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dat-town · 1 year

Text

ignisum

Characters: thief!Intak & princess!OC (Gaeul)

Setting & genre: fantasy, adventure - basically Sinbad, Pirates of Caribbean, Prince of Persia vibes

Summary: The Princess of Ignisum has to work together with a lowly thief in order to save her kingdom, but she never expected what would come with meeting Hwang Intak.

Warnings: murder, blood, mythological monsters, poisoning, court politics, messy world building including a magic system that probably doesn't make sense, romance is a side-plot sorry

Words: 24.5k

Author’s note: this is mess (pacing? i don't know her) but i loved writing every moment of it (i probably got into it a bit too much while doing the world building but anyways...)

this is for @restlessmaknae and @lily-blue, my biggest supporters and hype women, thanks for loving the idea of it and helping me (unknowingly) brainstorm for this! take this as a pre-xmas gift <3

PROLOGUE

Respect Death and you can wield its power. Because Death serves those who do not fear it.

Gaeul's mother had always told her that she could only be a good assassin if she was quick, precise and merciless. An excellent assassin however knew the difference between mercy and respect; they did not prolong death, their arrows and knives and poisons killed without unnecessary torture. They were the messengers of the God of Death, not just plain murderers.

So the girl had seen many deaths, caused almost as many despite her young age but she had never killed without a reason. She had her purpose, everybody in the kingdom had according to her father. Be it small or big, whether you were a soldier on the front or a breadmaker within the capital city's walls, whether you were in the shadows or out in plain sight, whether you were able to manipulate fire or not, Ignisum gave you a purpose and a reason to be a part of its society. For some, it gave multiple ones. For Gaeul, she was her father's daughter first and an assassin second but she could never be one without the other.

Ignisum was a nation of war, of blood and metal; they had the biggest army on the continent consisting of men and women both between the ages of 16 and 46 and they were feared for a reason. Yet, fear did not stop the other kingdoms from sending spies into their lands.

"We found this one snooping around in the royal arsenal. He doesn't talk but I'm sure he didn't come alone," the general said as his men dragged a masked fellow to the middle of the throne room. Gaeul took a good look at him, at the way he held his body, the way he held fearless eye contact and she knew there was no way they could scare him with threats. He was trained and he looked ready to die for his cause, so his comrades could run away. She both respected and loathed his kind.

"This is your last chance to save your pitiful life," the king tilted his head on his throne, looking at the captured man, his voice firm and strict like always. "Tell us who you came with and what for; then I will spare your life."

The spy did not even think or weigh his options, he spat towards the royalty. His hasty action made every guard alert and raise a sword at him. This kind of disrespect earned at least a cut tongue according to the laws. But this was not a usual case, his existence and knowledge about the kingdom were dangers they could not let themselves have. So when the king of Ignisum nodded at Gaeul without a word, it was a clear sign of command.

It only lasted a few seconds, no longer, before the man fell to the ground, lifeless in the pool of his own carmine blood. Instead of his tongue, he got his neck sliced.

The silver dagger felt light in Gaeul's hand. The blood dripping down from it not so much but she kept looking ahead, waiting for the next order. Around her nobody was fazed. Examples had to be set, punishments had to be done.

"I'm afraid that rumors are circulating about our magic. If other kingdoms found out that we have left the favor of the God of Fire–"

"We have bigger problems than them knowing," the king interrupted his most trusted advisor as he spared one last glance at the dead man in the room. Then he turned towards the candles burning only a few steps from him. "If the fire burns out, our people will suffer. We have built this kingdom with and on fire, without that it would turn into nothing but ash."

Ignisum was one of the natural kingdoms of the continent. They were said to be the descendants of the deity that gave people the fire and they were proud of it. Those who could control the flames were called sparkweavers and they were given high status in the army as well as a noble place in the society. But even those who could not handle fire like others had put everything on the essence of what their home was: an oasis in the middle of a hot desert where fire gave them light and energy, food and money… life. People did not know yet but it was all at risk because a god's anger was not easy to appease.

"We should make it up to the God of Fire by presenting a great sacrifice at the Gate of Gods," suggested one of the elders and his words were followed by silence until the the royal adviser spoken up tentatively:

"But… nobody made it back alive from there."

It was true. Gaeul had never heard of anyone who headed towards the gods' realm and then came back to tell all about it. She wasn't the only one who thought that way because all of them turned to the soft-spoken soldier who suddenly protested:

"Rumour has it that there is someone. A boy had been bragging about his adventures in some taverns lately. His descriptions are said to be rather accurate as far as we know."

"He's probably lying, just another attention-seeker," Gaeul scoffed, which earned her a reprimanding look from the man on the throne.

"Still, if that's what he claims he's our best chance. We cannot just sit around and wait," the king sighed, heavy and concerned. He paused for a few seconds to contemplate before he gave orders to his people: "Summon the boy to the palace and arrange a meeting. My daughter will talk with him about this while I handle the spy situation. Offer money for him if he leads us to the Gate and back safely. In case he lied, he will be the first one to become fish food."

At the wave of his hand, everybody bowed and left the throne room, complying with his words. The king's commands were non-negotiable, Gaeul did not even try to prove her side. She was her father's daughter after all.

The Princess of Ignisum.

ON THE LAND OF FIRE

Based on the rumors described by their soldiers and because apparently he did not know the meaning of discretely, it was easy to locate the boy who claimed to have visited the Gate of Gods before. However, he did not respond to the king's official summoning. The messenger said that the commoner laughed in his face when he told him about the audience with the royal family. So here they were: paying him a visit themselves in Cinderport, planning to retrieve him by force if it was necessary.

Gaeul sat on her heels on the top of one of the shabby buildings because from there she had an excellent view at the tavern where the boy was known to be a regular. Sure, she could have rented a private room and waited for her people to let her know about their target's arrival but be it an assassination task or a more peaceful kind like this, the princess liked to be on the frontline. She preferred not relying on others if she didn't have to, so seeing for herself was what she was usually aiming for. Not to mention, based on his previous behavior she doubted he would have been cooperative enough to come to her. Lucky for him, Gaeul did not think it was lowly of her to go up to any of her subjects.

She was looking around on the streets, taking note of the area where this boy was spending his days. It was a town close to the sea, the salty smell of vast water and the aroma of fish was distinct in the air. Shouts of dock laborer workers and old ladies from the market nearby offering their goods could be heard clearly despite the morning time. Otherwise the streets were quiet and empty, only a handful of people stepped in and out of the tavern at this hour. Gaeul doubted the boy would be an early-riser like them but she didn't want to miss him by chance based on an assumption she made without foundation. It took half a day on horse to get to the seaside town from the castle in Candentiae, so the princess refused to go back empty handed. Even if the boy turned out to be a liar like she suspected, at least she would have the satisfaction of throwing him into the sea if he didn't confess by himself.

Eventually it took a few hours but a boy like the described Hwang Intak – tall and slender, messy dark hair, dirt on slightly sun-kissed skin – showed up. Gaeul leaned over the edge of the building, alert, watching every move of his as he walked down the street proud and confident as if he owed it… and stole a plaid bread from the corner bakery's stall as he did. The girl tilted her head, thinking. There was a slim chance that he knew the owner of that place but she would have liked to think that she recognized a thief if she saw one and the thought almost made her snort out loud. A thief and a liar; she had warned her father.

Gaeul stood up, signaling her people to enter the tavern one by one just like how they had planned before. They still had a task to finish even if she thought she knew the outcome already. She was the last one to enter and the smell of sike hit her immediately as well as the low murmurs and chatters of the guests. Her glance shifted from one corner to another, looking for the boy but he was nowhere to be seen. Luckily, nobody spared her a glance in the meantime which meant that she wasn't standing out too much in her loose sand-coloured tunic over underpants, her hooded vest and leather boots. This was what she usually wore for missions as it was comfortable and made it easy to blend in. Only those who looked close saw how well kept and clean she was, clear signs of her high status, not to mention her accessories with the royal family's symbols.

The princess squinted her eyes, exchanging a look with one of her men when somebody suddenly bumped into her, their shoulders brushing with a force that knocked her back a bit.

"Ah, sorry, my bad," the stranger reached out to steady her by the arm as if she needed any help with regaining her balance. But it wasn't what irked her the most, it was the charming smile the boy shot her way as he pulled back. As if she would have fallen into the trap of something like that!

"Stop," she said, her authoritative tone revealing that she was indeed used to ordering others around, and the steadiness of her hand was a clear sign that it wasn't the first time she did something like this: holding her dagger to someone's throat at their first meeting. Her men knew not to interfere either. "Give it back."

"What? Oh, you mean this?" the boy cheerfully raised her golden bracelet at eye level, seemingly not affected by the blade at his neck at all.

"It's worth more than your life, so don't try me," Gaeul warned, applying extra pressure, so the edge would cut into his skin just slightly. But the thief still had the nerve to smile as if he was having the time of his life.

"Sure, you can have it… if you tell me why you're following me," he gave an ultimatum as if he was in the winning position to negotiate. He pulled back, his mouth still crooked, and flopped down onto a chair by an empty table, dropping the accessory onto its top. When the girl reached for it however, he put his dirty hands back on it.

Gaeul didn't even need to ask how he knew she was following him, her challengingly raised eyebrows said it all. Although they weren't very subtle about entering the place since it wasn't the point, it would have been a very far stretched guess from anyone to say she followed them. Based on this logic anybody could be suspicious, should have been since she wasn't alone, so the boy either had a good guess or he was paranoid. Or he just had good informants…

"Did you think Keeho wouldn't tell me that a pretty girl he hadn't seen around before has been asking about me?" Intak huffed, leaning back in his chair, seemingly satisfied that he managed to surprise the girl. In the meantime, she couldn't help but wonder whether the so-called Keeho, the owner of this shabby little tavern, would have told him even if his men asked around about him.

"And shouldn't you know better than to be so… unafraid around pretty girls with knives?" Gaeul asked, deciding to play it off just as casually as the boy did. She sank the top of her dagger into the table with an elegant throw before taking a seat, crossing one leg over the other, not taking her eyes off her newest target but still feeling the gazes upon them. Not just her own partners but the guests of the tavern were lingering around them curiously and cautiously.

"If you wanted me dead, you wouldn't have come here. Too many witnesses," the thief reasoned, way too sure of himself and way too pleased with that annoying smirk playing on his pink lips and mischief glinting in his brown eyes. "So it means that you want something from me."

Gaeul hated that there was logic in his words. Even though she didn't care about the audience, she could have poisoned him without anyone knowing if she wanted, it was true that she liked to do the dirty work from the shadows, not leaving traces so obvious behind her. Though, unfortunately he was right about the second part: she did need something from him even if she didn't like it.

"People say you went to the Gate of Gods and came back," she remarked, her tone clearly giving way for doubts. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tilted her head at the boy. He didn't look trained nearly enough to make such a journey. So he was either a very, very lucky guy or a simple liar.

"Oh, I wouldn't have thought you like adventure stories."

There he was prolonging time, flashing that charming smile to distract her, but pity for him, she could play this game too. She smiled slyly.

"Maybe I will like yours," she raised a brow challengingly. "So tell me; why did you go there and how did you make it back when nobody else did before?"

Hwang Intak looked like the type of guy who liked to boast about his achievements even if they were fake, that was why the rumors circulated so easily. He wanted to be known for this and somebody like him would have never turned down the chance to brag. Or at least Gaeul thought so.

"Well… if you're so curious, I guess I could tell you," the thief hummed but the curl of his lips were content as he waved for two questionable looking drinks from his friend. "Why did I go to the most famous place of the Four Continents? Hah, easy. For the fame and the riches. I'm sure you know that the Gate of Gods is made of gold and all that sacrifice people make and send over the sea ends up there."

"So you're telling me you wanted to rob the gods?" Gaeul had to hold herself back not to snort. This guy really was something else. Did he not believe in anything, did he not respect anything? So stupid. "And how did that one go?"

"Why does it sound like you're judging me?" the boy pursed his lips into a pout but his exaggerated expressions and remarks just to kill time were really getting on the princess' nerves.

"I don't know. Maybe I am. Maybe I don't like people who mess with others' sacrifices."

The boy furrowed his brows at the last sentence and for the first time since they met, Gaeul saw something real flash in his eyes, an emotion she couldn’t quite put her fingers on.

"As you can see, I'm not bathing in gold coins, so I did not mess with anyone's sacrifice," he said, seriously, as if suddenly he finally understood the gravity of the word.

"What happened to the riches then?"

"Change of plans," Intak shrugged, taking a sip of his ripped date palm fruit coloured drink. He didn't elaborate and Gaeul had enough of his nonsense. Such a waste of time.

"Just tell me you didn't even go there, come on. You trying to avoid specifics is starting to get tiring," she sighed and stood up, ready to leave only for the boy to reach out to catch her wrist to hold her back but Gaeul paid attention this time. She was quicker than him and managed to twist his arm behind his back and slammed him against the table, his face pressed against her golden bracelet just a few inches away from the sharp edge of her dagger. A few guests around them gasped in surprise and in the corner of her eyes, Gaeul saw Keeho dropping a few dirty plates.

"Listen," she started, leaning closer to the thief's ear, so only he could hear her clearly. "You don't know me, so from where do you take the nerve to touch me? One more display of disrespect and you will wish I came to kill you."

