୨⎯ I walked across an empty land ⎯୧

FEET HITTING THE PAVEMENT, Heo Ari was met with a chilly breeze caressing her warm skin as she walked out of the Heo household and towards an unknown destination as she simply allowed her feet to carry her around. A smile graced the young lady's lips as she beheld the sky night, her dark doe-like-eyes reflecting the light emerging from the starless night, product of the shining full moon.

Her body ached for the comfort of her bed but even then, the girl kept walking ignoring the tiredness emerging from her body's extremities and muscles. There was no point in listening to the signals her weak body was sending her, because as much as she longed for the feeling of sleep, she knew she wouldn't get any. Not with the plaguing dreams and nightmares that visited her every night as soon she closed her eyes.

Without her knowing she found herself sitting on a small bench, placed on a small hill underneath a big tree located farther away from the village and closer to the woods leading to the exit of Songrim. Pulling her legs closer to her body, Heo Ari wrapped her arms around them, staring at the sky and enjoying the peaceful sensation that took over her.

But the feeling was soon replaced with fear as the sound of a twig snapping pulled her out of her calm state. Nervous, the young lady looked around, attempting to spot where the sound came from while trying to ignore her pounding heart. Holding her breath she waited for another sound, a signal that would let her know she wasn't alone, but as the seconds passed nothing came.

Just silence.

Letting out the breath she was holding, Heo Ari leaned back against the bench chuckling at herself for her foolishness. Sadly, as soon as she started to relax again the sound of more twigs snapping caught her attention, this time the sound coming a lot closer than before. Annoyed that her peaceful night was ruined, the Heo girl scanned the ground, trying to find something to use as some sort of weapon to defend herself from whatever was creating the sound. Quickly grabbing a sharp broken branch, the girl stood up pointing her weapon in the direction of the sound while uttering a who's there? in the process.

More footsteps followed, getting closer and closer causing Heo Ari's sweaty hands to grip the tree branch even harder, knuckles turning white at the pressure. Her eyes widened in surprise and also relief as a familiar figure came into view. "Seo yul?"

"Heo Ari?" The young man questioned, his eyes carefully shifting from her pale face to the hand pointing the branch in his direction. "Is that a tree branch?"

Following his gaze the Heo girl rolled her eyes at the obvious question, voice dripping with sarcasm as she said. "No, it's my magic wand." She threw it on the ground. "What are you doing here? You almost gave me a heart attack."

Eyes slightly widening, Seo yul muttered a small apology feeling bad about scaring his friend before answering the girl's previous question. "Master Park and Master Heo summoned me to the secret room. Apparently, they've caught Naksu's body."

"Naksu? As in Naksu the Shadow Assassin?" Heo Ari had heard many stories based on the young assassin, about how heads would roll everywhere she went, matching the name she gave herself, and how her skills were just as deadly as her beauty.

The chestnut haired boy slowly nodded, his eyes momentarily settling on the ground before looking back at her. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

"No!" Earning a confused look, Heo Ari decided to elaborate. "I mean I don't feel like going home yet, I want to come with you."

"Are you sure? If you do, Master Heo would scold you for being out of home at this time of the night."

She shrugged, lopping her arm with Seo yul's as the two started walking. "As tough as my grandfather tries to come out as, he's actually a softie, so don't worry about that." She sighed. "You already know my life is not as interesting or as exciting as yours. Therefore, there's not much I get to do but to listen to gossip and drown in self pity. Which means if there's any chance for me to do something—anything that doesn't require me to stay at home, believe me I'm taking the chance."

The young master listened intently, doing a mental note to check up more frequently on the girl. Sometimes he got so involved in trying to be perfect and focus on his studies, that he forgot to spend time with his childhood friend. Deciding to change the subject he asked. "What were you doing here, anyways? You're lucky I was the one who found you and not someone else."

Heo Ari pushed a rock with her foot making sure not too slip on their way down the hill. "I couldn't sleep."

A concerned look took over his handsome features as he looked down at the girl. The question that left his lips causing the girl to visibly tense up. "Are you still having nightmares?"

Heo Ari wanted to lie. Lie to the point where she could believe it herself. To say everything was fine and that her nightmares and restless nights were just a thing from the past.

But she couldn't.

She knew there was no point in denying it. Yul was clever, one of the smartest people she knew. By her reaction he could already know the answer to his question.

"Yeah."

Seo yul sighed. He wished he could help his friend but he didn't know how. All he could do was offer his support which in his opinion wasn't enough.

"How are you doing with your training, anyways? Learn any new skills?" Heo Ari asked, the tension that had come over her body leaving as soon as it came, now being replaced by a look of expectancy and interest.

Not surprised by the sudden change in subject, Yul nodded. "It's been quite difficult—but I'm very close to mastering Chisu. Day by day I can feel myself getting closer."

