"Um…who are you?" Gabbie asked.
The girl stood gracefully, adorned in traditional Chinese maiden attire that betoned her delicate features. Her long brown hair was braided and swept to one side, revealing a porcelain complexion and striking crimson red eyes that showed excitement.
Her slender figure and calm demeanor evoked a sense of vulnerability yet, those eyes carried a hint of wisdom and hidden potentials.
She bowed slightly, "pardon me, my name is Kora, Kora DoHyun".
"Nice name" said Gabbie, "what do you mean by 'I'm just like you', I don't get it"
DoHyun smiled widely "you and I, we are products of the goddess' compassion. Just as the goddess gave me the power to control fire at will, she gave you the power of mind control. You and I are the same, do you get it?"
"Uh-huh…" Gabbie nodded while squinting, she understood nothing.
"What do you mean by that?" Jason asked, Gabbie's mind manipulation was a special player skill…..what goddess now?
"If you come with me, I'll explain everything. I have ancient books written by our ancestors, it'll guide us on how to use out gifts to the fullest" she offered
"What!? She's not going with you?" Jason objected
"That's my choice to make Jason" said Gabbie, what's up with him all of a sudden.
"Will there be food?" Derrick asked
They all looked at him, and yelled simultaneously "DERRICK!"
"I'm starving common!" He yelled back at them.
DoHyun giggled and assured "there will be plenty".
Eiden narrowed his eyes "group huddle!" he called out and they huddled together, with their heads down and hands on each other's shoulders.
"Do we go with her?" Eiden started
"yes, she said there's food" Derrick responded
Jason snapped "it's not about the food Derrick, she might be dangerous!"
Gabbie scoffed "she looks really small like a delicate flower, I don't think she's dangerous"
Derrick narrowed his eyes at her "I bet you looked even more delicate in front of that ass Zhiheng and guess what? You still beat him up"
Eiden nodded "Derrick's right, she said earlier she didn't mean to hurt anyone, she might be lying"
"We shouldn't trust her" Jason added
"But the food though" Derrick whined, his stomach twisted in hunger….all their stomachs did but they can't trust DoHyun, she's a stranger.
"Yeah, I'm quite hungry" Eiden sighed in defeat. "Say, did anyone notice it smells a lot like flowers now"
"Yeah, but it's faint" replied Derrick
"I don't smell a thing" Gabbie shrugged, and neither did Jason.
"Back to the topic, Kora seems nice" said Jason
"Yeah, her name isn't Chinese though", Gabbie peeked out of the huddle and looked at DoHyun, she was just standing there waiting.
"I think we should follow her" Derrick suggested
Jason snorted "you shouldn't be talking Derrick, right now you're thinking with your belly" he rolled his eyes
"I say we go with her" said Gabbie, "if she tries anything, I can just use my special skill"
Eiden bit his lower lip, "well, if we should go with her, say aye"
"Aye"
"Aye"
"I am not a part of this" said Jason.
Eiden sighed, "Aye. it's settled then, three against one".
Jason shook his head.
They broke apart.
"Alright" said Gabbie, her hands akimbo. "I'm Gabbie and these dorks are Derrick, Jason and Eiden". They waved at her
Eiden frowned slightly, he could swear she was intentionally avoiding eye contact with him.
"What were you doing here originally?" He asked
She looked to the ground below them while muffling an answer "I come to the old temple to train every now and then" she replied.
There was an odd silence between them.
"Great!" Derrick clapped his hand, "Now that we've introduced ourselves, flame princess can you take us to the food now?" He asked
She giggled before nodding, "follow me" she said.
Carefully and cautiously, they followed behind her, skipping and jumping rubbles. Eiden noticed that the flower scent grew stronger now that they were close to DoHyun. Which led to the conclusion, she was the one who smelled like flowers.
It was a peculiar scent, familiar, yet he couldn't place his finger on it.
"The ancient Chinese sure knew how to make women dress so much" Derick whispered, "I can barely see anything from here"
Eiden chuckled, "tell me about it, I can't walk two blocks from my house with seeing five girls on tight leggings and crop tops"
"It's no wonder men of our generation have no control" Jason shook his head
Derrick tilted his head, "it's still a good sight" he said
While they murmured behind DoHyun, she could faintly hear what they were saying, still it made her a whole lot conscious.
Gabbie's lips twitched at their choice of topic 'women and their dress codes'. She cursed and ditched them.
She hurried to DoHyun at the front. "Hey, don't mind those morons" she said
DoHyun smiled. "You and your friends dress so differently, where are you from?" She asked
"Uh…very, very far away" Gabbie replied
"Ah, so you're refugees then?" DoHyun asked and Gabbie nodded helplessly.
"How did you get your fire power?"
"Like I said earlier, it was the goddess that bestowed it upon me, I discovered it years back and I've been trying to train ever since"
"And you've still not mastered it?" Gabbie was a bit surprised
DoHyun sighed, "it's complicated".
Gabbie sensed she wasn't feeling comfortable with the discussion so she nodded and let it go, before whispering
"You know, between us girls, I know you've got an eye for my friend Eiden" said Gabbie with a cheeky smile,
She was quick to deny "ah! No, I don't, I merely admire his looks" she averted her eyes
Gabbie smiled at her childish behavior, Eiden's probably her first crush…. merely admire his looks? Yeah right, next thing you see, you're daydreaming about your marriage.
Soon, they arrived at a wall….it looked more like a guarded fence.
"This…." Derrick gaped at the heightened wall.
DoHyun smiled and exposed a secret passage way, fit for a person to pass through.
She saw their questionable looks and answered "I'm a flower maiden