How cute is that cat, I'm soft.
/////

The sound of little feet pattering along the wooden floor filled the dark hallway as Miyeong quickly ran into her sister's room. The fear of being caught by the monsters lurking in the shadows urged her to move faster, knowing that she would be safe if only she had her older sister to protect her.

A little gasp of relief escaped her pouting lips once she shut the door to said room behind her back, separating her from the scary darkness and giving her a sense of security as she turned around, eyes falling on the familiar small figure curled up under a thick layer of blankets.

"Eunha, wake up!" She whispered, her high voice breaking the silence in the room.

The young girl shivered, her little feet switching from one to the other as she tried to avoid the freezing cold floor, fingers fiddling in unease; she really hoped her sister would wake up soon.

As if hearing her thoughts, Eunha let out a soft groan in response, turning around slowly and snuggling deeper into her pillow, "Go away Miyeong, let me sleep."

Eunha was more than ready to give in to the feeling of exhaustion that tried to lure her back to sleep. Long days and short nights didn't go well with the amount of school work and house holding she had to do; the girl really needed to rest.

"But Eunha, I heard something! Noises coming from the garden! It was scary!" Miyeong insisted. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest, her little hand desperately clutching at her sister's sleeve, begging her to listen.

Eunha tiredly blinked at the young girl who was looking at her with those big, innocent, doe-like eyes that ran in the family.
She indeed looked very scared, worried even, but being used to Miyeong's nightly wakings because of something 'scary', Eunha didn't think too much of it.

She definitely should have.

"Don't worry, flower. It's probably just the neighbour's cat crawling around the bushes. He's done that more often, right? Why don't you go back to bed and try to sleep some more, okay? It will be fine, I'm here to protect you. You don't have to be scared."
She spoke in a reassuring tone, a loud yawn leaving her lips after.

"I can't sleep, I had a dream."

"Really? I know how much I love to dream, it must have been nice. You can tell me about it tomorrow, alright? Maybe you can go and ask mum for some warm milk, she won't mind you waking her up?" Eunha felt a pair of lips pressing a little kiss to her hand, followed by the sound of her sister leaving the room to find their mother.

The girl let a lazy smile crawl on her face, turning back around again and pulling the comfortable blankets up higher until they engulfed her body completely. A content sigh escaped her lips as she snuggled closer into the inviting warmth. It didn't take long for her to relax back into a slumber, but before she properly could enter dreamland, Miyeong returned to her room with hasty steps. The little girl let out a gasp as she jumped onto her sister's bed, "Eunha, wake up! I can't find mummy anywhere!"

"Mmhmm?" Eunha hummed in question, not yet fully comprehending Miyeong's words. She had a hard time keeping herself awake, despite her sister's obvious distress.

"Mummy is gone! I can't find her!"

The older girl sleepily wiped the drool off her chin and sat up in the bed, her attention settling on her little sister. The panic was clear on her round face. Eunha even thought she detected tears brimming Miyeong's eyes, but wasn't sure as the room was very dark.

Noticing her sister's freaked out state, Eunha decided to abandon her precious sleep and calm the younger down. It was impossible for their mother to be gone, it was the middle of the night after all, she had nowhere to go. Miyeong must have accidentally not seen her and thus Eunha decided to help her.

"Gone? You know what, let's go search for her together, okay?"

The seventeen-year-old girl quickly wrapped a blanket around her little sister and put on some socks on her tiny feet to keep her warm. She then grabbed Miyeong's hand in hers, calmly making their way towards their mother's room.

Glancing inside, Eunha noticed how her mother wasn't there. She shrugged her shoulders, guiding Miyeong towards the bathroom, then the workroom and lastly the guest room. After checking all the chambers on the upper floor, Eunha couldn't keep the slight frown from her pretty face. Shaking her head however, she gently pulled on her sister's hand, guiding her to the stairs,
"Come on, let's go look downstairs."

A chill ran up the girl's spine as they made their way down the creaking steps.
Miyeong was tightly gripping her hand, both because of nerves and a fear of the dark. Eunha softly drew circles on the back of her hand with her thumb, quietly telling her everything was okay.

