THE outsider looked at the army of men that he gathered, smiling in triumph as he looked towards the passageway that leads towards the entrance of the forbidden village. There’s no sight of any guards around, meaning that they’re currently on the monthly ceremony.

“Listen, everyone.” The outsider stated as he looked towards the army, “As we barge in, don’t hesitate to burn everything down. We won’t let a single survivor escape as they've caused us enough misfortune in our lives. Whether it’s an animal, a child, a woman or an elderly person, slaughter it. Although have an ally inside, it’s a male with a birthmark on its left temple so spare him. Understood?”

“Yes!” The men cried out.

“Stay alert and once again, don’t hesitate on burning everything up. We must prevent their ceremony or else, we’ll be facing an another month of suffering.” The outsider said in a firm tone before looking at the passageway, “Attack, my men!”

The men cried out, holding their weapons and torches as they ran inside the passageway. The men started burning the trees and plants as they’ve continued running towards the village homes in which a bunch of women and children are still inside and without a second thought, they’ve burned the house as they ignored the cries of help from the ones trapped inside it. They’ve continued their way as they kept on slaughtering every single villager that they see and lettinf them die by getting burned.

The moment that they’ve arrived on the area where the ceremony is being held, his army began attacking the villagers which caused havoc as the village guards started to attack back but was outnumbered by the outsider’s army so they fell on their painful demise by getting burned, feeling the painful warmth burning their skins and organs as they cry for help towards their God.

Yet their God is currently occupied by the offering, looking at it as the blood kept on flowing towards the stab wound in the abdomen. It’s taking its time by enjoying such sight of the offering for him. The offering that he have been waiting for ever since a foolish human decided to release him and thought that he was some kind of God.

Of all the offerings that was given to him, it was just replenishment for him to regain his strength and as his worshippers began to increase, he became powerful enough to cause ruins outside the village. And now he only needed one more offering for him to be free from the imprisonment that he’s currently at, he needs a vessel. A breathtakingly beautiful vessel for him to reside at and he’ll be invincible.

And this is it. He looked at the final offering which was laid on a white cloth in which the offering stained it with crimson red blood yet it still looks as ethereal as it is.

“Finally.” the demon said, grinning.

“Chief! We have a problem!” In all of the sudden, one of the villager guard managed to enter the cave as he gasped in air.

“What is the matter?” the village chief asks.

“There’s an intruder—” Before the guard was able to continue, an arrow with fire in it hits his back as he cried in pain while being engulfed by the angry red flames.

“Who’s there?!” the village chief suddenly asked as he clenched the spear that he held.

“Who? You’ve asked?” the outsider said as he entered the room just to see his lover currently in the verge of dying as he widened his eyes and glared at the village chief, “You monster!”

“You’re the monster! Trying to interfere with our ceremony! A disgrace to our Monsieur!” the village chief cried out.

“Monsieur?” The outsider looked at the shadowy figure which is a few steps away from his lover, “A demon, huh?”

“How dare you call our God a demon?!” the village chief screamed.

“Ah. I see, you were fooled by a demon. How foolish,” the outsider stated before taking a deep breath, “I’ll be putting an end to this blasphemy.”

“What are you talking about?!” the village chief asked and was about to attack the outsider when a bunch of men ran towards him and attacked him, stabbing and pouring gas around him as he cried in pain.

The outsider looked at the demon before chanting an ancient spell that he learned in one of his travels, making the demon cry in despair as it slowly returns to the golden pot, “Begone, demon.”

“N-No! Monsieur!” the village chief cried out as the men went away from him and the outsider gestured them to get out of the cave in which they followed immediately.

“How dare you? Offering your own son towards a demon? Unforgivable!” the outsider cried as he ran towards his lover, “Hey, hang in there.”

The village chief’s son looked towards him and lets out a weakened smile, “I-It’s you. You’ve arrived.”

“I’ve told you that I’ll come to save you,” the outsider smiled sadly as he held his hand, “Yet it seems that I was too late.”

