The next day, the group split up again to look for food and water.

Once again, the only group that found food was Minho and I. This time we brought back small berries and nuts.

"You guys found food again?!"

"...We couldn't find anything..."

Seri seemed impressed by us, while Hana hung her head low apologetically.

"It's okay, Hana. We were just lucky." 

"No, it was just Yun. He managed to find everything!"

Minho shook his head, unable to understand how I was so lucky.

"H-hey... can I have some to eat too?"

This time, Moon didn't try to snatch it away.

I gave him his portion and he ate it quietly. He seemed so down... I was almost starting to feel bad. 

After we finished our meals, we stayed inside the cave until the night.

While the group was feeling down from the worries and anxiety, we were hit with a storm.

BOOM!

The harsh winds and rain water made it impossible to keep the fire going. The group sat closely together in order to survive the cold, when the sky began to lit up with thunder.

‘He’s coming.’

I knew the sudden change in weather was happening for a reason. Soon, a great being would come down from the heavens.

BOOM!

“Kyaaah!”

The lighting striked down close to where the cave was and lit a single tree on fire. The flames continued to burn, but the tree was unharmed. 

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

One after another, lighting striked down and lit up the trees. As if the sky was lighting up torches to welcome the great being’s decscension. 

The entire area lit up in fire and Hyunwoo was the first to walk towards the entrance of the cave. He looked at the trees on fire with a spark in his eyes.

Through the dark stormy clouds, a bright bolt of lightning lit up a path to the ground where the cave was.

And through the clouds, I could see him.

The tall black figure was far away, but appeared before us in a matter of moments. His speed was ignoring the laws of space. 

“KYAAAAAA!!!”

“AHHHH!!!”

“AH-AH AHHH!”

“UGHHH!”

“AHHHH!”

“AAAAH!”

The moment he appeared before us, the six of us fell to the ground and screamed in pain. It felt like our soul, our very being was being scraped at with sharp knives. We were bleeding from our eyes that looked at him and I felt the urged to claw them out of my face. These eyes that dared to look at him had to be removed. 

‘This part… it’s not in my memories!’

If I had remembered this pain, I would have planned a way to avoid it before he decsended. However for some reason, the only think I could remember was that ‘ A great and powerful being came down and took Moon away.’

As the six of us continued to scream from the deepest parts of our soul, I faintly heard an emotionless voice.

[I came down to find the potential that I felt, but it would seem my presense is too great for you to handle.]

[Small Time Reversal]

In the next moment, I could feel my body returning to normal. The pain receded and the blood I spilled disappeared.

Time was moving backwards!

In my previous life, it seems he somehow reversed time to heal us and it also ended up erasing our memories.

'But this time… I still remember.’

For some reason, I was able to remember everything even after the time reversal was complete. I looked at the others and I could tell none of them remembered what just happened. They just stared in fear at the sudden appearance of the figure in the air.

I looked up as well. He was as big as a mountain and completely clocked in black. I could barely make out his yellow eyes and mouth inside his hood. His thin, long fingers showed me his grey skin that was ashy as stone. 

It took everything in me to stop my body from shaking. Even just the memories of the pain alone was enough to make me want to scream. 

[I have blocked my great presense so that you may witness me.]

Hi eyes moved from one person to the next, until it stopped at Moon.

[You must be the one with the 9 lights running through your blood. When I felt its presence a few days ago...I couldn’t believe it, so I had to come see for myself.]

The great being floated closer to us, and we all took a step back.'

Or, at least we tried to.

A strange power was holding our bodies in place and none of us could move.

[I am Ikol, the ruler of the thunder clan.]

Ikol spoke to Moon, but it also sounded like he was talking to himself.

[I am taking my clan to the upper world during this millenium’s gate opening. It must be fate that I found you just a few days before it closes… It will cost me some karma, but your potential is worth it.]

I couldn’t move my body, but I used all my strength to glance at Moon. His face was completely pale and his face was full of terror. 

Ikol moved his arm, and covered Moon with his black cloak. When he moved back, Moon was no longer there.

Ikol turned around and left, as if the rest of us weren’t even there. To him, our existence was no more than bugs. 

We could only move our bodies again once Ikol had flown back up into the clouds and the flames went out. 

"W-what was that just now..."

"Did... Moon just get kidnapped?!"

"But isn't he better off than us? he did managed to escape this forest..."

"Come back! Take us with you!"

The others fell into panic. 

Seri screamed towards the sky, hoping that Ikol would return to take us out of this forest as well. 

She gave up after some time and that night, I could hear her crying in her sleep.

Everyone had a hard time sleeping that night. They were overwhelmed by the existence of such other worldly beings and the fact that we were in a different world. 

I couldn't sleep for a different reason. My heart beat fast, knowing what was going to happen next.

“KYAA! AH! AHHH!”

I stood up when Seri started screaming on the ground while holding onto her head tightly. She was gripping so hard, I could see blood dripping through her hair. Hana got up right when she heard her scream and looked over her, with a worried expression, trying to help her in some way.

“STOP!! AHH!! SOMEONE MAKE IT STOP!!”