Though it wasn't.

She turned on the lights and stepped into the kitchen, ready to expose her mother sitting by the table, munching on some bread as a late-night snack, though she wasn't; the kitchen was empty as well.

Strange. She swore she had seen her mother's shoes at the bottom of the staircase. She would never leave the house without them, so where was she?

Not wanting to unnecessarily worry her little sister, Eunha decided that it would be better to just make her a cup of warm milk. She poured the liquid in a saucepan, adding some honey to sweeten it and leaving it on the stove until it was warm whilst stirring. Once finished she put the milk in a suitable cup and handed it to Miyeong, "Here you go, flower."

The girl immediately started drinking the warm goodness, little hands awkwardly holding the big mug. Eunha smiled and ruffled her sister's messy hair. "Do you want to stay here while I go look for mum?"

The six-year-old gave her a nod of approval, so Eunha quietly made her way into the living room. It was dark, the moon shining through the windows being the only source of light. Her cat was softly snoring away on the couch, but to her confusion, her mother was nowhere to be found.

Where was she? Did something happen? She had checked every room, right?

That's when her eyes widened in realization.

Idiot.

She had checked everywhere except for their father's room.

A soft chuckle left Eunha's throat, hand smacking her forehead. Of course, their mum was probably with their dad. The two had separate rooms as her father's snoring was so loud that it kept her mother awake at night. She sometimes still visited though, to talk about her day or snuggle with him or something.

Eunha didn't even want to know.

Moving to climb up the stairs, Eunha's foot slipped on the old-fashioned carpet when suddenly the eerie silence of the house was interrupted by a loud crash, the sound of glass breaking immediately following after.
A little groan escaped her lips as she fell face down to the floor, though she quickly closed her mouth as she remembered why she had fallen in the first place.

Holy crabs, what was that?

Alarmed, her widened eyes skimmed the room, landing on the door that lead to the hallway. The sound had come from the front door. Was someone trying to break into their house?

Quickly scrambling to her feet, Eunha listened for more noises while hastily looking around for some kind of weapon to protect herself with. She settled for a rusty candle holder that was standing on the little dresser next to her, tightly gripping at the cold metal.

Praying that there would be no intruder, the girl carefully crept closer to the hallway. She took a deep breath to ease her nerves, before wrapping her fingers around the doorknob, silently counting to three and throwing open the door when she had gathered enough courage.

Her heart was beating loudly in her chest, lungs screaming for her to take a proper breath, but Eunha couldn't help it. Nerves had taken over. Though as she burst through the door, candle holder raised in the air ready to knock someone out, Eunha was surprised to see no one.

There was no creepy intruder chilling in the hallway, no sinister murderer waiting for her to greet death. There wasn't a single person. On the ground however, lay a brick with a piece of paper tied to it.

The girl glanced at the door, noticing the obvious shattered glass.

Someone had thrown a rock through the door's window? Well that was anti-climactic.

Carefully stepping over the brick and shards of glass scattered around the wooden floor, Eunha stepped to the front door. Her grip on the candle holder tightened to control the shaking of her hands as she glanced through the newly-made hole. She observed the bushes and between the trees, making sure her eyes took in every shadow and bit of movement.

Nothing suspicious. The streets where empty, the town was asleep.

She frowned, lines etching the soft skin between her eyebrows. Reluctantly stepping away, Eunha turned towards the only object out of place. She picked up the brick, unsurely grabbing the paper stuck to it and opening it.

'The weak can't protect what's precious to them.

You want to see her again? Good luck.'

The simple message was signed with a symbol unfamiliar to the girl. It looked like a bird, though she could not tell what kind as the drawing was inky and messy. It was big though, the claws were sharp as well as its beak and wings. It looked dangerous.

That was all. Such a short note that turned Eunha's world upside down.
Her mother had been taken.

Abandoning the candle holder, Eunha sprinted to the kitchen. There she found her little sister hidden underneath the table. Miyeong had pulled the blanket over her head as if the thin yet soft layer would protect her from evil.

"Miyeong?" Eunha spoke softly, trying not to scare her little sister even more.

