage struggled to crawl out from the wreckage.The split second he had earlier was all he needed to throw up a shield, but even then it had been a close thing. He had lost all feeling in his right leg where shrapnel had torn through the lower calf, forcing him to use magic to numb the pain. His breathing was labored, every intake of air like a razor across his chest. He suspected cracked ribs or worse. Having a whole room explode on you and surviving a collapsing ceiling did that.“I’m going to kill that bitch if I ever see her again.” He hissed, struggling to get up on his feet.He never did. Something slim and sharp slipped between his third and fourth ribs, finding the heart unerringly in a single thrust. Yerin jerked out her dagger with a practiced twist, and just for good measure, slit the mage’s throat as well. Better to be safe than sorry.It was a good thing she always hung back to make sure there were no survivors. One could never be too cautious around mages. She briefly contemplated sawing his head off, but the dagger was a poor tool for that.Umji’s voice crackled over the comms.“Unnie, I’m getting two more squads in sector 40.”Yerin frowned, straightening as she cleaned off her dagger on the dead man’s clothing. Her shoulder was still tender, and her ankle was sore, but it was nothing that would seriously incapacitate her. She could still fight.Sector 40 was dangerously close to where Yuju was. She was in Sector 12, almost an hour away if she had to follow the twisting routes of the Underground on foot. There was a quicker way though.“I’m going topside Umji, find me the nearest thing I can hotwire.”“On it.”Yerin sheathed her blade and began to sprint to the nearest service shaft. Time was of the essence. No one was getting anywhere near Yuju if she could help it.
SinB was doing her best impression of Spiderman as she clung to the ceiling supports precariously, trying not to fall. Her choice of clothing was proving to be quite prescient, given how she was blending in with her surroundings.Granted, her first instinct to leap for the ceiling like a startled cat when she heard the thumping of boots on tile was probably embarrassing, but no one was around to make fun of her for it. SinB missed Eunha terribly for a second. Her childhood friend would never let this go if she knew about it.Then again, perhaps her first reaction was also her best possible reaction, considering she was incredibly ill equipped to deal with a full security team on her own. She was a glass cannon, not a charging bulldozer like Sowon was. Bullets could definitely hurt her, and she quite liked her blood where it was inside her body.Now that she had warned Sowon, SinB considered her options. She might be able to pick off one or two stragglers before anyone noticed something was wrong, but there was ten of them and one of her. Her advantage was speed, but she wasn’t keen to get into any contests with bullets at close range. She could dodge bullets if she had enough of a lead time and saw it coming, but the terrain here didn’t give her that much space to maneuver. It would be suicide to try.That and, she had to figure out whether they were in fact an enemy force. Corporate security teams rarely came down to the Underground, and were in fact not very welcome down here. Which explained why they were all armed to the teeth, since the locals could and often did pick off lone corp chummers whenever the opportunity presented itself.So what was such a team doing down here at this time of the night? SinB didn’t believe in coincidences either. If Yerin had been busy taking out one team earlier, this one was probably more of the same. But it didn’t make sense. Tristar had no reason to deal with Mireu,
if this was Tristar to begin with.SinB took a deep breath and swung herself over to the next beam, barely catching hold of it before hooking her feet around it for a more secure grip. Sloth-like she dangled, right above the heads of the ones bringing up the rear. Not for the first time she regretted not having night vision, which was why she was currently letting go of the beam and only using her feet to hang onto the overhead beam. She had wisely bunned up her hair so that it didn’t fall freely while she was suspended upside down like a bat.That put her much closer to the last soldier bringing up the rear. He was about three meters behind the rest of his squad, clearly hanging back to sweep the area without being too far to signal for help if necessary. It would be enough for SinB.A thin coil of wire, near invisible in the gloom, snaked around the hapless soldier’s neck. SinB didn’t tighten it immediately, judging her angles carefully for a second, then dropped. She somersaulted in the air as she did, and with a practiced flip, landed on her feet like a cat. The wire tightened with a snap even as her hand whipped forward to strangle any cries.The combined weight of her body and the force of landing was enough for the wire to slice effortlessly through the poor man’s throat. She even managed to hook the falling rifle from the suddenly dead man’s hands with a foot, gingerly transferring it to her free hand once she was sure he was dead. The whole process took less than five seconds.Now came the difficult part. She stripped the man’s outer vest quickly and put it on along with his helmet, which would disguise her features. It was a good thing her pants were utilitarian black, which saved her the trouble of having to steal his pants as well. There was a space between two abandoned recycling bins. She stuffed him in there and took his weapons.In less than a minute, SinB caught up to the rest of the squad, keeping the same distance as the man had earlier. Hanging out with Yerin over the past year had taught her a lot of things, as demonstrated earlier. SinB was rather proud of it. She couldn’t wait to tell Sowon all about it later.Idly, she checked the tag on her stolen clothes. Hyeongdae. The distinctive logo was unmistakable. That settled it then. Definitely hostile, and likely here on behest of Mireu. It was no secret back in the south that Hyeongdae and Mireu were friendly, not unlike how Tristar was on cordial terms with the Spartans here. SinB bit her lip, trying to shake the vague sense that all this might just be her fault.If she hadn’t been hunting Mireu operatives so actively, they wouldn’t have asked Hyeongdae for reinforcements. SinB couldn’t imagine how Tristar would allow them to move in like this, but considering it was just small strike teams and not an entire brigade sweeping the area, perhaps Tristar had simply decided to close one eye as long as their own interests were not threatened.“Well, fuck.” SinB muttered to herself. She could only hope Sowon didn’t put two and two together. Maybe if dear leader got to smash more skulls in tonight, she might just get away with some bruises? SinB could only hope.Right now, all she had to do was follow this squad to where the sound of all the fighting was. She could worry about consequences later.The fun was just beginning, after all.
The wind roared around Yerin’s ears as she sped down the deserted freeway on her stolen motorbike. It was a very nice bike, clearly modified beyond legal limits, and had been stopped outside a 24 hour diner. With a little help from Umji, Yerin had cracked the electronic lock in about two minutes flat and was out of the parking lot before anyone noticed.With Umji navigating for her, Yerin was able to enjoy the ride for once, the powerful machine humming smoothly beneath her. She quite liked it; she might even keep it after this was all over. Yuju would appreciate racing across the wastelands with her, of that she was certain. A small smile curled at the edge of her lips. She still remembered their first meeting out in the wild.They had both been so young then, Yerin barely more than 17 years old and already a veteran in her field. She had been out with her team tracking a lost shipment when they were set upon by a pack of mutated wolves, and in the subsequent melee she had managed to get separated from her teammates. To make matters worse, one of the periodic acid rainshowers decided to make an appearance the same night, forcing Yerin to take cover in the nearest cave. A cave that happened to already be occupied by a pack of wild dogs...and a 15 year old Yuju.Yerin, being young and cocky despite the fact that she was half covered in mud and justifiably unnerved by the number of canine eyes staring at her, had quite predictably flirted with the very confused Yuju the moment she laid eyes on the girl. Could you blame her though? She was nervous and there was a cute girl. The reaction was practically a reflex.On hindsight, Yerin was probably lucky Yuju didn’t consider her a threat back then, and had even taken the attempt at hitting on her rather well, all things considered. It had taken a while before Yerin realized that Yuju didn’t even notice the fact that she was being hit on though. The dog shaman was a woman of many talents, but emotionally aware was not one of them.Their tentative friendship had a rocky start, mostly hampered by the fact that Yuju lived in the wastelands away from civilization, and it was further compounded by the magnitude of her complete inability to navigate the real world. How do you find someone who didn’t even know where they were, much less where they were going to go next?Patience, and a lot of luck apparently. Yerin had to question herself why she kept going back to look for Yuju despite only spending one night in a cave with her. It wasn’t like the girl was a supermodel at 15 years old, quite the contrary actually. A little grungy, way too skinny from malnutrition, and dressed in rags. There were prettier girls out there, but Yerin had been drawn to the half-feral girl surrounded by a pack of wild dogs. She hadn’t even been able to help herself.Perhaps it was the eyes, Yerin mused. Soft, yet strong. And somehow, just a little sad. A quiet grief for something long lost, and it just...struck something with the streetwise Yerin back then. She wanted to get to know Yuju better, despite knowing absolutely nothing about the girl at the time. Somehow, she just wanted to see her smile.It took a long time, but eventually Yerin did find her puppy, and even managed to convince her to move closer to civilization. It was just an excuse to be able to see her more, truth be told. Plus, it was refreshing to have someone instantly recognize her no matter what face she wore. Yerin almost felt like herself when she was with Yuju, and she treasured every moment of that.And this was why she would not tolerate anyone who attempted to harm her puppy. She had found Yuju first, and she wasn’t going to let anyone else take her away.The motorbike skidded to a stop at her intended destination, and Yerin leapt off adroitly, running her fingers through the tangled mess the wind had made of her hair. The whole ride had taken less than twenty minutes, and according to Umji’s last update, Sowon was already in a fight.Yerin smirked. Despite what she said before, she was rather fond of her new team. Time to go help out, if the wrecking ball that was their leader needed any. If it was anything like the last few times they actually had to fight, she and SinB had spent more time betting on the number and type of ways a person could possibly be dismantled before expiration. Yuju had disapproved, standing as far away from the carnage as humanly possible at the time. She didn’t blame her puppy; Sowon could get overly enthusiastic at times. Yuju. Yerin’s eyes focused as she cracked her knuckles, jogging over to the nearest stairway leading back down into the Underground.No one was getting to Yuju on her watch.
Sowon was getting frustrated.It had been too long since she had taken this long against an opponent. On one hand, she appreciated the challenge. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure how she was going to explain to Umji why she managed to get her coat diced into some kind of post-modernist fashion statement. At least any superficial wounds to her skin were going to heal before she made it back, bless her accelerated metabolism.It wasn’t like she hadn’t gotten in some good hits though. The swordsman somehow still had his hood on, but she was certain she had given him at least one black eye the last time she managed to tackle him. He was enormously strong though, and managed to kick her off. If not for the armor she was wearing, Sowon was certain her organs may have shifted homes. As it was, it still felt sore right now, as the two combatants circled each other warily.The sound of movement further up the platform made Sowon grit her teeth. The adrenaline rush from her earlier boost was wearing off, but it cleared her head as well. Pros and cons to using an adrenaline pump; it made her faster and allowed her to shrug off any minor damage she took during the duration as mere inconveniences, but it also made her, in Umji’s words, unnecessarily aggressive. At least with it wearing off now she could think more clearly instead of merely reacting as a reflex.The approaching sound could only be the CorpSec squad SinB had warned of earlier. Speaking of SinB, the girl hadn’t said a word since dropping the info earlier, and Sowon hoped she hadn’t done anything foolish. She wasn’t given much time to consider though, since her opponent decided to press the attack, clearly emboldened by the incoming reinforcements.Not wanting to fight in the middle of the tunnel by the platform, Sowon gave ground inch by inch, trying to pull her opponent deeper into the tunnel, out of sight of the platform. She didn’t feel like getting sniped from above. Her torso might be well armored, but a bullet to the head could still be fatal. Unfortunately, her opponent was no fool, refusing to take the bait.Above, SinB was getting nervous as they approached to the sound of clashing steel. Was Sowon not done yet? That was rare. She couldn’t allow this squad to ambush her though. Tough as Sowon was, the blonde runner was not invincible. SinB quietly released the safety on her stolen gun. She should be able to take a few down while they were distracted by Sowon ahead.“SinB, wait.”The sudden crackle of her comms almost made SinB jump. Yerin’s voice filtered over, the first time in a while.“Further down, to your right. We take them together.”So Yerin had made it as well. Wait, how did the woman recognize her instantly, was she that obvious? Yerin chuckled lightly over the comms, as if sensing her confusion.“I recognized the way you walk. On three.”SinB smirked, confidence restored. Adding Yerin to the equation levelled things a great deal. On the signal, the pair opened fire simultaneously, cutting down the majority of the enemy before they even realized what was going on. The remaining few were lucky to be further out on the periphery and had time to duck before figuring out where the attack was coming from. It didn’t save them though. Yerin cut the throat of the one who had unwisely decided to take cover near her, and SinB ditched the assault rifle for her favorite pistols as she ducked the return fire, sliding across the floor to finish the remaining two men who barely even registered what just happened.Meanwhile, Sowon finally managed to trick her opponent into overextending, trapping his sword and going straight for the jugular. The hidden spurs in her glove popped out, ready to tear into his throat…Except that it didn’t. Sowon frowned at the sudden resistance against what should have been a vulnerable point, and her prey jerked his head away, inadvertently causing the razors to slice half the hood off as they tumbled to the ground into a grapple.Sowon couldn’t help but gasp when she saw familiar looking scales encompassing the lower half of her opponent’s face, extending down his neck and probably most of his torso as well, if the bullets bouncing off were any indication earlier. His irises were also distinctly reptilian, vertical slits that snarled with rage as he tried to throw Sowon off.To her credit, Sowon didn’t let her shock overwhelm her. If piercing damage couldn’t get through those scales, blunt trauma should still hurt. She had definitely noticed how the lizardman was still wincing from where she had shot him in the stomach earlier.Just as she prepared to pummel him into submission, a sudden shockwave rocked outward from the tunnel ahead, sending her reeling backwards, staggering as she clutched at her head. Across from her, the lizardman keened, letting out a nearly subsonic scream as he (it?) curled into a ball.Up on the platform, both SinB and Yerin flinched, the magic in their bodies reacting to the invisible energy explosion. It didn’t last quite as long for them, and SinB recovered first, rolling to her feet and scrambling to the edge of the platform to check on Sowon, who was still clutching her head in obvious agony.And she got there just in time to see the maddened lizardman lash out, ready to take Sowon’s head off with the sword he had just retrieved.“NO!” SinB launched herself forward, practically a blur in the air as she strained herself to her limits. She overshot the lizardman’s head, just managed to snag the sword, then used her feet to kick at his exposed face while still in midair, the additional momentum pushing her further still. The gunslinger hit the ground in a roll, somehow managing to not impale herself with the stolen blade.The lizardman cursed, about to take another step towards them, when suddenly his head whipped backwards to stare at the tunnel where the shockwave had emanated.At the exact same moment, Sowon cried out, then dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Color drained from her like a fading palette, turning her skin paper white even as bright blonde hair dulled into muted ash.“Sowon!” SinB rushed to her side.A gunshot rang out, Yerin’s attempt to nail the lizardman, but he was already moving quickly, bounding forward in great leaps, completely ignoring Yerin’s attempts to kill him. Yerin swore when he disappeared up the same tunnel leading to Yuju. She leapt down from the platform, sparing only the briefest of glances where SinB was still trying to check on Sowon’s condition, then shook her head.Umji had gone radio silent since the shockwave earlier. It was not a good sign. Yerin didn’t wait any longer, starting to sprint after her target. If Umji’s defenses were disabled somehow, Yuju was vulnerable right now. She couldn’t, wouldn’t , allow that.
Hold on, Yuju. Wait for me.

Sensation returned first, a sudden chill that raised the hairs on her skin, magnifying the scratchy sensation of rough gravel against her elbow. A finger moved, reflexively, something wet and warm slicking across her skin. A heavy weight across her chest, and she breathed.Scent came next, dust and ionized air filling her suddenly flared nostrils, making her choke reflexively. She swallowed, regaining the taste of bitter metal across her lips, and gagged on it.Sound crept up like an unwanted guest; first the rhythmic beats of her heart, then the distant drip of a faraway leak, seeming to fill the echoing silence that yawned all around her. Everything and nothing surrounded her, and she lay motionless, struggling to process the onslaught of sensory input.Sight came last, and only because she had kept it shut away, trying to stem the nausea of her spinning head as galaxies whirled amongst the pinpricks dancing beneath her closed eyelids. The weight across her chest was starting to make breathing laborious, and her face scrunched up, reluctant to even move.Darkness greeted the crack of her opening eyes, her nose twitching at the heavy scent of metal lingering like a hangover from a bad dream. She felt the shape and weight of an arm across her side, a distantly familiar sensation. Her hand shifted unconsciously, grasping the hand that she somehow knew would be there. A smile curled at her lips.It was wet, and sticky to the touch. Something was wrong, but she wasn’t quite sure what…A loud thump far away, like a massive force slamming against a solid wall. The smell of metal all around her, a smell she thought she should know, and suddenly, did.Her eyes snapped fully open, iridescent in the gloom.
She looked down at the entwined fingers still splayed across her chest. It was dark, but she could see , as if the darkness was no barrier. Red, red blood, soaking into her clothes, seeping underneath her nails. All. Around. Her.She sat up abruptly, still clutching the limp hand close to her heart. She followed the owner of the other hand, tracing the lines of an arm and up to the slumbering face of Yuju, curled up by her side. The other girl looked almost peaceful, a smile still crooking her lips. If, of course, you discounted the amount of blood smeared across her face and arms, and the raw, open wound still leaking against their joined palms.The awoken girl shuddered, tightening her grip. A voice, screaming inside her, like a clarion call of despair. Not like this not againnotagainnotagainnotagain… “WE HAD A DEAL!”A dam burst, and Eunha, newly awoken with red rimmed eyes, carefully gathered up the motionless Yuju into her arms. Trembling fingers combed through the bloodsoaked hair, and Eunha pressed her cheek against Yuju’s, nuzzling her fondly despite the blood smeared on her skin. Her other hand, still entangled with Yuju’s, moved up to press hesitantly against the shaman’s chest.She almost wept when she felt the faint flutter of a heartbeat. Alive. Her Yuju was still alive. There was still time, and at least now, she had the power to save the girl that was her heart. Flashes of memories past, of shy smiles and awkward tenderness, the taller girl sweeping her into a warm embrace, whispering silly jokes into her ear to make her smile.The memories were impossibly tangled, an older face merging seamlessly with the younger one before her. A little different, but so familiar still. And both so earnest, so sincere, they might as well be the same. Eunha took a deep breath, trying to separate past and present amidst the pounding headache drilling through her skull. Focus.Fire lay dormant within her, but it wasn’t the fire she sought now, but the lifeforce that powered it, guiding it carefully to feed into the drained Yuju. Her poor, silly pup had overdone it again, as always. Eunha pressed her forehead against the unconscious shaman’s own, the skin on skin contact facilitating the energy transfer. She might not know how to heal the wounds, but she could at least give Yuju the energy to recover on her own.It was like touching a spark to dry tinder, the energy seeming to ignite a blazing flame within the unconscious Yuju’s body. Eunha watched with wonder through her second sight as Yuju seemed to glow from within, pulsing with a radiant energy that had never seemed so bright before. Right before her eyes, the tattered representation of Yuju’s astral body seemed to mend itself, knitting back into that familiar shape she had traced so many times before. It was beautiful, and magical.The external wounds remained, but the bleeding had slowed to a mere ooze. Biting back a sob of relief, Eunha embraced Yuju tightly, pressing her lips against the other girl’s temple. She would have gone further, when the sound of rushing feet alerted her. Danger. Her head snapped up, eyes aglow with menace, narrowing when she saw black armored men moving to surround her. Her attention, however, was not drawn to them. Instead, she glowered at the source of the real threat she had sensed, a man who was not a man.In her astral sight, the creature stank with a twisted power that had rearranged what was once human into something that was not, for all that it walked and talked like one. Scales covered most of the once-man’s face and torso. The cloak that had hidden these traits had been abandoned in the lizard-thing’s sprint towards the chamber earlier.“The orb, where is it?” The raspy voice of the lizardman was rough, grating. Reptilian eyes scoured the area, taking in the ritual circle marred by copious amounts of blood, as well as the two young women in the middle of it. His gaze fell on Eunha, who glared defiantly back.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Eunha hadn’t seen any orb when she had woken up. She remembered it vividly enough, but that was only a bad fever dream from the past, and she was back in the present where her Yuju was still alive and not...not gone. This was the only reality that mattered, and to hell with anything that tried to mess with it.The lizardman narrowed his eyes. The residue of power was still heavy in the air, and there was no mistaking the shockwave that had exploded out from this very place earlier. He had been taught to recognize the orb’s signature, and this chamber reeked of it. The ritual… He eyed the marred circle with increasing suspicion. Lesser mortals had no business with a dragon orb, and he needed to know more of what happened. He gestured at the troops surrounding the area.“Take them both.”Eunha growled low in her throat, clutching Yuju close as the soldiers closed the circle. A couple of them stepped forward, stun batons out, ready to disable them. One of them reached out to take Yuju from her, and Eunha snapped.“Don’t. Touch. Her.” The gloved hand that had dared to come close to Yuju burst into flame. The person attached to that hand screamed, trying desperately to yank his glove off. It didn’t work. The fire was a greedy beast, and in an instant it had swallowed him whole, leaving a vaguely human form outlined in dancing flame. The screams continued until the vocal cords themselves melted away.He wasn’t the only one. The other soldier who had grabbed Eunha rapidly backpedalled, but it was already too late. Flames sprung up around his feet, greedily devouring him in a sudden inferno that left him as a pillar of flame.The other soldiers panicked, raising their weapons to fire on the berserk mage in the center of the circle. The lizardman tried to stop them, but it was too late.The bullets seemed to slow as they raced towards their target. Eunha saw them coming at a crawl, as if time itself had paused for her to rewind her worst nightmare. Yuju, bleeding to death in front of her.No. She couldn’t let it happen. Never again. They dared.All of them deserved to die.The lizardman sensed death emanating from the tiny mage in the circle, and leapt backward out of sheer reflex. It saved him, barely. The bolt tagged to him still slammed him into a wall, leaving a man-sized indent with him in it.A solid wall of electricity and dancing flame pushed outward, reducing the incoming bullets to mere molten slags that dripped to the ground. The circle of soldiers barely had time to scream when the wave of fire washed over them, trapped by the web of electricity that held them in place as they were melted alive, flesh running like liquid tears to join the painted lines on the ground.Fire crackled merrily like a warm hearth at Christmas, if one were to ignore the carnage. It was to this scene that Yerin rushed in upon, stopping short in horror at the space lit by human shaped bonfires. Amidst the flame, she saw Yuju cradled in the arms of a familiar stranger.Iridescent scales covered exposed skin, reflecting the fire with a pearly shine. It was almost beautiful, really. A head with short, bobbed hair turned at the sound of Yerin’s arrival, revealing glowing eyes and an all too familiar face with scales creeping across her cheeks like an encroaching disease.Yerin gasped.“Eunha?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Of all the scenarios she had imagined, this was probably the least likely Yerin had expected to have to deal with.Eunha was...not quite herself. As an experienced negotiator, Yerin knew she would have to tread carefully. Leaving aside the incredibly obvious problem of what the hell just happened, Yerin needed to get Yuju to safety. Eunha might not be hurting the shaman right now, but that was no guarantee of anything. The scales the fire mage was sporting did not inspire a lot of confidence. In fact, it took a lot of self control on Yerin’s part to not shoot the mage in the face right now.“Are you two...alright?” Yerin stepped forward slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements or appear in any way hostile. Her gun was down, though she could fire off a shot in a split second should the need arise. The smell of burning flesh was mildly nauseating. Yerin didn’t think she would be able to even look at barbeque for the next few weeks at least.Eunha didn’t move, staring unblinkingly at her. The fire mage’s eyes were glowing still, and the scales on her face writhed as if they were alive, trying to cover more of her face. Yerin swallowed nervously. What had gone wrong with the ritual? Why was Yuju covered in blood? So many questions, and the only one conscious to answer them was currently unresponsive.“Eunha? It’s me, Yerin…” No harm trying to get a response. Yerin slid forward some more, carefully stepping around some of the unidentified puddles that used to be human. It helped that some of them were still burning. At least she had enough light to see in the darkness.At the mention of her name, Eunha blinked for the first time, visibly struggling to focus. Yerin halted just beyond the circle of flame that was still dancing around the pair in the center, watching as the scales receded from the mage’s face, retreating to just below the neck. Eunha coughed, spluttering for a few moments as her grip on Yuju tightened. Yerin tensed, ready to leap into action if Yuju were threatened.As it turned out, her caution was unnecessary. Eunha looked up again, looking considerably more normal than she had earlier, if one discounted the still present scales on her arms. The circle of fire ebbed when she recognized Yerin waiting outside of it.“Yerin? I’m...what did I do?” Eunha seemed confused, gaze flickering around as she tried to process the result of her handiwork. The fires burned merrily, heedless of their creator’s rising expression of horror. Yerin edged closer, taking in the amount of blood on the ground and noting the rise and fall of Yuju’s chest with every breath. Alive, at least. That was good.“You protected Yuju and yourself. That’s great.” Yerin tried to soothe the distraught mage, with somewhat minimal sincerity as her attention was less on Eunha’s distress and much more focused on Yuju’s condition. She was now within arm’s length of the pair, and knelt down to check on her puppy. Yuju was pale and smeared in blood, but there were no visible wounds on most of her body. Eunha was still clutching Yuju’s hand while most of the shaman’s upper body was in her lap, and when Yerin reached forward to try and separate the two, Eunha jerked back visibly, baring her teeth.“I’m not going to hurt you. Either of you.” Yerin was taken aback by her reaction, but tried to sound as calm and soothing as possible. She even turned on her glamour to project as unthreatening an image as possible, hoping to not trigger Eunha in any way. Eunha’s eyes remained wary however, and Yerin sighed.“Let me help. You want Yuju to be okay, right?”That seemed to work a little better. Eunha was almost docile, allowing Yerin to prise her hand off Yuju’s wounded one, though the fire mage immediately wrapped both arms around Yuju’s shoulders right after, as if worried that Yerin was going to steal away her favorite toy.Yerin said nothing, inspecting the deep cut right in the middle of the unconscious shaman’s palm. It didn’t account for the amount of blood directly around them. Nothing accounted for the amount of blood seeped into the ritual circle. If it all came from Yuju, logically the shaman should have died from blood loss at least three times over.But if it hadn’t, where had it come from? Yerin dismissed the attackers as a possibility after a moment’s thought. Eunha had clearly been responsible for their demise, and fire that intense didn’t tend to make people bleed. If anything, it was more likely to scorch it all to nothing. The still glowing piles of charred ash bore silent testament to that.All of it was suggesting something Yerin sincerely hoped Yuju hadn’t resorted to. Blood magic was taboo for a reason, and even in Latin America or parts of old Scandinavia where there existed such a tradition, it was all executed under strictly controlled circumstances. The raw power of blood magic was seductive, and it had tempted many a mage into a darker path. When one got reliant on sacrificing the life force of another to infinitely power their spells, it changed them. There was a reason why blood magic was forbidden and persecuted in five out of seven continents. If Yuju had used it, the mark it left on her aura would make her a target to anyone with the magical Sight to see it.Not that it would change how Yerin felt about Yuju. She would kill to protect her puppy. The thought made the veteran runner pause. Time had changed her a lot. It wasn’t that long ago when she had turned away from someone she thought she loved when magic had changed them beyond recognition. Or had she simply not loved them enough?It was an important question, but Yerin brushed that away for now. Did it still matter? Yuju was priority now. When Yerin reached to try and pick Yuju up, she was suddenly seared by a tongue of flame that made her curse aloud, falling back onto her butt from surprise. The burn mark was an ugly red on her hand. Eunha continued holding Yuju close, her eyes dangerous. The scales on her neck were starting to twitch again, as if in warning.Yerin bit back a nasty comment, cradling her burnt hand carefully. She should probably be glad Eunha had only chosen to warn, and not turn her into a cinder at a moment’s notice. Damn mages.Yerin was still wondering how best to convince Eunha to let her carry Yuju to safety when SinB came into sight lugging a still knocked out Sowon awkwardly. The height difference and additional weight from the enhancements made it challenging for SinB to carry their leader properly. The speedster looked mildly panicked, eyes darting backwards from where she had come from.“More enemies?” Yerin read the look on the younger’s face easily. SinB nodded, then did a double-take when she finally noticed Eunha’s current state. Yerin hid a smirk at the immediate reaction to reach towards her gun. Guess she wasn’t the only one to have that response.“I haven’t been able to reach Umji this whole time,” Yerin continued, deflecting SinB’s attention from Eunha’s transformed state. They could panic about the fire mage later, after the current crisis. Even with a burnt hand, Yerin was still the most experienced runner on the team, and even if Yuju hadn’t been on the line here, professionalism demanded that she stepped up to take charge since Sowon was out of commission.They needed to all get out in one piece, find Umji, and then go to ground. There were too many missing pieces regarding what had gone down, and in any case, evacuating was their first priority. Yerin assessed the odds, then laid her eyes on Eunha. The fire mage was a wild card, but if they were going to make it out of this chamber, she was going to need Eunha at her lethal best. The gears were whirring in her head, and Yerin looked over at SinB, gesturing the younger to come over.Keeping a wary eye on her transformed best friend, SinB heaved her heavy burden (Sowon) and shuffled over. She was acutely aware that they didn’t have much time until the roaming squads outside discovered the path to this chamber. SinB had tried her best to make the trail vague, but there were limits to what she could do while also having to move Sowon around.“I need you to tell Eunha about those people out there. She’s the only one who can buy us time to retreat. Remind her that they’ll hurt Yuju, and be careful, don’t upset her. She’ll trust you more; you grew up with her.”Yerin briefly explained their situation and her proposed solution to the young gunslinger. SinB nodded grimly, understanding the gravity of the situation. She handed Sowon over to Yerin carefully before making her way slowly to the still defensive Eunha. Yerin had accepted that Eunha wasn’t going to let her carry Yuju, but might just trust her childhood friend enough to let her bring the shaman to safety. Yerin’s hand stung at the very vivid reminder of Eunha’s warning. No, she would be no good to anyone in ashes.It was going to be challenging to lift Sowon with an injured hand, but Yerin could ignore pain when necessary. Over by Eunha, SinB seemed to have much better luck with the mage than Yerin did -- unsurprising, since the bond of trust between the two childhood friends was not so easily shaken even in Eunha’s unsettled state. Enough of it lingered for Eunha to let her guard down, and SinB was able to convince the girl that Yuju would be safer out of immediate danger.The heavy tromping of boots echoing down the tunnel was like a countdown to action. SinB lifted Yuju in a fireman’s carry, leaving one hand free to use a gun if necessary. Yerin resorted to piggybacking Sowon to avoid straining the burnt skin of her hand and wrist. Even then, the flesh was raw and angry whenever it brushed against fabric, making Yerin wince. Warning it might have been, but it still hurt.Eunha was finally standing on her own two feet, tongues of fire tickling her soles with every step as she made her way forward. Ghostly wisps of crackling blue flame popped into existence and winked out all around her, with no seeming pattern to them. It lent her an ethereal glow, which matched the low luminescence emanating from her eyes.Yerin let SinB ascend the emergency stairway first, one eye still turned to watch Eunha move to block the single entrance to the chamber, the mage’s tiny figure seeming almost too small against the yawning mouth of the tunnel that fed into this place. It almost looked like she was going to be swallowed by the darkness, but Yerin knew better.Eunha was easily the most dangerous thing in the Underground tonight, and woe betide anyone who sought to harm what she aimed to protect. Yerin almost pitied the coming soldiers; if nothing else, at least they would be properly cremated. Burn everything, Yerin whispered. Nothing could be left behind, especially not with this much of Yuju’s blood scattered all around. Eunha had understood that much. There would be no mercy.Only fire would greet them.

Eunha did not feel like herself.A part of her was numb, sinking back into a familiar darkness she hadn’t had to face within herself in years. Not since Sowon took them away from the gang, where her fire was as much a gift as it was a curse. She had almost forgotten what it was like to make everything burn.The smell of charred meat made her ill in its utter familiarity. SinB had never really known what it was that she had always been called away to do, and Eunha had never wanted to talk about it. How was she going to tell her best friend about that anyway? Oh I burned people alive, and enjoyed it? It was a guilty secret Eunha kept buried within herself. Shame at what she had been called to do, shame at her own response to flaunting her power. And she had felt powerful, letting the fire run wild and do as it pleased. It felt good to not hold back, to indulge in the whims of her inner flame. Free, and unfettered.Eunha felt sick. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, but the fire was always there, whispering, and it was always a struggle to keep under control. With Yuju around, it felt easier, the shaman exerting a calming influence just by being present. It was part of what had drawn her to the other magic user, before Yuju’s natural charm eventually won her over. It was easier to remain in control when there was someone who understood.A different, darker part of Eunha strained against what remained of her conscience. Hurt. Burn. Kill. It was heavily encouraged by her residual horror over finding Yuju covered in blood and fallen next to her. She wanted very badly to hurt whoever was responsible. No one hurts my Yuju. No one. There was a hidden streak of possessiveness that the tiny voice of reason Eunha still had that found this whole line of thought deeply disturbing. Yuju wasn’t hers -- yes she is -- and she had no right to be so possessive over someone who wasn’t even her girlfriend or anything. Deep down, Eunha knew that it was wrong , but she couldn’t help but remember the dream she had experienced -- or was that a memory of days long past? -- where Yuju was most definitely hers to claim as her own.The struggle to separate dream from reality grew stronger when she was under threat. Eunha knew her mind had totally fogged over from rage when they had been surrounded earlier. The memory of being helpless in the face of Yuju’s death -- but she’s not dead now, alive alive alive! -- ignited a flame she hadn’t even known she was capable of wielding.She felt her skin hardening as an unfamiliar power welled up from within, insulating her from the crackle of electricity that sizzled with her native flame. Something was deeply wrong , but her rage had erased everything in its path. It had taken a while for her to come to her senses, but even then the rage bubbled just beneath the surface, ready to spark to life at any moment.SinB’s appearance had definitely brought her back to reality somewhat. It reminded her of who she really was, and reluctant as she had been to be separated from Yuju, she knew that it was important that all of them got away so that the shaman’s wounds could be attended to.Now that she was alone without having to worry about hurting anyone she actually cared about, Eunha bared her teeth into a savage grin. It had been too long since she had gotten to let loose.The little tin men were a-marching into the hearth, and Eunha was going to keep it nice and warm just for them . She couldn’t wait already.They were all going to have so much fun together.

Sowon was dreaming.That in itself shouldn’t have been shocking, but she hadn’t dreamt in a long, long time. Not since she started augmenting herself, cutting off her connection to the otherworld. Sleep felt like a system reboot, a time of utter darkness until her internal clock roused her, or deeper instincts warned her of danger. Such trivial things as dreams had long since been abandoned, and there were times where Sowon wondered if she weren’t more machine than human at this point.But now she was dreaming, and she knew it was a dream, in a peculiar clarity that allowed her to watch as an impartial observer despite being in her own body. It had to be a dream, because she didn’t remember any of this.Or could it a memory? In a way, it felt familiar, all gunfire and explosions and senseless violence. People were dying all around her, and she couldn’t save anyone. More than a dream, it was a nightmare. Her deepest fears playing out in a theater of agony.She hadn’t felt so weak in ages. Years of honing her skill in battle seemed to fall away, her dream self mere flesh and bone, and all the more fragile for it. She didn’t even remember being that vulnerable in over a decade. Or had it been longer?Time was a fickle mistress. Sowon knew she was unusual even in a world where magic existed. The others hadn’t been with her long enough, but Umji knew, or at least guessed at it. After all, she had saved Umji when the younger girl was just a child. It had been almost ten years since, and Umji had grown into a lovely young woman by now.But Sowon remained the same, untouched by time. She had been alone for a long time before Umji, deeply insecure in the fact that she wasn’t aging normally. She had kept to herself for years before discovering Umji, feeling drawn to the young girl when she first laid eyes on her, huddled in a corner of the broken laboratory the mercenary had been sent to infiltrate and destroy from within. It was an unexplainable feeling, but Sowon had felt an odd kinship with Umji from day one.That same kinship led her to spare SinB and Eunha, taking them into her life instead of simply letting them go as she had with other people she had rescued over the years. It was the same instinct that drove her to recruit Yuju and Yerin, and when all six of them were gathered, Sowon felt...complete . As if the missing pieces of a puzzle had come together, that which was once broken made whole. It felt right , and Sowon had never been able to put a name to that feeling.She sees them again in that dream, older and more haggard, but closely knit. SinB and Yerin were goofing off and getting in trouble, Yuju and Eunha were discreetly flirting, and Umji was tagging along behind her dream self a lot. They were laughing, playing, training, getting hurt and getting up again. It felt like a family, seeing all of them together like this, so similar yet so different.Abruptly, the dream changes, suffused in a vibrant red glow that seemed eerily familiar. Sowon gasps, suddenly awash in a lingering sensation of suffocating pressure, flashes of resurgent memory raking across the edge of consciousness. She was holding something, and through it, a single inhuman eye stared unblinkingly, marking her as its own.Sowon lost all track of time in that glow, floating in a cocoon of weightlessness that gave her no reference to left or right, up or down. It was timeless, eternal and unchanging. She could not know what happened, or what changes it wrought within her, but when that moment finally shattered, it broke through more than one of the chains that bound her in servitude to that unknown power.As she broke back through to reality, surfacing like a drowning man in search of air, she grasped too at the straws of her old identity, something once thought lost. Precious scraps, barely enough to salve old wounds, but enough to ground her once more.How could she have forgotten? All this had begun with the dragon, and all would end with it.Sowon, no, Kim Sojung, smiled grimly to herself. There would be time enough to count the debts owed. Till then, she needed to recover from the magical backlash caused by the shattered dragon orb. Who knew how tightly it had her bound over all these years? That was yet another score to settle.When the time came, she would not forget. Every life lost to the dragon, every year stolen from the grave, she would settle it all. It was the least she could do. To honour the memories of the fallen, and to protect the ones now here.To that end, Kim Sojung would dare challenge a dragon, even if it meant her life.

