One (1/1)

Hoya's breath came fast and his heart pounded in his throat, his feet stumbling along the wooded pathway as fast as he could go without releasing the thin arm behind him. He could hear the faint cries of anguish that escaped the girl, but she followed him as fast as she could manage, her life hanging in the balance. Maybe his, too, and maybe if he had stopped to think about that, he wouldn't have decided to help her.Honestly he hoped that he would, though, because not helping meant that he was like everyone else. Afraid, selfish, angry, suspicious, but mainly afraid. "Stop, stop, I can't," she gasped, and he slowed his steps grudgingly. There could still be pursuit and he didn't want to risk it, but one look at her frail body made him realize that she literally could not run any more. Her sides heaved as she tried to suck in air, her thin shoulders shaking in the sobs that she tried to keep down, but there was a fire in her eyes. He had to wonder, was it from delirium? Or was it from her faith? "We need to keep running, Hayoung," he said softly, catching her large dark eyes with his own sharply tilted ones. "If they catch up to you..." He didn't need to finish that sentence. She had just been witness to what the villagers would do when they found a worshipper of the Light amongst them; had just watched as her mother and father and little baby brother were dragged away to await the Ruler's judgement. Regardless that she had grown up in the village, played with the children her age and matured into a woman of grace and kindness, she was still one of them. Better to turn them in to the Ruler's and gain an ounce of reward than to shelter them and share in the punishment.  Or at least, that was how most people saw it. As Hoya had watched her family accosted and taken away, he realized that he couldn't just stand by like the rest. He had known this girl, watched her grow up; he couldn't just let her die. And so he had seized his chance and run to find her before any of the villagers could, knowing that she would be picking berries in the forest outside of the village. He had always been fast, but it felt like the race of his life, especially when several people noticed his sudden flight and took up the chase, probably guessing what he intended. It was them that they now ran from, and even as Hayoung's breathing settled into something less frantic, Hoya's heart raced even harder. "We have to keep going," he urged, to which she finally cried out, "To where?" And she was right. There was nowhere in the land that would be safe for her, not as she was. "You could go to some other village, change your name, stop following the old ways-" "Forsake the Light?" she asked, and for some reason, those quiet words stopped Hoya in mid-speech. He could see the truth in her eyes even before she spoke. "I could never, Hoya. That is what is wrong with the world. People turn their backs on the Light because they're too afraid to stand up for what is right. I will not be frightened away from the path of kindness, not even if it costs my life." He couldn't begrudge her, he could only see truth in her words, but he also knew that unless she turned her back on the worship of a long dead god then she, too, would die. He heaved a sigh and shook his head, his shaggy black hair brushing across his forehead as he did so. "Let's find you someplace to stay for the night and I'll figure out something," he said, mainly to appease her as he wondered to himself how he would manage this seemingly impossible task. She followed him quickly through the woods, his trail one that none other would find, for it was mapped out in his mind. He was comfortable with the woods, more so than even his own home, having taken solace in hunting and gathering instead of trying to befriend others. They would only betray him in the end, finding weaknesses to exploit for their own gains. He wasn't a Servant of the Light but neither did he worship the Rulers in hopes that they would provide for his family. He remembered far too well that that didn't get one anywhere. His father had been a Servant, though, and Hoya