For good measure, the princess shoved at him once more before letting go. Taking her dagger from the table, hiding it under her tunic like before and clasping the bracelet back onto her wrist, she was getting ready to leave and tell her father she would rather start the journey to the edge of the worlds herself alone than to trust Hwang Intak to take them there.

"Oooh, feisty," was all he could mumble after pushing himself up from the table, checking if his jaw was alright. Gaeul rolled her eyes and decided to deliver the final blow:

"The King of Ignisum was willing to pay you a huge sum if you lead us to the Gate of Gods and back to the kingdom safely‒"

"So that's what the audience invitation was about," the thief mused aloud, interrupting her.

"It was a command, not an invitation, but yes. However, I doubt you had been at the Gate of Gods to begin with and I don't need a big mouth like you on board," the princess turned her back onto the guy and gestured for the others with her to follow her outside. She barely got to the door when Intak called after her.

"Wait!"

She did not wait, none of her people did, and when the guy ran after her onto the streets, she did not care what he was blabbering about. Of course, the promise of money made him talkative but all Gaeul could hear were lies.

"You don't know what you're up against. You need me. I have been there, over the Crimson Sea, by the Blazing Cliffs and through the Eternal Storm…"

"Great. But you know, I just realized that if a guy like you could do it, I can too. I don't actually need you," she said, confident, pausing only for a moment to catch the disappointed expression on the thief's face. His bad, he lost his chance. Gaeul wasn't one for second chances. She left without looking back once.

It was her father who had taught Gaeul to be ruthless when she needed to be. But now he was telling her that she made a way too hasty decision. That she should have given more credit to the boy but the girl didn't understand why. Why would Hwang Intak have talked about his imaginary adventures to basically anyone only to not tell her a thing? Then he suddenly changed his mind when she brought up the payment. He was obviously a fraud. He would have only been one more mouth to feed on the ship and one more person to save when the big storms came. Gaeul didn't need a deadweight.

"I don't want you to go there alone," the king reasoned, his usually firm voice slightly more fatherly. It was rare that it happened and Gaeul treasured it every time, especially since her mother's death. She knew her father would have preferred her not going alone at all but the elders reminded the king that the Eternal Flames could not be trusted with just anyone. It was tradition that only the members of the royal family could touch them. If the king himself could not, she had to go.

"I won't be alone. My crew will be there with me. You know them and how well we work together. It will be fine," she tried to reassure the man on the throne. "We only have to get close enough to the Gate, not actually reach it, and then we can put the offering onto the water so that the waves would carry it."

Ignisum's king glanced at the Eternal Flame kept in a gilded cloche which would be sent to the God of Fire as a prayer for forgiveness. This was one of the most sacred treasures of their nation as they only had five of these and one was already destroyed but it was a small price to pay to stay in the favor of the deities. The candle light flickered above and Gaeul could feel the sparks at the tip of her fingertips.

As she had ridden through the desert earlier, she could barely breath in the scorching heat and the clouds of sand. As they reached Candentiae, the smoke and the smell of ash was everywhere. People struggled to contain the power of fire, they could not control it as they used to be and they didn't understand why. They only knew it was suddenly out of their control.

"Your mother would have hated me letting you go," the king murmured and the princess found herself smiling at the mention of her mother. She remembered her being fierce with arrows and bow in hand, smiling down at her from her horse. She remembered the deadly weapons she had used as accessories in her hand and how she could disarm a man easily. She had been Gaeul's hero and role model until the sickness had taken her away. Then she had become her father's assassin, not his little princess anymore.

"My mother would have been proud to see me try," so she said and in her father's smile she saw it too; the pride.

Gaeul would have liked to think that this mission was just like any other. One target, one chance. But killing an enemy of the kingdom from the shadows was different from a quest and she was no sailor. She had grown up on the land of fire, among sand dunes and the warmth of flame. The immense volume of water made her feel a bit suffocated already in the port of Hearthbay but she didn't let it show. She was sure that her crew was wary as well since they had no watertreader from Aquanum to control the sea or airshifters from Aerenum to manipulate the wind. Except for Jiung who came from the steady and calm people of Terranum, being an earthshaker himself, everybody on the team was raised and born in Ignisum. Taeyang was a sparkweaver like Gaeul but the others, Bada, Hyunseo and Shota, were just as valuable members of her usual team. Just as much as the royal sailors that the king had ensured for their journey. They also had enough stock of food and drink to last a few weeks for all of them. They also had an experienced captain, so the princess shouldn't have been too worried, not until they were more out on the sea but she couldn't help the bad feeling in her guts. Something was just off.

"Are we ready to embark?" She turned to Captain Lee Jaeyoon whose strangest habit was to wear low cut but long sleeved shirts and smiling like he had just had a swing of rum whenever she talked to him. No, he was not a pirate but sometimes Gaeul wondered if he had been one before joining her father's men.

"All set, Princess. Even the wind is good and the waters are calm, so we are expecting a nice cruise. The deities seem kind to us," he said, all cheerful as if they weren't planning to go to the place people liked to call the Lagune of No Return?

"Lucky us," Gaeul forced a smile though, glad that the atmosphere wasn't too depressed on board. Jaeyoon might have been the captain but it was her who had the last word. She could make them turn around any time when it felt too dangerous as she didn't want to lose her people for a legend. Maybe the Gate of Gods didn't exist after all. Nobody had seen it with their own eyes and lived to tell the tale. Nobody but Hwang Intak who most probably lied too. And while she might not have believed that it was the gods' favor that helped them, she let others think what they wanted. Even if it meant setting on a dangerous journey with a relic worth of hoards of gold.

The Captain saluted her before he shouted at the sailors to start preparing for the undocking. Gaeul took a deep breath before she walked over the cracking wooden sole up to the taffrail next to Taeyang. His longer locks were pulled back in a small man bun, so the wind wouldn't blow it all into his face and his eyes were focused on the horizon.

"What are you thinking?" Gaeul asked, her voice quiet but firm. The redhead was her longest friend and partner in crime, he was also her most honest critic and biggest supporter when needed, so she could be sure he would tell her if she was making a mistake.

Taeyang turned to her and his gaze settled on her features for a moment before he cracked a smile.

"What to eat for lunch. You know how I feel about seafood," he said so seriously that the princess couldn't help but chuckle. She turned back to the sea, the waves getting wilder around the ship's bow as it was picking up speed. She looked at the blazing Sun and the white clouds ahead, feeling the fire's burning fade in her veins, getting farther and farther from the shore and the kingdom.

For the first time when leaving, she wasn't sure whether she would be back and if she was, what condition their home would be in. But for the sake of everything she believed in, she would do all in her power to bring back her crew safe and sound and save their magic on the way.

OVER THE CRIMSON SEA

Gaeul thought that the end of the journey would be the hardest part of it. But when half a day in, she opened the door of their supply room and he found a familiar boy lying over a sack of rice, she threw that idea out of the ship.

"What the–"

The thief looked up at her when the sudden sunlight shone upon him and he had to squint his eyes to see her figure better despite the blinding light. It probably did not help that she wore a golden headpiece over her braided hair and the sunrays gleamed over the gilded accessory just as much as over her pale skin.

"Surprise?" Hwang Intak offered with an innocent face that made the princess want to kick into something. Preferably him.

"How the smoke did you get here?" she asked even though she was well aware he must have sneaked onto the ship when nobody was paying attention. Which meant he knew when and from there they would depart. She doubted he suddenly craved a change in the atmosphere and left Cinderport for another port city just to end up on her ship accidentally. She didn't believe in coincidences.

"Uhm, I might have followed you since Cinderport," the boy admitted with a half-sheepish, half-arrogant smile which was a stunt to pull off in itself. However, the fact that she, Ignisum's best assassin, didn't even notice she was being followed made him more dangerous than she had previously believed or would have thought so. She hadn't given him enough credits that he was able to do something like that without being discovered. But still, he was a thief and an unreliable man, so she wanted nothing to do with him.

"Only to get thrown into the sea? How kind of you," Gaeul snickered and flashed him an ever sweet smile before signaling her people to grab him. Jiung and Taeyang were immediately by her side, yanking the boy up to his feet and pulling him outside to the board.

"Yah, yah, I told you I will help you."

"And I told you I don't need it. I don't want you on my ship," the princess claimed even though technically The Sphinx wasn't her ship but he didn't need to know that. She was still the one in charge and she couldn't let anyone, much less a notoriously troublemaker, to question her authority.

"Well, I'm already here," Intak insisted, planting his feet firmly down but it did him no good.

"Not for long."

"Oh, come on, guys," he protested as the others dragged him towards that part of the railing where the plank was but it wasn't his plea that saved him but the captain's announcement that diverted the attention from his sudden appearance.

"We are approaching the Wind Current, Princess. It could give us a whole day advantage if we catch it right," Jaeyoon let her know and even though he didn't pose any question, it was obvious that the decision was hers, yet the first one who spoke up was…

"Don't," Intak yelled from the railing’s side in the middle of kicking and throwing a tantrum like a kid.

For a second Gaeul pondered whether to ignore him and just tell the captain to go ahead but in the end her sobriety and curiosity won. The guy seemed very sure of himself, so she wanted to know his reason for it.

"Why?" she turned to him with crossed arms and a raised brow.

"It's dangerous," the thief panted as he realized the guys on his two sides stopped trying to throw him out onto the wild sea in the middle of nowhere. However, his claim was ridiculous. The whole trip was dangerous, so it was as obvious as calling a poison as such. They were used to dangers though.

"And do you think I'm traveling with inexperienced sailors?"

"Well then, be my guest if you want your ship to catch on fire," Intak dared to roll his eyes at the princess and it urged the girl to stride up to him with confident steps only to tap the much taller guy's chin as if he had been a kid.

"Speak."

The thief looked very pleased with himself now that all the attention was on him and he brushed the hands off him to point in the direction where they were heading.

"Yes, the current would give a good headstart but it's barely possible to leave it before its end but if you don't manage to do so, the momentum gained through the current will push the ship right up to the Blazing Cliffs," he claimed and his words had sparked conversation between the sailors. The volcanic mountain island where many ships had found its deathbed just by washing up on its shore was the topic of many tittle-tattles putting people on their guards but nobody knew exactly where it was exactly. So Gaeul glanced at Captain Jaeyoon for confirmation.

"I have heard rumors that it's around here," the man nodded, so she took a bit of time to think. Time was something they should not have wasted yet but she didn't want to put others into unnecessary dangers just for the sake of it.

"Could we pull out of the current in time?"

"If pretty boy tells us when we should, I believe yes. We have enough men on board to change direction quickly enough even against a heavy current too."

"Well then… you better not disappoint, Hwang Intak," Gaeul smiled at said pretty boy sweetly. It was that kind of smile that held knives and other dangers and looking at the thief's expression, he could tell as much too. He looked around nervously before the princess gave her next order. "Tie him to the front."

"What, why? Hey," the boy tensed up when he was grabbed again.

"So you could see better, of course, and to learn some respect," she said before walking up to the ship's wheel next to the captain who seemed very amused by the turn of events. Or maybe he just liked drama a bit too much.

Soon, they reached the current and the change of speed was very much tangible. They crossed the ocean as if the ship were controlled by watertreaders but it was the current's doing. If not for a pirate ship they had passed by, the journey didn't seem very dangerous. Maybe the thief lied once again, only because he wanted to feel important and not getting thrown into the sea. He now whined about being under the sun without anything to cover his head and how he would be seasick if he was tied up for too long. Gaeul didn't care about the show he put on but she let Shota bring the blabbermouth a cup of water around dinner time.

The Wind Current took them farther and farther away from the shore and her home through the night and even though everything seemed fine, Gaeul couldn't sleep properly. She wandered out of her cabin at the crack of dawn when the orange Sun was barely peeking through the horizon. She wasn't the only one awake though apart from the second-in-command who took over the wheel after the captain, she found Jiung playing with rocks while dangling his feet down from the ship. She sat down next to him, staring at the water painted in pink hues during the dawn, once the Sun was higher, it would seem crimson, hence its name.

"What do you think of him?" Gaeul found herself asking at which her friend pursed his lips.

"Of your pretty boy?"

"He is not mine! And it was Captain Lee who named him, not me!" the princess gasped at the assumption, scandalized, which made Jiung chuckle. Unlike Taeyang, he kept his hair short but they both found an unreasonable amount of joy in teasing her and getting away with it.

"He's good enough if he made it onto the board without getting caught. He's clearly a lone wolf but he seems to want to prove something. He talks annoyingly a lot even when nobody listens… but Shota seems to like him."

As one of the youngest of their crew everybody doted on the boy who kept sticking to their side ever since one of their missions in Emberdale. He proved to be talented at picking locks and trading with secrets. He was usually quiet but him talking with Intak and liking him, well, that was something.

"I don't trust him."

"That's alright… but you don't trust many people at all," Jiung reminded her with a crooked smile and Gaeul had to admit that he was right. It took a moment to lose her trust but a lot to earn it and she barely knew this guy.

Speaking of which, in the silence of dawn, suddenly Hwang Intak started shouting.

"The Cliffs! We're approaching. Steer left. Now!" he yelled and when the girl stood up, she saw what he had been talking about. They were approaching an island with an active volcano on it at a high speed but the second-in-command stood just there by the steering wheel, unsure whether he should have listened to the stranger. Any other time, the princess would have appreciated his loyalty but it was a crucial moment in which they shouldn't have wasted time like this.

