Chapter Text
Year 2821
Minji gracefully weaves through the corridors of the palace, everyone in the building stopping their work and bowing whenever the red haired royal stepped through. She walks up to the dais and descends on top of the gilded velvet throne. As soon as she takes a breath, immediately relaxed by the absence of humans annoying her, her messenger bursts into the room. “Bora, what do you want?” Minji pinches the space between her brows in exasperation. Bora could sometimes either make or break a moment of relaxation. They were close enough to be called friends, obvious by the number of times the red haired girl had asked the younger to be her advisor. In her words, “The old men are dumb.” . Bora was quick to decline in humility.
Minji is about to kill Bora with her glare alone, but the news that tumbled out of Bora’s mouth in haste has the queen’s eyes widened in shock. “Basically, the queen of the kingdom neighbouring ours wants to meet and talk about royal stuff and, yeah.” Bora stammers. Minji looks both terrified and furious, her eyes clouding over to match the red of her hair. “The neighbouring kingdom? Like the wolves ? I’ll have to meet her ?” Minji manages to say, the words getting stuck in her throat halfway through. “Uh, let me just check-.” Bora pulls out a very random but helpful map of Polaris. “Yeah.” Bora confirms. Minji is panicked. “Bora, how do you have the nerve to say that so nonchalantly ?!” Bora is visibly confused, then her face clears and she starts doubling back in laughter. “Wow,” she says between wiping tears. “Don’t tell me this is another one of your age-old vampire grudges. How many of those do you even have- you’re enemies with everyone except your own people!” Minji is now glaring at Bora with a much higher intensity than before. “Don’t laugh, you’re a vampire too.” Bora is laughing just to spite Minji now. “Yeah, but I don’t go making enemies with everyone I meet. Say, who is this wolf you talk about, anyway?” Minji looks into the distance, probably just for dramatic effect. “Lee Siyeon, my enemy of a millennium.” she whispers.
Bora laughs again. She does not expect Minji to start retelling her story.
-
987 years ago.
Minji and Siyeon- an inseparable team, yin and yang, soulmates.
They grew up together, while both were still very human, in an old village called Polaris. They were loved by everyone in the small dwelling, due to their bright smiles and kind nature. Every day, they used to volunteer to help someone in the village, and because of this their faces were popular in Polaris, ever since they were old enough to read. Their parents had died while on an outing, but they were far from poor- all the villagers they had helped free of charge and given back, usually in the form of little golden coins. The two young girls had kept the money safe in a little pot, and when they had enough, they bought some wood and made a treehouse in the woods surrounding Polaris. All the children in the village would frequent it (possibly for entertainment, but more likely because there was actual good food, instead of the bread they were used to). No one ever knew where the food came from- hell, even Minji and Siyeon didn’t know. But when they would discover who was leaving the food out, it would change their lives- for the better or the worse?
-
The girls had now matured into young women, now on the cusp of eighteen, though their light spirit and childish purity had everything but dulled. As usual, everyday warm food would be left out for them, and young children would come into their treehouse to play. On the morning of Minji’s eighteenth birthday, however, something was terribly wrong.
Minji woke up, already with a smile on her face. But when she saw Siyeon wasn’t there to sing Happy Birthday to her, like always, the smile flatlined along with her mood. She lifted herself off the soft bed and called softly, “Siyeon?”. There was no answer. She frantically searched around the house- “Siyeon?”- but to no avail. Then it dawned on her, she didn’t check the treehouse. She ran out of the house and into the forest, the entire village’s “Happy Birthday Minji!” falling to deaf ears.
Minji ran through the forests, her calls of Siyeon’s name never gaining a response. When she finally got to the treehouse, she noticed a small puddle of vomit on the ground, among the leaves. That was already distressing to Minji, but she climbed up the creaking ladder in determination. The first alarm bell rang in her head when she saw Siyeon on the floor of the treehouse, a trembling hand covering her mouth. Minji ran to the younger girl, asking gently, “What happened, Siyeonie?” Siyeon shook her head in panic. “T-The food.” Minji was confused for a moment, but quickly understood that Siyeon was talking about the food usually left on the table. She ran to the little wood table and saw something that made her heart skip a beat. Or two.
Blood . Not just a small smear, but at least five full metal cups filled to the brim with the crimson substance. And a small marking on the table that said ‘Drink this.’ almost like a wicked adaptation of Alice in Wonderland . Saying Minji was scared was a terrible understatement. Her whole body was shaking and time seemed to slow. She didn’t want to even move, but a high pitched scream, unmistakably Siyeon's, broke Minji’s bubble and propelled her into even more fear. “Siyeon?” Minji yelled. “Minji! Help!” Came the frantic response. Minji rushed to where she saw Siyeon last and screamed. Siyeon was there, being held by the collar by a creature with sharp nails and canines that seemed to slip past their lips. The monster’s skin was pale and cracked, like marble and their hair were just a few scraggly strands . Mocking black eyes mirrored Minji’s wide brown pair, and the creature laughed. “Hello, Kim Minji . I’ve been looking for you.” the creature rasped. “Are y-you the one who put out the food?” Minji tried to sound confident, but failed. The creature nodded. “Bait.” it said curtly. “You need to do something and only then will your precious Lee Siyeon walk away unscathed.” the monster snickered. Minji yelled, “Don’t you dare do anything to her!” The monster’s grin widened, if such a thing was possible, and it replied, “Oh, I won’t. Unless you agree to become one of us.” Minji nodded, trembling. She would do anything to protect Siyeon, even if that meant giving up her humanity. “Deal.” Siyeon tried to scream at her no, but the monster cupped a hand over her mouth, turning Siyeon’s yells to muffled sounds of restraint. Minji slowly walked to the monster and showed her neck. “What do I do now?” Minji tried to sound confident, but her voice broke at the sight of the monster eyeing her neck. “Just stand there.” The monster’s voice was warped and deepened by the sheer prospect of human meat.
“What are you?” Minji dared to ask. The creature shrugged. “A demon? I don’t entirely know the answer myself. Are you ready now?” Minji nodded, her bottom lip trembling slightly. The monster flashed over to stand in front of the scared girl. Its hands were placed on either side of Minji’s head and it pulled . Black smoke rose like tendrils from Minji’s mouth, and the demon smiled in infernal delight. But for Minji, it hurt. It felt like someone was spearing and roasting her like a piece of chicken on a kebab. And then, suddenly the pain was over- Minji had fallen unconscious. Siyeon had screamed again, and the creature had snapped, “She’ll wake up.” Siyeon was confused, but darted away from the monster, ignoring its yells calling her back.
-
When Minji woke up some six hours later, she was completely confused. Her first thought was that she had died sometime while the creature was feeding and this was some type of limbo. But when she felt the wood of the treehouse beneath her and her splitting headache she decided this was not death.
Her first thought, as usual, went to Siyeon.
“S-Siyeon..?” she coughed, her voice hoarse. No one answered, and she felt an overwhelming feeling of deja vu.
She got up slowly, and only then she registered the pain- all through her body. She hissed through clenched teeth and climbed down the wooden ladder.
When Minji arrived at her house, she immediately knew something was very wrong.