A finger twitched, sending a puff of dust and ashes crumbling off a partially melted wall. The accompanying stab of agony cascaded like a wave across the section of exposed skin.Eyes remained tightly shut, as if fearful to present the howling flame with fresh fuel. The temperature was still on the cooler side of broiling, and it was difficult to breathe, much less smell the scent of charred meat that would no doubt be permeating the air.The fire ate everything. If the earlier burst had come as a wave, it had been nothing compared to the sight of the very air igniting all at once. Sharp instincts and razor reflexes had saved his eyes from being charbroiled in that moment, though he doubted that any of his hair or clothing survived the inferno. The scales which were the sign of his divine blessing was the only reason he had survived the conflagration. Even then, it had felt like he was being cooked alive. Had it lasted any longer, he might just very well have been.Everything burns, if the fire is hot enough. Molten metal laid in slowly hardening piles, still glowing red from the intense heat. Walls and floors were blackened and sunken in at parts. The monster responsible for the blaze was gone, hopefully . He no longer felt the oppressive threat of overwhelming magic at least.An arm came free of the wall where he had been flung into earlier. It had probably minimized his wounds and maximized his chances of survival, ironically. There were broken bones, but those were trivial compared to the vaguely human stains on the walls, appearing hauntingly like nuclear shadows.The battered lizardman fell onto his knees on still heated ground, thanking his God for his continued survival. But perhaps it was fated, for he had important news to bring.There was another of the Chosen. Before he had closed his eyes earlier, there was no mistaking the mark of divinity that covered the fire-bringer. It was unlike any of his brethren, who had been bestowed the Gift for their loyalty and servitude.The mighty dragon would decide her fate. He was but a humble messenger, ready to serve. It might even soothe His wrath for the failure to reacquire the orb.
His God was not known for mercy, but there were always exceptions.A servitor could hope.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Yuju was disturbingly light on her shoulder, which did not help at all to reassure SinB as she sprinted up the steps, lithe as a cat. It was as if the already skinny shaman had lost a good third of her bodyweight somehow, because the last time she had carried Yuju as a joke, she was most definitely heavier than this.Movement helped. Having something to do definitely kept her mind off things. Like Eunha, who looked more like a threat than her goofy best friend. SinB hadn’t missed the burn mark on Yerin’s hand either, and Eunha hadn’t seemed entirely there when she approached her earlier.SinB was patient though. She had some experience dealing with an unbalanced Eunha, in the nights where Eunha used to randomly set things around her on fire. Talking slowly to her about familiar things usually did the trick, just to ground her in reality again.It was just really distracting having to watch the scales change colour on her best friend’s skin, almost like a direct indicator of the fire mage’s mood. It actually receded when Eunha smiled at an old memory though, which gave SinB some hope. Maybe they could fix whatever this was when they were safely out of here.No one was taking her best friend away from her if she could help it. On her shoulder, Yuju stirred, groaning intelligibly, and SinB paused in her step, risking a quick look to check on the shaman.The emergency lights in the narrow stairway didn’t offer much in way of illumination, but the washed out lights definitely didn’t lend a flattering look to the unconscious magic user. SinB hadn’t really been able to see very well in the dark earlier, what with the only sources of light being the dimly glowing embers of ex-humans. Again, not really something she wanted to think about. When had Eunha grown so powerful? Yuju was an unhealthy shade of pale, almost translucent even. SinB swore she could see some of the girl’s veins at this point. The heavy stench of blood in the chamber still haunted her. Something big had gone down while they were all occupied elsewhere, and while Eunha was sort of back, who knows what Yuju did to make it happen? SinB hoped that it wasn’t something too extreme. They already had one unstable mage, SinB was fairly sure they wouldn’t be able to deal with two.The sound of Yerin’s panted breath was just barely audible below her. SinB winced in sympathy, hefting the much lighter Yuju back into a more comfortable position. No offense to Sowon, but their leader was heavy . It was all the hardware the woman was packing, to be fair.SinB resumed her trek upwards. Umji was still uncontactable, but their electronic comms were all down at this point. Magic could be such a pain in the ass sometimes. At least the hacker should be relatively safe in her hidey hole. Better than the rest of them, for sure.At least she came out relatively unscathed. SinB shook her head. She was also worried about Sowon. There was no way her reaction to whatever happened earlier was natural. The gunslinger had been right next to their fallen leader when she literally saw the bright blonde of Sowon’s hair fade into a dull ash. It was like someone had applied a colour filter to it. Not to mention that their usually invincible leader had just fallen over for no apparent reason, right at the same moment that crazy shockwave blasted out from the ritual chamber where Yuju and Eunha had been.Too many things had gone wrong and SinB didn’t even know what she was supposed to be doing. Good thing Yerin had her head together and took charge. SinB hadn’t known just how reliant she had become on having Sowon around to make the decisions. That wasn’t really a good thing. It felt odd to be...tamed?For the longest time, it had always just been her and Eunha against the world. Eunha was family , the sister she never had. Ever since her parents died, SinB had had to be independent. It had helped to have Eunha making some of the decisions, but for important matters it had always been a joint decision between the two orphans.It was scary how easy it had been to fall into the motions of having a family again. Three years with Sowon and Umji had filled the hole in their lives more than SinB had ever imagined. Yerin and Yuju coming in a year ago had rounded off their group dynamics, and SinB liked having older sisters around -- Eunha used to tease her about having a mommy complex, but the truth was, SinB did enjoy being a brat to the older girls in their team. It fulfilled a need she didn’t even know she had.“Mom…”SinB almost jumped out of her skin, but then realized she hadn’t said that out loud herself. No, it came from Yuju, who seemed caught in the throes of a disturbed dream. There were a few more incomprehensible mutters from the still unconscious shaman, but none distinct enough to make out. SinB huffed as she finally reached the top, scanning the area warily in case of ambush. Yerin came up a few steps behind her, breathing heavily from exertion.“All clear?”SinB was about to nod when the ground shook beneath them, making her grab at the railing on the side to keep from falling. A blast of heated air rose from below, and both SinB and Yerin repressed a shiver; Eunha had sprung her trap, no doubt.“I’ll go ahead and look for Umji first.” Yerin’s brow was knitted together in tension, though it softened briefly when she glanced at Yuju. SinB bit her lip and nodded.“I’ll stay and wait for Eunha.”Yerin nodded tersely, rebalancing Sowon on her back and adjusting her grip before jogging off in a determined trot. SinB faded into the shadows by the side of the disused exit, patiently waiting for her best friend to catch up. She slid Yuju down to rest for a bit, squatting next to the knocked out shaman.Yuju was definitely having some sort of nightmare. SinB frowned and reached forward, considering if it was safe to try waking the girl, but then Yuju suddenly grabbed her hand in a crushing grip, teeth clenched together in a seething fury. Her eyes were still closed, but that didn’t impede her from speaking, clearly.“ I won’t let you take anyone else .”That didn’t sound good. SinB winced. Yuju had a strong grip, and the gunslinger worried for her fingers as she tried to pry Yuju’s death grip off her hand. A shadow fell over them, and SinB flinched, almost reaching for her gun until she realized it was just Eunha.The scales were gone, and Eunha looked pale and drained, but her eyes were still sharp and glittering dangerously. The tiny mage knelt by Yuju, embracing the dreaming shaman from behind and nuzzling at her ear. SinB looked away. It looked a little too intimate. Since when had Eunha gotten this bold anyway? Wait, did something happen between them already and Eunha didn’t tell me? But it seemed to work. Yuju seemed to relax after a moment, the sudden fury that had contorted her features draining away into a confused distress as she slumped back into Eunha’s arms. The fire mage seemed satisfied, resting her chin on Yuju’s shoulder as she glanced at SinB.“You can let go now.”That was a command, not a suggestion. SinB peeled Yuju’s hand off hers; it gave way as if the shaman hadn’t had a death grip on her just moments ago. The red marks from the pressure exerted were a dead giveaway though. The gunslinger looked back at the pair of magic users, feeling distinctly uncomfortable.This Eunha didn’t feel quite like her childhood friend. There was something harder in those eyes, but there was still enough familiarity in the way Eunha carried herself that reassured SinB that it wasn’t some kind of imposter. For one, her best friend normally wouldn’t be so confident about getting close to her crush like this. SinB couldn’t help but feel a teeny bit left out by Eunha’s singular focus on Yuju. Is it too late to discourage her now? SinB got up, brushing dust off her knees. Complicated relationship issues or not, they had to go. The gunslinger eyed her best friend, who was still attached to Yuju like a baby koala.“Need a hand?”It wasn’t like Eunha didn’t try, but she was already exhausted mentally and physically from the amount of magic she had expended since waking up. It was all she could do to even stay upright and walk on her own. Mutely, she allowed SinB to pick Yuju up again, but continued holding on to the shaman’s hand anyway. SinB quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing.They had to catch up with the rest, and hightail it out of here.

Umji had never been able to properly explain to anyone how it was that she was able to do what she did.It hadn’t always been this way, either. She didn’t remember much before the lab, but they were always running tests, attaching electrodes all over her body, muttering among themselves as they made her do different things while monitoring her vitals.She hadn’t been the only test subject, but she was definitely the only one that survived the explosion. At least, that she knew of, because the next time she had opened her eyes, she had been in Sowon’s arms, the wreckage of the laboratory in flames behind them.The world had seemed awfully different ever since then. She had closed her eyes a relatively average child, and opened them once more into a changed world alight with data rushing in a mad tangle of networked traffic. For the first time, she saw the tactile form of the Matrix, observing with newly opened senses how information was constantly being transmitted across different channels all around her.She was small, almost insignificant, in the vast web of information. It was like being blind all her life and suddenly being able to see, except it was too much to deal with in the early days. Umji had been a trembling wreck for weeks, even months, after Sowon more or less adopted her. In a way, it had helped a lot that Sowon was sort of an antique, because the mercenary had a lot less tech at her hideout with which to overwhelm the poor baby technomancer.Never mind that all the hardware Sowon had installed on her made her look extremely interesting to Umji’s new senses. In fact, once Umji had slowly started to gain some control over her newly gained abilities, the first thing she did was learn to identify the unique signature that was Sowon, and of course, cut off everything that wasn’t her that had been monitoring the woman from afar once she learned to read the data patterns. She had never mentioned it to Sowon actually. Why hadn’t she? Perhaps it just hadn’t seemed relevant at the time.It took time, but soon Umji found comfort in the always flowing Data. There was always something going on, new information to dissect and absorb, and she was never truly alone. However, data flows were cold and impersonal, and Umji craved human contact still. If not for Sowon, she might very well have gone mad.Now though? She might not quite be a spider in the center of its web, but she came close. Umji was always handling a bunch of info streams all at the same time, directly manipulating them without ever needing a physical jack into the system. It was her own peculiar form of magic, and cemented her role in the team. She was everywhere without having to move an inch, and was always watching.At least she was , until the massive shockwave murdered all her toys and blinded her eyes in that area. The backlash was immense , echoing even into the depths of the Resonance that underpinned the data streams. It was a plane only accessible to technomancers like her, and yes there were others, few and far between they were. Already she had some nearby fellows posting concerned questions about the sudden disturbance, even brief as it had been. Seconds were an age in the frenetic pace of the info streams, and every microsecond an entire life summed up in a data package. This was their reality, and outsiders could never truly understand.And this has never happened before. Though data itself stemmed from meatspace, magic on the other hand occupied an entirely different plane entirely, not unlike how the Resonance was a separate realm in itself. There had never been any direct link prior to this incident, and Umji couldn’t wait to figure out just what had happened.But for the fact that she was no longer in contact, which was distressing in itself and the comms were all utterly fried as far as she could determine. That didn’t bode well at all. She couldn’t reach any of her team, and it was giving her massive amounts of anxiety in the process.The Resonance was still reorganizing itself, and Umji delved deep, partly out of habit and partly out of sheer curiosity. It felt like wading through molasses for a while there, and Umji felt her ears pop as her senses were stretched in interesting ways.There were the things she had already been doing, tied to threads she prodded at whenever she had time. One was frayed, an important one at that, and she zeroed in on it immediately for fixing. The bot she had set to continually attempt cracking that secure datavault was a wreck , and a lot of it had to do with that backlash from earlier. Interestingly, it wasn’t the only thing that was a wreck. The vault it had been keyed to was suspiciously off balance as well. Lucky~ Umji was not one to waste an opportunity when it presented itself. She had been trying for days to break into that vault, and now that there was a temporary weakness, she’d be a fool not to exploit it. With the surgical precision of a professional, Umji eased at the opening until it gave way…And was promptly hit by a second layer of defenses. Typical. Her avatar flinched, and she grit her teeth at the blackware that was the active defense within the vault. Assassinware, some liked to call it, because it sought to erode the mental faculties of the hackers jacked into the Matrix through biofeedback. It was very lethal and very illegal. Mild cases could trigger short term coma, serious cases could lead to death.Fortunately, it was not her first rodeo with blackware, and Umji countered with her own programs specifically designed to fight such things. The Matrix was no less dangerous than meatspace these days, and a hacker could never be too prepared.She had very little time left. The active trace had started the moment the blackware had been activated, and while she could reroute it almost indefinitely, letting it run too long would risk another node shutdown, which would seal off the opening she had just made. And she couldn’t have that, could she?In record time, Umji managed to slice straight through the defenses and grab what she could of the data files, cutting it really close before she disengaged, just right before the shutdown hit. It wasn’t everything , but she had gotten most of the core files. It would have to do.Sowon would be proud of her. Except Umji didn’t know if she was okay. If any of the team was okay. The anxiety came back with a vengeance, and the young hacker struggled with another wave of lightheadedness and nausea. She gripped at the nearest physical surface, trying to find some kind of comfort, her lips trembling as she blinked rapidly to try and disconnect enough to see the real world.The screech of rolling metal tore her back into focus. She shook her head, trying to calm her shaking fingers as she rubbed them against her overlarge sweater. The crosshatching of the wool lent some order to her tangled thoughts, and Umji blinked owlishly at the sudden intruder, half reaching for the tiny handgun Sowon had left with her in case of emergencies.She needn’t have bothered. The sight of a familiar face brought on a rush of relief, her racing thoughts finally getting back on track and not off in the muddy fields where it had no business being. It took her a few tries to find her voice again, but it was not her own that first broke the silence.“Umji, you’re bleeding .” Right. Umji touched her fingers to her face, taking a shaky few seconds to try and orient herself and figure out where everything was. Yerin seemed very close and very far away at the same time. The hacker moved the same hand experimentally away from her face. It came away red.Yerin was saying something, but Umji wasn’t really hearing it. Her ears were buzzing with an odd static, and her vision oscillated between Resonance and Reality, neither here nor there. She tried to smile. I’m fine, she wanted to say.Except she kind of sort of really wasn’t , and she was about to announce a statement to that fact when her vision decided it would be a great time to just go black. Well, at least that was evidence enough, right? Saved her the trouble of explaining by just passing out.It was almost elegant in its simplicity. Too bad Umji wasn’t awake enough to appreciate it.At least she got to miss the terrible driving that came after. Judging from the state of their van post-drive, Umji would later consider herself incredibly fortunate to not have been awake to witness it. Fixing it was going to be fun at least, and she was most definitely making SinB help out.After all, whoever did most of the damage had to be responsible for fixing it. But that could come later, after she had recovered.For now, she just had to rest. As long as everyone was together, nothing frightened her. Sleep never came easily for her, and she would cherish it while it lasted.

Her dreams were filled with blood.It stained everything, and she knelt futilely by a wine dark sea, scrubbing at marks that would never fade. Again and again, head bent and shoulders swaying, like a penitent flaying away at their own skin.Blood and death. It sank into her pores, soaked through her garments, oozed into every orifice like a creeping plague. She was choking, drowning, gagging on the metal that invaded her every sense. The scars on her hands were an ugly testament, and every fiber of her being rejected the memory of what caused them.
I saved no one that day, except myself.
What use were these hands, if she couldn’t help anyone? The freshest scar stood stark above all the others, a gaping wound across her palm that kept spilling forth more of the blood she dreaded. Why wouldn’t it stop? It should have stopped.
Like the way I should be dead.
Her eyes were wild as she gazed into the crimson glass of the frozen sea before her. Familiar features dyed red in the distorted reflection, a mocking parody of everything she was.A fist smashed into the unyielding surface, once, twice, three times. Her reflection never changed, a sardonic caricature dark and twisted as she raged like a madwoman against the abyss that stared into her.Spider-like cracks splintered across the mirrored red, her dark twin fragmenting into a million microcosms that haunted her with bloody visions. Was that a smile she saw? Was she smiling?
Who am I? What do I want?
It shattered then, and suddenly in she fell, as if the void was sucking her in. Crimson shards scattered all around her in a scarlet shower, every prism a dark mirror, a thousand thousand eyes opened and watching.She was falling, endlessly, and wondered if death was close. She should be so lucky. She should be dead. But she wasn’t.Like a match thrown onto kindling, a spark was all that was needed for her rise from the grave like a phoenix reborn, energy overflowing without end.She felt strong, untouchable even. As if she could bleed forever and never die. Was this what it felt like to be immortal?Well, she hated it.Darkness greeted Yuju as her eyes snapped open, and for a moment she thought herself still dreaming, trapped and unable to move. Warmth surrounded her on all sides, and the shaman felt oddly disoriented as she tried to shift into a more comfortable position.The attempt to move failed, mostly because she didn’t really have the space to do so. Her breathing caught as the rest of her brain came online long enough to process her surroundings.Bed below her, and two familiar people on either side of her. Her magical senses reached out and did not sense a threat, which made her relax a wee bit. Someone shifted to her right, and Yuju tilted her head over to meet a pair of smiling eyes. A hand cupped her cheek, and Yuju’s eyes fluttered shut for a moment, enjoying the closeness.“You’re awake, are you feeling alright?”Yerin spoke in a whisper, concern colouring her tone. Yuju opened her eyes, smiling as she placed a hand over the one Yerin had on her face.“I’m fine,” Yuju frowned when Yerin winced, jerking away when their hands made contact. She adjusted her grip down to Yerin’s wrist, eyes aglow to pierce through the darkness. The burn mark stood out like a sore thumb in sight both mundane and magical.“You’re hurt.”Yerin said nothing, and Yuju’s frown deepened.“Eunha did this.” It was not a question. The shaman could see the traces of magic left in the wound, like a fingerprint. Yerin pursed her lips, trying to make light of it.“It was an accident…” Yuju cut her off, bringing the wounded area to her lips as a familiar glow of healing magic stemmed from their joined hands, repairing the damage almost instantly. The shaman then pressed her lips against the now smooth skin on the back of Yerin’s hand.“I would never hurt you, even by accident.”Yerin closed her eyes. Her puppy always did and said things like this. Was it any wonder how deep she had fallen? Even now, her heart was racing wildly at Yuju’s intense gaze, as if she were the only thing that mattered. If only that were true.“Should you even be using magic now? After all that?”Changing the subject was cowardly, but Yerin wasn’t feeling particularly brave at the moment. Not with Eunha a little more than an arm’s length away on Yuju’s other side. While she was fairly sure Yuju would defend her, she didn’t want to discuss anything too personal while her rival was within earshot. Some things needed to be discussed in private.“I feel perfectly fine, Yerin. Look.”A spectral glow rose from the tip of Yuju’s fingers, coalescing into a light green puppy spirit that gamboled across their joined hands, rolling around with its tongue hanging out. Yerin giggled softly when the spirit Yuju had conjured up padded over to lick her face. It was then promptly pulled back by its master, who tapped it smartly on the head before banishing it.“Jealous?” Yerin teased. Yuju’s eyes were inscrutable.“Maybe.” Yerin’s heart skipped a beat. Their joined hands were now interlocked at the fingers. Yuju was never this forward with her. Perhaps she could even hope…?She didn’t have to wait long. Yuju moved suddenly, turning her body completely to face Yerin. Yerin exhaled as Yuju pulled her close, until she was practically snuggled within the younger’s embrace. Her nose was pressing against Yuju’s throat, and Yerin nuzzled her affectionately, feeling the shaman swallow in response.“Don’t ever leave me.” The shaman’s voice was small, barely audible even in the silence of the room. This close, Yerin could feel her puppy trembling a little, and she hugged the younger girl reassuringly, patting her back to comfort her.“Never. Not even if you chase me away.” Yerin promised. Yuju made a little choked sound at that, burying her face into Yerin’s hair.The nightmare earlier had reawakened the sense of loss that had plagued her for years, and Yuju was suddenly afraid of losing the one constant she had since Yerin had crashed into her life. She hadn’t had to think about how much she needed the company until she had been forced to look it in the eye.It was Yerin who brought her back to civilization, who taught her indirectly that she had the power to save others. Yuju had been alone and afraid for a very long time, until Yerin had boldly walked into her life and decided to stay.She wasn’t as brave or independent as she seemed to be. Yerin had always had to make the first move to coax her out of her shell, and deep down, Yuju was grateful. Yerin may like to say that it was Yuju who saved her life, but if the older woman hadn’t saved Yuju first, it would never have happened. To Yuju, Yerin was special. Which was why she was fucking terrified that one day, she might end up hurting her. Not on my watch, Yuju promised herself. A deep unease had followed her out of her dreams, and the shaman couldn’t quite shake the feeling that something was very wrong somewhere. No one hurts her, not even me. Yuju closed her eyes, and breathed. She would face that problem when it came. Until then, she would protect the things most important to her with her life.It was the only thing she could do.

It hurt to see Yuju with someone else.Eunha’s eyes were closed, but she didn’t need eyes to listen in on the conversation happening next to her. The fire mage fought back the lump in her throat when Yuju turned away from her to face Yerin. How could this happen?
But they are not the same person.
A small voice of reason reminded her. You are Eunha, not Jung Eunbi. All of them died that day, and Yuna was the first to go. Eunha remembered that, she had lived it through the eyes of Jung Eunbi. Yuju was not Choi Yuna, for all that they looked the same. She had to remind herself of that constantly.It didn’t help that they were so similar . The same smile, the same awkward sweetness. The same brightly eager eyes. It was difficult to separate the two, especially with the memories from Jung Eunbi. The two had been lovers in the past, and Eunha felt betrayed to see Yuju with anyone else, but she also knew that she had no legitimate claim over Yuju right now.Yuju had every right to choose anyone she wanted in this lifetime. But Eunha didn’t want to let go. She’s mine. No, she couldn’t think like that. It was wrong.But Eunha didn’t want to give up at all. Even before the memories, she had already been drawn to Yuju like a moth to the flame. After the memories, her feelings had only grown. It was fate that they were all together again, and she wasn’t about to let their second chance slip by just like that.
I won’t lose you again, not for anything.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sowon awoke to a splitting headache.More than that, it was the sensation of distinct discomfort all over that threw her off. Paired with the overload in her brain, it was all colluding to make the ex-soldier feel mildly nauseous.And yes, it was a little odd for Sowon to process the additional information about herself. She still felt disconnected, as if her old identity was just a file she had just read the information of. It was a little like watching a movie of yourself, but knowing that this really happened, a long time ago.A really long time ago. Sowon kept her eyes closed and breathing steady, though the frown on her face had given her away when she regained consciousness, because she heard someone move next to her. It was little more than a scrape of metal on stone, and a brush of fabric on fabric, but it painted the image well enough into her head. Old instincts for threat assessment came to the fore, her training as a special ops soldier being recalled to the surface with it.It felt odd to finally have context for her instincts. Now she knew why she had all her skills; she had definitely acquired them legitimately as a career soldier in the last great war on the Korean peninsula. The memories felt recent, but Sowon knew better.The war had ended in 2020, and this was almost 50 years later. And here she was, barely aged a day since, in a world where magic ran rampant and dragons were not just a myth. Sowon had never felt so old in her entire life. No one had ever prepared her for this.How could anyone have? Nothing made sense the moment the dragon orb had come into their lives. Sowon still remembered with clarity the moment she saw Eunha, no, Jung Eunbi, reach for the orb. It was a little hard to separate the past and the present when it came to her old team and the new. For one thing, they all had the same faces, just that they were all uniformly older during their stints as soldiers.How could she have been the only one to survive that last mission? Sowon wondered if anyone else could have had the same experience she had, down to the not aging part, but dismissed it as unlikely. Being functionally immortal wasn’t something that happened every day. For one, she had seen Yuna die in front of her, so that was a confirmed death. Umji she had raised from a child for the last ten years, so that was another possibility down.SinB and Eunha she had seen before when they were still little more than kids, shortly after Eunha’s mother had been lynched to death by the cultists during the Purge. She had arrived too late to evacuate the latest batch of metahumans in that enclave, and regretted it ever since. The only reason she had left those two alone then was because SinB’s parents had taken Eunha in, and she didn’t want to disrupt their lives. It had definitely come as a surprise several years later when she found them again in that gang’s headquarters. Such was fate, and Sowon could feel the threads of destiny pulling them together as a team.Yerin was a distinct candidate as a survivor, what with the exact same name and all. But Yerin never seemed to exhibit any signs of knowing any of them beyond their current incarnations, and Sowon had her doubts anyway. Yerin the mercenary was distinctly different from Yerin the soldier. The her now was colder somehow, despite being superficially cheerful on the outside. It could be a result of having lived a longer time, or it could just be a result of the unknown past Yerin had never deigned to share with them. There was just too much she didn’t know, and Sowon needed time to parse it out.All the information was making her head spin, and Sowon finally opened her eyes. She was not at all surprised to see SinB sitting next to her, having sensed someone’s presence earlier when she first regained consciousness. No Umji next to her though, which was mildly odd. If anything ever happened to her, Umji was always one of the first to be there.“You’re awake, thank heavens.” SinB looked haggard, as if she hadn’t gotten any rest at all. Sowon tried to get up, and winced at the tearing sensation across her skin in various places. The ex-soldier looked down to see the still open wounds from her sword fight earlier. They had been tended to, but it was odd to see her wounds lingering like this.“How long?” Sowon’s voice was raspy, and SinB wordlessly handed her a mug of water, which the leader downed gratefully.“Bit more than a day. You’re the first to wake up as far as I know.” SinB shook her head, as if to clear the fog from her eyes. “Yerin and I had to move all of you out of town just in case.”Sowon nodded, eyes sweeping the room they were in. It was one of the backup hideouts they had prepared just in case of emergencies, so it was fairly sparse. It did have all the necessities though, down to the cot she was resting on, and medical supplies. Paranoia was a beautiful thing to have when it came to being prepared.“The rest?” Sowon forced herself to sit up, heedless of the pain in her body. It was odd to feel sore all over. Her insane regenerative factor seemed to have vanished, and it felt painfully familiar, being mortal again. That was the word, yes. Mortal. Her eyes descended on the strands of her own hair, no longer a bright blonde. Yet another change.She had never been blonde in the past. Waking up in that secure facility as a blonde had been odd enough. She had too many questions and not enough answers, such as who had picked her up from the incident at Gyeongju? But she had time enough to figure that out. For now, she had a team to worry about first.“Umji’s passed out from some kind of neural feedback thing according to Yerin, but the medical diagnostics came out fine, she’s just exhausted. Yuju-unnie seems drained from overuse of magic, but she’s recovering a lot faster than expected.” SinB paused here, as if afraid to continue. Sowon raised an eyebrow.“Eunha...Eunha is fine now, but she wasn’t quite right earlier,” SinB started slowly, looking conflicted. Sowon listened quietly as SinB voiced her doubts and observations about everything Sowon had missed earlier, and the sense of unease only grew after the younger girl was finished.The partial draconic transformation was alarming, and she would require Yuju to run a detailed check later, but somehow it didn’t surprise her. The dragon orb had been involved in the ritual, and Sowon remembered all too well the scales across her own heart. She could hardly be a hypocrite in this case.More concerning though, was the fact that Eunha seemed different to her childhood friend, which rang enough alarm bells in Sowon’s head already. The soldier had her suspicions, but she would need to talk to Eunha to verify them. The leader of the team eyed the exhausted SinB.“Have you gotten any rest yourself?”SinB’s eyelid twitched. “A little.” Which was obviously a lie. Someone had to keep watch, and Sowon could tell that SinB had taken it upon herself to do so.“You should sleep.” Sowon eyed the exhausted younger girl. So similar, yet so different. She could see the shades of the Hwang Eunbi she knew so well in the past, just...less prickly. It felt odd to compare them, but Sowon couldn’t help herself.Sowon didn’t want to admit it, but SinB looked at her the same way Hwang Eunbi did in the past, and it was throwing her off more than a little. The concern hidden behind the cool exterior was almost identical, for one. It made the leader softer on SinB, if nothing else.“I was worried, you weren’t healing right,” SinB admitted, eyes falling on the bandaged areas. “You never take this long to recover from anything.”Sowon’s lips twitched wryly. She had a feeling it had to do with the orb shattering; despite all the implants in her dampening her connection to the supernatural, Sowon had definitely felt the link between her and that thing breaking when it happened. She hadn’t even known about the connection until that moment, and she still didn’t understand how much it had changed her.The physical signs were clear; blonde hair, her healing factor, her magical sight prior to all the cyberware cutting that off. Not to mention the scales on her chest. Apart from that, Sowon wasn’t sure how deep the changes went, or even if they were permanent.Was she some kind of immortal monster now? Or would that change with the orb no longer in the picture? Sowon wasn’t sure. Looking into SinB’s concerned eyes, Sowon sighed. She could promise no one anything, without knowing just what she had become.It didn’t help that she kept seeing her Eunbi in this version of SinB, and while she and Hwang Eunbi hadn’t actually been dating the way Yuna and Lil Jung had been, there was a sort of understanding that they were kind of getting there. After the war, that was the plan.Well, it was after the war now, and everyone else was dead except her. Sowon thought it was supremely unfair. She had just wanted to retire from the army, settle down, age gracefully, and then hopefully die in bed at a ripe old age. Not still look like she was 20-something when her actual age was somewhere in the 70s.Also, she had lost about 30 years or so in between while frozen in some kind of cyrogenic sleep. Who knew what had happened to her during that time? Her first memories waking up had been in a sterile lab that had seemed almost abandoned, but everything had been clean enough, now that she thought about it. Clearly someone had been making sure she was still alive and intact during that time. Perhaps the person or people who had retrieved her?It seemed like she knew even less than when she was functionally amnesiac. Her old memories only sparked off more questions that she didn’t have the answers to. She must also have been spacing out for too long, because SinB waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention.“Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need anything?”Sowon closed her eyes briefly, reopening them before SinB decided to start panicking. Her wounds still hurt, but the leader blocked out the pain mentally. She had things to do, and first of all…“You need to go sleep, SinB. Don’t make me repeat myself.”Sowon could admit she was being harsh, but she needed to be, just a little. SinB wasn’t Hwang Eunbi, and she was so young. As much as SinB reminded her of her old comrade, they weren’t the same person. She had to remember that.“Ah...okay.”SinB seemed a little deflated by Sowon’s attitude, though the microscopic yawn she let out shortly after betrayed her own need for sleep. Unable to resist, Sowon reached forward and ruffled the younger’s hair.“I’m fine. You, on the other hand, need to rest. I’ll take watch now.”SinB beamed at the attention, though she rapidly hid it behind a scowl.“Whatever, old lady. Don’t reopen your wounds, kay?”The old lady bit hurt more than it should, but Sowon supposed she deserved that. She smacked SinB lightly on the back of her head as she got up.“Respect for your elders, brat.”SinB stuck her tongue out and romped off to the another free cot in the same room. The hideout wasn’t huge, three rooms at most, and there was just enough space for all of them and some emergency supplies. Now that Sowon was up, she could see Umji sleeping peacefully in a cot right across from her. The look on her face softened at the sight. Regardless of her old memories, the ones she made as Sowon were just as relevant. The new bonds she had formed with this team were just as important as her memories of her old team.She was once Kim Sojung, sergeant in the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, squad leader of the 34th Recon Unit. That was her old life, fighting for her country with a team she could trust her back to. The team she should have died with.She was now Sowon, mercenary and shadowrunner for hire, part of an elite squad not unlike the one she had led before, just with different specialties for a different era. She wasn’t going to let them die before her this time if she could help it.They were all important to her. Now fully aware of just how old she was, Sowon realized just how much she loved them all for coming back to her in a different lifetime. They might not be exactly the same people, but they were still her team. Her family. And nothing would ever change that.