"Do it!" Gaeul spoke up too before turning to Jiung. "Wake up the others. The current is too strong, only steering won't be enough to turn the ship. We need to adjust the masts, too."

The earthshaker nodded at her and rushed to the sleeping sailors while the princess ran to the front. The ship was struggling against the strong waves and water splashed onto the board. The forecastle deck was wet already by the time Gaeul reached the tied boy to help him get the ropes off. She might not have liked him but she wouldn't have left him to die like that in case they indeed crashed against the cliffs.

"How well do you know how ships work?" she yelled over the loud sound of waves, so the thief could hear her. Luckily, this time around he didn't joke around.

"Well enough," he shrugged as he brushed off the last of the rope and got onto his feet.

"Then help with the rigging," she told him before she ran back among the rushing, suddenly wide awake sailors to move or let down certain sails. The ship they were traveling on might not have been a big vessel but exactly because of its relatively low weight the sea's control was significant over them.

It was chaos, all that water, the speed they were going in, the closeness of lava dripping down the mountain ahead of them and the wreckages of wooden ships just like theirs lying by the island in sight. That was a moment when Gaeul regretted the decision she made out of pride, not believing that a guy like Hwang Intak would know better. But when the last adjustment of all those ropes and chains were done, The Sphinx managed to leave the current's path, grazing past the Blazing Cliffs only by a few miles.

The Sun rose above the horizon as everyone on board flopped down in relief and exhaustion. Some cheered happily and some admired the terrifying but astonishing sight of the infamous volcano. The sea around them was crimson under the morning sky and it reminded Gaeul of the purest fire singing in her blood. She looked around, checking on her people to see if they were safe and sound but her gaze settled on the thief from Cinderport instead. He looked like a bird caught in a storm – his wavy locks sticking to his forehead in wet knots, his shirt wrinkled and soaked –, yet he had never looked more at home than on The Sphinx, sitting on the foretop above the lower mast, staring at the horizon.

Once they passed the Blazing Cliffs, quieter days followed the crew over the sea. The journey ahead of them looked dull in comparison to what some expected based on the rumors but Gaeul wasn't naive. Maybe they were just lucky so far and the worst was yet to come. After all, they headed towards somewhere that they had only heard stories of. The Gate of Gods was just one of the many names of the place, some called it the Edge of the Worlds, others the Lagune of No Return because it was infamous for sweeping up ships that had never returned afterwards. It was a place that everybody knew where it was but only a few reckless dared to approach. Another name for it was the South End of the Map because no explorer discovered the seas beyond there and no cartographer survived to draw it, so nobody knew what was there and beyond. Nobody knew what exactly they should have expected during the journey either. There were many stories about sea monsters, sirens, undead pirates but most probably came from groundless gossip because people liked to exaggerate.

That was the reason why Gaeul did not apologize for doubting Intak but mostly because whenever they made eye contact, the boy flashed an annoyingly smug grin and it pissed her off. Nobody blamed her for choosing the fastest option over believing in legends, especially since it all ended well. But it didn't mean that the what ifs didn't haunt the girl, she had just learned over time to not show it. Like how she had learned a lot of others things by doing: using the rope pulley system on a ship, how to throw daggers to land right and how to kill a man within a blink of an eye in at least six different ways and yet, none of it taught her how to be in one place with Hwang Intak without the urge to strangle him in a spoonful of salty sea water.

"Hey, so… I heard others calling you princess. Is it some kind of nickname or are they for real?" he swung (literally from the mainmast) by her a few days after their last real interaction during the ship maneuvering action. Gaeul sighed as she glanced at him and his ever-wide grin.

"Try giving me a nickname and you'll see," she said and even though she meant it as a warning, it didn't look like he took it seriously.

"Okay, princess," the thief dropped down next to her as he let go of the footrope. It only took him a moment to regain his balance, already catching up to her, not letting her get much further. "You know, if you're curious about the rest of the journey, you could just ask."

Even the way he offered help was arrogant which annoyed Gaeul even further but she didn't let it show as she barely spared him a glance while walking to the railings and taking a spyglass out to check on the further parts of the sea.

"I don't need to. If you don't want to die, you'll tell the details yourself sooner or later," she said in a monotone voice and seeing that he wasn't leaving her side, it must have bothered the attention-seeker guy.

"Are you like this with everyone or is it just me?" He asked, wondering aloud but Gaeul wasn’t sure what he expected her to say. Did he want to hear that he was special or on the contrary?

"Like what?" she scoffed and the next thing she saw through the lens was a big brown eye as the boy slid into her vision.

"Cold."

The princess let out a deep sigh as she lowered the spyglass and looked the guy in the eyes.

"If you expected any different welcome when you literally sneaked on my ship then you have no idea whom you're dealing with and since you came on your own resolve, don't expect pats on the back for helping out. That's how a crew works," she reminded him even though he looked more like a lonely wolf than a team player, so she would have been surprised if he understood the sentiment. As an assassin she had learned to depend on nobody but herself, yet when her little team had started forming she had learned how much they could help and complement each other. She was good at doing the work of the Death God and Ignisum's law, Taeyang was talented at negotiations and getting info out of anyone, Jiung was a strategist at heart, planning the gists of their missions, Bada could charm anyone to make them do what she wanted while Hyunseo could sneak into anywhere without getting noticed and Shota was the best and most innocent looking lockpicker they could get. They all had their own strengths and weaknesses but together they could finish any mission Ignisum's king entrusted them with.

When Intak stayed quiet just as the princess expected, she passed by him but his following words halted her steps.

"There are sirens near the Three Star Islands. We shouldn't stop for food there," he said, self-assured. He must have heard her talk with the Captain, Gaeul concluded but instead of scolding him for eavesdropping, she nodded at him for the information. They indeed planned to stop by the upcoming islands to gather some more extra food and drinkable water but they could wait a bit more if it was dangerous. She believed he wouldn't have lied about something like that when they could run out of their stocks and die of hunger over lies like that.

Eventually, they didn't have to worry about starvation because after they safely passed by the Three Stars Islands, they docked at another green island. It wasn't safe to stay even a night off the ship on these unfamiliar lands, so after they collected fruits and cooked meat they hunted for, they continued their journey seemingly without complications. Although Gaeul still warily watched as Shota got way too friendly with the thief, teaching him his favorite tricks and telling him telltale stories about their crew, Intak got on well with most of the on-board sailors and even joined in a few card games which he all won with ridiculous ease. One day she even saw him flirting with Bada, or maybe Bada was flirting with him, who knows, Gaeul didn't care, she had bigger problems than to pay so much attention to the guy's little games.

"How does it look?" she stood beside the Captain as she looked over the sea and the straits they were approaching. It would have taken too much time to go around the land, so they had to head straight for the narrow passage to save precious days. She hoped that despite their supposed way being overgrown with branches and spiderwebs, The Sphinx could safely pass between the lands and beneath the obstacles.

"We can make it," Lee Jaeyoon claimed, then after some careful consideration he added: "Maybe. If we're lucky."

"Very optimistic, thank you."

"Sorry that I took your role, boss," the sailor laughed at which Gaeul rolled her eyes but there was a smile set on her mouth. The Captain might have been her elder but she was higher in position. She didn't like to take advantage of her status though, she preferred earning respect in her own ways for her own worth.

"Everyone, pull up the sheets on the masts! We're passing through the straits soon. We don't want the branches to scratch or tear the material," she explained as she walked down the stairs instructing the sailors to pull everything inside, so they wouldn’t get stuck in the branches or something like that. It was indeed a narrow way they were headed for and while they couldn't do anything about the broadness or depth of the ship’s vessel that might hit the rocks beneath, they could do their best to avoid the trees ahead.

"Boys, it's our turn," Gaeul smiled at Jiung and Taeyang with the expression of somebody who was sure that they could make it work. It wasn't the first time they did something like this: getting rid of obstacles in their way. The two guys blessed by the gods followed her call and they all went to stand on the front deck, waiting as they got close enough to the lands and the branches looming ahead of them, then they started working their magic: Jiung as an earthshaker could make the trees pull back, the bough straightening enough to turn the whole crown. However, as the plants from both sides started to separate not only dust and spiderwebs fell into the water beneath and the board of the The Sphinx but broken branches, big enough to kill a man, skeletons of pirates running into their death and wrecks of their ships as well. That was when Taeyang and her came into the picture with their own magic: they burned everything in their way and only ashes had fallen onto the wooden deck, nothing else. The crew had applauded them as the ship had given out creaking noises once they passed the narrowest part of the channel.

"Huh, that was close," Intak remarked as he looked back on the passage in awe. Gaeul smirked, satisfied with the outcome but then someone started screaming.

She whipped her head towards the voice like everyone only to see one of the sailors by the railings being yanked from the ship as one huge mouth of a snake-looking head closed around him. One head of the six that suddenly appeared around the back part of the ship, the monster's body sticking to the hull from beneath.

"Get away from the railings!"

"Release the masts, we need to speed up!"

"Load the cannons!"

Orders were shouted over the noise of panic and the princess nodded at Hyunseo when the girl brought her bow to her in the middle of the chaos. She pulled it up and aimed at one of the sea monster's head with a fireproof arrow only to lit it up on fire as she sent it flying. The arrow's head hit an eye of a snakehead, leaving it shrieking in pain and anger. Soon, the roar of cannon filled the air as the sailors targeted the body of the creature. From the corner of her eyes, Gaeul saw someone fall into the water and immediately get devoured by a hideous head. She couldn't cut through the long neck fast enough to save the other. It seemed like no matter what she did, it wasn't enough, people kept screaming and yelling in fear and pain and no wound seemed enough to stop the monster. Then when it all seemed beyond hope, the monster unexpectedly retreated.

Gaeul couldn't tell what made it let go of the ship and sank under the surface again but looking around she was too terrified to be happy about it. Sure, she had seen many deaths but death of comrades, blood of people lost still left a bitter taste in her mouth. Especially if they were her people.

"How… how many casualties?" She walked up to the captain who knew his sailors better than her. She had seen those whom she brought onto board and even Hwang Intak seemed mostly unharmed, so the lost people could only be among the regular crew.

"Six, m'lady," the second-in-command answered after counting as they gathered in a little circle around the wheel. Bada had bruises on her shoulder while Intak had blood dripping down his forehead and Taeyang was helping a sailor whose leg got burnt because of the cannon fuse but nobody she saw had more serious injuries.

"One for every head, that's what the legend says," the thief spoke up then, musing out loud and Gaeul turned towards him.

"You knew? And still didn't tell us?" she snapped at him, grabbing the collars of his wrinkled, bloodied shirt, eager to look for someone else to blame even if her realistic side knew that it didn't matter. Even if he had told them about the legend of the monster, it wouldn't have changed anything. They couldn't fight back, not efficiently. His knowledge would have only helped if he would have told them beforehand but if he knew, he probably wouldn't have let them run straight into danger, knowing that he might die too.

"I didn't know we would run into a scylla. That time, I didn't come this way. You can't expect me to know about everything," Intak defended himself but the princess wasn't in the mood to listen to anyone, much less him.

"Yeah, but I can expect you to make yourself useful," she hissed at him before turning her back on everyone and strode towards her cabin.

"Leave her. She hates losing people," she heard Jiung speak up calmly, most likely keeping the younger guy back from following her and for that Gaeul was grateful because she was indeed in need of an alone time. Her bow and arrows fell onto the floor of her cabin with a clunking sound.

The night under the moonlight still found her on the front dock, her legs dangling down the railing, looking out on the Crimson Sea that looked more silverish black like anything else under the shining moon. She had always had a hard time sleeping whenever she was on a ship. She always felt anxious when she was away from the land, especially Ignisum. Not only her home was where her power originated from and where it was the strongest but as the only heir to the throne there were doubled dangers of being far away on a mission. She rarely left for a longer time, especially on water where she didn't feel herself in her element. But one of her first trips to Terranum as a representative of her kingdom led her to meet Jiung. He was an earthshaker who only felt at home with both his feet on the ground, so when he returned to Ignisum with her as a diplomat's son first and later as her friend, he told her that being on the front, looking where the ship went, watching the waves ripple always managed to calm him down.

But that day nothing managed to ease her thoughts. She was tired of going through the what ifs and what could have beens, so maybe that was why she didn't send Intak away when he took a seat by her side in the middle of the night. She was too tired for a fight.

"I'm sorry about the sailors," he spoke up quietly, not looking her way but instead, somewhere out in the ocean. He sounded genuine for once. "Were you close to them?"

"Most of them I didn't know well but they all trusted in me and in this mission. I failed them," Gaeul told him because as a princess of the nation she had responsibility over her subjects. Even someone as annoying as Hwang Intak.

"They knew the dangers of it," the thief insisted and it sounded like he was talking about himself, too. Of course, he had no right to blame her if something like this happened because he was the one sneaking on the ship. But thinking of it, she didn't force anyone to join the crew either. Everyone came on their own accord maybe for the glory or out of patriotism. Still, it didn't feel right. Was it how his father had to deal with every war his soldiers fought? With every lost battle? With so much blood on her hands, one would have thought the princess was ready for this path. But the blood of traitors and enemies were different from the blood of her own.

