One | Jang Ryu

3RD POV

It's late in the evening when Jang Min informed his older brother after seeing the messy alley that the Soul-Shifter created as they ran away from the two, young Mages. "Hyung, it went this way!" Jang Min

"Min! Take the other side!" Jang Kang said, making Min nod his head and run to another alley that would lead him to an intersection connected to the one that the  Soul-Shifter would be in.

Then the 21-year-old heard a woman screaming in a distance and he ran faster. He saw the Soul-Shifter that has been taking the energy of people these past couple of days and he sheathed his sword as he ran towards his enemy.

"ARGH!" He shouted as he bravely swung his sword.

The Soul-Shifter sensed him and dodged the sword in time. It glared at Min before attacking him. The young mage's eyes turned a darker color as he used his Energy. A blue light seeps out of his hand and wrapped itself around his sword as he starts fighting against the Soul-Shifter. Min had the upper hand until he felt a shift in his core energy. Something has happened to his wife back home and this made him worry.

"She must be in labor..."  He thought as he slowed down.

Soon the sky above him changed. It was cloudy but now if anyone looked up they'd be able to see the moon and stars. But one thing in the sky would catch anyone's attention. A star near Polaris happened to shine bright. Then another star followed and another and another until it formed a constellation. 

Jang Min couldn't believe it. His child is fated to be the King's Warrior.

The worry he once had subsided and was replaced with pain when he realized what had just happened within those 5 seconds. His eyes laid on the sword that was pierced through him by the Soul-Shifter. He looked at the former mage he once knew and felt his Energy being seeped out of his body. The pain went away in a blink of an eye and all that Min could think about is his newborn child as he looked away from the Soul-Shifter and back at the constellation in the sky.

"My child is born," he said proudly as a tear rolled down his cheek before turning into a rock.

Jang Kang showed up with a woman who ran over to the Soul-Shifter. Kang tried to stop her but he saw his younger brother's stoned body and soon after that the woman who came with him turned into stone too. Kang took his sword out and immediately was about to take care of the Soul-Shifter but stopped mid-way when the former mage turned into stone as well. The older Jang brother sighed as he walked over to Min. 

He placed his sword away and kneeled down as he whispered, "All will be well in due time."

 Then he looked up at the sky and added, "Your child will be the light that shall guide and protect the future King. For that is his or her destiny. I promise to watch over him or her, Min. So rest, my brother."

"She's beautiful just like her mother," Dohwa spoke up as she smiled at her friend.

Eunah smiled back while holding her newborn child. "Min should be back by now. He would be so happy to see our little Ryu," she said before covering her mouth and coughing.

"Eunah... Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor?" Dohwa asked in worry as Maidservant Kim showed up. "It would be best to see one now before both of our husbands return home."

Min's wife shook her head with a calm smile on her face. "I will see one tomorrow, Dohwa. Tonight's attention should be on Ryu. Let's worry about my health later on."

"You and your stubbornness," Dohwa scolded but ended up smiling when Ryu started to cry.

"See, she doesn't want me to go," Eunha joked earning another scolding from her older friend.

A few moments later, a servant comes in to inform the two Ladies that the Head of the Jang Residence is home.

"Min is here!" Eunha excitedly said as Dohwa moved to the side to give way to her brother-in-law once he enters the room.

But Min didn't come running into the room just as the two Ladies expected. Instead, Kang showed up with a solemn look on his face. He walked over to where his wife and sister-in-law is at with his newborn niece and got down on one knee. 

"Kang, what's wrong? Where's your brother?" His wife asked as the once excited Eunah turned pale.

Kang shook and bowed his head before saying, "I am sorry, Eunah... Min passed away earlier as we went after a Soul-Shifter..."

"N-no... That c-can't be," Eunah stuttered as she looked down at the moon bracelet Min made for her as a promise to live their lives together. "He p-promised to come h-home..."

"Eun," Dohwa called out softly as Kang stood up beside his wife. 

But Eunah didn't listen to her. "No... No! No! NO!"

Lee Eunah wouldn't believe that her husband and father of their newborn child has left them behind. Memories of how they met and grew up together and fell in love passed through her eyes. She felt lost, cold and unwanted. She remembered how her own family kicked her out when she ran away on the day the Second Prince came to visit her. The nightmares she had to live through before Jang Min came back into her life and saved her left her speechless. His death brought nothing but pain and agony to a life she dreamed of having with him. 

"I... I wish to be alone with Ryu." Was the only thing she said to everyone in the room before they all left her and her baby.

"We have to do something," Dohwa spoke up as she looked at her husband.

Kang sighed. "Right now Eunah needs time to think, my love."

Silence fell between the two and Dohwa spoke up again. 

"Eunah is sick, Kang," she informed him with a worried look. "She's very sick and wouldn't see a doctor. Now with Min's sudden passing, I have a bad feeling that she wouldn't be able to handle it mentally and emotionally. She just gave birth and I'd hate to think that Ryu would be left alone if something happens to her mother."

The 23-year-old mage looked at his wife before calling for Maidservant Kim. 

"Call someone from Sejukwon. We need a doctor," he told her and Maidservant Kim quickly left the room.

But seconds later she came barging in with a panic look on her face. "My Lord! It's Lady Eunah!" She exclaimed and the married couple ran out to the delivery room.