Yuju’s expression was...troubled as she withdrew her connection from Eunha, the fire mage’s eyes opening to gaze attentively into hers, as if she was her whole world. The dog shaman lowered her gaze after a second, conveniently missing the flash of disappointment in Eunha’s eyes at her action.Next to them, Sowon looked expectantly at Yuju for answers. Yuju bit her lip, frowning as she tried to organize her thoughts. Eunha glanced over at Sowon.“I’m still me, if you were worried.”Sowon didn’t even look embarrassed about being called out on her suspicions. The leader stretched lazily, waiting for Yuju to deliver the official verdict.“Eunha…” Yuju started, looking back guiltily at her fellow mage. “I think I messed up?”“I feel fine, Yuju.” Eunha reassured the other girl, who didn’t look very convinced. Sowon was still watching them, though her attention was more centered on Eunha than anything else.SinB was right. There was something a little off about Eunha, and it wasn’t in how she looked or anything this time. The scales SinB mentioned were completely gone for one, so that was one less problem they had to deal with on the surface.No, it was just in the little things, like the way Eunha tilted her head, or held herself. Or even the way she was currently looking at Yuju, which felt eerily familiar to Sowon now that she remembered being Kim Sojung. She had to know for sure.“But your astral self is... more now.” Yuju seemed conflicted. “You’ve become stronger.”“Yes,” Eunha admitted, raising one hand as fire started dancing within her palm. Amidst the crackling flames, there were little bolts of electricity arcing through it. Yuju eyed the additional element with a critical eye, heaving a sigh.“I...wasn’t expecting to see the shape of your soul to change that much.” Sowon looked up at that. Yuju shook her head, holding up a hand to stop Sowon from reacting negatively.“Eunha is still Eunha...I just uh, I think I did something else at the end.” Yuju scratched at her head in frustration. “I don’t remember much but I think…when the orb broke, I might have fused your essence with it by accident?”Yuju looked over at Eunha, who seemed extremely calm about the matter. Sowon just looked confused. She never did get the hang of magic theory at the best of times.It was Yerin who broke the silence, standing at the entrance to the room they were using. None of the trio had noticed her step in, a perfectly normal occurrence. Yuju reacted naturally to the sound of her voice, a tiny smile creeping up her face as she turned to face the other woman. Eunha didn’t say a word, but Sowon didn’t miss the flash of envy at the bond between Yuju and Yerin.“Is that even possible?” Yerin stepped in, ruffling Yuju’s hair affectionately. The shaman huffed and pulled away, shooting a not-at-all threatening glare at the unrepentant specialist.“I don’t know. I’ve never tried it before.” Yuju puffed up her cheeks sulkily, which made Yerin chuckle. Sowon looked up at her.“Is Umji better yet?”Yerin, who had just come from checking up on Umji, nodded.“She’s still a little disoriented, and she’s definitely not going to be jacking into the Matrix anytime soon until she unscrambles herself, but she’ll be fine. She just needs more rest to recover.”Sowon nodded, somewhat relieved. Yerin was the other person in the team other than Umji who was trained to use all the medical equipment they had, though all of them knew basic first aid. It was part of the profession. Injuries were to be expected. They could have relied on Yuju to heal them, but it was unwise to make their shaman drain herself to heal every small wound.Besides, it probably wasn’t great to rely on healing magic according to Yuju, since what it really did was simply accelerating the body’s natural healing process. Doing it too much could actually be unhealthy for the person being healed. Short of magical injuries or life threatening wounds that needed immediate attention, Yuju rarely used it on them.Eunha coughed diffidently to get everyone’s attention. The fire mage looked at all of them, though her gaze lingered longest on Yuju.“So, am I clear yet?”Yuju cocked her head, clearly thinking about it. She zeroed in again on the electricity that still arced between Eunha’s fingertips.“Other than the lightning, what else can you do now?”Yuju had only heard about the scales from Yerin, but she hadn’t seen them for herself yet. Eunha smiled indulgently at the blatant curiosity written all over Yuju’s face, like a child fascinated with a new toy. The fire mage had been experimenting a little when she could in the last couple of days, trying to get a feel for her new abilities, so it didn’t take long for her to satisfy the shaman’s need for knowledge.Scales emerged like a second skin, starting from the tip of her fingers and running up her arm like a devouring wave, encasing the entire limb in a light but near impenetrable armor that flexed with every motion. Yuju was watching in both the magical and physical spectrums, and was visibly awed by the sight.Yerin and Sowon were slightly less comfortable with the display, but they were both very good at hiding their reactions. They did however exchange a glance, fleeting at best, but the older pair were twins in their discomfort. It was sort of creepy to watch.Yuju crawled forward on her knees to prod at the scales tentatively, marvelling at the structure. Eunha watched her indulgently, allowing the shaman to do whatever she wanted.“How durable are those scales?” Sowon wondered aloud, thinking about the lizardman she had fought, and also of the scales over her own heart. The ones on her chest were less brightly colored compared to the shimmering ones on Eunha’s arm, but she remembered all too well how it stopped a knife. The lizardman had even been able to shrug off shotgun blasts at close range, but she certainly wasn’t going to shoot Eunha as an experiment.“I haven’t tried, but I don’t feel temperature as much when I scale up.” Eunha admitted, letting her own fire wreath around her wrist as a demonstration. Yuju had to back up a little from the intensity of the heat, but Eunha seemed utterly unaffected.“Useful,” Yuju commented. She produced a knife from her sleeve with a flourish, not unlike a stage magician with sleight of hand, making Eunha chuckle. The pup looked uncertainly at the bunny.“May I?”“Go ahead,” Eunha stretched her arm out for Yuju. She knew the puppy wouldn’t seriously hurt her, and well, healing magic was still a thing she could do. Given the green light, Yuju carefully applied the edge to the scales, glancing up every now and then to check if Eunha was in pain. Eunha smiled encouragingly at her, and Yuju even tried sawing the blade back and forth. The only result was a much blunter blade, and Eunha giggling because it tickled.“Interesting.” Sowon had come closer to take a look as well. She remembered her fight with the lizardman all too well. The razors in her gloves hadn’t been able to penetrate his scales either, and she had been punching to hurt.“Is that anything like the thing you fought before?” Yerin was also peering curiously from above Yuju’s head. Eunha frowned instinctively, clearly knowing exactly what Yerin was referring to.“I’m nothing like that abomination, thank you.”Yuju looked at all of them curiously. She had been out cold when that lizardman appeared, and only heard bits and pieces from the rest. To save her the trouble, Eunha directly projected the image of what she had seen of the creature’s magical signature over to Yuju, who wrinkled her nose in disgust at the sight.“That’s sick. Some kind of dark magic...that’s not even human anymore, is it?” Yuju looked back up at the still unconvinced Yerin.“Eunha doesn’t look anything like that. I think it’s because her soul wasn’t even anchored in her own body when the fusion happened, so it didn’t really change her body the same way. She’s still very human, just that her soul is... more now.” Yuju shrugged. “She can control the scales, I don’t think that lizard thing you guys mentioned can even do that.”Yerin looked thoughtful, as did Sowon. Eunha recalled the scales, snuggling up to Yuju, happy that the shaman had defended her. Yuju rubbed her fingers against the now smooth skin of Eunha’s hand, fascinated by how thoroughly the scales had vanished, as if they had never been there.“So Eunha is still Eunha, but with dragon powers now?” Sowon summed up succinctly. Yuju nodded, then shook her head.“I don’t know exactly what the essence of the orb entails, and now that it’s broken I can’t know for sure.” The shaman sighed. “But it definitely powered her up. As far as I can tell, she’s still herself, the magical signature of the orb is completely gone.” The shaman raised a hand, ticking off her fingers.“She’s not possessed, her astral signature is still hers with some slight variations thanks to the soul fusion, and I haven’t found any foreign things latched onto her when I was scanning earlier.” Yuju looked down at Eunha, who was still cuddled against her.“So I’d say yes, you’re clear.”Eunha beamed up at her. Sowon nodded decisively.“Good. We could use the extra firepower.” The ex-soldier looked over at Yerin, who nodded reluctantly.“We’ll probably need it, considering now that we’re most likely on a hit list with the mission failure.” Yerin sighed. She had been doing her best to stay low profile all these years, and the sudden spotlight on her new team was doing her no favours.“No big deal, we’ll just move again if we have to.” SinB yawned as she strode through the open door. She had clearly caught the tail end of the conversation, because there was less wariness in her stance when she approached Eunha.“Incheon isn’t that far off, and Hyeongdae won’t be able to send in people there like they did this time.” Sowon frowned as she thought about it. SinB gulped quietly and shifted as nonchalantly as she could out of her immediate line of sight. Yerin raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t expose her. Yuju looked bemused, and Eunha shot her childhood friend a I know you screwed up glance.“The only way to get us off that list is for the employer to either drop the request, or drop dead. I highly doubt they’re going to drop the request if they managed to call in reinforcements from Hyeongdae, but I don’t think we’re ready to erase a cult on our own quite yet.”Yerin summarized their predicament with a glum look. Sowon patted her on the shoulder, making her wince minutely, a motion that didn’t escape Yuju this time. The shaman frowned and tugged at the hem of Yerin’s shirt, eyes questioning. Yerin mouthed a ‘later’, squeezing Yuju’s hand reassuringly.“We’ll work something out.” Sowon shook her head. They needed Umji to get better before they could make any concrete plans. The hacker was their eyes and ears, an indispensable part of their team whenever they needed information, especially with this much left unknown. Sowon remembered that Umji was still working on some data regarding the dragon, and that would play a part in deciding what their next step was.Sowon wasn’t sure if she had the right to involve the rest in her vendetta against the dragon. She was going to go after Mireu anyway if Umji was able to confirm that the dragon was indeed behind the cult. It didn’t seem fair to make the rest come along though. All of them had died in the past because of the dragon, and they didn’t deserve to suffer through this all over again. This was her burden to bear as a survivor from the past. She needed to lay old ghosts to rest if she wanted to make peace with her present.Sowon looked at her kids again. SinB was sitting by Eunha, Yuju was tugging Yerin to one side to check on her shoulder, and Umji was currently still sleeping in the next room over. She loved them all so much it hurt. They meant the world to her, and it gave her peace to see them all alive and well now.Watching Yuna die in front of her back then still haunted Sowon. She never got to see what happened to the rest after the orb had come free, but the odds were that none of them save her had survived it. Thinking about the orb inevitably led her to look over at Eunha again.The fire mage was chatting distractedly with SinB, though her attention kept wandering over to Yuju and Yerin in the corner. Again, that odd sense of familiarity nagged at Sowon; she needed to know. “Lil Jung.”It was just loud enough for Eunha and SinB to hear, though Yuju and Yerin were out of earshot. SinB was facing her already, and looked up quizzically at the sound of her voice. Sowon pursed her lips, waiting for Eunha’s reaction.She didn’t have to wait long.Eunha whipped her head around, surprise colouring her eyes. Hesitantly, the mage answered.“... Sojung ?”SinB looked confused. Sowon closed her eyes. It was just as she thought.“We need to talk.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So should I be calling you Jung Eunbi, or Eunha?”Sowon leaned against a tree, eyeing the shorter girl before her. The pair had left the hideout entirely, not wanting to be heard by anyone. Sowon wasn’t sure if Umji had the place bugged, but knowing her charge, it was entirely likely that it was. She wasn’t about to take any chances.This was going to be between the two of them only.“I could ask the same of you.” Eunha raised her chin slightly, folding her arms defensively. The two of them were in a clearing in the woods, a short distance away from the hidden entrance to their hideout. It allowed them a little privacy, and Sowon could watch the direction where the entrance was, preventing anyone from sneaking up on them. The less anyone else knew about this, the better.“What did that orb do to you?” Sowon pinched the bridge of her nose. “All of you should have died. I saw you as a child before. You were Eunha up until Yuju brought you back. What happened?”“You say this like you were there.” Eunha started, confusion in her eyes. The fire mage shook her head. “It can’t be...you really are Kim Sojung?”Sowon sighed, rubbing at her temples. “Unfortunately, yes. I survived Gyeongju. That cursed orb saved my life for some blasted reason. I only remember blacking out and then waking up in some kind of underground facility.”“But how…” Eunha muttered to herself, starting to pace nervously. “When the water came, Yuju pulled me back at the same time.” Eunha stopped in her tracks, staring back at Sowon.“Why did the orb save you and not Yuna?”Sowon glared back, offended. “Excuse you.” The ex-soldier then puffed out an exasperated breath. “Yuna was dead when you dragged her there. I don’t think anything in the world comes back from the dead.”“We’re all here now.” Eunha continued on stubbornly. Sowon sighed.“And all of you died 50 years ago. Eunbi, Eunha, whoever you are...the past is over. We can’t live in it anymore.”Eunha’s shoulders sagged visibly at that. “But then why did I have to go back and watch it all happen again? I lived through it with her, you know? From when my neighbour Hwang Eunbi ran away from home, when I met Yuna at boot camp, going through training together, getting assigned to your team... I watched it all happen, it felt so real… ”“Wait, Hwang ran away from home before?” Sowon looked interested for a moment, then shook her head. “Not the point. You said you went back to the past ? Was that what happened when you touched the orb?”Eunha closed her eyes, looking deflated. “Yes. I’m still Eunha, but I saw Jung Eunbi’s life. Lived it with her, really, though I wasn’t really able to do anything until Gyeongju.”Sowon lowered her head, considering. “If I recall correctly, you were the one who told us we needed to withdraw back then. So it was you as Eunha, and not Lil Jung.”Eunha nodded. “Everyone born after the Awakening in Korea knows about the Gyeongju Incident.” The fire mage smiled sadly. “I wanted to save everyone, but I couldn’t even talk. My past self was in control the whole time.”“But you did try.” Sowon frowned. “Wait, if Lil Jung was in control, how did she know?”Eunha shrugged. “We were the same person in one body. When I got agitated, I think she felt it.” Eunha sighed. “It was the Awakening. Magic was rising, rules were being rewritten. Gyeongju was at the epicenter of it. Whatever separated us was being eroded…” Eunha paused, eyes downturned.“When Yuna went down, I think we sort of...fused? For a while anyway. She loved her...I loved her too. We both wanted her to live....” Eunha trailed off guiltily.“And you decided making a deal with a dragon was acceptable.” Sowon finished, putting one hand on her hip crossly. “Eunha, you know dragons aren’t to be trusted, what were you thinking?”Eunha looked away. “I was upset. I wasn’t thinking straight.” The mage sighed deeply.“For what it’s worth, I never meant any harm. I just couldn’t deal with her being gone, you know. Magic might have been able to heal her, but my past self had no magic, and even if I were in control, my fire wouldn’t be of any use. The only magical being in Gyeongju was the dragon, and I just thought…”Sowon reached forward and patted Eunha on the shoulder. The fire mage seemed even smaller than usual, bowed in on herself. Her voice was tiny as she continued.“I just wanted to save her, and all of us. She did too. Nothing else was more important.”Sowon sighed again. She was doing that a lot. Could you really blame her though?“Eunha, what’s done is done. We can’t change the past. Everyone died, we’re here now. It’s a miracle all of us are here together again. This is our second chance to start over. Don’t let the past get to you.”Eunha shook her head. “I know,
it’s just…” The tiny mage looked up with red rimmed eyes.“I watched myself fall in love with Yuna and then saw her die in front of me. I can’t lose her again. ” Eunha hugged herself, hands clutching tightly at her own arms. She was trembling, and Sowon took her firmly by both shoulders, steadying her.“Eunha,
focus. Yuju is alive. You’re here now, not 50 years ago in Gyeongju. No one here is dying before me, and I’ve lived a ridiculously long time.” Sowon took a deep breath.“Yuna died. It was terrible and I wish it didn’t have to happen. Yes, I know she died for you, Eunha. Or well, your past self, but you get my point.” Sowon pulled the still shaky Eunha into an embrace.“But that’s all in the past. You did your best. You’re here now, Eunha. Choi Yuna isn’t. Jung Eunbi isn’t. Yuju is still alive and her own person. Don’t let Jung Eunbi change who you are, Eunha. Let the past rest where it is. We can’t go back anymore.”Eunha broke down, sobbing into Sowon’s shoulder.“She was lying in her own blood when I came back...I thought I lost her again...her aura was almost dark all the way through…” Eunha was blubbering almost incoherently. “So much blood…”Sowon tried her best to soothe her. “But Yuju’s fine now, isn’t she? She’s not dead. You saved her this time, from what I heard from SinB.”Eunha calmed down slowly, hiccuping through small sobs. Sowon patted her on the back, giving her time to recover. The fire mage eventually composed herself, extracting herself gingerly from Sowon’s embrace.“Thanks...I’m sorry, Sowon. About everything.” Eunha looked downcast and still somewhat of a mess, but Sowon wasn’t going to judge. The girl was having a hard enough time already trying to juggle two sets of memories.“Don’t worry about it. You kids are part of my team, I have a responsibility to all of you.” Sowon ruffled Eunha’s hair affectionately.“Yeah, grandma.” Eunha said sarcastically, earning herself a bop on the head from said ‘grandma’. Sowon scowled. Just because she was older didn’t mean she cared to be reminded of it. Eunha giggled a little at Sowon’s grouchy expression.“Glad you feel better,” Sowon noted. Even if it was at her expense. “You ready to face the rest yet?”“In a bit,” Eunha admitted, wiping at her eyes. They were still red, making her look even more bunny-like than usual. “How do I look?”“Awful. You might need to wash your face.” Eunha suddenly summoned the dragon scales to cover her face, making Sowon jump back.“Whoa hey, don’t do that all of a sudden. It’s freaky as hell.”Eunha laughed, the scales shimmering as she did. “At least no one will notice I’ve been crying like this.” The dragon mage paused. “Except maybe Yuju. She probably would know.” Her voice was wistful. Sowon shook her head.“Eunha, I know you already liked Yuju before this whole mess happened, but try to remember she’s not Yuna, okay? You don’t want to scare her, she doesn’t know anything about the past. It’s just us.”Eunha nodded sadly. “I’ll try...it’s just hard, remembering how it used to be.” The mage sighed.“I could have lived without knowing all this. It would have been so much easier.”Sowon grunted. “Tell me about it. Having amnesia was a lot more peaceful. Now I have to go kill a dragon, because no one fucks with my team past or present.”Eunha looked at Sowon seriously.“You do know that none of us will let you go alone to do that right?”Sowon folded her arms. “This isn’t your fight. Any of you. This is my score to settle.”Eunha snorted. “We just had a whole conversation about not living in the past, dear leader. In case you forgot, Mireu is after all of us at the moment. It’s not even about past scores, we have a very present problem right now. Either we kill the bloody dragon, or he keeps sending goons after us. I’m all for killing the dragon, personally.”Sowon cocked her head. “You are feeling better.”Eunha scoffed, letting the scales on her face fade back into her skin. The redness on her cheeks and nose had subsided, though her eyes were still somewhat bloodshot.“Better enough to also notice the way you were avoiding SinB earlier, by the way.” Eunha smirked. “I seem to remember past me walking in on something once…”Sowon choked. Having someone else who also knew about the past was going to be inconvenient. She drew herself up to her full height and glowered down at Eunha, who still looked unbearably smug.“I was not avoiding her.”Eunha shrugged. “If you say so.” The mage looked up at the ex-soldier.“Seriously though, you can’t not have noticed SinB likes you, even before this. Why don’t you give her a chance?”Sowon shifted uncomfortably. “She’s too young, she doesn’t know what she wants.”Eunha snorted. “SinB always knows exactly what she wants. If anything, I’m the indecisive one between the two of us.” The mage frowned suddenly.“This isn’t about how you feel about Hwang Eunbi still, is it?”Sowon twitched. Eunha noticed, and snorted again.“Ha, and someone had the cheek to tell me not to get hung up over the past.”“Hey, at least it was my past. Give me a break. You just saw someone else’s memories.” Sowon sounded defensive. Eunha rolled her eyes theatrically.“Same difference.” Eunha paused, meeting Sowon’s eyes soberly.“At least SinB feels the same way Hwang Eunbi did in the past. You shouldn’t get hung up over it so much. Give her a chance. Give yourself a chance. You said it earlier, we got a fresh new start. Live a little, Sowon. You’re already past 70. If not now, when?”“Go on, keep talking about my age,” Sowon growled menacingly. Eunha stuck her tongue out impudently.“I won’t even tell SinB how old you really are!”That did it. Yuju was very confused when Eunha came running back into base with Sowon hot on her heels, the fire mage taking cover behind the oblivious dog shaman with a squeal. It didn’t really deter Sowon from trying to reach over Yuju to grab at Eunha, but pacifist that the shaman was, she prevented any escalation of impending violence out of habit. Which Eunha had clearly been counting on. Sowon glowered at the pair of magic users protected by a force field. Eunha was snickering while snuggling into Yuju’s back at the same time. Sneaky little bunny. Sowon shook her head resignedly. As long as Eunha was grounded, she could endure a little teasing. It was better than having the darker half of Eunha’s personality taking control. The leader knew her team a lot better than she let on.She had failed them once before. She wouldn’t make that same mistake now. They were hers to protect, all of them.Nothing was more important than that.

It was almost five days later before Umji was well enough to open her eyes without feeling like the world was unravelling around her. She hated every second of it. Even now, she kept her eyes only half open and moved very carefully with help from whoever was nearby. It was uncomfortable, inconvenient, and she couldn’t wait for it to be over. Sowon and Yerin kept her lying down as much as possible, with the latter threatening to set Yuju with a knockout spell on her if she kept whining. Sowon had been even more direct, she just took out another tranquilizer. Umji had kept her grumbling to a minimum since then. She hated being cut off, but she also knew she wasn’t well enough to even try connecting. Even sitting up made her nauseous, much less anything more strenuous than twiddling her thumbs.Yuju often dropped by to read to her, the low rumble of the shaman’s soothing voice working like an analgesic to ease the throbbing pain lancing through her ears and lower brain stem. The shaman wasn’t here now, apparently off hunting with SinB and Sowon to supplement their rations with fresh meat. The hideout wasn’t meant to be a permanent base, and while they had some emergency rations here, it wasn’t going to last if they were planning to stay until Umji recovered.So when Umji finally discovered that she could open her eyes properly without feeling like her eyeballs were trying to tear themselves apart, she almost let out a whoop of victory. Or she would have, if she hadn’t opened her eyes to a somewhat tense situation playing out in front of her. Wisely, the young hacker immediately pretended she was still comatose, but kept her ears wide open. She wasn’t going to miss a second of this.“I need your help.” That was Yerin’s voice, Umji decided. The reply that came back was almost snarky, and Umji thought that sounded about right. Eunha did grow up with SinB, and it was showing.“Oh really? What can I possibly do for you?”Yerin’s voice was tense. “This is about Yuju.”Silence, and then a shuffle of fabric. “I’m listening.”“You know what Yuju did to bring you back.” Pause. “She looks fine, but no one does a ritual like that without consequences. I need you to help me See. I don’t have the Sight, but when I came to you two that day…” Yerin trailed off, sounding uncertain.“The blood.” Eunha’s voice was thoughtful. Umji risked cracking open one eye to check on her two unnies. At least they were on the same page whenever it came to Yuju-unnie’s safety. That was something, at least.“There shouldn’t have been that much. A little blood spilled for a ritual is one thing, but that much implies a sacrifice. Blood magic, Eunha. You know what that means.”“You’re asking me if she’s been marked.”“That is exactly what I’m asking.”“What are you going to do if she is?”“Nothing. I don’t know? Help her to hide it? Can it be hidden? Will she be alright even?” Yerin sounded frustrated. Eunha exhaled slowly.“But she isn’t.” Yerin made a confused noise. Eunha sighed.“There’s nothing. When Yuju was checking on me the other day, our connection meant I could see into her too. There isn’t anything. She’s clean, too clean. I suspected blood magic too when I came back that day, I thought she died for me to come back.”“But she didn’t.” Yerin said slowly. “But, how? Something must have died to power the sacrifice. I thought that’s how it works.”Eunha made a small sound of agreement. “It is. Usually. I honestly don’t know that much apart from the rumours.” Suspicion coloured her tone. “You, on the other hand, know an awful lot about blood magic for a non practitioner. Is there something you aren’t telling us?”“Hunted a few rogues in my time. One of my best friends was a mage too, learned a lot from her. The bounty’s good for blood mages, but they’re damn dangerous. Leave them to grow, and they’ll kill half a city for power.”“And you were ready to hide it for her, if she had been marked?” Eunha sounded unconvinced. “Even knowing the risks?”“You know damn well why I would, Eunha. And you would have too. Plus, it’s Yuju, she would hurt herself first before hurting anyone else. I trust her.” Yerin sounded tired. Eunha was silent for a moment, then she spoke up.“You aren’t so bad. Yuju is lucky to have you by her side.” There was a tinge of envy in that. Yerin chuckled.“You aren’t too bad yourself.” Pause. “Doesn’t mean I’m letting you have her though.”Eunha snorted. “She isn’t yours to give. As long as she hasn’t chosen, I’m not giving up.”Yerin sounded amused. “Fair and square then, tiny. May the best woman win.”“Fair enough. She deserves the best. And I’m not tiny. ”Umji peeked again and saw them shaking on it, if the death grip whitening their knuckles was any indication. The young hacker sighed internally. Yuju-unnie was going to have an interesting time ahead of her.She only hoped that no one got hurt too badly in the process.

