Warning: There may be a few graphic scenes involved.

━━━━━°⌜ 真理 ⌟°━━━━━

"Let out your breath even more."

- BREATHE (이하이)

━━━━━°⌜ 真理 ⌟°━━━━━

The murky armour had been mephitic, the smell of the men's sweat combining with the non-absorbent fabric that lined it on the inside. The seams were phenomenal, however, not a single thread out of place.

"Wear it and blend in. That's the only option we have," Fores hesitated, as she pulled the armour around her shoulders. "It smells like shit." Her features contorted and pulled a disgusted face.

"Don't they, like, wash it?" Taehong asked, picking his set up by his forefinger. "Probably went a whole year without washing it."

"Doesn't matter," she uttered, finally pulling the filthy suit all over her body. She felt repugnant as she fixed the mask onto her face.

Taehong hurried after her, trying to prise the fabric so that it could hug all the right places. Even still, some parts remained flabby on his lithe figure.

For the first time, probably, I realised that they were more likely to fail than succeed. They say success is reaching the a mountain top with battered soles and then figuring out how to make the right shoes to protect those whom follow. But right now, I'm more concerned about whether they'll even have their soles by the end of it.

It was their entire existence that was on the line. I'd almost predicted his life span, but... I'd failed, momentarily. Not to mention all the fortuitous deeds that they kept engaging themselves in, resulting in a complete upheaval of my views.

"Let's just stay in one free tent, right now. Tomorrow, we'll just follow a group out," Fores suggested, and Taehyung hummed.

Taehong had his footprint embossed on the fine gravel on which the soldiers had set up their tents. Two steps in and light had started to bathe them. But there weren't any pairs of eyes scrutinising their movements, making it easier for them to skedaddle past.

Thankfully, Taehong and Fores had forced themselves menacingly, in a place that had the least number of people.

More than me being astonished by the fact that they had been one step closer to their predilection, I was surprised by the sheer willpower they possessed. He had gone all the way without complaining. There wasn't a time where he'd cavilled against her wishes. And that in itself was enough to restore a diminutive faith in them.

In addition to that, what possessed as another consternation was his mother. The shivering soul had lightened in color, had become pale. To such an extend that it could possibly not regain its former glory.

But... Maybe that wasn't it. My vision should've been seriously impaired at the time I had witnessed it. When I'd first noticed the transfiguration, I hadn't guessed it. But, now that I'm blatantly narrating it to you, it dawned upon me that, it had been a transition. The brown had faded to being replaced by an ochre.

Heads held up high, Taehong hand Fores stepped into the camp ground. Everybody there had been bulkier than them, and it was quite evident that most taxes went into feeding those brutes.

A sudden commotion, and all the feet were shuffling. There had been an unforeseen crackle, where a gun had been clocked and the sound that followed it afterwards, was deafening.

They followed along the path of all those that had crowed at a corner of the camp, most of them with their overpowering presence nudging past them to look at source of the commotion.

A man laid, right at the center. The grey mood of the rag and bone man was matched only by the sky. The clouds were the same hoary color as the tabloid sheets that lay in the gutters, ink smudged and encrusted with the filth of the street. His voice called huskily into the barely lit night, for bone, for metal. For anything that he could have gotten his hands on, perhaps.

"How dare you go against the Government and infiltrate the camp?" bellowed another man and the next thing that followed made Fores turn her head in disgust.

A sharp sound of metal thudding against skull resonated throughout, and was carried longer distances by the whistling wind. That wasn't the only blow he recieved, however. The man's head jerked to the side, his eyeballs rolling back as his entire being passed into oblivion.

Another blow landed at the same spot, the crimson fluid making its way down the crests and troughs of his face.

And there I stood, stunned. I had never crossed paths with such... Sadists. I watched in trepidation as I watched the blood seep through his head, the bones having been crushed to an extend they might as well represent the broken shards of a delicate glass. The crimson liquid had that density that made it seep ever so slowly, like roses that bloomed on a stem of thorns.

A rufescent sphere was what flew over to me that time. Tinged with the apprehension of have been killed so unexpectedly did not make him an easy soul to give comfort to. It remained in the air, undulating hesitantly before it finally sought a shelter in my grip. It seeped through my fingertips, like sand escaping a humans grip, and my attention was yet again on Taehong and Fores.

He was too stunned to do anything. His limbs were frozen and if I could discern his face I would've given away the details there too. But it had been shrouded by the mask.

"He deserved it, Chief!" That had been chanted like they were words of appraisal.

I tore my sight away from the blood that had tainted the aureate color of the ground. Fores was close to losing all her wits in the situation that had called for the most of her conscience.

Masking fear should be a ephemeral solution to a transient problem, any more than that and you will suffer from unbridled stress. And by the looks of it, it sure didn't occur to me that the stress stemming from fear would deplete any time soon. Liberation from such a fear wouldn't be possible even if they had surrendered themselves... To me.

"What the hell is happening?" Taehong remarked, grabbing a hold of Fores' arm as the crowd dispersed.

Fores shook her head, yanking her hand away from his grip. "Be cautious. We dont want to get caught. Keep distance. Stay solo."

Taehong understood what she'd meant. Staying solo and falling in trouble would mean that a moment of debacle would only put one of them at risk. It was a huge sacrifice to offer, an abnegation. But... That was probably their only resort.

"Sergeants!" The booming voice made everyone jerk their heads in the Chief's direction. His height overpowered the rest, his big hands resting on his girthy forearms, as he crossed his arms. "I will not tolerate this. Make sure to keep your guards up at all times."

"Yes sir!" they yelled in unison, except for the feeble responses that left their mouth. Fortunately, the Chief wasn't attentive enough to hold that against them.

Quickly walking back, they had been so far apart it almost seemed as though they were avoiding each other. Isolated from each other's company. But they still made it to one tent. Two per tent, made it convenient for everyone out there.

Whispers were the only key to a safe tête-à-tête. "Where did you keep the bag that we'd taken?" Fores asked, slowly signalling with her hands, so that he could fathom what she'd been implying.

"I stashed it between the bushes. At the end of the street," he replied back. "I'm pretty sure they won't find it."

"We'll have to get it before everyone is up tomorrow. Or we will never have time."

"Things are pretty overboard here," Taehong opined, slowly tapping at his thudding heart.

"We just have to follow what they do. But it's not going to be easy."

It really wasn't going to be cake walk. It could be a Herculean task, but this... It was something more treacherous, than anyone could imagine. Going against the full force of the Government with just two people? Either they were being deliberately obtuse, or they must've had some sort of hope.

Their eyes closed with the promise of an insomniac night. The stars could be as luculent as possible, the wind could be as soothing as a mother's hug. But sleep would not hit them. Not that day. They tossed and turned. The loud snores of the sergeants nearby didn't seem to bother them, the wakeful dream of wanting solace keeping them sentient. Trying to catch a wink of sleep would be futile, even.

I watched Taehong's mother then. The slight ochre hadn't faded. Yet it seemed so feeble. So ready to dissipate into thin air.

I'd never seen a soul transform to a different tone, however. It was always the same color that they'd maintained. It was always the same mentality that they preferred to keep and hence the same color. It almost seemed as if her color seemed to be controlled by his emotions. Still, seeing something like that was new.

But... There was a first to everything, wasn't there.

----------

"Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations."

- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

════════════════════