“It’s alright. At least, the outside world wouldn’t have to live in misery..” the village chief muttered, smiling at the outsider “Don’t be sad. Y-You’ve worked hard. I’m happy for you.”

“Son! What are you doing? H-He’s ruining our tradition!” Despite being stabbed as the flame was engulfing his legs, the village chief seems to be having enough strength to continue blaberring.

“This is wrong, Father.” his son weakly said, looking at the chief.

The village chief widened his eyes in disbelief, “You’re wrong, son. That creature in front of you is a demon, he’s luring you away from our God! Look what he did to our Savior! He even slaughtered one of our men in front of us! Open your eyes, my son!”

“You’re the one that should be opening your eyes, fool.” the outsider snarled, “Worshipping a God that steals the other town’s resources? Is that even a God? And murdering visitors and offering them to your God? You even tried offering your own son?! What kind of a person are you?”

“You ruined the ceremony! Just when we’re about to attain Eden!” the village chief cried out as he looked at his dying son, “Our Eve was prepared! We should’ve been alert on the Adam that Monsieur was talking about! It was you! You wrenched—”

“Father, enough.” the old man was cut off by his own son which was looking at him with sympathy, “Enough. We are the ones in the wrong side, Father. We’ve hurt a lot of people for our sake. That Monsieur is dangerous. He shouldn’t be trusted.”

“I see. Adam have lured you, it was no use on trying to get you back on your senses.” his Father said as he lets out a laugh, “Ah! You’ve thought that it’ll be over like this so easily?!”

“What?” the outsider muttered as he can hear the cries and pleas of the villagers as he can also hears the sound of flames.

“Listen, Adam! Listen to the cries of the people you’ve slaughtered! Listen to them and hear how despairful they are! Listen and hear their desire to be saved!” the village chief screamed as the flames was already engulfing his lower body, “The anguished screams and their desire for Eden! It’ll not go to waste!”

“No.” the outsider immediately held his lover as he carried him before starting to run as he try to find the cave’s exit.

“The ceremony has been halted so it’ll continue! When the Eve is born, the ceremony will be happening on its ninth and eighteenth year of living! It’ll be offered to Monsieur and we, Arceana’s residents will be fulfilling our duties until Monsieur will be getting what he wants!” They’ve heard the village chief cried out, “And you! You will remember everything! You will remember until you are drowning in a sea of despair and sadness! You will witness your Eve’s demise again and again until the ceremony is done on the way it should be!”

And with a maniacal laughter, a cry of pain and anguish was heard until everything was silent aside from the outsider’s steps as they’ve reach the cave’s exit and he gently placed his lover on the ground, looking at him with such a caring gaze.

“You’ve worked hard, my star.” the village chief's son said, “I’m sorry if I’ll never be able to make it up to you. But I know that you’re strong, strong enough to continue living and preventing my Father’s desire in exchange of other people’s misery.”

“I’m sorry for not being able to arrive early..” Tears are already falling on the outsider's eyes, holding his lover's hand tightly, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t cry. We’ll see each other again, right?” his lover smiles as he kept on looking at the outsider, “Meeting you was the best thing that happened in my life and I know that we’ll be meeting each other often. We’re the Adam and Eve, right? The first sinners. The ones that went against this delusional village and was labelled as sinners.”

“I’m sorry.” the outsider kept on apologizing at his lover which could leave him in any time.

“I’m sorry if you’ll be hurting because of me but do your best on saving me everytime. Let’s continue sinning until the curse disappears, shall we? And when it ends, let’s sing our hearts out.” And with a gentle smile, the village chief's son closed his eyes—never opening it again.

The only thing that the army can hear was their commander's anguished cries as the rain poured, killing the flame that ended lots of lives as the smell of burnt wood and corpses surround the whole town.

°===============================°

       SAN’s statement made everyone froze on where they’re currently standing as they looked at the fox spirit, smiling in such a michievous way. They couldn’t even believe what the blond male have stated and Yunho was ready to retort when San lets out a high-pitch laugh, resembling a fox's laugh.

“What? Was it surprising enough?” San asked as he looked at Seonghwa, “You’ve had a hunch about it too, right?”

