Osiria Rose [✓] - MAJOR EDITING

7 - Path of the Wind

I have been lying down for who knows how long in that cave, registering several things at once.

With my senses heightened, my subtle thirst for blood, with my body changing to a living corpse and most of all, dealing with the presence of unknown memories.

"How are you feeling?" came a low rumble.

My silence is disturbed and I glance up at SeokJin, a man I hadn't expected to come across in my lowest time. His eyes glow a faint maroon against the shadowy cave. I can see wisps of clear air exhale from his parted lips. The lack of light doesn't confuse me about the smallest details, and it actually helps that I'm seeing through the dark.

I close my eyes, clearly seeing a past vision of a younger me falling down the hill. Everything went hazy for a while, but in that memory and time alone, I could feel how desperate Mother's cries were. How her emotions skyrocketed in that instant, she wouldn't stop apologizing to me for lacking awareness and blamed herself day and night.

I can feel her raw emotions run through my limbs and towards the tips of my fingers.

Her teary bleary red eyes ...

Her shaking form ...

Father's concerned expression.

My sister's tear-stained face.

Oh, how the world spun around for a while ...

By the time I open my eyes, all bright-colored surroundings blur into one shadow, he remains to wait. All overwhelming emotions, both highs and lows, depleted into a balanced scale. There's an overload of information flooding around me, through my senses.

"Why am I remembering ... strange memories? I never recalled some of them being mine," I blurt out.

SeokJin reaches out to my mouth and wipes a blood stain on the corner of my lips. He brings his thumb to his mouth and licks the stain off. I am composed as this all happens, even when he bares his sharp pointed fangs.

My tongue grazes my upper teeth, sensing the similar sharp fangs.

"Take it as the brain trying to protect you from recalling traumatizing events. With my vampire cells flowing through your veins, the brain starts functioning differently. It terrorizes whatever makes you human and draws out the past," he explains.

My body still feels sore, as if I've run around the city with little to no break. Under the scorching hot sun, the sweltering sweat has evaporated off of my skin. Shivers run down and around my back.

Thud, thud, thud ...

The sound of blood cells flows slowly, yet they aren't dormant. I place my palm on my chest, feeling for my heartbeat.

It faintly throbs. It's still beating, but lightly.

"What is happening to me?" I mutter.

"Change. You are undergoing a process alike metamorphosis," he replies.

SeokJin's voice fades away, even though he's close to me. My vision starts blurring one second before sharpening the next. Dust particles are suddenly noticeable in the air, floating around the enclosed space.

An abrupt paroxysm hits me right in the chest and I double over to gasp out a cough.

"Argh ..."

I clutch tightly onto my shirt, my heartbeat slowing down at its usual rate.

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to suck in a deep intake of air.

Thud, thud, thud ...

Thud ...