𝐢𝐝𝐲𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐜 | 𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐩𝐧

𝟑𝟐| 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭: 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.

   "𝐁𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞," Sung-Joo assured as the large group walked through the tunnel, "I myself built this path, by connecting tunnels left behind by dead vampire rees. It's a true maze, only I and Musica can find the exit."

   "I'd be lost, actually!" Musica laughed.

   "They from the plantations aren't very familiar with the forest. We can just stay in these tunnels until we clear the area."

   "Oh," Alicia smiled, "look! Water anemones!"

   "Wow, you're already getting good with this."

   "Musica, do you live with your friends in this forest?"

   "Not 'live', no. We're just passing through! We travel through various lands, never stopping anywhere."

   "Why?" Dominic asked.

   "Hmm.." Sung-Joo hummed, "why, indeed."

   A promise... a contract between humans and demons. One of Minerva's morse-code messages was the word 'promise', right?" Don questioned, "so that's what it was all about..."

   "Maybe," Nat interrupted, "but, Sung-Joo said we're on earth, but not in the human world. What does that even mean?"

   "The world was... 'split'..?" Anna added.

   Emma sighed, "we were so convinced that something happened thirty years ago to make the world like this... but it's been this way for a thousand years. There's never been human lands here. No human countries, no cities."

   "A thousand years ago, they made a promise,and split the world in two..." Gilda said.

   "Sung-Joo said things like, 'the pathway was shut down', 'the door was closed'. Sounds like there were places they could go in the past, but not anymore."

   "If that's true, we live in the world promised to the sermons and we've been cut apart. We thought we lived the world we read about in our books, but turns out we're in another place all together," Don stated.

   "That's why our final goal is..." Y/n began, "to escape from this world itself!"

   Anna frowned, "and Minerva is someone who probably knows how to do that."

   "That's what we think, yes. We'll find Minerva and ask him how to cross to the other world. Then we'll have two years to make plans and get ready. We go back for Phil and the others. And escape all together to the human world. That's why we're going to B 06-32."

   "There is a place safe from the demons," Don added.

   "There's hope, afterall," Anna smiled.

   Nat still looked uneasy, "but.. I wonder if it will be that easy..."

   "Right," Gilda nodded, "to start, he said we cannot cross over. The paths were closed as part of the promise. And we want to get quite a food number of people through. Even if Minerva knows some way... It probably won't be simple."

   Y/n agreed, "crossing between worlds is probably very difficult, yes. And before even tha, we still have to figure out how to survive in this demons' world. However! We now have a reason to hope! We escaped right into more trouble, but it's not all dark. We found a way forward! I'm not letting any of us die. We'll all live in peace again... Happy together! Let's go everyone, to a world without demons. Our first mission is to reach B 06-32 and meet with Minerva!"

   "Oh! Emma," Gilda called, "do you mind if I ask you one little thing? It's something I've been itching to tell you since yesterday."

   "What is it?"

   "If you're not feeling well, will you please tell us."

   "G-Gilda?" Emma sweated as Gilda's eyes narrowed.

   "Got it? You can't just endure the pain alone until you pass out! You've been forbidden! Promise?!"

   "Ah, yes!"

   "You never take care of yourself properly, Emma! And what's this about you cutting your own ear? You didn't mention that in the plan! It's good that you're such a brave girl, but if you die it's all over! Don't overdo it!"

   "I'm- shohhy, but," Emma tried to get out as Gilda pulled on her cheeks.

   "But nothing."

   "Emma's getting scolded," Ray laughed to Y/n.

   Eugene pulled on Y/n's sleeve, "Y/n and Ray too!"

   "Haha... what..?" Their smiles dropped.

   "I heard Ray wanted to be the bair and Y/n followed him! Just like that!"

   "You were gonna fight that lizard demon alone! And you challenged the farm demons for a rin? Do you think that's just fine?! It's not!"

   "You take your eyes off Ray for a second and he's already getting himself killed," Lani said.

   "What, again, Ray?" Thoma sneered.

   Y/n laughed as Ray tried defending himself, "now wait right there! I wasn't..."

   "You too, Y/n," she quickly stopped laughing as Yvette talked, "you followed right after him! That's how you hit your head! What if you suffered worse and something worse like memory loss happened?!"

   "W-well it didn't... Ray would've had it under-"

   "Oh yeah? Let's ask Sung-joo then!"

   Their chances of survival were zero percent," he answered.

   "See!?" Eugene yelled.

   Ray shouted, "hey!" Jemima ran into Ray and hugged his legs while Dominic hugged Y/n's, "I won't die! I won't die so..."

   "I was so worried," Jemima cried.

   Don smiled, "you three care a lot about us, right? It's like that... This time it's us who got super worried about you!"

   "It's true," Nat added, "Don and Gilda were almost crying!"

   "If you need help, say it! If you're in pain, say it! Don't just try to do it all alone."

   "We're brave too, you know? We'll find a way through anything. If you're in danger, think of your own safety first.. please," Lani said.

   "We're asking you, please take care of yourselves! We're very happy that you're going so far for our sake, but in the same way, you too are our precious family, you know? So please..." Gilda stated.

   Emma cried, "I got it. Thank you. Sorry, everyone..." The three eldest hugged all their siblings and mumbled countless apologies.

   "They're good kids..." Musica smiled, a little farther away from the children with Sung-Jae.

   "That they are."

   She spoke in their mother language so the children wouldn't overhear, "then why didn't you tell them?"

   "What do you mean?"

   "The dangers these children face... If they try to break the promise they'll make an enemy of h҉i҉m҉.''

   "Yeah.. but i've no need to. They'll know soon enough. Besides, h҉i҉m҉ was their enemy from the very start."

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𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫

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