Seri let out screams that no one could understand. I remembered this happening in my past life, but I never understood the reason for it. All I knew was that the next being would arrive soon.

‘I’m sure I’ll experience the same pain again when the next one arrives!’

The only thing I could remember for the next encounter was the same as the first. ‘A great and powerful being came and took Seri away.’

I looked at the others around me. 

“Guys! We have to look down right now and no matter what, don’t look up!”

“What?”

“Yun…?”

The others looked at me confused. 

“Trust me just this once!” 

I looked down and pulled Minho's head down. He looked at me concerned.

“Yun… what’s wrong?”

Before I could answer, he appeared before us.

This time there was no flame lighting up a path. He simply appeared in the space above us. His presense filled up the entire cave and I felt a pressure weigh down on me.

All of us fell down on our knees. 

“UGH…”

“HNgg..”

“Ahh…”

“HhH…”

The four of us groaned, but none of us screamed in pain. I let out a sigh of relief knowing that the others trusted and listened to me.

[Ho?]

At the sound of the being’s voice, I could feel my ears explode from within and blood spilled out. 

‘AHHHH!!!’ 

I couldn’t hear my voice or the others, but I continued to scream from the pain in my ears. 

‘We can’t look or listen to them without their permission! How are we suppposed to block out our ears?!’

As I trembled on the ground, the pain suddenly went away and the blood that I had spilled was disappearing. 

I knew that time was reversed again. 

Although I no longer felt the pain, I couldn’t look up. Having experienced such pain twice... etched fear into me.

“Yun?”

“Are you okay?”

I could hear Minho and Hana’s concerned voices. They had forgotten what had happened just a moment ago. 

[I blocked my presense, so you can look up now.]

I was still afraid, but my body was forced to look up on its own. It couldn’t go against his order. He was dressed in white and had long blue hair that fell down to his waist. His eyes were slit like that of a snake’s, and he had two long horns on his forehead. Apart from those traits, he had a beautiful face that was close to a human man’s. Porcelain skin, a smooth jaw, a straight nose, and full lips. If I didn’t hear his low voice, I would have mistaken him for a woman. 

His eyes shined when I looked up and met his eyes. He rubbed his chin in thought and seemed amused. 

[I don’t know how, but you remember what happened before I reversed time.]

The beautiful man stared at me for a few moments longer, but I could see his interest quickly fade. 

[Although I’m curious how that’s possible… it seems you hold no other talent or skill. In fact I’ve never met anyone as untalented as you.]

I felt my heart drop.

I knew I wasn’t talented or special like the others, but a part of me believed that I just hadn’t discovered the right skill yet. I shook my body in frustration.

The beautiful man passed by me and walked towards Seri who was still squirming in pain. 

[To think a presense this large was posssible… and in the body of a mortal. Let’s see… it reaches 100… no a 1000 meter radius from where you are. Right now, you must be feeling all the pain and death of all living creatures within. How are you still alive?]

The beautiful man smiled at Seri, and rested his hand on her head. 

[Sleep.]

With that, Seri stopped screaming and fell into a peaceful sleep. The man picked her up in his arms, and floated back up into the sky. When suddenly he flinched, and looked to the far distance. 

[Hm…]

I could hear discomfort in his voice.

[Hayul!]

My whole body shook from the sudden voice that echoed through the sky. Something was coming closer to us at an incredible speed. That something stopped mid air in front of the beautiful man, Hayul.

He was a short being with the body of a man and the head of a cat. 

He was puffing and huffing from anger. His eyes were piercing in Hayul’s direction, when his mouth formed an evil grin. 

[Fight me, Hayul!]

The cat man created a sword from thin air and rushed towards Hayul.

[Sigh How many times is this, Jin?]

In my last life, I didn’t see the fight between them because I was too afraid. I had my head down and ears covered the entire time, until they had both left.

'But I'm a different person from the past... I lived through 60 years in this world.'

I gathered the courage and looked up.

Unfortunately, my determination was for nothing because the fight had ended as soon as it started. All I saw was the cat man and Hayul disappearing from my sight for a second, only to reappear right after. 

And when they reappeared, Jin’s sword was broken and he had a huge claw wound on his right shoulder. He looked at his wound for a moment and furrowed his brows. 

Hayul on the other hand, had no visible wounds on him and he was still carrying Seri in his arms. He appeared to have won the fight, but his expression wasn’t bright.

[…You’ve gotten stronger.]

[Don’t patronize me.]

Jin growled but his initial fire seemed to have subsided. 

[Hm?]

That’s when he finally realized that there were others watching him. He made eye contact with me and his face scrunched up. 

[I haven’t seem many mortals in my life, but you are by far the weakest I have ever met.]

‘!!!’

It hadn’t been that long since I was told by Hayul that I had no talent, but now this cat man was calling me the weakest person he had ever seen.

‘I can’t be that bad..!’

What could they be seeing in me to be saying such things? At this point, I was more curious than angry.

Before I could find out, Jin and Hayul disappeared into the sky, each going the opposite way.

Now, there were only four of us left.