Chapter 1: Of Fractured Minds and Warm Places

“From Sproutland, reporter Jun accompanies us today. Jun, what’s the situation back there?”

“The sudden disappearance of its ruling family has thrown the kingdom into chaos, Yeonji. Factions vie for control, causing localized conflicts. Queen Winter’s cavalry has already taken the palace and its surroundings and many are worried about what that means for us. Sproutland faces a pivotal moment in history.”

“Thank you, Jun. Be careful and keep updating us with the status. For people watching us at home, please stay tuned for updates on this evolving situation.”

➼➼➼

Seungwan

Wong’s Dwelling, Outskirts of The Badlands, Waterland

She would like to say the pain she’s feeling is justified, but she didn’t even remember her name at the moment not even what happened to her. Maybe she was having a heart attack, maybe she had hit her head and couldn’t remember it because of it. 

She’s probably dead. The afterlife seems painful. She’s probably in hell because she feels something hard embedding in her back but at the same time the pain is replaced with something cold. It’s heaven and hell at the same time. 

It smells like rain. She had expected hell to smell like sulfur and copper. Her chest hurts. It’s a deep, rooted pain in her bones. Something grips her at her leg, but her mind is too foggy to even imagine what that can be. 

Suddenly, the movement stops and her leg hits the ground. It hurts her. 

“What were you thinking?”

“I couldn’t let her there. They [...] shot her […] in the chest.” 

“A war’s coming and you brought it to our door!”

They speak in a hushed tone after that, moving her around like she’s a thing and not a person. She gasps when the cold water engulfs her. The bickering stops and someone slaps her across her cheek.

Still, she doesn’t manage to come up with any sound. It was probably to shut her off since they don’t try to hit her again.

“Stop that, you’re gonna […] bruises.”

“She’s worth nothing. Look at her.” 

“She looks like […] disfigured […] princess. I don’t think this body will work.” 

“We can fix her […]. temporarily.”

It’s too cold, she can barely breathe, her chest hurts but she’s not sure if it’s because of the arrow she remembers seeing there or the coldness of the water. She’s sure ice blocks are floating around. She vaguely remembers a lake infested with crocodiles and giant koi fishes. Maybe she’s in there.

She hopes a crocodile will bite her head off first. 

It seems days have passed when she finally opens her eyes. The silence is eerie enough to give her goosebumps. The first thing she notices is where her chest hurts. She looks at the worn-out t-shirt, pulling it down from the collar to check her chest. She has some herbs on it, but the wound is visible in the middle, looking very much infected, black roots crawling out of it, or towards it, she can’t be sure. A scar is already forming over it.

“Hello?” She asks, pushing herself off the hard mattress, the shirt going back to its original position. Her voice sounds raspy and strange. “Is anyone here?”

There’s a door in the back of the room, probably a bathroom. She walks towards it, pushing the door ajar. The first thing she notices is a mirror, and then her reflection in it. There’s a face in there, one she doesn’t recognize. She has long hair past her shoulders, the ends are split and yellow, while the rest of the hair is brownish. She must have been blonde. The length is irregular, probably because of a lack of maintenance. 

She’s pale. She touches her face, running her index finger from her eyebrows to her nose, to end in her collarbones. 

“I see you’ve woken up.” The voice startles her, almost making her slip into the bathroom’s wet tiles. She turns around, watching as the short man approaches her. “You must be confused.” 

She just looks at him, not daring to get closer. 

“I’m Lucas,” he says, handing her a plate with some scrambled eggs and mushrooms. “What’s your name?” 

She doubts if she should receive the plate or not, but her stomach speaks for herself. She ends up taking it, quickly moving past him towards the mattress again. 

“Are you mute?” He insists, putting a glass of orange juice on the table in front of her. “Mmm,” he seems to ponder. “Yeji! Is mute a side effect?” 

The main door is open, showing a very green and alive cornfield. Yeji must be outside. 

