Chapter 2: The Masked Guardian

 

          I kept running and running, fighting over the numbness I’m feeling on my legs. My heart pounded crazy, and my breaths are getting louder and louder. I can hear the noises from left to right, swallowing us within this deserted park.

          People screaming.

          Cars crashing.

          Buildings falling.

          Why now? Why now when we are miles away from the evacuation center?

          “Subin? It’s happening again!” Sunmi cried out. I stopped on my tracks and panted. “Baby, we’re gonna be okay. You’re with me, so we’ll be fine,” I replied, more like trying to say to myself. “What about mom?” She asked, already crying, as I felt her tears drop on my neck.

          Mom…I hope she’s okay. Please, please, please let her be okay.

          “She’s probably in the evacuation center right now waiting for us. So please stay strong for mom, okay?” I assured. She wiped away her tears and nodded.

          I can feel Sunmi shaking…or maybe that’s me. I am scared. So scared. But I don’t want Sunmi to think that. I need to be strong and brave for her. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, composing myself. Think, Blaise, think!

          And then it hit me.

          I spun around almost immediately and left the stone pathway. I ran towards each tree, trash bins, and park benches, desperately looking for a symbol. A symbol that would keep us safe. The symbol of the triple moon goddess.

 

---

 

          “Great job Subin! Let’s take a break for now.”

          The boss made a somewhat obstacle course in his backyard, and my goal is to cross it without making a single sound.

          I let out a huff and crossed my arms, “I told you, my name is Blaise!” I declared. One and a half year have already passed since I met the boss. I have been training and stealing under his guidance throughout those months.

          “Oh come on. It’s just the two of us anyways,” he said as he reached for a face towel from a cupboard. He threw one at me and plopped on the sofa. “You’re getting better and better every day. You’re a natural at this.”

          I wiped the sweat across my face and grinned proudly.

          “You’re light on your feet, which makes it easy for you to sneak on others. However, you cannot always guarantee a perfect performance all the time,” he looks at me sternly. It’s as if he is speaking from experience, or maybe he is.

          “There are plenty of outside factors that can disrupt the plan, and if that happens in the middle of your mission, how will you escape?”

          I pondered for a moment. All of the boss’ plans and strategies are foolproof, and I execute them skillfully, so it never occurred to me on what I will do when a plan fails. “I guess I’ll just have to hide and wait for the people to leave,” I shrugged.

          “That’s a good plan. But won’t it be better if you escape right away?”

          “How?”

          He reached out for a pen and paper from the side table and doodled something. When he was satisfied with his drawing, he flipped the paper and handed it to me. It was a drawing of a full moon with a waxing and waning crescent on its sides.

          I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at him. He laughed at my reaction and took the paper again. “This is the symbol of the triple moon goddess,” he said. “After the second war, Phobos suffered a great defeat. The leaders of the newly formed moon guardians decided to build underground tunnels for them to move around without being caught by the enemies.”

          “What? Really?” I asked, widening my eyes. “The entrance to those tunnels are spread everywhere; every house, store, school, parks, and more,” he explained further. “This symbol indicates that there is an entrance to a tunnel. With a slight push, the entrance will open, and the moon guardians can run around without being detected by the enemies.”

          “Well, they don’t use it anymore as far as I know, because the numbers of moon guardians are growing,” he shrugged.

          “How did you know those things?” I asked again. He looked afar and stayed silent for a moment. “Is that an eagle?” He squinted his eyes and pointed at the sky. “What? Where?” I spun around to where he was looking and looked at the sky. “Too late. Let’s practice again, shall we?”

 

---

 

          I kept looking and looking. Desperation is all over my body. I feel like my body is floating, getting farther and farther away from safety. If Sunmi is confused with what’s happening to me, she doesn’t show it and just stayed quiet.

          The wind around us is getting stronger. It’s like it’s us towards death. But I need to stay strong. For mom. For Sunmi.

          No.

          Not here.

          No. No.

          Then I felt something along the thick roots of this big tree.

          I feel my heart bursting upon looking at the triple moon goddess symbol embedded on one of the roots, covered by dirt and soil. “Yes!” I shouted. I let go of Sunmi and gasped for air that I have been dreading. “Sunmi, we’re gonna hide for a while, okay? And then we’ll go back to mom when all of this is over.”

          Holding back her tears, she nodded at me in response. When I was about to push the symbol, I felt something hard knock me off balance. I rolled on the ground and hit a tree with my back. I hear ringing in my ears and my vision suddenly became blurry.

          “Well, well, well. What a cute family we have here,” I heard someone say. I felt a chill on my spine as I realized what has happened…an enemy saw us. I blinked away the blurriness and saw Sunmi on the ground next to me, unconscious.

