Chapter 5

Through the window of the hospice in Corrotsonne were fields, playing children, and shops. Mercia and Lilith owned one of the shops; the twins managed a floral shop and took turns on who would work on which days. Their parents were the gardeners, peacefully growing plants in the greenhouse out back. 

However, back in the hospice, there lay an individual who was unable to watch the tranquil scene. Unconscious on the bed lay Tarynn, who had before been mysteriously attacked. His straight, normally neat black hair was tousled and scruffed. His slightly rosy cheeks were pale. His thin lips were swollen with a cut, among many other slits on his body, and a fatal stab wound in his stomach that was now bandaged in white gauze. He was in a coma.

When he was found, he had a map of the first layer in the Wicked Woods and the list that was supposed to be delivered to Yuran. When he was found, there were clear signs of resistance. 

Upon hearing the news, Raine, worried about her lab partner, rushed over and saw the documents. She and Oliver were the only ones who knew that Yuran was in trouble—Yuran had received the third layer map and a list of herbs that didn't exist in the Wicked Woods anymore. 

"Damnit, what happened while I was asleep?" Raine chewed her nails. "If only Yuran were here now, to heal Tarynn…"

But now neither Tarynn nor Yuran may survive, she thought with dread. 

Raine had questioned Oliver, but he said with flushed cheeks and teary eyes that he hadn't realized the papers were wrong, since he had only recently woken up from slumber that day and was still slightly drowsy. 

"It's all my fault," he sniffled. "I should have woken you up or got Tarynn to deliver the papers…"

His eyes glimmered, looking like a weak lamp against oil. 

"It's alright, Oliver. It's not your fault," Raine comforted him.

What was Tarynn doing with the papers for Yuran? Why was he attacked? Countless questions burned through Raine, but there were no witnesses and the attacker was unidentifiable, having covered their tracks seamlessly. She glanced over at Tarynn with forlorn. 

Raine slapped herself to clear her head. "We need to make sure Yuran comes back alive, Oliver."

Just then, they heard a shatter on the floor as Lilith, who had brought in a flower pot for condolences, dropped it in shock. 

Her whisper was barely audible, even to the two positioned only a few feet away. 

"Wh-what…?"

***

Yuran stayed still, unmoving. The monster gazed up at her with blushing cheeks. Suddenly, he flung away his tail far from her reach, his cheeks redder. 

I am one with the air. Maybe he hasn't noticed me yet.

Yuran could be stupid at times.

Okay, maybe he has noticed me.

Yuran was quick to pick up on things. This was a sign of an intelligent brain.

Slowly, in a stupid manner, she reached forward and took her glasses back. The monster flinched. Adjusting the frames on her face, she could see clearly again. 

The monster in front of her was humanoid but with pure black skin and blacker, ebony hair. His wavy bangs were parted in the middle, brushing against his eyebrows. Almost like ink, his eyes had an alluring gaze as if they were an endless abyss where inside were two white slits with a faint glow that looked like the pupils of a cat or a snake. On the tips of his hands were claws that blended into the skin like a gradient, as if the fingertips were sharpened. Two horns rested atop smooth hair, and Yuran estimated them to be slightly more than an inch long. 

The monster was startled and flustered. Yuran had been staring him down, her gaze unblinking. She crouched down. He inched away. Yuran inched closer. He inched away again and Yuran inched closer again.

Gradually, the monster became cornered as it couldn't scoot back anymore. Its back was up against a mossy rock. 

Yuran knew about the dark blume and how it had tainted the forest. However, she had never heard of a monster before.

What type of monster is this? It's very humanoid, she thought as she studied his features. It's also surprisingly docile.

Finally, she sighed and stood up. "I don't suppose this will help me find… how do I pronounce this? Exguarine? Tzuwol?"

The list also had ailmeck flowers, astrad ferns, twinkling ivory leaves, sawry, transposition berries, and ingrid roots. Forgetting about the unusual encounter completely, Yuran walked away. After all, if the matter didn't involve money, her brain would process it like a goldfish but with even worse short-term memory. 

The stunned monster stood there dumbfounded as he watched a human girl who had pulled on his tail, trapped him against a rock, and glared daggers through him walk away as if nothing had happened. The awkward silence where everything was still and they would make eye contact while doing nothing else made him nervous and strangely shy—yet she had abruptly left him and continued on her way completely unaffected.

That wasn't the only peculiar thing about the human; she was resistant to the effects of the dark blume despite being in the deep central part of the third layer where they were. The monster could feel a slight pulse of divinity coming from her as the snowdrop throbbed harder in his gentle grasp. 

He had to follow her. 

~