“I did. But I couldn’t think of anyone doing such a thing,” Seonghwa replied as he looked away, “I’ve been friends with everyone so I really don’t know who’s the traitor.”

“Whoever it is, it’s definitely one of us.” San stated, eyes darting at his friends one by one, “I’d like to begin a blame game but that isn’t needed on a situation like this.”

“How can you keep yourself calm while knowing that there’s a traitor among us?” Jongho asked.

San smiles, “I’m a fox. A predator doesn’t attack its prey immediately, I’ve gotta keep myself hidden from it until the right time comes and slaughter it.”

“So the reason why you’ve came back is to find the traitor among us?” Wooyoung suddenly asked which made them look at him, “I know that it’s suspicious that the moment you’ve arrived is when this incident suddenly happened. The moment that you’ve stepped in the town started this curse.”

“Oh, really?” San’s smirk went wider and Seonghwa’s ready to cast a spell towards the fox spirit if it wasn’t for him clinging to Yeosang, “Well. I have a question for you, Wooyoung? How can you say so?”

“What?” Wooyoung was taken back with the blond’s sudden question.

“You weren’t even there when I’ve arrive, Wooyoung. It was Hongjoong-hyung and Mingi-hyung that welcomed me so how did you even know that the moment that I’ve stepped inside the town is the beginning of this epidemic? You weren’t there so..” San widened his eyes as he grinned, “..why?”

“It’s just a hunch but isn’t that true?” Wooyoung clenched his fists, trying not to let his fear overwhelm him.

“Who knows?” San stated as he hugged Yeosang tight, “But all I can say is that I am definitely not the one that caused or triggered this. It’s about to happen and I don’t have any involvement with this aside from making a pact with the cursed one.”

“We made a pact?” Yeosang asks, looking at the blond male beside him.

“Indeed!” San replies cheerfully, as if he doesn’t look like a menacing demon towards their other friends and smiles like he’s the happiest person in the entire world as his eyes crinkled, “But you wouldn’t be able to remember that, Sangie. I removed your memories along with the others.”

“What are you talking about?!” Jongho asked as a bunch of light energy spheres appeared around him, “I’m so done with all the confusing shit coming from your mouth, Sanie-hyung. I’m sorry for being disrespectful but one more bullshit and I won’t hesitate to attack me.”

“Then attack me,” San provoked the youngest male as he lets out an another fox-like laugh, “Attack me. Make a hole on my body with those energy spheres. Stab me. Rip me into pieces. Exorcise me. But prepare yourself for the consequences, Jongho.”

“What?” Hongjoong asked and immediately halted Jongho that is getting impatient.

“As you can see, I’ve made a pact with Yeosang. Kang Yeosang, the cursed Kang child that should’ve been dead before he was able to reach his ninth birthday.” San stated as the wind blows hard, “And the pact includes that if I die then Yeosang will die too. It’s a forbidden pact that only high-class demons can perform, a pact for two different creatures in order to be together until their last breath. A suicide pact, that is.”

“What? Why?!” Mingi cried out, looking at the emotionless boy beside the demon which seems to be manipulating him.

Yeosang looked at San with those lifeless eyes and tilted his head, “A suicide pact?”

“How could you?!” Even Yunho that wasn’t reacting towards the arguments have been enraged with the statement as he was shaking in anger.

“Even if I would explain my side, all of you will despise me.” San replied, “Most likely, you wouldn’t be able to remember anything about it because I’ve removed all of your memories regarding it. Maybe Seonghwa-hyung can remember it except the pact moment between me and Sangie but aside from that, no one is able to remember it.”

“I admit that I can remember Yeosang  is still dying during that time,” Seonghwa looked down.

“Seonghwa-hyung, they don’t remember that they’ve encountered the blackened ones when we’re young too!” San exclaims, tail wagging in excitement.

“The blackened ones?” Jongho asked as he looked at Seonghwa.