Once they entered, they heard baby Ryu crying in her mother's arms. Lady Dohwa ran to her friend's side and gasped in shock as it dawned on her that Eunah had just passed away. Kang pulled his wife to his side as he saw a letter on the bed beside Eunah. He picked it up and opened it as he and Dohwa read it.

Dear Kang and Dohwa,

I am sorry for not doing it sooner. I should have gone to Sejukwon as early as possible instead of waiting for the next day to come. Well, there won't be another next day as this will be my last. Dohwa knows very well about my health condition, both mentally and physically. 

I am not capable of taking care of Ryu, and I cannot live without Min by my side. All I ask is for you to take my baby and raise her as your own. Please, Orabeoni. If not me, then do it for Min.

 I've thought about it as I write this. I've been destined to live a short life. But my daughter's destiny is different. 

So instead of suffering in pain from my illness and the loss of my love. I've decided to let go of it all tonight. I've left Ryu the moon bracelet her father made for me. It contains all of mine and Min's memories together. Give it to her one day when she asks about us. 

Thank you for treating me like I was your sister and for letting me and Min marry. Please love my daughter like she's you're own child. Thank you for everything. 

Eunah.

Dohwa gently picked her niece up into her arms and said softly, "I will love her with all my heart as if she is my own daughter, Eun. I promise."

- 20 Years Later -

Ryu's POV

"Yul, Ryu, come here," Master Heo called out as Yul and I showed up. 

"Is she Naksu?" Yul asked the second we saw the body in the middle of the Secret Room.

"Yes," Yul's grandfather replied and he leaned forward and moved Naksu's clothing to the side to show a blue mark formed under her left shoulder. "This mark shows that her soul has left her body. Remember this mark. When someone tries to switch bodies, it leaves a blue bruise like this right on top of their heart."

I looked at where Master Heo was pointing and noticed a blue mark on the left side of the body. I clenched both of my fists when seeing it asked, "Does that mean that her soul escaped her body?"

Then Master Park spoke up, "She seems to have tried, but I think she failed."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and curiosity. Alchemy of Souls is one of the hardest spells a mage can cast. But for Naksu, the Alchemy of Souls would be easy for her as she had mastered all three levels: Jipsu, Ryusu, and Chisu. So, what had gone wrong?

"This mark proves that her soul left her body, but we found no signs of her soul entering another body," he added, slightly answering my silent question.

Then Yul picked something up. A bird's whistle. I raised an eyebrow at the small item and realized that it looked just like Yul's whistle from when we were 14.

"It's a whistle," he said while picking it up.

"A whistle?" Master Park asked as all eyes turned to Yul.

"Didn't you have a similar one when you had a pet bird?" I asked tilting my head as I tried to remember those days Yul would sneak out of Songrim and head over to Danhanggok.

Yul looked at me and nodded his head. "Did she have a pet bird then?" Master Heo asked, obviously thinking out loud.

Master Park replied back to the old man, "Based on how old the whistle looked, I think she had it for quite a while."

"It looks like an important item as she kept it close to her," I pointed out as Yul stared at it.

"She may have been an assassin who killed people like it was nothing, but she is still human. She must have had a story of her own," Master Heo shared, sounding sad for a second.

I looked away from the whistle and back at Naksu. She looked beautiful even when she had an icy feature. I wonder what would have happened if she didn't turn into an assassin. With her kind of energy, she would have been training alongside the other mages here in Songrim. But something tragic must have happened to her for her to turn out like this. I wonder what it is though.

"The last time we had a Soul-Shifter was about 20 years ago," Yul spoke up as we both walked out of the Secret Room. 

"Mmm, yeah, 20 years ago..." I muttered under my breath as I remembered the night I was born was the same night my parents died and when the last Soul-Shifter turned into a stone.

"Are you okay?" Yul asked as he stopped walking and faced me.

I turned to look at him and nodded my head. "Yes, I'm okay. Why? Did you think that the whole Soul Shifting issue with Naksu's former body would affect me?"

For a second, Yul stayed quiet but he sighed and smiled at me softly. "I did for a moment," he answered and we both started walking again. "You've always been curious about the Alchemy of Souls ever since we were 12. Hence why Master Park forbids you from staying in the library for too long."

I softly laughed at that and exclaimed, "Yet he wanted me to be smart. How can I be smart if he won't let me read the books in the library?"

Yul chuckled and joked, "And there goes my existence out of the window."

"Ah, yes, my very own librarian. Always taking care of my studies by borrowing the books I want to read."

"I'm always here to help, my lady."

We both laughed at our little joke then it became quiet.

"But I am worried," I said as we took a right turn down the hallway. "I am worried that what happened 20 years ago might happen again."

Yul then started to hum a familiar tune, making me smile. 

It was a melody that my late mother used to sing when my late father was stressed. The first time I heard of it was when Maidservant Kim handed me a bracelet with moon beads. But it wasn't like those ordinary moon bracelets that other people owned. It took me weeks to figure out what was so special about it and then one night with Yul's help, I found out that each moon bead carries a memory of my late parents and the first memory I saw was when my late mother sang to her husband. Yul was there so he saw it too. Since then he has memorized the song and would hum it for me whenever I feel sad or troubled.

"Thank you, Yul," I spoke up when we reached the training grounds of Songrim.

Yul smiled and patted my head. "As I said, I'm always here for you, Ryu."

- end of chapter one -

word count: 2316

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