Pain was an old friend.
As Yoon-Hee dragged me through the forest, every step sent fire lancing through my side. The dagger wound was deep — not fatal yet, but without treatment, it soon would be. I gritted my teeth and forced my legs to keep moving. I couldn't afford weakness. Not now.
"Just a little farther," Yoon-Hee said, her voice breathless but determined.
The girl shouldn't have been this strong. She shouldn't have had to be. And yet here she was — half-carrying me, her small frame supporting my weight without hesitation. It wasn't right.
It wasn't fair.
But the world didn't care about fair.
We stumbled into a clearing, and my legs finally gave out. I hit the ground hard, biting back a groan. Yoon-Hee was already tearing strips from her clothes, pressing them against my side to stem the bleeding.
"Hold on," she whispered. "Please, just hold on—"
"Yoon-Hee," I rasped, grabbing her wrist. "You need to run."
"No."
"They'll be coming. More of them." My vision swam, but I forced myself to stay conscious. "You have to leave me. Get to the village—"
"No!" she snapped, and there was a fire in her eyes I'd never seen before. "I'm not leaving you! I'm not—"
The snap of a twig cut her off.
We weren't alone.
Yoon-Hee froze, her eyes going wide as figures emerged from the trees. Five of them — no, six. Bandits. Their weapons gleamed in the moonlight, their eyes filled with the promise of violence.
"Well, well," one of them sneered. "Looks like we found our little mice."
Yoon-Hee's hand went to her knife. She was brave — too brave. But bravery wouldn't be enough. Not against this many.
"Stay behind me," I said, forcing myself to stand. My body screamed in protest, but I ignored it. I had no choice.
I wouldn't let them touch her.
The bandits didn't wait. They rushed us, weapons raised — and I met them with steel.
The first fell easily. A quick sidestep, a slash across the throat, and he crumpled without a sound. But the others were faster. Stronger. My wound slowed me, my vision blurred — and a sword bit into my arm before I could react.
I stumbled — and that's when Yoon-Hee moved.
She was fast. Too fast for someone who had never been trained. Her knife flashed, and a bandit fell clutching his leg, screaming. Another turned toward her — and I took his head with a single stroke.
But it wasn't enough.
A club struck my ribs, and I hit the ground hard. My sword slipped from my fingers. Above me, the last bandit raised his axe — and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
"NO!" Yoon-Hee's voice cracked — and then the air itself seemed to shudder.
A gust of wind tore through the clearing, and the bandit's axe froze mid-swing. His eyes went wide — and then he collapsed, blood spraying from a wound I hadn't seen.
The clearing fell silent.
And then they stepped into the light.
Two figures — one old, one young. The elder was a man with a long beard and robes of deep blue, his eyes sharp and cold. The other was a boy — no older than me — with a sword at his side and a smirk on his lips.
"You're lucky we were passing through," the old man said, his voice calm and measured. "Those men would've killed you."
I didn't answer. I couldn't. My body had reached its limit.
The last thing I saw was Yoon-Hee's face, pale and terrified — and then darkness took me.
When I woke, everything had changed.