Element - Loona

Chapter 9: Forgetting Everything

Yerim steps into an empty clearing.

"Annnnddddd we're here," Sooyoung says.

"Run!" Kahei yells.

Everyone looks at her curiously.

"There's no one here what do you mean," Yeojin says.

"Everybody duck!" Kahei yells.

Yerim ducks, just in case, and in the corner of her eye, she sees Heejin get knocked back by an invisible force.

She remembers a section in the book.

Lunar manipulators can let the particles in the air pass through them, giving the side effect of invisibility. They can also see others during this state of invisibility, while others cannot.

"Everybody stay back!" Yerim yells. "And listen to Kahei!"

"Yerim watch out!" Kahei screams.

Yerim ducks and tries punching the air. She makes contact with something.

A man appears and gets immediately blasted in the face with water by Hyunjin.

Just touch them and they lose their focus. They reappear.

Yerim has an idea.

She pushes her hands forward. Using all her strength, she creates a huge plane of flames that hovered in the sky. She drags her hands down and watches as the bonfire shoots toward the ground.

About 20 men appear. They scream from the blazing flames.

Eight against twenty. That's not a good chance.

Her eyes scan the landscape. They settle on an interesting line, floating a few inches over the ground. It looks as if there is a "glitch" in the system and if someone had cut a hole through space and time.

The scar

"Get to that scar!" Yerim yells.

Running feet. She turns. A body runs into her, throwing her onto the ground with a thundering crash.

His arms wrap around her neck tightly, cutting off her circulation. She lashes her hands in front of her and an inferno blasts out.

He keeps his grip around her neck.

Yerim jerks. Her hands grasp his wrists.

She feels the raw, flesh bubbles form under her hands.

He pushes off. She kicks, blazes running along her heel.

The fire devours his arm.

She runs.

She jumps through the scar.

And tumbles onto the forest floor.

"Yerim, you good?" Someone asks her.

She pushes herself up and looks around.

Chaewon, Hyeju, Jinsoul, and Jungeun are there.

"Yeah," Yerim responds, not really caring about her health.

She cares more about the others.

One by one, the others come out of the approach, including Hanyu.

About a minute passes.

"Where's Heejin?" Yerim asks.

The approach flickers in and out.

It's gonna close.

They watch for a few seconds, before Hyunjin jumps back in.

Through the approach.

Going into the past.

This time on purpose.

. . .

Heejin's head rings with pain.

Her hands keep in front of her, throwing gusts of wind.

Seven men are still in front of her.

Someone punches one of the attackers.

Heejin looks at her.

Hyunjin.

She feels her body get violently jerked to the side. Hyunjin drags her arm and kicks the attacker.

The other attacker kicks back. Out of the corner of her eye, Heejin sees Hyunjin grab his leg and flip him to the ground.

A flurry of sharp shadows hits Hyunjin in the ankle. She stumbles.

Heejin feels a slight sudden pain in her left arm.

Then, the world goes black.

. . .

Yerim and the others' eyes are glued to the approach, slowly fading and now blinking furiously.

Suddenly, two figures fly out of the approach.

They land brutally on the ground. The approach disappears.

"Heejin!" Yerim says.

Haseul gently sets Heejin against a tree.

Her eyes are closed.

Yerim looks over at Hyunjin. Her ankle looks completely obliterated, a huge deep cut running along the side, revealing the gummy flesh. Scarlet blood gushes through the wound, staining the forest floor. Jiwoo is already at her side, healing her to the best of her abilities.

Heejin makes a subtle flicker in her eyelids. Yerim watches as her friend slowly opens her eyes. She looks around.

Jinsoul asks, "Heejin, you good?"

Heejin doesn't respond. She looks around.

"Uh, Heejin. You blanking out or something?" Jungeun says.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean 'what do you mean?' "

Heejin stays silent for a few seconds.

Then she responds, with pure confusion in her eyes, "Who are you?"