“He needs protection. And I trust you with his life. Because you’re my family.”
Yuna’s lower lip trembled. And just behind her, I saw Taeyang glance over—then quickly look away. They were circling each other like magnets on opposite poles.
Drawn. Bound. Fighting it the whole way down. After a long beat, Yuna nodded.
“I’ll stay,” she whispered. “But if you don’t come back, I’ll find you. And drag you out myself.”
I smiled, pulling her into a hug. Minji joined us a moment later, arms wrapping around both of us. And in that fragile circle, I let myself breathe—for just one moment.
Before I stepped into the unknown.
Sometimes love meant staying behind. Sometimes it meant walking into fire alone… because others needed you to survive the flames.
Rheon
The Weight of Silence
Darkness.
But not the kind I commanded. Not the shadows I shaped with my hands. This was heavier. Tighter. A prison without walls. I drifted in it — weightless, voiceless,powerless. Then I heard it. Faint at first. Muffled. Like sound underwater.
“She’s going to the Demon Realm.”
Seori.
No. No, no, no — she couldn’t.
I tried to move. To wake. To claw my way back to her. But my body was nothing — dust and ash suspended in fire.
I screamed her name in my mind.
Nothing came out.
The bond pulsed in me — wild and uneven, like a wounded animal thrashing against the edge of death. I felt her… distant, but determined.
And I feltfear.Not hers. Mine.
You can’t go there alone, Seori.You don’t know what he’ll do to you. What he’ll see in you. What he’ll take from you…
I could feel the energy gathering around her. The Gate would open soon. My world. My past. The throne I had turned to fire and left in ruin.
And she was walking toward it like a sacrificial lamb with a sword in her hand.
More voices. Distant. Taeyang. Jisoo.Yuna.
They were trying to stop her. But she wouldn’t listen. I knew her too well. She had that fire in her again — the same fire I’d fallen in love with long before I ever admitted it.
The bond between us pulsed again — a searing pain through my chest.
I saw flickers.
The shrine where we kissed.
The moment she touched my mark. The first time I heard her say my name, not like a curse… but like a question she wanted the answer to.
She’s going to die because of you.
That voice… was my father’s. Echoing in my mind.