Miyeong peaked out from under the blanket, only showing her eyes that overflowed with tears. The oldest opened her arms, beckoning the girl for a hug. Miyeong immediately crawled out of her hiding spot, running towards Eunha and jumping into the safety of her embrace.
"What was that noise? Did you find mummy?"

Eunha rubbed her back in circles, "Not quite... let's go to dad."

Miyeong held up her arms, wanting to be carried. The long night and the crying had made her tired.
Eunha picked her sister –who as soon as her feet left the ground had fallen asleep already– up in her hold and carried her upstairs.

She stopped in front of her father's bedroom, knuckles slamming on the wood before opening the door and walking inside. She swiftly lay Miyeong's sleeping figure in a chair, hurrying to awake her father who was snoring obnoxiously.

"Dad, wake up! Dad? This is urgent!" Startled by the sudden noises, her father rapidly blinked his eyes open, surprise painting his features.

"What?" His voice that hadn't really dropped in puberty and therefore wasn't very low sounded a lot deeper because he just woke up.

"I know you're tired, but you have to wake up! Mum is gone! Someone took her, here read this!"
She handed him the piece of paper.

Her father looked at her in worry and confusion. He kept re-reading the message, turning to Eunha in fear after a couple of minutes had passed.
"Where did you find this?" His voice was a lot higher now.

"Someone threw a brick through the front door, this was attached to it. I don't know who did it. Or why exactly..." Eunha trailed of, trying to think of a reason for the crime, but when she couldn't think of anything specific, she shook her head.

There were a lot of creepy figures out there that did these kind of things without reason.

"We have to find her! We can't lose someone else, dad."

"Let's call the cops!" Eunha's father exclaimed as he desperately tried to sit up. The sudden movement made him wince in pain, hand grabbing at his back.

"Dad watch out! Be careful." Eunha softly scolded him as she helped him sit up.

Her father had been in an accident a couple of years ago leaving him cripple.
He was weak and couldn't take care of the family properly.
The man didn't perform hard labor in the past, but he did do work where he moved from place to place a lot. After the accident he couldn't make any more money as he couldn't move around freely with his injuries. The financial responsibility came to lay with her mother, brother and herself.

No matter how harsh the words were, her father had become more of a burden than a help to the family. As the man couldn't do much, he decided that as the 'head of the family' it would be good for him to interfere  with their lives, ordering everyone around, telling them where they could improve or what they did wrong. It was truly annoying and the behaviour only got worse after Eunha's older brother died.

Her father had always meant well though.
...

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid we can't help you." The police officer stood up, putting the empty coffee stained mug back onto the table.

They hadn't even been here for ten minutes and they wanted to leave already? What happened to investigating the house and its surroundings?

"What? Why?" Eunha asked, confusion clear in her voice as she desperately followed the men to the door, trying to stop them from leaving by blocking the exit.

"That signature, the one with the bird? We don't handle those matters, sorry." The man shrugged his shoulders almost unapologetically, putting on his jacket.

It was silent for a second as the girl tried to understand what they were saying.
She did not.

"But you're the police, you have to help us. It's your job to save people!"

The officer's wrinkly hand moved to hold the iron door knob, ready to open it. Eunha quickly grabbed his arm, desperately clutching onto the material of his jacket.
She needed their help, her mum needed their help.

"Little girl, as I said, there is a signature that looks like an evil bird. It means that there are creatures involved that are not human. What could we possibly do against superpowers such as incredible strength, speed or fighting skills? I'm sorry but you'll have to say goodbye to your mother. Save yourself the tears and agonizing feeling of hope for her survival."

Eunha glared at the man in disbelieve. How could he be so rude? Telling her to be okay with the fact that her mother got kidnapped by a supernatural creature and was potentially dead.
Why would she accept that future when she didn't even know the person or thing who did this and more importantly, why?

Besides, the message indicated that her mother was alive. The captor had wished them good luck. They still had a chance.

The officer pulled his arm free from Eunha's grip, nodding his head at her father who came limping into the hall. Glancing at Eunha one last time, probably to make sure that she wouldn't go all crazy on them, the men walked out of the door, disappearing into the bright daylight.

