Act 14

Author's Note

This will be a short chapter as it will be the last act in this volume. Going ahead with the next update, it will consist of Volume 2. I hope you look forward to it. Now without any further ado, I give you act 14.

At about three in the morning, the surroundings, the air became hot. Y/n was fast asleep but in her subconscious mind, she was telling herself something is very off. Beads of sweat slid down the sides of her temples on to her pillow , it was like she couldn't open her eyes, yet she could see dark silhouettes in her mind against a gradient orange and red flame like background.

Screams of pain and voices like eerie whispers were evident to her. The more closure she wanted, the more things started getting bizarre and scary. Things that she experienced in the past flashed before her eyes. It made her feel sick and disgusted. The visually terrifying images of humans been burned upside down, dying painfully, and then been made to resurrect again only to be mauled by a beast with six heads was enough for her to run.

"Where am I ? " she whispered to herself with anxiety and most of all fright. In reality, she lay eyes shut tight on her bed, her room locked from the inside, and six figures surrounding her bed chanting a weird incantation of some kind only further kept her tapped into her dreams that a part of her subconscious mind was creating. No one knew or felt any presence in the entire house, everyone was subdued by a very strong spell that bound them to their sleep.

"As master ordered, it's time for your renewal of memories ." A female voice spoke in whispers to the others standing along, she seemed like the leader. Master? who was this master? nobody knew except for her.

These six figures somehow cast a holographic image of themselves in her dream with a certain spell but were not just any ordinary figures. They were the mages from the second-in-command to the lord Hanaki. He being the Yokai general wanted to plant the seed of fear in y/n's mind so that she feared the unknown and that she would never be able to meet the prince of hell.

Deep into her dream, she tried her best to escape fire everywhere, skinless humans levitating mid-air over the crimson flames, being roasted alive. People thought that hell was not real, but what she saw convinced her it is. Though it was a dream or a mirage created by her subconscious mind the heat that radiated against her delicate skin says otherwise. "Why am I here? I need to get out now. Come on Y/n you have to wake up now ." she slapped and pinched herself to wake up from her nightmare.

Suddenly, like on cue a pathway led straight ahead of her was crystalized to a bluish-white surface, it didn't feel hot anymore rather it became icy cold with the breeze picking up speed and a blizzard forming inside this strange world. "Now what the fuck is this ?" she wraps her hands around herself to warm herself up and curses out at the sight before her. She slipped and slid ahead at a frightening speed, cliffs on either side of her, making her heart jump to her mouth.

"Noooooo Noooo I need to wake u----" she was cut off but a scary authoritative laugh. "You psycho leave me alone, I thought I got rid of you. No no this is not real, You're not real." She crashed into a room that reminded her of the past events of her life, the same room where she was almost raped, all those horrible memories rushed all in at once and made her feel immense pain in her heart.

"What kind of sorcery is this ?" confused at the sight, she knew right then that it was all in her head and the scenes before her weren't real. But what she didn't know is Hanaki was manipulating her dreams with the help of his minions the mages of illusions.

"Hahaha... Welcome to my world y/n bride of the underworld." He laughed and addressed her with the most unrealistic name anyone had ever called her. "Who W-Who goes there ?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"Now now you don't need to know, well not just yet but heed my warning petty human." his in a dark and evil tone. But then y/n could be scared of anything in the world but not disrespect.

"Petty Human? Who the fuck are you? damn perv" she retaliated back not knowing how dangerous this being was. As soon as she said that there was a sound of frightening thunder and which struck inches away from her, revealing the entity who spoke.

To say he was tall was an understatement. He was twenty feet tall, his chest was so wide that he could have six people sit on it, his arms were muscular and huge, he didn't look scary but gave off an intimidating aura, his attire was that of an ancient Japanese general with blue and black armour. His body radiated a flame aura which looked like calm blue flames. His face was the right proportions if he existed in real he could have been a model. His eyes though scared living hell out of y/n.

His were pitched black with a red cat type of pupil. When he smiled his teeth looked razor-sharp and had fangs which protruded. He was a handsome being yet scary and intimidating to the core. He walks up to her, inching closer and closer till he is interrupted by one of his minions. "Sire, we can't hold out much longer now , we feel a divine presence around her house and it's penetrating into our spell," Kumi explains through telepathy.

"Listen human you will stay far away from my prince and if ye shall not obey my orders I shall enslave you as my concubine in hell" licking her cheek whispering in her ear.

Next thing she found herself wide awake still feeling extremely cold and shivering to her core. She was drenched in cold sweat and felt a burning sensation on her arm, when she looked at it , there appeared to be a scar which was caused by extreme heat. "How is this possible? It was just a dream." she muttered to herself.

She held her head in her hands and felt a stabbing pain in her head which made her get up from her bad and go down to the kitchen to make some tea and take her meds.

At the time when y/n was going through such a realistic nightmare, Ha-Joon was going through something similar. It was a nightmare though it was right before his eyes. Appears a small creature known as Mineko, who was a wisp which lingered around him. While he was taking his evening walk Ha-Joon felt a presence yet again, but only this time he didn't feel uncomfortable.

"Master !" she whispered . He looked around confused yet again and wondered if he was just hearing things in the middle of the woods so late at night. One thing that people didn't know about him was he for some reason liked going into the woods by himself late at night. Of course why would the prince of hell feel scared when everyone is scared of him .

"Master, im here right before your eyes," Mineko whispered again but this time the voice came from right in front of his face. He then suddenly saw this puny creature hovering mid-air, he rubbed his eyes thinking he was seeing things , but to no avail the creature just hovered.

"Come on guys, what did I tell you about privacy?" he blurted out in frustration thinking his fans were pranking him. But strangely she now speaks louder.

"I'm real master, don't you remember when you were just a child we played hide and seek and the humans didn't believe you when you told them you had a friend." baffled by the words of this creature he finally responds.

"W What are you ? How do you know so much ?" He was a little freaked out. She then began to smirk and with a sudden poof she vanished again. There was a loud echo of her voice which proceeded to warn him . " Stay away from the human bride." was all she echo through the woods and then everything became calm just the sounds of crickets could be heard.

Hw wondered why was he having such weird interactions which didn't even make sense. "Human Bride. Hmmm... i need to research what the heck is all this happening." making a mental note to himself.

That day and the night were both extremely weird and scary for both of them. Things were getting strange every day since she moved to Halstad and began her life here. For Ha-Joon his vacation felt like it was jinxed.

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IF I HOLD YOUR HAND WOULD THE FLAMES ERUPT?

IF I CARESSED YOUR CHEEK WOULD IT BE SCARRED ?

IF I KISSED YOU WOULD IT CHANGE MY BLACKENED HEART?

MY TEARS ARE CRIMSON JUST LIKE MY CRYING HEART.

SHIN HA-JOON