Soon his body was at the surface of sand. The moment he opened his eyes, above him was the clear blue sky more vivid than ever before. He woke up engulfed in full oblivion; in front of him lay the view of the endless roaring sea. The cool waves were licking his feet, fizzing and bubbling like brine. The man stood still, facing the soft breeze inhaling the briny aroma. The melody of tides washing the shore was soothing and soporific to his ears.
Lost in the tranquillity of gentle hue of gold beneath feet, cold onshore breeze blew humming a serene melody across his ears and adoring the gurgling and the gushing of the waves, a sudden giggle brought him back to his senses.
He turned around in precocity only to find his wife and daughter beaming with smiles looking at him. The little girl immediately grabs her father’s hand, interlinking their fingers and clin
He approached Si-ri but all words escaped his mouth when Si-ri walked toward him. She lashed out at him; her voice faltering. With tears brimming her eyes, “Get lost.”Min-ho felt shattered seeing Si-ri in tears because of him. He placed his hand on her shoulder, his voice lowered to a whisper, “Si-ri, listen to me, please.”She hurled his hand off her shoulder in disgust, making Min-ho lose his balance on the edge of the waterfall. He looked down in despair as if his end was coming. Suspended in the air he closed his eyes and fell into the pond.A sudden sound of splatter echoed alarming Si-ri. She turned around but couldn't find Min-ho.“Min-ho!” She screamed at the top of herlungs in panic. But sadly, there was no response. She continued shoutingout loud, the pain evident in her voice. The tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down her face. Adrenaline was rushing through her as he
In the palacePrince Jian’s condition was getting dreadful. He even started to see dark shadows in daylight. He felt the dark shadows cohering with him all the time and also felt them sucking his energy out of him like a parasite. He could see everything clearly, how the shadows move as though they had a life of their own, watching him and shifting with his movements. Spirits lurked in the shadows, watching him.Talking about his appearance, he looked like a living skeleton. His once handsome fair skin and bright eyes had now become pale, swollen and barren ones. He was living in terror and spoke in a tremulous voice.Jian often yammered about a wild cry disturbing the silence of the night and eventually shrunk in horror. His tone grew thrillingly distinct as he whispered to Ruyi about the disfigured bodies roaming around him and glaring at him with hatred.“Ruyi! Ruyi! They are coming here, please hold me. Don't leave me!&rdq
When people were mourning around Prince Jian’s body, a black shadow made its way from his nostril, and in a fraction of seconds, people encountered the most unnatural phenomena of their lives. Prince Jian woke up. The people around him couldn't believe their eyes even Ruyi and King Eun were in a state of utter shock. Deep down they were happy to see him alive but the question arises here, how? How did he come back to life when he had been declared dead by the physicians? Silence creeped around the room. The king gestured to the physician to check him. He reluctantly read Prince Jian’s pulse and to his surprise everything seemed fine. In fact, there were no signs of illness, he was cured. “Your Majesty! It's indeed a miracle. The Crown Prince has not only come back to life but has also defeated his illness. He just needs some rest.” The royal physician informed the king. The queen looked at her son alive and her expression was priceless. She ra
Isuel was crying, her heart settled low at the cavity of her chest. The grief and guilt in her heart spread through her body like a poison burning in her veins. The harsh reality exposed to her like a slap that eventually made her realise her sin. She walked to her room with heavy footsteps and flopped down on her bed.She closed her eyes and allowed her to drown into the memory of that fateful night.One lady and her son were standing in front of her. The lady was clueless what was happening or why they were summoned by the queen until she saw her daughter. Min-shi, that poor girl was begging to not to drag her family and to spare their lives.Mi-sook ordered the two to be killed. Horrified by the order, the lady started begging for their lives, her little son whose tooth was yet to come, hid behind her mother shivering in fear looking at the sword near their neck. All of a sudden, the loud groaning stopped and in no time the ground was flooded with the blood o
Princess Ruyi followed Jian as it was obvious that he was going toward the garden but to Ruyi’s shock he walked to the last chamber; the shaman’s chamber. She couldn't enunciate her mind what Jian was doing in that shaman’s chamber. From the day Ruyi arrived at the palace she never liked that shaman, nothing personal but it was Mi-sook’s dark aura that always made her insecure. Ruyi followed Jian, being suspicious.Jian arrived unannounced at Mi-sook’s chamber. Mi-sook came to him and said, “I have given you this body of Prince Jian, you must always be grateful to me. You can get what you want but be careful, the moment you disappoint me I’ll send you back to your place again.”“Don't worry, I won’t disappoint you,” said Jian."Twenty years of planning and suffering has finally come to an end. I’ll demolish this royal family soon."Ruyi was in tears when she learnt that
