Blessing Curse (Curse of Blessing)
18. Resurrection Forest

Moon Gi Tae POVs.

I kept walking with my feet. I don't know what happened before, but lastly I remember a great energy suddenly running through my whole body making me lose consciousness and I woke up in a forest. I don't know which region of the kingdom the forest I'm currently treading is in. Only the darkness of the forest was unfamiliar yet it also felt so familiar to me.

I feel like I've been to this forest before, but where. The black fog continued to cover the view around me, only cold and desolate accompanied my journey.

I remembered something, it was like the one in my dreams, I often walked alone like this before. It was like there was a puzzle I had to solve, but I didn't know where to start.

Suddenly I felt something that made my footsteps stop. I looked around me, like someone was staring at me. No, it's not just one, but they're like they're staring intently at my every move, giving me goosebumps and shaking my whole body.

Not long after, a black figure with red shining eyes emerged from the darkness of the forest fog, followed by the other figures who had sprung up one by one until they all surrounded me with blood-red highlights and pitch-black faces that I could not even see clearly how they looked.

Their heads were covered in black robes as his uniform and their bodies were high bent, almost akin to a life-seeking angel.

Fear is no longer a word that can explain how I am right now. I was dying to scream for help, but for my damn it there was not a word out of my mouth. My neck was so heavy that it made it difficult for me to speak.

I kept staring at them in horror, no one could help me. They slowly approached me by making a ambiguous sound that I could not understand. Like a moan or a spell that surrounds my head simultaneously. "What's this?! who them? please help me! please.." I asked in my heart.

"Gi Tae's! wakeup!" a voice finally reached me in my fear.

"that voice, it's like Mizhawa's!" I muttered after hearing a voice coming from the middle of nowhere "Mizhawa! that's you?" I asked him to make sure it was his voice.

"Yes! it's me, wake up! before it's too late!" the voice came again and asked me to wake up.

Whatdoes thatmean? am I not conscious right now? how should I wake up again.

I couldn't think things through well and just kept turning around to see the figure around me circling my body standing in the middle of them. Did they cast a spell? what spell are they reciting?

Suddenly my body felt heavy and hard to carry. Something like forcing me to kneel down and I was forced to follow the orders that were in my body. I knelt down tightly covering my ears, not wanting to hear their increasingly powerful mantra.

"Gi Tae's! wakeup! focus consciousness!" mizhawa's voice came again with more reign.

I gotta get up, Dad! I have to control my consciousness.

I tried to calm myself down by regulating my breathing. I've never done this before, only my father ever taught me how to regulate breathing while we were practicing.

I started to take a deep breath and exhale, I repeated it until my body felt calmer. I try to focus on what's going on in my mind. If this forest feels like the one in the dream, it is not impossible that right now I am also dreaming. A dream that feels so strong that it looks like reality.

If I dream, then I have to wake up to end all these bad stories. I had to wake up, as Mizhawa said, I had to wake up from this nightmare.

I kept repeating those words in my subconscious, until I finally felt my soul drift to a brighter place. I opened my eyes again and found myself in front of a wide rock with someone on it.

I approached this old hermit and paid more and more attention to him.

"You have finally come to me. This means that fate has begun its steps" said the old man who then opened his eyes slowly.

As his eyes fully opened, a smile on his lips could be seen. I felt relieved after assuming that this old man was not a threat to me. His smile brought the calmness of a grandfather who came to his grandson when they needed protection. Unfortunately, in my case, I have never seen my grandfather's smile, not even his face.

"I'm coming for you? I didn't do that, my body was rolling me here" I said explaining my arrival.

"Ekh. ekh. ekh.." the old man chuckled and stood up from his seat.

With a slightly bent body he approached me by hooking his hands behind his body.

"That means, you came to me young man." he added with a smile at the end of his sentence.

I just stood by looking at him in wonder. I don't mean to be rude, but I don't know how I got here.

"If I come to you, there must be something I want to know from you" I said, drawing conclusions from my confusion.

"Hmm. As I see it, you're not actually a stupid young man. But sometimes you need a stimulus to be brave" the old man then walked back to follow his footsteps slowly while giving an explanation. My eyes couldn't escape his every move, and I subconsciously followed in his footsteps from behind.

"In this life there is no such thing as coincidence. Everything is destined as it should be... Your body and soul have their own destiny. Although they said it was his, but only the pureness and benevolence of a sincere heart was able to prove how you would walk to determine your destiny." the old man stopped his steps and looked back at me "Whether destiny is what will come to you.all you have to do is keep going and make your own destiny." he asked in a calm and wise voice.

It made me feel calm, I forgot about the problem I was facing. And in a place that looks like this fairytale country, I can feel all the positive energy flowing peacefully from every corner of this beautiful forest.

I want to be here forever, I don't want to go back to my world filled with negative energy that always lurks.

"You can't keep being here. There are many tasks you have to complete in your life" as if this old man heard the voice that was in my mind, he forbade me to linger here.

His words made my mood instantly change. Without me noticing I let out a long sigh and put on a sour face.

"I want to live in this place. My world is a terrible place. I just die over and over again and get arrested without knowing my biggest mistake they always talk about" thinking about it makes me pessimistic and sad. It was as if I had no right to live in any nature.

The old man approached me and rubbed my back slowly, it made me come back calm and peaceful.

"You can stay here all you want after your responsibilities have been fulfilled" he pulled and re-attached his hand behind his "nine girls you met. They are the keys that can help you solve the problems brought by your curse... The union of the nine lights in your hand can defeat black magic. But with your feud, the black shadow that is on you will get stronger. Always remember this!"

After saying so, the old hermit walked back and bowed slowly like someone who was saluting and disappeared into the wind.

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