Sowon watched Umji like a mother hen as the girl fumbled with a tablet, the baby hacker’s brows knitted together in annoyance at having to do things the slow way. For someone used to directly interfacing with the Matrix and all things electronic, having to mess with physical controls felt like being chained to a post. It was making Umji grumpy, but she didn’t dare to use her powers.The migraine she got from trying that the last time was an object lesson she intended to heed, at least until she made full recovery. Umji generally had good sense, but Sowon still worried, of course. The mercenary had raised Umji like a daughter, and some habits were hard to kick.“Take it easy,” Sowon coaxed gently, and Umji grumbled under her breath, prodding at the screen like it owed her money. The hacker’s fingers flew quickly across the haptic keyboard, faster than the average user, but still unbearably slow for what she was used to. When you could change things with a thought, having to mess with commands was practically archaic.“Got it.” The hacker jabbed at the screen triumphantly. Everyone clustered closer to take a look. They were all together for this, since they were all curious about the decrypted files Umji had retrieved from her last run. Something that nearly melted Umji’s brain had better be worth it.The image on screen was grainy, though Umji had clearly tried to fix the resolution as best as she could. It was in first person view, with strings of numbers and letters at the corners indicating the identity of the person recording the stream.It also looked very familiar to Sowon. This was the type of camera feed tapped from their helmets back in the war. The string of ID numbers at the bottom right felt vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t quite put a finger on it. It would come back to her though, if it was important enough. She just needed a little time.The view was of a forest. A disciplined platoon of soldiers fanned out through the trees, barely visible if one did not know where to look for them. Sowon made Umji zoom in on the nearest uniform she could see, but couldn’t quite identify the unit they belonged to. Definitely ROK soldiers though, and the terrain was starting to look oddly familiar.Sowon glanced over at Eunha, who looked a shade paler than usual. The fire mage was frowning. Their eyes met, and Sowon confirmed what she suspected.This was filmed in Gyeongju, and if the timestamp on the upper left was to be believed, no more than a few days after Sowon’s old unit had been sent to their deaths. Sowon never knew what happened in the aftermath, what with having been knocked out for almost 30 years after the dragon broke free. The ex-soldier watched on with curiosity. She wanted to know what this Operation Snakehunt was up to.Waiting, it seemed for now. Umji tweaked a few things, letting the images fast forward a little through the boring parts. Sowon wasn’t surprised. ‘Hurry up and wait’ was an old military tradition. Days on end of being stuck in a tree for recon missions came back to her, and Sowon was not ashamed to say that she most definitely did not miss it.Audio crackled with a goodly amount of static as Umji adjusted the settings to clear things up. The voices were scratchy and almost indistinct, but it was enough to hear the gist of the conversation.“...split up...cover more...bogey...gone to ground…”Sowon strung that together easily enough. They were searching for something, and there was more than one squad roving the woods. Sowon could hazard a guess. As Eunha had mentioned before, everyone born after the Awakening knew about the dragon rising at Gyeongju just as the first burst of magic awakened in the general area, before spreading across the rest of the country.The same thing was happening across the globe at different times, under different circumstances. The Awakening was never one big event. It was a lot more like labour pains stretched out over a couple of decades, with smaller incidents probably having gone unreported previously until the seismic changes starting shaking things up.On hindsight, it was unfortunate that Sowon and her team had been at Gyeongju when one of those shockwaves decided to surface. With or without them, the dragon would have risen somehow. It was just their misfortune to get tangled up into this whole affair. It didn’t change Sowon’s determination to make that thing pay though. Her entire squad died because of that creature. Yuna’s death was unfortunate, but the rest should have made it out. That they didn’t said a great deal.And yes, Sowon had checked. She had her own information sources independent of Umji, and it wasn’t hard to hack into the old military records of veterans from the last war. It wasn’t exactly classified information after almost 50 years. Seeing the whole unit labelled as “Killed in Action” had been sobering. Sowon had hoped that at least one of them would have made it, despite everything.Of course, seeing herself labelled as KIA was incredibly odd. Sowon did not feel dead in the least. Clearly, someone had tampered with the records, but she would require Umji’s expertise to narrow down the search. It did give her some tiny ounce of hope that maybe her old unit had survived and the whole thing was just a damn nightmare, but Sowon wasn’t one to live by empty dreams.She was here now with an exact replica of her old team, and an echo of the part of her still attuned to magic whispered that these were the same lost souls she used to command, just reincarnated in new flesh. That was damning in itself. People generally don’t get reincarnated unless they were already dead. Was it fate that they were gathered again? Sowon had her suspicions, and a lot of it pointed to the dragon’s deal. What was it Eunha had asked for again?But first things first. The recording had sped forward to where the unnamed soldier whose view they were following had split off with his own fireteam to scout the area. Sowon assessed them critically. The way they handled their weapons was more Marine than Army. A flash of recognition shot through her mind, and the ex-soldier frowned. It couldn’t be, could it?An explosion of white light on the screen rocked the camera, and for a few seconds all was dust and dirt before the vision reoriented. The fireteam was safe though, if stunned. Something had happened in the distance, and the squad reorganized quickly to investigate it.A subtle dread crawled through Sowon’s stomach as the view inched closer to the epicenter of the explosion. Her instincts were correct, and around her the others, namely SinB and Yerin, gasped. Eunha was stony faced. Yuju and Umji just looked morbidly curious.The soldier whose view they were borrowing had crept onto a hillock overlooking a shallow glade, and given them a glimpse into a nightmare. Twisted forms of what should have been human lay in agonies on their way to death, warped by terrible forces that tore their shapes into unnatural angles. The rags they wore marked them as soldiers from the same unit, and wisely, their cameraman did not move, though his view was shaking just a little.The worst of these weren’t the dead or dying. It was the ones who were turned, the ones who survived the change, splattered in the blood of a dragon. There were legends of heroes from all over the world, who bathed in the blood of dragons in order to gain the invulnerability of their skins. This was that legend made flesh, scales forcing their way out to reshape them as the poor men were twisted into something they were not, until the final result was something not unlike the lizardman Sowon had fought the other time.And in the middle of it all, the dragon in the shape of a man, or more accurately put, wearing the flesh of man. The static from the camera only grew whenever their brave soldier tried to focus on the not-man in the middle of the carnage, as if technology couldn’t quite process the twisted energies that surrounded the creature in his stolen suit. Reptilian eyes too large for the dead man walking assessed the situation with a cold calculation, and every flash of static seemed to suggest a larger form crammed into the zombie animated by the dragon within.It disgusted all of them. It must also have disgusted the fireteam, because someone tried to snipe the creature in the clearing despite their soldier, who was also their leader, not having given any commands. The high caliber bullet tore off a good chunk of the head, for all the good it did. It was merely borrowed flesh made ambulatory. The force that animated it was not so easily injured.Everyone who revealed themselves died. Those who sought mercy got the chance to live as the transformed servants of the dragon. If, of course, they survived the transition. A lot of them didn’t. And throughout all this, their soldier kept watching, not revealing himself, though the suppressed fury was almost tangible in the way his vision shook and hand clenched with every new death, every new capitulation.There were at least two others who were as level headed as their leader, by Sowon’s count. They waited until the dragon finally left, taking his minions with him. Even then, they didn’t move for a good long time after that, just to make sure the enemy didn’t double back to check.Only a few survived the carnage. The operation, such as it was, was a failure.
“This isn’t over. For our brothers, for Yewon, I’ll fight that thing until the day I die.”
The final audio clip was the clearest line they heard before the video blacked out. Sowon clenched her fist as Eunha looked over at her, startled. They both recognized the name mentioned, and that voice.Kim Bo-geun was there. He had come for them. And he had seen the dragon, and pledged to fight it. What had happened to him afterwards?Sowon had a feeling his part was far from over. Thoughts raced through her mind as she tried to piece together what she had, and still she had more questions than answers. Umji’s fingers danced across her terminal, utterly focused as she scanned the text files from the same vault she had raided the video clip from.“These are mostly action reports and other intelligence reports in the follow-up for that operation.” Umji didn’t seem too bothered by the video, more interested in the information she could extract for their use.“The dragon was never actually found after that, but the official announcement was that it was shot down and killed by the military. Obviously completely fabricated, considering the video,” Umji tutted disapprovingly. Sowon closed her eyes, her fists still clenched tight.“Umji, run a check on the ID of that soldier from the video. I want to know everything that happened to him afterwards.” Sowon paused, then exhaled slowly.“His name should be Kim Bo-geun. ROK Marines.”SinB turned to look at her questioning. “You know him?” The gunslinger then paused, chuckling at herself. “No way, this was 50 years ago, you can’t possibly…”“He was the brother of a friend. Yes, I knew him.”Now everyone was staring, including Umji. Eunha looked like she didn’t expect things to turn out like that. Sowon stared evenly back at her team, daring them to challenge her.“You don’t look a day over 25.” Yerin was the first to try and relax the atmosphere with a joke, but her eyes were thoughtful as she looked Sowon over. Yuju was inscrutable, but she didn’t look all that surprised, as if she had known all along that Sowon had been hiding something.Umji seemed rather calm about it, but then again, she was also the only one among them who had been with Sowon for over ten years. She alone knew that Sowon hadn’t aged a single day since the first time she laid eyes on the cyber samurai. The time frame implied in this reveal came as a minor surprise, but it at least made perfect sense to the hacker. The how of it was an issue, but Umji was nothing if not patient. Besides, she wasn’t about to go around advertising that her mother figure had unlocked the secret to everlasting youth and immortality. That would be too big of a can of worms to deal with.SinB looked stunned. Sowon didn’t blame her. Most people didn’t deal well with knowing that the person they were crushing on was some kind of immortal monster. The ex-soldier hoped that this would be the final nail in the coffin for that hopeless crush. There was no way it would work out between them. Too many years and experiences separated them, and Sowon was tired. She couldn’t deal with all these feelings all over again.She hadn’t even had time to mourn her old friends, and it was hard to do that when their present incarnations were all alive and well in front of her. It was eating her up slowly from inside, and Eunha had been right earlier: she had no right telling her to let go when she hadn’t even given herself time to process what happened before.Time. She needed time, but events were still pressing in. The dragon was still a threat. She could deal with how she felt about everything after the present crisis was over. She couldn’t afford to be vulnerable. She was a leader, their leader, and she couldn’t afford to fail.The price of failure was just too high. She couldn’t lose another team again. She wouldn’t. “I’ve been around for a long time.” Sowon’s voice was deliberately nonchalant, though Eunha looked concerned. Sowon shook her head almost imperceptibly at the fire mage. Now wasn’t the time.“Find me that dragon, Umji. I need to know everything.” Sowon’s eyes glittered dangerously.“I have some old scores to settle.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Thought I'd find you here."A cold can touched the back of SinB's head, making her jump in surprise. She hadn't even heard Yerin come in."What are you doing here?" SinB grabbed the can from Yerin's outstretched hand and popped the tab, taking a gulp of the ice cold beer.Don't ask how they got refrigerated beverages without a fridge, as far as SinB knew magic was involved, with Yuju 'borrowing' Eunha for a few hours the other day when they were trying to figure out how to make ice. SinB wasn't sure how a fire mage was of any use in making ice, but since the end result of that had been cold drinks, she wasn't going to complain."You've been here for almost two days, Umji wanted me to check if her baby was still alive."Yerin tapped the metal plating of the van SinB had been working on. The damage sustained from the results of SinB's reckless driving had mostly been repaired. As Umji had said, you fix what you break. Yerin was just glad she had the option to not be in the van when they had been evacuating their team from the city. Even Eunha had looked a little green after that particular ride, as the only conscious passenger on board at the time."I didn't touch the stuff inside," SinB protested a little defensively, waving a wrench around. She'd replaced the damaged fending and figured out how to cannibalize a wrecked siding into re-armoring the cracked plates. Not having a blowtorch wasn't an obstacle when your best friend had literal fire at her fingertips. Eunha hadn't been too amused at being pressed into welding duties, but that had been a fun afternoon for the two childhood friends regardless."Didn't think you would," Yerin took a swig from her own can of beer, leaning against the nearest wall. They were in the garage of an abandoned house in the suburbs. The hideout was only a ten minute walk away, heavily warded and disguised against local squatters, as well as anyone else who might be searching for them.It had been a week since their last major jaunt, and Yerin knew there was a bounty out for them since. She had been keeping a ear to the ground and slipping back into the city whenever she could, just to keep an eye on things and pick up whatever supplies they couldn't forage from their surroundings. The motorcycle she had stolen the other time had come in handy for that."Pretty sure the van doesn't need any more touching up though, unless you're planning on giving it a new coat of paint or something.""Great idea, how about black?" SinB tightened another screw distractedly."If you mess with Yuju's runes without telling her I'm not saving you." Yerin scoffed. The stealth specialist eyed SinB speculatively.“You’ve been avoiding dear leader for the past couple of days.”“I can’t imagine what you’re talking about,” SinB muttered as she inspected a tire. Yerin snorted derisively.“So she’s old, big deal. Ya gotta problem with that?” Yerin flicked a speck of imaginary dust off her shoulder. “As far as I’m concerned, she knows her stuff and she hasn’t led us wrong yet. That’s good enough for me.”“It’s not...I just…” SinB growled, frustrated. One end of the wrench she was wielding thumped against the peeling concrete of the floor.“I can’t believe she never told us before.”“And why would she? All of us have a few secrets.” Yerin didn’t seem impressed by SinB’s little tantrum. She kicked a wayward screw out of the way, waving her can around idly.“Don’t tell me that’s putting you off your little crush, kiddo.”“I do not have a crush on her!” SinB almost threw the wrench at Yerin, who just laughed, loudly and obnoxiously.“I kissed my first girl when I was five. I know a crush when I see one. You’ve got it bad for her,” Yerin drawled as SinB turned an interesting shade of maroon.“You’re gonna let a little thing like age put you off?” Yerin took another swig of her beer. “Hell, if only I could look that good when I get to that age. You’re honestly not losing out, she’s hot. ”“I’m going to tell Yuju you said that,” SinB threatened. Yerin snickered.“I already said Sowon was hot within five seconds of meeting her. Yuju was there too, big deal.” The stealth specialist shrugged.“Take it easy, kid. Life is too short to get hung up over small details. Seize the day and all that, I’m not good with the motivational crap.”SinB glared. “Says the one who’s still chickening out on making a move.”Yerin clutched at her chest, lifting her beer-holding hand to shade her eyes with dramatic flair. “Not cool with the personal attacks wow. I’m just trying to help here. Besides,” and here Yerin winked roguishly, “just imagine how much experience she probably has. You could be having so much fun.”“Oh my god get out !” This time SinB did throw the wrench, and Yerin laughed long and loud as she ducked the projectile and skipped out of the garage.“Think about it and stop sulking already! You’ll get wrinkles before she does at this rate!”SinB might have said very unflattering things about Yerin’s ancestors and probable descendants up to the 18th generation before the other woman finally got out of earshot. The gunslinger huffed as she got up to retrieve the wrench she had thrown earlier before stomping back to the rest of her tools.Despite everything, the banter with Yerin did make her feel a little better. The older woman was right; what did it matter? Life expectancy wasn’t particularly generous in this day and age, and especially not in their particular profession. Most runners didn’t make it to 50 unless they retired early and stayed away from any enemies they might have made in the process. And enemies were never in short supply in their line of work. You picked those up just by doing your job. Some people just took things way too personally.SinB had been sulking for a while since the reveal. She had liked to think that short of Umji, she kinda got Sowon, understood the way she thought through the way she fought. They had a common language articulated through their training bouts, and SinB couldn’t shake the feeling that Sowon had a soft spot for her too. Again, excluding Umji who was practically Sowon’s daughter in all respects.She thought she had a handle on the mystery that was Sowon, but that assumption had been rudely dismantled two days ago with the surprise revelation that Sowon was a lot older than any of them had assumed. Her first thought hadn’t been shock even; it was just a lightbulb moment that allowed everything she had noticed about Sowon before to finally click into place.The textbook fighting, the military style command, the little things and habits that seemed out of step for anyone born well after the Awakening. It made sense that Sowon was from before, it just hadn’t occurred to her that it could even be possible. It just wasn’t something you ran into every day, obviously.It might have been a little childish to feel this way, but SinB had thought that Sowon trusted them, and as she blurted to Yerin earlier, she had felt oddly betrayed that Sowon hadn’t told them before. But Yerin was right: who didn’t have a few secrets? Besides, it wasn’t like this could come up in regular conversation. What was Sowon going to do, tell them she was a relic from before the Awakening? What good would that do even?Deep down, SinB had already forgiven Sowon for the deception. She was just being a brat about it at this point, as Yerin had not so subtly implied earlier. Her feelings were a little shaken, but when forced to face it, it honestly hadn’t changed a whit. She already knew Sowon was older, did it matter how much older? It even felt a little reassuring, if she was being honest with herself.Maybe Eunha was right, she did have a mommy complex. SinB groaned aloud, thudding her forehead against the restored van.She was never going to live it down, was she?
A ray of sunshine caught the blackened surface of the much tarnished metal, and Eunha angled it to catch her own reflection in its rusty depths.Sowon had handed it to her yesterday, after seeing Eunha climb out of Yuju’s bed. The ex-soldier only sighed, patting her on the shoulder and slipping the medal into Eunha’s hand.“You deserve to have it more than I do.”Eunha had almost forgotten that Sowon had it. Now that she had Jung Eunbi’s memories, she knew what it was of course. She remembered watching Yuna earn it and then come running to her to show off with the brightest smile you could imagine. It must have fallen off back in Gyeongju, if Sowon had picked it up then. A single tear fell on the tarnished medal, further distorting her own image in it. This was all she had left of that past.A rustling sound made her whip around, clutching the medal close to her heart while her other hand instantly burst into flame, ready to fight. Yuju rounded a tree with an innocent look on her face, making Eunha relax almost immediately, her flames fading.“You were sad again.” Yuju frowned, joining Eunha under the shade of the oak tree. “Is something wrong?”“It’s nothing,” Eunha lied, discreetly dabbing at her eyes. Yuju leaned in, bending slightly to look into her eyes. The shaman looked genuinely concerned, puzzled even.“I don’t like it when you’re sad.” Yuju gestured vaguely around them. “Even the trees are crying with you.” A hand over her heart. “It hurts to see you like this.”Eunha impulsively dove into a startled Yuju’s arms, the shaman instinctively wrapping both arms around the smaller girl and bracing herself to keep from falling over. She backed up into the tree trunk, leaning against it as she rubbed Eunha’s back comfortingly.“Take all the time you need, I’m here.”The fire mage inhaled Yuju’s scent almost greedily, burying her face into the taller girl’s neck as she felt Yuju’s steady pulse against her nose. It was so good to see and feel how alive Yuju was, here in this moment.“Can I stay like this, just for a while?” Eunha murmured, her breath tickling Yuju’s throat. The dog shaman hummed her assent, resting her chin on the top of Eunha’s head.The afternoon was silent and peaceful, the only sound being the whistling of the wind and the chirping of birds in the distance. Eunha wished it could have lasted forever, but then she felt Yuju shift under her, magic flowing out from the shaman as her eyes started to glow. Eunha raised her head, watching Yuju in the magical plane as the shaman radiated energy in her natural element, power filtering into a network of wards she hadn’t noticed until now.“Intruders. I sent them away.” Yuju looked back down after a moment, eyes soft again. Eunha laid her head back against Yuju’s chest, tracing idly on her shoulder with a finger. Yuju grasped the finger, booping it with her nose.“Are you feeling better now?”The shaman could see the fluctuations in Eunha’s aura, which acted as a mood indicator more effectively than her trying to read the mage’s expressions. Eunha was more relaxed in her presence, and Yuju was happy to be there for her. The instinct to help was so strong it overrode any awkwardness she might have felt.It had made Yuju sad when she first glimpsed Eunha under the tree earlier, as if someone had wrenched at her heart. Eunha was her friend first and foremost, and she had not been kidding when she said her sadness infected her surroundings. No, it wasn’t mere sadness; it was grief, as if the fire mage had been in mourning.Something had changed when Eunha came back, and Yuju couldn’t shake the feeling that she had messed up more than just with the orb. Bad enough that Eunha now had to live with a fused draconic soul -- who knew the long-term implications behind that? -- but something else had clearly happened that Eunha wasn’t telling them about.Guilt nibbled away at Yuju like a beaver gnawing away at a log. She had only wanted to help, and being helpless was an emotion she never wanted to deal with again. A flash of blood and fire winked in front of her eyes, and the shaman shuddered, digging the fingers of one hand into the tree trunk behind her.Sensitive to Yuju’s moods as Yuju was to hers, Eunha tilted her head upwards questioningly, raising a hand to cup at the distressed shaman’s cheek.“Puppy?” Eunha murmured without thinking, leaning up to nuzzle at Yuju’s chin. “What’s wrong?”“You never call me that.” Yuju snapped back into the present, eyes wide and puzzled at Eunha’s overly affectionate gesture. Eunha flinched back, as if burnt. Yuju grabbed her hand before the mage could pull away, eyes questioning.“Eunha?”Eunha turned away, closing her eyes to prevent the hurt from showing. She had forgotten, again. It didn’t help that Yuju made it so easy to forget. It was just too easy to drown in her kindness.“Eunha, talk to me. Let me help you,” Yuju coaxed gently, rubbing her thumb over Eunha’s hand. She still had her other arm around Eunha’s waist, preventing the other girl from literally running away. Yuju could feel Eunha trembling, her aura spiking in agitation before sinking back into muted blues and purples. Yuju sighed, hugging Eunha close.“It’s okay, I’ll be here when you need me.”“Why are you always like this?” Eunha’s voice was low, almost inaudible. Yuju looked confused. Eunha’s eyes were rimmed with red when she looked back up.“Stop being so nice all the time, a girl can get the wrong idea, you know.”Yuju blinked. “I...what?”Eunha hit Yuju lightly on the chest with a fist, then seemed to regret it almost instantly, opening her hand to grip Yuju’s shoulder almost painfully.“You don’t even know what you’re doing to me…”“I’m...sorry?” Yuju looked baffled, flustered even. Eunha sighed, looping her arms around Yuju’s neck until she was basically hanging off the taller girl.“I can’t keep myself away from you at all, can I?”The question was purely rhetorical, and Yuju barely had time to react when soft lips covered her own, the shaman’s eyes widening in surprise at Eunha’s bold move.She would have pulled away, but then Eunha relaxed her mental walls, tripping Yuju up since the shaman was almost always halfway in that realm. The wave of emotion was almost overwhelming, and Yuju could barely process it.
I love you.
It all boiled down to that, that tidal wave of feeling that crashed into everything, taking Yuju’s breath with it. She stood still, frozen, paralyzed by the foreign emotion. She tried, she really did, but something echoed back empty, a void ringing in the silence.Eunha stopped, pulling back with a concerned look. She had expected shock, yes. She knew she was being impulsive, and had been caught up in the moment earlier. She already sort of regretted it the moment she did it, but there was no taking back what was already done.What she hadn’t expected was Yuju looking absolutely terrified. “Yuju?” Eunha shoved away the dull pain of being ignored. Yuju was shaking, her aura on the astral plane flickering wildly and dimming noticeably. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”The irony of their reversed situations didn’t escape Eunha. The dog shaman was looking into the middle distance, the thousand yard stare of someone in shock, and Eunha didn’t think it was all from just that kiss. Yuju seemed to have been triggered by something , but the fire mage couldn’t figure out what exactly. Surely a simple kiss wouldn’t have elicited such a reaction, Eunha thought darkly. That would be rather insulting actually.The shaman turned to her slowly, as if moving under a great weight. Fear and confusion were writ large in her eyes, her lips trembling. Eunha’s heart wrenched. She hadn’t meant to hurt her puppy, but she still couldn’t figure out what went wrong.Yuju closed her eyes, feeling the absence even more strongly now that she had been forced to confront it. She had always known, perhaps, deep down. It was why she never dared to look Yerin too long in the eyes. Something was missing, an essential connection, and Yuju couldn’t remember how or why. Flashes of images, dark, bloody, painful, echoed through her mind. She let go of Eunha, sliding down to fall on her bottom, burying her face in her knees. She was scared, and she couldn’t remember why.Eunha knelt by her, face painted with worry. Yuju had gone dim, barely noticeable on the astral spectrum, as if the shaman had subconsciously hidden herself. Eunha hadn’t even known that was quite possible. She had heard of masking one’s magical signature from magical means of tracking, but she had never quite seen anyone capable of totally erasing their presence. If she hadn’t been able to see Yuju with her own two eyes in the physical realm, her magical sight would barely notice a ripple against the backdrop of nature.It almost gave Eunha pause. How much did she know about Yuju in this lifetime? Not as much as she would have liked, certainly. They had met first in this lifetime barely more than a year ago. Before seeing the past, she had already been drawn to Yuju, but it was, if she were to be honest to herself, still rather superficial a crush. Yuju was attractive, capable, and kind. It was easy to fall for any one of those characteristics, not that crushes needed much of a justification to begin with.Yuju’s past was unknown to her. She only knew that Yerin and Yuju had known each other for a few years before joining up with them. She envied Yerin for that extra time. It was time she would never get to experience, but she refused to regret it. They had time enough to make new memories from here on out. Love wasn’t a horse race; starting earlier guaranteed nothing.But Eunha was starting to wonder what else she had missed. Something important, it seemed. She was starting to accept that she could never fully separate the memories of the past from her memories in the present. She had seen it, lived it, and it couldn’t be undone. But she had to be fair to Yuju. She was not Yuna, it was starting to be painfully clear. But she wanted to get to know her all over again. That, Eunha thought, would be fair to all of them involved.If, of course, she could snap Yuju out of whatever funk the younger girl had fallen into. Eunha bit her lip, settling down next to Yuju to hug her from the side, hoping that she wouldn’t make things worse somehow. Yuju twitched at first from the contact, but didn’t react further than that.They stayed like that for a while, not speaking, until SinB came running in, obviously looking for them. Yerin was right behind her, and the stealth specialist frowned when she saw Yuju practically balled up into herself. Shoving past SinB, Yerin knelt by Yuju’s other side, rubbing the small of Yuju’s back comfortingly as she inquired what was wrong.Yuju seemed to unball slightly at Yerin’s familiar presence, but her guard was still up. Yerin shot Eunha a dirty look as if to ask what the mage did. Eunha glared back fiercely, but didn’t let go of Yuju either. SinB coughed loudly to interrupt, tapping her foot impatiently.“Guys, Sowon’s gone. Umji’s worried she went off to fight on her own. We’re going after her.”Yuju seemed to stir at the sound of a purpose. Eunha looked up, frowning. Suddenly Sowon giving her that medal didn’t seem so innocent anymore. It was as if the woman had been entrusting it to her. That wasn’t a good sign.“Do we know where she went?”SinB nodded. “Umji’s tracking her now. We leave as soon as we’re all ready.”Yerin helped Yuju up. The shaman still looked pale, but giving her purpose had done a world of good. It gave her something to focus on, and her grip on Yerin’s hand was almost painfully tight, as if clinging on to a lifeline. Eunha’s eyes flashed when she saw it, but she said nothing.They had more important things to deal with right now. Everything else could wait.
Sowon wandered around the ruined blocks, trying to remember where the entrance had been. She hadn’t been here in more than twenty years, since she woke from her coma.It wasn’t a coincidence that she had chosen to come back here. She had been watching the video and reading the files that Umji had decrypted over and over for clues, even inspiration, for how to deal with a dragon. The information her baby hacker had dug up regarding Bo-geun had been sparse, to say the least.The official records said that he had been discharged from the military a little more than a year after the time stamp of Operation Snakehunt. After that, nothing. It was as if he had vanished off the grid. Sowon had attempted to track Ji-won as well, as an alternative to finding out what happened to the two Kim siblings. She had no doubt that Bo-geun would tell his sister about the dragon. If anyone was going to figure out how to take out a dragon, a professor like Ji-won would be the right person to start with.Ji-won was easier to look for, at least to begin with. She was affiliated to a couple of research institutes after all, but further data post-2025 was spotty at best. The best Sowon could determine was that Ji-won went into the private industry shortly after quitting her position in government research, which sort of coincided with the social upheavals of the time. Hacking corp databases for Ji-won was not something to be undertaken lightly, and Sowon didn’t ask Umji for it.By then, Sowon had figured out something from the first set of data. It hadn’t been obvious at first, since data analysis was never her strength; that had been Yewon’s, she thought bitterly. She knew the call and response codes the Kim siblings had though, it was a sign of trust that they had given her. It came in handy when she noticed the things Bo-geun had buried in some of his written reports, and matched back to what she remembered.It was a set of coordinates. It wasn’t far off, and Sowon was determined to investigate. She hadn’t told the rest, didn’t want them involved. She didn’t want them in danger, and this was her past, not theirs. They had a chance to start over anew, and she wasn’t going to spoil it for them.That the coordinates brought her back to the area where she had woken up was a rude shock, and yet, not too surprising if she thought about it. Someone had to have picked her up from Gyeongju, and if Bo-geun had been working on the case the entire time, it wasn’t such a big surprise that she would have been found. Better to be discovered by an ally rather than the government, or worse.It took a while, but Sowon eventually found the hidden entrance in a basement. The electronic lock was active, which somehow didn’t surprise her. She had been able to leave without obstruction twenty years ago, but she was beginning to suspect she had been allowed to leave to begin with.She could break the door down since she was no lock cracker like Yerin, but the biometric sensor was there anyway and she figured she might as well give it a shot before resorting to more direct means. When access was granted, Sowon exhaled slowly before stepping in. Nothing was going to surprise her anymore, at this rate.The hallway was a little dusty, but the ventilation was still working fine. Lights winked on at her passage, motion activated no doubt. Her footsteps were loud in the silence, but she was making no attempts at stealth to begin with. Almost idly, Sowon was retracing her steps from twenty years ago, just inwards instead of out this time.She stopped outside the chamber she had broken out of before. The door was unmarked, but she remembered it all the same. She hesitated for a moment, then opened it.It was empty. All white as she remembered, with the operating table right in the middle of the room as before. The instruments that had been monitoring her back then had all been removed though. Sowon stood at the entrance, unsure what to do. She didn’t have much to work on from here.Not wanting her team involved meant she didn’t have as many of their skills to fall back on. Did she regret it? Not in the least. Even before remembering who she was, Sowon had always been protective of her charges. Regaining her memories only meant she had more of a reason to protect them.A nearby click alerted her into motion, immediately reaching for her guns and readying herself for a fight. She had mostly healed from her wounds from a week ago, though some light scarring remained on her arms. It wouldn’t stop her from defending herself though.She need not have bothered. A seemingly solid wall on the other side of the room slid open to reveal a narrow entryway, and someone stepped through it. Sowon’s eyes widened.“Sojung. I knew you’d come back eventually.”“Bo-geun…” Sowon mumbled numbly, lowering her rifle. She knew how much time had passed, intellectually speaking, but it still came as a shock to see the evidence for herself.He had gotten old. His hair was more white than grey, though his features were still chiseled and his posture ramrod straight, the very picture of a career soldier, albeit in a suit rather than a uniform. Lines ran across his weathered face, but it was still recognizably him, even wrinkled and aged half a century. Sowon placed a hand to her own face, bitterly remembering that she had stayed frozen in time while her peers had moved on.Kim Bo-geun nodded, acknowledging her. He was not as buff as he was in his prime, but still fit for his age. His gait was just slightly off balance, something Sowon would peg as the sign of an old injury, but he moved smoothly enough, meeting her halfway in the middle of the room. He clapped a hand to her shoulder.“It’s good to see you again.”“You don’t look surprised.” Sowon noted. Bo-geun smiled briefly.“I’ve kept an eye on you ever since you left. And, before you ask, I was busy when you left here the last time.” Bo-geun’s eyes hardened. “Damn dragon and his minions never giving us a rest.”“Us?” Sowon caught on quickly, following behind Bo-geun as he led her back to the hidden room he had emerged from earlier.“Can’t fight a dragon alone.” Bo-geun nodded, inviting her to take a seat. It was a tiny office in that room, with monitors and maps over half the space. A war room, Sowon concluded. Bo-geun might have retired from the military, but he never retired from battle.“You certainly have been busy.” Sowon spotted a familiar looking logo, and did a double-take. She looked up at her old friend’s smiling face, almost in disbelief.“The Spartans are yours?”“I was a Spartan, before I left.” Bo-geun corrected mildly, pouring out a glass of whiskey. “Drink?”Sowon took it. She looked into the dark depths of her glass, thinking.“The Spartans...that was the elite unit in the ROKMC back then. The Spartans now are seceded from government control if I recall correctly.” Sowon took a sip. “That was you?”“Couldn’t trust anyone, and the reformed Busan government was in chaos with the Awakening going on.” Bo-geun shook his head, eyes distant as he reminisced. “Dragon had his talons deep into the usual power centers. I had to get out, and recruited whoever who would listen.” He smiled grimly.“You were lucky to be asleep through most of it. Everything was a mess. Took me almost 5 years just to set up, and I had to keep moving you around in the beginning too.”“Thanks?” Sowon looked wry. “You found me then, clearly.”Bo-geun nodded. “Got into a fight extracting you. The dragon was looking too.” Sowon frowned.“Me?”“To be exact, the orb we found you with.” A flash of pain in those deep-set eyes. “We didn’t know if the dragon was after you or the orb, until Ji-won…” He took another drink, sighing.“Ji-won separated you from the orb when they came for it again. They went after her because she was holding it. I buried another sister that day.”“I’m sorry.” Sowon reached over to grip Bo-geun’s hand, sharing in his grief. It was decades too late for her, but clearly the pain was still fresh for them both. Then Sowon looked up.“You say ‘another’...that means…”Bo-geun met her eyes. “My team and I found your squad before we found you. I buried them all.”Sowon closed her eyes, feeling pain anew. She had expected it, but it still hurt to know for sure that none of them had survived.“Thank you… and, I’m sorry I couldn’t keep Yewon safe.”Bo-geun sighed. “No one could fight a dragon back then. Artillery wounded it, but we should have nuked it to be sure. Which wasn’t an option back then, and now that we know more, I doubt even that would have been enough.”Sowon frowned. “Is there no way to kill that thing then?”Bo-geun massaged his temples, leaning back in his chair. “There are some references from Europe that I’ve consulted. They killed one in Germany, but had a problem with the spirit for years after that. Our dragons aren’t quite the same, but some things should be universal.”“We need to do it right the first time then. I’m not sure I can do it all over again if it comes back as a ghost.” Sowon scowled, looking over the case file Bo-geun pushed over to her.“And I’m not getting any younger either,” Bo-geun agreed. “I don’t have many mages on my side, and none of them are strong enough to face a dragon.” He sighed at the memory.“The last two times we managed to locate its lair, my best mages were completely overwhelmed. I barely got out alive the last time.” Bo-geun rubbed at his bad leg. “I haven’t sent anyone else since then. Didn’t seem fair to waste lives until we could be sure.”“How much of a chance do I have?” Sowon asked bluntly. Bo-geun leaned forward, steepling his fingers as he rested his chin on them.“On your own? Slim to none. With your team, a far better chance.” His eyes glittered dangerously. “Like I said, I’ve been watching you. And everyone you picked up…” He shook his head.“It must have been fate that you gathered them all together again.”Sowon gritted her teeth. “I don’t want them to get involved if possible. They’re not...you know what I mean.”Bo-geun looked at her seriously. “Sojung, you will die if you go alone. I’m not sure what magic kept you the way you were for the last 50 years, but you’re not invincible.” He gestured around the room with its maps and screens.“I’ve struggled against that creature for more than half my life. I lost both my sisters, and I sent even more of my friends to their deaths fighting it. I’m old, Sojung. When news that you had awoken got to me, I had hope for the first time in thirty years. Whatever magic kept you young and alive when everyone else died was linked to that orb we found you with. It was the only way.”Sowon stopped moving as she pondered the implications. “You planned all this. What did you do with the orb after it was separated from me?”Bo-geun’s face was hard. “I did what I had to. Made decoys, hid them all over. Bought time for you, though I didn’t know that at the time.” He shrugged. “You were asleep for thirty years , and I was all out of ideas by the time you woke up. I was too old to fight by then, and the younger ones were tired of my vendetta against the dragon.” He sneered. “Young fools think Mireu is harmless, but they have no idea what would have happened if I hadn’t taken a stand all those years ago.”Sowon clenched her fists. “I don’t care if you manipulate me into fighting that dragon, because I want my revenge as well, but you can’t drag innocents into this. This is not their fight, Bo-geun.”Bo-geun slammed his fist on the desk. “I waited fifty years for this, Kim Sojung! Your connection to the orb that creature wanted meant something, I just didn’t know what. And then when you woke up and started getting used to everything…” He looked her over approvingly.“You made yourself a weapon. I didn’t do that for you. You chose that, even without your memories. And that was when I knew you were the one who had to face the dragon. Not me, Sojung. You were the one meant to kill it.”Sowon pressed her lips together tightly. “And I was going to, whether or not you asked. But you just said we can’t kill it earlier.”“That was fifty years ago. We’ve made some progress since then.” Bo-geun stood up, rounding to one side where he triggered a mechanism. A wall split open, revealing a well stocked armory. Sowon whistled, also standing to inspect the weapons.“Modified rounds that can penetrate the scales, but it won’t do much more than slow it down before it heals,” Bo-geun reached up, hefting a heavy blade from off the rack.“This, though, is the pinnacle of our achievement.”Sowon stared at it. It was similar to the standard secondary weapon of the Spartan paramilitary units, the vibro-blades for which they were so famed. It had seemed oddly archaic for an age with advanced technology, but no one who had faced it in combat would underestimate it. A blade that cut through most armor like a knife through hot butter was nothing to sneeze at. The sword-bearing units of the Spartans were not nicknamed Reapers for nothing.The blade Bo-geun held up was longer and wider than the ones Sowon had seen before. Not quite large enough to be a claymore, but an average person would require two hands to wield it. Sowon however, was not average. When Bo-geun handed it to her, she held it with both hands to inspect at first, but found out quickly that it was perfectly balanced for her height and strength. She could most definitely swing it with one hand if she had to, and the blade hummed with energy even while she was holding it.“The dragon heals too quickly even if we could get through the scales. Bullets don’t work that well for that reason,” Bo-geun explained, putting his hands behind his back.“The blade though, vibrates constantly at a molecular level.” Here, Bo-geun grinned wolfishly. “Stick it in, and it won’t heal because it’s constantly opening a new one. We’ve tested it against the servitors, and it gets right through their scales. I cut off a talon during my last fight, though it got me good on the leg in return.” He patted his left thigh ruefully.“What about the spirit problem?” Sowon gave the sword a few experimental swings. She wasn’t quite as familiar with the weapon, but there were skill mods these days that one could download straight into your brain. Languages, skills; you name it, someone had probably codified it into a mod. Physical skills required some acclimatization to let the body learn the muscle reflexes involved, but it was possible to download the techniques needed. Umji could probably help her with that, if she ever went back, but if all else failed, Sowon figured Bo-geun probably had his ways.“You have two mages on your team,” Bo-geun started, and Sowon held up a hand.“I thought I told you I wasn’t getting them involved.”Bo-geun looked exasperated. “Sojung, don’t be stubborn. I’ve watched your team’s performance through the last couple of years. Your shaman is the strongest human magic user we have observed in this country for the last fifty years.” He looked at her, trying to make her understand.“Do you know how much power flowed through the Underground last week when she was performing that ritual? Which, by the way, none of the mages I talked to would have attempted even if they had a full cabal. They don’t even understand some of the patterns she was executing.” He shook his head.“If anyone stands a chance against the dragon’s magic, it’s her. I lost too many good men just breaking into the lair, and whatever was left didn’t last two minutes in a direct magical confrontation. We used every trick, every advantage we had, and barely did anything.”He looked directly at her.“This isn’t just about revenge for you and me, Sojung. You’ve seen what happens when Mireu is in control. You’ve rescued their would-be victims whenever you could ever since you woke up. We are the resistance, the last line of defence in Korea against that cult. No price is too high to pay.”Sowon closed her eyes, shoulders slumping. She knew the logic behind Bo-geun’s argument, and her pragmatic side was inclined to agree with him. She wanted to protect her team at all costs, but going on a suicide mission that didn’t have a high chance of success would be counterproductive. If she wanted to win, she was going to need all the help she could get.Bo-geun looked up at one of the screens while Sowon was still struggling inwardly.“You might not have much of a choice, Sojung.” He laughed suddenly.“They came looking for you anyway.”Sowon looked up as well, biting the inside of her cheek. They were all there, even Umji who was still not at her best. She flicked a glance at Bo-geun, and was not surprised at the sudden softening in his eyes as he followed Umji’s figure in the cameras.“She’s not your sister, Bo-geun.” Sowon reminded him as gently as she could. Bo-geun lowered his head.“I know.” He took a moment to compose himself.“I can get your team equipped, and send you guys behind enemy lines to reach the dragon’s lair.” A wry look crossed Bo-geun’s face. “Just like old times. I’ll run interference to keep their attention away from the lair, give you the best chance to break in…”Sowon interrupted him. “I haven’t said yes, Bo-geun.”The elderly Spartan looked at her. “But I know you will.”Sowon shut up. He wasn’t wrong. He knew her too well, and all of them wanted to put an end to this. It had been too long for them, longest of all for the one who had been fighting all this time. Sowon tightened her grip around the blade she had been given. They had a chance here, with the best team she has ever had, past and present.She looked at them again, moving purposefully through the ruins, trying to triangulate on her position. No one left behind, the old motto of their unit. Her kids now were not soldiers and never would be, but somehow, Sowon felt like they remembered that, deep in their souls.They were the only family she had left, and the only legacy she could give them was a better future. A future with no Mireu, no dragon, nothing to threaten them from doing what they wanted. It could happen, but they would have to dive right back into danger again to make it so.Bo-geun was right. There was no other choice.“Damn you, Bo-geun. I’ll do it.” Sowon forced through gritted teeth. Bo-geun smiled.“I always knew you would.”
“She should be around here…” Umji muttered half to herself, eyes glued to her handheld device. She was flanked by the resident mages, while Yerin and SinB ranged a bit further out to make sure there were no surprises. They couldn’t be more cautious, now that they actually had a bounty on their heads.Yuju turned her head in one direction even as Sowon suddenly stepped out of seemingly nowhere where she looked, emerging from a hidden stairway with an irritated look.“Just what do you think you kids are doing out here?”Umji lit up and ran over to hug her. Eunha and Yuju trailed behind at a slightly more leisurely pace, looking relieved as well.“You stole my bike!” Yerin accused from another direction, swinging back in at the sound of Sowon’s voice. SinB snorted from the opposite side, also coming back in.“I’m pretty sure you stole it to begin with.”“Details,” Yerin waved it off. “It’s mine now.”Sowon was rubbing Umji’s head comfortingly as the younger girl clung to her, as if afraid the older woman might disappear again. She shot a look at the squabbling pair. Despite their bickering, they too looked happy to see her. SinB in particular was particularly relieved. She would never admit to her own panic when Umji told them Sowon was gone. It didn’t seem fair that she didn’t even get to tell Sowon to her face about how she felt yet.Not that that was going to happen anytime soon, at least not until she figured out how to go about doing it. Across from her, Yerin shot her an encouraging look, which SinB pointedly ignored. Even if she were going to say something, she certainly wasn’t going to do it in front of everyone else.“We were worried.” Eunha explained simply, eyeing her with something just short of a glare, but definitely tinged with annoyed exasperation. Yuju nodded as well.“You’re not alone. We’re here to help.” The shaman stepped up next to Sowon and clapped a hand on her shoulder. Eunha joined her, as did SinB and Yerin, surrounding Sowon and Umji in a supportive circle.“Don’t run off like that again.” SinB grumbled, shoving her hands into her pockets. Yerin smirked at the younger girl, then looked at Sowon.“I’m not taking care of your team for you, dumbass. Do it yourself.”Sowon bit her lip, feeling a surge of emotion within her. This was her team, her family. Even now, they would not abandon her. She was wrong to have tried to leave them behind.“Thanks, guys…” Sowon started, not knowing what to say. Umji looked up, still clinging on like a baby koala.“Don’t you ever do that again. You said you would never leave…”Sowon had the decency to look guilty, pulling Umji closer to comfort her. Eunha stepped closer as well, punching Sowon on the arm lightly.“We’re a team. Past or future, we always will be.” Eunha looked Sowon in the eye, knowing the mercenary would know exactly what she meant.And Sowon did. She really did. Tears threatened to well up, but she sucked them back mightily, refusing to let them fall. It really was so good to have all of them with her again. Even with all the crap they’ve been put through, she was thankful for the fate that had reunited them.“Group hug!” Yuju announced cheerfully, breaking the sudden silence and somber atmosphere. Sowon barked out a laugh as she was suddenly swarmed on all sides.It was good to have family again. She was not alone. They had come for her. She would die for them, but that would not be today, and if she had anything to say about it, it would never become necessary.They were together now, and all things were possible while they were. Sowon smiled and brought them close. These lovable idiots were hers, and she was theirs as well.And nothing would ever change that.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“You’re sure that mod is safe?”

SinB hovered somewhat anxiously while Umji ran diagnostics for the umpteenth time. Other silent lab techs bustled around the room they had semi-commandeered, but then again, the founder of the Spartan paramilitary forces had been more than generous with his resources.

It had come as a surprise to them all when Sowon brought them down to the hidden base, which had actually been a lot bigger than Sowon herself had been aware, since she hadn’t actually explored the place as much back when she had last been there.

Not that it should shock anyone that the Spartans had such resources at their disposal. As a private military force that subcontracted out its services to various parties, they were more than just a mercenary unit writ large; it would not be an exaggeration to say that, on the Korean peninsula at least, the Spartans were one of the two major military powers, the other being Mireu further south.

“It’s certainly not anything commercially available,” Umji worried at her bottom lip while she scrutinized the data. The hacker had been approaching something resembling recovery since they had entered the facility three days ago, and been briefed on the situation at hand. SinB and Eunha had been almost delighted to hear of the upcoming assault, Yuju had not expressed any opinion, and Yerin had been almost uncharacteristically silent throughout their initial meeting with Commander Kim Bo-geun.

Umji was made to feel slightly less anxious now that they had backup at least, since every ounce of extra help would count if they were to take down a cult. It was just another job as far as she was concerned, just on a much larger scale. She had caught up quickly on what she had missed while being bedridden for a week, and had thrown herself back into the fray with enthusiasm. The bounty on them had an impressive number of zeros behind it, and all of them had frowned when they noted the special bonus on bringing ‘the fire mage’ in alive.

All of them had turned to look at Eunha when Umji announced that particular fact. Eunha only shrugged. How was she supposed to know why Mireu wanted to take her alive? It only cemented her determination to take down the dragon behind all of this though.

“It wouldn’t be, because that chip came from Bo-geun himself.”

Sowon commented from where she was lounging on the operating table, as if she weren’t the one about to have a new skillset uploaded directly into her cerebral cortex in a few minutes. Despite all her augmentations, it was ironically Sowon’s first time actually learning a skill via neural upload. She already had the skills from her time as a soldier before reawakening into the new world as a mercenary, despite her temporary amnesia in those twenty years, and never felt the need to really upload anything else despite having a datajack installed behind her ear.

But she needed to pick up actual swordfighting skills if she were to actually wield the vibro-blade Bo-geun had given her in battle, and Sowon knew her limits. She was competent at hand-to-hand combat and had some training with knife fighting from the old days, but swordfighting wasn’t part of the curriculum back then, and even Yerin was better than her with a knife if she were to be honest about it. They didn’t have time to learn it the old fashioned way, and as it turned out, Bo-geun had already considered that possibility early on.

The elderly but still canny commander of the Spartans had clearly done his homework on all of them, a fact that still made Sowon a little uncomfortable. Her old friend had changed a great deal in the last few decades, and his struggle with Mireu had gradually shaped him into cold ruthlessness, ready to use any and all means at his disposal.

He had also prepped customized weaponry for all of the combatants on the team; the aforementioned vibro-blade for Sowon, a short dagger with the same tech for SinB, and oddly enough, twin knives for Yerin, slightly curved and made more for slashing than stabbing. Yerin had accepted both weapons with a complicated expression on her face, though SinB had broken the atmosphere immediately after with her complaining about why she only got one knife where Yerin got two. Bo-geun only smiled and asked if she could handle both at the same time. SinB would have argued the point, but it was also true that most of her knife training had actually come from Yerin in the last year. The gunslinger had grudgingly shut up at that.

For the magic users, Bo-geun had less to offer, but he also presented athames to both of them in case they needed to stab a scaly enemy at close range in a pinch. He also had defensive talismans for everyone, but Yuju had taken one look at those and offered to modify them for better effect. Which meant that for the last three days the shaman had been gleefully doing the magical equivalent of research and development, though she had rejected having outsiders observe her. The only person she would even tolerate coming through the door was Yerin, much to Eunha’s dismay, but she knew she had spooked the shaman earlier and had to bear with the consequences.

“Huh? Wait, you mean that’s

his

skills in that chip? That old man?” SinB didn’t seem impressed. Sowon reached over and knocked her on the forehead.

“Have some respect, Bo-geun was one of the best the Marines had to offer back in the day, and he has been fighting for years. I trust him.”

SinB scowled, unhappy that Sowon sounded so familiar with the man. Then again, that grandpa had one foot in the grave

anyway,

so SinB convinced herself that she didn’t have anything to worry about. She conveniently ignored the fact that Sowon was likely almost just as old. Not looking the part definitely helped a lot in this case.

“It’s definitely a customized mod, and I haven’t found any weird viruses or anything in it, so it should be safe,” Umji concluded, snapping back into reality while blinking rapidly. She still couldn’t immerse herself in the digital world for long periods of time without starting to get a headache, but the girl was glad enough that her ability still worked at all. The medical staff on site had given her a thorough checkup and confirmed that she would make full recovery in time, but she was going to have to take it easy until then.

“You sure you’re going to do this? I mean, you could learn the regular way.” SinB didn’t seem convinced by this particular course of action. She might have been comfortable with technology, but messing around with brain stuff spooked her more than a little. Techno-viruses were definitely a thing in this day and age, and something that could essentially melt your brain or rewire it entirely was scary as hell to her.

“Time, SinB. We can’t afford to keep hiding. I rather take the fight to them and end things before we got even more problems crashing the party.” Sowon shook her head.

“We aren’t the only high-level professionals operating in this country. And the longer we wait, the more time others tempted by the bounty will come. We can’t fight them all.”

“And this bounty is cancelled if the dragon dies?” SinB frowned, skeptical. Sowon lay down on the operating table and allowed Umji to attach the transfer cable to her datajack.

“It’s a little more complicated than that. We’ll have to take down Mireu as an organization while we’re at it, but that part is up to Bo-geun. The territorial feud between them has been around for decades, we’re just going in to erase the biggest threat while they invade from the outside.”

“So are we the distraction or the main force?” Eunha asked, leaning against the entryway casually. The mage had walked in a couple of minutes earlier, but they hadn’t noticed her. Or well, Umji had, but the hacker was also busy and didn’t think it was important enough to mention.

“Both.” Sowon smiled wryly. “We keep the dragon from decimating the Spartan forces when they attack, and the Spartans keep the cultists from sending reinforcements when we’re busy. It works out for everyone involved.” The ex-soldier tried to relax into a more comfortable position while Umji prepped for the data transfer.

“Any other questions? If not, I’m going to start.” Umji looked at the other two. The pair of childhood friends glanced at each other, then shrugged in unison. Eunha tapped SinB on the shoulder, maneuvering her best friend out of the room. The mage was not blind to how SinB was feeling in general, and figured that her best friend could use a bit of time away to relax instead of worrying. What else were friends for?

“Ready?” Umji glanced over at Sowon, who smiled up at her.

“Do it.”

The heft of the twin daggers was almost nostalgically familiar in her hands, and Yerin reversed them easily as she sliced through the throats of her foes after flipping over their shots. They dissolved into sparkles as the simulation faded, and she remained on one knee where she had landed, catching her breath.

Sheathing the blades in a fluid motion, Yerin removed the helmet that had been her link to the simulation. She was in an empty training room, ostensibly to reacquaint herself with her new knives. Bitterly, she thought she hadn’t forgotten a single thing despite no longer dual wielding in almost three years.

A slow clapping sound made her jerk defensively, the knives sliding out of their sheaths as she palmed them, ready to fight. Her wary stance shifted when she saw who it was, but she didn’t resheathe her blades, even if she did lower them.

“Commander.” She acknowledged stiffly. Bo-geun nodded, stepping into the training room he had opened to them. He had an almost fatherly smile on his face as he looked her over.

“I see you’ve forgotten none of your lessons.”

Yerin grit her teeth, tightening her grip around the handles. She had not expected to see him of all people in this place, at this time. She had been doing such a good job of avoiding everyone who had ever known her from before, but now it seemed like he had always known where she was. Bo-geun noticed the tension in her frame, and his lips twitched downwards.

“You are upset. No love for your old instructor?”

Yerin lowered her eyes. She had not seen him in almost twelve years, back when she was still a nameless orphan trying to survive. Only the best were selected, and Yerin had scrabbled her way through the harsh training to be one of the final trainees for the program. There she had met Kim Bo-geun, then already old but still fit, and he had been a guest instructor as far as she had been concerned. She hadn’t known he was the Spartan commander at the time. No one ever told them anything. They didn’t need to know anything until they graduated from the program. They only had to obey. That was all.

“No sir.” The response was almost instinctive, automatically straightening in his presence, and she hated herself for it.

Bo-geun exhaled slowly, walking over to her. Yerin suddenly felt like she was ten years old again, nameless and exhausted, and very very small. She was surprised when a hand landed on her shoulder, her wrists coiling to strike at the pressure, but she held back wisely. Kim Bo-geun might be old, but he had regularly wiped the floor with them even as a 60 year old man with a bad leg. She had learned that lesson well enough.