"Yes but…"

"You can't blame yourself for something like this," the boy interrupted her, infuriating as always, at which the girl could only huff out a breath. It was an easy thing to say, harder to do. Just like apologizing but she willed herself to do that because she intended to become a fair ruler one day, one that did not fear admitting her mistakes.

"I'm sorry for blaming it on you," she mumbled under her breath, watching the Moon Goddess grace the waters with silver hue instead of the possible victory in his eyes. But it didn't sound like he was triumphant as he answered.

"It's alright. I understand why you did it," he shrugged and then after a few beats of silence he pointed at one of the brightest stars in the night sky. "See that? We're getting close. At this speed we will pass by the whirlpools created by Charybdis in three days."

Gaeul hummed, knowing the legends about the huge maelstroms that could devour the ships of sailors. They would not know when and where these would appear out of nowhere, so they could not be prepared for it and choose a different route. For one to reach the Gate of Gods, they needed to travel through this dangerous land near the End of the Maps. This was the last of what the legends said, those who returned could only tell their stories up until this point. Knowing that, maybe Intak turned back there too.

"How did you survive that?"

"I don't know," he said, which made her snort, thinking he was just being annoying until the very end. "I really don't. The ship was sucked in by the whirlpool, I almost drowned and the next thing I know is that I was washed up on an island."

"At the Gate of Gods?" The princess furrowed her brows. It made sense but still, it was hard to believe that he was that lucky.

"What else could it have been? There was a lady there saying she was a servant of gods. She treated me back to health and then asked me if I wanted to stay. When I said I couldn't, she put me to sleep and I woke up in my own bed. No, I did not dream it before you accuse me of doing so! I was away for a long time, Keeho could prove it and I had the injuries, it was real!" he insisted vehemently, even pulling the hem of his shirt upwards to show her proof of his scarred skin. But for once, Gaeul believed him without proof, so she grabbed his shirt with an eye roll and pulled it down.

His story might have been beyond belief but the gods' power was sometimes hard to imagine and even harder to believe. Even she had troubles believing that gods were real and out there still after her mother's death. Then even their magic and power started to get fickle, so Gaeul's belief wasn't too strong but she would see it for herself, whether the sacrifice at the Gate of Gods could save them.

"Alright, sleeping beauty, I get it," the princess nodded, teasing, and she patted the guy's thigh before pushing herself away from the railing to go back to her cabin room. She had less than three days to come up with a strategy to survive a maelstrom without their ship getting dragged underneath after all.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as you know we are approaching the End of the Maps rapidly and a huge maelstrom might come in our way. If that happens I want you to stay calm, open our masts to full broadness and secure yourself to a stable point of the ship. We will sail right through the Eternal Storm," she claimed confidently as she stood ahead of the shocked crew. They must have expected a different kind of plan but this was her best one.

"But… how could we? We don't have watertreaders or airshifters on board," a sailor mentioned, unsure, at which Gaeul raised her chin.

"And? We survived this long on the sea without them," she reminded them as she started walking up and down, looking from one person to another. She knew they were afraid of what they were facing but it wasn't the time to give into their fears. They should have gone forward, head on. "If we do get into the vortex of a whirlpool, Taeyang and I can evaporate some of the water to make it easier to steer the ship out of it. But if we end up getting underwater… pretty boy will get us out."

Just as Gaeul said that, she stopped right in front of the boy with a content smile playing on her lips and a challengingly raised eyebrow. Murmurs ran through the ship as the boy's eyes widened.

"What?" He blinked, more surprised than innocent.

The princess grabbed his shirt to pull him down enough for her breath to fan over his ear as she whispered:

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice that you're blessed by the God of Water, Hwang Intak?" she tsked, glad to have that what once was just a suspicion about him being a watertreader was confirmed. "I would have thought you would take the credit for getting out of the current, so I kept my eyes on you."

"Oh, is it that easy to earn the attention of the Princess of Ignisum then?" the boy teased because of course he did, especially in front of an audience even if they didn't hear what they were whispering about.

"Well, this or wanting to get yourself killed," the girl shrugged as she stepped back, shooting a ‘Do not disappoint me!' glance at him before she told everyone else to take their positions and headed towards the quarter deck, telling Captain Lee to pick up the speed when they passed the first dark clouds of the storm.

As the weather around them got more vicious, Gaeul knew that the sea could open up any moment with the legendary whirlpool but she believed in her crew, they were ready and they couldn't just turn around after coming so far.

"It's ahead of us!" One of the sailors yelled and everyone acted like previously discussed: adjusting the masts and securing themselves. In the meantime, among lightning and rain, Taeyang and Gaeul got ready to heat up the water if they couldn't avoid the maelstrom. Intak was at the very front of the ship, his hand above the sea, his eyes closed as he concentrated.

The princess was familiar with the way sparkweavers used their powers, how they could make fire out of nowhere if they concentrated enough on their inner energy. They needed to have a good connection with their element too. Even in the middle of oceans, the only sign of fire being the scorching heat of the Sun and the Eternal Flame in the bell jar, Gaeul could summon flames at her will. But she knew that in the middle of the desert, fire burning underneath her feet, her powers were much stronger and she knew that it was the same for other magic bearers too. So no matter how rarely Intak used his skills, whether he could only make cheap tricks to impress ladies at the tavern in Cinderport on his best days, he had much bigger energy at hand now. He just needed to control it and help shift the ship away from the whirlpool and out of the storm.

It all went according to plan until it didn't. The wind started to get stronger the deeper they were in the storm and closer to the maelstrom. There was a loud snap sound and looking up Gaeul saw that one of the ropes seceded from the mast, then one after another, the knots in the shrouds could not bear the strength of the Eternal Storm.

"Watch out!" She screamed when a barrel got detached and swirelled towards Taeyang. The boy managed to get out of the way of the heavy object at the last minute and it hit the side of the ship with a loud thud before rolling away. But it was early to feel relief because the more ropes snapped, the less kept the mast sheets in place and they couldn't afford losing any parts of the masts halfway in the journey. Hoping that they would make it back, that is.

Gaeul looked around, grabbed a chain end and went for the still intact ratline to climb onto the mast, securing the loosening sheets. It was hard to climb over the moving spiderweb of a ship even on calm days for inexperienced sailors but doing so while the wind kept yanking on the ropes and rain fell down on her was even harder. She managed to climb to the top though, hooping the chain over the sail yard to keep them in place even if the ropes snapped.

Someone called her name as a warning but by the time she turned ahead, it was too late. The wave was too large to stop and the ship tilted dangerously to the side, drifting towards the maelstrom like a fallen leaf in a puddle. She grabbed on the mainyard as she lost her balance and fell against the mast. The wood was wet under her fingers because of the rain and no matter how hard she tried to hold on, she could feel herself slipping, her body hanging over the wild water as the vessel was 45° degrees tilted. No desperate attempt with her nails digging into the wood helped her, a scream escaped her involuntarily as she felt herself falling down towards the mouth of the maelstrom. Closing her eyes, she got ready for the impact but instead of water, she felt a body slam to hers and send it flying. Prying her eyes open, she saw Intak swinging on a rope, one arm holding her until they were above the board. He apparently managed to catch her just in time, so both of them could arrive onto the deck, falling onto their knees, bruisingly hard, but alive.

The two exchanged a gaze before the boy got up, determined, walking through the heavy wind and heavier rain. Grabbing onto the railing to support herself, to not fall off the ship in this extreme angle, Gaeul could only watch him and she wanted to yell at him to not be stupid. But Hwang Intak was reckless and a survivor.

"Steer now!" he yelled, determined, and Captain Lee didn't hesitate to listen to him and when he did, the vessel took a sudden turn away from the vortex, out of the storm.

The setting Sun was on the horizon when they got out of the fog of gray clouds. The sea around them was burning in the color of blood and it was beautiful like being alive was. People on board patted each other on the back, cheered and checked each other for injuries but luckily no serious damage was done. The Sphinx was a bit ragged but it survived too.

Seeing them on board, Gaeul hugged his friends, adrenaline still buzzing in her veins, not caring about the soaked clothes on all of them. It would dry overnight, so she didn't care much about it. Unlike the fact that they were over the last danger living men could tell about the End of the Map. They did it; they were at the Lagune of No Return. They couldn't have done it without Intak, so the princess looked around, searching for the boy only to find him exhausted on the front deck. Changing the angry sea for them despite the ancient rules of this place must have been hard on him, draining him of energy.

"Thank you," Gaeul mumbled, not elaborating what she was grateful for, as she sat down next to him, pulling her knees to her chest, back leaning against the railing.

"You are welcome, princess. Sorry that I didn’t ask permission before touching you," the boy turned to her, flashing her a tired smile, the mischief in his eyes duller than usual. Gaeul didn't have it in her to roll her eyes at the slight teasing in his voice but she nudged his shoulder with hers. He kept using her title like a nickname but after quite literally saving their lives, she decided she could let it go, just this once.

The excited, celebrating sailors made a big noise as dinner was served and Taeyang even entertained some with firecrackers in the sky. They should have been afraid of what was coming because they had no point of reference anymore about what could be waiting for them now but the princess couldn't blame them, they deserved to have a good time. So she just smiled at Bada and took the bowl of porridge with gratitude. It was cold and a bit salty but under her fingertips it got warm, filling her hungry stomach with dinner. She heated Intak's portion with her power as well, shrugging when the guy looked at her in surprise while munching on his dry bread.

By the time they finished with the food, the Sun had given space for its cousins, the stars. The constellations above them were big and shiney like white daisy garlands painted over black ink. The noise had subdued too as many went to sleep and for a while neither of them said anything. Still it was probably the longest time Gaeul spent with the thief without wanting to throw him into the sea.

"How did you know I was from Aquanum?" he spoke up, quiet, wondering and unlike the bravado she had back then when she had claimed she knew his secret, she shrugged. She hadn't actually been that sure.

"It was more like a guess since you told me about surviving the maelstrom. You weren't just lucky, you are blessed by the God of Waters," she claimed since she had always been taught that being one of the chosen ones was a blessing and an honor. Intak didn't seem to care much.

"I didn't know. Not until I was here myself last time. I have grown up in Ignisum since young, away from the sea, I had no idea what I could do," he admitted, drawing geometric patterns on the wooden floor, watching as drops of water followed his movements as if he had attracted them like opposite polars of a magnet.

"Didn't your parents…"

"I didn't know them," Intak interrupted, his happy-go-around attitude long gone with a resigned shrug.

Oh. That made sense. Powers like theirs were inherited by blood, but if his parents weren't in his life, it was possible that he had no idea what he was capable of until a few months ago when he first traveled through the Crimson Sea.

"Why did you want to go to the Gate of Gods? For real? It's too much trouble only for glory, for a thief at least," she said, not believing that anyone would risk their life for something like that. At least no sane person and despite her first impression, Intak was a quite reasonable person. He might have enjoyed the girls fawning over him for coming back from the place where nobody had done before but she was wary. Looking back, Gaeul could tell it wasn't arrogance but carefulness that kept the boy back from trusting just anyone. Probably many led by greed would have liked to embark on a journey there with his help.

"They say that the ones who reach the Gate can ask for a favor. I wanted that favor," he said, nibbling on his lower lip, but unlike many, Gaeul knew when to not ask more questions and this time she decided to let it go. What was he going to ask and why, she wondered but she didn't want to tear up bandages.

"That's why we're going, too," she admitted, which earned a surprised glance from the boy. At this point, she believed it didn't matter whether he knew the truth or not. They might not even make it back but they were so close. He would get to know anyways if they succeeded. "Our magic started acting up, fire getting out of control and our only hope is to present a sacrifice and pray for mercy. Or for a favor, as you said."

Intak was quiet for a while, processing her words before deciding to share his confusion.

"Isn't that a bit… long shot? Hoping that it would help?"

"My father and his advisors believe it would. The God of Fire must be angry at us after what happened… at the temple incident," she said and while she didn't blame anyone for the decision, it was clear that she didn't have much say in what to believe. It was decided and she had to act upon it for the sake of her kingdom.

The boy beside her furrowed his brows as he turned to her.

"What incident?" he asked, confused.

"Ah right, you are not from the capital, you didn't see the fire. One of our temples burned down, a piece of the Eternal Flame that we kept inside ran wild," Gaeul explained but she was brief about it for a good reason. The circumstances of the incident were a bit more… complex and it didn't matter, the result was the same and now they were paying the price.

"Oh, I see. Your power seemed fine to me though, Taeyang's too."

"Yeah, I don't get it either. Some people lost their control over fire, some people got burned. According to the royal advisor, the Eternal Flame spreads under the sand and it won't rest until it turns Ignisum to ash if we don't stop it and we cannot. It's called Eternal for a reason, only its god can control it," the princess hummed under her breath, leaning her head against the railing. She had seen the destruction that a fire like that could make and she wanted it to stop. She was willing to put her life on it. She was ready to risk it all for her country and looking at her crew, her friends, she knew she wasn't alone.

The midday Sun found Gaeul in her cabin, looking at the map of the Known World, its edges smudged, already encountered and heading towards the unknown made her feel a bit jittery. She looked up when the door opened, two girls sneaking in with the last of the treasured sweet bread from their stocks.

