The Forbidden Truth

Chapter 02

"W-what? W-what is t-this? What is h-happening?"

Seolurrie fell to her knees after seeing what unfold in front of her. Her eyes were trembling and then her whole body began trembling because of the shock and the shivers that ran down her spine.

She saw people fighting with creatures. She saw the people's blood splattered on the ground when the creatures swung their claws or their weapons making their enemy's flesh rip open. As the clock ticked, mountains of corpses piled in the battlefield and the gushing of blood from the people's wounds and from the dead bodies dyed the battlefield red.

When she finally calmed herself down. She immediately ran back inside her room and tried to get something that could be used as a weapon. When she looked up she saw some rusty old swords hanging as a decoration, although it looked more of a garbage than a decoration.

She climbed on one of the bookshelves near the hanging swords and tried to pull one from the big and thick iron that is holding it but it didn't budge. She put all of her strength and it moved. She repeatedly pulled it until the sword was finally out of the thick iron clasp. She carefully jumped down from the top of the bookshelf and headed outside once again.

The sweat she got from trying to pull the sword out from the thick iron clasp seemed to have been doubled. If earlier there were only mountains of corpses, now there are like mountain ranges. She felt fear eating her up, but the fear suddenly disappeared when she heard the people screaming their hearts out. It was just a scream but it meant so many things.

'No matter what they won't stop fighting. They will protect their home even if it means death.'

She thought to herself. She shook her head hard as if to completely erase the fear she felt earlier. She stepped forward once only to come to a stop. At the horizon, past the battlefield, was a large gate. A portal-like-gate. There are monsters that keep pouring out of the massive gate.

She trembled when she saw all types of monsters flowing out of the gate like a river. She once again felt fear consuming her. One look and you’ll know that humanity has already lost. The people fighting to not lose their home never gave up. They thought they could definitely protect their home. But little did they know that the land they were fighting for was already lost.

She unconsciously grasped her necklace tightly. She looked at her necklace when it suddenly emitted a bright blue light.

“Huh?!”

She is so confused. She doesn’t understand what is happening. Her necklace shone brightly and a thread-like line made of light became connected to a small gate at the far left side of the massive gate.

When she traced the light again to see if what she’s seeing was not a hallucination. But her eyes stopped at the monsters. She gasped loudly, her eyes grew wider. The monsters. They are all looking at her. Hundred or maybe thousand pairs of eyes gazed at her with an intent of killing.

I wasn’t even a moment when she realized the monsters were all looking at her when they all ran to her direction. Out of instinct and without hesitation she ran to the small gate with all her might.

‘I don’t know why and what will happen to me but if everything goes wrong I’ll surely die.’

After repeating that thought a hundred times. The minutes that she ran felt like hours and at last she stood in front of the gate. She was panting so heavy. She grasped her necklace again. The line that connected her necklace to the small gate was now a few meters away.

She looked behind her and saw the monsters were so near her already.

‘They should have already caught me a lot earlier but they are still approaching me?’

A lot of confusing thoughts flooded her mind. But she doesn’t have the leeway to think monsters from every direction were gradually nearing her and at a fast speed too. She doesn’t have the time to hesitate nor to decide what to do.

She jumped into the small gate and closed her eyes shut. For a moment there she felt like her body became light and then suddenly became so heavy. She felt her consciousness leaving her but she forced herself awake that caused her an extreme headache.

It all happened so fast that she doubted it even happened. If not only for the slight after effect of the headache she would really think it never happened. A moment has passed and she heard sound all around her she closed her eyes more tightly preparing herself for the pain she will feel. The pain of the tearing flesh and the sound of blood gushing out. She waited and waited but none of it happened.

She felt a warm light trying to seep through her eyes and she slowly opened them. She saw a wall a few meters in front of her. She looked on her both sides but only saw a road.

‘Where am I? Where is this place? What happened? Am I alive? Is this the afterlife?’

Seolurrie has a lot of questions she wants to ask, but no one can answer them except herself, well that is, if she can. Her eyes grew wider as she realized one thing.

‘The gate?!!’

She looked behind her. She was expecting to see a floating bright blue gate, but instead, all she saw was a tall wall. When she realized that she survived. She calmed down. Her breathing was slowing down and she felt her eyelashes were kind of heavy and without warning she collapsed on the spot. Before she could lose her consciousness she saw a girl wearing what looked like a school uniform. Worry was written all over the girl’s face.

“Are… okay?”

Her consciousness completely left her.

***

Seolurrie opened her eyes abruptly while gasping heavily. She immediately sat up and coughed. She was still panting when she lifted her gaze to scan her surroundings.

White walls, white ceilings and the smell of some kind of medicine. She wondered where she was and remembered something she read from a book.

‘White walls and the smell of strong medicine, huh. I guess this place is a hospital.’

She sighed and tried to recall her memories. She was busy recalling her memories that she didn’t notice a girl wearing a school uniform come in. When the girl saw that she was awake she was so shocked that she dropped the plastic bag she was carrying, making a thudding noise.

Seolurrie turned her head at the sound. She saw the girl that called out to her with a worried face. They stared at each other for a few minutes and Seolurrie tilted her head, asking the girl with a gesture of ‘Are you going in?’. When the girl finally snapped out of her reverie she hesitatingly stepped back.

“I-I n-need to call t-the d-doctor.”

The girls trembling voice was full of mixed fear and worry. When the girl was finally turning around Seolurrie spoke in a silvery voice.

“Please, don’t call the doctors. I’m fine, as you can see.”

“But, you collapsed earlier a-and…”

The girl was stiffly standing at the door. Seolurrie thought that the girl was afraid of her.

“Why don’t you come in? I’d like to thank you properly for what you have done for me. You're my savior, after all.”

The girl’s cheeks instantly dyed red and she slowly stepped in the room while getting the plastic bag she dropped earlier. Seolurrie patted the side of her bed and the girl walked to her and sat down on where she patted.

“Thank you for what you’ve done. May I know your name and how old you are and what grade you are in?”

Seolurrie asked softly and with caution.

“My name is Jina. I am 17 and I’m in my last year of senior year.”

“You mean in high school?”

“Yes… How about you, may I ask for your name?”

Seolurrie smiled and introduced herself. She and Jina talked for a long time making them open to each other. Jina is a very nice girl and she is funny and also has a loud personality when she opens herself to you. She started laughing after only a few minutes of talking to Seolurrie. When Seolurrie tried to tell her a story Jina listened closely and when the story was finished. Jina found herself crying.

The story Seolurrie told was the story of her life.