“You’ve grown up. It’s been a long time. You look exactly like I thought you would.” Bo-geun squeezed her shoulder briefly before stepping back. “I thought you had died at that mission in Seongnam.”

Yerin bit the inside of her cheek. “I almost did.”

And god help me, everyone should think I have.

“If you’re wondering if anyone else knows, no. I told no one.” Bo-geun smiled faintly. “You’re a student of mine, and as you probably figured out by now, I am not beholden to your employers.”

Yerin looked up at him. “Then why were you there?”

“Business. The Spartans take contracts to train others on top of our other obligations.” Bo-geun’s lips smoothed into a thin line. “I...had not expected actual

children

until I was there, of course.” He sounded vaguely disapproving, but Yerin didn’t buy it for a second. He had drilled them as hard as he would fully grown adults back then. It meant nothing now to express disdain for child soldiers, when he was at least partially responsible for shaping them.

“You’ve disappeared very effectively, don’t worry. I certainly hadn’t noticed you until you joined Sojung’s team, and even then, I couldn’t be sure for a while. You’ve picked up more skills along the way, I see.” He sounded almost proud, and Yerin was almost ashamed of the surge of satisfaction she felt at his approval.

“I do my best.” Yerin couldn’t meet his eyes. It was a habit leftover from her training days. Getting too uppity meant extra work. Their instructors had held the power of life and death over them back then. Obedience had been baked in at the start. Not many of them had survived the training, and Yerin had been one of the more outstanding survivors of her batch. It had earned her a name, and it was this man before her who had named her.

Before that, she had just been a street urchin picked up by recruiters promising food and a warm bed. She hadn’t even known her parents or her name, if she had one. The recruiters didn’t back out on their promise, but it had also come at a price. If they wanted to stay, they would need to prove themselves. Yerin had been small and hungry. She would have done anything. All of them did.

Training was hell, but she had survived. She made herself useful, and worked her way up. When her special gifts manifested, she had been even more valued as an operative. She was moved to a different team, with others who had special abilities that made them unique. There she experienced some semblance of independence, though when their employer called, they

had

to respond, always.

She had been happy there, once. Her old team were her friends too. They were paid well, and had a long leash. It almost felt like freedom, but a long leash was still a leash, tied to the summons of their handlers. And they were always called in, whenever and wherever they were needed.

She could have lived like that forever, and never known the difference. At least until everything went wrong, and everyone else died. She should have too, but some whim of fate had spared her. It was then that Yuju found her, and brought her back.

Yerin had never known what true freedom felt like until she ‘died’ that day. Free from being called in to risk her life for whatever mission, free to actually choose what she wanted to do with her life. She was never going back. Let them think her dead. She had paid her dues and more besides.

“Relax, child. I am not your enemy. You remind me of someone I used to know.” Bo-geun seemed amused at the hidden undercurrent of hostility in Yerin. “I named you after her, you know. I’m glad I did, you look exactly like her now.” He paused. “At least, when I can see your real face on camera. Can you not control it?”

“I can’t actually turn it off.” Yerin growled. She flipped a knife in her hand, catching it deftly. “Why give me these again? Why now?”

“Because you were always best with them. And you will need to be at your best when you fight a dragon.” Bo-geun said seriously. His tone softened.

“I won’t tell them you’re still alive. I don’t work for them, I’m not obligated to.”

“You work

with

them though.” Yerin pointed out bitterly. She slid the knives back into their sheaths. She hadn’t used them openly in years to avoid being identified by her usual modus operandi. It wasn’t enough to just hide from cameras and to always wear a different face. She had to alter her own habits to avoid any possibility of detection. It was what made her so useful as a spy and assassin when needed. She was a product of their training, and now she would only use it for herself and no one else. They couldn’t reach her again. She wouldn’t let them.

“I am no saint,” Bo-geun admitted calmly. “I did what I had to, to keep the Spartans going. That dragon needs to die, it has no place in our affairs.” His voice was grim at that. “There is nothing I would not sacrifice.”

“My

team

is not yours to sacrifice, old man.” Yerin growled, teeth bared. Bo-geun smiled wryly at that.

“No, your team is the last card I have to play. This is my final roll of the dice, if you girls fail, I have nothing left to pit against that creature.” He looked at her.

“I was hard on you before because I wanted you to survive. If you didn’t have the skills, you would die. That is all there is to it.”

It was not an apology, but Yerin softened a little at it. It was not the best part of her memories, but it had not been the worst either. She had lived and learned the truth of those words. Only the fittest survived in this world. There was no room for the weak.

She looked at him full in the face for the first time in a decade, her combat instructor and might I say, father figure? He had gotten even older than she remembered. Looking at him brought back memories of all the others, and for a moment, Yerin couldn’t breathe. It hurt to remember them.

“Don’t die before I come back.” She said suddenly, lips pressed tightly together as she stared fiercely into his eyes.

Bo-geun smiled in understanding.

“And the same to you, child.”

“So what’s going on with you and Yuju?” SinB leaned back in her chair, sipping lazily on the energy drink she had liberated from the fridge. They were in the pantry, a common destination for them. When you remember being

really

hungry, you learn quickly to always find out where the food was.

Eunha paused between her choice of salad or ham. No one was going to care, so she dumped the whole lot together and brought the bowl back to the table, where SinB had her feet up on the other end.

“She’s been busy, and I can’t really help.” Eunha answered evasively, shovelling food in with the efficiency of a vacuum cleaner. She had been setting a lot of targets on fire earlier, and the energy drain did wonders for her appetite. Not that she needed much help to eat a lot, but it sure was a good excuse to do so.

“Something happened between the two of you that day, didn’t it?” SinB removed her feet from the table, shuffling over to nick some ham from Eunha’s bowl. “You haven’t gone to her since then.”

Eunha bit her fork pensively, moving the bowl closer to herself to avoid SinB’s thieving fingers. It wasn’t quite enough, and SinB managed to steal a good chunk anyway. Then again, Eunha’s heart wasn’t quite in it, and there was always more behind them.

“I think I upset her,” Eunha admitted, looking down. She had been thinking since then, but couldn’t figure out exactly what had triggered Yuju’s response. Certainly Yuju had never seemed particularly uncomfortable when Yerin was being touchy with her, but then again, the shaman had always kept everyone at a comfortable emotional distance, now that she thought about it. She was friendly with everyone, but how close did anyone get into her heart?

Eunha didn’t know. If it had been the Yuna from the past life, that girl had been an open book to her. But with Yuju...she couldn’t quite put a finger on it just yet. She had never encountered anyone else who was so easy to describe yet so difficult to understand. That was something both incarnations she had known shared, but Yuju was more...closed off. The girl treated everyone the same way, and it was hard to tell what she was

really

thinking.

“Upset? Yuju? She

never

gets mad, not even when I made her save Yerin and me from falling to our deaths at short notice.” SinB bit off a chunk of the ham. “What

did

you do anyway?”

“Oh, nothing much. I just kissed her, that’s all.” Eunha said with deliberate calmness, spearing another forkful of salad. SinB choked on her ham at that.

“You

what?

” SinB took a gulp of her drink to stem the hacking cough. “Just like that?”

“I might have gotten a little carried away.” Eunha didn’t seem particular fazed. SinB looked impressed.

“Didn’t think you had it in you.” The gunslinger paused.

“But this upset her?” SinB chewed thoughtfully on another section of ham. “She looked...scared when we came the other day.” She raised an eyebrow at Eunha.

“Surely you can’t be

that

terrible at kissing, can you?”

“Shut up SinB.” Eunha snapped automatically, flicking a leaf at her best friend. SinB caught it with her teeth, breaking the stalk in half as she crunched into it.

“You probably just surprised her or something…” SinB started, sounding unconvinced even as she recalled what she and Yerin walked into the other day. The shaman had looked

vulnerable,

and Yerin had seemed genuinely concerned at the time, never leaving Yuju’s side unless she had to, even on the ride over to look for Sowon.

“I wish.” Eunha stabbed her fork distractedly at a tomato. “She won’t even look at me now.”

“You really like her that much though?” SinB leaned her chin on one hand, cocking her head sideways to look at Eunha. Ever since her best friend had come back from wherever it was her soul went, she had been a little

different.

Older and sadder somehow, and the way she looked at Yuju...SinB could see the shift easily enough. What used to be just a crush was now more than that. SinB couldn’t figure out what had happened to make it that way. Could magic even

do

something like that?

Eunha put down her fork. “She’s everything I ever wanted.”

SinB raised an eyebrow at that. “Bit early for that, don’t you think?”

Eunha shook her head. “You don’t understand, she’s…” Eunha closed her eyes, sucking in a deep breath.

“

Special.

She means so much to me...I can’t explain it.” Eunha dug her fingers into her palm, biting her lip as she met SinB’s eyes. SinB reached over and forcibly unclenched Eunha’s fist, making sure the older girl didn’t hurt herself.

“Eunha,” SinB began, trying to find the right words. It was difficult, but she had to say it.

“You need to get a grip. Yuju’s a really nice person, that much I admit, but you’re jumping way too fast into this.” The gunslinger shook her head, holding Eunha’s hand in hers.

“Honestly I rather you didn’t get involved, because even

I

can see that she’s way closer to Yerin than mere friendship warrants.

We’re

friends, and we never get that clingy.” SinB sighed.

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Eunha. She’s not the only girl out there, you don’t have to…”

Eunha pulled her hand free of SinB’s grasp, eyes reddening.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Eunha…” SinB stared at her.

“I won’t ever let her go, SinB. I

can’t.

” Eunha’s voice was trembling. “Please don’t. Never ask that of me.”

SinB withdrew her hand slowly, feeling the seed of confusion grow within her. The depth of emotion in Eunha’s eyes had shaken her more than a little. It was like an entirely different person for a moment, and it scared her.

“If you say so…” SinB said cautiously. It was like navigating a minefield. Eunha stood up abruptly, startling the gunslinger.

“I’m done.” She paused, looking a little apologetic.

“I know...you mean well, SinB. You’re my best friend…” Eunha trailed off, looking into the distance.

“But Yuju, she’s my

heart.

I can’t give up like this.”

“What if she breaks it?” SinB asked bluntly. Eunha looked back at her sadly.

“Then it’s hers to break. I can’t take it back.”

SinB stood up as well, going almost nose to nose with Eunha. The gunslinger looked irritated.

“You’re a fucking dumbass, you know that?”

She pulled Eunha into a rough hug. Eunha froze for a second, then leaned her forehead against SinB’s shoulder. The gunslinger muttered a few unflattering imprecatives, mostly targeting Eunha’s intelligence or lack thereof. Despite herself, Eunha laughed, a sound that came out almost like a choking sob.

“Thank you, SinB.”

“You’re an idiot.” SinB replied instantly. “But you’re

my

idiot best friend.” She pulled away, flicking Eunha on the forehead. “Don’t keep stuff like that to yourself, okay? You don’t have to bear it alone.” SinB cracked her knuckles ominously.

“I’m here to knock sense into you when you need it, even though it’s

obviously

not getting through in this case.”

Eunha rolled her eyes, wiping away the tears that had managed to sneak their way out.

“As if you have any brains left in front of Sowon, my dear bestie.”

“Oi!”

“We all know what we have to do.”

Sowon looked at the faces of her team, drawing strength from their presence. They were as ready as they could be, prepped and fully geared for the biggest fight of their lives.

Yerin was clad in black and grey, suited to the shadows. Her face and hair had settled into something dull and unremarkable, and her presence seemed diminished even as she stood right there, like a serpent hidden, coiled to strike unseen. Her knives were concealed, with only the bulge of one pistol on her right hip, and she leaned subtly against one wall as she took in the briefing.

Next to her, Yuju was all in black, hair pulled into a high ponytail as she focused on Sowon’s speech. The athame had replaced her usual obsidian knife on her left hip, while her satchel was secured to her right. Her fingers worked nervously against her thigh, tracing runes almost unconsciously until Yerin hooked one arm around hers, nudging her encouragingly.

Umji sat at the other side of the table opposite Sowon, making last minute adjustments to the gear she was bringing along. She had been surprised that she didn’t even have to argue the point with Sowon, but after the leader had laid out the security plans she had obtained from Bo-geun, the hacker knew exactly why she couldn’t be left behind. Too many closed security checkpoints that only she could bypass on the spot. If Umji was nervous, she wasn’t showing it. If anything, she was happy that she could finally join them properly in the field.

Eunha stood opposite Yuju, looking almost innocent in her graphic tee and short skirt, just like any other party girl at a club. That is, if one ignored the way she was allowing electricity to crackle between her fingers, the sparks arcing like miniature relays. Wisps of smoke escaped the fingertips, phantom flame flickering as she flexed, eyes cold. There would be no mercy for anyone who underestimated the smallest member of their team.

SinB had both arms up and was resting her head against her cradled hands as she leaned against the wall. Black leather was her choice of the day, from the studded jacket to her boots. She wore her guns openly, though her new knife was concealed in her boot. Despite her seeming irreverence, her eyes were intent as they fixed on Sowon.

Sowon herself was in military greys, her armored bodysuit hidden beneath them. She had abandoned her usual longcoat, wearing her weapons openly. There was no need to conceal them for this operation; they were going in hot, and there would only be death to anyone in their way.

The weight of the vibro-blade was heavy on her back, but Sowon stood unbent, spine straight and shoulders firm. It was just them here, but it would be enough.

“I won’t repeat myself. You are the best team I could have. We can do this.”

Sowon checked her watch. It was almost time. Her eyes swept over the familiar faces, remembering as if it were yesterday the same faces in military uniforms, the night before they went to Gyeongju the last time. One fist clenched behind her back at the memory. She would not lose this team this time. Now, at least, they knew what they were facing. They were prepared.

Failure was not an option.

“Today, we kill a dragon!”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“You know, I was expecting more ‘dramatic showdown in underground temple’ and not well, this. ”SinB gestured all around her with the glass in her hand. The fizzing drink caught the pulsing strobe lights and reflected it back, even as music thumped like a living heartbeat in the club. Next to her, Yuju was watching the crowd with a wary eye, as if the press of humanity was making her skittish.“It’s the 21st century, SinB. Even dragons can get with the times.” Yerin cut in sassily from behind. The pair at the bar turned, and Yerin twirled briefly before latching onto Yuju.“How do I look?”“Blonde.” SinB deadpanned. Then the gunslinger took in the rest of what Yerin was wearing and raised an eyebrow.“This is not what you were wearing ten minutes ago.”It really wasn’t. Yerin had started the evening in utilitarian grey slacks and black trimmed top, suitable for stealth operations or a casual night out. The girl was practical that way. Now though, leaving aside the sudden switch in hair colour that the rest of the team had gotten used to by now, Yerin had also undergone a significant transformation in terms of attire.SinB wasn’t sure how the older girl managed to fit a dress and high heels into the tiny purse she had carried while entering the club earlier. The tight lines of the dress hugging the specialist’s figure, as well as the plunging neckline, left SinB wondering just where Yerin was hiding her knives. It wasn’t like the dress left a lot to imagination. And SinB was sure Yerin wouldn’t leave herself unarmed, despite them having to surrender any weapons on entry. SinB still felt slightly naked without her guns, but at least she had managed to sneak her knife in. Apparently Bo-geun had ensured that their bladed presents were undetectable on the usual scanners.“How?” SinB had to ask. Yerin turned and winked outrageously.“Let a girl have a few secrets.”
Yerin rested into Yuju, who had one arm around her waist to keep her from sliding bonelessly to the floor, with the way she was standing. The shaman looked resigned, as if this has happened a thousand times before. It probably had. Yerin giggled, twirling one end of her newly blonde locks with a finger.“Think I’ll get enough attention like this?”SinB snorted at that. “You look like a call girl, but sure yeah.” The plan was to get past the regular area of the already exclusive club, and into the back where only card carrying members were allowed access. Bo-geun had gotten them entry into the first area, but even he couldn’t obtain the access for the special areas. Fortunately, they had intel for potential marks who did have access, and at least two of them were in the club tonight.Which was why the four of them were in here right now. SinB and Yerin could smuggle their knives in and still be effective in a fight, while Yuju and Eunha were their own weapons. Speaking of Eunha, SinB looked around curiously. The fire mage had been dragged off by Yerin earlier for a quick makeover, and was nowhere to be seen at the moment.“You didn’t drown my best friend in the toilet, did you?”Yerin flipped her hair nonchalantly. “Please, I’m a professional. I’d sooner have dropped her down a compactor chute. Look harder.”It ended up being Yuju who spotted Eunha first. The shaman looked visibly surprised, staring wide-eyed at the fidgeting figure in the corner.“Eunha…?”SinB looked in the same direction, and her jaw dropped.“What the hell?”Eunha glared at SinB as she shuffled over, as if daring her to say another word. Unfortunately, SinB didn’t take the hint. One really couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t every day that something like this happened.“Oh my god Eunha you look underage hahaha I haven’t seen you like this in years hahahahaha…”Eunha scowled, but ended up looking even more adorable as a result. Yerin had taken the goth-punk loli look and ran with it for her, even adding extensions to the mage’s hair to soften the angles of her face. By the magic of makeup, Eunha looked maybe sixteen again, the slightly edgy fashion making her resemble an innocent girl trying to look like she fit in with the cool adults. The mage looked young, fresh and gullible, if one ignored the murderous glint in her eye at SinB bent double from laughing. If looks could kill, SinB would be a cinder by now.“I assume there’s a point to this?” SinB wiped the tears from her eyes. Yerin blew into her fingers casually.“Obviously. One of our marks likes his girls young, if you know what I mean.” Yerin didn’t seem surprised that SinB hadn’t read the files. The gunslinger never did. Then again, this part of the operation was Yerin’s show to run. Sowon had left it to her, while their leader escorted Umji in through another route.“Are you sure that’s safe?” Yuju frowned at the comment. Yerin glanced up at the shaman, reaching up to cup her cheek indulgently.“Puppy, if anyone should be worried, it should be the target.” Yerin turned to look at Eunha.“Please don’t burn anyone in front of witnesses, okay? We don’t want them to know we’re here.” Yerin shifted back to Yuju, interlacing her fingers with the shaman’s.“Come dance with me?”Yuju didn’t budge, looking skeptical. Yerin tugged at her pleadingly.“Please? I need cover, or you’re sure you’re okay with letting me get whisked away later without backup?”SinB scoffed from the side. “Let me repeat what you just said: the only people who need to be worried are the targets.”Yerin ignored that, whispering something into Yuju’s ear. The shaman nodded after a moment, allowing herself to be led to the dance floor. Eunha watched them go without a word, until SinB’s hand clasped on her shoulder encouragingly.“Come on, let’s get you where you need to be. We don’t have all night.”Eunha nodded, putting her game face on. The pair melted into the crowd, one more pair of girls out for a good time. The world would never know what hit them tonight.

Umji had been in more comfortable places before, but curled up in a laundry cart was a new experience. It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, and logically being padded on all sides with freshly laundered sheets should have been comfy, but the moment Umji remembered the amount of firepower she was literally sitting on, any thoughts of comfort flew out of the window.But she really shouldn’t be calculating the probability of accidental misfires and instead focus on breaching the wireless network here. Sowon had been a little displeased at having to stealth her way in again, but Yerin had managed to convince her that storming a building head on, even with military support from the Spartans, was unequivocally a bad idea.None of them had counted on the dragon’s den being in the middle of Ulsan, and not just buried somewhere discreet where they could infiltrate the regular way. No, it had to be in the busiest, richest part of town, and when they had re-confirmed the coordinates, none of them could quite miss the soaring landmark at its exact location.The Spire was a post-Awakening construction, reaching dizzying heights in its attempt to ‘touch the sky’. It broke up the skyline with its dominating presence, a lightning rod for everything unattainable to the masses. Massive and arrogant, it stood tall, a monument to the opulence of the elite and the soaring affluence that came with it, not unlike Babel reborn.SinB and Eunha had remembered it well enough from their youth. Even far away in the ghettos, it had been impossible to miss. It glittered gold in the many sunsets of their brief childhoods, like a tower out of fantasy, impossibly and improbably out of reach.On hindsight, a tower clad in gold was simultaneously the most obvious and the most impossible place for a dragon to make its lair. It was too obvious, so it follows that it should have been impossible. However, that impossibility was also the reality.It was also why Bo-geun hadn’t just used all his contacts to bomb the hell out of the place. It was in the middle of town for one thing, and while collateral damage was to be expected in their struggle with the dragon, the old soldier had drawn the line at sacrificing a city of civilians to his vengeance. The dragon hardly ever showed itself in public, relying instead on its minions to exert its will. It made getting close enough to do damage an uphill task.Infiltration for direct confrontation wasn’t the best option, but it was the only one that didn’t involve massive casualties for civilians. Sowon did have to veto Yerin’s suggestion of placing demolition charges with a certain bitter irony no one else understood. The specialist just shrugged and went with Plan B, which was what they were doing now.It was a high risk operation for them still, and Umji was under no illusions for that. Even with the Spartans providing external support, they couldn’t quite invade Ulsan directly, in the heart of Hyeongdae’s seat of power. It said a lot about Mireu’s pull with the megacorp. An intricate web of lies, power and money tightened like a suffocating shroud all around them, and Umji could only hope their plans worked as intended.But first they had to pull this off. Umji couldn’t see outside of the cart, but that was fine. Her digital senses were ready, and the local network was completely open to her. At least, the public one was. She had to find their private network, or they would have to locate a physical access point for her to jack in the regular way. Umji didn’t quite fancy that option. Not only was it slow, it risked exposure if Sowon-unnie, currently dressed as a chambermaid, went places she was not supposed to go. Umji couldn’t do that to her, and they were on a tight schedule to begin with.Undoubtedly, Yerin-unnie and company were already moving to secure the inner access passes. It wasn’t like they hadn’t considered letting Umji hack their way in, but the additional layer of biometric security was a lot more sophisticated than any of them had anticipated. According to Bo-geun, he had just taken a strike team to bust their way in the last couple of times, and that had just contributed to the additional defenses on all levels.They would have to work their way up, without bodies to sacrifice. The Spartans had traded lives for every step before, but they had been military. Umji smirked to herself. They, on the other hand, were shadowrunners, and there was none better at sneaking into places undetected. With Yerin as the chessmaster this time, they had spent the last few days putting together the pieces. It wasn’t perfect on such short notice, but it was doable. Found you. Umji’s lips curved into a smile. Their floor plans were likely outdated, now all she had to do was slip in and figure out how to get past the public areas and into the private zones. The lower levels of the Spire were dedicated to entertainment and leisure, with a number of floors dedicated to a luxury hotel, which was how Sowon and Umji had slipped in and were planning to leave the latter in an unoccupied hotel room that would be mysteriously booked (once Umji changed their records anyway). They were in the upper-middle of the structure, high enough for Umji to remotely access the secured network above, and far enough from the thick of the danger once they shed their disguises and went into combat.The club where the rest of the team were was several more floors up, and beyond that, precious few people knew. The last time Bo-geun had led troops into action against the dragon, the tower had only been half built, but his spies had kept an eye on Mireu’s movements ever since. More than fifteen years of planning and preparation led to this day, and none of them were going to squander this chance.Umji squinted when the cover of the cart was removed, and she was physically fished out of it like a sack of potatoes. The hacker blinked rapidly, still entangled in her digital pursuits. Sowon had already shed her disguise as a chambermaid, to Umji’s regret, and was clad in a armored bodysuit that shimmered as she moved. Courtesy of Bo-geun, it came with advanced stealth capabilities that, when turned on, would camouflage the wearer to some degree from scanners and even physical sight. It wasn’t quite invisibility, but it made melding into shadows much easier.Sowon was going to need it. With Umji’s assistance, she strapped on the rest of the gear she needed, and then shouldered both her own vibro-blade, as well as the knapsack with SinB and Yerin’s guns and spare ammunition. Sowon couldn’t enter the club as she was, since she was too recognizably a warrior, and the rest couldn’t bring their heavier weaponry in, so she was going to have to bring it to them the unconventional way.“I don’t like this.” Umji muttered, sinking onto the bed with her own gadgets laid out like a command center in miniature. Sowon was at the window, which was obviously sealed since they were at dizzying heights above the city proper. Sowon tested the glass cutter experimentally, then got to work.“Can’t be helped, Yerin and Yuju aren’t really into heights, and I’m not sure Eunha is physically capable of doing this.” SinB probably could, but Sowon figured the mages needed someone to protect them in case of emergencies. Infiltration was a dangerous game, even with Yerin’s experience.“It’s at least twenty more floors up, unnie. Are you sure you can do this?” Umji looked concerned. Sowon shrugged, stretching and testing her climbing gear again. She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. They were already over 100 floors away from the ground. Falling would mean instant death. It was not unlike scaling a mountain, complete with a dragon waiting at the top. Sowon smiled grimly. A quest this was, and her an aspiring dragon slayer. A fine heroic tale it would make, if any of them lived to tell it.She would make sure they would. With a final reassuring smile at the worried Umji, Sowon flexed her limbs and prepared for the ascent. She would not fail them. Her team was waiting.

SinB was going to kill Yerin the next time she saw her. It had taken every ounce of self control on the gunslinger’s part to not break the fingers of the lecherous old man that was their mark. Yerin had not warned her that she was considered fair game too.And then there was Eunha, who did a remarkably convincing job of pretending to be a sheltered young girl that had faked her ID to get in. SinB felt mildly ill at the almost hungry gaze of their mark, even if it hadn’t been directed at her personally. How did anybody do this on a regular basis? She was never letting Yerin talk them into something like this again.But they were in, and Eunha didn’t even set anyone on fire. Yet. SinB knew her best friend well enough to know that the fire mage was just one more attempted grope away from burning them to a cinder. SinB had managed to deflect enough of the attention by being her usual feisty self, and both girls did their best to not drink anything offered to them.Eunha had an advantage in this, she quite literally evaporated the alcohol before it ever touched her lips. SinB had to resort to sleight of hand to dump the contents of her glass, a skill she had honed as an amateur pickpocket and never thought it would be thus applied. She did consider palming their access cards, but Umji had warned them that it was keyed to their biometric readings, so they needed to get those men to bring them up to the private lounges.SinB never wanted to repeat the experience, and Yerin was going to pay for this, she swore. They were in luxurious apartments several floors up from the club proper, and SinB was definitely considering knifing someone if they tried anything. She didn’t hate men per se, but she was learning very quickly to dislike them in this particular context. Eunha had followed them into the inner chambers, and SinB was starting to get nervous as time ticked by.She was about to bust the door down and rescue Eunha, when it suddenly slid open, and SinB almost drew her knife in response. She lowered her arm when she realized it was just Eunha, who looked perfectly fine and not even disheveled. The familiar whiff of smoke and ashes that followed her told a different story though. SinB raised an eyebrow. Eunha smiled serenely.“Yerin only said not in front of witnesses.”SinB tiptoed and looked over Eunha’s shoulder. No witnesses indeed. She was fairly certain the walls were not black before they went in. If there had been any cameras in there, there were probably melted by now. As for the men who brought them in…SinB shrugged. Eunha probably needed to let off some steam. Her only regret was that she didn’t get to break any fingers. But there would be opportunity enough for bloodshed later on.“How are we going to find the other two? There are a whole bunch of floors in this place.” SinB paced around the apartment, trying to find an access point into which she could jam the datajack Umji had given each of them earlier. It was a way to grant their hacker remote access despite not being physically present. They were all radio silent at the moment, for safety purposes. Eunha didn’t look concerned, toying with the talisman Yuju had given each of them before the mission.“I’m sure they’ll find us instead.”“Good guess. What took you guys so long anyway?” A voice said from the entrance of the apartment, making SinB jump. Eunha turned, seemingly unsurprised by Yerin leaning against the door. The specialist had shed her earlier disguise and was back in more practical greys, and her blonde hair had faded back to its original brunette. SinB scowled at her.“Don’t start.” SinB eyed Yerin suspiciously. “Where do you even stash all your clothing changes?”“Trade secret.” Yerin winked, entering the apartment and letting the external door slide close. Yuju was nowhere to be seen, and Eunha frowned, eyes going distant as she tried scanning for the missing shaman. Other than the familiar aural signatures of the three of them, she could see nothing.“You didn’t leave Yuju outside did you?” SinB was also looking around, after casting a glance at Eunha’s worried frown. Yerin rolled her eyes.“As if. Quit showing off, puppy. I know you’re there.”SinB jerked visibly when the air next to her rippled, her knife slipping into her hand almost on instinct, and she almost stabbed Yuju when the shaman reappeared into view like a wraith tearing through the shadows. Eunha blinked rapidly in confusion, as if not quite believing her senses. Yuju remained cloaked in darkness for a second, seeming almost ethereal before the look of focus faded from her face and she became more substantial again. Yerin was smiling at her indulgently.“Had fun?”Yuju beamed. “I always wanted to try that.” She cricked her neck experimentally. “Can’t do more than myself though.”“Pity. It would have made our lives easier if you could.” Yerin shook her head. “How far is Sowon from us?”Yuju’s eyes went distant. “Not much further. We need to keep going up.”Eunha was still staring at Yuju. “I couldn’t sense you earlier.”SinB cut in as well. “How did you go invisible like that? I’ve never seen you do that before.”Yuju returned back to herself, looking thoughtful. Yerin was also looking at Eunha in interest.“You mean you couldn’t see her magical signature?”Eunha shook her head. “I’m not the most sensitive, but I can read a familiar aura well enough. Didn’t see a thing earlier in the astral plane.”Yerin raised an eyebrow. “Was that on purpose?” The question was directed at Yuju, who glanced over.“I didn’t think it’d work that well…” The shaman paused. “ You knew I was nearby though.”Yerin smirked. “Logic. I knew you wouldn’t leave me alone.”Yuju couldn’t deny that. The shaman raised her head, and Eunha could see the currents of power spark in familiar patterns across her aura. Wisps of energy coalesced into canine spirits around her astral self, and Eunha watched with interest as Yuju sent out her spirit watchers to scout the place.“Sowon’s fancy new suit gave me ideas. Sight is just light reflected, if I can bend it consistently around myself…” Yuju trailed off at the uncomprehending look on the others’ faces. “Basically it’s camouflage.” She explained as simply as she could, and missed Umji badly at that moment. The hacker would have understood. Hell, the two of them had been discussing it before the whole mission.“You were invisible on the magical spectrum too though.” Eunha pointed out. Yuju frowned thoughtfully.“I was masking my signature...didn’t think it would have been that effective.” The shaman shrugged. “I can’t really maintain it for long periods of time. Too much focus needed to hide while moving. Probably easier if I stayed still, but then it wouldn’t be useful.”“I don’t know, it’d be useful even if you could only use it while staying still.” Yerin observed. The specialist checked her watch.“We’re a little behind schedule, people. Let’s head up. I’ve already plugged Umji in remotely, so save yours for when we’re further in.” Yerin indicated the datajack in SinB’s hand. “She’s already got the cameras under control here, hopefully we won’t have to fight anyone too early.”“Says you.” SinB grumbled, shoving the datajack back into a pocket for safekeeping. Not having a gun was inconvenient, but it wouldn’t stop her from being deadly in a fight. Besides, having a mobile flamethrower in Eunha meant that most people weren’t going to pose a threat unless they were heavily warded. SinB almost pitied any poor fools who might stumble into them.“We’re clear for now.” Yuju reported, seeing through the eyes of her watcher spirits. Yerin placed a hand on the shaman’s arm, prepared to lead the other girl physically while her attention was divided. SinB went ahead to scout first, while Eunha fell back to walk on Yuju’s other side.The night was still young, and they were just getting started.

