Treason Of An Assassin

"Hwarang?" She called again with a cracked voice like the splintered wood beneath them. She could still recall how his energy felt like years ago and his jaws ticked. He wasn't a stray memory that fleeted by in time to her, somehow, his memory was still embedded in her mind like hers was embedded in his.

But he had to harden his resolve to terminate her, even though she would be aware of him ending her life in cold blood and the thought made him shrivel up in self resentment as he anticipated her death which would be brought about by him.

His grip on the hilt of his sword tightened till his knuckles turned white and he saw her shut her eyes close, as though she already knew he was about to end her, but the fact that she did not resist or fight it, but rather, calmly accepted her fate to die in his hands made his lungs constrict painfully.

A tear drop fell freely on her cheeks as he swung his sword across her neck, ready to separate her head from her shoulders. Whatever the untamed feelings he harboured for her would cease to end with her death.

His hand movements halted abruptly with the blade of his sword pressed against her skin on the side of her neck. A loud shaky gasp rolled off her quivering lips in fear and her entire body trembled unnervingly as she anticipated her death.

Blood trickled out of the mild incision on her neck he had inflicted and he swiftly withdrew his sword with her blood smearing over the blade. Merely spewing her blood, made him feel an unnerving burn scorching his veins.

He gritted his teeth with loud teeth rattling sounds, as he growled lowly in a dangerous way beneath his breath. He veered around and averted his gaze from Nari who's face was already pale with dread and shock.

He'd inform another assassin to take the kill and knowing just how heartless and empty they were, they wouldn't bat an eye before taking her head off unlike him, who had formed an unbreakable attachment with her even time couldn't do much to disentangle.

Hwarang halted abruptly in his movements when he reached the hanji screened door with hands outstretched to slide it open, when he heard muffled noises of the assassins pouring their wraths in the palace.

The mere thought of leaving her at the mercy of those demons in human form with a shallow empty abyss of a heart, nevertheless not excluding him, but leaving her to die in their hands made his skin crawl.

He couldn't watch her die, he had witnessed thousands of corpses induced by him, but witnessing hers would leave a deep gash that would never heal. He couldn't bring himself to watch the life fade from her captivating green eyes.

He could hear her sobbing softly behind him and his breath quivered as he turned around to face her. She pressed her palm on the wound on her neck with blood seeping through her fingers, it wasn't a critical wound that could kill her, but at that moment he could see the monster he had truly become, hidden behind a mask and disguised as gods in the name of Maitreya when in a true sense, were being the king's assassins to carry out his sinister plans.

The King didn't deserve their loyalty, he was exploiting them and they were blinded by their natural instincts of killing and savagery, they would never see the blood stained path they had been coerced to walk into.

The choice he made in that moment, opposed against everything he had stood for as a Hwarang, it would cease to exist if he acted on his choice, but there was no going back in his determination.

He was going to take a diverse path, no longer as a Hwarang assassin but with a future which still seemed far to reach and unpredictable.

With every step he took closer to Nari, her body trembled and she almost scrunched in fear but Hwarang's firm hold on her arms stopped her in her movements.

"Do you have an underground passage?" Hwarang queried quickly but she was too stricken with shock to form reasonable words, he could feel the immense fear emitted from her body as tears rolled down her eyes.

Only sobs escaped her lips.

"We don't have much time unless you want to die in their hands, trust me they're not coaxing." Hwarang emancipated firmly on his words as he stared into her eyes which glistened with unshed tears even in the darkness.

"I-I w-what.." She stuttered in confusion as her brows creased tightly. He had almost killed her, then the other second it seemed as if he was trying to help her escape from the state of turmoil occuring on in the palace.

"Where is the underground passage? Every palace has one in case of raiders or attacks from their enemies. Speak!" Hwarang said firmly with a low impatient growl.

"Wh-What do you mean?" She stuttered as she gradually gained her composure, slowly processing his words into her disorientated head.

"I'm committing treason to protect you and if you waste a second more, I'll leave you to die in their hands rather." Hwarang stated with a stern tone.

"Treason? They'll kill you if you do!" Nari remarked with a frantic tone as worry etched on her face with a mixture of anxiousness.

"They won't if we leave right now, so where is the fucking underground tunnel?" He enunciated on every word firmly with impatience and she gulped.

"I-It's in the Midwest. But I can't see it, so I don't know exactly how..." Her words were abruptly interrupted as Hwarang grasped her arm rudely and pulled her behind him as he exited the chamber.

"Wait! Yoona, my maid!" The said frantically as she patted on his arm for him to stop moving.

"She's dead!" He said in a flat tone and silence ensued. She couldn't find the words stuck in her throat, because she didn't need anyone to tell her that he had murdered her maid.

She clutched her hand around his arm for support to prevent toppling over her footings, because of her lack of sight, as they moved beyond the hallway toward the Midwest.

She had many questions running through her mind she wanted to ask him for answers, but she pressed her lips shut aware of the fact that it wasn't exactly a good time for questioning.

She could hear the muffled screams erupting from the other side of the hallway and fear engulfed her whole being as she wondered what was transpiring all of a sudden and why the Hwarang assassins where suddenly invading the palace and attacking them but Hwarang was protecting her which was ironic.

Hwarang halted and her feet stopped moving too. They had arrived at the Middle west of the palace but there was no sign of an underground tunnel, although it wouldn't be visible even if there was one, as it was an escape route specially designed for the royal families, in case of a perilous crisis as this.

He let go of her hands in order to find the tunnel quickly, but she clutched on his arm tightly in fear even though it was ironic as he had tried to kill her, so technically she should have been frightened and running away from him.

He patted his palms firmly on the mud covered wall, looking for a secret lock to open the underground tunnel, but there was nothing. His eyes scrutinized the area but there was nothing suggesting of an underground tunnel existing there.

Only flickering torches hanged on the wall and nothing else. His gaze dropped on Nari who was feeling uneasy before it stopped back on the torches.

He tugged a torch hanging on the wall but it fell, he did the same action on the few torches enacting light in the hallway but nothing occured. The lights weren't the key to unlock it, so he wondered what was.

An idea popped in his head and he whipped his face toward Nari.

"Your magic. It's the key to the tunnel." He said quickly and she creased her brows in confusion.

"We need magic to unlock it?" She queried but he pulled her close to stand in front of the door and placed both her palms to rest on the wall.

"Do it now! We don't have much time." Hwarang said and she nodded frantically before closing her eyes to concentrate.

A light green mist engulfed her palms to enact on the wall and a resounding sound echoed, before the wall gradually moved and it partitioned open to reveal a dark underground path with dim torches almost snuffed out of light.

He pulled Nari into the dark underground tunnel and the wall closed up behind them as they sauntered in the darkness to a path where their perilous fate awaited them with blood and death haunting their paths of obscurity.