Christina was finally able to push the door open, trailing blood from her boots and claws. "They just had to push my buttons," She muttered in English as she forced the door closed. "Hello?" She called out in Korean. The room stunk of blood to the point that drools pooled in her mouth, and she covered her nose. She turned back to see the man leaning against the statue. "Hey? Where's the woman?" He remained silent. "Can you—"
A loud scream came from the darkness as the woman in the hanbok charged at her with a dagger. Without averting her gaze, she grabbed onto the human's wrist and twisted her arm behind her back, snatching the blade from her grasp. "You killed him! You killed him!"
"It's me, you crazy woman! Killed who?" The woman finally took a breath to see who stood in front of her, her hair in a wild mess that covered her face, before she finally collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down to the floor.
Whatever strength she had given out. Her voice cracked from the sorrow. "He's dead!" She sobbed, clutching her face as she cried. The brunette looked at the limp body and then back to the broken girl. Slowly squatting down to her level, she rubbed the crying woman's shoulder while offering condolences. "They killed him! And they're coming after me!"
"No, they're not."
"These people are deranged and relentless. They won't stop chasing me until I'm back with them or die. They killed him. Now they'll come after me!"
"No one's coming after you,"
"You don't understand. They will hunt me down till the ends of the earth. They found me once. Even if you delay a few of them, they'll find me again."
Christina's eyebrows knitted slightly as her head twitched to the side. "Was that not all of them?"
The woman shook her head as she tried to gather the strength to speak. "No. Just a messenger group of my fake aunts and uncles," Not once did she raise her head as she wiped her tears.
"Well, they're dead," she bluntly declared before she grabbed her bag. "They tried to kill me when I told them to leave you alone. They called you Sana,"
"That's the name they gave me," the woman confessed bitterly.
"For some reason, they thought I was—" Christina's golden eyes went wide as she jolted back from shock. For the first time, she saw the woman's face. Rounded features a heart-shaped head, large eyes, a button nose, and sweet lips. An exact match to her own. However, her skin was porcelain, smooth and scarless, and her hair was as dark as the night sky missing the stars. "Why do you...? You know what? I don't want to know," she declared in Korean. "Where are we? How did I get here?"
"We are in the country of Saiga. West to Asan. East to Mukina. We found you in the woods, injured. When we saw your face, we couldn't believe it ourselves. This temple is...was the home we shared together. Our home is at the top of the stairs," The woman looked up to see the stairs spiraling to a door in what she thought was the ceiling.
Saiga? Asan? Mukina? No wonder this all feels familiar. 'The Life of the Dragon Priestess.' I'm trapped in the book Kane gave me! That superstitious, Irish bastard! she cursed to herself before she reached into her hanbok coat. The map 'Sana' pulled her out confirmed it all. 'You have got to be fucking kidding me.' She remembered a passage she had read.
[As the priestess rested her weary body against the stature of Saige's proud religion, she stared down at a detailed map of the continent. Mukina, Saiga, and Asan. Their borders are drawn clearly with colored detail to the land. Her goal: Haswell. The capital of Asan. The letters her captors tried to hide from her revealed that is where she was from. That is where she shall go.]
No wonder everything's so familiar. I'm in the first chapter of 'The Life of the Dragon Priestess.' I can't stay here. If I'm in the book, one of two things is bound to happen. This woman is the priestess, or I'm about to become her. I have to get out of here. She quickly grabbed her bag and wrapped it over her shoulder with a sigh. "Look. It was nice knowing you, but I have to go. I have my own people to find," She declared as she reached the door.
Before 'Sana' could call out to her, the doors revealed a powerful snowstorm. The wind was so mighty that it pushed her back into the temple and slammed the doors closed. Damn it, this feels like Jumanji!' she hissed to herself before glaring back at the scared woman cowering on the ground.
"A snowstorm suddenly came out of nowhere," she commented with a bit of bite in her tone. "I can't leave now, but I must leave in the morning. My friends are missing, and I have to find them," The young girl looked defeated at her words. "I'm sorry, Sana. I can't help you. This is your journey, not mine,"
Christina pulled herself away from the wooden door, held shut by the ferocious winds, and walked to the back of the temple, hiding under the stairs. The coldness absorbed her skin, replenishing her Chi at a snail's pace as she reached into her messenger bag to pull out a tiny piece of black jade and obsidian. She lowered her head and slowly closed her eyes with one stone in each hand. Now, all she could do was sleep until morning to the sounds of the powerful storm attacking the shutters.
A sudden jolt of pure energy shocked her awake with a deep gasp of unneeded air. The dark stones had become dust in her grip, and she felt her entire back to full power. Her body felt like her own, light and full of energy. She looked down at her wristwatch, thankfully still ticking. It had only been a few hours since she drifted off. Then it hit her.
Blood.
The smell of fresh blood.
A large volume of fresh blood.
"Sana?" She called out. No Answer. "Sana? Are you there?" She forced herself from the ground, calling out her name as she walked to the statue. "Sana? This isn't funny!" A light noise startled her. Her eyes moved down to see her boot was soaked in red. Did his blood get all the way over here? "Sana?" She looked down to see a pair of hands grasped together. "Oh god, no!" She whispered. The moment she turned the corner, she was struck by lightning. The look-a-like sat in the lap of the man she loved. A smile rested on her face, and both her wrists were cut. On the stand for the statue was a folded note with what looked like a chunk of her hair. Cut with the same smooth-edged dagger used across her own veins. "Jesus fucking Christ." She gasped.
Trying to avoid the blood, she grabbed the parchment. It indeed was wrapped in a long lock of her dark hair. Sliding the strands down the sides, she unfolded the sheet. The ink used was the burnt coal on the end of a stick, rough but eligible. Her last words were a letter to Christina.
Miss,
I do not know your name. Nor do I wish to impair the search to find your friends. I, too, had a mission I had to face. However, I cannot face it without my love. I must ask this of you: please head to Asan. Find my birth family. Give them the closure they deserve.
The journals have been hidden in your satchel. The pendant around my neck will guide you to them, and it was given to me at birth. I know this is a selfish request. You are a complete stranger. My true family has been mourning my loss for eighteen years. Do not let them mourn anymore. Please.
Sana
"Asking a complete stranger to find your family? Now I really do feel like a protagonist in a story. Fucking! Shit!" she sighed with one hand above her eyes as she tried to calm herself down. Then, she noticed something. Hidden under a small flap of her clothing was the necklace, a cut-out lotus pendant in the lightest shade of silver. The moment the charm made contact with her skin, it burned into her pale flesh. It fell to the ground and left a perfect imprint on her palm. It was made of the purest silver. Someone truly cared about her. She contemplated as she picked it up by the twine rope.
With a heavy heart, she looked at the dead woman before her one more time. The decay process has already started. Their bodies were rotting from the inside out, yet they were still far from adequately buried. She raised her hands above both her and the man while muttering words of prayer under her breath. All her mental power created a field of energy around her form. As she muttered her prayer, the dark purple glow dripped from her fingertips and pooled on the corpses. The more Chi flowed from her body, the faster it crawled up their corpses.
She opened her eyes as dark Chi energy glowed over her skin. Her point was cultivated as she chose to fulfill her final wish. "Sana. I'm sorry," She sighed before gathering her stuff. She looked at her map one more time. "You win, Sana. I'll find your family,"
She tied her hair up in a tight bun with a wooden hair stick and slipped her messenger bag over her head. Two long pieces of dark blue fabric below the chin were sewn together with flowered embroidery. The last thing she grabbed was a mask worn by the couple. With a slight smile, she used her Chito to extinguish the flame surrounding her in complete darkness.