Love In A Sinking Realm ⊰BTS⊱ Steampunk

CHAPTER 2 ➣ Journey Without A Goal

A few weeks ride from Balus Island

"Seokjin! For the love of all the Gods and spirits!"

Jimin rescued his brother's tall body from rolling over the saddle of his horse.

Thousands of refugees and soldiers, horses, carriages, wagons, carts, and steam-mobiles, forming the longest line, moved sluggishly slow next to the riverbank, heading North. Above in the grey sky, a giant military airship of the Eastern army soared ominously among the clouds.

People of all ages and classes shouted for the two young travelers to move out of the way.

"Hey! Get out of the way boy!" yelled a group of soldiers coming from behind them.

"Pardon me, sir! Just...Just..," Jimin grunted by the effort to keep his brother on his horse, "SEOKJIN WAKE THE HELL UP!"

The Eastern military airship blew a deafening siren, now for the seventh time. The noise echoed and rebounded in the entire valley. Birds let out shrill cries and flew in the opposite direction out of fear of this enormous monster.

Seokjin, now blonde and in a permanent state of intoxication by alcohol, startled by the siren, straightened his back and widened his blood-red eyes.

"Move!" repeated Jimin.

Seokjin fought to focus his blurry vision on his red-haired brother, wrapped in poor clothing and dusty till the bone.

They crossed the other side of the congested road and moved towards the mountains.

"What the hell!" Jimin slapped his brother on the shoulder as the horses splashed on the river.

"What?!"

"Look at yourself! You can't even stand!"

"I didn't ask for your feedback, Jim---"

Three bright beams of magic laser flashed out from the top of a rocky mountain and pierced through the monstrous airship. The screams of the people were swallowed by the fire erupting out of the vessel that began falling.

Terror deformed Jimin's face.

"JIN RUN!!!"

Seokjin raised his gaze and saw the massive ship, engulfed in flames, zooming in and covering the earth with its shadow.

The two boys pulled the strings of their horses and started galloping along the river to escape from being squashed.

The belly of the ship hit first, then all its corners and limbs followed by an explosion that formed a mushroom growing towards the sky. The earth was shaken and hundreds of people were burnt into oblivion.

Several hours later

The valley was buried under a desert of ashes and carbonized corpses. Smoke and gasses heavied the air with an unbreathable mist, snowing black soot.

Jimin blinked a few times. His lungs charred as he tried to draw deep breaths. He wheezed and coughed until life surged back in his aching body, lying flat on mud, oil, and his own blood, mixed all together with polluted water of the river.

"Jimin..." whispered Seokjin faintly from next to him, in a state no less pitiful than Jimin's, "Brother..."

The boy coughed and forced his throaty voice to come out, "I'm alright...I think..."

They helped each other stand, and with a sting in their hearts, they found their two steeds among the endless cesspit of death. Gruesome and ghastly.

They looked at each other's faces, covered under a mask of dirt and dried mud. Seokjin bend down and vomited the little food he had eaten.

"What the bloody hell was that...," Jimin wondered horrified, turning to look at the top of the mountains where the beams were shot, "Who would do such a thing...?"

"These must be the revolutionists. They call themselves the WRA, Western Rebellion Army. They declared to give back independence to the Western Realm and place me back on the throne as the rightful king...," Seokjin explained still bending down, ready to spew again.

Jimin eyed him from the side and raised an eyebrow.

"What?!" exclaimed Seokjin.

"Sounds tempting," he tested him.

"You insult me brother! Do you honestly think I would support these extremists! Look at what they've done!"

Parts of the airship on fire, corpses, wailing mothers and fathers, scattered all across the riverbank. But the culprits of the WRA were nowhere to be seen.

"I appreciate their loyalty if you can call it that, but I'm not interested in starting a civil war to get that stupid crown back on my head, thank you very much!" he asserted aggressively, "As if there aren't enough dead already. The Emperor won fair and square in a war that our father's stupidity started! And I'm not going to make the same mistakes!"

Jimin approached him and helped him stand.

"I know brother," he said softly, "Forgive me if I doubted you. Now let's get away from this nightmare."

"How? Our horses are dead!"

"We'll have to walk," the younger snorted and spat some soil in his mouth while whipping it off his face, "Gypsy clans live on these mountains. If we're lucky enough, they'll find us and we can pay them for horses."

"Gypsies?" asked Seokjin tentatively, "Aren't they dangerous?"

"Only if you belong in their rival gangs," Jimin replied as they started walking, "They're wary of outsiders, but can be loyal and helpful if you show respect. My...errr...friend, well I mean...before all of this, she was a sort of gypsy royalty. If I mention her, maybe they'll agree to help us."

"Friend? Gypsy princess?" Seokjin repeated confused, "Wait a minute---"

"Please don't..."

They crossed the river using wooden boards torn off from some crashed carts. But despite their efforts, they ended up drenched in damp river water. Freezing and shivering, their feet already hurting, and the sun, smothered by the cloud of smoke and rain, nowhere near enough to dry them up, they began their journey to the mountains.

"What are we doing Jimin...?" wondered Seokjin hopelessly, "We don't have a destination. We don't have a goal. What are we doing?"

Jimin gulped roughly. He crossed his arms around his chest to keep his hands from trembling by the cold.

"I don't know Jin...I guess we just...keep moving. We keep moving forward. Wherever the road takes us."

Seokjin sighed. With a heavy heart and the gross images of the attack making his soul slowly corrode, implanting memories in his head he would rather not have.