The Sacrifice (1/1)

Once the doors were opened on both sides of the carriage, we had to let go of each other’s hand as we cautiously stepped out from our respected sides. Once we set foot on the dirt road, Sungmin rushed to my side and held my shaking hand tightly in his, protecting me. With my other hand, I held the side of my dress with a shaky grip to try to stabilize my nerves.     “This way please.” Knight Lee said as he led us off of the dirt road and onto a pebbled path that lead to the edge of the forest. As we walked, I stumbled on my own feet several times, my legs becoming weaker as we came closer. When we arrived at the edge of the forest, I saw that the sacrifices from the other four kingdoms were waiting at the entrance in their colorful hanboks. I felt the nervousness from all of the other young people that were chosen, and the same fear that Sungmin and I both have. We approached the group of people and they all turned to observe us, curious about our kingdom’s…sacrifices.         The Sun Kingdom’s pair was wearing yellow hanboks; the Wind Kingdom, red; the Earth Kingdom, green; and the Water Kingdom, lavender. Although their hanboks were also very gorgeous, what caught my eye was that every single one of them had a golden pendant of their kingdom’s crest.         As I observed the group more closely, some of the girls already had their makeup a mess, and some of the boys were so fidgety that their hanboks were starting to become wrinkled and messy. And just when I was going to scrutinize my environment, an older man dressed in a traditional religious hanbok from the Earth Kingdom stood in front of us all and started to speak.      “It is now time for the sacrifice to take place. The guards from your kingdom of origin and I shall escort you to the sacrificial grounds. I advise you to stay close to one another and to not stray from the group. I am the religious leader in the Earth Kingdom and I will be performing the sacrificial ceremony for this 301st year. Now, let us go.” He said and turned, walking straight into the forest, while holding his lantern.      I squeezed Sungmin’s hand one more time as he did to mine and we followed the group into the forest. Knight Lee and the knight that escorted Sungmin earlier stood by our sides and escorted us into the forest. As we walked in the darkness with only a few lanterns, I saw a small golden ball of light floating ahead of me. It looked like the light of a firefly, but it floated in the air like snow. More of these floating balls of light were starting to appear as we walked deeper into the forest. The other people ahead of us were also watching these floating balls of light in wonder, forgetting our situation momentarily.        After walking for a while, we finally came to a clearing with soft green grass and a small hill that seemed to have golden moonlight flowing over the edge like a waterfall. Once we were all in the clearing, the knights stayed at the entrance of the clearing in an organized line, as if to block us from leaving. As for the us, we stood in an unorganized group in the center of the clearing like herded sheep with the religious leader standing directly in front of the golden waterfall.      “Now, I need the men to stand to my left, and the women to my right.” He said and I was on the verge of a panic attack, not wanting to let go of Sungmin’s hand, the only thing keeping me sane. I looked at him frantically and he gave my hand a squeeze and hugged me tightly before placing me next to the girl from the Sun Kingdom and walking to the other side of the clearing. I froze in my spot as I tried to concentrate on not breaking down. The girl from the Earth Kingdom started to cry quietly and shake like a leaf. I watched her, hoping that that wouldn’t be me in the next few minutes, when a delicate hand grabbed mine. I turned to see the girl from the Sun Kingdom and she smiled at me, tears welling in her eyes. I held her hand and nodded my head as if to say thank you and she nodded back, acknowledging it. It seemed as if we both needed each other’s support to keep ourselves from breaking down.     “Alright, now. We shall begin.” He said and we nervously loo