"So...what now?" Dohyun asked as he watched the doors to the conference hall close right in front of them. He glanced at Fei who seemed to be already searching for something. "What's wrong?"
"They're coming..." she mumbled grasping the lance.
"Who?" Dohyun asked turning all ways to catch sight of whatever that was.
"Demons, bad spirits, sometimes even low creatures from the underworld. You see, that's what I do. I take care of these petty dangers while they party inside." She said and turned fully to Dohyun. "There is one behind you."
Dohyun's head snapped towards what looked like a regular person coming down the corridor. Fei threw the lance right into its chest and what looked like a person gave a shriek and faded into smoke. The lance returned to Fei by itself. She raised an eyebrow at his expression of shock.
"What? I did fight a lot in my life. Just because I am small doesn't mean I have no power whatsoever."
"It's just...I can't believe you are a nymph sometimes. You have a lot more powers than a normal nature spirit." Dohyun replied still in awe.
"True. Well, I did receive a promotion when I made the deal. But I also lost something." She said walking down the same way where she just killed a bad spirit.
"What's that?" He asked never once leaving her sight.
Fei stopped and covered her left eye. When she uncovered it, Dohyun gasped.
"I gave him my left eye so that he could see what I see. A way of literally keeping an eye on what I do." She explained.
Dohyun stared for a bit, but not necessarily at the white eye but at the cut that went from her forehead down to her cheek. He leaned closer and touched it softly.
"Was it worth it?" He asked softly.
Fei chuckled and grabbed his hand.
"Greatness always comes with sacrifice. I had nothing back then and I did not want my life to be in vain. Greatness did not come to me, I was not one of the heroes that were blessed by the gods. I had to reach for it and I swore that I will never let it go." She added pushing his hand away so that she could cover her eye with magic.
"There is a lot more to you than a heartbroken nymph, isn't there?" Dohyun asked looking at Fei with a different glint in his eyes. Was it intrigue? Or maybe fear?
"Tell Hwanung that. He wouldn't believe you." She mumbled returning to their patrol.
"He did seem...not what I expected. But he was dressed like a royalty."
"That flashy eyesore doesn't do anything, he has all the time in the world to choose clothes for his next drinking party," she started to say and continued like that for a bit.
Dohyun didn't understand what she said next because it was most definitely not korean. But if he were to guess, it was a swear for sure.
They walked around for an hour until she felt another bad spirit. He came from behind and wrapped his arms around her neck, pushing her against the wall. She glanced at Dohyun's perplexed figure and rolled around so that she had the spirit against the wall. His grasp around her neck did not lessen.
"Here! See how it feels!" She said testing a theory. Dohyun didn't expect her to throw him the lance. He caught it and swallowed nervously.
"Wh-what?!"
"Stab him!" She said and jumped enough that she got with her feet on the wall. Dohyun yelled and stabbed the soul, watching it become smoke.
"Well, how was it?" Fei asked jumping back on the ground. She approached the human only to see him tremble with his hands still tightly holding the lance. He turned his head very slowly to her and blinked several times before he fell on his knees. The lance was good to lean against until Fei took it from him.
"I can't feel my legs," he whispered.
"That's because the lance uses your energy to power itself. It also proves that you live a sedentary life and eat a lot of junk food." She explained helping him up.
"You seem fine." He mumbled seeing she was all energy.
"Because I am not human. I take energy from nature, I don't create energy in my body."
"I do jog now and then," he added as he wiped himself off of any remnant of shame.
Many more spirits and demons appeared afterwards. Fei was quick in detecting them and she did let Dohyun kill a few. Interesting was how he seemed to not feel the loss of energy anymore after his second kill.
"You are quite unique, aren't you?" Fei asked during a short break. He was hungry so they stopped at a vending machin for him to buy a sandwich.
"What do you mean?" He asked diving right in.
For a moment she really fought against the need to tell the truth.
"Humans cannot see the evil spirits nor can they use the lance. They can't even see it."
"Ah, well, maybe because I fell into the warehouse." He said through bites.
Fei wasn't so sure about that.
"What about that webtoon of yours?" She asked him as they walked up and down the hallway like zealous bodyguards. "How is it going?"
"Oh, you are interested now?" He teased her but Fei took it seriously.
"I am, yes. Especially after seeing my face."
"That was a coincidence. I had no idea what I was drawing until I finished. I have more drafts at home but I always came back to that one."
"Aren't you scared at all? You could die today if I am not watching you properly."
"I doubt you'll lose sight of where I am. I mean, I do look like your first love, don't I?" He said so easily that Fei couldn't help laugh.
"Yes. But your personalities are different. You are so carefree..."
He heard that before, he couldn't lie. Whether it was regarding his academic life or personal relationships, he would always get the same type of comments: he was not involved enough or he should be paying more attention. But that never seemed to truly reach his ears until now.
"Am I really not paying attention to my surroundings?" He asked turning to her.
"No, you are. The problems is not that but the way you react in certain moments. You are too confident that nothing bad can happen to you." She replied and it was one of the few detailed answers he ever heard.
"I've always been like this. I did get in trouble but I always thought it was worth it for sticking up for my principles."
Fei stared at him with softness all over her expression. She understood him, it was obvious she could relate to his words up to a point and Dohyun was content. Having one person be on his side was enough to keep him going.
"Don't you have any friends?" She asked leaning against the wall. "You're always at Ethos."
"I do and they are very curious where I've been spending my time lately."
"Then bring them over once or twice."
Dohyun flinched at how easy-going she sounded. He didn't want to have his piece of haven stolen although it could profit Fei since Ethos did need more publicity. But having them come once meant they might return and spend more and more time in there. He didn't like that for some reason.
