Sound. Light. Warmth.
It all mixes together in this landscape. Once again I'm surrounded by the beautiful scenery that focuses in and out. It blurs and clears erratically but not long enough for me to make out where I am. That melodic tune is hummed once again in the distance. So I follow it. I follow the sound to its source to see a woman with her back to me. She glides and twirls with joy and bliss as she sings the melancholic song ➪
I'm wondering, are you my best friend
Feels like a river is rushing through my mind
I wanna ask you, if this is all just in my head
My heart, is pounding tonight, I wonder
If you, are too good to be true
And would it be alright if I
Pulled you closer
How could I know
One day I'd wake up, feeling more
But I had already reached the shore
Guess we were ships in the night, night, night
We were ships in the night, night, night
➪ Her voice sounds as soft as the puffiest clouds in the sky. It shines brighter than any star. I try to get close to her but something isn't allowing me to do that. Instead, a dark ink begins to consume the imagery creeping closer and closer to the singing lady. I yell to warn her but she can't hear me. Soon enough she's the only light left. She seems to worry and panic still keeping her back to me. She speaks to me telling me something that I can't make out.
"Y***e ** gr**t*s* t***s***. *o*** f***** t*a*," but this time she sounds hurt. Almost as if it's a reminder for herself so that she won't forget. I reach out, extending my hands as far as I can to at least touch the hem of her dress but she dissipates into nothingness, leaving me in the cold darkness. With nothing to guide me, I begin to worry and I look around for an exit in this thick black ink but there's none to be found. I begin to feel paranoid as I sense shadows moving around me. They slowly creep toward me whispering names and wicked thoughts. I back away from them only to realize that they have surrounded me. They slowly climb up my leg and engulf my thigh.
I shut my eyes and curl into a ball expecting to be swallowed whole by these things when a warm hand is placed on my shoulder. I jump a bit startled and look behind me to find a familiar figure. It's Taehyung, only he has no face. I jump back in horror at the sight when I begin to notice the blood seeping from his chest. He staggers forwards reaching out for me but I'm too scared to touch him. When I refuse to touch him he begins to melt until he's only a puddle of liquid. Soon the liquid starts to stir and shape itself until it forms another body although this time it has a face.
It's my half-sister. Ji-Eun. Only she seems too stiff. She stretches out an arm robotically and when I grab her hand it comes off like a broken toy. I stare at the hand in shock and when I look up at her. Her head has rotated 180 degrees to reveal a horrifying face at the back of her head. Where her eyes are supposed to be there are only pitch-black holes. Her teeth are sharp rows of knives and her smile extends from ear to ear. Bugs crawl all over her, going in and out her eye sockets. I want to scream but I am unable to. Her sick smile fades and is replaced by a look of sadness. I can hear her calling for help in the background but she doesn't open her mouth to speak. She crumbles away before I can ask her what's wrong and that's when I hear the growl.
My body begins to move on its own and I run. Through this endless stretch of black nothingness, I run for my life. Fearing whatever it is making that awful sound. I run until I hit something unidentifiable. It's like glass only there's no reflection. I soon find myself stuck in a box screaming for help while whatever creature growled at me is circling around my confinement. I bang on the invisible force as hard as I can when I see my friends from the castle looking at me from the outside. Ten, Irene, and Chungha all stand there like spectators watching me and whispering among themselves.
"It's her fault," they all seem to whisper, "She's guilty." My heart drops in my chest when I hear those words knowing exactly what my punishment is. I'm soon dragged away from my three friends. They shrink away getting smaller and smaller until I no longer see them. It's only then my invisible box comes to a stop. I turn around to find my brother Mark and Baekhyun standing before me, staring at me blankly. My father is standing behind them with the queen as she whispers into Mark's ear. When he finishes Mark raises his hand and I notice the gun he's pointing at me. The fear holding me in place is so strong, I don't even notice when he fires. I feel my body fall backward into a thick liquid. My body becomes a heavyweight as I sink deeper and deeper with an aching in my chest. Then, I notice a small crack of light above me. I reach for the light, a tear rolling down my cheek. I blink slowly to get rid of the other tears when I feel everything rushing past me almost as if I was flying. When I come to a stop I refuse to open my eyes. Although I sense warmth, I'm scared to be fooled again.