"So… what's with you and the thief boy?" Bada asked, not even trying to beat around the bush but it only earned her a raised brow from the princess.

"With Intak? Nothing. Why would it be?" She shrugged, pretending to be too busy with the map because she remembered quite vividly that she'd had to push herself away from the boy's sleeping form when she had awakened at the crack of dawn. She hoped nobody caught her before…

"Hyunseo saw you sleep on his shoulder."

Damn.

"We were all tired," she reasoned, waving off the possible silly ideas something like this could encourage because it was the truth but Bada kept her ground.

"Yeah, sure. It's just you rarely let people close to you like that. Both literally and emotionally," she kept poking as if she didn't care it wasn't a wise thing to do with sleeping, dangerous things like Gaeul's anger.

"Exactly. It took you months to sleep so soundlessly around us," Hyunseo chirped in just to confirm the theory. Right, okay, maybe she was used to having nightmares and she didn't like sleeping while others were around her but it wasn't really an option on a ship. The captain might have given her her own cabin, but she shared it with the girls anyway.

"Look, we are not here to interrogate you. We're just surprised that you went from shoving him on a table to sleeping on him within a month or so," Bada clarified with a playful little smile in the corner of her mouth and Gaeul already opened her mouth to protest. The group's youngest was faster though:

"No, no, you don't need to explain. He really isn't as bad of a guy as you made it sound like the first time. Shota will be happy too that you warmed up to him because he seems to like him a lot."

"Everybody does, to be honest. I saw him talk with Captain Lee who kept telling him stories about his sails around the globe. Jiung caught him arm wrestling with the sailors and he taught Taeyang card tricks," Bada piped in with her usual big gestures. They were right. Intak effortlessly fit into their crew.

"And what about you? I saw you flirting with him," the princess pointed out calmly, as an observation, at which Hyunseo shrieked, smacking the other girl on the shoulder.

"I did not! We were just talking," Bada protested vehemently before wiggling her eyebrows at Gaeul. "He kept asking about our princess anyways. Like about her favorite flower and stuff."

Oh. Intak wouldn't have been the first person asking around about her, not even the first boy her age, but most of these people wanted to either use her to their own advantage or kill her to leave the throne without an heir. But nobody had ever asked about her favorite flowers. It sounded harmless enough.

"Oooh, you're blushing," Hyunseo giggled and Bada joined in for the teasing too no matter how much Gaeul objected. She was not blushing. She was one of the most feared assassins in the natural kingdoms; she was not flustered at the thought of getting flowers from a boy, ridiculous. But no matter how much of a laughing matter it was, she had gotten used to Intak's annoying greeting smiles over the past few weeks and she even started missing his teasing when he wasn't around.

But they were on their way to the Gate of Gods and to save her kingdom, she had no time for sentimentalities like that. Not when the day turned into afternoon with a yell:

"Rocks ahead! Stop the ship!"

"We need to turn around," another sailor shouted and Gaeul took out her spyglass as she rushed out of her cabin. Over the horizon in front of them, there were black needle-like rocks, piercing through old shipwrecks as far as the eye could see. The newest obstacle seemed deadly and practically uncrossable. The ship's bottom would surely get damaged too much even if it passed to be able to reach ports before it sank. But they couldn't just go back without trying after going through so much. Especially since they were so close, she could see the looming outline of something that looked like a gate on the other side. It wasn't even that far. Far to swim maybe but not otherwise, she didn't need the whole ship. She just needed the glass bell of the Eternal Flame and one person to help her row, nothing else. So she yelled at Jaeyoon to turn the ship and cast anchor while she asked others to prepare the extra boat they had.

"What now, princess?" Intak stepped to her side, his voice both playful and curious as if he had a good guess of what she was thinking. Gaeul turned to him with a smile.

"Now we're writing history," she said, confident because she might have been her father's princess but she was her mother's daughter, too.

A descendant of the God of Death and she was not afraid.

BY THE GATE OF GODS

Before the boat left the ship behind, Gaeul made the Captain promise her something: if she didn't return in 3 days nor did she give any signs, the rest of them were to go back to the capital of Ignisum. It was a command.

She didn't want her crew to wait forever in case she ended up dead. She could have told this to her friends too, since Taeyang and Jiung were both very respected members of the crew, so the sailors would have listened to them but they were also much more emphatic and closer to her. They would have argued with her about not wanting to leave her behind, they wouldn't have agreed that it was the best for the kingdom. But even though the Princess bore some traits of the Death God’s descendants, she knew very well that it didn’t mean she was immune to death. Nobody knew better than her when she had lost her beautiful and fierce mother so young. She wasn’t afraid to die, but she was afraid for her country and what would happen to them if they couldn’t deliver the sacrifice to the God of Fire. Or even if they did and it didn’t satisfy the deity. Hence, she had written two letters before they had parted ways: one for her father, the king, and one for her team, primarily Taeyang because if it depended on him, he would have gone after her, even to the Edge of the Worlds, even to death. He was the kind of friend who was loyal until the end but Gaeul didn’t want them to sacrifice themselves for her, she wanted them to save her heritage. So she entrusted Lee Jaeyoon with the letters before hugging Hyunseo who was on the verge of tears and bid the others goodbye.

“You must come back, promise me!” Shota tugged on her sleeves, not wanting to let go but Gaeul knew she couldn’t promise such a thing. Or she could have turned out to be a liar if she did. So instead of telling the others to not worry – because knowing them it was useless, they would worry nonetheless –, she just ruffled the pickpocketing thief’s hair.

“Listen to your elders until I come back, okay?” she told him like chastising a child and he whined just like she expected. It made her smile even though she was already missing hearing it.

She exchanged a look with Jiung, silently asking him to take care of the boy and the way he nodded at her reassuringly, Gaeul knew that he understood. Taeyang put a hand on her shoulder, lightly squeezing it as his gentle, quiet way of good luck.

“Why do you have to go alone?” Bada pouted after a rushed hug.

“She’s not going alone,” a joyful voice declared confidently and Intak flashed the crew a big smile as he walked past her to climb over the edge, ready to let himself down into the boat that had already been lowered onto the water.

“Why is he going with Her Highness of all people?” A sailor in the back murmured, but his voice was too loud to pass by as a breeze. However, the stowaway thief didn’t take the tone nor the words to heart.

“Why? Do any of you volunteer? For Ignisum, Princess is the most important person on this ship and let’s be honest, I’m the least important one. She can sacrifice me if she sees it fit,” he said but he wasn’t a martyr, so Gaeul knew that his reasons weren’t so noble. She didn’t even expect it, she wasn’t planning on sacrificing anyone for her sake, to save herself, so to her ears it sounded like a mere threat, something to scare the others with. It wasn’t a bad tactic though.

“I will push you into the sea first thing first if you don’t shut up,”she snapped at him but this time, it wasn’t truly out of annoyance. She didn’t mind Intak’s joking anymore. Not that much at least. She was actually relieved that he managed to lift the sorrowful atmosphere. Half the people were saying goodbye as if she was going straight to her death as if this whole mission wasn’t a risky one to begin with. Just how they had survived so far, she planned to come back safe and sound, if the gods helped her that was.

Hwnag Intak saluted when their eyes met and then descended with the help of a rope as casually as a cat after jumping off a roof. The boat stumbled under his weight but he managed to keep his balance, lifting his arm signaling that he was about to help her down. Not that she needed any help but if he wanted to act like a gentleman, she could let him be. Still, she rolled her eyes at him with an amused smile in the corner of her mouth.

But first, she needed to secure the sacrifice, so she took its case draped by a red velvet material and leaned over the railing.

“Here’s the Eternal Flame. If you drop it, I will really kill you,” she said, her voice cutting like a warning, but the fact that she trusted him with the relic of her kingdom, a symbol of their power when he was a watertreader and a criminal on top of that, meant a lot.

“Come on, I didn’t drop you last time either and you are much heavier than that glass bell,” the boy teased, which made the princess let out a tsk sound, but she didn’t take him seriously. Funny, because a while back she couldn’t have imagined them teasing each other like this and now, she felt much safer having him by her side no matter how reckless he was than going alone. As a watertreader he could also make sure the boat would call at a port swiftly and safely.

So Gaeul sighed and lowered the relic slowly, carefully, making sure that it was securely planted in the boat before climbing down herself. Intak helped the princess to steady herself before she looked up at the ship, her fellow crew mates bidding their byes to her. Some even lowered their hats out of respect if they had one. The princess formed a flame from her right hand and put it above her heart, leaving with dignity and a promise, hoping that in 3 days time, her letters would be eaten by fire instead of read.

They passed by the sharp rocks without a problem and did not encounter any more sea monsters on the way but it didn't matter. In the daylight, the waters might have been calm but as night has fallen, something changed. Something about the atmosphere was off.

"Do you feel this?" Gaeul asked and this time, Intak had it in him to not joke around.

"Yeah," he nodded with furrowed brows, looking around suspiciously.

It took a few minutes but the girl realized what was so inherently wrong: there was no moon, no stars as if the sky above was darkened by a thick cloth. The only bit of light came from the Eternal Flame sitting between them on the boat.

"I think we're getting close," she said and wondered whether the saying about the deepest night followed by dawn was meant to be taken literally.

"I hope so. I expected something more grandiose, you know, for gods. More light and gold," Intak hummed and he probably wasn't the only one who imagined the gods' gate as such a place. But she knew better.

"One must go through all kinds of hardships to be able to see the deities, to earn the honor. It makes sense," she said, remembering the tales she had grown up with. There was always a price to pay when dealing with the high power. Hence the sacrifice they were carrying.

"Your gods are not the nice kind, huh?"

"Aren't they your gods, too?" Gaeul retorted, the thief’s comment making her raise a brow, confused. In the nature kingdoms, most people believed that their powers came from above but Ignisum was the most religious one of all, building altars to show respect.

"I have never really been a believer, it was always Jongseob."

The past tense didn’t slip Gaeul’s attention.

"Was he your friend?"

“Yeah,” Intak nodded, picking on his nails as he looked down, his face in shadows in the dark. “We grew up in the same village, and he was my first friend. He was always so adventurous and had a too big of a heart. He had always wanted to go to the Gate of Gods to ask for no children having to suffer from hunger anymore. So selfless. I went along with it because I didn’t even really believe that a place like that existed. I thought we would just cruise around on the sea a bit but then… we ran into Charybdis.”

Oh. Intak had told her before that he wasn’t sure how he survived that, that he was washed up on an island with a lady and then woke up in his bed.

“Did he… ?” She asked tentatively but the boy just shook his head.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since then but… like you said, it couldn’t have been a coincidence that I survived. If it was only because I bear the power of water when he doesn’t then…”

He was probably dead. He didn’t need to say the words, Gaeul knew it without that. She wondered whether he decided to join them because he felt guilty and didn’t want another ship with a dozen people to suffer the same fate as his friend even if they were strangers then, even if it wouldn’t have been his fault.

“I tried to go back after that. I tried to get to the Gate of Gods to ask for Jongseob’s life but no matter how hard I spread the rumor about me getting there most people who came to me for directions wanted that favor for all the bad reasons or they were scammers. We never got far with a half-prepared and lazy crew,” he continued, the nostalgia strong in his tone. “When you first came to Cinderport, I thought you and your friends were the same but then you said it was the king’s mission.”

“So you didn’t want to join for the money. But because we had a chance,” Gaeul finished for him, finding it ironic how she misinterpreted his reaction. But how could she have expected something like this? But all is well if it ends well, ain’t it? They were almost there. She gulped though, because no tale specified how it was to make deals with the gods. “What if we can only ask for one favor?”

Intak stayed quiet for a minute, nothing but the sound of waves filled the void before he answered:

“I’ve thought about it before. You want to save your people, the kingdom. Jongseob would want the same,” he said and Gaeul cast her eyes down, mourning his good friend. She swore to herself she would do anything to get to the bottom of it, to find out what exactly happened to the boy.

They were silent after that, the dance of the flame under the glass reflecting in their dark surroundings. Gaeul wondered whether it would be safe to sleep in turns because this night had already felt never-ending but just as she suppressed a yawn, she saw something she shouldn’t have.

“What in the name of gods…” She whispered under a breath and Intak turned his head to see what she was talking about.

Just a few meters from them, there was a boat, in the boat there was a boy and a girl watching them and a glass of fire. They approached steadily despite their blurred lines, like a…

“Reflection in the water,” he said in awe, quickly getting a coin out of his pocket to throw it towards the image. The coin flew, hit the surface of something that rippled in circles like liquid at the contract and then pierced through it.

“It’s the end,” Gaeul muttered. “The edge of the world.”

And then, they followed the coin.

The girl opened her eyes to blinding brightness.

Her body felt light and the marble was cold and hard under her. She couldn’t remember how she got there. The last thing she knew was the boat in the Sea of Darkness but now, she was alone, lying on the ground of a hall. At a gate.

Her eyes widened as she sat up, looking at the engravings in the stone and the valley of white chrysanthemum around. She looked ahead and saw a man in a long white robe, his hair dark like ink, a great contrast to the colors of this place. He stepped to a sandglass, spinned it and watched as the snow white sand streamed down. Then he turned around and looked down at Gaeul on her knees. He didn’t seem scary but he had an intimidating aura around him, some kind of authority which even she as a royal couldn’t question.