Fei could see the inner struggle he had but it was too amusing to interrupt him. She was too focused on him and couldn't properly sense everything lurking around the conference hall. Maybe that was why she felt the approaching danger too late.
Dohyun's eyes widened when he got pushed away suddenly. He fell on his bottom and looked up to see what was happening but he was thrown quite a few meters again, by something that had long and sharp nails. He grabbed his neck and frowned at the feel of scratches.
A shriek was heard and he could feel the creature attacking again. He closed his eyes but luckily he could still breathe.
Fei was in front of him, her lance stopping the creature. Dohyun looked at his attacker and saw a woman. She looked so ordinary that he had a hard time to understand she just tried to kill him. Unfortunately, something else creeped up to him from behind and he screamed.
"Claws off my property." Fei growled and pushed one woman away while hitting the other. Dohyun was holding onto Fei's leg for dear life.
"What are these?"
Fei glared at the women and hit the bottom of the lance on the ground twice. Nothing happened but he figured there was some protection around them because the women's voices were muted.
"Furies." Fei answered watching them closely. "Vengeful creatures from the underworld."
"Why are they here?" He asked finally getting enough strength to get up. His legs were still trembling though.
"They shouldn't be here."
Fei's answers were very short and cold. But she was worried and knew something must have happened to get furies out of hell. A wall was between them and Hades but Fei was aware it was easier to just get answers from the furies themselves.
"Return to the underworld." She ordered in a voice that Dohyun has never heard before.
The barrier around them disappeared and the furies glared at Fei.
"You don't order us around. You are just a nymph." One of them snarled and the other hissed at Dohyun.
"Then why are you wasting your time with a nymph?" She asked.
"We are not here for you. We are here for him." The furie said and pointed at Dohyun.
His eyes widened and he grabbed Fei's arm, glueing himself to her.
"Wh-what?"
"Give us the man and we'll leave. We have no business with you." The furie added and moved towards Dohyun. Fei stopped her by placing the lance in front of the human protectively.
"No." Was her short and chilling answer. Dohyun swallowed nervously as he found himself in a questioning situation.
"Then you die too."
Fei raised an eyebrow and Dohyun witnessed how her whole demeanor changed. Even her appearance did: her blind eye was visible and it looked like a crystal. The furies shrieked again and they both attacked but Fei was very calm.
Seeing Fei fight for real was an incredible sight. Dohyun took a few steps back, surprised that he could still move even though his whole body was filled with fear. The way Fei was moving was just like a dance. She was weilding her lance with speed and yet it looked very elegant. He would have sworn it was a well rehearsed choreography if it wasn't for how fast and loud was his heart beating.
Fei has fought against humans before but the furies were stronger. One of them ran and tried to grab Dohyun but Fei threw the lance at her, hitting her right in the head. The other found this to be an opportunity and grabbed a handful of Fei's hair before throwing her hard against the wall. Afterwards she dug her whole hand in Fei's stomach, which was a very bloody and painful image.
Dohyun's eyes widened but he couldn't move. He wanted to go and help Fei but he was stuck. He saw the lance lying on the ground in front of him and used all the courage he had in order to crawl to it. It was just in time because a shadow hovered over him. The human gulped and looked up to see the crazy eyes of a vengeful creature.
"You come with me." She said in a high pitched voice that made him cringe.
Dohyun could barely register what happened next. She grabbed him by his beautiful and neat blazer and rose him off the ground. She sniffed him, which only made it worse, and chuckled to herself.
Fortunately Fei still had some power left. With a hole in her abdomen, she still threw herself at the furie, causing all of them to fall.
"Knock three times on the wall. Hades will hear it." She said while trying her best to keep the furie down.
Dohyun nodded and ran to the wall. He did as instructed but nothing happened. He knocked again and again but it didn't seem like they could hear him. When he turned to Fei, he saw her on her knees, barely able to move. He noticed that Fei was trying to reach the lance but the furie was making it hard to. With a long sigh, he said a small prayer before he jumped on the back of the furie. She stumbled for a bit until she took a hold of his blazer and threw him at Fei. Dohyun could feel the taste of death already. But looking down at the nymph, he felt this overpowering sense of responsability. She had lost the colour in her cheeks and she looked as pale as a corpse but her crystal eye was shining bright.
"Don't move." She whispered as she finally took a hold of her weapon.
The furie attacked Dohyun, scratching him as she pulled him away. That was when Fei stabbed both of them. The fury fell on her back with empty eyes while Dohyun stood there, still in shock.
At that time, the doors opened and two men hurried to them. One caught Dohyun as he fell, barely keeping himself awake. It was too much for one day.
Fei, however, watched as Hermes took great care to sooth Dohyun to sleep. It didn't take long since the human was hurt and tired.
"Here,"
Hades helped her on her feet and with a simple grasp of her little hand, she healed like it was nothing.
"What are furies doing here?" He asked seeing the two dead bodies.
"They came for Dohyun." She replied, her eyes following Hermes while the god moved Dohyun to the waiting area which had a bench. "His eye changed colours for a moment. When I stabbed the furie through him, I saw it. His left eye was just like mine."
Hades frowned and glanced at the human. Hermes was strong enough to carry a man in his mid twenties without a problem.
"Take him back with you. I'll clean up." He ordered her but it only made her feel guilty. "Furies are not part of your chores. I'll deal with this."
Fei nodded and sighed. She was a bit dizzy since healing did take a toll on her body but she was more worried for the moment Minjae was going to remind her how he told her it was a bad idea to take Dohyun along.
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