Gale force winds ripped against her cheeks, the fine dust clogging her pores. If not for the rebreather and goggles she had had the foresight to put on before this climb, Sowon might have gagged or worse.It certainly didn’t make her climb that much easier. The air was hot and muggy, even with the wind howling like a living beast around her. Distant thunder rumbled across the horizon, heavy clouds looming like a churning maelstrom. A storm was coming, but even that failed to fully obscure the light of the full moon hanging low and pregnant through the foggy curtain above.There was a peculiar sense of weightlessness as she dangled about half a kilometer or more from the ground off the side of a building. Don’t look down, she reminded herself for maybe the twelfth time since she exited the window earlier.The suction grips she had in her hands were in excellent condition. Wisely, Sowon attached anchors as she went, unwinding rope to ensure that even if she did somehow fall somewhere along the way, she would at least not plummet directly to her death. It was slow going, but she had gotten an earlier start than the others for this very purpose.Sweat trickled down her brow and was whisked away almost instantly with the wind, leaving slick trails in its wake. Her hands were clammy, but she tamped down on her anxiety and soldiered on, despite the weight of all the gear she was bearing.Her mind ticked furiously as she ran through their plans for the night. They had planned for every possibility regarding the infiltration, but even the best of plans never survives first contact with the enemy. And then there was the matter of the dragon, who, according to Umji, probably wasn’t even a real dragon to begin with, according to her research.Proto-dragon or not, it was still magical and reptilian enough to cause problems. They had precious little to work on, but past experience suggested that mortals could wound, even kill a true dragon. The example in Germany had been a full scale military assault with mortars and artillery leading the way, and towns had burned when the Firewing retaliated against the mere mortals who had risen up against it. A German scientist had come up with a weapon to kill it when even the best the military had to offer only slowed the dragon down.While they were unable to retrieve the exact weapon used to take down that particular dragon, the theory behind it was certainly within reach. The vibro-blades were a good first step, but in the absence of the soul splitter the German scientist had developed, the next best thing they had was to weaponize their mages to attack on the astral plane. Kill the body and the spirit at the same time, and leave nothing to chance.Yuju was the cornerstone of that plan, though Eunha would do in a pinch as well. Sowon hadn’t told Bo-geun about what happened with the orb and Eunha, and if she had anything to say about it, no one beyond their team would ever learn about it. Eunha had become something entirely different and unknown with her fusion, and Sowon didn’t want to finish off one enemy and then be targeted by megacorps and governments all over the world wanting to ‘collect’ the fire mage for research. She might have trusted Bo-geun, but not that much. Some things were better left unsaid.Sowon refused to consider whether or not they would be capable of taking the dragon down in its own lair. Call it blind confidence or faith, but she trusted in her team. There were few other runner squads in Korea who were on the same level as them, and Sowon knew most of those people in the twenty odd years she had been awake and in business. Bo-geun had not been wrong when he had called Yuju the strongest mage in Korea. She had never seen anyone else with the same level of control the shaman exhibited, and this was without ever executing any combat spells.Fact is, Sowon was still nervous about asking Yuju to deal the finishing blow on the astral plane. The shaman had rarely been violent even in combat, and asking her to kill something felt wrong somehow. But she had little choice, and Yuju had acceded to it after some convincing, even if she had looked a little pale at the idea. Eunha would have cheerfully taken her place, but despite Eunha having the raw strength, Yuju had better control when it came to finding the right weakness to attack. An all out attack from the fire mage on the astral plane would have nasty spillover effects into the physical world if things went awry. Magical backlash would hurt them all and likely explode the top of the tower, and that was the best case scenario.But she was getting ahead of herself. She was almost to the top, and risked a look down despite herself. This far up, the city below sprawled out in a map of distant lights, seeming almost toy-like in proportion. Sowon reached out with one hand, and it was almost as if she could hold the heart of the city in her grasp.She suddenly understood why the dragon had chosen this place to nest. If power was its motive, what better place to be than to tower above them all like a ruling monarch?Dangling from the edge, Sowon calculated the best point of entry even as she evaded the magical traps littered around the top. The talisman Yuju had given her heated up in proximity to foreign wards, and it had been a lifesaver throughout the climb.
Sowon-unnie?
As if the thought had summoned her, Yuju’s voice echoed in her head, almost making the mercenary lose her footing in surprise. Dust joined the whirling winds that circled her and Sowon secured herself against a ledge while she thought up a reply.“Are you guys in?” Speaking aloud seemed less weird. Yuju’s voice echoed with a silent chuckle.
We’re at the rendezvous point, follow my lead.
A spectral puppy wiggled its way out of a previously unseen crevice, panting happily as it ambled over to the dust-covered Sowon, tail swishing. Sowon bit back a chuckle and tentatively patted the puppy on the head, making it roll over with joy for a moment. It felt odd to touch something that wasn’t actually there, but Sowon had definitely felt a certain tactile sensation when her fingers brushed against the ghostly head. Yet another sign of Yuju’s potential, when even her watcher spirits would attain actual density despite not being meant for combat.Having a guide helped. The ghost puppy led Sowon right past the traps, and even helpfully slowed down when Sowon had to navigate difficult sections during the climb. It took her another ten minutes, but she finally got to the right window. Her spectral guide vanished right through it, Sowon had to cut through the glass first.Or she would have, if the entire window hadn’t suddenly decided to change in viscosity. Seeing solid glass suddenly melt and drip away in red hot slag was unnerving to say the least. Sowon met Eunha’s smug gaze evenly when the window pane ceased to exist as a solid.“Save your strength for the real fight,” Sowon scolded automatically as she unslung the pack holding their gear and tossed it through first. SinB caught it eagerly, and she and Yerin swiftly re-armed themselves as Sowon swung herself precariously inwards to avoid the still red hot edges of the melted window frame. The heel of her boot hissed as she tucked herself in and bounced through, using the bottom ledge to give herself a boost to avoid the pool of melted glass directly below.Sowon removed her goggles and breathing mask, eyes alert and focused as she swept over her team one more time. Yuju was standing off to one side, arms folded and a little distant, as if her mind was elsewhere, which it most likely was, scouting the way ahead. Eunha was not too far off from her, and was rechecking the pistol SinB had tossed to her as a backup weapon.Yerin was absently cleaning off her knives in a methodical sort of ritual, as if it were second nature. Her heavy pistols were at her hip already, but there was something natural about the way she handled her knives, as if they were an extension of her arm. Yerin looked up when she felt Sowon’s gaze on her, and smiled idly, the illusions on her face wavering as if she were making an attempt to shred them as close to her real self as possible. Sowon didn’t envy her struggle. Just thinking about how no one could see her real face sounded like a huge pain in the ass, and was so very lonely a burden to bear.Lastly, Sowon focused on SinB, who was disassembling and reassembling her guns in rapid succession, as if she were worried that they might have gotten jammed on the way up. It was good practice, and almost too familiar to Sowon. Hwang Eunbi had the exact same habit as well, and it felt...odd to see it here again.“We’ve plugged Umji’s relays into every checkpoint so far.” Yerin reported, sheathing her knives after she was satisfied. “She should have the range to break through the last door into the penthouse.”“Any encounters on your way up?” Sowon eyed her team speculatively. They didn’t look like they had been in a fight, but looks were deceptive. SinB smirked.“Took out a couple of patrols the quiet way, just so they can’t get behind us when we least expect it.”Sowon nodded. It was a good idea. Every unit they eliminated was one less that could rush to reinforce the dragon once they stormed the final chamber. Even if Umji could seal off the choke points strategically to cut them off, it was still better to eliminate isolated bands of the enemy before they could group together to form a legitimate threat. They
would have problems enough facing the dragon, without also having to deal with mere minions on top of that.“The last door isn’t warded.” Yuju announced suddenly, brows knitted together in a frown. She pointed down the short hallway where tall doors stretching from floor to ceiling yawned high and wide. Intricate carvings of dragons was done in gold, making it appear almost gaudy. The doors were closed, and it was locked, electronically.Which wasn’t going to be a problem. SinB loped forward with the final datajack, and Yerin carefully unscrewed a panel for her to plug it in. As if on cue, the screen scrambled as Umji started accessing remotely, the short range relays allowing her to project her signal upwards. The magical interference in the air was too strong for the usual wireless signals. This was the best way to keep Umji out of danger and still close enough to do what was needed.“Atta girl,” Yerin murmured when the red light turned green. Sowon had joined her at the door, with SinB flanking her on the other side as the mages hung back. None of them knew for sure what awaited them, and not even Yuju had dared to send her watchers in. She had only sensed power there, and wasn’t about to alert it to their presence prematurely, at least not until they were ready to bust in and take names.“Ready, everyone?” Sowon did one last check, drawing her rifle. The vibro-blade lay balanced across her back, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice when necessary. Even with the skill mod uploaded, Sowon still preferred her first weapon of choice, and would only resort to the blade if she had no other option. It was just the way it was.The sounds of assent were firm. Cocky came from SinB, assured from Yerin. Eunha sounded almost vicious, while Yuju was determined. Sowon closed her eyes, whispering a silent prayer to the souls of those long dead. I do this for you, guys. Your deaths will not be in vain. Without further ado, the tall mercenary kicked the doors open and they sprang into action, Yerin and SinB instantly zipping in to find cover, zigzagging like twin parallel lines as they veered in different directions. Sowon stood sentinel to cover the mages behind her, but she already felt Yuju raising a shield as the temperature behind her spiked sharply, a sign that Eunha had already reached for her flames.Not that they needed to bother. Sowon stared fiercely at the man-shaped figure lounged on the elevated dais at the end of the chamber, who did not seem at all surprised by their forced entry.“Welcome, children. I have been awaiting your arrival.”That was not a good sign, was it?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was, Umji reflected, a lot like playing a tower defense game.If the first part of the mission had her playing Cortana to the rest of her team as they broke through floor after floor to reach the top, the second section was where she finally took an active role in engaging with the enemy rather than being their lock breaker and GPS.Umji knew she wasn’t a frontline fighter like the rest of the team were. That didn’t mean she was completely helpless. Sure, if anyone actually burst into the room where she was, she wouldn’t last very long, but first they would actually have to get there.And she was very good at making sure they wouldn’t. Umji smirked, looping the camera feeds to make sure no one at their posts saw anything out of the ordinary. At the same time, she was carefully monitoring any and all communications in the building. Any suspicious movement of any kind was right within her purview, and she had a thousand and one ways to make sure they would get redirected somewhere else.The team had bust in through the last door they had her crack earlier. That had been a good fifteen minutes ago, and it would be a lie to say that Umji wasn’t nervous. There were no cameras on the final level. Her last view of the team sans Sowon was when they had taken the final elevator up to the top. The radio signal had gotten choppy not long after they had left the elevator, and it was a good thing she had asked Yerin and the rest to plant relays. There was no way a regular signal would penetrate the interference up there.She had only had enough time to confirm that Sowon had joined up with them, and shortly after Yerin’s “Atta girl” comment, the signal had shorted out. Either there were jammers, or the magical field up there was just too strong for the comms to work. Neither scenario was a good sign, and Umji couldn’t help but worry. She was unable to watch over them this way, and it made her nervous.Unless. Umji carefully opened up a little pouch, revealing one of her newly constructed drones. It fit snugly in the middle of her palm, more toy-like than anything else. She had based the design on one of the movies of the old world, and the tiny golden ball with its delicate rotors on both side was the closest thing she could manage to replicate while still remaining aerodynamically stable. It had no weapons, barely any armor, and was basically only good as a flying eye in the sky, but Umji had made it for a very specific reason.The electrum coating had cost a pretty penny, but it was also the best material for magic shielding. Umji had consulted Yuju extensively regarding the matter, and they had stress tested it in a controlled environment prior to this, but Umji was relatively certain that her replica golden Snitch would remain airborne even in a magically saturated area. Airborne, and able to transmit images back, if she linked herself to it.Umji needed to know what was going on. She couldn’t afford to be blind to what happened above, and she certainly wasn’t going to ping Yuju using the little figurine the shaman had given them before. Only in emergencies, Yuju had said. Breaking a magic user’s concentration could be fatal in a combat situation, and Umji certainly wasn’t going to cause trouble for any of her unnies.That said, Umji was never one to dawdle when it came to things she could do. Linking up with her tiny drone took little to no time, but Umji spent a wee bit longer establishing a deeper link so that she wouldn’t lose connection when she sent it flying upwards. She wasn’t fully certain about the maximum range, but the relays planted every few floors up should help her boost the signal past her natural range. When she opened her eyes again, her left eye took on a weird double vision as the camera on the drone activated, whirring to life as she tossed it into the air.This was the best she could do. Umji switched channels to open a backdoor she had planted in the Spartan network. Old habits die hard, and even if they were allies, Umji felt better knowing what exactly they were doing, and it’d be easier to signal for help if she already had the communications channel open. One of their evacuation plans hinged on the Spartans, certainly. Sowon hadn’t put all of her eggs in one basket though, so they did have backup plans. Umji knew she was key to most of them, and she wouldn’t fail her team.She couldn’t fight with them, but she sure as hell was going to make sure she could extract them when the time came. Umji grit her teeth.
Everyone, stay safe.

There was no warning when it came. The sudden wave of pressure was enough to knock them to their knees. Sowon staggered, gritting her teeth at the overwhelming force projected at them. It was as if someone had dropped a building on them, except it was invisible, and heavy. It lasted for a moment, then a familiar wave of energy surged from her chest, emanating from the talisman she was still wearing. Further ahead, SinB gasped aloud, finally able to stand; on the opposite side, Yerin pressed herself deeper into a pillar, cold sweat running down her forehead as she tried to keep her knees from shaking.Eunha and Yuju had joined hands behind them, the shaman’s eyes glowing as she warded her team against the magical field the dragon had established. Absolute territory, it was a spell only the most powerful of mages could execute, and then only imperfectly. It rewrote the rules of space in a limited field, tied to the whims of the caster within that zone. Within a territorial spell, the caster’s will was absolute. The drain was hideous, which meant that most people couldn’t sustain it on a large scale or for long periods of time, but clearly the dragon wasn’t bound by the same limits. Yuju’s wards would allow them to move normally, but they had already started at a disadvantage. This was not good.“So this is how you greet your guests.” Sowon bit out through clenched teeth. If not for Yuju’s quick counter action, they would be no better than meat on a chopping block.Her fury seemed to amuse the dragon on the dais. Except it was no serpent right now, presenting instead as a middle aged man in a dapper suit. Yet it was most definitely not a man in any sense of the word, down to the reptilian eyes and inhuman cast to its features. It was as if the dragon had taken the ideal of a human shape, and cast its essence into it without modifying it for humanity.The end result was too sharp features, the whisper of a forked tongue, and an inhuman grace in its movements. No one would ever mistake it for a real human being if they had the eyes to see. Certainly, that fact failed to bother the dragon in its barely adequate human skin. It never had any intention of passing as human, and why should it?“Certainly no more rude than being attacked in one’s own home, is it not?”The deep bass of the dragon’s voice rumbled through the air, calm and resonant. It seemed supremely confident, as if the five human intruders were no more threatening than an invading bug to be quashed at leisure. It was currently focused on the mages with a languid curiosity, first at Yuju who had negated the worst effects of his gravity field, then with greater interest at Eunha.“You look familiar, child. Have we met?”Eunha’s irises shrank to dark points, and her grip on Yuju’s hand tightened almost painfully. The shaman glanced over, concerned by Eunha’s spiking agitation. Scaly patterns ghosted to the surface of the fire mage’s skin, but Eunha managed to suppress it with some effort.The dragon did not miss the changes. It rose off its seat in a sinuous motion, tasting the air with a forked tongue. Its eyes were hungry as it studied Eunha with a covetous greed. Yuju stepped instinctively in front of Eunha, eyes narrowed as she eyed the dragon warily.“The dragon orb, you have assimilated it.” The dragon was still staring at Eunha, though Yuju was in between them. “Impossible, a human could not possibly have…” It trailed off, revealing teeth sharper than any human had any right to possess.“And yet, here we are…” A sudden fury rose beneath the calm exterior it had been projecting. A sudden burst of automatic fire cut it off, but the bullets hit an invisible shield that hadn’t been immediately apparently earlier. A protective bubble revealed itself as it absorbed the force, shimmering into sight with the energy from the attack.The dragon raised a contemptuous hand, lightning bolts arcing towards Sowon, who quickly rolled out of the way even as Yuju followed up instantly with a shield of her own to prevent any splash damage. Behind her, Eunha gave up any pretense of holding back and allowed the scales to envelop her skin, leaving only her eyes exposed as fireballs coalesced all around her.The barrage of fire splattered against the shield woven around the dragon, even as the others continued firing in an attempt to get through it. Yuju’s eyes flashed, scanning for weaknesses even as she defended the others from the elemental bolts the dragon tossed out.“Focus fire!’ Yuju barked out, eyes glowing as her hands moved rapidly. Sowon, SinB and Yerin shuddered involuntarily for a second when a second burst of energy from Yuju’s spell hit them, their senses sharpening as a glowing mark appeared in their vision. Eunha didn’t need help to see the marker, and the team reacted instantly to the command.The dragon hissed in frustration when its shield shattered, and it was actually forced to move off the dais before the next wave of fire and bullets shredded it where it stood. Sowon and SinB moved closer, approaching from different angles to try and pin the dragon down without getting in each other’s crossfire. Yerin stalked from another direction, biding her time as she squeezed off calculated shots. Eunha fired off needle sharp spikes of concentrated flame, fast and deadly as any bullet, and the dragon’s skin broke and regenerated constantly under the assault.“Enough!” Scales of its own burst into sight, not unlike the set that covered Eunha, though it was patterned differently. A massive aura seemed to emanate from the man-shaped dragon, throwing SinB and Sowon back for a second and making Eunha flinch. Yuju was forced back a step, but she held steady as she bit into her lip to reinforce the spell that kept everyone moving.Space warped all around them, making sight difficult. The gunfire slowed, both Sowon and SinB afraid of hitting friendly targets by accident. The dragon snapped its suddenly clawed fingers, and servitors rushed out from hidden chambers on either side. Sowon cursed and drew the vibro-blade as she blocked an onrushing lizardman with it and fired off another armor-piercing round through the stomach of another, and was soon mobbed by at least three others. SinB was equally tangled by no less than three servitors, while Yerin danced circles around the two that had magically managed to notice where she was.That left Eunha and Yuju alone with an angry dragon. Eunha’s fire was barely scratching the surface of the scales, and aiming for the eyes was no easy feat. A fire rose within Eunha, screeching for release, and she dived recklessly forward, wanting to rip tear shred and… Yuju hauled her back, grunting as she tossed up another shield to break the spectral claws that had been aimed directly at Eunha. The shadowy talons ripped through the shield even as Yuju threw up one after another to slow the impact, backing up and trying to break Eunha from the frenzy spell that had snuck in past her notice. Fire curled between them, searing her skin, but Yuju healed through it as she grabbed Eunha by the head, leaving her back open to the dragon.Clarity returned to Eunha’s eyes as she met Yuju’s clear orbs, her fire receding in confusion before her eyes widened again. She tried to pull Yuju out of the way, but the ghostly talons had already shredded through the last shield and raked into the shaman’s back. Yuju staggered, falling forward as Eunha backpedalled, hauling Yuju out of range. Fear and fury warred in the mage’s eyes, war flashbacks coming fast and hard as she took in the bleeding mess of Yuju’s back. Never again. Lightning arced around the furious mage, forming an electric net around them both. The dragon paused in its step, sudden amusement sparking with a certain recognition.“Ah, now I do remember. It was you who freed me, was it not?” Reptilian eyes swept across the two mages, thin lips curved into a mocking grin. Eunha growled.“You lied back then.”“And yet, here you are with all your friends.” The dragon made a sweeping gesture with one arm. “That is what you asked for, is it not? I have kept my bargain.”“ Everyone died! ” Eunha spat. Yuju stirred in her arms, and the mage looked down as the shaman straightened with a shaky smile. The talons had hurt, but they were merely flesh wounds. It had taken a little while to repair, and the shaman had gone pale from the effort, but at least she was still standing. Eunha exhaled with mild relief, but she didn’t let go of Yuju. The shaman patted Eunha’s shaking hands, trying to reassure her, and the dragon sneered.“Details, child. Your souls were reunited in this life. I see how you could have assimilated the orb then.” It seemed thoughtful. “Though I can’t imagine why father’s orb would have chosen a human bearer.” The word ‘human’ was spat with a certain disdain.“The orb was supposed to be mine. Come to me willingly, and I will spare your little friends.”Yuju tightened her hold on Eunha as she turned to face the dragon. The shaman’s eyes were cold as ice.“I won’t let you have her. You failed, imugi. You wouldn’t need an orb to ascend if you were a true dragon. You’re nothing but a fake.” Yuju’s lips curled into a sneer as she continued taunting the suddenly frozen figure.“I AM A DRAGON!” The dragon, or should we say, imugi? Roared its rage as it charged forward, targeting Eunha. Yuju pressed her lips together as she dodged the swing, and Eunha cooperated by tightening her net, forming a shield of pure electricity that Yuju conveniently reinforced. The two magic users worked in tandem to slow the imugi, but they were still forced to give ground step by step.Sowon wanted to pull back to reinforce them, but she was still busy with three of the servitors. She had managed to decapitate two of the ones harassing her, but the other three were a lot more wily and working together to keep her pinned while staying just out of range of her deadly blade. Their fallen compatriots had not expected the sword to be able to slice through their scales, and had paid the ultimate price. Sowon was running low on ammunition as well, and she scanned the room quickly to see if anyone else could help.SinB had managed to down one of her attackers, and cut off the hand of another, but was too far away to assist even if she could extricate herself from her own fight. Her speed was serving her well, but Sowon knew how much strain it put on the girl’s body when used for extended periods of time. SinB was pacing herself, only applying added bursts when necessary, but she would be at a disadvantage the longer the fight drew out.Where was Yerin though? Sowon managed to lop off an arm and grunted when a return stroke gashed across her shoulder, but she accepted the blow in order to twist her blade upwards and take the head off her one-armed opponent. She rolled to avoid another spray of bullets, and then blocked another downward slash to her head with the flat of her blade. She risked a quick glance at the two mages, hoping they could hold out long enough for her to get to them.Yuju was still taunting the imugi, which was unusual behaviour for her, and it was making the imugi even more frenzied in its assault. Sowon’s eyes narrowed, then sparked in realization when she caught Yuju’s smirk.Yerin closed the distance with terrifying certainty, having already finished her opponents in record time. Her twin blades were wet with gore, and she moved with the deadly precision of an assassin. Yuju had seen her earlier. Yuju always saw her. One look was all it took. They had known each other long enough to know what was needed. Yerin needed a distraction, and Yuju had given it to her.A knife sank into the imugi’s back, straight to the heart, and twisted. The imugi stopped midstep, looking down at the blade that had penetrated through to the front. A second blade reached upwards to slice across its windpipe, and the imugi shrieked, a painful soundwave that blasted everyone to their knees.The human form split like a wet sack as the true form of the imugi released itself, a serpent with the deformed horns of a true dragon. Three talons spaced across the length of the thirty foot long serpent, with the stub of a fourth on one side. Yerin was still on its back as it reared upwards, clinging on for dear life as she stabbed her other knife in to steady herself, eliciting another scream of pain from the furious imugi.Yuju and Eunha struggled to their feet even as SinB took the opportunity to finish off her opponents, Sowon doing the same to hers. Yerin looked small perched on the back of the giant serpent, and she was just out of reach of the head as she tried to keep herself from getting thrown off. The others tried to rush it, but the imugi took to the air, smashing against the stained glass roof of the chamber.“Yerin!” Yuju cried out, desperately trying to weave something, anything, to catch the assassin. The imugi flailed again, and the rest of them caught sight of Yerin bleeding down half her face, teeth tightly clenched as she twisted her knives inward, determined to wound the damn thing before it could throw her off. Another violent shake, and this time it was finally enough to dislodge her.SinB leapt upward, boosted by Sowon, in an attempt to try and catch Yerin as she was violently thrown off the imugi’s back. Yuju’s spell was still only half woven when SinB’s fingers brushed against Yerin’s ankle, but the gunslinger couldn’t get a good enough hold, and all of them watched with horror as Yerin crashed right through a window on the far side.“ NO! ” Yuju howled. The air around her seemed to go deadly still, and next to her, Eunha flinched away as Yuju’s aura darkened with raging streaks, crackling with a vicious energy. A ghostly howl of a wolf seemed to echo Yuju’s own, and the already damaged ceiling cracked and fell in a shower of glittering shards, revealing the blood red moon that hung above in its full glory.Yuju’s eyes had gone as red as the moon that illuminated her. The specter of a wolf seemed to superimpose itself on her hunched form, and the shaman screamed as she accepted Wolf into herself, vivid markings running across her skin and crawling up her face like a rippling tattoo. When she stood again, Wolf Spirit cloaked her like a second skin, and spectral claws seemed to extend from her hands, humming hungrily.“Berserker…” Sowon sucked in a breath, quickly pulling Eunha back before the fire mage could step forward to try and reach Yuju. “Don’t, I’ve seen it before, she can’t tell friend from foe right now.”Yuju cracked her neck ominously and bared her teeth at the airborne imugi coiled in the air, before taking a running jump into the air to pounce on the lowest point available to latch on. Sowon swore and gestured to SinB to circle from the other side, warning her to stay out of Yuju’s direct path if she could.On the magical plane, Eunha could see the glowing forms of a serpent and a wolf locked in combat, tearing at each other in ways that the physical realm did not reflect. The wolf was mauling the serpent, but the serpent was also tightly coiled around it.Something was off about the situation though. Yuju’s wolf was entirely reckless, which made sense considering how out of control she was now, but the serpent wasn’t pressing the advantage. If anything, it only seemed to be trying to pry the persistent lupine form off it, without going for the exposed jugular or any of the vulnerable points. Eunha’s eyes narrowed, thinking quickly as she tried to find an angle to attack without hurting Yuju in the process.
For your freedom, I will ask for Yuju to live.
A distant memory came back to her, and something clicked. The imugi had exploited the loophole in their old bargain, considering it fulfilled when their reincarnated selves had been reunited. But that wasn’t the only clause in their deal. Her first request had been for Yuju to live, and Yuju was alive right now. Which meant…He couldn’t kill her. No, he wasn’t allowed to kill her, not without the deal backfiring. Magical pacts had exploitable loopholes, but one couldn’t flagrantly break the rules as stated. Not without major consequences, and with a bargain this large, the backlash would be...considerable. Threatening even to the imugi, and it knew this. The potential implications of everything this entailed cascaded through Eunha’s mind, and she shuddered, suddenly understanding the things she had overlooked before.Yuju had pulled her soul back through time. That should have been an impossible feat for a single person to achieve. It required more power, more magic than any one person had to offer, even drawing upon the natural leylines to amplify what Yuju could safely channel. Both she and Yerin had suspected blood magic to offset the difference, but there had been no one else to sacrifice in that chamber that they knew of.Except one. Eunha clapped one hand to her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. Yuju had offered up herself as a sacrifice, and if not for the still active pact acting as a magical wellspring to replenish her life force, Yuju would have died for her again in this lifetime.But she couldn’t afford to wallow in sentimentality right now. Their priority was the imugi, and if the imugi couldn’t kill Yuju right now, they had a chance to turn the tables. Eunha sprinted towards Sowon, calling out.“Sowon! It can’t kill Yuju! If you’re going to do something, now is our chance!”“What?” Sowon halted in midstep. “What do you mean?”“The pact! In the cave! I asked for Yuju to live, the imugi can’t do anything to her right now!”Sowon’s eyes widened as she took it in, then nodded sharply as she looked back up at the circling imugi still entangled with a frenzied Yuju. Amazingly, the berserked shaman’s claws were digging into the imugi’s flesh, allowing her to cling on and tear new wounds into the coils. The imugi was thrashing and trying to shake her off the way it did Yerin, but Yuju clung on with the tenacity of a bulldog. She was bruised and battered bloody, but it didn’t slow her one bit as she ripped and tore her way upwards.“SinB! See if you can force it down!” Sowon yelled across the room. SinB gestured okay and gauged the terrain, looking for something she could use. The imugi was still almost ten meters off the ground, and there really wasn’t much hanging above it now that the stained glass ceiling was gone. There were massive wall-mounted chandeliers ringing the base of the circular dome of the chamber though, and SinB eyed them speculatively.Eunha cast another electric net and tossed it up, sealing off the ceiling exit. It wouldn’t do for the imugi to escape before they could deal with it. The imugi might be able to penetrate the wall of lightning and fire, but Eunha was counting on it to not do so, because Yuju probably wouldn’t survive it intact. It was a gamble, but she had little choice at this point.Sowon was firing off her last shots at the imugi’s head, only succeeding in pissing it off, and out of the corner of her eye she saw SinB take off at a run and leap up the walls, looping one of her wires to swing onto one of the gigantic chandeliers. The move placed her just above the level where the imugi was still thrashing in midair, and the gunslinger’s grin was savage as she swung the vibro-dagger she was still holding, cutting through the metal clasps anchoring the lights to the wall. As it came free, she kicked the entire monstrosity of glass and steel onto the imugi’s head, bounding to the next chandelier to repeat the process.Eunha winced at the amount of broken glass raining down on them, casting another worried glance at Yuju, who seemed heedless to the cuts she was suffering through it. Sowon’s eyes were still fixed on the sight above, her boots crunching on the glass shards beneath them.“Eunha, do you think you can…?”Eunha frowned. SinB’s tactic was working to some degree, the bombardment of heavy metal frames forcing the imugi to fly lower to dodge the projectiles. Five to six meters was well within Sowon’s reach, with a little boost. But cutting off the serpent’s head alone would not be enough. They needed the simultaneous strike on the astral plane, and Eunha didn’t know where to hit. Yuju was supposed to be doing this, but Yuju was a little...preoccupied at the moment.The fire mage clutched at her chest, calculating if she could do it without endangering Yuju’s life in the process. They were too closely entangled, and Eunha was never precise enough on that astral plane to risk it. Her fingers brushed across the little wooden carving Yuju had handed her before the mission, and an idea came to her.“Sowon, give me a minute!” Eunha yelled.“Hurry up! SinB’s running out of material!” Sowon yelled back, positioning herself at the right angle to make the jump when necessary.Eunha bit her lip and focused on the figurine in her hand. Yuju had said that she could reach any of them within a certain radius as long as they were wearing it. Logically, it meant the connection also worked in reverse. Delicate magic was never something Eunha specialized in, but sometimes brute force had its applications. She closed her fist around the figurine.The figurine cracked, and on the astral plane, she saw Yuju jerk visibly, her rabid wolf seeming to pause mid-bite. Eunha closed her eyes, sending her thoughts through the suddenly open connection, trying to rouse the shaman from her frenzy.And then she realized she wasn’t alone.An alien consciousness was there, trying to get to Yuju as well. The connection she opened had been a crack in the walls, and Eunha was violently thrust aside by the imugi’s will in the same breath, staggering her as she coughed up blood from the backlash, landing on her butt.She wasn’t the only one who had crashed to the ground. The tangled mess of human and serpent also fell with all the grace of a boulder, sending up a cloud of dust and glass splinters as they left a crater in the floor. Before the dust settled, Sowon bounded to the center of the crash, either to take off the imugi’s head if either one of her mages could back her up, or at least to drag Yuju out if nothing else. There was only so much punishment a human body could take, even reinforced with magic.Except she couldn’t get any closer. Sowon was joined by SinB who rappelled down to ground level, and they stared at the glowing cocoon that isolated the imugi and Yuju in the middle of the crash site.“Shit, what the hell?” SinB tossed a broken metal frame at the cocoon experimentally, and it rebounded off harmlessly. Eunha tossed a small puff of flame, but it dissipated against the material without doing any damage.“The imugi was trying to invade Yuju’s consciousness just now, before he threw me out.” Eunha looked pale, her constant spellcasting and the earlier astral struggle starting to exacerbate the drain on her body. Sowon swore.“Can we stop it?”SinB moved to Eunha’s side, supporting her best friend as Eunha wavered on her feet. The fire mage pressed her fingers to her temples.“It can’t kill her, but it can try to break her.” Horror dawned on Eunha’s face as she thought it through. SinB squeezed her arm comfortingly, and Sowon grit her teeth, glaring at the seemingly impenetrable cocoon.“We’ve got to cut through that as fast as possible. Can’t let it have her.”SinB cocked her head as she turned towards the entrance. The elevator that had brought them up to this level had frozen several floors below, no doubt Umji’s doing, but even the genius hacker couldn’t block off the stairs. Distantly, there was the thump of boots on marble, the vibration so minute that one could barely feel it. Call it instinct, and SinB always had hers finely honed.“Guys, I think we’ve got incoming.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The sound of a clock ticking was what woke her; heavy, measured beats resounding through her head as if someone had taken a hammer and chisel to her skull.“Five more minutes,” she mumbled, rolling over to bury her face into the pillow....wait. Something felt off here.Everything didn’t smell right. Everything didn’t feel right. She hadn’t had her patterned comforter since she was about twelve. Or the doggy pillow she was currently sprawled on.Yuju sat up abruptly. The world spun, and she winced, clutching her head with one hand. Her other hand was palm up in front of her, resting harmlessly on her lap. Small, stubby, kid hands.
I...what?
Something seemed awfully wrong, but little Yuju wasn’t quite sure what it was. Her legs dangled off the side of her bed as she wriggled out from under the covers, confused.The room was not dark. A tiny night light glowed at the side, allowing her to take in her surroundings. A cluttered desk with books and data chips lay adjacent to her bed. A half open copy of a children’s storybook lay flipped open next to her pillow, along with a flashlight half rolled under her pillow. The dog-eared paperback was obviously well loved, and a faded illustration of pig with a spider’s web over its head was laid out on its opened page. Terrific. Memories of the night before were returning, foggy and uncertain, as if travelling across a great distance. She had been hiding her late night reading from her doting mother, who wanted her to sleep early.“Mom…?” For some reason, tears welled up in her eyes, and little Yuju slid off her bed in a hurry, racing across the not too wide expanse of her childhood room, tiptoeing to reach the access pad set above.The door slid open into an impersonal hallway, clean and sterile. She had grown up here, known nothing different. The lab was further down. Her mother would be there, busy with the day’s work. She was supposed to study, but she could do that at the lab. She could help. She could spend time with her mom, and that was all that mattered.Little feet padded first with caution, then with greater certainty as she remembered her surroundings, details jumping out at her as she passed them, snapping into focus. Down that turn, the pantry where she used to nick treats outside of mealtimes. The laundry chute that served as a makeshift slide for back when she used to fit into it.The containment chamber for test specimens. Yuju slowed her steps, a nagging uneasiness preying at the back of her mind. Something whispering insistently, but from so far away that she couldn’t quite hear the words, and her head hurt. Mom would know what to do. Mom was smart. Unlike her dad, who rarely came by anyway because work took him away so often. But he was a tall man who gave her rides on his shoulders whenever he was around, so she could forgive him for his absences. He would even conjure flame with his hands to create little shadow puppets for her entertainment, making her giggle.Mom never really used her magic the way dad did. It was all study and practical applications and advanced theory, but Yuju got good at it because mom was all she had, and she had never exhibited any signs of Awakening. She was turning twelve soon. She hoped she would Awaken. Mom’s boss always seemed so disappointed when he looked at her. If she could Awaken, things would be better. That was what she believed. Mom… Yuju shook her head and started moving again. Mom was waiting for her.She never turned back, and thus never saw how everything faded as she left, rendering down to fragments of nothingness and whispers of memory, trapped in the corridors of her imagination.

“Eunha, we gotta do something about this.” Sowon gestured at the pulsating cocoon that held both the imugi and Yuju. “Can you unravel it somehow?”“I’m trying. ” Eunha snapped, her focus already shot from her spell slinging. She had already undone the web of flames that had blocked off the ceiling earlier. No one was flying anywhere at the moment, and she needed all the power she had at her command. She was never the best at the subtle arts, preferring to just blast her way through all obstacles.A few discarded vials lay around her feet, stuff that helped to restore some of her ragged focus, give her an added boost for the task at hand. She would probably feel the aftereffects of it later on, but she didn’t care. Yuju was stuck in there, and every second she wasted was that much more time the blasted imugi had to hurt her.She didn’t want to think about the possibilities. Would it drive Yuju mad? Break her spirit? Or the worst possible scenario, take over her body? There was so much the imugi could do to Yuju just short of killing her, and none of it was tolerable.Sowon decided to not piss off the already stressed fire mage and loped over to where SinB stood guard at the stairway outside the chamber. The gunslinger appeared to be fiddling with something when the ex-soldier came up behind her.It had been barely ten minutes since everything had gone catastrophically wrong. Yuju getting trapped and possibly mindraped by the imugi, Yerin getting thrown off the building… Sowon winced, gritting her teeth. No one could survive that kind of a drop, but none of them had the time to mourn their losses.The footsteps below were faint, but there was definitely a bunch of people headed up. Fortunately, there were many floors between them and whatever lay below. Unfortunately, it was still only a matter of time before reinforcements reached them. If Eunha couldn’t break through the cocoon in time, they would have their hands full dealing with enemies.If this had been any other operation, a sane commander would order a retreat right now and save what was left of their forces. But Sowon couldn’t, wouldn’t, do that. She had already lost Yerin in action, she couldn’t possibly leave Yuju behind. Not when there was still a chance of rescuing her.“What are you doing?” Sowon asked as SinB finally finished doing whatever it was she was messing with. The gunslinger smiled grimly as she stepped back out of stairwell.“Just a little welcome gift for our soon to be guests. Yerin gave some to me earlier…” SinB’s face fell at that, her lower lip trembling at the thought of her partner in crime. The rush of action earlier hadn’t given her much time to process the idea that Yerin could be gone. A reassuring hand clasped her shoulder, and Sowon pulled her into a rough hug, patting the younger girl on the back. It took some effort, but SinB managed to not cry at that, somehow.“We’ll blast those bastards to kingdom come.” SinB growled under her breath into Sowon’s shoulder. They were tired, bloody, and low on options. Most of their special ammunition was spent, and they didn’t even have much left of regular ammo. Sowon managed to salvage a bit of usable ammo off their fallen foes from earlier, but SinB was less fortunate in that respect. At least she still had the tiny timed explosives Yerin had slipped her earlier.Bombing the stairwell would cut them off as well as slow, if not entirely halt, the progress of the enemy reinforcements. They would have to find a different way down, and if Umji was still safe and sound out there, they still had options. Comms were not working properly after the explosion of magic saturating the entire floor, so they couldn’t talk directly to her. It was awkward, but they could make it work. They had to, if they wanted to survive.“Not setting it off now?” Sowon queried as she let SinB go after a moment. The gunslinger fingered the remote control in her pocket, a savage grin creeping onto her face.“Course not, why waste an explosion when there’s no one around to enjoy it?”

Umji was stressed.And also dizzy, because high winds and a tiny flying drone were not a good mix, and she had to deal with vertigo inducing perspective changes every two seconds. It was still airborne though, and the weather was also shifting rapidly outside. Umji was no meteorologist, but one look out of the window spoke well enough of the coming storm.Their Spartan allies had launched raids on other Mireu facilities on the outskirts of Ulsan, which had drawn the bulk of the cult’s forces there in response earlier. That, at least, was comforting. It didn’t erase the fact that there were still other units present within the building, and some of them at least had started moving upwards about ten minutes ago.Umji had cut most of them off, stopping elevators and blowing fuses to seal doors and hallways when misdirection stopped serving its purpose. Her switch to more aggressive deterrence prompted a network lockdown, but she had been prepared for that. She killed the power for half the building, making the Spire go dark and inducing enough panic to make things difficult for anyone trying to maintain order.At the same time, Umji also activated her Plan B and C at the same time. The fact that reinforcements were being summoned upwards was a clear enough indication that stuff was heating up topside. Signalling for their Spartan allies to come back them up for extraction was one thing, but Umji didn’t want to take any chances.There was that bank robbery about two buildings over. The hostage situation was nowhere near as serious as it could be, but Umji had deliberately sent a false tip exaggerating the situation to a news crew in the area. They were a semi-independent outfit, something Umji could almost respect, but only almost. Not completely owned by the megacorps didn’t mean the megacorps didn’t find a way to own you regardless, through shell companies posing as third party investors. And businesses needed money to stay afloat. It was just the way the world worked.But the point was that there was breaking news, and Umji also knew that the news crew already had a chopper out covering another incident halfway across the city. That one was already winding down to a close, but the new tip Umji sent would redirect them to the bank, which was much closer to her current location.Taking control of it would be difficult, but she could probably engineer an explosion in the Spire somehow to draw their attention. As long as it was close enough, she could hijack it remotely. Perks of being a technomancer.Umji tried not to throw up as her flying eye in the sky got flipped over a few more times in the rolling winds. Trying to control it to observe things was more challenging than she had imagined. She had noticed the flames spouting out of the top of the dome at the tip of the Spire, and a playback had confirmed there was lightning running through it -- Eunha’s work, clearly. It was that more than anything else that had prompted Umji to start moving pieces around. She liked being prepared for eventualities.The latest spin almost smashed the golden Snitch into the building, but some last minute course correction saved her drone from turning into a mess of splattered components. The field of view angled around crazily for a few seconds, but Umji’s keen eye caught a splash of colour and shape against what should have been a flat surface.Turning the eye back was a challenge, but she made it. Umji gasped aloud when she zoomed in and saw who it was, dangling off a rope barely attached to one of the climbing anchors Sowon had affixed on her way up earlier.“Yerin-unnie!?”

The day sped past in a blur, but Yuju barely noticed as she spent time with her mother in the lab. It was warm and comforting, and the headache that plagued her was but a nagging throb at the back of her head. Not entirely gone, but Yuju was still too enthralled by the fact that her mother was there and…Why was she so happy anyway? She saw Mom every day. It was no big deal. But she had burst into tears the moment she saw her mother earlier, and the labcoated researcher only laughed and called her a crybaby, wrapping her into a familiar embrace.She had missed it so much. It was different from the kind of hugs that Yerin used to give her, more maternal certainly, but the warmth was similar enough…Wait, who was Yerin? Yuju froze for a second, the splitting pain in her head returning with a vengeance. She dropped the crystal she was holding, and it shattered on impact, splintered fractals catching her agonized reflection in a million different angles.Mother was there in an instant, soothing her. Puppy, it’s going to be okay. Puppy. Someone else called her that. But who?Yuju fell to her knees, crystal shards cutting into her skin. Blood tainted the mirrored reflections, painting her red. The red felt familiar, painfully so. The scars on the back of her hand and knuckles stood out in stark contrast, and she started, uneasy.The crimson reflection caught not only her wild eyed look, but also the image of her mother looming above her. Red red red, it sang, a whimsical tune that repeated endlessly in her ears, amplifying the cracking agony that was tearing her skull apart.Her mother, dipped in crimson. A burst of memory, and the floor seemed to dissolve underneath her. Through the scattered crystal shards, Yuju saw again, her mother weeping bloody tears, reaching out to her, telling her to…
Run.