“Finally, we meet,” he spoke up in a raspy voice, then he tilted his head deep in thought. “Do you know who I am?”

She nodded, albeit hesitantly. She knew it from the flowers and the blessings on the floor. She knew because she had grown up on his teachings thanks to her mother.

“The God of Death,” she whispered and bowed politely. She wasn’t sure what to do or what to say. Even though she had prepared with a whole monologue about how she brought the Eternal Flame as an offering in exchange to save her home, she didn’t expect anything like this. She thought there would be an altar, some guidance and then she would turn back. She had never expected to meet a deity in person, much less him.

“Are you disappointed? That you didn’t end up at the Fire Hall?” The man asked, more curious than angry which was a relief. Gaeul wouldn’t have wanted to offend a higher power.

“I… of course not. I’m just surprised. I brought an offering but it’s a relic of another god. If I knew…” She explained, trying to find a good enough reason for the god to excuse her coming empty handed. The boat was nowhere to be seen, just as the Flame or Intak. She could only hope they were safe.

The god shook his head no and stepped closer, his body radiating cold the closer he got. He offered her a hand which she accepted and stood up with his help.

“Don’t you get it? You are the sacrifice,” he said calmly, matter-of-factly while Gaeul was at the loss of words. Sure, she was ready to die to save her kingdom, she accepted this mission willingly but still, the fact that her life was negotiable felt wrong. She blinked, trying to find a meaning for it, but like a master spreading his teachings, the god was more than willing to share:

“Ever wondered how your father, the youngest child of the belated king, had gotten the crown?” He asked and Gaeul didn’t even have to tell him for him to know that she didn’t. She had learned about the history of Ignisum but she never cared much about the royal succession since she was an only child. “He offered his first born in exchange for my help but when your mother learned about it, she made her fair share of a deal: that on your 18th birthday it wouldn’t be you whom I come for but her.”

Tears welled up in the princess’ eyes. So her mother didn’t die of sudden sickness. She didn’t die just like that. She died for her, because of her father’s reckless promise and because she loved her so much. No wonder her last words to her were forgive us. Gaeul never knew whom she should have forgiven. Now she had a guess.

“I believe your father is unaware of your mother’s bidding and he thinks that the recent events are because of his unfulfilled promise. He didn’t just send the Eternal Flame here but you,” the god said and Gaeul felt like the ground was slipping from under her. She had no reason to question a god just as much he didn’t have a reason to lie to her about it. Not to mention, knowing this, her last conversation with her father meant so much sense, too. He was saying goodbye.

“But if he’s wrong, where is the aghast in the kingdom coming from?” She asked, finally finding her voice.

“The kingdom is rotting from the inside. It will go down in flames, ruining everything you worked hard for. But I care about your bloodline, it’s mine too after all,” the god said with a parental smile on his ageless face. “If you can get rid of the weed until the next eclipse, I will stop the Eternal Fire spreading.”

Gaeul gasped at the promise. This was what she came for after all, wasn’t it?

“Isn’t it only the God of Fire who can?”

“I have my ways, believe me,” the immortal man said, glancing at the sandglass on the table behind them. It was nearing its end, only a small handful of sand left.

“What about Intak?” The princess asked hurriedly which made the god hum.

“The boy you came with? Your mother saved him before because he had a role in leading you here. Now he should depend on himself if he wants to save himself and his friend.”

It was a relief that at least he was alright for now, him and his friend too, but hearing the mention of her mother, Gaeul’s eyes widened.

“Is my mother still out there?” She questioned, hope blooming in chest and the god smiled at her like she was a child happy over candied fruit.

“Yes, she has been a wonderful help but don’t look for her. Your time to reunite will come later,” he said, reaching out to her forehead, his thumb drawing a pattern over her skin. “Don’t forget, a sacrifice is always something that we care about.”

Then the sandglass ran out and everything went to black again.

Gaeul pulled the bow taut. With one eye closed, she focused on her target.

“Take a deep breath, then hold it,” said her mother from behind her. The princess followed the instructions like always at the rare occasions of practices with the Queen. “When your target moves, you need to think with their mind. You need to know their next step to be able to predict where to shoot. Those who know they are targeted act to survive but they can be unpredictable, those who don’t are more prone to make mistakes out of carelessness. But if you miss on your first shot, they will be alarmed. So you need to be wise. You…”

“Can’t miss,” Gaeul finished it for her after she let the arrow fly.

Her mother smiled at her without having to look at the arrowhead piercing right in the middle of the target mark. Certain, like death.

ON THE LAND OF DEATH

The first thing Gaeul noticed when she came to was the comfort of bed.

She had spent weeks over the sea, her bones were still sore from the uncomfortable sleeping positions, so the change was unmistakable. Her fingers curled into the silk blanket, inhaling its familiar sweet jasmine scent and she opened her eyes.

“Princess!”

“Bless the deities, you are awake!”

Multiple voices spoke at the same time but she couldn’t identify all of them as she was still a bit disoriented. She remembered dreaming of her mother, of her smile. She remembered the God of Death and a deal. She remembered Hwang Intak and her crew out in the Crimson Sea and…

Wait.

Hurriedly, she sat up, looking around. She was undeniably in her quarters back in the royal castle, in Candentiae. The sand colored curtains, the view to the main Fire Fountain of the square, the baldachin bed… everything fit. She was home. But she didn’t remember how she got there.

“How– When did I get back?” She forced out, trying to dig through her memories, wondering if she had hurt her head. She had dozens of questions. Whether their magic was okay, whether the sacrifice was enough or she indeed had to fulfill her side of the deal to weed the filth out of her kingdom. Whether the crew had gotten back safely. Did Intak?

“Servants found you by the altar of the God of Death near the belated Queen’s quarters during morning cleaning. Nobody knows how you got there,” her old nanny told her tentatively as if she was wondering about the same as she: was it the god’s mercy that he had sent her home or something else?

Suddenly the lady servants around her dissipated and Gaeul saw one of the generals of his father’s army walk into her bedroom. Baek Juho was only a few years her elder but he had been fighting for their nation longer than she had and she had never seen anyone wield fire with a sword like he had done. Everything she knew about close combat she had learned from him, so both she and the king had trusted him a lot. Yet, it was unlike him to leave his post just to check on her, especially when his face was so cold and sorrowful.

“Princess… I am sorry but I have saddening news to tell you,” he spoke up and Gaeul gulped, only then noticing that everybody around her except the soldiers in their uniforms wore white hooded robes, mourning clothing. Even Juho and his men had a white ribbon around their right wrists. If it wasn’t for his words, the princess would have thought that people mourned her, not believing that she would be back after weeks but like this? She felt her chest squeeze painfully.

“No…” She whispered with a knot in her throat, the familiar feeling of loss washing over her.

“The King died the day after you had left.”

Gaeul spent the rest of the day in the royal crypt. She sent away everyone, not wanting them to see her cry. Sure, his father might have sent her to the End of the World, sacrificing her for the kingdom but it’s not like something she hadn’t (would have) done herself. If it was the way to end the suffering of people. Yet, here she was: safe and sound. And her father? Poisoned, dead.

“I will protect it. Your throne, our kingdom,” she whispered as she burnt a memorial flower, sprinkling its ashes around.

Then she got up, wiped her tears away and didn’t look back. She knew she had to be strong. With the throne empty and her being away, presumingly dead, the royal court had already whispered about a possible heir. Her bloodline had no other suited for the title and in the meantime, the Head Advisor posed as the regent. According to Juho, he had been exchanging letters with the royal family of Terranum. They had been on good diplomatic terms before, so it made sense that the Kingdom of Earth helped them in such desperate times but King Silas wished for more than just to help. He wanted his nephew, Alamo, to take the throne. That, Gaeul was not going to allow.

She walked into the Advisor Chamber in her snow white dress with embroidered red flames and flowers, followed by three of Juho’s men, and sat in her father's former seat in the middle of the table, looking around. The advisors all bowed and whispered words of blessings and gratitude now that she was back but Gaeul kept her eyes on the Head Advisor. Was she paranoid or did he seem disappointed?

“I heard you started making arrangements with Terranum,” she stated. Her voice was firm and her words were cut clean. “The mourning period hasn't even ended.”

It was a clear accusation. Not only it hadn’t been two moons since the King’s death but they should have at least waited for the complete stop of the messages in bottles sent back from the Sphinx which were supposed to signal their well-being.

“Excuse us, Your Highness, if we offended you. As you know the kingdom is already struggling with our weakening hold on the fire and now the King’s tragic death… People needed reassurance in your absence. Especially because nobody could tell if you would make it back alive,” the elder explained in a condescending tone which made Gaeul grit her teeth.

“Well, I did. So you can call off your arrangements with our neighbors.”

“But Your Highness–”

“What?” She snapped because she had always been better at biting and pushing blades to her enemy’s throat than diplomacy talks. She had no patience for this. Not right now. “Are you suggesting that I’m not cut out to be your ruler? Nobody can be so loyal to our people like me. I was taught from a young age to take my father’s place one day and yet you want a foreigner on our throne instead?”

“No. Goodness, no. The possible return of Your Highness was included in the terms agreed with Terranum, of course,” the man added but the princess wasn’t so stupid to feel relief just because of his words. She had a feeling her return didn’t nullify the agreement even though it hadn’t been accepted by her.

“Then?”

“It has been agreed that in case of your safe return, you are to be married to Prince Alamo of Terranum,” the advisor told her and instead of bowing his head in shame, he looked straight into her eyes, daring her to act out, to prove him right that she was too sentimental as a girl and wouldn’t make a good monarch alone. “A politician marriage would only be beneficial for Ignisum and it would be unwise to break the terms of the agreement and anger Terranum.”

Gaeul’s hands curled into fists under the table but before she could have accused the man of selling her off for a low price, a guard stepped into the chamber.

“Your Highness, the Sphinx’s crew was washed up on the shore and they say they have something to report to you,” he said once he was granted the permission to speak. Gaeul nodded at him as calmly as she could even though she wanted nothing more than to sprint out of the room to see her friends and check if all of them were alright. But instead of hasty actions, she looked back at the advisors.

“I will pen a letter to the King of Terranum myself to explain the situation. I suggest you to be more concerned about the famine in the kingdom than my future marriage,” she told them before she stood up and left the chamber with her soldiers.

She couldn't help but be worried about the crew. Them being washed up to the shore meant they got back in a miraculously short time just like her but still, it didn't mean that they were unharmed or that Intak was with them. The last time she saw him, he was going through a water-like separator like her. Something that took her to the God of Death. Where could it take him?

"Gaeul!" Hyunseo yelled when she saw her and a smile automatically spread on the princess' face. She welcomed the girl's embrace with open arms even though the younger's clothes and hair were still wet as if they had just escaped a storm. Gaeul looked around, searching for familiar faces, smiling at each she found. Hugging one person after another didn’t seem too effective though, so eventually they somehow ended up in a big group hug and for the first time since she had gotten back to Candentiae, the princess smiled genuinely.

But they all knew that they had things they needed to discuss, so after encouraging the soaked crew to get a bath and a change of clothes, they agreed on meeting in their usual ‘Strategy Corner’ as Shota called it since they used to always plan their missions there. They had food and drinks on the table as the eight of them took place around it, freshly cleaned up and looking less disheveled than on the ship. They might have carried scars from the trip but they were all there, they made it back in one piece and that was something Gaeul couldn’t be more grateful for. She made a mental note to burn some offerings by the God of Death for helping her keep them safe.

The princess told them about her meeting with the deity and their agreement, then how she found herself back in the castle (“See I told you that happened to me too!” Intak interrupted.) and what she had learned about her advisors in the last 24 hours. Then Taeyang told her how the thief boy rowed back to the ship right after dawn, telling them that they should head back to the capital as soon as they can (“I was told that we should,” he explained.) but because of the promise of waiting three days and nights, the crew was reluctant. Then the storm broke out unexpectedly and when lightning hit the masts and the ship suddenly crumbled under the waves, they all found themselves around the Hearthbay shores. It was definitely a miracle, an impatient divine intervention.

“The next eclipse is within seven days. We shouldn’t waste any time,” Jiung proposed once everything was laid out and the others nodded along.

“Alright, so what’s the plan?” Intak rubbed his palms together and looked from one another. He was close to the least knowledgeable about court affairs after all. He didn’t know or care much about politics before but he didn’t want the kingdom to perish either.

“What do you mean? We just need to get that Head Advisor caught that he has been committing treason,” Bada said as if it was that easy but Gaeul had to shake her head no. Not because it wasn’t true but because she was sure that there was more to it.

“It would be too easy. I doubt he is the mastermind behind this and there might be others who are a part of it. We need to find them all or it won't end,” she reasoned. “Still, we need someone on the Head Advisor’s trail, that’s true and I want all of his written communication tracked.”

“You want to steal his letters? You got it,” Intak proposed confidently with a grin as he nudged Shota and another young boy in the side. Gaeul knew who the addition to the group was without having to ask and she was glad to see Intak reunite with his friend.

“We also need to investigate the temple burning. That’s when everything with the fire started and it was for the Head Advisor’s advice that my father didn’t pay much attention on it after the guards who were said to be at fault were executed before their confession could have been taken,” the princess added because her conversation over the waters with the infamous thief led her thinking that there must have been more reason to keeping the temple incident a secret within the castle walls.