A soft hand brushes away the tear on my cheek, cupping my face. The hand caresses my face for a brief moment before moving down to hold my hand. I open my eyes to find myself in a garden. Flowers of all kinds flourish around me. The sweet smell of the honeycombs and the buzzing of the working bees soothe me. The hand holding mine pulls me along and it's only then that I notice Yeosang pulling me away. He takes me to where the crew is enjoying themselves. They all salute me with such merriment and joy. I notice San giving flowers to Iseul and the brunette giving flowers to a girl I recognize from the picture I found in some boxes on the Aurora. I smile softly at the sight when I'm approached by Seonghwa who offers me a single white rose. My heart skips a beat and I take it but when I do, the scene around me swirls away and mixes into a blotch of colors like a watercolor painting left out on a rainy day.
I look down at the white rose and hold it dearly feeling a big hole in my chest. When I look back up, I'm face to face with a reflection of myself. I'm in torn up clothes with multiple wounds covering my body. I have a shackle around my neck, wrists, and ankles, but the scariest part is the look in my eyes. They are dead just like Isuel's mom's eyes were. They held no glee, no hope. They only look upon me with sorrow and envy as I pity this torn-up reflection of myself. I move forward to touch my reflection's cheek to comfort it but when I do, the same inky blackness from earlier begins to seep into my skin. It crawls and spreads through my veins like a disease suffocating me. I let out an ear-piercing shriek as it moves under my skin staining it black.
~
My eyes flutter open and I feel the light coming in through the window. I shield my eyes from the sun. My body buzzes and I check my skin with much panic that it's not stained. Luckily it's not, it was just a dream. I try to sit up in bed and that's when I feel the pain. It feels like an electrical shock was sent through my whole body, burning my skin from inside out. The sensation moves through my body in waves starting from my tattoo. I fall back on my bed biting down hard on my lip to muffle my cries of pain. I don't wanna alert anyone near me.
Each part of my body begins to pulse as the pain reaches its max. I try as best I can to not move and to relax so that the pain can subside faster. I focus on my breathing, slowly inhaling and exhaling even though it feels like I just ran a marathon. Why am I so tired? My head hurts like crazy and there's a loud ringing in my ears I can't shake off. I look around the room staying still when I remember in quick flashes the events of last night. The burning in my body has definitely calmed down but I still feel numb and drowsy. I attempt to get up once again and it doesn't hurt as much. My body just feels sore and exhausted. I try to come up with reasons why I might be so drained, besides the fact that I just tussled with San, but I can't think clearly. The burning still remains strong in my wrist but it won't last for much longer, I hope. I stand up feeling unbalanced and lurch forward. I feel disgusting and sticky from bleeding and sweating so much last night. The smell is just intensifying my headache. I need to bathe. I make my way over to my bag slowly and with much struggle. My limbs feel so heavy I don't even know how I'm managing to move them.
Looking through the bag I take out the pair of baggy clothes Seonghwa had given me along with a fresh pair of bandages and undies. With my baggy of toiletries and my clothes, I sluggishly drag myself out of my room and into the restrooms. Luckily nobody was outside waiting for me because if not I would have had to face them and explain everything and with the way I'm feeling, it's a no-no. It's warm and really sunny outside and based on the position the sun is at, I'm guessing it's pretty late in the day. I wonder how long I must've slept for? I finally arrive at the restrooms after a treacherous walk over. It really wasn't that bad but I feel like crap right now so bear with me.
I enter the restroom and notice that there are only stalls for doing your necessities. I look around irritatedly when I spot a door at the end of the stalls. I then walk over and slide it open to expose a bigger room with about 4 big tubs. It's all wooden and outdated but very well kept and clean. I make my way to the closest tub and turn on the water. Instantly the tub begins to fill with water. I set my extra clothes and baggie down next to the tub and begin to peel off my clothes. Once I've stripped down completely I climb into the tub, leaving my dirty clothes lying on the floor. When I first put my feet in the tub, a cold shock goes through body taking me by surprise. The water is so damn cold.