"Are you serious? That's amazing, Yul! I know you'll soon get there." She grinned brightly, not giving Seo yul any choice but to smile back at the beaming girl as her smile was way too contagious for him to fight back his own.

No other words were spoken after that, the pair walking alongside the other, ignoring the prying eyes and whispers coming from the couple of mages that saw them walking inside the secret room.

The two simultaneously bowed, Heo Ari's presence causing the two Masters to share confused looks before turning to the pair. "Heo Ari, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be sleeping." He shifted his scolding gaze to the boy. "Seo yul why did you bring her here?"

With her hands behind her back, Heo Ari pushed away her grandfather's worries with a soft smile, sending her friend an I got this look before saying, "I apologize if I have startled you with my presence. This is not Seo yul's fault, he only explained the circumstances of why he was summoned here and I couldn't help but feel curious and ended up insisting on accompanying him."

Before Master Heo could start scolding her about how she needs to sleep more so that she can restore her energy, Park Jin interrupted. "I'm glad you decided to join us, Heo Ari. It's good for you to be informed of this kind of situation, keeping you in the dark could hurt you more than knowing the truth."

Bowing again as a silent thank you, the Heo girl smiled, attempting to suppress the surprised look on her face as a result of the words coming from the leader of Songrim. Her relationship with Park Jin wasn't the best, thanks to the multiple times Jang Wook and her would get in trouble in their teenage years or even now.

The two friends walked closer, until they both were standing beside Master Heo as the four of them stared at the body laying on the table. Cold Blue-like-smoke came from the surface of the table, surrounding the young woman's body like a cloud. The Heo girl guessed it was to keep the body from decomposing.

"Is that Naksu?" Heo Ari asked, as she analyzed the girl's features.

"Yes." Moving aside the clothing to reveal Naksu's collarbone, Master Heo spoke, "You guys see this blue mark right below her collarbone? This mark shows that her soul has left the body. When someone tries to switch bodies, it leaves a blue bruise like this right on top of their heart."

"Does that mean her soul escaped her body?" Seo yul asked.

Park Jin nodded with a stern look on his face, it was clear he wasn't pleased with how things turned out. The man had been hunting the Assassin for quite some time and now that he finally had caught her, the question of her still being alive lingered in the air causing an unknown tension to fill the atmosphere. "She seems to have tried, but I think she failed. This proves that her soul has escaped her body, but we found no signs of her soul having entered somebody else's body."

Eyes scanning Naksu's form, Heo Ari tilted her head in a curious manner, eyebrows moving into a slight frown the moment her gaze settled on the simple, cord bracelet wrapped around Naksu's wrist. It had a star charm in the middle of it with a red and blue zig-zag pattern that equally matched the red and blue hanbok she wore. Seconds—full of confusion and bewilderment passed before Heo Ari shifted her gaze down, rubbing her hand against her own wrist, she fiddled with the bracelet adorning her own wrist which was identical to the one belonging to the young Assassin.

It must be a coincidence.

At least that's what the girl tried to tell herself, but as she kept staring at the object, the larger her curiosity grew. She knew that sooner or later Naksu's body would be burned along with her belongings, so taking advantage of the momentarily distraction the other people in the room had as they talked about some whistle that also belonged to the Shadow Assassin, Heo Ari quickly—but carefully removed the bracelet from the woman's wrist making sure that the other three didn't see her actions.

Hiding it in the inside of her pocket, she looked down at her wrist, caressing it as she inspected the star on the bracelet. Heo Ari recalled having that bracelet since as long as she could remember. Most of her childhood memories were all over the place and not coherent which she always blamed on her difficulty of remembering things.

But even then, if she had a matching bracelet with someone else in the past, she would've remembered, right?

"Dear, are you okay? You spaced out there." Master Heo asked in worry, waving a hand in front of the girl's face to snap her out of her trance-like state.

"What?"

"I said, are you okay?"

Pushing away the weird feeling crawling on her mind, Heo Ari nodded, giving her grandfather a smile that did not reach her eyes as she lied. "Yes, I'm just a bit tired, that's all."

He shook his head giving the girl a disapproving look. "See? This is why you should've been in bed by now." He sighed. "Seo yul could you please escort her back home and make sure she actually goes to bed and doesn't go wandering off somewhere else?"

Stealing a side glance at Heo Ari, Yul nodded. "Of course."

-——————✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧——————

— Joyce speaks

Her friendship with Seo Yul>>>>

I couldn't portray Heo Ari's personality as much as I wanted in this chapter but in the next one, I promise you'll get to know her more.

One more day before the two last episodes 🥲

If you guys see any spelling mistakes don't be afraid to point them out, after all english isn't my first language and my writing isn't the best.

Have a great day/night! Take care!!