12 To Come To Terms

Did I just hear that correctly? Jun doesn't know who Dahyeong is?

"Did you fall on your head?" I smack him on the shoulder.

"I seriously don't know who she is." Jun shrugs and turns back to his locker, leaving me in even more confusion. I don't get what's happening.

I feel myself sink to the ground, my knees giving in on each other. Even though the thought of Dahyeong suddenly disappearing is not something easily digestible by me, I didn't think I'd do this. The sweat of this morning gets 10 times worse as my heart falls into heartburn. I bring a trembling hand to my vision and notice that it looks like I just went for a swim.

"Are you okay?" Jun notices me as I look bewildered falling to the ground.

'Of course, I'm not fine you incompetent peabrain' is what I would have spat out, but I only have the guts to say that in my head.

I try to reply, but nothing is coming out. I feel my throat tensing and my saliva build-up. If I could even make any audible noises, they would sound like I'm choking. I cling onto my locker door to try and steady myself, hanging my top half over my arm. I continue hacking away until I see Jun bend down.

"I think that's enough. I'm taking you to the nurse's office." He picks me with one arm at my knees and one at my back, leaving me limply lying on top like a dead raisin.

I'm left unsure on how exactly to feel as my vision starts to falter on me. I can't breathe now without suffocating on my spit and my lungs burning. I knew that I'd have an extreme reaction, but I don't exactly think that this was what I had in mind. My arm starts feeling numb, so I pull it out, only to realize that it's extremely sore. I try to readjust myself after encountering my soreness, feeling the wave of sores on every part of me and radiating throughout as if it's travelling through my veins. Even after a simple task like that, words can't express how tired I am right about now.

Does Dahyeong not exist? For all these years I've known her? My head spins and I'm tempted to close my eyes. I force my eyes open and see that Jun has already brought me to the nurse's office. He greets the nurse, though I can't tell what he's saying anymore. We start moving again further into the nurse's office before I get plopped down onto a sickbed by Jun. After laying me down, he starts talking to the nurse again, presumably about what exactly happened. I scan the room I'm in while lying dead, soggy and in pain, spotting a tissue box on the counter in front of me. I try to reach for it, but I find myself unable to even move anymore.

What am I even supposed to do now? The frothing in my throat has gotten even worse now, making me unable to breathe through my mouth. I occasionally spat out some saliva, but not enough to keep up with the rate that it was forming. I could spit out even more, but by then the nurse would come back to see an unidentified liquid hanging on the floor. My body doesn't listen to me as I try to force myself to lift my arms - with no luck.

My entire body feels as if I was sleeping under a weighted blanket too heavy for me. My arms and legs screamed out in pain as every part of me seems to shut off. My eyes grow heavy and involuntarily close as I feel myself drift to deep sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're here." A voice says to me. I take note of the fact that I'm no longer frothing at my mouth and feeling sore and tired. Instead, I felt completely normal as if nothing ever happened.

I get up from a grassy patch I was lying on to examine where I was. The place looks to be a forest with flames burning from each plant. There were creeks of water running through each tree, leaving trails of said water almost everywhere you looked. I let my eyes scan the area before looking to where I was. I stood in a clearing facing a very large fountain with a sculpture depicting a woman dressed like it was back in the 1800s. I run my fingers over carved markings on the fountain, examining it closely.

"I guess I'm here?" I reply, sounding stupid. I hear distant laughter and try to turn to the direction of it, but I don't see anything.

"I'm right here." The voice says after noticing my struggle.

I snap my head to the fountain to see the sculpture on top of it turn into a live person. Her stone features started to humanize as she got off her podium. The statue lady had black wavy hair up to her elbows and rounded brown eyes that pointed on both sides. She was wearing an almond coloured spaghetti strap midi bow dress with a white knit long-sleeved mock neck with flare sleeves underneath it and nude block kitten heels to complete the look. Her dress looked to be made of a tweed material and had a white lace panel running down the centre with bows matching the colour of the dress running down it, while her block heels were made of leather with a strap across the ankle.

"First time I've ever seen you, great-great-grandaughter." Her expressions form a genuine smile. Replacing my confused face was one of shock.

"So that makes you my great-great-grandmother..." I feel my voice trail off.

"Precisely. I'd make you call me jeunjo halmeoni, but seeing as you're shaken, I'll let you call me Minjeong." Minjeong lifts her hands to her chest and rests them in a lady-like position. Suddenly I feel too irrelevant to be in her presence.

"Where am I exactly and why am I here?" I ask. Minjeong looks like she's been expecting a question like this and quickly responds.

"You're in the dreamland of the enlightened's realm."

I pause for a bit. "Aren't other people going to find us?" I question, not understanding anything. I think I do, I just refuse to believe it.

"I'm the only one left here, so it's fine. The rest are dead." She responds like it's a completely normal thing to bring up.

"Sorry I asked?" I quickly say.

"No, it's fine." She continues, "Dying here is not seen like what is on earth." Minjeong stops for a bit, most likely thinking about her answer before responding.

"Now to answer to why you're here, I think I'll need to drag you through a bit of what the land of enlightened's is all about. In short, I've chosen you to solve a feud spanning generations between Ignus and Flores. Each clan identifies themselves as a certain type of ability, which is what being an enlightened is. Flores' abilities are plant-based and Ignus is fire-based. Each person is born with a specific type of strength and ability based on what their parents had. The ability I've given you is water, as I am an Aquinnium."

"So you've essentially given me your power?" I ask.

"Yes, I think it'll help you a lot. You've probably experienced sweating and frothing at the mouth in your dream, correct?" Minjeong answers.

"Wait, so it's a dream?" I ask, dumbfounded.

"Correct."

"What time is it in the real world?"

"Almost your birthday. Not quite midnight yet." She's telling me that dream happened from the span I went to sleep till my birthday? It's... believable, but it felt so real!

"What am I supposed to do to solve the feud and reunite the clans?" I'm genuinely confused about this one since it doesn't seem that a large clan is going to let a random nobody noodle in their business.

"I'd suggest taking a closer look at your friends Seoyun and Jun. They seem like they know a thing or two." Minjeong smirks, her expression calming down after that. "I'll be in your dreams from now on to keep tabs. It's not like a 153-year-old woman like me has much to do anyway." She laughs to herself.

"Aren't you... dead?"

"Technically, yes. However, I have one wish that keeps me alive. An enlightened truly dies only when they have no remaining regrets." She stops before continuing again. "Once you turn 16, you'll gain your powers. This is the case for every enlightened."

"How long is it till I turn 16 now?" Minjeong stares off into space for a bit, looking all around the area. She brings a finger up to her lips while looking back at the fountain.

It wasn't until now that I got a good look at my great-great-grandmother. While she's technically 153 years old, she looks more like 25. She had flowing thick wavy black hair to her chest with swept curtain bangs. Her eyes were large and shaped like a rounded seed with a pointed end. Her soft skin was pale with no visible marks anywhere while her full watermelon red lips complemented its tone and shade. I might be straight, but I can admit when I see a good-looking girl, even if she's apparently my great-great-grandma.

"So uh, you didn't answer my question yet." I peep out sheepishly. "How long do I have left?" Minjeong only wears a slight smile, chuckling to herself before answering.

"My dear, time's already up."