Part 2

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3 months later.

Hair stuck to the forehead, droplets lobbed against her ears. She rubbed away at heavy eyes and felt her feet sink. Looking down she saw them disappear into the dirt. There were shouts in the distance making her turn and place a finger on her lips.

Jeongyeon followed and soon, the entire group remained still. Facing forward again, she saw her breaths in the air. The shouts were closer. Crouching down she took a peak around the shrubs. There was a long line of enemy soldiers attempting to trek up the hill. But they struggled as the sky showered over them.

"SIR, WE CAN'T..." the back of the line fell away. Their leader rushed forward. But the shouts turned frantic when he too fell into another hole.

"GENERAL!"

"WATCH OUT!"

"DON'T MOVE!"

The line had broken, someone else had fallen. Their heads whipped towards his direction, fear in many of their eyes. More clouds came out of Jennie. A scream. Then another. Taking a second peak, she was met with only a string of holes in the ground. Standing up, she turned to the rest of the group, shovel in hand.

"Alright everyone, let's make this quick."



Chae took a step back as he yanked the bowl out of her hands. A sound she couldn't place, came out of him as he reached for the pouring spoon. The barracks were filled with coughs and sneezes. Head-turning, she saw the line was long and that those who were inside were soaking wet. Hearing a rough grunt, she faced forward, the bowl up her nose.

"Thank you Gurner," he made that strange sound and waved her off. Walking around she was greeted by everyone. As cheerfully as they could muster. Sitting down at an empty table, she frowned. The bowl wasn't even filled halfway, and the soup sloshed thinly. Sighing, she placed in her mouth in one go.

"Chae," Dahyun sat down in front of her, a roll of bread in hand, "I've been looking for you."

"You don't want some soup?" offered Chae

"And eat Gurner's spit?" Dahyun frowned making Chae inspect her bowl, "Besides the soup ran out," she bit into the bread. Glancing over at the servers Chae saw they were only handing out bread rolls.

"Wow guess I got lucky," she folded her arms.

"They should really think about using Androgynes from the eastern regions. They're the best at using magi-energy to harvest the earth," said Dahyun.

"They should," Chae's eyes lowered, "But that would mean having to use more forest folk than they'd like."

Dahyun peered at her, "you mean more Androgynes."

"CHAEYOUNG!" everyone turned to the entrance, "TAEMIN WANTS TO SEE YOU NOW" Ravi's voice made the barracks shake. Chae furrowed her eyebrows and stood up. Dahyun shifted too.

"I had another dream," her voice was soft and quick, "The same one as before."

Chae glanced at her worryingly, "let's talk about it later yeah?"

Dahyun's smile was small, "sounds like a plan," she took a further bite of her bread roll as Chae walked towards the entrance.



The gust of wind made their heads turn as Lisa hurriedly opened the tent. Raising a hand towards them, she shut the slit up. Shaking her feet, a tired breath was released at the sight of the gunky mud sliding off.

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