When I feel like I have gotten used to the water I let myself sink in and relax. I close my mind ignoring the roaring headache I feel coming and instead focus on the way the cold water feels against my skin. I think I let myself relax a bit too much because I didn't even notice when someone else walked in.
"I remember you," I hear someone speak up from behind me. My eyes fly open as I realize I'm not alone. I turn around to find a friendly face staring at me. I begin to feel really self-conscious and embarrassed of my body so I let myself sink in more so that only my head is out of the water. "What was you're name again? Sunni?"
"Sun-Mi," I respond timidly. Soyeon nods taking in my state and the state of the clothes sprawled on the floor next to my tub. She raises an eyebrow but instead of asking, she walks over to the tub next to me.
"You look like crap," she says bluntly.
"Feel like it too," I admit. She smiles stepping into the tub and lowering herself to undress. I look away to give her privacy as she then turns on the water. "I didn't know you were staying here," I speak up to keep the conversation going.
"Yeah, well, we weren't gonna stay for long but your captain wanted Chris and I to stay longer for a certain meeting. We were supposed to leave yesterday." I tilt my head to the side not sure what she means.
"What meeting would that be? And who's Chris?"
"All the pirates in charge of the island are going to meet up tomorrow to discuss some business. And I mean Captain Chan. His real name is Christopher but I call him Chris for short." When the water in her tub has risen completely, she slides in deeper letting out a loud sigh. "Ahhhh, this is what I need. It's been so long since I've had a day for myself." We sit in silence a bit longer and I bring my knees up to my chest, in a fetal position, trying to ignore the loud ringing in my ears that's causing the headache. Soyeon seems to notice this and she stares in my direction studying me closely. "Hey, so uhhh, what's up with the blood on your clothes?"
"Ohh um that?" I chuckle awkwardly not knowing how to respond, "I kinda got into a fight." Her eyes widen and I feel the heat rising to my cheeks.
"I never took you for the fighting type. You seemed so sweet at first."
"Oh no, no. I didn't start it. It was actually a misunderstanding. That blood is mostly mine anyways," Soyeon stays silent for a few more seconds before speaking up again.
"You fought with San didn't you?" I tense up biting the inside of my cheek. How did she know? "San showed up all beat up to my room last night. Yunho brought him in. He said you were leaving his room when he arrived and that you were also badly beat up."
"I didn't want to fight," I mutter under my breathe hugging my knees tighter.
"How's you're head?" She asks sounding genuinely concerned. I subconsciously reach to feel the back of my head and that's when I notice that the cut isn't there anymore. Instead, it just feels bruised.
"It's not there anymore..." I say out loud, more to myself than to her. She becomes visibly confused so she decides to stand up and walk over to me. She grabs a towel that's neatly folded at the side of the tub, wraps herself in it, then makes her way toward me reaching for the back of my head.
"Let me check it," she suggests and I allow her to. She parts my hair at the back of my head looking for any opening for a wound but finds none. "Hmm, that's weird. You have dried blood all over your hair and clothes, but you have no open wound. And, come to think of it, neither did San. He didn't even have bruises, he was just knocked out cold." That's when I realized what happened. It was my magic. But I thought you couldn't use it during a full moon? "Your head must hurt doesn't it?"
"How did you—"
"Shhh, stay still." When she says that she closes her eyes placing her hands on both sides of my head. Her hands begin to glow and that's when I notice the small tattoo at her neck starting to glow as well. She furrows her brow in concentration chanting some unknown words under her breath. Her hands begin to glow a bright white just like what happened to me last night. I soon feel a cool sensation all over my scalp, as if cold water was seeping into my skin. The ringing and the pain goes away instantly and my body doesn't feel as heavy. When she removes her hands, her breaths sound a bit tired. My head feels amazing.
"Y-you have magic, too?!" I exclaim awestruck. She laughs seeing me so excited about it and pats my head.