“We will take care of asking around among the guards,” Bada claimed with a smile, linking her arm with Hyunseo. The latter didn’t seem too enthusiastic about the idea of chatting with guards but she nodded anyway.

“There’s the spy situation, too. We still don’t know who sends them and if they have anything to do with it,” Gaeul wondered aloud as she remembered that it was the Head Advisor who started the entire Gate of Gods discussion after that spy was caught and killed.

“Let us handle that,” Jiung offered, looking at Taeyang who joined in quickly.

“Alright,” the princess gave her permission. Her heart felt warm at her friends’ willingness to help despite the situation being quite different from their usual missions. Less straightforward but more important. She was lucky to have them. “Also I will look into the King’s death, too. The royal physician said the poison is rare and nobody had been in the King’s bedroom that day and there is no sign of intrusion either but my father wasn’t a coward. Even if he thought I would die, he wouldn’t have taken his life and left the kingdom in despair.”

Night fell upon Candentiae slowly and with a pleasant breeze like the embrace of a warm blanket. Leaning over her balcony’s railing, the princess watched the dark sky splattered with stars above and sighed.

She had sent her friends to the guest rooms she'd had prepared for them. They needed to rest properly in order to be able to help her and she knew she should have slept, too, but she couldn’t rest peacefully ever since learning what had happened to her father and the kingdom.

“How are you holding up?” A low voice asked from her right side and looking there, she saw Hwang Intak swing a leg over the balcony railing casually. Gosh, what were her guards doing if he could get in so easily? She had bigger problems to deal with though. Not to mention she could protect herself.

“I’m fine,” she dismissed his question in a cold voice, turning away, not wanting to talk about it but the thief didn’t seem to know when to shut up.

“You just lost your father and learned that your court has traitors. It’s normal to not feel on the top of the world,” he said as if she needed a reminder.

Why are you asking if you know so well? She wanted to snap at him but Gaeul knew how insufferable he could be, so she just sighed.

“Fine, then I’m not. Still, I have other things to focus on.” Like the promised marriage. The fire magic situation. The traitors among her father’s men. “The God of Death told me something about sacrifices that haunts me.”

“I thought you went to see the God of Fire,” Intak muttered, confused.

Oh right, she only told them that she met with a deity but not which one.

“I thought so too,” Gaeul admitted because she was surprised to find herself in front of the God of Death. She kept wondering since getting back that the deity told her all that and treated her like that, offering help because he had already known about her father’s passing or he would have done so either way. “I have the power of fire from my father’s side and the power of death from my mother’s. Ignisum has always been a warrior nation and the way they told me, my father fell in love with the fierce deadliness in my mother. My father raised me to be a princess, an heir, and my mother raised me to be an assassin. So if this nation needs a killer queen to survive, I will become one.”

Intak beside her hummed. He didn’t ask stupid questions, he didn’t try to comfort her. He was just there, listening, and sometimes that meant more than anything.

“I saw your mother,” he said, quietly, almost in awe. Their similarities must have been striking looking back on his meeting with the lady. “She told me I did well and to keep treating you well. Then when I woke up on the shore, Jongseob was beside me.”

So his wish was granted. He fulfilled his destiny and led her to the Gate of Gods and he got his reward. Gaeul couldn’t help but wonder if there was a way she could have the same luck.

“I’m glad you got your friend back,” she told him genuinely, which he reciprocated with a small smile. He reached out tentatively as if he was waiting for her to swat his hand away but when she didn’t, he put his palm above her hand on the railing and gave it a little squeeze.

With the approach of the eclipse, things had sped up. Everybody was doing their share of investigation but they kept hitting dead ends. The Head Advisor didn’t write any letters that passed through servants apparently, the spies had hid their traces well, the guards knew nothing and no liquid or any substance found in the late King’s room could have such a poisonous effect.

Five days away from the eclipse all the light went out in the capital. When Taeyang tried to conjure a flame during a meeting, his fire turned to smoke within a blink. Not to mention, the reply letter of King Silas came later that day promising to send his nephew to visit her in these ‘grave times’ as he said as if Gaeul didn’t have enough problems without having to parade a prince around in her kingdom, especially on the day of the eclipse.

Three days before the arrival of His Grace, Bada and Hyunseo came back to the capital with news from the killed guards’ families from the countryside.

“They seemed frightened when they saw us. They made us swear not to tell anybody that we met them. They didn't say anything concrete but I’m sure that the one behind the fire is a higher up in the court, someone influential that could get the guards killed,” Bada said and even though it didn’t help much, one thing was sure: the fire wasn’t an accident out of the carelessness of loyal people.

“Find the records of the council about the matter. It must be somebody from those who were there and could control the events following,” Gaeul told them before putting on her white lace veil and she walked to the God of Death’s temple with the prepared offerings. She wished he knew she didn’t forget about their deals and she was doing her best. Unlike the previous days though, she wasn’t alone when she passed the doors.

“Master Yumerin,” she greeted the respectable elder. Unlike most people in the Elders’ Circle, he wasn’t a born and raised Ignisum person. He came from her mother’s household but had been in the court as long as she had.

“Your Highness,” the man bowed his head, his long gray hair falling ahead with the movement. “I was just leaving.”

“I didn’t mean to bother you. Feel free to stay,” Gaeul objected but the old man shook his head with an almost fatherly smile.

“It’s fine. You need the gods’ mercy more than any of us,” he claimed and dropped the rest of his offerings in her outheld hand when she was just trying to help him on the stairs. When her fingers closed around the gold coins and gemstones, the elder squeezed her hand tightly, his next words sounding like an echo of a warning in the dark. “But careful, Your Highness, you must trust the hand that gives you anything.”

Gaeul’s eyes widened. Did he just warn her against trusting the promise and mercy of deities? She glanced after the old men, seeing him exchange a few words with a servant, then she looked down on the valuable assets in her hands and burned them until only ash and hot liquid remained.

A day before the eclipse, she realized something important during lunch as her mouth touched the cold surface of her cup.

“The King’s food and drink is always tested before serving it to him, isn’t it?” She blurted out, thinking aloud and after her comment was confirmed and she was reassured that the taste tester was safe and sound, she added: “But not the metal cup, right? And some metal oxides can create a reaction with water.”

“The King’s chambers should be still untouched,” Taeyang said and stood up already, ready to check because based on their traditions until two moons passed, everything should have been left in its original place for the dead’s spirit to be able to reach the afterworld peacefully.

They called an expert and hurried to the closed off section of the castle, the old suite of the king. Most of them stayed outside to not disturb the passed spirit more than needed but Gaeul went with the poison master and seeing her father’s chambers for the first time since his passing brought her close to tears again. But she stayed calm and quiet while the lady examined the surroundings.

“The cutlery set on the table is made of mineral only known to exist near the Zomas Mountains. They are known weapon material because of their poisonous reaction with liquid, be it saliva or blood,” the expert told her before realizing what it actually meant and gasping, she put a hand over her mouth. The princess hushed her because it only confirmed what she had already guessed. So the king was indeed poisoned.

“You cannot tell anybody about this,” she said firmly with a knot in her throat before sending the woman away and exchanging a meaningful glance with the others. If a king wanted to commit suicide he would have had many easier ways to do it rather than using deadly cutlery. Why would anyone make cups and such from a material like this though if not for the exact same purpose? Somebody must have gifted His Majesty this set made of decorated metal, knowing that in case of poisoning always only the intakes would be examined.

"We should check where this came from and who decided for the King to eat from this that day," Taeyang said and everyone nodded in agreement. Bada volunteered to ask around in the kitchen and find the Head Maid while most of them headed to the storage where they kept track of every asset of the castle and the kingdom hence every business deal and royal gifts too.

They were looking through all the records created in that year but there were so many, they were not even halfway done when the doors of the corridor burst open, revealing the Head Advisor with four guards.

“Take him away!” He pointed at Jiung and the armed men complied without hesitation.

“What are you doing?” Gaeul raised her voice and strided up to him. The advisor didn’t seem affected by her authority at all. She might have been the princess, the heir but he was still the regent until her coronation.

“He’s been spying on you for Terranum. We just managed to snatch his letter to their prince, informing him about the sparkweavers’ lack of control over fire,” he said, handing over the letter to her but it felt like it was thrown in the face. The princess didn’t know what to say which only made the man tsk disapprovingly. “You should have known better than to let an earthshaker into your crew but clearly you have been misguided,” he added, chastising before turning to the guards who had the boy in their hold. “Lock him up until the council decides the date of his execution for treason.”

“Gaeul… Princess! You know I would never!” Jiung yelled as he was dragged away and Gaeul wanted to believe him, desperately.

She knew the killer couldn’t have been him since he was with her all this time but… Zomas Mountains were in Terranum, so how could cutlery get into the castle if not from there?

“My deepest apologies, Your Highness, that I ever suggested cooperation with the Earth Kingdom. Now that you have proof that not only they had sent spies here but also poisoned the late King, you should teach them a lesson. Ignisum’s army is waiting for your command,” the advisor told her but he sounded more satisfied about the change of events than apologetic.

Gaeul didn’t want an armed conflict, not only because she wasn’t sure it was indeed Terranum behind the horrible acts and it would have been unwise to start a war based on such speculations but also because she didn’t want to go down in history as someone who took her beloved people to battlefield as soon as they had the power to do so. Of course, she wanted to avenge her father’s murder but not at the cost of her home.

Not when the suggestion came from the man who should have never known that they found out what exactly killed the king, that he shouldn’t have known that it had anything to do with Terranum if he was honest about the letter being about the fire situation. So she narrowed her eyes at the advisor.

“We will not act so rushed. Call for a trial over the matter and make an offering to the Goddess of Justice. We will do this the right way,” the princess gave him the order, not taking no before she stormed out of the room, hurrying after the guards who had taken her friend. But before she could take the stairs down the dungeon, somebody grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She was ready to snap at the person but her words froze in her throat when she saw Taeyang.

“Don’t,” he said, earnestly. “You will only make this worse for him. ”

Gaeul sighed and nodded. No matter how much she was worrying about Jiung or how much she wanted to ask him about his side and tell him that, yes, she wanted to believe him, she knew she shouldn’t. She was his princess first and his friend second. If she wanted to bring justice, she couldn’t trespass the legal ways.

“Make sure he has a good representative,” she said and only when the other sparkweaver nodded did she let out a deep sigh. Maybe they can buy some time she hoped but time was against them it seemed.

The approaching eclipse brought darkness never seen by the land of Fire.

Ignisum was the brightest of all neighboring kingdoms. With some of the residents being able to control fire to their liking, it was easy to make lanterns and candles as beautiful as one wished. Gaeul liked the view from the castle the most at night, seeing all the dancing flames and breathing in the familiar smell of spicy smoke. But when the day of the eclipse arrived, this time the capital was embraced by the black night.

The timing of Prince Alamo's promised survival, the letters found in Jiung's room and the lack of evidence against the Head Advisor just didn't add up. After all, he was the one who could have benefited the most from the King's death. With her gone and His Majesty's passing, he could act as a regent and win the favor of any kingdom that wished to conquer Ignisum. The Fire Kingdom wouldn't have gone down without a fight if it was up for her or her father after all. It was he who promised her hand and the throne to a member of a family member of Terranum’s royalty but he was also the first one to go against them when the possibility of treason came up. Wasn't it obviously suspicious?

"What are you thinking of?" Intak showed up at her balcony once again unannounced but this time she didn't bother to scold him.

"I don't understand. Everything is a mess. The events don't seem to connect and I feel like I'm missing something," she told him honestly.

She had less than a day until the deadline of her deal with the God of Death but she suddenly wasn't sure she could do it. Maybe she indeed wasn't worthy of the throne.

"Run it over with me, Princess. What do we know so far?" The boy asked, more serious than probably ever. His deep brown eyes shone with determination. He wasn't joking around, he didn't want to lighten up the mood. He was there to help.

"Something happened at the main temple of the God of Fire. The Eternal Flame was swallowed by the sand. That's when our powers started to act out. Fire disappearing and appearing out of nowhere. We believe it offended the deity. My father wanted to find the culprit to ease the god's anger but guards who could have seen anything were killed and the advisors convinced the king that it was for the better since they made a mistake of carelessness too," Gaeul started talking, trying to lay out every piece of information in chronological order. "Then we noticed the spies breaking into the castle but the one we managed to capture didn't talk and was killed to set an example. Then the elders suggested a sacrifice at the Gate of Gods as a last resort since if we lost our powers, we would be vulnerable against any attacking kingdoms."

"That's why the king sent you to retrieve me and then leave with your crew. But the day after you left, the king was poisoned and advisors started making arrangements with Terranum, not even expecting you to come back," the thief continued with what he knew too. "Almost as soon as you came back and started investigating, somebody framed Jiung and the evidence you found made the Earth Nation our biggest enemy while that unsuspecting prince of theirs is on his way here. The one who orchestrated it all must have connections and lots of assets at their hands. Someone who could benefit from a weak Ignisum for probably personal gains, someone who could pull the strings throughout the whole play like a puppet master."

The boy’s words echoed in the princess’ mind. She stayed quiet, looking ahead into the obscure distance and only when Intak's last sentence’s meaning registered in her mind did her eyes widen.