“No! Well—!” Yeji interrupts herself, peeking through the door with only her head. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve done that before. It’s possible.”

Seungwan finishes the eggs frantically, taking her time with the mushrooms. 

“I’m not—” she starts, still with half a mushroom in . “I don’t know.”

“Hey, you can speak after all,” Yeji says, disappearing again in the cornfield.

“You don’t know what?” Follows Lucas, sitting across the room. 

“I—I don’t know my name.” 

Lucas seems surprised, but quickly composes himself, silently offering her more juice, to which she gladly nodes. 

“Okay, that is in fact a side effect. Do you remember anything, maybe what happened to you, if you have family or something?”

Seungwans shakes her head, taking a big gulp of juice to push the mushroom down . 

“A side effect of what?” Her curiosity wins. 

Lucas interprets the omission to reply to the rest of his question as a no on her part. 

“Your body and organs were on the brink of death when we found you. The dark magic arrow had not only taken your life but infected and shattered your soul. It was as if parts of you were lost in another realm. We managed to salvage what we could but to fill the gaps left by the missing fragments, we had to use a kind of blank canvas. It was the only way to piece together a semblance of your former self.”

Seungwan just looked at him, dumbfoundedly. 

“Will I ever recover them?”

“Although the soul we reconstructed is not quite the same, you should be able to recover some if not most of them. Others will be lost forever. Let’s just hope it is not your name and identity.” His sincerity feels refreshing as if she had been lied to constantly in her previous life. “Don’t worry, you can choose a name for yourself, and you can also stay as long as you want. It’s just the two of us here. My sister won’t mind.”

“Thanks, Lucas.” 

“Let me show you our farm first and then we can brainstorm together good names for you.”

Seungwan nods, following him outside. 

➼➼➼

Joohyun

The Boiling Point, North Waterland

The road to her new home has been worse than she initially thought. Waterland’s landscape is so rich that some parts are partially submerged, others are tall cities built upon water, others are swamps and the worst of all are quicksands. They can’t just shadow her way through the biggest land of the kingdom. Seulgi’s power is not that strong.

The hardest part is hiding her face. Waterland is so irritatingly hot in most parts, almost like desertic weather, and then some other parts are extremely cold thanks to the water. She’s not sure how long they’ve been walking but she’s pretty sure at least a month has passed since that day. 

She puts her hands on her knees, slightly bending down to recover her breath. 

Seulgi looks back, smiling a little at seeing her like that.

“Hyun, are you serious?” She asks, taking a water bottle out of her backpack and tossing it to the former princess. 

“I barely survived all the way from Sproutland, what did you expect?” 

She doesn’t talk much or mention her past life nowadays, but there are just some days that are harder than others. And that day was one of those when she remembered that she was very much alone in the world. 

“Fair point. When we get to Dead Castle I’ll send you right away to Physical Conditioning 101. I’m sure they have a free place for you now that the war in The Dunes with Sproutland is over.” Seulgi says. “At least something good came out of this.” 

Seulgi is right. Minjeong could be as evil as she wanted, but whatever deal she had made Jimin agree to had worked in Dimland’s people's favor. The cities closer to north-west trenches at the Sproutland’s border were the most benefited. 

Thinking of Minjeong made her heart hurt just as much as thinking of Seungwan, but at least Minjeong was alive, she was just evil, meanwhile, Seungwan had died because of a bad choice, which didn’t make her completely evil. But then, true evilness was hard to find. Things were always more complex than that, and she came to that realization when she watched how Minjeong looked at Jimin and vice-versa. Maybe there was hope for her, but Joohyun wouldn’t be the one to give her that opportunity anymore. They weren’t normal people, Minjeong wasn’t a commoner allowed to make mistakes. She was The Queen, and as so, she would never be able to back down from the choices she made, even if she regretted them. Joohyun was going to hold on to her promise. She would go back, she would take justice by her own hands, and she would avenge her parents. She wanted the whole truth. 

“Hey, you good there?” Seulgi asked, tilting her head to better look at her. “You got lost for a second.” 