“I’ve been asking all of you what can you remember on that day,” Seonghwa stated as he lift his head to look at his friends, “But it seems that I’m the only one that can recall it as if everything was just a nightmare. All of you can recall it as most of the people passed out but the truth it, the blackened ones have been around the town and we have no other choice but to stick together and ran towards the Kang manor.”

“I can remember that but with the fact that we’re supposed to be running away from the maniac,” Hongjoong said.

“That’s because the curse have altered your memories,” San butted in, smiling at them as he looked at Seonghwa, “However, Seonghwa is immuned to it being a wizard prince and also someone with a soul that’s been involve with the town’s curse.”

“Maniac?” Yeosang suddenly muttered as he trembled, “W-What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you remember, Yeosang? It’s the one that slashed your neck with an axe bef—” Mingi was immediately cut off with San growling at him, eyes brightening as a threat.

“My neck...” Yeosang cupped his neck as he trembled in fear while looking at the nothingness, “N..No..”

“Sangie..” San immediately turned back into human as he cradled the brunette that kept on trembling.

“What’s happening?” Wooyoung asked in worry.

“You shouldn’t have said that, Mingi.” San scolded the younger male which flinched at the blond’s tone.

“I-I’m sorry,” Mingi mutters before looking away.

“You’ve triggered him, Mingi. He wasn’t supposed to remember that!” San added as he immediately looked at Seonghwa, “Get the bottle of pills in his bag along with a bottled water.”

Seonghwa didn’t even need to be told twice as he nodded and ran inside the shrine to get the items that they need, “Here.”

“There, there. It’s going to be alright,” San said in such a sweet tone as he looked at Yeosang’s eyes, “Everything is going to be alright.”

As if the two male was connected with some bind, Yeosang stopped trembling as San helped him to drink his medicine and assisted him on drinking half of the bottled water’s content before Yeosang passed out. San lets out a sigh before looking towards his close friends in an apologetic way.

“Please don’t say a thing about that incident,” San calmly stated.

“But why?” Yunho asked.

“For Yeosang’s sake,” San replies.

“We don’t know a thing about Yeosang yet you know a lot,” Wooyoung muttered as he glares towards the older male, “That’s unfair. How are we supposed to help you if you’re keeping the information to yourself? We’re his friends too. For fuck’s sake, San!”

“Wooyoung, calm down.” Hongjoong patted the younger male’s back as he took a step forward, “San, let us know what Yeosang is going through. We couldn’t keep on running in circles because of this curse. Okay, so there’s a possibility that a traitor is among us but as much as you’ve kept on keeping the information, everything just gets worse. You need to spill it in order for us to understand, San.”

“Hongjoong-hyung, one wrong move and Yeosang will die.” San gritted his teeth as he looked at Seonghwa, “And if he dies, all of your efforts will go to waste and you probably needed to wait for a long time for his reincarnation as the curse continues.”

“Okay, so we’re aware that we should be alert on our decisions. Now, spill..” Hongjoong stated.

“But hyung—” San wasn’t fast enough to react when Hongjoong’s eyes turned pink while staring at his hazel brown orbs.

“San, tell me everything that Yeosang has been through.”

San kept on being silent which made everyone worry but in all of the sudden, the blond male laughed as he looked at Hongjoong that flinched, “My, my. How foolish of you to think that you can control me on my realm aren’t ya, Hongjoongie-hyung?”

“Shit.” Hongjoong gritted his teeth as he took a step backward.

“But then again, I commend you for that. I wasn’t expecting that at all! I thought that you’re going to sweet talk until I spill the details!” San chirps as he held Yeosang on his arms, “Give me a minute and two as I lay Yeosang back to the shrine so he can rest.”

San immediately went back to the shrine as he gently placed Yeosang on one of the sleeping bags before taking Yeosang’s sketchbook out of his bag as he ran back to his friends, smiling brightly as if he wasn’t mocking and threatening them a while ago.

“Are we going to start this discussion or just keep on staring at each other?” Jongho stated as he impatiently glares at his hyungs.

“Okay then. Take a seat and chill as I’ll tell you everything about Kang Yeosang,” San said as he plumped down and the rest of them followed, “As you can see, the Kang clan is the cursed clan in this town. I’m sure that Wooyoung and Yeosang found a book or two about the myth in the library, right?”

