.

Tainted
iReii | Spirify


BGM Time and Fallen Leaves Piano Cover - Akdong Musician | REYNAH
REYNAH is the YouTuber that uploaded the video. Enjoy while reading :)


III.

Restlessly, Ara fastened her pace when she saw the view of tall white buildings in the distance. Grass and leaves flew behind her legs as the thought of her brother being corrupted reflected back into her mind as her heart started to pound viciously. Her adrenaline was pumping as the pressure of her blood streamed through her veins. Tall trees flew by as she continued her descent.

"Oh… oh my god, move out!"

Ara shouted when she glimpsed a tall, fair-haired male garnishing a pale coat come in to view. Due to running downhill, it was difficult for her to stop herself in time, so she decided to scream out a warning instead. Contrasting the female's warning, the young male slowly looked towards her as Ara let out a gasp, a fleeting, 'Oh no...;' passing through her mind.

In the blink of an eye, Ara slammed right into him, the two collapsing into a fit of dirt and dust. Regaining her senses, Ara quickly got up and offered a hand to the victim of her running while apologising over and over again. The white-haired individual looked annoyed and to Ara's surprise, did not accept her offer. She slid her hand under her back as her face turned red due to embarrassment.

"This is a new coat…"He murmured under his breath, nonetheless, Ara could hear him very clearly.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't quite see you and I was running and.." Ara drifted off as she lifted her head up to see the young male.

He was much taller than her, perhaps around six feet tall. His silky silver-white hair was brushed nicely and he wore a neat, purple button up shirt inside his long white lab coat… that happened to be dirtied due their earlier encounter.

'Lab coat…?' Ara thought to herself, and instantly she shouted out, "Are you a scientist?!"

The male glanced up at Ara as he brushed the dirt collected on his coat answering with an agitated tone, "Yeah". However, Ara didn't catch it and instead, continued with another question.

"Do you happen to know a scientist named Add here?" The Devanam asked, and he gave her a look that held a hint of displeasure.

"I'm Add."

He said bluntly leaving Ara to gape in shock. She imagined a much older man, not a teenage boy. Her jaws dropped open due to surprisement as Add decided take his leave.

However as he turned, Ara grabbed his wrist, "Wait! I need to talk to you!"

Add, once again, irritated at Ara's behavior, rolled his eyes and turned around, leaving Ara to stop nervously.

"What?" His voice came out harsh as he pulled his hand back, eyes narrowing dangerously.

Ara paused, debating where or not to tell him her entire story when they had just bumped into one another.

"Wait- what's that inside of you?" To Ara's surprisement, the scientist grabbed Ara by her arms and pulled her closer. Ara felt the blood rushing to her face as her cheeks turned red due to sudden enclosement between the two.

"Um… yes?" Ara asked dumbly as he inspected her eyes carefully.

"Inside your soul… what is that creature?" He asked, almost as if it was a whisper. Ara tilted her head from confusement.

Ara, I believe he's speaking about me.

'Eun?' Ara thought to herself as Add continued to gaze at her eyes with a disturbingly, dangerous kind of lust.

This man is dangerous, step back!

Add released his hold on the Sakra Devanam's arm gently, "I've taken a kind of interest in you." Puzzled, Ara stepped back hesitantly as the male gave her a playful smirk and continued, "What do you need to talk about?" Concerned with his sudden friendliness, Ara took another step back. Why was he suddenly so interested in her problem, after just brushing her off coldly earlier?

"I...um…" As Ara struggled to start the conversation about her corrupted brother, Add waited patiently.

Ara swallowed dryly before asking, "My brother's been corrupted by Dark El by the Demons and I wanted to know if you knew how to cure him!"

The Devanam spurted out the words quickly; gradually lifting her face to see the reaction of the scientist. Nonetheless, he gazed at her with an empty stare; no emotions showing through his cold amethyst eyes.

"So.. you want me to create an antidote to purify your brother?"

Ara nodded with care as Add lifted up his eyebrows while giving an arrogant smirk.

"Then what do I get in return?"

Ara hesitated for a moment; although asking for an invention of an antidote to purify corrupted demonic power was a tremendous experiment for scientists to perform, she hasn't clearly thought of her payment. Money wasn't clearly the answer to this- she've just left the village, almost empty handed and she already made spendings on various necessities while travelling. She wasn't highly valuable either- she was just an ordinary soldier in the Northern Empire.

"Wh..what do you want for a return?"

She asked the scientist cautiously. Add crossed his arms with one another as he thought of an answer, despite already knowing what he wanted.

"The creature. Inside of you." Add said as he continued to gaze at her with his arrogant eyes while pointing to her forehead.

Ara, no. You can't do this, Ara. Just back off, he's not an ordinary scientist!

'Eun? He wants Eun?' Ara thought to herself with confusement. Ara certainly did not wanted to give up Eun, but purifying her brother as well as other corrupted humans was a big deal, which she will have to sacrifice one of her valuable items to equalize the exchange.

As Ara continued to blankly stare at the ground as she reflected back to Add's offer, Add continued, "I'll give you a day to think about it."

Ara gazed up to the scientist with surprising filled in her eyes. Ignoring her gaze, Add turned around as he waved at Ara as a farewell sign, "I'll be inside a building with mauve roof- tell me your answer there."

Without any other words, Add left the forest as Ara stared at the back of his body in disbelief.


A/N

Thank you guys for reading this chapter! Don't forget to R&R !

Spirify and I decided to post our stories on Tumblr, too!
We will be posting the stories we are working on currently along with Tainted, and in my opinion, the stories are much easier to read on Tumblr!
Please leave us a visit :) The URL is Spirify . tumblr . com (Without spaces)