“Yea, yea, I’m fine. Just very hot overall, I think I’m gonna faint.”

“This is The Boiling Point, Hyun. A whole extremely thermal river waits ahead of us, so try to resist because this is not even the worst.” 

Seulgi was the only person for her now, but even that wasn’t enough to anchor her to life. Most days her thoughts were dark and tempting. Most nights her mind reasoned with her to just end her suffering, to go to the other realm, to be with her family, with her brother, with her mother, and if possible, with Seungwan. She hoped they had entered heaven, that The Ancient Gods had let them. 

“Let’s keep a quick pace, if we make it to the other side before the sun sets, we can rest in the Northern Gate today and I can treat you to some french fries with mustard, just how you like them. Sounds good?”

Joohyun nods, managing a smile for Seulgi. 

“I would ask how you know what I like, but don’t want to be more creeped out than I am.”

Seulgi laughs, linking their hands together for the rough path ahead, not wanting to lose her in the current ahead. 

The Boiling Point is probably the hottest place on earth. It’s the hottest place she’s been at, at least. It’s mostly a hard surface covered in a lot of volcanic holes in the river bed. The holes resemble a well. The water is too dark to see anything below.

“Look where you step on, some of those wells are even seven meters deep, or more.” 

That makes Joohyun strengthen her hold. At least with that kind of physical effort, the dark thoughts swirling in her mind disappear as long as she’s busy trying not to accidentally die. It’s weird, wanting to die but by your hand, and not by the universe. 

Seulgi stops suddenly, looking briefly at the horizon. From where they are, they can see a small forest at the end, and finally, the Wasteland City where The Northern Gate (a famous tavern slash hotel where they can stay the night). 

“What?” The princess asks. “Did you see something?”

“No, no. Don’t worry. I was thinking that maybe we could… take a shower.”

“Seulgi…”

“What? Don’t look at me like that, we need a bath with urgency.”

That made Joohyun laugh this time. She nods, agreeing. 

“Wouldn’t the water be too hot?”

“Not inside the wells. It’s really cold. Why? I don’t know. This river is the weirdest thing I’ve ever encountered in nature.” 

Joohyun takes her shoes off, scrunching her face with the smell of her wet socks. The shoes are practically brown with how much they’ve walked. She takes her time stripping off her clothes, leaving only the underwear on. Seulgi looks the other way, doing the same. 

The Boiling Point is very weird since it’s called a river, but it’s not really one. It’s like they are standing directly in the river bed, as if the river has dried off and just a stream of water runs through, except for the wells which are full of water. 

“Are you going to get in one of those?” Joohyun murmurs, using the stream to wash her clothes. She also cups the water with her hands, getting rid of the dirt on her legs. 

“Yes, you should too. I can test it first to see if it’s okay for you to enter too.” 

Seulgi quickly tests the waters of the well closer to her. The water moves, a small current below. She slowly dips, holding herself from a rock outside. She manages to get inside up to her shoulders. 

“I can’t touch the ground, but it doesn’t seem dangerous either. The water is warm but not scarring hot. Do you know how to swim?”

The question brings back some memories that Joohyun had buried in the back of her brain and would have preferred if they stayed that way. 

“No, but I can hold the rock too.”

Seulgi helps her get in, making sure she doesn’t slip or hit herself in the process. 

“Is it nice?”

Joohyun nods, holding herself from Seulgi to keep afloat while she partially submerges her head in the water. Her hair is sticky and dirty, and the water won’t be enough to clean it, but it’s the best she’s gonna get right now. She submerges fully with Seulgi’s help, and the peace she feels underwater is magnificent. It makes her forget about her problems for a minute. She could die like this. 

It’s a pattern. She always ends up in the water wishing to die that way, she may as well do it someday. 

Seulgi interrupts her peaceful moment, bringing her back outside. She must have overstayed there because she gasps, trying to get some oxygen inside her lungs. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m better now. The water is really good, but we should probably get going. This bath is just gonna make us sleepy and tired.” 