He nodded and left. Ruyi quickly hid herself behind a wall.Ruyi had just discovered Mi-sook’s secret. It was shocking yet frightful, she became restless, her eyes were opened wide due to an utter flick, as if the whole world was breaking and crumbling apart around her. Just there she stood quite in total paralysis, lost in thoughts of who has been the most hapless, pitiable and miserable person in all this case Mi-sook, Nabi, Prince, Jian, Jian’s parents or Ruyi herself. She knew one thing that she must inform the Emperor about Mi-sook’s conspiracy before it's too late.Meanwhile, Lord Yong and the Emperor were having a secret meeting at the hall. They were in the middle of their conversation and a sudden sound of rushing footsteps disrupted them. Suddenly, a loud slam of the door made both of them sit up, startled. To their surprise, it was Ruyi.Ruyi breathed as if no air would ever be enough, as if she were a drowning victim suddenly brough
Just when Lord Yong and the king felt relieved by releasing the prince's soul, Mi-sook took hold of her dagger and stabbed Lord Yong, and said, while standing beside him, “I am not afraid of death. I am only afraid to see you slayers living happily. I’ll destroy your whole lineage. I’ll come back again.” With this she again stabbed the old man, making him fall in the darkness, hurtling to the floor. Mi-sook fled from the palace by killing the guards. The king felt devastated looking at Lord Yong. He summoned a royal physician and said in a concerned voice, “You must save his life, do whatever you want but save him.” “Your Majesty! He is already suffering from excessive blood loss plus he is too old to handle the injury. It is difficult to save him,” said the royal physician. Lord Yong asked in a stuttering voice to call Nyang. He had something important to tell him regarding her daughter. The king sent his guards to inform Nyang. He held Lord
“I knew about his condition, brother Nyang told me about him. Yes, I am sad hearing about his death but I never felt any affection toward him as we never met. He didn't even know my existence; he was like a stranger to me. But still, it would be an arduous state for everyone in Noam, especially for his parents. Noam again became heirless. I can feel their pain, as everything they did was to give an heir to Noam and now, he is gone. It's really heart wrenching.” Si-ri said in a weak voice.Just then Si-ri saw Nyang walking towards the cave. Nyang looked tired as if he hadn't gotten any sleep since several nights. When Si-ri got the clear image of his face she became scared. His eyes were swollen and his overall appearance was inkling that something terrible had happened.Nyang stood mute in front of Si-ri looking at the ground. Si-ri’s heart was thumping fast looking at Nyang’s bizarre demeanour. She came close to him and asked him apprehensively
So, this was the tale of a cursed girl who finally earned her freedom. The journey of this prisoned girl was not easy. She never knew that lifting the curse would cost her to lose her loved ones. The story depicts the dominance and vigour of a curse. No matter how much you try to escape or seek resilience, the curse will destroy you. Just like the queen lost her beloved son as a result of her own misdeed. How can we forget Mi-sook, the nasty shaman who had authored the heart wrenching and destructive saga of pain with the pen of her vengeance. The moment the curse lifted it backfired Mi-sook. She too met with the same agony that she once had chosen for Min-shi, the poor girl. Along with the twins, Min-shi cursed her to die a painful death by the backfire of her own dark art that she always used for her banausic deeds. Nyang too stabbed her at last. Her corpse didn't even get a proper cremation, maybe her rotten carcass was destined to be the food for the cluster of dea
“Don't worry your son will be alright. You just need to give him this energy on a regular basis until he recovers completely,” Si-ri assured the poor man about his son’s health.The man thanked her for healing his son’s long-term disease and blessed Si-ri with all his heart.Si-ri stretched and stifled a yawn. “Huh, quite a busy day.” She walked towards the window to grab some fresh air. Upon opening the window, she felt the sharp coldness of the winter breeze. She inhaled the crisp, cool air. In no time, the snowflakes started pouring from the sky. Her breath became feeble against the numbing air but she rather enjoyed it, she blinked thoughtfully as the frost patiently kissed her face, captivated by the soft, dusty illusions of light that sat heavy on her eyelashes. She adored the snow, more so when it was falling and unshackled her hands to play with the snow. After a few minutes, she lifted her eyes to the sky and smiled.