"Oh, for the sake of deities, you are a genius!" She exclaimed so suddenly that even the always so confident and happy-go-round Hwang Intak was also taken aback when she planted a smooch on his cheek before running off her balcony.

"Tell the others to check on the elders!" She yelled back at him before turning down the corridor heading towards the wing of high servants.

The elders were those who had once been advisors but they are often from an older regime. They are still part of the council but only for their wisdom, they don't actually have the same rights as current advisors. The system of elders had been in discussion a lot of times. Some wanted to demolish this institution entirely, calling them and their ideas outdated while others thought their treatment was unfair and they should have had a bigger influence. Master Yumerin had an exceptionally big group of supporters among the elders. Not to mention his words about trust in the temple.

So storming into his chamber, not caring about the protests of his pupils, Gaeul’s hands were in fists and her heart was throbbing with the sense of betrayal.

“It has been you,” she told him, with no hesitation and no greetings. Her sharp eyes were on the man sitting in his high chair looking like the scholar he was. The elder was so calm at her accusation as if she was telling him about the weather, not accusing him of treason and while he could have played a fool or innocent, Master Yumerin’s mouth just twitched.

“It has always been me. But it’s too late now, Princess,” he shrugged, flipping a page in the book he was reading, unbothered. His nonchalance only angered the girl. “How does it feel like to fall out of the gods’ favor?”

Was it his play all along? Turning both the God of Fire and the God of Death against her? First, with the Eternal Flame incident and then because she wouldn’t be able to keep her word to the latter? Even if it was, Gaeul couldn’t understand what exactly he would have gained from it, from weakening the kingdom they both served even if he came from a faraway land.

“What did King Silas promise you? Why would you betray my father when he treated you well?” She raised her voice, half expecting the elder to deny that he had a hand in her father’s death but nothing of the sort happened. His eerie calmness made her feel jittery. What was he playing at? Why didn’t he seem affected by being caught?

“Did he? He wanted me out of the council saying I’m too old. He didn’t listen to my advice at all, calling me delusional. Even after I offended the God of Fire by having someone ruin the temple, ordering others to spy and create a threat against the kingdom, he wouldn’t attack Terranum. What a weak king. Ignisum shouldn’t be called the warrior nation for nothing,” the man clicked his tongue disapprovingly and Gaeul grit her teeth as anger only rose in her.

“What? So you did all this for war?”

“War is the biggest offering one could make to our dear God of Death, don’t you think?” The elder said and the princess could see that he really did mean it. He really thought that battlefields were a bloody sacrifice for their god. “And well, it’s one way to get rich quickly when you’re on the winning side.”

Of course, it was always mortal things like money and power in the end.

“Then you must be quite disappointed that it’s not happening,” Gaeul said, a bit too confident for somebody who just strode up to him all alone, not knowing how many people he had behind him. But she wouldn’t engage in a war for his sake and she will make sure to let the monarch of Terranum as well.

“Oh but it does. Because my people, Ignisum soldiers, are on their way to kill the visiting Prince Alamo. There will be war one way or another and I will be the one taking you to King Silas for head money,” Master Yumerin said and Gaeul had to realize he had more chess pieces on board than she had known of. He didn’t only count on her declaring war but made sure to attempt an assassination that would surely lead to one.

She had known the elder all her life. Although he had controversial suggestions and bit extreme ideals, her father had always said that all kinds of opinions needed to be taken into consideration. She had known him as an old man in the council but she never considered him dangerous. She had grown up playing around with swords and arrows, so words didn’t feel as threatening as they could be. But here it was: how rumors, influence and money could move mountains and ruin a kingdom. She was speechless.

“I’m curious though,” the old man wondered aloud as if they had all the time in the world. “How did you know it was my doing?”

“You were always there to stop investigations: in the temple fire’s case, my father’s death and even the spy situation. You suggested the sacrifice to the Gods,” Gaeul listed off the reasons that led her into his chamber with a hand around her dagger.

“Of course. I knew about your father’s deal. I knew he would send you. Then it was so easy to make everyone believe he took his life in guilt of doing so because nobody had ever come back from the Gate of Gods. Too bad, you did,” Master Yumerin grimaced and looked at her as if she was an annoying bug in his room.

If he wasn’t a high court member, if he didn’t have dozens of followers, if she didn’t have her principals as the daughter of her father, Gaeul would have killed him right there and would have been done with it.

“You deserve a sentence worse than death,” she said but he just laughed.

“Not so fast, little princess. I want you to watch the war happen from the first row and not be able to do anything about it,” he said and nodded at someone behind her whom she had heard approach a few minutes prior. With her reflexes she could dodge the attack as she turned to face the masked man, Seeing the rope in his hand, she guessed his purpose was indeed not to kill but capture her but she didn’t have time to amuse anyone’s sick fantasies. She needed to warn the others and stop the assassination.

Lucky for her, the others with Intak got to the elders’ quarters just in time to help her secure both her attacker and the elder. When Commander Juho led him away to his future cell, Gaeul pulled out her knife and cut a little X into the skin of his neck just beside his pulse.

“You missed,” the man deadpanned as his blood was dripping from the wound and the princess scoffed. For somebody who acted like they knew the desires of the God of Death, he sure didn’t know much about his descendants.

“Did I? Haven’t you heard that some deathbringers can mark their enemies to make sure they die a painful death? Live long, Master Yumerin, you’ll see either way,” she smirked at the traitor as he was dragged away before letting out a long breath, facing her friends.

“We need the kingdom’s fastest horses,” she said, knowing fully well that Yumerin’s men must have had a head start even if they planned to kill the prince close to the capital for the biggest calamity. They needed to find the prince’s caravan and stop the attack.

Before the eclipse would pass.

After Taeyang promised to keep check in the castle while Commander Juho was in charge of interrogating the elder and seizing any accomplices, the princess and her men hit the spice road in the direction of Terranum. Master Yumerim’s hired assassins couldn’t know better from where and when Prince Alamo would arrive, so this was their best chance. Gaeul knew the capital and its surroundings well enough, not to mention she was an assassin herself, so she had a good guess how this would go. She led her team of soldiers towards the western gate of Candentiae and while they were told to stand guard on the ground, she climbed over the city walls, looking down at the road leading towards them.

In the darkness, even under the blinding solar corona, one couldn’t see far but the sound of hoofbeat echoed off the bricks. It sounded like the twin of Gaeul’s heartbeat as she looked around among the guards and over the roof of bastions. Everything looked normal. Could it be that the elder lied and just wanted her out of the castle, couldn’t it be that…

“Announce yourself, visitor!” The head guard called out for the horse carriage that halted unharmed by the gates.

“His Highness Prince Alamo of Terranum and his escorts. We have come to–”

The sound of an explosion shook the ground. People shouted and the horses nickered in fear and the carriage crushed into the side of the gate and they ahead, away from the sudden smoke and flames. Terranum soldiers jumped off the carriage in full armor, holding their swords out. One helped a much more elegantly dressed man out of the vehicle, trying to lead him to safety while his men tried to fend off bandits appearing out of thin air. Gaeul could see her own men help them out and in that moment, a movement over the roof caught her eyes and she saw a masked individual pull a bow tight, targeting the foreign prince.

If this assassin got half as good training as she did, she only had one and only chance. If she didn’t manage to get them, the elder’s hired person would kill Prince Alamo with an arrow bearing the name of Ignisum and unleash chaos onto the kingdom before she could try again.

Don’t miss.

She heard her mother's voice echo in her ears as she held her dagger tight and thought of the former queen’s teachings as she let the blade fly. She watched the assassin yelp and the thud of a fall just before she jumped over the wall and let herself down with a rope to help that poor excuse of a prince who couldn’t even defend himself.

“Princess, watch out!” The all too familiar voice of Intak who shouldn’t even have been there in the first place warned her but she was a moment too late as she turned and the small sword’s blade tore into the skin of her arm, drawing blood, just before she could have dodged it.

It was chaos, the fight with the attackers but losing the element of surprise, the assassins were soon outnumbered and either killed or captured by the time the moon wasn’t in the sun’s way anymore. Gaeul wanted to snap at Intak for not listening to her as soon as she could but he effectively managed to shut her up by telling her about the documents he found in Master Yumerin’s hidden compartment about his arrangement with King Silas.

“I didn’t know about my uncle's schemes, believe me,” the prince, whose death was also part of the deal, pleaded and the princess felt more pity than disdain towards him.

“Just make sure your people are dealt with, Prince Alamo, I wouldn’t want a war between our nations,” she told him straightforwardly even though she wasn’t sure him alone would be enough to handle the ruling king and his ambition. Weed was everywhere.

“I guess our engagement is out of the question now,” the royal said and it took everything in the princess not to snort as she tied a piece of clothing around her bleeding wound.

“It was never even in question to begin with,” she said and heard Intak from the side let out an amused scoff at that that made her want to reprimand him.

However, suddenly light blazed up to the sky, quick and bright red and when Gaeul turned North, she saw its source as clear as the ring of Sun in the sky.

The castle of Candentiae was on fire.

EPILOGUE

After the dreadful events during the eclipse and the days leading up to it passed, the people of Ignisum could finally be at peace.

Apparently, Master Yumerin tried to escape by causing havoc by letting out a glass bell of Eternal Flame that he had gotten his hands on when she got back to the castle safe and sound, bringing it back with her from the Gate of Gods. However, he couldn't get away from the flames in time. Thankfully, Taeyang and a handful of other sparkweavers managed to contain the fire and not let it spread over to other parts of the castle or outside of it. It was decided that a new temple would be built over the ashes where once the elders' chambers were. It would be for all gods and open to visit by anyone.

After Yumerin's death and the capture of his accomplices after a thorough investigation, magic stabilized over the kingdom. Jiung’s name was cleared since Prince Alamo didn’t even know who he was and the boy's father would have never risked the diplomatic relationship between the two kingdoms like that either. The relationship between the two nations stayed a bit uneasy because of King Silas' dissatisfaction but at least they weren't on a battlefield, fighting nor was she forced into a marriage just to keep her country.

After a lot of corrupt people had been found among the elders and the advisors, Gaeul decided to restructure the court. With people like Commander Juho, Taeyang, Jiung and those who helped them restore the peace in the council, they started to build a new era for Ignisum.

The girl waited for the two moons' mourning period to end before holding an official coronation and while she prepared for this all her life, feeling the heavy weight of crown on her head, she didn't think she could ever be ready at all. That morning she went to pay offerings to the deities, asking for their blessings alongside her parents’. Bearing the crown and the title felt like a lonely and scary thing to do so young, she never imagined this day would come so soon but with the right people beside her, it felt less like a burden.

Later that night, after taking off the beautiful but heavy dress and all those accessories, Gaeul stood on her balcony in a silky robe, the rose scented sacred oil still on her skin, and leaned against the railing, looking over her city, her home. When she heard a familiar thud behind her, her mouth curled into a smile against her will.

"You really should stop sneaking in. One day I will accidentally kill you," she tsked before turning around only to face Hwang Intak's all too satisfied grin.

"But I came bearing gifts today," he singsonged as he showed off his newest acquisition. It was a golden necklace with diamonds forming little flames. It was one of her most secured coronation accessories.

“Did you just steal from our treasury to bring me this?” Gaeul raised an eyebrow as she watched the boy place the accessory carefully onto her vanity desk.

“Well, clearly your treasury needs to be guarded better,” he shrugged as if it was nothing while the girl noted that she should double the guards around the treasury. Intak's tests about the castle and the kingdom's security points always felt like a little game for them. She kept building higher and thicker walls and he kept finding loopholes.

“And you should be in the dungeons instead of my room,” she shook her head but she had already gotten used to the boy's antics.

“Well, that only means that your room needs better guards too,” he retorted, which only made her roll her eyes, pseudo-annoyed.

“I have something else, too. Something I didn't steal, I swear," the thief claimed uncharacteristically of him before he whipped out a single Desert Rose flower from behind his back. Its familiar petals made Gaeul widen her eyes. It was her favorite flower and looking at it, she realized that then it must not have been just a joke that the boy had asked Bada about it back on the ship.

"And what's that for?" She asked, almost playfully, as she took the flower from him, taking a sniff of its rich scent.

“For forgiveness? You stole a kiss from me if I remember correctly. I actually came to steal it back,” he warned and Gaeul could barely hold back a chuckle. Gosh, he was so dramatic. It wasn't even a kiss, just a peck on his cheek, why did he make it sound like she attacked him?

“Hah, I would like to see you try,” she snorted but Hwang Intak never backed down from a challenge, so he only grinned as he stepped closer. Gaeul knew at least a dozen ways to knock him out, yet she didn't move.

“Careful, I’m the best thief of the kingdom, royal-certified and all,” he said confidently and probably he wasn’t wrong. Somewhere along the way, he managed to steal her heart too no matter how well she guarded it.

“And I’m–” Gaeul couldn’t finish her retort as the boy leaned in, effectively rendering her speechless for just long enough.

A princess and a thief, what an unlikely pair. But then they were just a boy and a girl and why shouldn't she have kissed the boy she liked? She should have been able to do anything. She was not only a bearer of the powers of both the God of Fire and the God of Death but much more.

She was the Queen of Ignisum.

#p1harmony angst #p1harmony fluff #intak angst #intak fluff #intak x female oc #stories #i really don't know how to tag this

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