Seulgi nods, submerging for a few seconds too to wash her hair properly. After she’s finished, she helps Joohyun out and then follows her. 

“The good thing is that we’ll just go straight to bed once we get to the tavern. We really need a good night's sleep.”

The sun is disappearing now on the horizon, so they hurry to get their wet clothes on. Joohyun, a mere mortal, will probably get a cold from it, but it’s refreshing against her warm skin from walking all day under the sun. 

They quickly leave The Boiling Point behind, still careful of the ground. The forest is small enough to cross it in twenty minutes and Seulgi knows the road like the palm of her hand. 

On the other side, Wasteland City stands prominent. It used to be a small village, but it got bigger because of the number of visitors and many outsiders moving in. It’s a tourist-favorite place. The service is a ten out of ten and people mind their own business, which is exactly what Seulgi needs at that moment. Unfortunately, it’s very famous for hosting some minor criminals from all over the land, mostly scammers and thieves, and also some white-collar criminals with many enemies. Since they all needed to hide, the village rapidly turned into a city. 

“Don’t look at anyone's face. Here it’s mostly safe, I just don’t want the bug bounty hunters situation again.”

“I don’t even look as I used to anymore, you’re just being overly paranoid.” The former princess says, with only a t-shirt and her long hair now even longer than before. After so much time without dyeing, her hair has returned to her original dark brown color, almost like chocolate, which is distinctive enough from her old self with her very black hair, which was a Bae’s trait.

In hindsight, she should have known she wasn’t one of them. Now she won’t ever find out the truth, but she kind of prefers it that way. She doesn’t need two strangers to pose as her parents and pretend to care. She could never love nor trust them. Maybe, if she wasn’t a fallen princess, if she was just a commoner, she would have wanted to find out who her biological parents were and how did she end up as the daughter of a queen. However, all the people that could have known were already dead or her enemies, and she wasn’t that desperate to ask the truth from a liar and manipulative person like Minjeong. 

The Northern Gate was far better than Joohyun had imagined. The tavern had a big door open ajar. She could see many people inside along with a whole line that turned around the corner to enter the establishment. 

“That’s the bar entrance,” Seulgi explains, looking at Joohyun’s panicked expression. “The hotel entrance is that one there, and the good thing is that if we stay the night, we have direct access to the exclusive bar zone. We don’t need to wait in line.” 

Joohyun mimics a balloon deflecting. It makes Seulgi laugh. 

“We are going to need money for new clothes and to pay for the food since we only have enough to pay for the night here. Let’s get set in a room and then take your time showering while I go out to find money, okay?”

“Should I even ask where you are getting it from?” She glances worriedly at the assassin. 

“I have my way, don’t worry. I’m an assassin after all, anything less than that is not as bad.” 

They make their way to the hotel reception, and Seulgi arranges things while Joohyun gives her back to the counter, trying to hide her face and also admiring the metallic armor hanging on the wall, along with other trophies. 

“Hyun, let’s go.” Seulgi taps her shoulder to grab her attention. “They were all reserved, but I managed to get us a last-minute room on the last floor. Take this key, and follow straight to the fourth floor. You know the drill. I’ll come back soon.”

“Thanks,” Joohyun says, briefly holding Seulgi’s hand which is still over her shoulder. “I mean it.” 

The assassin knows she doesn’t just mean for the room. 

“Wouldn’t have done it any other way,” Seulgi pats the girl’s head, disappearing through the front door after. 

It scares her to watch her go because it means her dark thoughts come back, and she’s not sure she will be able to stop them when she’s all alone. The oppression in her chest slightly increases, a constant reminder of her situation. She hates it, she hates feeling like that, she hates not being her old self, she wants to be a little more confident, she just wants to have peace. Live somewhere safe, plant potatoes and mushrooms on a farm, have a good life, and keep herself busy to not think of bad things. She just hopes she finds that kind of peace where she goes.