A Twist In Time?

CHAPTER 18

Silence..

All that was heard was silence..

What broke it? A blood-curdling scream..

Who's scream was it? Hwang Him-chan..

Next to him, was Sung Ji-han, gripping the sword he used to behead the son of a bitch. 
He panted, trying to calm down. All the anger and hatred he bottled up for this man, burst into violence, which led to the man's death..

Tae-mi and Yun-ho silently let out tears as they sat next to the lifeless body of their late friend,   Eun-cha.. 

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Ji-han got up, and saw how Him-chan's body fall limp in front of him. The head rolled off somewhere near the bushes. He turned around to see what he dreaded. His emotions hit him hard, but he remained numb.. He finally let the sword fall as he ran towards his friends who sat, grieving the loss.. He didn't dare look at the blood-stricken face but let his gaze fall to ground, which was covered in blood.

He couldn't get a grip of himself, finally letting his tears fall. Yun-ho hugged his friend while Tae-mi let out a quiet sob. They sat for what felt like hours until Ji-han finally said, barely finding his voice.

"I'm sorry."

Tae-mi shook her head. Before she could speak her mind, Yun-ho interrupted,

"What are you talking about? You're sorry for something you didn't do?"

"No, I'm sorry for dragging you both into my mess, and for dragging Eun-cha into this hellhole."

He breathed out. Yun-ho stood straight and wiped his tears.

"Well you shouldn't be. It wasn't you who pulled us into this, it was US who volunteered for it. And how in damn hell would YOU know if Him-chan was gonna kidnap Eun-cha that day? If you did I'm sure you wouldn't have allowed her or us anywhere out the door. So stop apologizing for something you didn't do Ji-han."

He said, bringing Ji-han back to reality. He nodded, wiping his tears with his sleeve. 

Tae-mi still couldn't stop her tears, wishing she had done something sooner, so it wouldn't have come down to this. She sighed, dropping her head onto her knees. She felt someone approach her and didn't bother to look up. She felt the person hugging her tight, only making her tears fall more. She stayed glued to the warmth of the hug until she felt the cold hit her. She lifted her head and saw it was already night.

While leaving, Yun-ho turned to see a woman walk towards them, or so he thought. Before he could see where she was headed, Tae-mi spoke up, her voice quiet.

"We should go back to camp and tell Eun-cha's grandmother and the general."

Yun-ho saw Ji-han stumbling a few times. He went over and saw how badly Ji-han was bruised. There was a deep shoulder wound, deep scratches on both his arms, his neck was a light purple-ish from a choke-hold. He noticed a small dagger pierced into Ji-han's thigh.

"I'm gonna pull out the dagger. Find a place to sit down Tae-mi."

He said, helping Ji-han walk. Tae-mi nodded and turned to her left where she saw a huge tree surrounded with bushes everywhere. She saw the perfect opportunity to hide and heal Ji-han as well. She pointed, her throat too sore to be able to talk properly. Yun-ho followed and saw the tree. He nodded, helping Ji-han walk towards it. He sat Ji-han down, and held the handle of the dagger.

"I'm pulling it Ji-han, hold on a bit. It'll sting."

He counted to three and yanked it out. Ji-han didn't flinch a bit, but signaled for water. Tae-mi looked around and found a small stream flowing near by. She sprung up and ran, looking for something solid she can carry the water in, knowing it'll drop down if she scooped it up. She saw a few bamboo trees growing. She went over, snapping one into a size enough for scooping the water and did so, sprinting back. 

She saw Yun-ho had already healed the deep shoulder cut and was working on the scratches on Ji-han's arms. She shoved the bamboo to Ji-han who weakly grabbed it, chugging the water. YUn-ho finished the healing of the scratches and turned to the stab on the thigh. 

"It'll take a while to heal the stab wound. Hold up."

--IN THE KINGDOM OF NIGHTSPIRE : AT NIGHT

Ha-yoon and Hyun-bae were just taking a walk before going to bed. As they were walking, Hyun-bae saw someone familiar walking. She made eye contact and smiled at the man. He smiled back. 

"Oh Hey Ha-yoon!"

The other boy said, Ha-yoon got startled. She looked and saw the man she bumped into the other day. She smiled and called out,

"Hello Sung-hoo! Nice to see you again"

She chuckled, he jogged over and started off a random conversation with Ha-yoon.

Hyun-bae and Kwang-so stood silently, observing the busy street and the forest beyond. 

They suddenly heard commotion in the village. The four got curious and went to check it out. They saw a fancy carriage passing by and saw the Duke along with another woman, riding into the castle grounds. Ha-yoon and Hyun-bae looked at each other and shrugged.

"Must be his wife or something."

Hyun-bae said out her thought to which Ha-yoon nodded. She turned to the two boys busy staring at something in the forest and said,

"Alright, we better leave, you guys should go too."

She smiled. The boys nodded and Sung-hoo waved at them, both of them jogging off to the bushes. Hyun-bae furrowed her eyebrows and then decided to let it be. She walked home with Ha-yoon. 

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