Yerin was not having a good day.Granted, she had drawn first blood in the sense that it was her move that had forced the imugi out of its pseudo-human shape. She was a bit proud of that, actually.On hindsight, she really should have let go and jumped off the bloody serpent’s back the moment it changed forms, but she had been caught off guard and was trying her best to not fall off and break her neck when the damn thing grew to the size of a small house in the blink of an eye.The hair on the back of her head was plastered to her skull, and Yerin could feel the slick stickiness of her own blood swathed over her scalp and skin. The impact against the stained glass ceiling had definitely cut deep, but head wounds always bled more than necessary. She was still a bit woozy, but she definitely had worse days.So she had been in perfect possession of her faculties when the imugi had flung her out through the window, instinctively balling herself to let her back take the impact through the glass. The memory fabric of her outfit was good enough against cutting damage from anything that wasn’t a vibro-edge, and while she had the air knocked out of her from the crash, she was still thinking fast on how to save herself as she tumbled out of the building.Yerin was never a huge fan of high places, and definitely not after SinB had dragged her along on that dive out of a 30th floor window with no parachute that one time. If Yuju and Eunha hadn’t joined forces to rescue them, they would likely have died. This time though, her puppy wasn’t around to save her, but Yerin wasn’t one to forget past lessons.Almost as soon as she had cleared the window in what was probably an oddly graceful arc, she had fired off the grappling hook she had hidden up her sleeve. Yerin had never been able to do that wall running crap that SinB could, but going topside to ambush her targets had definitely been one of her lessons, and she had her ways to scale places she couldn’t normally reach.The whipping winds didn’t really help with her predicament though, nor did the mostly smooth surfaces of the damn tower. Yerin had to suppress the instinctive panic when the hook didn’t manage to latch successfully onto anything at first, gravity seeking to drag her to her inevitable demise if she couldn’t adapt fast enough.Fortunately, it did snag on something after the initial second of nothingness, jerking her to an abrupt stop as she bounced haplessly on the end like a lost kite in the howling wind. Nausea crawled at the pits of her stomach as she determinedly kept her eyes focused upwards instead, squinting as dust scraped at her skin.It was a bad angle, but she had gotten lucky; that had been one of Sowon’s climbing anchors she had managed to snag. It wasn’t the best hold she had, and she didn’t have enough leverage to twist herself into a proper position to get a good hold on anything that would at least allow her to cling to the side of the building and try to find her way back in.The wind wasn’t helping either, buffeting her from side to side as she tried to swing herself into a corner without dislodging her precarious hold. Cold sweat trickled down the back of her neck, along with the blood that was already starting to cake into her hair. It was going to be a bitch to wash off later. If there was a later.Something crackled in her ear, barely audible over the screaming wind. Yerin was still trying to figure out how to finagle her way out of her predicament when Umji’s voice finally registered over her comms, almost startling her into losing her grip. Yerin gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the terror-induced cramps that were starting to creep into her limbs.“Yes Umji, I had a little accident...a little help would be nice...oh. Yes, as a matter of fact I do...I guess I could do something about that. Any ETA? Gotcha. I’ll see you in a bit.”Dangling in midair about six hundred meters off the ground while having a conversation was a first, but Yerin figured there were odder things in life. At least getting tossed out of the tower had taken her out of the effective radius of the magical field, which allowed Umji to get back in touch with her. There was a silver lining in every cloud after all.Yerin grinned recklessly as she tried to relax herself for the action ahead. It would do her no good if she froze up at the wrong moment. She had a flight to catch.

The blast rocked her off her feet, and Eunha was sent skidding twenty feet across the cracked marble, head spinning as blood oozed out from her nose. A second blast went off somewhere behind her, and the fire mage thought she heard SinB whoop in the distance.Eunha tried to recollect herself as she pushed herself upright, glass cutting into her elbows since her scales had faded from her earlier exertion. She squinted vaguely, her vision oddly doubled from exhaustion, trying to see through the burst of light that had knocked her down earlier.She had figured out the pattern and tried to overload the stitches holding the cocoon together, and the resulting effects had been...explosive. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision, Eunha bit back a gasp when the light faded, revealing the scaly human form of the imugi, and the crumpled figure of Yuju it was holding up by the scruff of her neck.Sowon must have come up behind her in the meantime, because the leader was suddenly there, pulling the exhausted mage to her feet with one hand, blade ready in the other. All of their focus was on Yuju, who seemed to be unconscious, and completely at the imugi’s mercy.“I must say, this is quite the unusual human. Remarkable mental defenses.” The imugi seemed almost impressed. “If you hadn’t given me the opportunity, I would never have been able to subdue her like this.”Eunha shuddered, guilt rising like a tidal wave. Sowon gripped her shoulder tightly, steadying the younger girl.“Give her back. ” Eunha’s fists were clenched, fire starting to gather in the depths of her eyes. She might have been worn out, but she still had a little more fight in her. For Yuju, she could do this.“Now why would I do that? She’s quite a miracle, you know? Endless mana…” The imugi traced a talon down Yuju’s cheek almost lovingly, drawing a thin red line across tender skin. Eunha trembled with fury, but Sowon kept her in check, not wanting the girl to do something stupid.“As long as I live, she lives. Mana, unending…” The imugi’s eyes glittered with greed, then seemed disappointed for a moment. “If only I could consume her, but I could settle for taking her body for my own.”“You will do no such thing!” Eunha exploded, yanking free from Sowon’s grasp and flinging herself forward as her entire body lined itself with flame. Sowon swore and lunged forward as well, trying to stop Eunha from falling into the imugi’s trap.It was clear enough from what Yuju had said earlier. Eunha had fused her soul with the dragon orb, and the imugi wanted the orb. The imugi would eat her in a second if he got its hands on her, and then they would have a much bigger problem.Then she saw SinB sneak up from behind the imugi, even as she swung her blade wildly at the smug creature to distract it from noticing. Eunha was wreathed in flame, hammering at the magical shield the imugi had thrown up, and Sowon couldn’t physically pull her back at this point.SinB’s little knife sliced neatly through its wrist, and the imugi howled, forced to drop Yuju. SinB took the chance to catch the comatose shaman, backing up rapidly in case the imugi retaliated. She wasn’t quite fast enough, and the shockwave blasted her back into one of the pillars, possibly cracking a rib. Yuju fell helplessly from her grasp, ragdolling into a vulnerable heap on the ground.Sowon tried to close the distance and behead the imugi. At this point, she didn’t care if it wouldn’t be completely dead. Killing its physical body would at least handicap it enough for her to get her team out of here. Things had gotten way out of hand, and she needed to end things fast.Unfortunately, she was also taken completely by surprise when a sudden tail sprouted out from behind the imugi, sweeping into her abdomen and knocking her clear across the chamber. If not for her armor, she would have broken more than a few bones. As it is, Sowon coughed and tried to shake the stars from her head, even as blood dripped from her mouth where she had accidentally bitten her own tongue.That left Eunha alone with the imugi, and none of them were close enough to help.In her defense, Eunha put up a good fight, but she was already too exhausted to be at her best. The imugi overpowered her in a matter of seconds, grabbing her by the throat with its remaining hand and pulling her close. Sowon and SinB clambered to their feet to try and help, but then a wave of cultist soldiers swept in, having climbed up the elevator shaft and forced it open after SinB had collapsed the stairway earlier. Sowon took down a good number of them, but she was quickly forced to the ground, as was SinB.The imugi smiled in triumph.

Wake up.
Who is it? She was so tired. I just want to sleep.
They need you.
Vague sounds and faint images, as if through a heavy fog. Yuju stirred, her entire body weighed down in shackles in a formless space. She was trapped, and her mind was sluggish, unable to focus. Mother… She vaguely remembered her splintered dreams, tainted red and sharper than any blade, cutting like a knife into her muddled brain. The shock woke her, just a little. Enough for her to notice the murky darkness in which she was trapped.Yuju struggled to focus. There had been...a fight. She had been fighting and then…The formless grey around her solidified into mirrored walls as her brain started to fight the fog that was trying to keep her incapacitated. As her surroundings swirled into clarity, Yuju found herself bound and hanging from a ceiling, thorn-like chains wound deep into her body. This isn’t real. She knew instantly, but the pain and exhaustion was no illusion, and she was a prisoner in her own mind. It was her own mind, because the mirrored cell was familiar. She knew this place, had seen it from the other side before.The containment chamber. It was gone, destroyed years ago. It shouldn’t exist anywhere else, except in her own head. She knew all this, and yet…Someone was screaming outside of her head, and everything hurt. Yuju squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to break free of her chains. They only dug deeper with every move, leeching greedily at her flesh and gnawing like a thousand tiny teeth.
You are not alone.
Yuju’s eyes snapped open. She saw her own reflection, bloodied and battered, hanging like a sacrifice strung up for the crows. The thorns shackling her had grown, fat and heavy as they fed off her blood like the parasites they were. Blood is life is power. A familiar mantra, but who had taught it to her? Yuju muttered incoherently to herself, a deeper madness threatening to overwhelm her. She locked gazes with the bright, mad eyes of her tortured reflection, and remembered. She was bound, but this was her mind. Hers, and no one else’s. Her will was her own, and in her own mind, she was everything. Weakened, trapped, someone eating away at her lifeforce, sapping at her power. A crushing will, something old and powerful binding her, but she had no fear. Endless mana… A tiny whisper from far away. Life unending…
You see now.
There was power in sacrifice. Strung up like a gallows victim, Yuju’s head lolled backwards until only the whites of her eyes showed. The thorns dug deeper, eager to tap into her strength. The pain was a faithful companion, and Yuju knew what she had to do.Life was power. Symbolism was everything in this imaginary space, and she grasped it like a drowning sailor in a storm, her only hope to overturn this captivity.
I offer a sacrifice, myself to myself, hung from a windy tree.
An old verse, steeped in ritual and imbued with the faith of a hundred, thousand generations. The thorns bulged, feeding in excess from the sudden surge, wrapping the trapped shaman even further in their encroaching embrace. The last of Yuju’s face vanished from sight, but not before she smiled.
And we all fall down.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“You all really thought you could do something, didn’t you?”

The imugi’s voice was smug in its apparent victory. Eunha struggled in its grasp, her fire licking at the scales futilely. Sowon and SinB had been stripped of their weapons and forced to kneel, surrounded by guns pointing at their heads. Sowon gritted her teeth, furious. There had been too many of the cultists. Ten, maybe even twenty she could deal with, since she still had SinB to back her up.

But when a good fifty of them had swarmed out of that elevator shaft, left with limited ammo and with SinB injured, Sowon couldn’t fight them all off on her own. She might have been able to escape alone if she really tried, but she would never leave her team behind.

“You poor fools. Mere mortals can’t fight with us. We are superior in every way.” The imugi’s gaze swept over the pinned Sowon and SinB. “Humans are only fit to grovel at the feet of their gods.”

“You’re no god, you scaly bastard.” SinB spat, earning a kick to her back that sent her sprawling. The gunslinger writhed in pain, the stabbing pain in her ribs making her wheeze. Sowon tensed, wanting to spring to her side, but the cold muzzle of a rifle pressing into her head was enough warning for her to stay still. It was maddening, but she had to bide her time for now.

“Perhaps not right now, but I

will

be, after I devour your little friend here.” The imugi studied Eunha like an interesting little specimen, heedless of how Eunha kicked and fought despite her captivity. “Amazing, you’ve completely assimilated father’s orb. How

did

you do that? It should have been impossible for a mere human.”

“Or humans just aren’t as weak as you thought,” Sowon growled defiantly, quietly assessing her surroundings. Her guns had been stripped from her, and the soldiers had tossed her vibro-blade to the side, probably unaware of the true value of the weapon. It was too far out of reach, at least not without a decent distraction. SinB was still half-sprawled on the ground, pushing herself up with one elbow, but her wheezing breaths spoke volumes about her current condition. Sowon glanced over to where Yuju lay forgotten in a motionless heap. There were no soldiers around her, but why would they bother? The shaman looked to be knocked out of action entirely.

Or was she really? Sowon saw a finger twitch, and the telltale signs of muscles tensing. It was a spark of hope, if Yuju could wake up in time to turn the tables. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one who noticed. The imugi cocked its head, turning around to look directly at the stirring Yuju.

“Oh? She broke through the illusions?” The imugi tsked in annoyance, waving the stump of its hand at Yuju even as the shaman struggled to raise her head. Sowon winced as Yuju jerked upwards, pulled half upright as thorns ripped into her already broken body, binding her in a cage not unlike the one in her dream state. The shaman’s eyes were wide open and bloodshot, but she didn’t make a sound even when the barbs tore through her wrist and ankles, wrapping around her neck in an approximation of a noose. She glared fiercely at the imugi, who seemed unimpressed.

“Be a good girl and stay still, won’t you? I won’t even kill you, you’re

far

more useful to me alive.”

Sowon noticed that the thorns seemed to be

feeding

off Yuju’s blood, and the shaman was already starting to turn deathly pale as the seconds ticked by. There was no resignation or even fear in her eyes though, only a cold calculation as the trapped shaman took in the current state of the room. Sowon’s breath hitched. This was not the look of someone beaten. Yuju had a plan.

But how? Sowon couldn’t imagine what options they had left. A mixture of anger and regret roiled in the leader’s chest. She should never have rushed into this. They were trapped. Eunha was visibly weakening, her fire dimming. The imugi had returned its attention to the fire mage, confident that the cage of thorns would do its job in restraining the shaman.

Sowon looked back at Yuju, wondering what the girl had up her sleeve. It seemed impossible, but Sowon couldn’t help but feel that Yuju wasn’t quite done yet. The thorns appeared to be sapping her energy, but the shaman’s head remained unbowed. The imugi had turned its back to her, focusing on Eunha. Sowon clenched her teeth together, eyes fixed on Yuju’s. The shaman looked back at her, and very subtly, nodded.

Be ready.

Sowon glanced over at SinB, who was still resting on all fours, both elbows propping her body up. There were about ten soldiers around her. Twenty more were around Sowon herself, and a couple others scattered around, guns levelled at Yuju. Professional enough, at least.

If only, of course, they knew what was to come. Yuju’s eyes rolled back upwards, the whites of her eyes showing again. Except, a creeping red was starting to seep through from the bottom up, until her sockets were filled with a solid crimson, glowing from within with an eerie radiance.

One of the soldiers noticed, his rifle shaking as he jerked nervously, evidently unnerved by the sudden change. There was a sudden darkening around Yuju, as if someone had adjusted the colour filters around her, emanating a black radiance that seemed to draw inwards with a negative energy.

“The more you struggle, the more energy you feed me, you know.” The imugi didn’t even look back. The stump of its hand was regenerating, as if the energy it had been leeching from Yuju was finally doing its job. It probably was. Eunha screamed as the imugi plunged its newly regrown hand into her stomach, static electricity arcing all around her as she thrashed futilely. Sowon gritted her teeth, wondering if she could move fast enough to escape the dozens of guns pointed at her.

Yuju finally spoke, her voice strangely layered, as if multiple voices were echoing from within. Her eyes were bleeding into solid black, ominous and distant.

“I will
not
be held.”

The nearest soldier to Yuju suddenly spasmed, dropping his rifle. Next to him, others did the same, the effect rippling outwards in a sudden wave. Sowon had been waiting, and she immediately rolled out of her spot as the soldiers around her suddenly started shaking uncontrollably. The mercenary quickly swiped a dropped rifle, swivelling to make sure that no one tried to get the drop on her, then halted suddenly as a sudden cold feeling punched through her gut.

Dark red lines ran raised beneath the exposed skin of the soldiers, pulsing with a sickly glow as they writhed like live worms underneath suddenly bulging flesh. Sowon looked around quickly. It was happening to all of them, though she and SinB were completely untouched. The imugi itself had a shimmering shield surrounding it, and was thus unaffected. She glanced back at Yuju, whose eyes were now solid obsidian orbs. Sowon had a sudden, terrible premonition, her hands starting to shake as she tightened her grip on the stolen gun.

The imugi seemed taken equally offguard. “What are you doing...no, you

can’t!

”

A slow, almost cruel smirk curled Yuju’s lips.

“Yes, I

can.

”

Everything exploded in a blinding flash of black light. Sowon flinched, closing her eyes instinctively. Something sprayed across her face, and something else wet and sticky slapped against her cheek, sliding warmly down with a slick viscosity not unlike goo.

Sowon shook her head, wiping her face with the back of one hand as she cracked open her eyes. It came away bloody, and more. A sudden nausea rose in her throat as she realized what it was. As she realized what had happened.

It was the scene out of a nightmare, no, a

slaughter.

A good half of the soldiers that had been there earlier simply

weren’t

anymore. Gore painted the cracked marble, and a gob of bloody flesh plopped off her hand from where she had just wiped it off her face. Blood and bone scattered around like the aftermath of a mad cannibal’s feast, a recently exploded heart rolling to a stop at Sowon’s feet.

Sowon threw up, the gun slipping from her sudden nerveless fingers. She wasn’t the only one. SinB was gagging in a corner as well, draped in recently exploded entrails like a bizarre piece of abstract art. Sowon didn’t even dare to look at herself. She was probably no better right now.

What had Yuju

done?

Sowon heaved weakly as she looked back up. Yuju was no longer bound, and was rising slowly to her feet, swaying like a reed in the wind. She looked as if she were dipped in blood, and Sowon’s eyes widened when Yuju raised her head, tongue slipping out from between parted lips to lick at the blood that had sprayed across her face like war paint. The solid black of her eyes had faded into a rich red instead, and with the carnage all around her, the shaman resembled a demon stepping out of hell.

“Blood mage…” The imugi’s shields had held up against the blast, but they were no more now, and Eunha slid helplessly from its grasp as it turned to face Yuju. There was uncertainty in the imugi’s voice, bordering on fear.

“What have you

done?

”

Yuju ran a thumb over her lips, her face an impassive mask. There were still

some

soldiers that hadn’t been exploded like crushed juice boxes, but they were frozen to the spot, held in place by some unseen force as they writhed in unspoken agony.

“What I had to.” Yuju’s gaze was cold as she took in Eunha curled into a ball at the imugi’s feet, bleeding from where the serpent had hurt her earlier. The newly awakened blood mage bared her teeth, hissing threateningly at the imugi, who took a step back. Yuju growled, low in her throat.

“You’ll pay for hurting my friends.”

The imugi’s eyes glittered. “Friends? Really? Do you really think they’ll still be your friends after this?” It gestured at the spread of blood and gore. “Do you think you can go back after this? I don’t know where or how you learned how to do this, but you really think anyone can trust you after this?”

The imugi sneered. “You, who can pull the life out of others without ritual or sacrificial knife? Even

I

cannot do that, and I have devoured the souls of humans long before you were born.” There was a wary respect in its tone.

“You are powerful. I have misjudged you. You deserve more than the company of mere mortals. Join me, and with your strength, we can take over the world.”

Yuju spat on the ground, eyes hard.

“Begone, serpent. I will not hear your lies.” Again, that strange echo in her voice. Behind the imugi, Sowon inched closer to the fallen Eunha, heart in her throat. There was something terrifying about this standoff, and the imugi seemed to want to

recruit

Yuju? What was this madness? Something had gone awfully, terribly wrong. She couldn’t let things go further.

Yuju was advancing with a slow deliberateness, and the imugi actually seemed threatened, morphing into its serpentine form and abandoning its human guise, rearing high into the air.

“Foolish human. Why won’t you

listen?

”

Yuju looked up at it, raising her chin confidently.

“I don’t negotiate with one soon dead.”

The beady eyes of the imugi narrowed, and it bared its fangs with a hiss, striking with a speed that was nothing but a blur to human eyes. Yuju raised a finger almost casually, and yet another soldier exploded behind her, a blood red shield forming up around her in an instant. The imugi collided with the force of a wrecking ball, seemingly unstoppable…

But it did. Stop, that is. The fangs sank into the crimson shield and were caught like a fly in a honey trap. Yuju smiled slowly, and snapped her fingers.

The shield shattered in an outward explosion that rocked the giant serpent back, ripping fang and scale with a concussive force that shredded the air and shattered the ground around her. Sowon dove quickly to grab the wounded Eunha and pull her out of the blast radius. She watched with a rising horror as Yuju practically toyed with the imugi, who was apparently more exhausted from the battle earlier than it had let on. Without a source to leech from, it was helpless to retaliate against a fully powered Yuju.

Every wound that the imugi had inflicted on her and her team, Yuju returned a hundredfold, drawing ruthlessly from the trapped soldiers still standing to fuel her magical assault. There was a madness in the mage’s eyes, a deeply repressed fury as she lashed out without care, draining the enemy soldiers dry with a single thought as she battered the imugi into submission.

Eunha had nearly passed out earlier when the imugi had torn a hole in her stomach. Sowon slapped a medpatch on it to stop the bleeding, and the fire mage stirred, struggling to focus on the scene before her. Her irises contracted sharply as she took in the dark swirl of energies that raged chaotically around Yuju, invisible to others who could not see on the astral plane.

“She needs to stop…” Eunha whispered raggedly, leaning against Sowon weakly. “It’s...driving her mad. She might lose control.”

And kill us all,

she didn’t add. She didn’t have to.

Sowon nodded, worrying at her lip. Yuju was entirely focused on the imugi now, ripping scales out with a terrifying, precise cruelty. Sowon never thought she would sympathize with her enemy, but in this moment, she did. Death would be a mercy for it now.

The vibro-blade was right there. The imugi was wheezing, a scale-less snake with its remaining talons torn off. The stubs of its malformed horns had broken under the assault, and it was a bloody, pathetic mess as Yuju stood over it, casting a long shadow.

“You can’t kill me,” the imugi hissed, curling into itself. “You’ll lose the protection from the pact. You’ll

die.

”

“Everyone dies.” Yuju’s voice was flat. The imugi writhed, trying to slither away. There was genuine terror as it tried to bargain for its life.

“As long as I live, you can’t die. Why would you give that up? You could have an

eternity

to do whatever you want!”

Yuju’s eyes darkened, a slow fury rising within ruby red orbs.

“I don’t

need

eternity. You have taken someone precious to me. What would I need eternity

for?

”

“You could live forever!” The imugi sounded panicked. “Please, I’ll do anything, don’t…”

“No one lives forever.” Yuju’s tone was cold. She raised a hand, and the imugi shrieked as another layer of skin was flayed from its flesh. Another fingersnap, and one more soldier imploded, showering them with fresh gore.

“Yuju, that’s enough.” It took all of Sowon’s courage to interrupt, but she did. Blade in hand, she walked up behind the helpless imugi, pinned with bloody bone spikes that had been encased in living flesh only shortly before. There was only a couple of soldiers left alive at this point, the rest spent in Yuju’s blood-fueled rage.

Yuju turned almost mechanically to look at Sowon. Her eyes were dead, a raw despair buried deep in them, something Sowon could see now that she was closer. The shaman was

mourning.

The loss of Yerin had hit her harder than anyone had anticipated. Sowon tamped down her fear, not wanting to agitate the grieving girl.

“We came here to kill it, remember?” Sowon was practically walking on eggshells at this point. At the very least, Yuju had never hurt any one of them in her rampage. That had to count for something, right? Sowon was uneasy, however. She had no practical defense if Yuju suddenly decided to turn on her.

“Yes…” Yuju blinked slowly, as if there was a heavy fog clouding her mind. Sowon breathed out slowly, speaking gently to her as if she were addressing a child. A child that could explode her where she stood. No, it didn’t make her feel better at all.

“I need you to work with me here, alright? We need to kill the imugi for good. So that it won’t hurt anyone else.”

Yuju nodded slowly, lowering her hand. The imugi struggled harder, as if sensing its impending doom. Sowon exhaled, heaving the heavy blade with both hands.

“On three, with me, okay?”

Yuju nodded again, almost like a child. Sowon breathed in, and counted out loud. Yuju cocked her head, waiting.

She swung.

And just like that, it was over. Sowon watched almost numbly as the imugi’s severed head bounced across the bloodstained marble. It should have felt like a victory, but was it really? The tall mercenary looked over at Yuju, who was still staring, frozen, at the imugi’s corpse.

Then, like a puppet with its strings cut, the shaman collapsed, falling over the dead body of the imugi. Sowon stood over them, and, for a moment, considered putting Yuju out of her misery as well. Her sword hand trembled.

Yuju had crossed a line. There was no knowing if she would lose control at any time. Yerin was gone. What was there left to hold her back? Sowon had never encountered a blood mage personally before, but she had heard the stories. Death and destruction came in the wake of such forbidden magic, and after seeing what Yuju had wrought earlier, Sowon believed it.

SinB limped cautiously over, holding a hand to her ribs. Her other hand was gripping the knife she had retrieved from her captors earlier. There was fear in her eyes as well, as she looked at the currently unconscious and thus, helpless, Yuju. Sowon met her eyes, and saw the same indecision there.

“She’s our friend.” Sowon murmured, uncertain. SinB’s hand tightened around the hilt of her knife.

“She’s

dangerous.

” Sowon couldn’t deny that. They had all seen what Yuju had done, could do. She was a ticking time bomb. It would be so easy to stop it right now. The shaman was defenseless for now. They could end it here, before anything else could happen.

Eunha had crawled over, heedless of her injuries. She had seen the spiking auras of her teammates, and feared the worst. She had watched Yuju strike the death blow on the astral plane, almost devouring the imugi’s soul whole even as Sowon struck its head off on the physical plane. She hadn’t thought that was possible. But Yuju had challenged the realms of possibility more than once tonight. What was one more?

Was she afraid? Yes. But Yuju hadn’t hurt them. Even in her rage, she had left them untouched. That meant something. It was everything they had to work with.

Eunha could see the shape of her puppy’s soul. Streaked in blood and madness, but it was still her. She would never hurt them. Eunha

believed.

“If you won’t do it, I will.” SinB was staring at Sowon, a penetrating gaze that brooked no question. Sowon flinched. Eunha threw herself over Yuju, glaring up at her childhood friend.

“She never did anything to us.”

“You heard the imugi. You saw what she did. She could kill us all.” SinB argued, trying to drag Eunha off. Eunha batted her hand away, stubborn.

“You can’t sentence her to death over a maybe, SinB. She saved us all tonight.”

“But…” SinB would have continued, but a sudden roar of wind above caught their attention. Sowon looked up, and saw a chopper weaving cautiously through the hole in the ceiling. A familiar face poked out from the side.

“It’s over

already?

”

Yerin rappelled down from the descending helicopter and hopped gingerly onto the ground, frowning at the carnage all around them. Her eyes fell on the slain imugi and the unconscious Yuju, taking in Eunha’s protective stance over the fallen shaman as well.

“What is going on here.” Her voice had gone cold.

“You’re alive!” Sowon exhaled sharply, relief creeping onto her face. “I thought…”

“It was a close one.” Yerin was still eyeing SinB suspiciously. From above, she had noticed the argument earlier, though she hadn’t been near enough to hear it. The roar of the rotors made them raise their voices to be heard, and Sowon moved around to clap a hand on SinB’s shoulder, preventing her from doing anything rash.

“We need to get out of here.” Sowon met SinB’s eyes, shaking her head. The gunslinger tensed, then looked away, annoyed. Eunha was breathing shallowly, pale from blood loss. Yerin knelt by the two magic users, checking on first Yuju’s condition, then Eunha’s.

Umji finally managed to land the chopper. Yerin lifted Yuju easily in a bridal carry, carefully stepping past the puddles of blood and entrails as she moved towards the chopper. Her lips were pressed together tightly, but Eunha thought she noticed the worried frown on the assassin’s face when she had been checking on them earlier.

Out of all of them, Yerin

would

know what blood magic looked like. She had faced it before. And yet, without question, she had still picked Yuju up without a moment’s pause. Eunha was suddenly reminded of their conversation before.

I trust her.

Yerin had meant what she said back then. It put them all to shame. As it should.

Sowon knelt by Eunha, carefully picking her up to avoid jolting her wounds. SinB hobbled over, and Eunha reached out, grabbing SinB’s arm.

“Promise me you won’t hurt her.”

SinB frowned. Eunha tightened her grip.

“SinB,

please.

She hasn’t done anything.”

SinB closed her eyes, exhaling sharply.

“One wrong move, Eunha.

One.

”

Eunha sighed, knowing that was the furthest she could push SinB on this. SinB would never let anyone threaten them. Sowon nodded at them both.

“If it comes to that, I’ll take care of it myself.”

“I’m holding you to that.” SinB stalked off. Sowon sighed deeply, and Eunha with her.

They had won, but at what cost?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It had been a tense two weeks after their last mission. The evacuation had gone smoothly thanks to all the prep work Umji and Yerin had rigged before swooping in to pick up the team. Umji didn’t ask what happened to the crew who had been on the helicopter before Yerin liberated it for their use. Likewise, none of them shed a tear when the scene of their battle blew up in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics as a good half of the building collapsed.No doubt there would be an investigation, but the point had been not to leave any evidence leading back to them behind. Sowon had shot a glare at the unrepentant culprits as they flew off. Yerin was as unbothered as they came, more concerned about the comatose Yuju than anything else, while Umji just grinned sheepishly. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, it got reported as a gas leak explosion the next day anyway, so they had obviously gotten away with it. More than one party had interest in covering things up, and were happy to scrub away all suspicion from public notice.But back to the present. Following their extraction by Spartan forces, they then proceeded to secure immediate medical attention for the most badly wounded -- Eunha needed emergency surgery to repair her stomach, SinB had three cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder, Sowon had multiple internal bruises and a bullet lodged in her side that she hadn’t even noticed while high on the adrenaline of combat, and Yerin had to have broken glass removed from her head and back before getting stitched back up.By contrast, Umji considered herself quite lucky. She only had a few superficial scratches and bruises to her knees when she had climbed out of the hotel window to jump onto the chopper when Yerin came to pick her up. That was practically nothing compared to her teammates.And then there was Yuju. The multiple lacerations over her body looked pretty gruesome, especially with the gaping wounds on her wrists and ankles. But physically, it was probably less debilitating than what the rest had to deal with. What worried Umji though, was her mental state. She hadn’t woken up in two weeks.Umji had heard about what happened from SinB, of course. Along with the little she managed to film with her little golden drone from afar before they managed to navigate the chopper up to reach the rest, Umji knew the extent of what Yuju had done. It also led her to excessively research all known cases of blood magic and the practitioners who wielded it.The results were not very heartening. Yerin had probably been understating how nasty blood magic could be the last time Umji had eavesdropped on that particular conversation. The sheer human cost of every recorded blood magic incident was...staggering. People died in droves when blood magic reared its head. It was just the way it worked.Fortunately, those incidents were also quite rare. One did not simply pick up blood magic at the store. It had to be learned, and that knowledge did not come free or easy. Everyone knew the theory behind it, but the actual execution was not something that anyone could just read off a book or figure out on their own. There were some people who tried working with the raw theory in order to take advantage of the power boost that blood magic offered, but it wasn’t the same as true blood magic. Blood was often applied in magical rituals as a result of this tinkering, but it was still just a shadow of the real thing.And they had seen the real thing in action just two weeks ago. The atmosphere around their new base of operations had been heavy ever since. Shortly after it had been safe to move their wounded, Sowon had determinedly chosen to relocate despite Bo-geun offering them a place to stay. Umji supported the decision. Although the Spartans had been allies in their last mission, it didn’t feel right to continue associating with them. Call it the instinct of a renegade, but Umji didn’t trust any of the major power players on the continent.They were but simple mercenaries, and the games of power involved stakes too high for them to mess with. Some people might argue that the only way to be safe was to hold the reins of power themselves, but Umji didn’t want that. She had no interest in joining any kind of power struggle. It was enough that her team was safe and healthy. She liked their life just outside of the law, oddly enough. Legitimacy wasn’t particularly important for her, as a hacker born and bred.Besides, it wasn’t like being legitimate did much for anyone these days. All it gave was an identity to pass with when they had to go through checkpoints, but Umji could forge those if that ever came to be a problem. Staying outside the system had its benefits.They were no one’s catspaws, free to go wherever and do whatever they liked. That was what she valued, and Sowon clearly felt the same. At least though, they had gotten a huge payout from the whole dragonslaying gig. The Spartans would be busy hunting down the remnants of Mireu, and Bo-geun had promised to clear the bounty on their heads. Life, it seemed, could go back to normal.Or, some kind of normal, ensconced in a luxurious safehouse that was more penthouse than hole-in-the-wall. Then again, with the number of zeros on that last credit transfer, they could more than afford it. It was interesting to have a place that wasn’t some kind of underground dive or ruined shelter. They even had a concierge downstairs. That was kind of nice. Odd, but nice.None of them were in any shape to be out and about for a while. Well, Umji was the exception, but she was perfectly happy with her Matrix connection in their new pad. Bed rest was necessary for SinB, Eunha and Sowon, while Yerin…Yerin just never left Yuju’s side. Two weeks without the shaman stirring, and Yerin grew visibly concerned as time ticked by. Eunha hobbled over whenever she could, despite the fact that she really should be staying still to let her stomach wound heal, and the two erstwhile rivals appeared to have laid their differences aside in light of Yuju’s condition.Yerin was no mage, and needed Eunha to check on Yuju magically. Thus far, other than being almost drained to nothing, Eunha had pronounced Yuju to be simply in need of rest. The dissolution of the imugi’s pact, as Eunha theorized, had probably severed the source of Yuju’s endless mana regeneration. That made Yuju just as mortal as Eunha, perhaps even more, considering Eunha now had a draconic soul, while Yuju was only human.Human, and in need of recuperation from the excessive discharge of wild magic. There were limits to how much power a magic user could safely hold and use without burning themselves out like a candle. Blood magic might overwrite some of those rules, but Yuju had also been casting normally and at high capacity, before turning to that as a last resort in the final confrontation. It left her reserves critically low, and from Umji’s monitoring of the shaman’s vital signs, even her organs had weakened terribly from the strain, and only a constant stream of medicine and nutrients through an intravenous drip was helping the comatose girl recover.At least with modern medical advances, it wasn’t too difficult to nurse her body back to health. Getting her to wake up, however, was the problem. Eunha’s early assessment had not been as favorable in the first days. Yuju had gone almost completely dark on the astral plane, the magical representation of her soul withering like a flickering candle in the wind.Despite being fresh out of surgery herself, Eunha had fought to stabilize what remained, feeding her own strength to Yuju. It was like pouring water down a sinkhole, and surprisingly, Yerin had been the one to stop her from overdoing it. That had been the beginning of the thawing of their relations, and Umji was quite fascinated by the shift. This warranted more observation, and she was eager to document how it would affect the nascent love triangle.SinB had not been pleased with this though. Umji couldn’t quite blame her. Blood magic was dangerous, and SinB had witnessed it with her own eyes at close range. Umji couldn’t deny that the whole thing made her nervous, but curiosity won out over terror. That, and Umji knew what kind of a person Yuju was. The shaman would always go out of her way to help others, and if she hadn’t been forced beyond all other options, the shaman would never have tried to hurt anyone else.Other blood mages sought power for themselves, Umji believed that Yuju reached for power only to protect those important to her. She chose to trust Yuju as a person, even though blood magic was wild and unpredictable. If it really did corrupt her though…Sowon would do what needed to be done, and Umji would not stop her if it came to that. She would do everything in her power to save Yuju from herself, but if Yuju became a danger to them, she would not hesitate to do whatever it takes to stop her. Her family came first, and nothing was allowed to threaten that.Not even if it came from one of them.