“Well, you’re right about that. Wait,” Wooyoung dashed inside the shrine to get two books as he came back and sat beside Jongho, “Here it is.”

“Arceana, this is it!” Seonghwa gasps as he held the book and looked at Hongjoong, “This is what I’m talking about a while ago, Joongie.”

“Mind telling us what’s in that book?” Jongho said as he looked at his eldest hyung.

“It’s going to be a long ass ride,” Seonghwa stated as he looked at San, “Do you have an idea about the origin of the curse?”

“Not at all. Mom doesn’t want me to snoop too much on other demons’ curses and the only information that I’ve got is that in every fifty years, a cursed child is born and they barely reach eighteen years old,” San said as he rests his back on the tree, “And these creepy blackened people kept on appearing until the cursed one dies and the curse continues.”

“As you can see, my past self is involved with this curse’s origin.” Seonghwa replies as he smiles sadly, “My past self was a researcher born near the village that they call Arceana. Ever since I was born, the town where I live has been a poor town so I did my best on my studies and became a researcher as I start travelling around the country just to find out that it’s the same situation as my town, food and water being scarce and a lot of people living in misery.”

“Wait. Hold on. Your past self or was it you?” Jongho asked.

“My past self, Jongho. The me in the time when this town’s curse haven’t began at all,” Seonghwa replies.

“How can you remember it?” Jongho asked again, his curiousity getting the best of him.

“It’s the curse’s effect on my past self for interfering the demon’s plans,” Seonghwa said as he looked at the shrine where Yeosang was asleep, “As you can see, Yeosang’s past self is the only child of Arceana’s chief. And my past self met his past self when he decided to barge in the forbidden village where no one have ever entered.”

“So Yeosang’s past self had a connection with Arceana,” Yunho said as he mentally noted every single information coming from Seonghwa.

“He befriended the village chief’s son and learned a lot of information about Arceana. How a ceremony was held every fifteenth day of the month and how the village chief’s son wasn’t allowed to participate for certain reasons and with enough skills, my past self have found out the reason why the resources outside Arceana was scarce. It was stolen and provided for the village,” Seonghwa said as he looked down, “So the two kept on meeting in secret as my past self kept on formulating a plan and making a revolution and on their last meeting, the village chief’s son is about to turn eighteen in a month and that’s when my past self revealed the truth about the utopia that Yeosang’s past self is currently living at.”

“So what’s with the ceremony and the reality of that village?” Mingi asked.

“You’re telling us that it was because of a demon’s powers, right?” San asked and Seonghwa nodded, “The more worshippers the demon has, the more power that it gets. Having most of the villagers as its worshipper can steal a whole country’s supply for the whole village as he gets the sacrifices that it gets.”

“Demons are scary,” Jongho muttered.

San snickered, “Maybe. But try angering a god or a goddess then you’ll find something scarier than us.”

“And my past self along with an army of men barged in during the time that the ceremony was about to be held and attacked the village, burning it into crisps as the villagers kept on crying for their lives. And my past self saw that the villager chief’s son is the offering for the demon that caused the ruckus in this country which made my past self go berserk and interfere by chanting a banishing spell that made the demon go back to its prison and ruin the entire ceremony as the village chief was burning, trying to crawl its way to the demon's prison while his son is dying.” Seonghwa said as he clenched his fists, trembling in anger “And cursed the whole town that the ceremony might be postponed but it’ll happen in the future and even though it’ll be intefered, the curse will continue until the day that they’ve managed to fullfill the demon's desire and attain the Eden that they’ve been wanting.”

“Eden.” Yunho gasps, “So they’re the blackened ones?!”

“Indeed. And they’re afraid of fire,” Seonghwa said as he nods.

“I agree. Me and Yeosang managed to talk to them and they’re definitely afraid of fire,” Wooyoung agreed.