"All pirate captains in charge of this island have some form of magic. Has Hongjoong not explained this to you?" I shake my head and she sits on the edge of the tub making herself comfortable, "Mm, well, there are 6 pirate bands whose captains have magic. I'm included in there. The number of magic types there are have decreased severely because of the "extermination" Queen Lee Ⅰ called for but luckily, the most important ones survived. Each of those six pirates holds some form of primary magic that makeup all those sub-types."
"So, you guys hold the original forms of magic?" I ask.
"Something like that. Anyways other people hold magic too but those magic types have been combined because of cross-breeding, although, those mixed forms are much weaker than the original forms. Did you know that there used to be 6 different kingdoms that made up our world?" My eyes widen at the new information Soyeon is relaying to me.
"Six?" She nods.
"Mhmm, after Queen lee Ⅰ came into power she saw them as a threat and ordered the enchantress, the mistress of all 7 magic types, to "exterminate" magic for good. What the queen didn't know is that magic can't be destroyed or created. It just changes forms." I look down at my wrists skimming the skin where the tattoo sits as I think about what could've still been if the Queen hadn't banned magic.
"Soyeon, what are the six magic types?" she smiles knowing that my curiosity is running wild.
"Physical, Emotional, Mental, Elemental, Natural, and Spacial." I turn my head to the side once again and she takes a deep breath before responding which probably means she has LOTS of explaining to do.
"Physical magic is what I carry. I can either improve or deteriorate someone's health and well being. I can open wounds or heal them. Back then, it used to be stronger. My magic could cause plagues and cure diseases completely but I don't know all the spells. This manifests in white energy, the glow on my palms. Emotional magic can change someone's emotions. With it, you could manipulate people into peace or war. After all, our actions are fueled by our emotions. This manifests in red energy. Mental magic is very much like what it sounds like. You can make someone go completely mad by inciting phobias or illusions, you can get into someone's mind to control them or just see what they were thinking. This manifests in purple energy. Now the next two can be seen as the same thing but you cannot get them mixed up. Elemental magic allows you to tamper with mother nature. You can control the basic elements: Fire, water, air, and earth-- and even cause natural disasters. This is your Captain's magic. This magic also happens to be blessed by the enchantress making it the strongest. It manifests in blue energy. Now, Natural magic allows you to communicate and change into anything living. You can shapeshift and talk to other animals and living creatures. It manifests in green energy. The difference between elemental and natural magic is that elemental focuses on the non-living while natural focuses on the living. And last but not least, Spacial magic allows you to bend time and space. This manifests in orange energy. With it, you can go back in time, pause time, or even see the future. Cool, isn't it?"
"Totally!" I admit processing the information and thinking of other questions I can ask. "But you said they aren't as strong as before. Why is that?" Soyeon purses her lips while crossing her legs before she responds.
"When magic was "exterminated" we lost most of our spells and tongues. I only know a few that luckily help me heal grave injuries to a certain extent. This is what happened with the other magic-bearers holding the pure magic types. Also, using magic without control can take an immense toll on your body. Mixed-bearers don't have to worry about these things though. With enough training, they can use it on command with no spells."
"Is it possible that someone with the pure magic type can use it without a spell?" She ponders the question for a bit furrowing her brows.
"Good question. The only magic-bearer I ever knew that could do this was the enchantress. So, Maybe? I'm not sure." We fall silent while my brain works overtime to understand. So then I'm a mixed bearer? And if I am then do all mixed bearers have a golden glow? I think harder when I realize that Soyeon had let something slip. I'm not sure if it was a mistake but I decide to ask her to clear it up.
"Wait, you said that the enchantress was the mistress of all 7 magic types, but you only mentioned six. What's the 7th?" When I finish asking I can see that she visibly becomes panicked because of the way she begins to look around the room and fidget. I open my mouth to push further but she cuts me off.
"You know, you ask a lot of questions. How about I help you finish scrub out the dried blood and then we take you to cut your hair." She spins me around dumping some cold, cold water on my head and continues leaving me no room to talk. "I also talked with Minnie and she says that you can start to work at the dinner tonight. You're gonna love it." And with that, my question gets avoided.