Five years laterRuyi runs in the castle’s corridor with a smile on her face, with absolute grace.“Catch me if you can!” she says and continues running.“No wait mommy, mah shoelace!” the young boy who was running behind Ruyi says and stops running making a puppy face.Ruyi stops and sighs before smiling at the boy while bending down to tie his laces. She kisses him on the cheek and says, “Rian, now enough of playing. It's time for your studies. Come.”Rian was the apple of Ruyi’s eye, he was an adorable little tot who resembled both Ruyi and Jian. The castle that was once haunted with the wave of miseries and silence, now echoed with the lively giggling of the little Crown Prince. The little boy once again brought the palace and its people back to life with his bright smile. The Emperor and Empress find their lost son in the face of
Si-ri and Nyang cremated Min-ho’s body near the cherry blossom tree. Two days had passed, since she had last eaten or slept. She used to cry all day and night sitting in a corner. Nyang tried his best to placate her to gulp downthe bitter truth but she just was too numb and fragile. She was craving to meet Min-ho.She soon made a sleep potion for herself in hope that Min-ho would probably come to see her in her dream and consumed the potion. The potion worked well and Si-ri finally fell asleep. She fell asleep in this world only to awake or enter a whole new world. The World of…dreams.Si-ri’s POV“I opened my eyes to a whole new place. I could see the sky was painted in red and orange hues, that's really odd. But the place is engulfed in a weird tranquillity and silence. I looked around everywhere and found a giant and quaint door. Hesitantly, I moved forward and pushed the door with all my force an
Next eveningNyang came back to the shrine. He was positive that he had lost the piece of paper somewhere.“This day is going to be the last day of my life. It'sgood I decided to pay a visit to all my dear ones. I just can’t let years of my master’s hard work go in vain. He was everything to me. I owe him my life. I’ll sacrifice my life for him. So that he’ll get peace,” Nyang mumbled in thought.Min-ho greeted him. Nyang noticed a little weirdness in Min-ho’s expression but in the heat of nervousness he just ignored his thoughts.The nightfall brought a welcomingcoolness yet the feeling of fear was present in all three of them. Even though the sky was glittering with the twinkling stars and the shining moon, for Si-ri it looked gloomy. She wasrestless and somewhere still battling with the negative thoughts lingering in her mind. On the other hand, Min-ho and Nyang sat outside si
Nyang became agitated when he couldn't find the torn out piece of the Devil’s book that he and Lord Yong kept secret from Si-ri. He was not concerned about losing the piece of paper; he was more concerned about Si-ri knowing the whole truth. Lord Yong never wanted Si-ri to learn about the last part of the solution to lift the curse; he knew that if she found out, she would sacrifice her life.“What are you looking for, brother?” Si-ri asked, after noticing Nyang in jittery.“Nothing special, sister.” He saw Min-ho coming. “Min-ho is here, I need to go home for some urgent work. I might come back by tomorrow,” Min-ho greeted Nyang with a smile and told him that he is certain that the boy will be cured. “That’s nice. I’m heading to the town, so you two need to be more cautious," he said beforeheading to the forest.Min-ho came closer to Si-ri. “Finally, we are alone,” Min-ho said,
Nyang and Min-ho told Si-ri the whole incident of the boy and his sufferings.“Do you have any remedy for that? Can you treat that boy?” asked Nyang.“I can treat him, I guess. I have read about astral awakening and activation in the book of the devil.”“If that boy is not treated immediately, he may undergo a lot more disastrous experience. The bright lights coming from every personis called aura, every object on the earth emits an aura and this will become a hurdle for him to see faces; he'll only be seeing bright colours of people and not their faces. Without any spiritual teacher this type of activation or building connections to other worlds can harm the person. The novice performer of preternatural knowledge can get stuck between the never-ending phenomena of phantom cognition. This will always be followed by sharp pains and almost constant headaches. Without having complete comprehension, aggravating and infuriating occ
Three days laterThe palace had become aware of itself, of the misery that echoed within the walls.In the morning, sitting in front of the mirror, Ruyi looked at her insipid face. The face, which now lacked freshness, radiance and most importantly a smile. The smudged kohl had left a dark hue beneath her gloomy eyes. She stared at her reflection for a minute thinking. She now no longer had a reason to dress up well as there was no one to adore her now. It made her happy to doll up for Jian, every day. But he is gone now and so was her reason to primp and preen too.While recalling his last words, she came to know that he wrote a letter for Ruyi. She started looking for that letter and pounced up at her jewellery boxes to find the letter. Finally found a piece of paper. She opened it with her shuddering hands.ToMy Love, RuyiToday I felt like writing something for you, as day by day my condition is worsening. Even now
“I knew about his condition, brother Nyang told me about him. Yes, I am sad hearing about his death but I never felt any affection toward him as we never met. He didn't even know my existence; he was like a stranger to me. But still, it would be an arduous state for everyone in Noam, especially for his parents. Noam again became heirless. I can feel their pain, as everything they did was to give an heir to Noam and now, he is gone. It's really heart wrenching.” Si-ri said in a weak voice.Just then Si-ri saw Nyang walking towards the cave. Nyang looked tired as if he hadn't gotten any sleep since several nights. When Si-ri got the clear image of his face she became scared. His eyes were swollen and his overall appearance was inkling that something terrible had happened.Nyang stood mute in front of Si-ri looking at the ground. Si-ri’s heart was thumping fast looking at Nyang’s bizarre demeanour. She came close to him and asked him apprehensively