Seori Ashes Between Us
Seori
Ashes Between Us
I woke up on stone. Not the cold, sterile kind from the Guild’s upper chambers, but damp, cracked rock—like the earth itself had been broken long ago and never forgiven.
My body ached. The bond mark throbbed like a living thing along my spine, still glowing faintly beneath my blood-crusted shirt.
It hadn’t let them take me. And it had made sure they didn’t take my friends either. A groan echoed beside me.
“You’re awake,” Yuna rasped, her voice dry but laced with defiance. “Took you long enough..”
I looked at them I felt the wounds trying to close, but not quite able too.
“You tried to heal me?”
I asked them Minji nodded but said,
“Not with that ward,” Minji muttered from the shadows. She was sitting cross-legged, her back against the wall, wrists singed from the failed spell she must’ve tried.
“You would've just exploded."
Despite everything, I smiled. They were here. I wasn’t alone.
“What happened?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
“They tried to rip the bond out of you,” Minji said quietly. “It burned through half the ritual circle instead.”
Yuna nodded.
“It was like the magic refused to obey. Like it recognized you… as his.”
The silence that followed was thick.
I didn’t deny it.
Because there was no denying it anymore.
Minji reached into her boot — I didn’t know how it hadn’t been confiscated — and pulled out a tiny glass charm. It shimmered like moonlight on water.
“I was going to give this to you years ago,” she said. “In case… the Guild ever did something like this.”
Yuna reached into her pocket and pulled out a cracked, silver ring.
“And I stole this from the Guild’s reliquary. Guess I always knew they were full of shit.”
“What are these?” I whispered.
Minji reached for my hand.
“A vow. A binding. Sisters born of shadow. We protect each other — blood or not.”
Yuna slid the ring onto my finger.
“You’re stuck with us now, Seo.”
I didn’t cry. But my throat clenched, and for the first time since everything fell apart… I felt safe. For this meant their undying loyalty to me and me alone.
They called me a traitor. But in the dark, I found my truest loyalty. And when I rise again… I won’t rise alone.
They called me a traitor. But in the dark, I found my truest loyalty. And when I rise again… I won’t rise alone.