          I immediately looked at enemy and gritted my teeth at him, “What the did you just do?” He smirked at my expression and showed a small tornado-like structure from the top of his palm. “Oh my! I only used 50 percent of my wind to knock you two off,” he replied. “I didn’t realize that it would kill your sister,” he laughed loudly.

          The thought of Sunmi dead made my blood boil. I stood up and walk around Sunmi, shielding her in the process. “Awww, big sister to the rescue,” he jeered. His shrilly voice is starting to get annoying, and his ugly face is not helping at all.

          I tried to conjure my power…my fire. But nothing is coming out. I felt myself trembling even more. “You’re so boring. Why don’t you come up to me with your power?” He said, still smirking. A rush of anger filled my body. I immediately ran towards him and tackled him to the ground.

          This momentarily stopped him from conjuring his power. “What the-“

          I started punching him with all my might before he pushed me away with his wind and hit another tree. This time, I hit my head pretty hard.

          “You sneaky little . You will pay for this!” He shouted angrily. He raised up both of his arms, and trash bins, benches and leaves started to spin around the sky. I widened my eyes at the scene and tried to move, but my body won’t let me

          “I’ll kill you first then finish off your sister,” he sneered.

          Suddenly, a blast of fire appeared and hit his side. The things that were floating dropped on the ground, and a soda even hit the enemy on the head. He started to panic and tried to extinguish the fire with his wind.

          I looked towards the left side and saw a guy wearing a black mask running towards us. He has a gold band around his left arm with a crescent moon symbol. A moon guardian!

          He locked eyes with me for a second before blasting another round of fire towards the enemy. This moon guardian is a pyro, like me. His fire looks so magnificent that I can’t help but stare at it. He has total control of it since the blast is only hitting the enemy and not the surrounding trees.

          Amidst the fight, I heard a low grunt from my right side. It’s Sunmi! Despite the dizziness that I’m feeling, I crawled my way towards her and cradled her in my arms. “Baby! Are you okay? Please open your eyes for me,” I choked as my tears started to fall on her dirty cheeks.

          “Subin?” She said hoarsely. She slow opened her eyes and coughed. “Oh gods! Thank you,” I bit my lower lip and hugged her tightly.

          I looked back and saw the Deimosian on the ground, with bruises and all, holding up both hands in surrender. This is our chance to escape. I immediately carried Sunmi and ran towards the tree where the symbol is.

          “Where do you think you’re going?”

          I turned my head towards them, and as if it’s in slow motion, I saw a park bench flying towards us. I turned my back towards it, waiting for an impact, but instead heard a crashing sound to a tree. I looked back and saw the moon guardian holding up one arm to our side and another arm blasting a rage of fire to the enemy.

          I hid Sunmi’s face in my chest so that she won’t see the gruesome vision next to us and hurried over to the tree. I crouched down towards the roots of the tree and tried to push the symbol but nothing is happening. ! What now?

          “How did you know about that?” I heard a voice say behind me. I abruptly turned around and came face to face with the moon guardian. Behind him, I saw the blackened corpse of the Deimosian, making me shudder in my place.

          From this range, I can see that this moon guardian is young, probably even the same age as me. He has a jet black hair and piercing eyes. He is panting heavily through his mask, and beads of sweat rolled over his face.

          “Uh…”

          A loud blast.

          More people screaming.

          “Never mind,” he groaned. He crouched down more and pushed the symbol harder. A hole started to open from the ground, big enough for one person to go down. There is a ladder connecting the top towards the bottom of the tunnel.

          “No one’s been using this for years now so the buttons are a bit rusty,” he explained sternly. “Here, take this. It’s a bit cold down there,” he said as he removed the jacket wrapped around his waist and handed it to me.

          “Stay safe.”

          He looked at me once more and started running off towards the direction of the noise.

          I watched as his figure gets smaller and smaller the farther away he goes. I looked at the hole on the ground and placed my feet on the first step of the ladder. “I’ll go first and then I’ll support you on your way down okay?” I said to Sunmi as I started to climb down.

          I dropped to the ground with a thud, and dust particles flew in the air. “Okay Sunmi! Your turn!” I shouted. This tunnel isn’t that deep, so when Sunmi reached the fifth step, I can already touch her waist.

          When she is finally on the ground, the entrance above us suddenly closed shut and torches placed on the wall on both sides started to light up one by one. With the help of the light, I can see that this tunnel goes in different directions. It’s like we’re in a maze.

          I felt Sunmi’s small hands in mine. Her hands feel cold and is visibly trembling. I let go of her hands for a while and wrapped the jacket given to me by the moon guardian around her shoulders. “It’s cold down here. Use that to keep yourself warm,” I said as I smile at her and held her hand again.

          “What about you?”

          “You’re big sis is a pyro remember? I always keep myself warm,” I lied. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I can’t conjure my power right now. She smiled at my response and pulled the collar near her neck.

          From the side, I can see a name scribbled on it.

          Taehyung.