Chapter 4: New life

"Sir! There's a survivor here!" A man shouted out. "It's a boy!"

A giant rubble was moved aside as light hit Haru's face.

Haru's eyes flickered open to glance at the light.

The whole place was destroyed.

There was a man trying to get him out as another man was slowly approaching him. There were also various other people in the back.

He noticed a small chunk of ice with a puddle of water around it.

'Mother...'

"Tsk, he must be the son of the two corpses in front of the house. Take him and get him some water and food." The man in a green attire who walked up spoke to the man who dug him out.

"Yes, sir." Haru's consciousness faded away as he glanced at the giant frozen rose with a dark silhouette in the center.

---

"How is the boy?" A man in green attire asked as he flipped through a notebook.

"He's still asleep, sir. But he looks to be healthy. We washed him and changed his clothes." A man, who seemed like a servant, approached the man in green as he responded. "We noticed he had white hair and eyes as we were washing the dirt and dust off of him, could he possibly be from the northern—

"Enough." The man in green cut the servant off. "Focus on his recovery. His identity is not what is important, he is just a little boy after all."

The man in green was Sama Jegal. The last remaining Jegal clan member and the orthodox sect's current head strategist. He had found Haru while chasing the group of assassins who had been murdering people. They managed to track him down to a small rural village where they found the assassins' leader trapped in a giant rose of ice and found Haru while looking for survivors.

The boy was the only survivor at the scene.

"Take him to my residence and get him healed." Sama ordered.

"Understood, sir." The servant bowed as he left the room./

Flip flip

Sama continued to flip through the notebook.

---

Yeonha opened her eyes in a dark room as a small strand of light hit her face. Her hands and legs were shacked down.

"Ah, you're awake." The small man in the corner of the room turned around with a smile.

"Sorry for the rough treatment, but this is a procedure everyone goes through when joining the sect."

"Where... Am I?" Yeonha spoke out weakly. Her entire body felt heavy.

Of course, she had been drugged.

"Don't worry about that. Here, go back to sleep. Everything will be over once you're awake." The man smiled as he brought a tray. He picked up a small syringe as he poked her arm with it before inserting whatever liquid was inside it.

Yeonha noticed a small jar with a bug flowing inside it as she slowly fell back asleep.

"Glory to the sect"

Those were the last words she heard as she fell into darkness.

---

"Ah!" Yeonha opened her eyes and jolted awake. "Where... Am I..."

"Ah, miss. You're awake. We were so worried about you." A woman in a tidy attire quickly approached her before bowing. "Miss...? Who... What..."

"Ah, miss. Do you remember who I am?" The lady smiled as she leaned onto the bed Yeonha was on.

"I... Who are you?"

"Oh no..." The lady frowned. "She seemed to have lost her memories."

"Memories...? Who... Am I?" Yeonha frowned. "I'm Yeonha... Yeonha Jin... I'm Yeonha Jin... Yeonha... I..."

Bzzt

A sharp pain rang inside Yeonha's head as she tried to remember before the lady quickly sat next to her and patted her back.

"Don't worry, miss. Everything is okay now. I'm Shuri Shin, your personal maid. You hit your head on a rock and seemed to have lost your memories. I'm sure they'll slowly come back... I'll help you, so don't worry!" Yeonha looked at the lady named Shuri in confusion as Shuri hugged her.

'Maid...? Memories...?'

Yeonha didn't notice the strange smile on Shuri's face as they hugged, which quickly disappeared as Shuri stood back up. "Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere? Oh, beside your head. You did injure it after all."

Yeonha patted her head and noticed that her head was bandaged. "Ah... No. I think I'm okay..."

"That's good." Shuri smiled as she handed Yeonha a cup of water. "Drink this, it's crucial that you recover quickly."

Yeonha received the cup as she continued to remember, but a sharp pain kept on disturbing her thoughts. "Who am I?"

"You said it yourself. You're Yeonha." Shuri smiled.

"I know my name. I asked who I am." Yeonha glared at Shuri.

"Ah, sorry miss. You're..." Shuri made a creepy smile as she looked dead into Yeonha's eyes. "The daughter of our heaven."

"Heaven...?" Yeonha looked at Shuri in confusion. "A daughter of heaven? Did I fall down from the sky or something?"

"Haha, you're as funny as ever." Shuri smiled. "Perhaps, but that's not what I meant."

"Then what—"

"My, my... you really forgot everything. Even about your father." Shuri looked at her in sadness.

"My father...?" An image of a man's silhouette flashed past her head, followed by another sharp pain. A much worse one. "Argh!"

"Ah, that's not good. The wound hasn't fully healed yet..." Shuri looked at Yeonha in worry.

"Who... is my father? And where am I?" Yeonha glanced at Shuri in pain as she asked.

"My, my..." Shuri shook her head.

"Miss. Your father is our savior, our heaven, and our everything. Demons roar and the world trembles in his wake, and he is..." Shuri glanced at the strange symbol of a black dragon in the wall. "The Cheonma... The heavenly demon..."

'Cheonma...?' Yeonha looked at Shuri in confusion.

"Welcome to the Heavenly Demonic Sect, miss." A cold smile crept up Shuri's face as she looked back at Yeonha.