“So to sum it all up, Arceana is the origin of this town. And its villagers were a bunch of coo-coo brained demon worshippers that steals the resources of other towns. And your past self is a hero for putting a stop to it but not without facing its consequences yet the village chief was stubborn enough and cursed you and the whole town,” Yunho said then looked at Seonghwa, “What's your curse?”

“To remember everything. Every single failure of saving the person that I should be saving as the curse continues,” Seonghwa replied with a sad smile plastered on his face, “As you can see, me and Yeosang’s past self were lovers.”

“Oh.” Mingi couldn't help but let his jaw drop on Seonghwa’s statement as he looked at his friends which seems to be surprised as well.

“Wait. Since you’ve talked about Monsieur, I’ve heard that from the blackened ones saying that he’s their Savior.” Wooyoung said as he looked at Seonghwa, “What about him?”

“Monsieur, eh?” San said as he looked at Seonghwa, “Seonghwa-hyung, it seems that we’re getting some hints.”

“Hyung?” Wooyoung tilted his head in confusion.

“Wooyoung, I’ve never mentioned a name.” Seonghwa said as his eyes turned into blue while looking at the black-haired male, “How did you know about Monsieur?”

“Just like what I’ve told you, we’ve talked to the blackened ones.” Wooyoung reasoned out.

“So moving forward, that book contains what you’ve told us. May I know why?” Mingi asks.

“One of my past selves wrote this one but I lost it in this timeline. I've been looking for this in a lot of libraries as if someone kept it away from me,” Seonghwa says as he held the book gently, “Of course, the people just thought that Arceana’s a made-up story of an author but it’s based on reality.”

“Well, we have the other book here. It contains the history of this town.” Yunho says as he held the book as if he’s showing it off to them, “The history of Saavedra town.”

“Let’s not waste our time on checking every single one of it, just try skipping on every fifty years then check it.” Wooyoung stated.

In which Yunho followed yet every single page that he flips and stops, his expression turns into something that looks so shocked with all that he’s been reading until he reach the last page and looked at everyone with fear in his eyes.

“What’s the matter?” Mingi asks, looking at Yunho with worry.

“Every single mayor in every fifty years is a Kang,” Yunho said as he looked at San, “And in its biography, it says that there’s a relative of them dying before reaching its ninth or eighteenth birthday.”

“They’re running away from the curse. What a stupid plan,” San said as he lets out a laugh, “If Yeosang didn’t escaped from that place then he could've been dead by now.”

“So Yeosang’s clan is from the village chief’s clan?” Hongjoong asked.

“I hate to admit it but there are some survivors from the villagers during that time and one of them must’ve been a relative of the village chief.” Seonghwa stated, looking down.

“Everything revolves around Yeosang and as long as we don’t find a way out of this curse, we’re trapped until Yeosang dies or the curse is lifted.” Yunho casually said as he rest his head on Mingi’s lap, “Too many revelation. My head hurts.”

“Oh c’mon. We’ve swayed from our actual topic, fellas.” Everyone looked at San which was holding Yeosang’s sketchbook, “We’ve just talked about the book’s contents but aren’t we supposed to talk about Yeosang’s past? During the time that he isn’t in this town?”

“You’re right about that,” Mingi chuckles as Cupcakes was sitting behind him that serves as his pillow, leaning on the Cerberus’ fluffy fur.

“Brace yourselves, everyone. Because Kang Yeosang’s life will definitely leave a scar on your hearts,” San said as he smiled yet they can feel the sadness radiating from it.

Everyone looked at each other before nodding towards the fox spirit, they deserve to know what happened to Kang Yeosang  . What happened to him in order to become such a lifeless person that barely shows his emotion. They wanted to know what happened so they can help him recover and get through this situation. Especially Wooyoung, he needs to know.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

• Village chief’s son and outsider’s identity revealed! •

So yes, it’s SeongSang’s past selves. And for the alchemist and prophet flashbacks, their identity will be revealed soon but for now, most of the chapters will be flashbacks :> y'know what happens when ppl gets flashbacks, right? ; )

lol anyway, thank you for reading such a lame fic ;; i know that it's getting boring already so.. sorry for that.

also, who’s the traitor? and who do you think might die in this fic? :>