It hurt Yerin to see Yuju so helpless, her puppy growing visibly thinner as the days went by. The IV drip kept her alive and supplied the essentials, but only just that. It was no substitute for real food, but they couldn’t quite force-feed her right now.They all had their own rooms in the new base, but Yerin practically lived in Yuju’s at this point. Eunha was dozing on the other side of the same bed, and Yerin didn’t begrudge her that. The fire mage had been monitoring Yuju’s condition almost constantly since Yerin couldn’t check up on her magically.Despite their competing interests for Yuju’s affections, Yerin had never hated Eunha to begin with, jealous at times perhaps, but she could never really bring herself to dislike pretty girls. This whole situation was making her revise her opinion on the fire mage though. She used to think Eunha’s affection for Yuju was a little on the shallow side, but this was definitely not as fleeting a crush as she had first thought it was.Eunha choosing to defend Yuju despite seeing her go full blood mage had completely altered Yerin’s assessment of her. The girl was committed, which honestly should feel like a threat, but Yerin was oddly relieved by it. One more person to help her check on and take care of Yuju definitely reduced the amount of stress she faced.And she was definitely stressed. Blood magic would do that to anyone. She hadn’t even known that Yuju knew blood magic, real blood magic, not the pale imitations she had encountered and hunted down before. She had been sent before against apprentices wielding a shadow of what true blood magic entailed, and even then it had caused many civilian deaths and the loss of several comrades each time.Blood magic could only be taught, not learned via self study. Yerin didn’t quite understand the principles behind it, but everyone knew the theory. Blood was a symbol of life, and life had power. How to tap on that power was the key, and that key never came easy or free.Not that it ever stopped anyone from trying to devise their own shortcuts. Old Aztec blood rituals were one such attempt, and frowned upon in most civilized countries. No one liked the idea of human sacrifice being legitimized, after all. Even animal sacrifices were heavily contested in countries with strong animal rights lobbies. In modern times, even with the Awakening rewriting the rules, ethical progress over generations didn’t get wiped away instantly. It was a small relief.But blood magic was powerful, and where there was power to be taken, there were those who were willing to sell their souls for it. Even then, finding a source who could teach it was difficult. How had Yuju learned it? Someone had to have taught her. Had she always known it, even before they met? Yerin didn’t know for sure. Certainly, Yuju had never exhibited any signs of it previously. If anything, the girl had been nothing but a pacifist since they first met. Yuju could barely hurt a fly in the entire time Yerin had known her. It was difficult to reconcile that image with the usual stereotype of a power crazed and murder-happy blood mage.SinB was definitely spooked by it, and Sowon looked troubled whenever she came by to check on them. Even Eunha had a perpetually worried look in her eyes, but there was something else that bothered the both of them.Blood mages had a tainted aura. It was the price of ripping the life out of others to power your spells. But Yuju was clean. Yerin hadn’t believed it when Eunha first mentioned it to her, putting on her own magical lenses to scan Yuju for the signs. It was exactly as Eunha had said though. Yuju’s aura was visibly weakened by her exhausted state, but the signature of it was the same as before. It was terribly suspicious though. Yerin had never really thought about it before, but Yuju’s aura had always seemed awfully normal for a mage of her power level. Everyone’s aura on the astral plane corresponded to the level of magical activity present in them, with normal human beings being the dimmest, and Awakened beings, human or not, being brighter. Logically, the more powerful a magic user, the brighter they shone on the astral plane. There were ways to hide it, but had Yuju been masking her aura the entire time? Even now, when she was unconscious? Was that even possible? Eunha couldn’t answer that for sure. Neither could Yerin, but both of them wisely chose to drop the subject after it had been broached. It was starting to look like neither of them actually knew what Yuju was capable of, and it was beginning to feel ever more terrifying.How many secrets had her puppy been hiding? Yerin brushed a hand over Yuju’s hair, smoothing the strands away from her sleeping face. She had been massaging the unconscious girl in her sleep to make sure she didn’t get bed sores. It was the least she could do under the circumstances.No matter what, she would choose to trust Yuju. The girl had stayed with her through her most difficult times, and she would do no less for her. If she wanted to burn the world, then Yerin would be right there with her. It was crazy, but Yerin didn’t care.She had chosen her side, and she would stick with it to the end.

Yuju was tired.Exhausted, deep into her bones, and all she wanted to do was sleep a thousand years. In her dreams she could hide, pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist. Didn’t have to face reality, and the cruel truths that would shred the last bits of her sanity.She had always known, perhaps. Known that deep down, a monster lay sleeping, waiting to wake. There was a reason why she had run into the woods after the disaster that had taken her parents. Her memories surrounding that event were vague, but enough of it lingered to drive her away from civilization. Fear of hurting others, until she could learn control.It was this that made her reluctant to truly accept others. What if she hurt them? She couldn’t be sure. The illusions the imugi had shown her had called up deeply buried memories she hadn’t had to think of in years. The mirrored cell had felt familiar. Deeply, uncomfortably, familiar.Something had gone terribly wrong, then her parents had died. She had had to run away, all on her own. How had she gotten away? She was still little more than a child then. Her hands hadn’t always been scarred either. But she had always had those scars ever since she was out in the woods, and for the life of her, she couldn’t remember how she got them.The holes in her memory were deeply frightening, and Yuju shrank further into her dreams, unwilling to wake. It was safe in her dreams. No one could hurt her there.Except. She could still vaguely hear Eunha calling her. It wasn’t a clear message, and Eunha probably wasn’t even consciously doing it, but she felt the other girl’s energy feeding into her, and the link it made couldn’t be wholly ignored. Yuju hid from it, unwilling to face reality at first. She didn’t want to wake up and face the fact that Yerin was gone.She had felt a tearing pain rip through her soul when Yerin had fallen out of that window, beyond the reach of her senses, and the resulting frenzy she went into still frightened her. Granted, she knew the imugi was up to its mind tricks to try and weaken their defenses, but not being able to sense Yerin had terrified her. They had never been separated for long in the last three years. She could always feel her, and that fact helped to ground her.It was why she didn’t want to wake up. In her dreams, she could still feel as if Yerin was right there by her side. It was cowardly and selfish, but Yuju was hurt, and only wanted to lick her wounds in peace. She needed time.But they just wouldn’t stop. The whispers at the back of her mind, Eunha’s almost constant presence at the edges -- which, was a lot more comforting than she had expected. She could feel the worry the other mage had for her, and it made her feel guilty. She wanted to reach out to reassure the other girl, but a part of her was afraid.She knew Eunha liked her. But the depth of the other girl's devotion had terrified Yuju when Eunha kissed her the last time. Yerin was not a mage, and couldn’t communicate her feelings in the same fashion, at least not without Yuju voluntarily looking into her eyes to see into her soul. Eunha on the other hand, had no such restriction. Her feelings had been like a tide that washed over everything in its path, and Yuju hadn't been prepared to deal with that. It was overwhelming, suffocating, even.And it hurt. That pure, clean, love and devotion had hurt her almost physically. Yuju always avoided looking too deep into Yerin’s eyes for that reason. It was easier to pretend that it didn’t exist, so she didn’t have to deal with it. It was selfish, and Yuju knew it. But love on that level frightened her, for some reason.She couldn’t quite put a finger on it, but even feeling it caused her pain. It brought back memories of helplessness, terror, and death. It was unfair to those who loved her now, but Yuju wasn’t even certain about the source of her fear. She wanted to confront it, but at the same time, feared the consequences. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t know when she would ever be.Guilt was a familiar companion to her by now. Could have done more, could be better than this. For all the power she wielded magically, deep inside, she was still that same little girl who could do nothing when everything went wrong all around her. She needed to be strong, but it was just so hard and…A familiar warmth, soothing and so very close. Yuju knew she could wake, should have woken way before this, but she had subconsciously remained as she was. Unconsciously, she reached towards it, and felt someone clasp her hand in return."Puppy?" That was Yerin's voice. She was hearing things. Yerin was gone, wasn't she? This was an illusion. It couldn't be real. She was imagining things.But she felt it. A soft touch on her cheeks, breath on her eyelids, a familiar scent tickling her nostrils. Yuju trembled in her sleep, cringing away, but she couldn't move and then a familiar sensation on her forehead, soft kisses trailing down to her nose and then lower still, murmured whispers in between each one, and it was practically force of habit when she frowned instinctively and croaked out."Stop that."A chuckle, more a broken half sob, came back in response. Yerin leaned in, pressing her forehead to a groggy, confused Yuju."You would do that, you dummy.""...Yerin?" Her voice was still rusty from disuse, her lips dry and slightly cracked. Not as bad it could be, since Yerin had been dabbing water on her lips as well when cleaning her up. As for how much touching the older woman did while she was doing that, well, let's not ask, shall we?"I'm here." Yerin tightened her hold on Yuju, as if afraid the girl might fall away from her. Yuju blinked slowly, as if trying to process dream from reality."You're here." Yuju repeated numbly, closing her eyes in disbelief. Yerin tensed, leaning in closer until she was practically nose to nose with her confused puppy.Yuju whimpered from the proximity, making a small sound of distress in her throat. But when Yerin tried to shift away, the shaman reached up and locked her down with a surprisingly strong grip for someone who has been unconscious and bedridden for two whole weeks. Yerin held her breath when Yuju opened her eyes and met her gaze, an unfamiliar desperation in the younger's eyes."Don't go." Don't leave me. "Never." Yerin breathed, and was taken utterly by surprise when Yuju pulled her further in, closing the already miniscule distance between them. It was an awkward, clumsy, not at all skillful kiss. In fact, it hurt a little when their teeth collided against each other. Yuju nuzzled at her like a puppy seeking attention, as if trying to verify that it was really her and not just an illusion. It was all a little too adorable and not even sexually charged, and Yerin couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed.Yuju was actively, voluntarily, kissing her. Not very well and not even in a romantic way, but her puppy had never initiated physical intimacy like this before. It was always her pushing the boundaries, getting Yuju comfortable with her by force of habit, to the point where Yerin had almost given up on Yuju ever actively reciprocating. It was such a shock that for a good long moment, Yerin even forgot to respond, freezing in place as Yuju nuzzled against her affectionately, innocent lip-on-lip contact that showed the shaman's inexperience.Yuju pulled back, half confused by Yerin's lack of response, but then her eyes widened when Yerin seemed to finally fall out of her moment of shock, almost aggressively pulling Yuju back in to renew the kiss. This time with a lot more passion and significantly less innocence."This is how you do it."Yerin licked her lips in satisfaction, smirking at the blush on Yuju's cheeks as the shaman caught her breath. Yuju turned her face away, mumbling slightly."Definitely not an illusion…"Yerin laughed, shifting her weight atop Yuju to avoid tugging at the tube still attached to the shaman’s arm. She had gotten distracted earlier and almost forgotten that her puppy was still technically an invalid. Her fingers linked with Yuju’s as they quietly held hands, the older woman sliding down beside her to snuggle into her side.“I was afraid you wouldn’t wake up.” Yerin confessed, whispering into Yuju’s ear. Her breath was hot against the sensitive skin, making it turn pink, and Yuju determinedly kept her face turned away as her heart raced. It was an unusual feeling. Yuju wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but it was sort of...nice?“I thought you were dead.” Yuju mumbled, circling her thumb on the back of Yerin’s hand. It still felt unreal to some extent, but the comforting sense of Yerin’s presence was helping to anchor her back into reality. Her eyes travelled to the third person on the not very wide bed, just inches away on her other side. Eunha. Of course. Eunha had been feeding her mana consistently while she was unconscious, and Yuju knew how draining it could be. The fire mage appeared to be sound asleep for now, a not unexpected result. Mana was a magic user’s life energy in a sense, a fact that Yuju was acutely aware of now that she had awakened (re-awakened?) her connection to blood magic, and she could see how Eunha had literally stretched her own reserves to critically low levels just to keep her stable.And even with all that, Yuju still felt weak and tired. Years of living with a ridiculously large supply of life energy that could be converted to mana for use had altered her capacity for magic quite significantly. The breaking of the imugi’s pact had taken that supply away, but the channels running through her body were still a lot wider than what a typical mage would possess.If power were a river, then a mage’s body was a conduit, with mana as the fuel to control and direct it. Yuju had the capacity to handle a lot of power, but with the wellspring from the pact gone, she didn’t have the fuel to process it. It was sort of like having an empty gas tank at the moment, leaving her high and dry after being so used to being filled to the brim, though Eunha’s contribution had ensured that she didn’t shrivel away entirely from the withdrawal.That absence was calling to her now, loudly making itself known. Yerin was saying something, but Yuju was having trouble focusing thanks to it. The emptiness within yawned like a gaping maw, and almost involuntarily, Yuju’s magical sight latched onto the nearest life forms closest to her, hungry to be fed. They pulsed with life, energy that could feed her empty reserves and… No. Yuju broke the connection forcibly, shutting off all her senses as she tensed, suddenly furious with herself. These were her friends, not food. How could she...what was she thinking… “Puppy? Are you alright?” Yerin’s voice broke through at last, the erstwhile assassin cuddling closer despite the danger she hadn’t even known she had been in. Yuju flinched away, the comforting warmth of her partner suddenly burning her like a hot coal. She had almost...how could she even have thought of possibly hurting Yerin, even for a second? Of hurting Eunha, who had been helping her every step of the way? What kind of monster was she becoming?“What’s wrong? Talk to me.” Yerin shifted, propping herself up to take a better look at Yuju. Next to them, Eunha stirred, snuffling like an adorable little hamster as she rolled closer to Yuju unconsciously. Yuju stiffened, internally paralyzed by self-loathing, but she didn’t want to worry Yerin. She couldn’t tell her about this. She had to get this under control. Don’t hurt anyone. Run, hide... “I’m hungry…” The shaman muttered evasively, changing the topic. It wasn’t a lie. Her stomach was growling, and she was still a little dizzy from lack of food. Yerin slapped a hand to her forehead, as if the thought had only just occurred to her.“I should have thought of that. What do you want to eat?” The specialist slid off the bed, glancing at Eunha, who went from groggy to awake in about two seconds flat at the mention of food. A soft chuckle bubbled at the back of Yerin’s throat, and she squeezed Yuju’s clammy hand comfortingly. Yuju smiled wanly, trying to suppress the dread still crawling at her insides.“Look who’s awake, bunny.”Eunha rubbed at her eyes groggily, rolling over onto her stomach as she propped herself up with her elbows. Her eyes widened when she saw Yuju looking over at her, the fire mage practically pouncing onto the startled shaman and wrapping her into a bear hug.“Hi Eunha.” Yuju greeted her awkwardly, wincing as the tube feeding into her arm got yanked sideways again. Yerin noticed and carefully moved it out of harm’s way, allowing Eunha her moment with Yuju. It was only fair with the amount of effort the mage had expended to keep Yuju safe in the past two weeks. Yerin wasn’t completely heartless.“You’re okay…” The relief in Eunha’s voice was palpable, if slightly muffled by the way the mage had her face buried in Yuju’s neck. Yuju reached up to pat her on the back with her free hand, glancing up at Yerin for help. The assassin shrugged, then prodded at Eunha.“Give her some space, Eunha. I’m gonna grab some food, you want something too?”The fire mage twitched at the mention of food, carefully rolling off Yuju to avoid jostling her. Her eyes went slightly distant as she automatically started scanning Yuju magically, a habit she had developed over the past two weeks. Yuju swallowed nervously, keeping a tight hold of the hunger that was gnawing at her from the inside. The hum of magical activity was really not helping, and a bead of sweat trickled down the shaman’s forehead. Yerin noticed the tightening around Yuju’s jaw, and tensed inwardly as well. She tugged at Eunha’s elbow.“I won’t be able to carry all the food you’re going to want on my own, Eunha. Come help or I’m not getting your share.”“Hey!” Eunha protested, her concentration broken. Yuju exhaled slowly, her teeth unclenching as she tried to relax. Her eyes flicked up at Yerin, who nodded at her, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.“We’ll be right back.” Yuju nodded numbly as Eunha climbed off the bed as well. Yerin squeezed Yuju’s fingers reassuringly, meeting her gaze head on. Yuju’s lips pressed together tightly, and Yerin nodded at her, voluntarily breaking eye contact after a moment, giving Yuju’s hand one final squeeze before letting go and maneuvering Eunha out of the room.Yuju watched them leave, letting out a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding when Yerin had made eye contact earlier. It was frightening how well Yerin knew her at times. How much had her partner noticed? Probably too much. And yet, when she looked into Yerin’s eyes earlier, there had been no fear. Only trust, and acceptance.
No matter what you choose, I am here for you.
Yuju closed her eyes, gripping the sheets around her tightly. She only hoped that she could live up to it.

“Spill.”Eunha stopped in the middle of the hallway once they had turned the corner from Yuju’s room, looking expectantly at Yerin. Yerin halted, looking around before pulling Eunha into the nearest available room -- her own.“Yuju’s not well. Did you see anything earlier?”Yerin was on edge. After the initial euphoria of Yuju finally waking up, reason reasserted itself and started analyzing the situation. There had been little telltale signs that Yuju was feeling off. Yerin trusted her puppy, but she didn’t trust what blood magic would do to her. The tension had definitely gotten worse when Eunha started using magic around her, and that was when Yerin knew she needed to interrupt before anything unexpected happened.“Not much, you broke me off before I could go deeper.” Eunha shook her head, folding her arms. “Her aura is stable now though, at least on the surface. No changes of the kind we were expecting.”Yerin exhaled slowly, pacing slowly around her room.“There were flecks of red and gold in her eyes earlier. I had to stop you. Just in case.”Eunha inhaled sharply. “I didn’t notice that.”Yerin shrugged. “I was watching, and it was gone in a flash anyway.” There was a moment’s hesitation, resignation tinged heavy in her voice.“It’s hurting her, somehow. I wish I knew how to help.”Eunha leaned against the wall, massaging at her temples. She was exhausted still, her energy levels low with her near constant channeling into Yuju over the last two weeks. She ate a lot and slept when she could to recharge, but it was still a strain on her body.“What are we going to do? ”Yerin shook her head slowly, reaching out to clasp Eunha on the shoulder. The pair shared a moment of comfortable, if heavy, silence. It was all too much, and they didn’t know enough about the situation to do anything about it. All they wanted was to protect Yuju, but could they really? Could they afford to risk it all on a maybe?“We’ll figure something out.” Yerin said finally. Eunha nodded, closing her eyes.What other option did they have?

A dart thudded heavily into the bullseye hung on the wall, followed by another, and another, all concentrated within that tiny circle. SinB flexed her wrist experimentally, bouncing the last dart over to her other hand. She aimed, and threw.It fell way off target, managing to clip the edge of the board before bouncing off and tumbling harmlessly to the floor, rolling over to a pair of slippered feet. Sowon paused, narrowing her eyes at where SinB was currently lounged on the couch, the supporting strap keeping her injured arm at the right angle taken off and tossed carelessly to one side.“You’re not supposed to be moving that arm until it heals, idiot.” Sowon scolded. SinB rolled her eyes, walking over to the dart board to retrieve her darts.“It’s been almost three weeks, Sowon. I’m bored. Gotta do something before I start rusting away.”Sowon couldn’t deny the logic. Being confined to bed rest was hell on all of them, even though it was the right thing to do. It was even worse for SinB, the most restless one among them. Not being able to leave the apartment was hell for her, and Sowon had instructed Umji to lock down their apartments and prevent anyone who wasn’t supposed to be moving from leaving the place at all. SinB might have been able to walk around after the first week, but with her still delicate ribs and wonky arm, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself with her usual skill if she went out.And the remnants of Mireu were still out there. Sure, the Spartans were cleaning up, but one didn’t purge a cult overnight. It was why Sowon had chosen a completely different type of place to serve as their hideout. No one expects a gang of shadowrunners to be holing up in one of the more luxurious districts in Incheon, and as long as they didn’t show themselves for a while, they could rest and recuperate in safety.The official news had mostly died down after the first week, but rumours still flew around in the Underground. The shadows had a long memory, and even with the bounty taken down after the first few chaotic days, it was best for them to lay low to avoid any old rivals who would love nothing more than to take on the newly minted dragonslayers.They were famous now, inadvertently. There was no actual combat footage leaked, but everyone who was anything at all in Korea knew about the run that ended with the death of the imugi, and the subsequent collapse of Mireu’s influence. Put two and two together, especially with Mireu’s previous bounty out on them, and it wasn’t hard to figure out who had been involved.Fame was a double-edged sword in the shadows. On one hand, they could likely command any price they wanted on high-value runs. Accordingly, the danger levels for those missions was likely to be a lot higher than normal. That was the least of their problems though.There would always be those who would come to challenge them now, if only to make their names. Reputation meant a lot in the shadows, and there were always some crazies wanting to be the biggest, baddest folks in the dark. If anyone could successfully take them down, it would be a huge prestige boost. Of course, not everyone was going to be out for their necks, since they were still nominally associated with the Spartans, and most people never wanted to get on the bad side of a whole faction.Which was why Sowon was so adamant about everyone laying low for now. They were all in various states of injury, and in no shape to be fighting anyone for a while. Rest was good, but then again she hadn’t accounted for the sheer boredom of it all.For almost two decades, Sowon had shrugged off most injuries like the flesh wounds they were, and it was distinctly uncomfortable to have to wait and heal like a normal person again. She was no less restless than SinB, but she hid it better and bickered endlessly with the grumpy gunslinger to pass the time.Then, of course, Yuju had finally woken up a week ago, and that added a lot more tension to the household in general. Sowon had been checking in on the girl almost daily, and wasn’t sure if it was relief or disappointment she felt when Yuju had made it through the critical early stages when the doctors thought she was going to suffer from multiple organ failure at the beginning. The backlash from the pact could have killed her, but it didn’t. Eunha couldn’t really explain it, and Sowon didn’t understand it. Magic was an odd thing, and even now, fifty years after the Awakening, there were still things humans didn’t understand about it.But the fact remained that Yuju had survived, and was going to be an unknown factor when she eventually woke up. Sowon was somewhat relieved when Yuju didn’t immediately go berserk and murder them all in their sleep -- the blood mage bogeyman was a terrifying specter in a post-Awakening world -- but the shaman had seemed tired and withdrawn ever since waking up. She barely left the confines of her room, and didn’t talk to anyone except Yerin and sometimes Eunha. Even Umji had been turned away, as the shaman locked herself up in her room.SinB turned on the television, the holographic screen taking up the bulk of one wall as she idly channel-surfed. Sowon settled in beside her, enjoying the comfortable silence as they let the sounds from the television fill the space around them.It felt oddly domestic, with the sun’s rays spilling in through thin curtains on the far balcony. If this was peace, Sowon thought she could probably use more of it. It might be boring, but it was safe, at least for now.All of them had survived. Sowon exhaled slowly. That was all she had ever wanted. Yuju’s condition was worrying, but the shaman had been on her best behaviour ever since waking up, even if she seemed sort of depressed all the time. But Yerin was with her, and Sowon had some small hope that it would be enough for Yuju to recover from this.Umji had mostly recovered from her previous burnout, and Eunha had finally been able to eat something other than nutrition packs a few days ago now that her intestines were in a less delicate condition. SinB could finally use both arms to do simple tasks, though clearly anything more strenuous than picking up light objects was going to need more time.Sowon’s hand moved to her side, feeling through her shirt the scar where they had removed the bullet from it. Scarring was another thing she would have to get used to. But they had all gotten out of this alive, and fortune willing, physical scars were the only thing they would have to bear.Mental and emotional scars were less visible, but present nevertheless. Sowon knew about SinB’s insomnia, and often found the gunslinger staring into the distance while fingering her pistol. She pretended to not notice how SinB’s gaze sometimes wandered over to Yuju’s door. As long as the girl didn’t do anything rash, she wouldn’t bring it up. It wasn’t like she didn’t understand the kind of nightmares that haunted her. Sowon couldn’t blame SinB. Fear was a logical response in this case.Time. They all needed time to heal, to recover from the trauma of their experiences. Yuju needed time to prove that she wasn’t a threat, and Sowon wanted to believe that she was trustworthy. It was hard. She remembered the Yuna who would die for her team, and time and again Yuju had proved herself to be made out of exactly the same mold.It wasn’t like SinB didn’t understand this. The gunslinger remembered when Yuju had pledged her life to bring Eunha back to them safely, and the shaman kept her promises. She had let it slip to Sowon on one sleepless night, sharing a beer at the balcony, and Sowon had gone silent at that. Both of them had. They wanted to trust their friend, who had proven herself before. But the horror stories of blood mages and everything they were capable of hung heavy in their minds. It was shameful to doubt, but it couldn’t be helped.“Tch, Tristar trying to pull a hostile takeover on Hyeongdae Heavy huh? Didn’t think it’d finally escalate out of the shadows…” SinB commented snarkily as she paused on the news. Sowon shrugged.“It’d be weird if Tristar didn’t start to make any moves with Hyeongdae temporarily weakened from what happened to Mireu. All of them want control over more assets.” That was basic runner knowledge. They were the ones who did the sabotage and espionage work, the dirty and dark dealings behind the shiny corporate facade of amiable relations. It was, however, quite rare for it to escalate out of the shadows, and the ‘bloodshed’ happening over the news now was entirely legal, though no less brutal in its own way.“Betcha there’s a lotta runs out there we’re missing out on right now…” SinB sounded almost disappointed. Sowon laughed, reaching out to mess with SinB’s hair.“Don’t get greedy. We’re good on money for a while now. Maybe when everyone gets better, we could even afford to go on vacation for a bit.”SinB batted Sowon’s hand away, but the smile that tugged at her lips didn’t go amiss. It prompted a smile of Sowon’s own, tentative and hopeful.Things were going to get better. She would make sure of it.

The sun had long gone down, and all was quiet, far up in their apartment in the sky. Moonlight filtered through like crystal shades, turning shadows opaque and inking the room in grayscale.A long shadow stretched from the window, a tattered breeze sending dark hair rippling like silent undercurrents in the murk. Pale fingers gripped the edge of the window frame, a snapshot of the world below tiny and toy-like in the distance. The scarred knuckles were white in the moonlight, not so much bleached by the faded illumination, but more from the tension puckering the skin stretched shiny across wounds old and new.Summer had come and gone, and now fall was upon them. The crisp bite of the chill night air tingled on skin gone sallow from lack of exposure to the sun. Her cheeks were sunken in, eyes hollow from unspoken strain. She had not left her room in weeks. It was too difficult, seeing other people.The night was easier on her, shadow calming and hiding her fears. She knew the others were worried, or feared her. She could not blame them. She feared herself, and the things she could so easily do.The moon was full overhead. It had been almost two months since the last battle. Her physical wounds had mostly healed, allowing her free movement if she were ever to leave her self imposed confinement. It was also good that they were so high up now, far away from distractions and other people. She didn’t want to test her self control around strangers.The hunger was always there, like stalking jackals in the shadows. Ready to rip, tear, kill. To feed. She was always checking herself, always aware, always careful. It had gotten better as she slowly regained her natural reserves of energy, but it was so slow, and she was still starving, unsatisfied and unfulfilled.Yerin was asleep on the bed behind her. She hadn’t wanted to let the other girl stay, but Yerin had insisted. You shouldn’t be alone all the time. And Yuju couldn’t bring herself to chase her away. She craved contact, despite her self-imposed isolation.But she couldn’t stay like this forever. She was a danger to them and herself, and she knew it.
I need to leave.
The thought came to her, not for the first time. Yuju closed her eyes, bowing her head. She was being selfish, staying here, grasping on with greedy fingers the feelings of companionship and belonging. She didn’t deserve to…Warm arms wrapped around her waist, soft lips nuzzling at her neck. Despite herself, Yuju relaxed into the embrace, eyes fluttering open as her hands moved from the window to cover Yerin’s. It was easier to ignore the hunger when she was warm, like this.“Come back to bed, it’s cold without you,” Yerin complained softly, burying her face into Yuju’s back. Yuju turned, pulling Yerin into her arms to try and chase the night terrors away. She knew Yerin worried about her. She knew Yerin loved her. It was getting very difficult to ignore.But Yerin never asked her for an answer. She only gave what she could, without demanding anything in return. Yuju’s eyes reddened as she buried her face in Yerin’s hair. She didn’t deserve this. Yerin deserved better. “Why…” How could you love someone like me? “Because you’re warm, puppy.” Yerin moved her arms up to hang loosely around Yuju’s neck, enjoying the closeness they shared. It hadn’t escaped Yerin how haunted Yuju looked at times, or how the shaman avoided the others, as if afraid of them. Or afraid for them.Yuju was struggling all on her own, and Yerin could only be by her side, keeping her company and offering support in the best way she could. A small voice of reason wanted to remind her that she was putting herself in the direct line of fire should Yuju ever lose control, but Yerin trusted her gut. Yuju needed her love and trust more than anything else right now, and pulling away would only exacerbate her condition.The past few weeks had proven her right. Yuju, despite being silent and withdrawn, had not crossed any lines that would mark her as dangerous to the rest. Even SinB was starting to look less like she was planning to murder Yuju in her sleep. It wasn’t easy for Yuju though, and Yerin could see it. The shaman did not sleep well or easily, startled by the lightest of sound and movement. Sharing a bed with her was a trial in the first few nights, but eventually they had gotten used to each other’s little habits. In fact, Yuju now automatically sought her out in her sleep. Yerin was rather proud of that one, actually.It was a little selfish, but she wanted Yuju to need her, even depend on her to some extent. Yerin was not ashamed to admit that she wanted Yuju’s attention all to herself, and only sort of begrudged Eunha during the day when the fire mage came by to spend time with Yuju as well. Eunha was useful to have around, and Yerin knew she still needed someone who could keep an eye on Yuju’s state.Yuju was fragile right now. That much Yerin knew. She was more than willing to wait and give her puppy all the time and space she needed to recover though. All she ever wanted was to be with Yuju always, and this worked perfectly fine for her. It still hurt to see Yuju distressed and nervous though, but Yerin knew it would take time before things got better.“You’re too good to me…” Yuju murmured, pressing her cheek against Yerin’s face and rubbing against her fondly. She was growing almost too attached to Yerin, and Yuju knew it. There was just one more step, or really just half a step at this rate, and still Yuju hesitated. As if sensing her unease, Yerin pressed a finger to Yuju’s lips, meeting her gaze evenly.“Don’t pressure yourself, puppy. I want to be here with you. Don’t even think of pushing me away.”“I won’t…” Yuju mumbled vaguely, shifting to nuzzle at Yerin’s cheek like the giant puppy she was. Yerin smiled and tilted her head, capturing Yuju’s lips with practiced ease. It wasn’t the first time she had done this since Yuju had woken up, and to Yerin’s surprise, Yuju never rebuffed her as she once used to. Her puppy was a lot more needy these days, and Yerin would admit she totally took advantage of it.Still, she didn’t push things too much. Just a quick nibble before letting go, though Yerin backed up at the same time, tugging Yuju with her as she fell back into bed, all tangled up with her favorite girl. Yuju snuggled into her, head pressed against Yerin’s chest, listening to her heartbeat as the older woman played idly with her hair. It was reassuring to feel Yerin so close to her. She couldn’t bear it if they were separated again. Mine. Crimson flashed deep in the depths of Yuju’s eyes, but neither of them noticed. Sleep came slowly, and only the moon held its secrets, silent witness to everything in its light.The city slept on. A storm was brewing in the distance, the chips falling as they will. Sides will be chosen, lines drawn across the sand.Question was, would they be ready for it?
TO BE CONTINUED IN BLOODLINES

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Feels odd, doesn’t it?”

Sowon commented as she came up from behind, joining Eunha to stand in front of a gravestone. Eunha straightened, leaving the flowers at the memorial.

It was indeed. They were at the largest war cemetery that held the bodies of those who had died in the last Korean War, fifty years ago. The headstone before them was tucked away in an almost forgotten corner, but there had been a lot of dead. Some were bound to be left to the fringes.

“It’s weird, I mean, I

was

her for a while.” Eunha admitted, reaching out to dust off a few faded leaves from the headstone.

Here lies Jung Eunbi,

along with an old faded photograph, weathered over decades and barely visible anymore.

“Tell me about it.” Sowon grunted. “I found

my

grave on the other side, and I know for sure the bloody thing is empty. Creeps me out, I’m telling you.”

Eunha chuckled at that. They had taken the day off to come visit this place, after Bo-geun had told them of it. Just the two of them, since it wouldn’t matter to the rest.

“I see they put Yuna next to you though.” Sowon glanced over at the neighbouring headstone. Eunha had clearly tended to it first, the weeds around the grave burnt cleanly away. Fresh flowers were also placed, and Sowon spotted a familiar looking badge nestled among them.

“You’re not holding on to that?”

Eunha smiled wanly, reaching out to clean the inscriptions on the headstone of her past self. It was oddly therapeutic, putting things in perspective like this. She hadn’t known how much she needed it until now.

“No, Jung Eunbi is dead. And Yuna was always so proud of that badge. It’s time I returned it to her.”

Sowon nodded. It was good that Eunha was finally letting go of the past. The death of the imugi had closed their last link to the past, and they were finally free to live their lives.

“You done as well?” Eunha turned to look up at Sowon, noting the lack of the bag she had been carrying earlier. It wasn’t like she hadn’t noticed their leader taking a noticeably longer time by Hwang Eunbi’s grave. Sowon shrugged.

“Gave the annoying little shit her last beer. She always had bad taste in alcohol.”

Despite her words, Sowon was smiling almost nostalgically. Eunha laughed lightly.

“SinB prefers beer too, you know.”

Sowon sniffed haughtily. “Clearly the bad taste survived reincarnation.”

“It’s still the same soul. Some things apparently don’t change.” Eunha grinned, nudging Sowon almost playfully. She

had

noticed Sowon and SinB spending more time together over the past few weeks. Well, if spending time involved getting into a lot of pointless squabbles, since the two of them were still not allowed to actually spar with each other. Eunha approved though. At least they were getting along, in their own odd little way.

“She’s such a

child.

” Sowon grumbled as they made their way to the next set of graves. Yewon’s grave was already well tended and had a more elaborate headstone, but that came as little surprise to either of them. Bo-geun had every right to be biased over his little sister, after all.

“And you’re

old,

grandma.” Eunha idly called up her flames to clear the weeds around Yerin’s grave. It was odd, seeing the same name and that familiar face on the weathered photograph. After spending all that time with the current Yerin recently, Eunha could say for sure that despite the identical name and looks, the past and present versions were almost completely different. Well, except for the part where they were both confidently gay and utterly shameless.

Eunha still remembered when Yerin had hit on

both

her and Yuna when they had first joined the squad. And when she found out that Eunbi and Yuna were already a couple, Yerin had almost instantly suggested trying a threesome right after. Both Yuna and Yerin had ended up in the med bay after

that

particular conversation, since Yuna hadn’t taken kindly to the suggestion. Eunha grinned at that memory. She was rather fond of it.

Sowon huffed. “She needs to respect her elders then.”

Eunha raised an eyebrow. “You know, that didn’t work fifty years ago and it definitely isn’t going to work

now.

I thought you would have figured that out by now.”

Sowon folded her arms crossly. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”

“You’re almost eighty, Sowon. Pretty sure you don’t count as a

girl

anymo---hey oww stop!”

Sowon shook Eunha firmly while holding her up by the scruff of her neck, before dropping the protesting mage after a few moments. It was nice being able to do that. Enhanced strength had its uses. Eunha grumbled under her breath, but she was still smiling.

“Just relax and go with the flow, Sowon. You gotta give yourself a chance too.”

Sowon sighed. “Look, I just don’t think it’s going to work. Like you said, I’m almost eighty.” The ex-soldier shook her head. “I’m too old for this.”

Eunha scoffed at that. “No one’s too old for love.” The fire mage looked squarely at her. “Plus, I

know

you like spending time with SinB. I have eyes too you know.”

“Funny you had time to notice with all the time you spend hovering around Yuju.” Sowon snarked back, and the pair grew quiet at the mention of the shaman.

“How

is

she doing lately? Umji says she’s only responding to text messages, but won’t leave her room still.”

Eunha sighed. “She’s sensitive to others right now. You know how she can pick up how we feel, and well…” Eunha glanced at Sowon, who had the decency to look a little sheepish.

“Yeah, well, she made all of us nervous with you know what.”

Sowon gestured vaguely, not wanting to mention the taboo words out in the open where someone could possibly hear them. Unlikely, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.

Eunha nodded pensively. “She’s getting better, sort of. She’s still tired all the time, but I think it’s just the burnout. She linked with me yesterday, for a short while. It was nice feeling her that way again.” The mage beamed at the memory.

Sowon nodded. “Good to hear.” The ex-soldier looked at Eunha awkwardly, as if unsure how to say what she wanted, and the mage raised an eyebrow expectantly. Sowon exhaled slowly.

“I know Yerin’s been spending nights with her, you’re...okay with that?”

Eunha’s smile dimmed a little. “Yeah, Yuju needs someone she trusts by her.” The mage looked down at her hands. “I’m...not that person right now. I have yet to earn it in this lifetime.”

Sowon reached out to pat her on the shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“I still love her, and it’s not just because of Yuna, you know. They aren’t the same person, not entirely.”
Eunha put on a brave smile.

“I want to get to know her all over again. She’s been hurt, and I want to help her heal.”

Sowon nodded. “As long as you know what you’re getting into. I just want you to be happy too, Eunha.”

“You too, Sowon.”

The two old souls shared a knowing look, glad that at least, there was someone else who understood. If nothing else, they cared for each other. In the end, that was all that mattered, was it not?

Static ran like white noise over shaky live footage, angles spinning wildly as the hand behind it struggled to focus on something. A gloved hand reached towards the lens, covering it and twisting, and then the last of the video fizzled into nothingness.

“Replay that.” A chill voice, almost bored, and languid like a coiled snake at rest.

The video was rewound. It was less than a minute long of salvaged footage from an abruptly terminated live broadcast. Fire in the sky, explosions, then a dark figure swinging in like an avenging angel, shrouded in shadow.

“Pause. Slow that down. Frame by frame.”

It was no more than a fuzzy outline, the assailant careful to keep from being filmed head on even as she, and it was definitely a female silhouette, overpowered the crew and stopped the broadcast in a matter of seconds.

But no one was perfect, and the camera had been running the entire time on a wide angle shot. It was a good camera, meant for field work, and the crew hadn’t been on a budget for that particular item. The camera did its job. It captured everything perfectly, even if it were only a split second of detail.

“There.”

Freeze frame, a side profile in clear detail, or as clear as it could be from the interference. It was enough though. A single, pale finger traced the outline of the jaw and nose, almost fondly.

“I see we’ve found our lost birdie.”

“Ma’am.”

“Time to bring our girl back where she belongs, don’t you think?”

A single document lay open next to the frozen video clip. A personnel profile, one of many that laid on the desk. The rest had Xs inked in red over them, verified killed in action. The one on top had been the only one in grey, marked missing in action. Well, missing no longer.

“What a

naughty

girl you’ve been, and naughty children need to be punished.”

The operative standing before the table saluted smartly, acknowledging orders. The mystery woman smiled, though her hooded eyes remained cold.

“Time to come home,

Jung Yerin.

”