As they left, so did Eunha's hope.

It had been a couple of minutes since the door slammed shut in front of her face, but she stood still like a statue, lost for words.

The police wouldn't help them because their mother was kidnapped by a supernatural creature. What hurt even more was her dad not even trying to convince the police.
His wife was missing for goodness' sake! Was he not worried?

"Eunha, sweetheart, come here please." Her father's voice broke her out of her trance.
She slowly stepped into the kitchen, her legs feeling like steel. The crippled man was sitting in a chair, head tiredly leaning on his hand as he tried to think of something to say.

He looked absolutely exhausted, skin a pale yellowy white, eye-bags darkened because of the lack of sleep. The permanent wrinkles decorating his forehead didn't help either.

"Dad, why didn't you stop them?" Eunha asked in a soft voice, she didn't want him to feel like he did something wrong, though in her eyes he could have done better.

"You heard what they said, Eunha. They can't do anything about this case."

A sudden feeling of anger grew in the girl's body, intensifying slowly yet dangerously like a trail of lava. "You believe that nonsense? What if they can help us, but just don't want to?"

"Of course I believe them. You heard what they said about the signature. They are just as helpless as we are." The man shook his head, letting out a deep sigh, "If they say they can't do anything, then that's it."

Eunha looked at him for a couple of seconds, disappointed that he hadn't taken her side, yet knowing that everyone had the right to their own opinion. Still, that didn't stop her from disagreeing. "What if they lied? Lied because they don't want to help us?"

Her father heaved another sigh, putting his cup of coffee down on the wobbly table in front of him, "They're police, Eunha. As you said earlier it's their job to help people. Why would they lie when there is nothing to gain? They are human, not elves."

Eunha's eyes that had been staring at her hands, fingers nervously fiddling with a loose cord hanging from her white night gown, shot up as her father mentioned the elves.

Of course, that was it!

A hopeful smile appeared on her face as she abruptly turned around and sprinted up the stairs. Once in her room, the girl grabbed a bag big enough to fit in some clothes, a sleeping bag and other stuff she thought she might need. In only minutes she was back in the kitchen, hastily packing enough food and bottles of water into the growing bag.

Her dad looked at her with a mix of confusion and alarm, "Eunha? What are you doing? Where are you going?!"

"Don't worry dad, if the police can't save mum, then I will! I'm going to the elves, they can help."

Her father's eyes widened in shock. "Elves? Are you insane? They are a lying and manipulating specie."

Eunha shrugged her shoulders, not very bothered by the stereotype, "It's the only way dad. I can't sit here knowing she is somewhere else, probably terrified."

Her father, who had grabbed her wrist, slowly let go. He didn't want to put his daughter in danger, but even though he wanted to stop her from going, he knew she had to if he ever wanted to see his wife again.

He had to be ready to make the sacrifice.

His sad eyes darted around the room in thought, hoping to think of another solution, but there simply was none. Defeatedly, he slowly nodded his head, showing his approval.

Just as Eunha wanted to put on her shoes, her little sister waddled into the room. Apparently she had been listening to part of their conversation. "Do you have to go Eunha? Can't you stay a day longer?"

Eunha looked up and saw the broken look on Miyeong's face. Her lips pulled in a sad smile as the older sister patted the place beside her. Miyeong obeyed, sitting down in the empty spot and turning to look at the older female.

"I'm sorry, flower, I have to go. If I wait any longer, it might be too late. Besides, I have to leave now if I want to be in Eyvenor before dawn."

Her sister pouted her lips, but nodded anyway. She looked up and put her arms around her Eunha, the hug warming the girl's heart.

"Be safe, okay?" Eunha smiled and nodded, letting go of her sister's embrace even though she loved it very much, before standing up.

She had to go. She had to save her mother, no matter the journey.

And so, she set off.

~~
Hi, Loves!
Thank you so much for reading this! As it's still the beginning of the book it might be a bit boring, but I swear it gets better when the members of Bangtan arrive!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyways and of course, feedback is always welcome! :)

Please keep in mind that English is not my first language :)
I hope everyone has wonderful day/night!